((OOC: O-sewa ni narimasu! For Lori this happens just after Desperate Times takes place.))

Walking down the street wasn't going as well as she had planned. Not only was walking straight hard when you saw though a sort of haze, but there were so many strong and shiny ferromagnetic materials in this town!

Not only were street lamps, guard rails, sewer covers, and a chartreuse colored old school VW bug all dragging behind her like dead weight as she walked, but every large steel structured building shuddered and groaned as she passed. Every vehicle speeding along on the street had swerved violently toward her, drivers jerking the wheel to narrowly avoid plowing Lori down time and time again. It was too much. And it was all strangely funny. She couldn't control the raw power and she had to get rid of it constantly as it was entirely too easy to build charge when she already had it.

Luckily Lori realized that she could focus it and so she did or.. she tried to. That's why she had so many ferromagnetic materials dragging behind her like the majestic train of a technological dress. Lori only shook her head and smiled dazedly as a bus full of people swerved past her. A rush of air blew by sending her white blonde locks a flutter as the large metallic twinkie narrowly missed hitting her and instead smashed noisily into the VW Bug that was part of the trail of metallic objects behind her.

Yes, it was becoming entirely too troublesome to walk all the way to the Sanctuary. In a sudden dizzy stroke of genius Lori decided that the subway would be a much grander way to travel. So she ducked into the first entrance she saw, the wreckage of the bug and mangled pieces of the bus plugging the entry way behind her as they would not fit through the hole.

People may have been talking to her or shouting... she really must have looked like a refugee fresh from the front lines of battle, but she couldn't seem to hear them, to focus on their puny voices enough to comprehend. So she shut up the ones that needed shutting and ignored the ones smart enough to keep their distance. She only had to throw one or two tills at people before they aligned themselves with the same polarity and were repelled... or maybe they were just staying away.

She smiled to herself as she stepped up to the edge of the platform. Was this a dream? This had to be a dream. That would explain the detached sound and visual quality she was experiencing. It would also explain why she hadn't yet felt any of her hurts.

Lori really wanted to keep moving so it was a great relief when she first felt the large metallic slug's approach and then heard the ghost of a chugging screech. She folded her arms and waited for it to slow... except that it didn't. Blink. The train chugged right past her on the platform with enough momentum that when her magnetic field caught hold of it, her lesser weight was yanked forward suddenly and she was pulled off of the platform.

Feeding her magnetic field until she was the stronger, Lori forced the train to a screeching halt. She actually heard the groaning as the entire back car of the train started to crumple at the strength of the field. Well, that was one way to dump off a lot of excess charge. Lori graciously picked herself up off of the tracks, she didn't feel much even though it was a good distance to have fallen, and made her way to her ride. There was laughter echoing madly around in the darkness and some detached part of her realized the laughter was in her own so she stopped laughing and instead ripped the crumpled back face of the car off.

Curiously enough it was empty. That didn't happen in New York. Yup. This was definitely a dream.

Lori climbed up into the car even as it continued to crumple around her. She reached the connecting door between cars and switched onto yet another eerily empty car before she released the back end of the train back onto the tracks. Now that there was no massive magnetic field holding the train back it lurched forward with movement again despite the gimpy last car that only dragged long the tracks. It was making a nice screeching sound, but once she made it to the third car she couldn't even hear it any more.

The Twins watched Kaz's transformation with enough interest to make them lose focus on their human patsies. They'd seen him transform once before, at the KP fight, but were a bit too involved in other things to care. This particular change reminded Amp of the cartoon version of the Incredible Hulk, except changing to black instead of green. Plus his clothes didn't rip, though the muscles were bulging enough to make it an awfully tight fit. Actually, color aside, he looked like a sleek version of Street Fighter II's Blanka.

Vibe found it a bit hard to focus on the transformation and keeping her melody both going and directed, so the song lessened slightly. It was enough to grant the human freedom to look around, but not to break the total hold on their minds. Phineas Trinke and LaDrina Donnely were able to stop kissing, just long enough to give each other bewildered stares and turn their heads, in time to see a man come flying in their direction, hit the back of the train, and crumple at their feet in unconsciousness.

"How's that for Show'n'Tell?"

The girls looked at Kaz, looked at each other, and back to Kaz. Amp shrugged and went back to her information destruction. Vibe increased her song once more to reinforce their control.

