These Are The Darkest Clouds, To have surrounded me

[Lycan]

The time between her response and his own she silently observed him, a sort of personal question beginning to rise up in her mind. He was lonely like her in a sense now that she thought about it, but he felt the pain more recently and in a different matter than herself. He lost a person he loved and his heir in a sense due to the same person as herself, was this one of the understandings between them both that allowed him to trust her? She wanted to believe that was one thing, but she also knew her confusion about both sides allowed him to trust her as well.

His response to her statement was lightly noted, though she had no way to reply to it at the same. She merely continued to follow him, or at least she did until they approached a strand of trees and he seemingly disappeared into it. Confused for a moment she focused on the tree, approaching it to touch it only to notice her hand go through it. Okay, he didn't just teleport away from her or anything, he had merely walked through an illusion she didn't expect to be there. Then again, the illusion thing was still a new prospect to her, though most of her animal forms saw through them more readily than herself.

Carefully she walked through the tree only to see she walked into an elevator alongside Cole, tilting her head curiously at him for a second before she headed to the back wall and turned around towards the doors so she could relax. "Seems I already forgot the whole concept of you all needing to hide away from the NINE." And that was what made the illusion thing suddenly make sense all over again. They didn't want the NINE easily hunting them down, did they? And that was when she decided to ask him the question on her mind.

"Say Cole, y'think there is any way we could directly find a link to Antia and destroy whatever plans she has? I know you and I share the one common goal of wanting to get some sort vengeance on her. I thought I also heard word on the street she's looking out for some kind of bodyguard." Well, that would be a task she'd love to pick-up one day, merely because she'd be able to get information on Antia that might help her get some sort of vengeance for the death of her parents.

[Shutter]

He smiled a bit at her comment about not remembering that the VG was in hiding. It was, he was sure, because of the illusion that she said this, but it didn't surprise him because most often thought that the illusion was odd or they didn't understand it. Needless to say, he was calm except for the smile and he hit the button that would take them down to the actual hidden base. They'd go through some security measures when they got there, but for now it was just a smooth ride.

"That's a dangerous assignment, Raven. If our person got found out they'd be dead in a manner of minutes and with Guyer around it would be really hard."

It was hard to imagine anyone wanting that job. None of the Guardians could do it because they were obvious. People knew them, knew their powers. It would be essentially walking into the enemy and handing themselves over. It would be dangerous for most of the others too. In fact, it would take someone knew, someone that people didn't know in order to accomplish the task and then they'd be vulnerable because they were new.

"I could be done, I guess..."

There was no denying that it could be done, but there was a question of whether it should be. If it was him, he'd not assign someone. It would take a volunteer to win over his support of the idea. For now, though, he was concentrated on moving forward as the elevator came to a stop. He stepped over and moved to the retinal scan which gave him access. The detection of another heat signature popped out a keypad and he input an override code which allowed them to continue down the hallway.

[Lycan]

Silently she listened to his response to her question, noticing how he worded things carefully and the way he acted. It was odd how calm he was about it, though also obvious he was concerned for the person who would risk their lives. She would admit from what she heard about this Guyer that it would be risky, but a feral mind could easily throw off a telepath, along with those who learned to keep their thoughts to simple basic needs and hid their true thoughts under a thick layer of natural instinct. The idea of how easily this could be pulled off if someone had her mindset made her just grin a bit, referring to another song she loved.

She was guarded mentally, much like any of the animals she could transform into, her main thoughts always being extremely simple things that would make a person thing she was as intelligent as a programmed ant. However, only when she was certain she was with someone she trusted or by herself would she become the true strategist only a select few knew her for. She was a strong believer in many things she was willing to stand up for and stubborn to the point where she could easily get herself killed, but since when did that stop her?

"It would merely take one who knows how to put up either a mental barrier or trigger their thoughts to be purely of natural instincts. Not that hard when you trigger feral instincts almost daily or have trained yourself for some period of time to form a block." She was only subtly hinting that it was a task she would one day take up without a single bit of hesistation, knowing well enough that the VG wouldn't immediately trust her. She was an outsider, one with abilities at that, so she could easily be mistakened for a spy.. unless they had the same ideals as the male she was following without much worry.

