Jessica barely had the time to gasp as the red giant pulled her into his bosom. She was being abducted! But if she screamed the giant would surely squash her like a bug. What choice did she have?

For several moments, the red giant's bosom filled her view. She could hear a woman calling out, but she barely paid attention to what was being said. Then the next moment, she found herself planted onto... something soft.

Then a huge pile of candies followed.

"You girls share that stuff while I get us a little bit further away, sorry for being a bit pushy but it does no one any good being questioned by police."

The black-haired teenager turned to stare at the red giant, but he had already shut the door. Then he had hopped into the driver's seat, next to a blonde-haired woman, and...

Wait. She knew this redhead. But that couldn't be. It had to be a coincidence.

Despite that, Jessica could not help but stare at Kaitlyn. The entire situation was beginning to feel much like a dream... and she wasn't sure whether it was a dream or a nightmare.

"Mars, care to drive a hummer?"

When Kaitlyn saw the hulking red man approach, she gasped in surprise. Red giants were not an everyday sight. She felt that she wasn't too far off when the name "Mars" made her think about the planet. Mars was big and red, and so was this guy. Maybe that's why he got the name.

Stranger still was what the man was carrying. One arm held candy, the other a girl who looked a foot taller than Kaitlyn. It was a questionable scene at best. Before Kaitlyn could ponder on it, however, a large truck rolled onto its wheels and un-dented itself right before her eyes with just a wave of Lori's hand.

Did Lori do that?

She sensed that there was an odd similarity between this and what Kaitlyn had done minutes earlier, but she had little time to think about just what this similarity was. Now, Lori was pulling her towards the newly fixed car, and Kaitlyn followed willingly, still quite interested in getting away from the ever-approaching sirens.

With Kaitlyn now in the car, the girl whom Mars was carrying got dumped into the seat next to her, her lap full of candy.

“ You girls share that stuff while I get us a little bit further away, sorry for being a bit pushy but it does no one any good being questioned by police.”

Kaitlyn noticed that the other girl, who looked about ten years older, was staring at her, deep in thought. The red-head smiled back and waved: "Hi, I'm Kaitlyn."

Lori leaned over to Kiss Mars on the cheek. "Don't get too attached." Because Lori didn't really do kids. She could possibly learn to point one in the right direction (aka: at her enemies), but keeping them around for like... ever?

Seatbelt safely in place, she squirmed around in her seat. Hummers were giant so there was no way she could reach the girls in the back seat. "Everyone buckled in?" It wouldn't do to see one of them flying through the front window since they were so freshly acquired... unless flying was what they did.

Were those gummy octopuses?

"Hey. Toss me a gummy?"

A long scraaaaaaape signified the beginning of their safe getaway. Lori was pulling a few metal car corpses to block the path behind them.

Mars hit the guess and the hummer was soon burning a sixth of a gallon for every mile, Mars reached up and took down a pair of mirrored glasses form the sun visor, flipping them open and putting them on he smirked as he filled the look of smug ecoterrorist.

~~"Don't get too attached."

The hummer proceeded to break open from the debris of the little one's enlightenment. The police we on the opposite horizon, but they more than likely would have plenty to do back there at the scene.

His eyes flicked to the back seat in the rearview, to see how the girls were taking it all in.
"Oh, Alright. I meant more the order than I did us. but I suppose if you don't want a puppy."

"Hi, I'm Kaitlyn."

She even sounded the same. At least, she thought she did. But her name was something else. Wasn't it? Was she truly asleep, or was she awake? Was she truely awake, or was she still dreaming?

"Everyone buckled in?"

Oh, right. Seat belt. She was in a car. You needed to put on a seat belt when you were in a car. She had hardly ever been in a car before. This must be a dream then. Automatically, Jessica reached to fasten her seat belt.

"Hey. Toss me a gummy?"

Gummy? Oh. Gummy. She looked down at her lap. Gummies. Lots of gummies. Of course it was a dream. But was it really a dream? Still, she needed to pass the candy.