"It's all right," the latter remarked. The diminutive duo partially managed to keep the admiration out of their voices and attitudes.

Partially.

"So what else have go-OT?!"

Amp's inquiry came to a high-pitched halt, along with the subway train, and mixed with the squealing of brakes. Everyone, girls included, were thrown forward with the lurch. Two of the humans hit their heads on the poles, raising the unconscious count to three. The sudden jarring completely broke Vibe's concentration. So when the car abruptly started up again, everyone who was thrown the other way cried out in surprise for two reasons.

Make that three. From underneath Jordan Ashfield, LaDrina Donnely spotted Kaz, and let out a shriek high enough to hurt even the Vibe's ears.

Along with another sound. Laughter. Maniacal laughter.

Vibe pulled herself out from under the chattering people pile, anger writ on her petite features.

"Will someone please shut them up?" she snapped. In answer Amp sent a sharp burst of sound to the ears of those closest to her, rendering them either unconscious or in so much pain all they could do was whimper.

"What happened?" Amp hissed, then glared at Kaz. "Did you do that?"

Kaz rolled his eyes slightly and 'humphed' as he did at their response. Before he had a chance to start a response the train lurched to a stop throwing everyone in the same direction. Though he was taken by surprise his body responded by changing his stance and stabilizing him so he didn't fall. When the train again lurched back into motion he barely moved an inch.

Kaz helped Vibe out of the pile by tossing people off to the side away from her. He didn't so much care where or how they landed, just so long as they got off Vibe. "Will someone please shut them up?" Vibe exclaimed as the woman in the back of the train car screamed hurting his ears. While his ears were still ringing slightly because of the woman, he did hear someone laughing, but it didn't come from this car.

Kaz was already moving towards the back of the car when he heard Amp's accusing tone, "Did you do that?"

He looked over his shoulder as he kicked a man out of his way, "No, but I intend to find out who or what did." Looking forward again, he opened the door rather forcefully. After he shut it he jumped and crouched in the air, he was just high enough to clear the top of the car as it's roof went streaming past him. When he landed dug his fingers into the metal of the roof to stop his momentum, nearly two full car lengths behind the first car.

Standing up as much as he dared so he wouldn't hit his head on anything in the tunnel he made his way toward the end of the train. Before reaching the end of the train he heard the screeching of metal and saw the reason why: The last car had been completely crushed and destroyed. He lowered himself down to the doorway of the now last car. He quickly found where the crushed car was hanging on from and snapped it off with a precise kick. With the dead weight gone, the train picked up a bit more speed with another, but much smaller, lurch.

He watched as the dead car disappeared in the distance while he crouched trying to figure out what had happened. Shrugging, he opened the door began to make his way back toward Amp and Vibe. Looking through the windows, he saw someone walking somewhat slowly through the cars. They were still two cars ahead of him, but he could easily cover that distance. Once again he took to the top of the train cars to follow the woman.

Lori's cheeks burned sanguinely as she sauntered at an almost lazy pace toward the door that led to the next car. Honestly, who needed alcohol when you could have raw and unfettered power? Lori reached out to the door only to find this one required a sort of jiggle that probably needed both hands... only her dominant arm for some reason wasn't being the most responsive. Naturally, she wasn't too worried about it. She wasn't too worried about much of anything really. Not the reeking smoke smell or the bits of glass that had taken up residence on her person in various ways... nope not a worry in the... wait... was this the right train? She'd been so offended that this train had zipped right past her that she'd forcefully hitched a ride. Now she couldn't even remember which line she was riding.

Scratching her head and making her way to the posted subway map on the wall, Lori caught a glimpse of her reflection as she passed the window. She looked like a student: over-sized shirt, cargo pants, over stuffed back pack, hair pulled back with a pencil. The only problem with that image was the war-torn quality of her clothes. The spots of blood and singed bits... it was all very surreal considering that she felt just fine - no, better than fine. It was just a little hard to focus... and she really couldn't hear much beyond the thick and wet gushing of her rapid heartbeat in her ears. Explosions were loud. Stupid explosions.

As Lori stood before the map attempting to make the multi-colored and already confusing jumble of lines hold still long enough for her to read them, there was a small jolt to her car. A bump in the rail? A sneaky elf-like creature on the roof? Whatever the reason the jolt made her stomach drop out to her feet. A burning peanut butter taste rose in her throat like bile. The buzz from too much charge, like too much alcohol, couldn't last forever... in fact, it could make one feel quite ill. Anything in excess could be bad. Lori was suddenly reaching out to get rid of some of that excess power.