"Besides, it'd be fun for a person who enjoys messing with peoples minds.. they'd be doing it by spying and lying. Hard for some, yet not for others." Aye, sadly one of her favorite things was mind games, though she didn't know Cole well enough to prove that point to him. She loved to make people think deeper than they ever have before, trigger more of their true emotions or find out information they wouldn't normally reveal otherwise. But then again, that related to her natural abilities to trick her enemies if she wanted to.

[Shutter]

"I suppose it could work."

He had his doubts but what she said rang true in his mind so he couldn't shoot down the idea. She made it sound rather easy, in fact, but he knew it wouldn't be as easy as she thought. The person that undertook such an endeavor would have an insane amount of pressure put on them. If they cracked under that pressure then all would be lost and it would be catastrophic. That little bit was what worried him. Losing anyone was hard.

They walked the long hall to the rest of the underground compound and entered through a sliding magnetic door. Inside they found the main room empty, but the place was definitely occupied. There were newspapers on the coffee table and the place was slightly messed up beside, the pillows weren't in the right spots. Whoever it was, since there was no noise, he figured was probably sleeping or had gone out for a run or something.

"Want something to drink?"

The kitchen was around the corner from the main lounge and that's where he was headed. He turned his gaze back to Raven to see what she would say, though. Upon entering the kitchen he could see that no one had done the dishes. He'd get on whoever was around later about keeping the place somewhat tidy, but for now he wasn't worried. He even went to remove his mask.

[Lycan]

As they continued alongside she began to carefully observe her surroundings, imprinting certain things she passed by into her memory for later just incase she happened to be wandering around one day. The number one thing she did not want to happen was to get lost in a maze of some sort without any sort help to get her back to safety, and who knows what kind of trouble she could accidentally cause then? She'd feel bad in reality if it came down to the point where she set off some alarm and it turned out to be a false one in the end.

When they entered the main room she arched a brow for a second curiously, noticing how it was a bit of a mess. Without a second thought she wandered over to the couch and started cleaning up things a little, not even noticing she was doing it until she went to straight up the stuff on the table. It was an odd habit she had, hating disorder within a household or any indoor environment, but loving it outside in the open. True, that was a contradicting trait she had, but a lot of things she did could be considered contradicting when compared to her personality.

When he spoke she backed away from the table and couch, tilting her head a bit to look in his direction. "Water's fine, I'm not a big fan of all the sweet stuff you like to call soda and energy drinks." Well, it was more of the fact her body was unused to it ever since she started shapeshifting, a part of her having of become the wolf since that first day. She could survive longer without food or water, could hear and see better as well, but the downfall was how strong her natural instincts were. A single noise that she considered abnormal could wake her up from a decent slumber, which often led to lack of sleep.

"Tell me this isn't like the whole Teen Titans thing, it almost looks like a teen was hanging around and then had to run off." It was true, she was one of the few who had hidden comic books around to overlook, being able to faintly relate to Beast Boy after all. Except he could just shapeshift without needing what she needed and for some reason remained green no matter what. That was one thing she could never grasp, but then again, it was like her little 'curse' that came along with her 'gift' she supposed.

[Shutter]

"There might be a few here. We can't reject people based on age. For some this is the only safe place they can find. This was probably not a teen, though. Just someone who's messy."

He found his way into the fridge and grabbed two bottle of water, one of which he handed to Lycan. The other one he popped open and proceeded to down completely before going back for another one. The second one he would drink sufficiently more slowly than he had the first one but he had needed that first bottle of water just to refresh himself enough to where he could function normally and whatnot. He didn't like feeling extremely thirsty.

That done, he walked over to the kitchen table and took a seat in one of the chairs. Lifting his hand, he removed his mask and tossed it onto the table. From there he removed his jacket and even his shirt, baring the extensively toned muscles beneath his clothing towards her. But he was hot so he wasn't doing it because he wanted to show off. He was doing it because he had to find a way to cool down somewhat.

"There are a lot of people that use these safe houses. They aren't always clean."

Most of the time they were a lot dirtier than this one was. It annoyed him to some extent, but he couldn't always catch it because he didn't often stay in the safe houses. He was a loner. He drove around on his motorcycle all the time, looking for ways to hurt NINE. It was the only thing that made him feel remotely better. Plus, in his own way, he was looking for an opportunity to get to Antia and deal with her once and for all.

