The Leauge Of Fail

[a_time_slip]

Janie had been back for a few days now, but was nervous about Snake Steele showing up again. She had weapons but feared she wouldn't be fast enough.

His attack came as a complete surprise, and one of her fears came true. All of the bad guys were working together, which would make winning a lot harder. Today, she was at a mostly empty diner, drowning her sorrows in a plate of pie and a glass of chocolate milkshake.

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[a_time_slip]

"Giovan." she said, staring blankly at her pie. She knew what he was capable of, and the thought of him harming someone she considered a friend was horrible. "I don't know how he got those powers. Four."

Janie was almost ready to lose hope. "What are we going to do?"

[lostinthefog]

Julian followed her gaze which reminded him that he came here because he had been hungry, but somehow he had lost his appetite.

And he shared Janie's hopelessness.

"Can we do anything? I have no idea where we could even start looking for them, let alone do something. They got all kinds of freaky powers. I feel fairly useless, to be honest."

[a_time_slip]

"I can stop time." she admitted, it being something that she'd just discovered "It would be enough for us to get away, but that's hardly going to stop them from coming after us! Solus would just drain me again, and Giovan knows my moves too well..."

She had to think of something. This couldn't be it, could it? "We'll have to always be ready to fight. Always... how are you on weapons? I can give you weapons."

[lostinthefog]

Julian looked a little confused when Janie told him about her time-stopping ability, but he decided he didn't want to know any details he wouldn't understand anyway. It seemed helpful, and that was all he had to know.

He nodded.
"That's the problem, we can't run away." It sounded almost wistfully, because this used to be one of his most favorite strategies.

"I have built-in weapons." He raised his good hand to show his claws. "Although, if you have something that can keep them at a distance, I'll gladly try and learn how to use it."

[a_time_slip]

"I've got a few that might give us a few extra minutes. If Vahl and Solus weren't so powerful..."

Janie put her head in her hands for a second, before reaching into a pocket, and offering Julian something that could have been a flashlight. "It's a supercharged energy weapon. Level five, so I shouldn't even have it, but untwist it, and the barrel of the weapon slides out, the handle becomes the stock."

She wanted to run too, but running would mean that she was in hiding, and not free to do what she pleased. Freedom was a big thing for Janie..

[lostinthefog]

And running meant letting them continue to hurt innocent people. No, this time, it wasn't an option.

Julian took the 'flashlight', eyeing it closely. He brought it in a position in which it wouldn't be seen by other people in the diner and slowly untwisted it.

"Does it kill?" he asked quietly.

[a_time_slip]

"Yes." she said quietly "For normal people... It's got to at least hurt them, doesn't it?"

After another quiet moment, she spoke again. "It packs a lot of power... don't point it at anything you don't want destroyed."

[lostinthefog]

Julian nodded, still thoughtfully looking at the weapon. "I won't."

He was silent for a moment and then looked up, adding in a low voice: "Good. Of those four, Snake probably is what's closest to a 'normal' guy. I missed one chance to kill him. I won't miss another one."

[a_time_slip]

"Giovan should be normal, but he's not. I thought he was dead..." She looked ashamed for a moment, Janie blamed herself that he was still around and able to hurt her friends. "I'll kill him again when I get the chance... and I'll see what I can do about getting rid of those other two."

[lostinthefog]

Julian knew that way of thinking all to well, and despite having the same thoughts about Snake still being around, he felt it was wrong.

"It's not your fault", he said, looking directly at Janie. "It's his. Theirs. What they have done, what they are doing, it's been their choice, not ours. "

[a_time_slip]

She looked directly at Julian, and tried to believe him."Their choice, right."

[lostinthefog]

He sighed and looked at his hands again, he wasn't sure if he could believe himself.

"I know that it feels differently."

[a_time_slip]

"Honestly, it feels like my fault. If I'd just done what Giovan wanted, he'd be back on Kaldoa and you would be one enemy shorter. I appreciate what you're doing, to make me feel better. Thank you. I wish I could do the same for you."

[lostinthefog]

"Don't worry about me. One more or less, what's the difference?"

He looked up again.
"I didn't just say it to make you feel better, but because I mean it. Do you think that doing whatever Giovan wants is a guarantee he'll stop? Really?"

[a_time_slip]

"You're my friend." she admitted to him "I don't have many of those, and even less that I know will be around for a while. You're all... I can't lose you"

She thought for a minute about what Julian said about Giovan. "No. He likes causing trouble and pain to others."

[lostinthefog]

Julian actually managed to smile briefly when hearing Janie's words. But he also knew the constant worry about people close to him all too well.
"I'm afraid that's what happens when people like us have friends. But really, don't worry. I'm not that easy to kill."

Regarding Giovan, he added: "And that's what I meant. People like him, they enjoy what they're doing. Agreeing to their terms will just encourage them to go on."

[a_time_slip]

"I've got to have friends" she said "I can't go through all of this time alone."

[lostinthefog]

He nodded slowly.

"Yeah. And I don't want people like Giovan or Snake stop us from having friends. It's just ..."

He shrugged, unsure how to continue. How could he say that when he was just about to let it happen again himself?

[a_time_slip]

"I know." she said, picking at her pie "I let them control too much. I shouldn't be afraid to let people know about my family and friends. It's like they're holding us prisoner."

[lostinthefog]

"They are. And no, you shouldn't. But in my experience that's the only thing that can keep them safe. Always being careful."

Looking away, he added: "And sometimes not even that is enough."

[a_time_slip]

"If it's not enough... why bother? Where are you staying, Julian? I'll bring more things over for you later."

[lostinthefog]

"I'm convinced it would have ended worse if I hadn't been careful. But it still hasn't saved everyone."

He hesitated answering Janie's question, just out of habit. But if he didn't trust his friends, who else could he trust? So he told her the address of the old house he was living in.
"What sort of things?"

[a_time_slip]

"What did he do?" she asked. She hadn't talked about what happened with her team since Phoenix came to see her when in med bay.

"Grenades, another energy weapon... um, do you have a teleport?" She'd lie on the paperwork since Julian wasn't actually authorized to have some of the things.

[lostinthefog]

"He killed five people in the bar I worked at to get some information from me." He tried to state it matter-of-factly, like something in the news, but it was obvious that he was still stirred up.

Thinking about practical stuff was much easier. "Weapons, that's good. Thank you. And yeah. Phoenix gave me a teleport that can get me to Kaldoa."

[a_time_slip]

"That's terrible. I'm so sorry that you..." She trailed off, and started to get lost in her thoughts, imagining what happened to her friend