The long tube lights exploded behind their plastic barriers, current surging from the train's system in response to the mid-level electric shock that dispersed from Lori's fingertips and into the metallic body of the car.

Move, her body told her, and so she moved back to the stubbornly stuck door. Get rid of the extra. So she tapped the door instantly magnetizing the ferromagnetic material. She then stepped to the side and created a magnetic field behind the door with opposing polarity. The door shot off from its moorings and into the isle beyond Lori.

The peanut butter bile taste was fading.

Keep moving.
Keep feeding the extra charge away.
It was her new mantra. At least until she returned to a more normal level of capacitance.

Lori pushed open the door to the last empty car before the main car. The lights had all exploded here too. Her worries about this being a dream were quickly funneling into fears that this was some freaky twilight zone. There were millions of people in New York. Millions. She was gonna have to find one sooner or later. Little did she know there was a party going on just one car over...

"No, but I intend to find out who or what did."

"Not without me!" Amp scrambled to her feet to follow him. "Keep us moving."

Vibe nodded and once more began sending out the soothing, mind-warping harmony through out the car. Those that were not already unconscious soon fell quiet.

"Sleep." She sent the order directly to the ears of those still awake and able to hear. She wasn't sure such a suggestion would continued to be obeyed once she let up, but it was worth a shot. That way she could focus her energy on the train conductor, and still keep up with Amp via echolocation. She ignored the whines of those unable to hear anymore, thanks to Amp's earlier blast.

Meanwhile Amp struggled to get the door open. She wasn't sure if it was her size or something Kaz had done, but either way, it wouldn't budge. The red-eyed shape-shifter was still a speed demon, and she could hear his faint steps scuttling along up top, like a spider.

"Show off," she grumbled.

She grabbed at one of the poles when the train lurched again, keeping her feet this time, and reached the door of the next car.

>I can see someone in the car after that one,< Vibe's silent voice reached her sister. >A woman. She's wobbling around, like she drun- Whoa!<

Amp picked up on the series of explosions at the same time as her sister. The lights in the car had exploded, followed closely by the door connecting the two cabins.

Eyes narrowed, Amp pulled her hand away from the door handle. She slipped in between the seats and peeked through the windows. She could just barely make out a blond head on the other end of the door at the opposite end. She reached out to find Kaz again; he was approaching from the back of the train, via the roof. That put the blond in between the two of them.

"Do you have enough energy to forward me your sound map, Sis?"

>Yes, but not for long. Better make it quick, or we'll have to make a quick exit at the next stop.<

Amp nodded. "Do it. And keep your head down." Obeying her own advice, she crouched down out of sight. A moments later a picture began to form in her mind, of the train car in front of her. Anything or anyone entering she'd be able to see, as clearly as if she were using her eyes. And that would allow her to direct her attacks without being seen.

Kaz had been moving at a steady pace, only stopping every so often to put his ear to the top of the car to double check where the woman was. She had stopped momentarily, why, he wasn't sure, but he stayed back a bit so she wouldn't hear him walk above her. Only moments after did he hear glass breaking, the sound of something being 'blasted' and crashing around inside the car. Just as he began to move forward, he felt electricity zing up his hand as he was lifting it off the roof of the car.

Kaz started to worry about the girls, he had heard Amp as he left the front car. She had to be close to the racket below. His hand and arm began to shimmer slightly. Kaz moved quickly to the spot he assumed the woman would be. Like the focus and act of breaking cinder-blocks, Kaz did the same but replaced the blocks with the roof. As his knuckles connected with the metal, he pushed through, forcing a hole into the roof the size of his fist. The released shock from his punch shot down and widened the hole in a three foot radius from his fist as the metal curled and split from the pressure.

If he guessed right the shock from his punch would have traveled downward before he fell and hit the woman, or he would be next to her. Either way, he knew he would be in a position to land a quick blow or restrain the woman if need be.

Her body said keep moving and so she did. Lori sauntered unsteadily through the last car before the first car, the last car before the people who were asleep or deafened.

"How boo~ooring." She meant to mention the words to herself, but since there was such loud sloshing in her ears with every heartbeat, Lori was practically shouting. She dipped slightly trying to see the windowand put her hands on her hips. She didn't even see anyone in the car up ahead even though the lights were still on in that car. "This train has to be going somewhe---AH!"