[Lycan]

At his first comment she couldn't help but smile a little, accepting the bottle of water before following him to the kitchen to sit down and relax for a little. She could understand what it was like to be on the run as a teen, having no where safe to hide away, so she merely had to become one amongst the crowd. It wasn't as tough on her though, but that was merely the fact she could shapeshift into animals as a sort of release just to run or fly out her suppressed anger at all that was going on. Subconsciously she opened the bottle, but played with the cap in her hand before actually taking a drink and sitting down.

Of course, she was able to merely shrug off the fact he not only no longer had his mask, but also his shirt as well. Though a part of her was interested in seeing what he looked like, a large portion of her just merely took it as something that she couldn't stare at for obvious reasons. She was one of the rare few never drawn fully to a person because of their physical appearance, rather their true personality first. Sure, it was rare to find anyone like herself, but she had learned it saved her from tons of trouble when it came to stupid little crushes and the like.

"Living on the streets are tough, I'll admit to that. In a way I'm jealous of those who had family, relationships and shelter during a good portion of their lives.. and didn't lose it once." Her gaze was focused directly on her water bottle which she had placed on the table after taking a seat at one of the other chairs at the table. "You understand I'm pretty sure what it's like to lose strong bonds, especially people who helped you through life.. even if in your case it was your wife."

Sighing softly, she gazed up to him, eyes not hiding the true emotions she felt at the moment. The feelings of loneliness, being uncertain oneself because of their past, the pain of losing ones close to you.. all those she had experience basically at once. "Which is the exact reason why I wish I could make Antia suffer what we have suffered, even if it meant my life one day. She might be cruel and evil, but underneath all that there has to be some weakness, something we can hit to make her feel the pain we have felt..."

[Shutter]

"It could quite possibly be that she is simply misunderstood. That's she's been pushed so far to make her the way she is. We shouldn't presume to know fully."

As much as he didn't like her, there was a part of him who couldn't help but wonder. There was another part of him that wanted to kill her and that's what he was mostly ruled by, but even he could only do so much. He'd never been able to get near to her. He'd never been able to get past her guards, to get past her illusions. It didn't matter what he did, he couldn't get to her. Now he was starting to wonder whether it was a fools quest.

Perhaps he should simply focus upon fighting the fight. He just needed to keep going with the little battles. Hit their small buildings, their big buildings. Weaken NINE by hitting them where it counts without risking too much. They had never been able to stop him before. They had never gotten more than a few shots upon him. A few painful shots, but only a few shots and for that he was very much thankful of his abilities.

"Don't give up your life for vengeance, Raven. However much you think it would feel good, it will not fill the hole inside of you."

He knew that all too well. He's experienced all of it. The pain. It had hurt so bad when Alex had first died. It had been horrible carrying her body to the hill by the tree and burying her. It hurt for a long time after that too. He'd drowned the hurt in hunting the enemy and making them pay dearly and he'd come close to killing a few, but never had. It hurt even now, and likely always would.

"It's not worth it."

[Lycan]

Everything he said was only mildly noted in her mind until the last few words, where she couldn't help but chuckle softly to herself. There was one major difference between the two of them, one difference that she could easily use to show why it didn't even matter to her in the first place. Unlike him, she didn't have people who she really had bonds with, nor some form of trust in until recently, but that was merely because he didn't kill her nor try to backstab her in any shape or form yet. Letting a small sigh escape her lips she grabbed a hold of the water bottle with her left hand, reminding herself she was, indeed, alive and in the situation she was in.

"It's not worth it to those who have people to care for them and people who look to them for guidance, true. But for someone who has already lived a good portion of their life suffering alone and has no bonds to hold them down.. then it could be worth everything." As for the hole inside of her, it really didn't matter much anymore to her, she had given up trying to fill up the void a long while back. She didn't know how to explain it to him or get him to understand her story, but she figured it was better off not trying in the end.

After opening the bottle and downing the rest of the water she placed it carefully on it's side, closing the top before spinning it just to see what would happen. It ended up pointing almost directly to her left and his right, which she found sort of amusing to a certain degree, but it was also the way her mind was looking. There was an invisible barrier between every person and herself, one they would have to break to really get to know who she was, but that wall was pretty strong and she would openly admit to that bit.

"Besides, no one really knows me for who I really am, so how would a life like mine with no bonds be mourned if they died trying to make someone understand the pain they felt?" She felt like it was a simple and easy to answer question, yet in reality she had no clue how he would view her statement. There were really only two ways, but in her mindset she believed she had a valid point that made complete sense despite the risk factor of it.