Wordlessly she took up a blue gummy, and-

The car lurched forward.

With a little gasp, Jessica found herself thrown back into the seat by the acceleration. This felt real enough. Some of the sweets spilled from her lap and scattered around her, on the car seat and the floor.

What was going on? She didn't know any more. She shrunk into herself, fear and uncertainty swirling in her eyes. Kaitlyn's introduction was lost in the midst of her inner turmoil.

Normally, when Kaitlyn introduced herself to somebody, the other person responded. Often, they even supplied their own name. Kaitlyn was staring back at her fellow passenger, waiting impatiently for just such a response.

None came. Not even a grunt or a nod.

Kaitlyn slowly moved her gaze elsewhere, now feeling uncomfortable. Who is she? Why isn't she saying anything? She's just staring at me...

In some irrational plane of thought, something crossed her mind: perhaps this other girl, for some inexplicable reason, did not like her. That might explain why she refused to say anything back.

"Hey. Toss me a gummy?"

The girl jumped into action. While her silent companion was slowly retrieving her stingy offering of a single blue gummy, the redhead swiftly snatched up the entire open bag and wordlessly presented it before Lori.

Hers was a superior offering. With the entire bag before her, Lori would be able to choose whatever variety of gummy suited her fancy, not just the blue kind. Heck, she could even grab a handful of gummies, should she so choose. The fate of this entire colony of gummy octopi were now at this woman's disposal.

And who could she thank for this? Kaitlyn McCarthy. Not little miss Silent McNoname, who was now allowing the candy to spill from her lap and all over the floor of the massive vehicle.

Lori asked and they both responded. They both offered her gummies. Lori was... touched. "Yellow is my favorite." Lori winked at Kaitlyn, plucked two yellow ones and a red from the school of octopi and also the blue from the other girl's hand.

"Don't forget your seatbelt. It won't be long now."

The red gummy was for Mars. Lori stretched it's gummy tentacle and shot it across the hummer's front seats until it plopped against his thigh. The rest were for her. She started by pulling the legs off a yellow one as they zipped around a corner.

"Almost there now."

Mars picked the red octopus off of his leg and ate it.

Mars sped along to the Garage and pulled up to the back of the sanctuary. He honked the horn in a three teo three pattern and they got lucky because someone was already there. A few of the more mechanically incline were playing in the garage. Mars pulled into the garage and then parked in one of the empty spots...looks like they had a new Hummer.

He liked legitimately helping mutants this was certainly fun...though other than the fact that the other girl was still standing.the garage was full of shiny get away cars, motorcycles a delivery truck, a tank all sorts of vehicles, it did seem to be a steady flow of different vehicles as they stole them destroyed them and replaced them with new hot cars.

" have either of you two heard of the sanctuary?"

Jessica started a bit when Lori reached to pick the gummy from her hand. The swift manner in which the other girl - Kaitlyn, not Breeze, certainly not - dismissed her and clamboured for the older woman's attention, in contrast, felt depressingly familiar. It was the same sort of experience she had always had back at the home. But right now, the unexpected attention from Lori stood out.

She still did not know whether this was real or a dream. It was getting too confusing. So she bowed her head, and concentrated on the more mundane task of not hurling while speeding down the streets and taking tight turns. Well, it may or may not be tight, but she barely had experience sitting in a car in the first place.

Wait. They stopped. When did they stop? Jessica closed her eyes; she was still feeling nauseous, and maybe if she wasn't looking at anything, she could make the nausea go away. Mars' words, however, caused her to open her eyes again.

"Have either of you two heard of the Sanctuary?"

Wordlessly, the petite teenager shook her head. Then she regretted taking that action; it felt like swishing goo in her brain. She immeadiately shut her eyes once more, and raised a hand to her forehead. If she wasn't dreaming, then this was probably a nightmare. It'd be the first in a long while, probably.