Time didn't speed up or slow down, it was just normal... like a metal ceiling exploding above you and an ebony skinned (not the normal flesh color of a normal human being -- black like super pigmented or devoid of light kind of black) sinewy man hopped into subway cars every day. The force of the ceiling rupture knocked her back on her butt and felt like a phone book to the face. She hadn't felt the pain, just the force. There was no telling how bad it actually had been. And then there was the man... She looked up at him most likely with shock on her face, though even she couldn't tell.

"Ow!" Belatedly she announced her supposed hurt. Lori tasted a faint build up of peanut butter bile. She'd stopped moving. There wasn't a whole lot of surplus charge left, but it was still annoying. "What was that for?" Strings of electricity arched across inside her mouth when she asked her question. The longer she sat still the worse it would get. Her body said move but somehow she didn't think the big guy would just let her.

(OOC: Many apologies for both the delayed and short response. I was at a loss for what to do. ><)

"How boo~ooring."

Both girls heard Blondie shouting clear as day, and could see her pouting sluggishly. "This train has to be going somewhe---AH!"

Focused on the supersonic sound map, both Twins looked upward reflexively, as if Kaz were entering their own car, not the next one over. The woman was knocked backwards onto her back as he dropped down next to her.

"Ow! What was that for?"

Amp rolled her eyes. "Oh, I dunno. Maybe for destroying half of the train for no reason?"

The petite redhead held back from attacking just yet. Kaz could handle himself, and it would be that much more fun to see the shock on Blondie's face when she got an earful out of nowhere.

Kaz stared at the blond woman, her shock evident. He let out a soft chuckle as he took a step towards the woman. He stopped next to a pole that ran from the floor to the ceiling. Raising his right arm, Kaz brought his hand backwards at the top of the pole, ripping it from it's post. At the same time, he did the same with the base of the pole using his foot. With a quick circular motion of his right arm, Kaz caught the pole, near where the base had been, in his hand while securing it under his shoulder.

"Ow!" "What was that for?"

The ends were jagged and slightly bent and twisted from being ripped out. When Kaz aimed the end of the pole at the woman, his intentions would be clear. "Hmm...I think you know why." Kaz didn't want to give the twins away, but he couldn't help, for a split second, glancing towards the car ahead of him to see if the girls were alright. They weren't in any danger from what he could tell, so he focused on the woman on the floor. "You're somewhere that you shouldn't be girlie. So I'll be nice." Kaz's smirk turned into a large malicious smile, wide enough to show his teeth in all their dangerous glory.

"You tell me why you're here, what you did to the train and why, and explain to me why you've ruined a perfectly good day of fun. You do those simple things, and I might let you leave here with your life." While the smile was still there, his expression and eyes promised great pain.

The dark and hulking man's display of speed, coordination, and strength was impressive. It probably should have scared her. The fact that it didn't meant that she was still full of charge. She knew that mentally, but the abuse her body had taken before and during the train ride was starting to catch up.

Lori had been careless in so many ways that she was only just now beginning to regret. She felt the tiredness that generally pressed in when she was drained. Except that she wasn't. She was only just now unloading the last bits of the wild lightning current from her body in the form of a shock that ran through the floor. It was subconscious. Just like the static electricity that was making her bun of hair go frizzy and the sparks in her mouth when she was emotional. Of course, in this train, every time she spoke the sparks arched across from tooth to tooth.

"Hmm... I think you know why."

She looked up at him with an arched brow partially angry because-- No, she didn't know why. Lori didn't understand his sudden and ferocious behavior. She wouldn't have asked if she'd already known. That would be redundant and a waste of time.

So now she had a big man threatening to.. what? Beat her with ferrous material. She had to keep her mouth in check not to ask, "Are you an idiot?" Except that her mental filter seemed detached and she actually asked the question out loud... she rather shouted it truth be told, since she couldn't hear much beyond the sloshing in her ears. Moments ago she had been wondering where all the people had gone. Now that she'd found a fellow passenger, she was beginning to suspect that they one too many.

The big guy glanced around. Nope. Still no other passengers. His voice was low and rumbly enough that even though he wasn't shouting she understood most of what he was saying. Beyond that it was context clues and tone. "You... shouldn't... girlie.... I'll be nice." Lori narrowed her eyes at his lips as he spoke attempting to gain extra meaning by matching them with the words she could make out in her mind. She was no lip reader.