[Shutter]

"Everyone is important, Raven. Just because you don't have ties to a lot of people doesn't mean you won't be missed."

In the military all were missed. Someone died and they were instantly remembered and mourned whether they had friends in their unit or not. The fact of the matter was that there was a sense of camaraderie that was developed by everyone in the world to people they didn't even know. It was based on ideals, on who you were and what you lived for. Whether you had friends or not mattered very little to whether you were loved or cared for. Besides, he didn't like losing people.

But besides that, to willingly throw away ones life in such a manner was just plain stupid. She was a person. She was a woman who existed in this world, who had purpose, ideals. She was someone important even if she didn't have people to tell her such. God didn't view her as unimportant, but she might not be a believer of such and he couldn't convince her of such either. But he did, and he didn't view her as unimportant. They had a bond now.

"You're a human being, a person. All people have bonds whether they choose to acknowledge them. All people have someone who cares for them whether they know it or not. To throw your life away is just a waste."

He stood from his seat and walked back over to the fridge, checking inside to see if there was any food around. He found a sandwich that someone had made but not eaten and grabbed it up. Closing the fridge behind him, he turned back to her and took a big bite of the sandwich. He needed food, and he wasn't going to spare her from watching him eat, though she could turn away if she wanted.

[Lycan]

Disbelief still remained despite his words when he first spoke, not able to fully understand the concept of everyone being important. So the ones who went around killing people for no valid reasons were just as equal as themselves? It made no sense whatsoever, or at least until he explained the bonds part of it all, which did mostly make sense. Bonds existed no matter what.. be it ones of hatred or ones of understanding, so maybe that was why it was impossible for her not to somehow be faintly missed?

Heck, for all you know your enemies might be unhappy that your gone because they no longer had someone to hunt down. She wasn't certain, but bonds did exist unforunately and it was one thing she was growing to dislike when it came down to it. This only related to the fear of letting people down and hurting them, both of which she hated when it came down to those who she would grow close to, and if they existed it would hold her down from doing missions like the one she really wished to attempt.

"I suppose your right, but at the same time sometimes lives end up getting taken in exchange for information that will, in the end, save more lives than if they had not put their lives on the line." Now she was going to start debating, a natural habit of hers once she had her mind set on a certain point she felt she could prove was right. It might not be right in reality, but in her mindset it was and she was stubborn to prove her points one way or another.

Another thing was the fact she was in a place where her llfe could easily be on the line anyways, so what did it even matter? "Besides, making yourself an ally of either side is, one way or another, is putting your life on the line." Yet another little point that linked to her overall one, not missing a beat when the thought popped into her head. It was obvious she wasn't afraid to start up a debate, but her lighter tone showed that she was certain to keep it friendly and not let it get fully serious.

[Shutter]

He would have made some sort of comeback to both of her statements, but he was forced to pause in his thinking because in truth she was right. Sometimes people had to die to get the information needed to save the lives of thousands of others. It had happened before and he was just about one hundred percent positive that it would keep happening for all time. People were going to die and people were going to be going after information. There was no stopping it, you just had to expect it and move on when it happened. Grieve for lost friends, but realize they did a service in the end.

"Yeah, I guess you're right there."

He hated to admit it but there wasn't anything else to do. Likely she could tell that he hadn't wanted to admit that she was right just by looking at his face, but he didn't care. Taking another bite from his sandwich he walked over to where she was and then motioned for her to follow him. Leading her off through the safe house, he led her down a hall to where the living quarters were. He knocked on a door and peeked inside for a moment before opening it fully and leading her in.

"You can use this room as yours as long as you're here. Just make sure to lock it at night when you're in it so someone doesn't walk in on you."

He didn't have a room set up for himself yet, but something told him he wasn't going to be sleeping much that night anyways and that he'd be better off sleeping on the couch. He'd likely do that, too. Usually his gut feelings weren't far off when they told him he likely wasn't going to be doing something. They were pretty good about not lying to him on such matters.

[Lycan]

Of course she immediately noticed the difference in his response as compared to his face but she didn't dare to question it, figuring he knew she was right on her point but hated accepting the fact. If they had been talking of this subject back when her parents were around she would've believed every word he said and had the same views, but reality was what influenced her now as compared to optimism. She learned how harsh the world could be, how she would need to be ready to stand her ground at any moment when she was young just to live another day, and it had made her see things differently than a lot her age.

