Tangeh
Well-Known Member
Jared Caswell
Dining Room (West Wing), The Institute
Nathan hesitated at Jared's question for long enough that Jared was starting to question whether Nathan had heard it, but then he turned and shrugged. "I don't understand any of this," he finally admitted, the genuine pain and confusion in his tone speaking volumes more than his actual words. "This can't be real. It just can't be! I saw-" his quivering voice broke, and Jared's stern gaze softened. "I saw his body. He held my hand as he died." Nathan stared at “Lucas”, unshed tears glimmering in his eyes.
Jared frowned and opened his mouth to say something – apologize or comfort him maybe; he was pretty taken aback by Nathan's reaction – but a sharp voice interrupted his train of thought. "Perhaps had you been more attentive, you might have saved me," Lucas said, his voice dripping with malice, as if he was enjoying the man's pain. Jared's eyes narrowed at the disrespect, but Lucas's attention didn't linger on Nathan for very long. The other siblings were starting to rise with himself and Lilith, and Lucas's eyes flittered between them before settling on Lyn. "A knife, Lyn? Really?" Jared moved closer to Lyn, ready to protect her if Lucas made any sudden moves. He stood tall and confident and glared at his so-called brother, but anger wasn't the emotion he was really feeling. Beneath the mask, his emotions were swirling between fear, sadness, and confusion. What the hell was going on? "What are you going to do - stab me?"
It turned out that Lyn wasn't the one who needed protecting. Lucas leapt forward at an alarming speed, as if he himself became a streak of light, and as Jared braced in anticipation of wrestling him off Lyn, he stopped instead directly in front of Theo, one hand extended as if to snatch his phone away. Jared froze in shock, as did Theo, who understandably looked terrified. Had... Lucas always been able to do that? Lucas had known too much about Jared's powers, but apparently Jared had known very little about Lucas's. There was nothing Jared could do from the wrong side of the table without making the situation worse, so he watched intently as Lucas taunted Theo. Jared felt like he was only getting half the story watching them – was Theo detecting lies? Jared wasn't sure how to read his bewildered expression – at least until Lucas insisted that “in a certain way” he was Lucas, and Theo's face slowly shifted into a glare.
June burst forward, pulling Theo aside and reaching for Lucas – and her hand went straight through his chest. The entire room seemed to hang in stunned silence for a moment, then Lucas burst into dark smoke that rose into the air and disappeared. Nathan finally lost his composure and sobbed, insisting that June take them away to their rooms. Jared looked pitifully at Nathan, deciding it was best to leave him alone for now, and looked at Lyn. “Are you okay?” he asked quietly. It was a pointless question – even when Lyn's own skin was being torn apart, she always insisted she was okay. Yet he asked it anyway, partly to reassure her that somebody cared, and partly to affirm to both her and himself that, as the asker, he himself must be okay. He was really only okay in one context – that he wasn't about to decimate the entire building. But for now, that was good enough. Lilith had gone to Theo – he definitely wasn't okay, but he also wasn't sharing any information about whether what they'd just heard were lies or truths, which was incredibly frustrating. There wasn't anything Jared could do, but he also realized it didn't matter – he wouldn't trust anything that came out of Theo's mouth anyway.
Upstairs Bedrooms, The Institute
June led everyone upstairs. The group was unusually quiet. Jared glanced at the others and was at least reassured that he clearly wasn't the only one who was unsettled by everything that had just happened. June opened the secret entrance behind the bookcase and the group walked in. Overall, it was much like Jared remembered it. He caught Lilith taking a few pictures out of the corner of his eye, but Jared personally just wanted to disappear into the floor and end up back in India. He'd spent so long trying to forget this place that he only remembered why he'd come in the first place when Ginny asked if they could go in Lucas's room. Some of the others were understandably hesitant – Jared was too, but his desire for more information overrode it. Lyn broke off from the group and went to her old bedroom - Jared didn't question it, knowing even in their teenaged years Lyn needed a lot of rest.
Jared followed Ginny inside and looked around. It was a lot different than he remembered, which was to be expected. It was a little uncomfortable being in here, but he decided to reflect on it later in his nightly prayers. He had work to do now. His attention went at first to the numerous framed newspaper clippings on the walls. A photograph of a smiling Lucas, Devin, Lyn, and a frowning Gale were pictured in one of them – Jared's memory of that day began flooding back as he kept reading. Right – they had all been there, but they'd split up into three groups, and obviously Lucas's group got the most important task, and ergo, all the glory. He had no idea even then what Ginny, Cameron, Morgan, and Theo's group was doing, but he definitely remembered Marron and Garret bickering for most of the mission, to the point where Lilith had to play mediator for half of their conversations. The four of them were often stuck together when they needed to break through locked doors. Garret's metal fists could burst down most things, and combined with Marron's powers, they could do so in complete stealth. Lilith could slip through cracks when they couldn't muscle their way through, or lift them up to impossible to reach areas, and Jared himself was – well – the emergency escape button, and an extra body against the enemy.