"This is nice?" Stupid mental filter. Stupid minimal hearing. He was grinning at her though. He was grinning like she usually grinned. Like he was the predator. Lori just didn't feel like prey even if the guy had some wicked-pointy dental problems. She yawned even though she wasn't bored or tired. Was yawning rude? She was probably being rude, but then again so was mister "nice" guy.

He'd even called her girlie. Girlie. She didn't feel like getting into a fight about honorifics when she had a nice jagged steel bar pointed at her face. Of course, with the magnetic field she was building he'd have a hell of a time stabbing her with it even if he was as strong as he looked. Hopefully the magnetic field would boast enough teslas to be strong enough to take his fillings too. Assuming monsters with jagged teeth got fillings.

"You tell ... you're here, what you did ... why... explain ... you've ruined a perfectly good day of fun. ...simple things,.. let you leave here... life."

She took her time trying to puzzle out his meaning. It was apparently important. Lori scratched her cheek exposing blackened flesh of a severe burn on the palm of her hand as she stalled for time. Obviously, by the way she moved, she wasn't even aware of the wound. It was one of those injuries that was so bad that it didn't hurt until you saw it. That explained some of her strange behavior and lack of normal emotion. Her body was trying to protect itself. She was shocky, chocked full of adrenaline among other natural safeguards, and then she'd gone walking around New York full of too much wild electricity. And now here she was with a barbed metal bar in her face. What was the question again?

"This is public transportation," she reminded him, though she was quite ashen-faced now. Her body said move, but here she was having to explain while she was sitting at the end of a ... yeah. It was hard to forget the jagged end of a metal bar. It was just so there. And shiny. They had to wax those or something. "I only got on the subway." She shrugged as if people boarded in a similar manor all the time. It was nothing. She hardly even remembered it. Lori's throat was starting to feel a little ragged from the shouting.

"Go and have your "day of fun." See if I care. I just wanted a ride to the Sanctuary..." Her eyes got a bit glossy as she had the sudden realization of why she needed to visit the Sanctuary finally caught up to her. She'd actually done it. Her apartment... her home... it was actually gone. Along with her life and legitimate ties to the human world. She'd done it. She was a real mutant now. Now she was... "I'm a hobo like DK and Geo!" She wailed around the sloppy, rapid heartbeat in her ears. She was breaking down, no fight necessary.

((clarification: the magnetic field she is controlling is meant to keep the jagged metal bar in place and nothing more. It's highly concentrated, strong, and centered at a point on the bar so that it would take quite a bit of strength to overcome. Also, metal objects that are very near (within a foot) may be violently drawn to this field))

"Hmm...I think you know why."

"Are you an idiot?"

>Why is she still shouting?< Amp shrugged at her sister, frowning in concentration. She saw Kaz glance in their direction briefly, before continuing to mess with the woman..

"You're somewhere that you shouldn't be girlie. So I'll be nice."

"This is nice?" And then girl yawned

Amp snickered. "She's high on something."

>Gotta be.< The girls were beginning to enjoy this little tête-à-tête, and smackdown-in-the-making.

"You tell me why you're here, what you did to the train and why, and explain to me why you've ruined a perfectly good day of fun. You do those simple things, and I might let you leave here with your life."

>Twenty bucks says she says something smart.<

"You're on. She can't be that stupid."

"This is public transportation. I only got on the subway."

>Hah!<

Amp rolled her eyes. She reached out for the nearest unconscious passenger, and removed twenty dollars from their wallet, then passed it her sister with a pout.

"She's gotta be on something. Meth? PCP?"

"Maybe she's just a smartass with a deathwish," Vibe replied aloud as she pocketed the money, motioning toward the metal skewer Kaz had poised and ready to stab.

"Go and have your "day of fun." See if I care. I just wanted a ride to the Sanctuary..."

" "The Sanctuary??" " the Twins chorused in surprise.

"I'm a hobo like DK and Geo!"

Amp huffed. She sent a smart remark of her own through the air, directly toward the dueling duo. She made sure to aim for the blond's ears, since she couldn't seem to hear so well.

"Sanctuary residents are not hobos, thank you very much."

It would sound as if the redhead's voice emanated from the walls of the car.