As those thoughts passed through her mind she suddenly noticed he got up and had motioned for her to follow him. Curious, she quickly got up, trailing behind him to find out where he was bringing her to now. After he knocked on one of the doors and opened it to reveal a room she quickly understood, happily going over and sitting indian-style on the bed before giving him a small smile. It had been forever that she had the comfort of a real bed to sit on, let alone possibly even sleep on, and she was definitely grateful for it.

"Thank you Cole... for everything I suppose. This means a lot, I'm not quite used to being able to trust someone within the first few minutes of meeting them and visa versa." Dropping her gaze she let out a small sigh, nervously playing with a loose thread she noticed on the bottom of her shirt. It was a new situation for her, or at least it had felt rather new, because the last time something like this occured as when she was merely a child with no understanding the soon to be harsh world around herself. Lightly clearing her throat as if to try and clear away her faint nervousness she gazed back up, tilting her head slightly to the side in curiousity.

"Shouldn't you rest as well? Your the one who was ready to collaspe earlier, besides using those little pill things you have. Those could only last for so long once your body gets used to them I would imagine..." Well, she really didn't know, but she was going off the simple fact that most things that gave energy such as coffee or soda wore off after so long, and if you drank it a lot it slowly began to lose its ability to give you energy or sugar highs of any kind.

[Shutter]

"Don't worry about it. Helping people is what we do. But.. it's what I like to do somewhat more than others. You'll be safe here anyways."

Yes, she would be as safe as she possible could be. This place was highly defended and sealed completely. No one could get in or out without being allowed to do so and no one could come in without the AI watching them. Add in that the entrance was hidden behind the illusion of a tree and it made things all the better. It was completely sealed off and taken care of as all safe havens should be.

"Yeah, I should try and rest."

He would admit to that. At the same time as he did he took steps backwards towards the door and stopped in the doorway. For the moment he didn't really want to leave because she was the first person he'd sat and talked to for a very long time. He was slightly afraid that she wouldn't stick around, or that she might run off and go through with her plan as she mentioned to him earlier. That was serious business and he'd never let her go as long as he could stop her.

"In the morning there will be an access code on a piece of paper under your door. The code will allow you to enter and leave. Don't take it with you out of here. Memorize it. And now, good night."

He smiled at her and stepped back, closing the door after doing so. He was definitely tired and she was right that he needed to go and sleep. If anyone knew that it was him. So, when he left her in her room, he went off towards his room and eventually went to sleep. He didn't stay there long, though, as he was called off. Before he left he slid the code under Raven's door along with a note telling her not to do anything rash. Then he was gone.

[Lycan]

Safe, the one word she was so unused to hearing these days. It was just nice to know she had a roof to be under where she wouldn't have to worry about a mech flipping out randomly or being awoken by random fights that often happened on the streets. Knowing that she could relax she allowed any tension to leave her body, facial expression softening as well from a semi-serious appearance to that of casual expression. It was a rare time where she didn't need to worry about anything and she was planning to take advantage of it temporarily to relax, knowing well enough it might not last long.

As he went to back out she watched him with more of a sense of curiousity rather than caution, wondering if he was actually going to leave or not by the fact he paused. It was then he spoke again, not being able to hold back a sort of chuckle at how things went from generally casual to something more serious such as the code. It was then he said good night and actually gave a smile, which she returned with a true smile of her own and a soft good night before he closed to the door.

After she was certain he was gone she let a small sigh escape her lips, falling onto her back and relaxing, closing her eyes to slowly drift off into a light sleep. It was a restless sleep, filled with plenty of random nightmares that were typical for her, only waking up once soon after he slipped the note under her door. Trying to calm down from the sudden awakening she sat up, rubbing her temples lightly to rid of the headache that came with the lack of sleep she had been getting lately, although her animal forms would be perfectly fine with the amount she got.

It was then she noticed the note, carefully getting up to grab it and read over it. She was quick to memorize the code, not noticing his little note until after she basically imprinted the very important part of her survival into her mind. So, he was worried about her already? Shaking her head she couldn't help but laugh softly to herself, heading outside to take a run in her new cheetah form, figuring it would be the easiest way to wake herself up. After all, she wasn't planning on running away, as long as he didn't give her a reason to at least.

(ooc. The end of this board, I suppose =). Yay for a new one.. eventually.)