“I told you! Alpha just wanted us out of the way! You guys are idiots if you think there's anything down here. We haven't seen anyone in half an hour – what's the goddamn point?!” Garret's silver fist silently burst through another closet, revealing – once again – nothing of interest. “I say we set the bomb off and say we had to retreat. The others are probably done by now anyway and I'm so f*cking tired of Renata and Matthew b*tching at us for not - ”
Garret's mouth continued to flap, but they couldn't hear him. Marron had one hand extended toward him, and rolled her eyes. “Oh shut up Epsilon – I don't know why you give a damn anyway, but we're all sick of your whining. You sound like such a child, 'oh wah-wah, my name is Epsilon and I'll never be as good as Alpha'; literally none of us care!”
Garret glared at her, clearly mouthing the words 'Let. Me. Speak.' Marron lowered her hand, and -
Jared snapped himself out of the memory and stepped away from the article. He couldn't remember much after what Garret had said anyways... aside from the horrified faces of Lilith and Marron when he'd collapsed to the ground, unable to stop his body from...
Maybe that was just one more domino set up that would lead to Garret's ultimate demise. Jared had never said anything, but he wasn't paired with that group as much anymore, so maybe Lilith or Marron had. Sure, Garret pushed everyone's buttons, but his relationship with Marron had always been rocky, at least from his admittedly biased point of view.
Jared glanced behind him to where Theo was tearing apart Lucas's desk. He'd take a look himself when he was done. Speaking of Lilith, she wasn't with him anymore. He couldn't fault her for not wanting to come in here.
Deciding it was a bad idea to read any more of the articles from when they were teens, he looked instead at the Alpha Prime suit in a glass display case on the wall. Right, Lilith had told him about this, though even in India Alpha Prime sometimes made the news. He walked up next to Ginny, who was looking really calm given everything that had just happened. Maybe being in Lucas's room was bringing some comfort to her? Jared glanced at the article behind the suit - “Alpha Prime Puts a Dent in Car Thieves!!” Jared wondered if that first mission was staged too, like their first mission as rangers was. He glanced at Ginny. “It's hard to imagine that he was still doing this after we all moved on... that he felt he couldn't leave, or maybe that he owed it to society.” He stared solemnly at the suit for a few moments. “Did you keep in touch with him?” he asked Ginny, then hesitated, extending the question to the room at large: “...Were any of us able to keep in touch with him?” Their parents would be an obvious roadblock to any lasting relationship with their brother. He certainly hadn't tried, but he doubted Lucas would be interested in conversing with him anyways. He felt just as dehumanized by Lucas as he had by their parents... but he shouldn't be thinking ill of the dead.
“I found Lucas's cellphone, but it doesn’t turn on - does anyone happen to have a charger?” Theo asked, and Jared looked over.
“It's likely around here somewhere...” Jared answered, making a mental note to check the outlets and bedside table.
“There’s also... something you might want to see,” Theo continued. Morgan walked over, and Jared followed behind him as Theo abruptly turned tail and left, insisting he needed some air. He left behind a handful of envelopes and a notebook.
Morgan shuffled through the envelopes, and Jared watched quietly. They looked like they were addressed to various siblings – but what would Lucas have possibly written in there? They weren't postmarked, so it was hard to tell when they were written without opening them. “Looks like Lucas was keeping tabs on us too,” Morgan said as he read through the notebook. It was almost like Lucas had desperately tried to compile all of the important information about them in a few pages.
Jared glanced down, curious if his name was anywhere on there – and to Jared's surprise, it was. 'Jared – possibly went to India ????' Jared almost laughed at the vagueness – though yes, that was technically true. But then his eyes continued down the page – and he was surprised to find his P.O. Box address that he had told Lilith to give to the others if they wished to contact him. Oddly, though, it was scratched out – and to Jared's shock, the address of the temple he lived at had been scribbled in instead. “What – how would he know...?!” He hadn't even given that address to Lilith – was this how the letter that ultimately brought him here had ended up at the temple instead of his P.O. Box?