Kaitlyn answered Lori's wink with a smile, then shot a triumphant glance at the nameless girl. She had now latched on to the irrational idea that the older girl did not like her, and as a result she was beginning to dislike her back. So, just how did this nameless girl feel about her inadequacy at candy retrieval? Kaitlyn was eager to read it from her face... but it looked like glaring inferiority was the least of the girl's worries. Rather, she seemed to be preoccupied with carsickness.

The little girl considered this for a moment. Well... if she was carsick, then that might be why she didn't want to talk to me. I don't like talking when I'm carsick... maybe she doesn't dislike me after all. I should say something nice.

After some deep, thoughtful contemplation, she decided that it would be best to offer some sage advice: "Carsick? ...You should look at the horizon. You don't get as carsick that way, when you look at the horizon." The girl proceeded to look through the windows in search of a horizon, but this was in vain. There were too many buildings in the way. She was in Manhattan. Aaagh... no... that was stupid advice. I'm a bad advice-giver.

The red man began to honk the truck's horn in an odd pattern, and a large garage door began to open for them. At first, Kaitlyn was confused, but she soon understood: this honking pattern was like a secret knock. Somebody outside honks in that pattern, then somebody inside knows that it's okay to open the door. Were they going into a secret clubhouse or something?

Kaitlyn's eyes lit with excitement. Yes, they must be going into a secret clubhouse. Otherwise, they wouldn't need the secret honk to get there. The inside of this garage confirmed her suspicions that something secretive and wonderful was going on: there were motorcycles and fancy cars all over the place. There was even a tank, and a helicopter. In the middle of a busy city. This was all so... secret. And she wanted in on it, because it was secret. She tried to memorize the secret honk: I think it goes 'honkhonkhonk-honkhonk-honkhonkhonk.'

"have either of you two heard of the sanctuary?"

The Sanctuary. That must be the name of the place. "Sanctuary" was a really big word, and Kaitlyn didn't quite know what it meant, but it sounded cool. "Is it a... secret club or something?" she asked with awe.

Lori smiled and there was nothing wicked about it. The little rascal in the back seat was... cute.

"It's a little like a club, but it's not very secret. We invite anybody to come stay with us as long as they have special abilities. Like yours, Kaitlyn." The other girl? Whatever. Mars had stolen her from the candy store for all Lori knew, but he would have his reasons. He didn't just steal children. Usually. Maybe they could just release her back into the wild if she wasn't one of them?

The hummer rumbled in to the garage and the garage door closed after them. As soon as Mars cut the engine, Lori was unbuckling herself and out the door. She opened the door for the girl who was sitting behind her seat. She was the unknown factor here. Maybe harmless as a small girl, but maybe not. People underestimated Lori all the time. She aimed not to return the favor.

"Are you alright?" She tried not to be intimidating which shouldn't have been hard since she wasn't all that tall and the hummer was. "We're here now. Need help getting out?"

Mars hoped out, and opened the other door. "hey were found another one of these gas guzzlers, but they sure are fun to run...." he paused as he was going to say they were fun to run into store fronts.They were like seige engines. " Run around in. he glanced at the little thing infront of him holding out a hand to help her down.

"So dear was I right in my assumption? Your genes kept you standing where humans fell?" He spoke to Jessica.

"Is it a... secret club or something?"

"It's a little like a club, but it's not very secret. We invite anybody to come stay with us as long as they have special abilities. Like yours, Kaitlyn."

Special abilities? What did... but Jessica knew too well what that meant. They were all mutants. What did they want with her? Why had they taken her here?

The teen rubbed at her forehead; the nausea wasn't going away that quickly. She had heard Kaitlyn's advice about carsickness, but a quick peek had verified that, yes, there was no horizon to look at in the middle of skyscrapers.

"Are you alright?"

It was the blonde woman's voice. Jessica turned slightly towards the voice; she didn't dare to make too large a movement least she worsen the nausea.

"Just... a little carsick." Her voice came out as barely above a whisper.