Dining Room (West Wing), The Institute
Nathan hesitated at Jared's question for long enough that Jared was starting to question whether Nathan had heard it, but then he turned and shrugged. "I don't understand any of this," he finally admitted, the genuine pain and confusion in his tone speaking volumes more than his actual words. "This can't be real. It just can't be! I saw-" his quivering voice broke, and Jared's stern gaze softened. "I saw his body. He held my hand as he died." Nathan stared at “Lucas”, unshed tears glimmering in his eyes.
Jared frowned and opened his mouth to say something – apologize or comfort him maybe; he was pretty taken aback by Nathan's reaction – but a sharp voice interrupted his train of thought. "Perhaps had you been more attentive, you might have saved me," Lucas said, his voice dripping with malice, as if he was enjoying the man's pain. Jared's eyes narrowed at the disrespect, but Lucas's attention didn't linger on Nathan for very long. The other siblings were starting to rise with himself and Lilith, and Lucas's eyes flittered between them before settling on Lyn. "A knife, Lyn? Really?" Jared moved closer to Lyn, ready to protect her if Lucas made any sudden moves. He stood tall and confident and glared at his so-called brother, but anger wasn't the emotion he was really feeling. Beneath the mask, his emotions were swirling between fear, sadness, and confusion. What the hell was going on? "What are you going to do - stab me?"
It turned out that Lyn wasn't the one who needed protecting. Lucas leapt forward at an alarming speed, as if he himself became a streak of light, and as Jared braced in anticipation of wrestling him off Lyn, he stopped instead directly in front of Theo, one hand extended as if to snatch his phone away. Jared froze in shock, as did Theo, who understandably looked terrified. Had... Lucas always been able to do that? Lucas had known too much about Jared's powers, but apparently Jared had known very little about Lucas's. There was nothing Jared could do from the wrong side of the table without making the situation worse, so he watched intently as Lucas taunted Theo. Jared felt like he was only getting half the story watching them – was Theo detecting lies? Jared wasn't sure how to read his bewildered expression – at least until Lucas insisted that “in a certain way” he was Lucas, and Theo's face slowly shifted into a glare.
June burst forward, pulling Theo aside and reaching for Lucas – and her hand went straight through his chest. The entire room seemed to hang in stunned silence for a moment, then Lucas burst into dark smoke that rose into the air and disappeared. Nathan finally lost his composure and sobbed, insisting that June take them away to their rooms. Jared looked pitifully at Nathan, deciding it was best to leave him alone for now, and looked at Lyn. “Are you okay?” he asked quietly. It was a pointless question – even when Lyn's own skin was being torn apart, she always insisted she was okay. Yet he asked it anyway, partly to reassure her that somebody cared, and partly to affirm to both her and himself that, as the asker, he himself must be okay. He was really only okay in one context – that he wasn't about to decimate the entire building. But for now, that was good enough. Lilith had gone to Theo – he definitely wasn't okay, but he also wasn't sharing any information about whether what they'd just heard were lies or truths, which was incredibly frustrating. There wasn't anything Jared could do, but he also realized it didn't matter – he wouldn't trust anything that came out of Theo's mouth anyway.
Upstairs Bedrooms, The Institute
June led everyone upstairs. The group was unusually quiet. Jared glanced at the others and was at least reassured that he clearly wasn't the only one who was unsettled by everything that had just happened. June opened the secret entrance behind the bookcase and the group walked in. Overall, it was much like Jared remembered it. He caught Lilith taking a few pictures out of the corner of his eye, but Jared personally just wanted to disappear into the floor and end up back in India. He'd spent so long trying to forget this place that he only remembered why he'd come in the first place when Ginny asked if they could go in Lucas's room. Some of the others were understandably hesitant – Jared was too, but his desire for more information overrode it. Lyn broke off from the group and went to her old bedroom - Jared didn't question it, knowing even in their teenaged years Lyn needed a lot of rest.
Jared followed Ginny inside and looked around. It was a lot different than he remembered, which was to be expected. It was a little uncomfortable being in here, but he decided to reflect on it later in his nightly prayers. He had work to do now. His attention went at first to the numerous framed newspaper clippings on the walls. A photograph of a smiling Lucas, Devin, Lyn, and a frowning Gale were pictured in one of them – Jared's memory of that day began flooding back as he kept reading. Right – they had all been there, but they'd split up into three groups, and obviously Lucas's group got the most important task, and ergo, all the glory. He had no idea even then what Ginny, Cameron, Morgan, and Theo's group was doing, but he definitely remembered Marron and Garret bickering for most of the mission, to the point where Lilith had to play mediator for half of their conversations. The four of them were often stuck together when they needed to break through locked doors. Garret's metal fists could burst down most things, and combined with Marron's powers, they could do so in complete stealth. Lilith could slip through cracks when they couldn't muscle their way through, or lift them up to impossible to reach areas, and Jared himself was – well – the emergency escape button, and an extra body against the enemy.