"We're here now. Need help getting out?"

Jessica cracked open her eyes, and saw the blonde woman below her. Below? How big was this car? Truth be told, she had barely noticed just what sort of vehicle she had been chucked into. The red giant was there as well. He was reaching a hand out to her.

Hesitantly, she started to reach her own hand out.

"So dear was I right in my assumption? Your genes kept you standing where humans fell?"

Her arm froze. Was that why they had taken her? They thought she was one of them. What if they found out that she wasn't? Would they do something to her? Beat her? Kill her? Or worse? But how could she possibly tell them otherwise? She didn't know how to lie... not about things like this.

This was either reality, or a nightmare. Either way, it made no difference. She did not know how to respond. And so she remained frozen, speechless, trembling.

"It's a little like a club, but it's not very secret. We invite anybody to come stay with us as long as they have special abilities. Like yours, Kaitlyn."

The girl considered this: she was now in a place where special people, such as herself, were openly invited to live.

After all of the things that her father had done to her, Kaitlyn had fantasized about something like this. She had always imagined that some day, somebody would finally show up and reveal the truth about her. The exact nature of this truth varied wildly from fantasy to fantasy, but it usually ended up giving this somebody a reason to take the girl to a new home. She would live happily ever after in these fantasies, with a new family full of people who were nothing like her father.

These fantasies had always been dismissed by the girl as impossible, unrealistic. Nothing like that would ever happen. Nothing would change. Her life would remain as it was.

Or so she thought. She had just stumbled upon a new home. Kaitlyn was overwhelmed with excitement, to say the very least. Too overwhelmed, in fact, to pay much attention to what was happening just next to her, or what Mars had said to the other people in the garage. The girl might not have even noticed that they weren't alone in the garage, had Mars not started talking to them

Now, Lori was opening the door for her. After the girl successfully exited the massive vehicle, she looked back up at the woman. She needed to confirm that her wishes actually had come true. "Lor..." she started to say, but caught herself. She was talking to an adult, and adults don't like being called by their first name. They always insisted on being called "Mister." or "Misses." or "Miss."

"Miss Lori," the girl corrected herself, "...do you think that I could stay here?" She didn't know much about this "Sanctuary" place, but it had to be better than her current home.

After a look at the girl's clothes, her demeanor... Lori thought it safe to bet she was a runaway. Or maybe an orphan with a power like that.

Miss Lori offered Kaitlyn her hand again, ready to usher her into the world of mutants inside. "Of course you can stay here. You can stay as along as you like. I'll find you a room real close to mine, even." Lori leaned around the back of the Hummer, something that had sounded better in theory than in practice - it took a couple of steps to be able to see Mars on the other side.

"Is anybody hungry over there?" The quiet girl was quiet. They would have to help her be more at home before she would readily speak. Candy didn't do it, maybe something the cooks could whip up would?

It was interesting to think of kids as little people. The same tactics would work on them, in fact, the more straight forward the attempt to bond, the better the response seemed. This is the garage. If you girls ever need a ride somewhere, there are lots of people who can drive here. I bet they'd even teach you, if you wanted." Human laws weren't held in the highest regard here at the Sanctuary.

Lori opened the door to the hall that held her room, Mars' room, and most of the other clones' rooms. Pluto's was now empty. Why not stash the child in there?

"This room is mine." Lori opened the door for Kaitlyn to see. There was a big bed with rumpled black silk sheets and no comforter. The room was messy, but in a book-ish way. Papers, white erase boards, books lay open, an empty cup with a straw, a towel... there wasn't an electrical device in sight.

"And this room," Lori opened Pluto's door. Anything left behind had long been boxed up and put away. Abyss could hardly fault her for keeping a child-pet in there. The reds were keen on women and children. Their hearts were too soft in that way. "This room is empty. Look how close it is to mine. Would you want to stay here, Kaitlyn?"

They'd have to work out where she came from and the legalities of keeping her, but Lisa could do it. She'd done worse.