“I told you! Alpha just wanted us out of the way! You guys are idiots if you think there's anything down here. We haven't seen anyone in half an hour – what's the goddamn point?!” Garret's silver fist silently burst through another closet, revealing – once again – nothing of interest. “I say we set the bomb off and say we had to retreat. The others are probably done by now anyway and I'm so f*cking tired of Renata and Matthew b*tching at us for not - ”
Garret's mouth continued to flap, but they couldn't hear him. Marron had one hand extended toward him, and rolled her eyes. “Oh shut up Epsilon – I don't know why you give a damn anyway, but we're all sick of your whining. You sound like such a child, 'oh wah-wah, my name is Epsilon and I'll never be as good as Alpha'; literally none of us care!”
Garret glared at her, clearly mouthing the words 'Let. Me. Speak.' Marron lowered her hand, and -
Jared snapped himself out of the memory and stepped away from the article. He couldn't remember much after what Garret had said anyways... aside from the horrified faces of Lilith and Marron when he'd collapsed to the ground, unable to stop his body from...
Maybe that was just one more domino set up that would lead to Garret's ultimate demise. Jared had never said anything, but he wasn't paired with that group as much anymore, so maybe Lilith or Marron had. Sure, Garret pushed everyone's buttons, but his relationship with Marron had always been rocky, at least from his admittedly biased point of view.
Jared glanced behind him to where Theo was tearing apart Lucas's desk. He'd take a look himself when he was done. Speaking of Lilith, she wasn't with him anymore. He couldn't fault her for not wanting to come in here.
Deciding it was a bad idea to read any more of the articles from when they were teens, he looked instead at the Alpha Prime suit in a glass display case on the wall. Right, Lilith had told him about this, though even in India Alpha Prime sometimes made the news. He walked up next to Ginny, who was looking really calm given everything that had just happened. Maybe being in Lucas's room was bringing some comfort to her? Jared glanced at the article behind the suit - “Alpha Prime Puts a Dent in Car Thieves!!” Jared wondered if that first mission was staged too, like their first mission as rangers was. He glanced at Ginny. “It's hard to imagine that he was still doing this after we all moved on... that he felt he couldn't leave, or maybe that he owed it to society.” He stared solemnly at the suit for a few moments. “Did you keep in touch with him?” he asked Ginny, then hesitated, extending the question to the room at large: “...Were any of us able to keep in touch with him?” Their parents would be an obvious roadblock to any lasting relationship with their brother. He certainly hadn't tried, but he doubted Lucas would be interested in conversing with him anyways. He felt just as dehumanized by Lucas as he had by their parents... but he shouldn't be thinking ill of the dead.
“I found Lucas's cellphone, but it doesn’t turn on - does anyone happen to have a charger?” Theo asked, and Jared looked over.
“It's likely around here somewhere...” Jared answered, making a mental note to check the outlets and bedside table.
“There’s also... something you might want to see,” Theo continued. Morgan walked over, and Jared followed behind him as Theo abruptly turned tail and left, insisting he needed some air. He left behind a handful of envelopes and a notebook.
Morgan shuffled through the envelopes, and Jared watched quietly. They looked like they were addressed to various siblings – but what would Lucas have possibly written in there? They weren't postmarked, so it was hard to tell when they were written without opening them. “Looks like Lucas was keeping tabs on us too,” Morgan said as he read through the notebook. It was almost like Lucas had desperately tried to compile all of the important information about them in a few pages.
Jared glanced down, curious if his name was anywhere on there – and to Jared's surprise, it was. 'Jared – possibly went to India ????' Jared almost laughed at the vagueness – though yes, that was technically true. But then his eyes continued down the page – and he was surprised to find his P.O. Box address that he had told Lilith to give to the others if they wished to contact him. Oddly, though, it was scratched out – and to Jared's shock, the address of the temple he lived at had been scribbled in instead. “What – how would he know...?!” He hadn't even given that address to Lilith – was this how the letter that ultimately brought him here had ended up at the temple instead of his P.O. Box?
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