What's so Bad About the Bus?

[Rox]

Rox was sitting on a city bus, on her way to work. Rox despised the bus. She hated how close everyone had to sit as well as all of the noise that went along with it. More than once she considered flying to work as a dove, but she would have a hard time explaining to her boss why she didn't have shoes or proper work clothes. They were really strict about that sort of stuff at the lab.

However, today the people were not the worst thing about the bus. No, the worst thing was that Johnny was on the bus. Rox didn't know why, and she didn't care to know why. All she knew was that she didn't like the kid, and so she was sitting on the opposite side of the aisle from him, pretending that he didn't exist.

[Johnny]

The day had been pretty good up until a point. He'd woken up early and had a ginormous breakfast consisting of scrambled eggs, pancakes, sausage, a hashbrown, and toast. Then he had tripped over a $100 dollar bill outside the apartment. He had been very fortunate. Until he got on the bus.

THere had only been one empty seat so Johnny had gotten to it before anyone else. Thenh e had happened to glance over to find out who was beside him. The sight almost gave him a heart attack. It was Rox! His whole day had been officially gone into the dumps. But he had to make the best of it so he inconspicuously slid closer to the window.

[Rox]

Since it was clear that Johnny was not going to try and start chatting with her, Rox allowed herself to relax a little. Her mind wandered as she stared at a neat tattoo of a red star on the back of the neck of the person sitting in front of her. She wondered what the limits of the morphing technology were. Was there a limit to how big of an animal she could become, or how small? And how did she keep her human mind with an animal brain? She knew that there were a bunch of ex-controllers who still had the morphing power from during the invasion, so the answers to her questions were probably out there somewhere, but she didn't know them yet.

Rox was soon so engrossed in her own thoughts that she almost missed what happened next.

The person in front of her stood up as the bus came to its next drop off point. But instead of going to the front of the bus, they headed to the back. Now Rox could see that the person was wearing a trench coat and had some large tinted goggles pulled over her eyes. Strange fashion choice, Rox thought snidely.

No sooner had the though passed through her mind than the person spoke up. "EVERYBODY LISTEN UP! Sit still and nobody will get hurt!" The lady pulled back her trench coat and revealed explosives that were strapped to her body.

"THAT'S RIGHT!" This voice came from the front of the bus. Rox turned to see that two other people dressed in a similar way were preventing people from leaving. "You have all just been recruited to help us be heard!" Rox wasn't sure what to do. Without thinking, she looked over towards Johnny with worry in her eyes.

[Johnny]

Johnny had been staring out the window, waiting for his stop. Kinley Street, Blear Lane, Blaine Street, Rosalind Avenue...and on and on and on. Johnny had passed those streets so many times before that he was tempted to strike up a somewhat-friendly conversatio with Rox, so he wouldn't be bored out of his mind.

That was when the people started yelling. The lady in the back of the bus had dynamite strapped to her (already pudgy) tummy and men in the front had captured the bus. He flicked his eyes around the bus, looking for ways out. For everyone else, of course. All he himself needed was a cracked window or something. Then his eyes landed on Rox's face. She was staring right at him, probably trying to formulate a plan.

"What do we do?" Johnny mouthed to her, slowly sinking down in his seat. It was always a good idea to stay out of sight of anyone who might possibly encourage your death. Besides, it would be very good if he had to morph in plain sight.

[Rox]

When Johnny mouthed the words, 'What should we do,' Rox finally realized that she was staring at him. She quickly looked away, but then realized how stupid she was being, and looked back. She shrugged and put an I-don't-know face on. Before she could do anything else, the people holding them hostage spoke up again, just as the bus started moving again. The driver was at gun point.

"We are members of The Red Star! We will be heard!" All three of them said we will be heard at the same time, and it made Rox nervous. "The faster someone gets us on the news, the faster this will all be over. What are you waiting for? Get on your cell phones! Call the news stations! Call the police! Call your loved ones! The more people we can reach, the better! Just make sure you stay seated, or you WILL be shot!" A few people started to nervously pull out their phones, then more people did as they realized the Red Star people were serious.

Rox didn't have a phone, so she was stuck. Instead she looked over at Johnny again. This time she pointed at herself, then flapped her hands with a questioning look on her face. She was trying to ask if she should turn into a bird. Sure, they were supposed to keep their identities secret, but Rox was not about to die for that secret.

[Johnny]

((Purposely said the wrong name. Johnny has a thing of not remembering agency names.))

Johnny almost missed Rox's pantomiming. He had been busy pulling out his cheap cellphone in obediance to the Red Circle people. As he glanced around, he pointed at the people, then he used his index and middle fingers to point at his eyes and then pointed outwards. Then Johnny pointed at Rox and then made a shadow puppet of a bird. Then he pointed at her again and drew a finger horizontally along his throat. Hopefully the 'if they see you morph then you will die' message got across.

He held up his finger in a 'wait' position as he held his phone up to his ear. "Hello? That you Leroy? Or whoever. Doesn't matter," he said when the phone was answered. "It's me, Johnny. Um, Rox and I are on a bussed being held up by three morons with bomb-belts-no seriously, they have explosives strapped to them- and, um, could we get a little help here?"

Hopefully the teammate could rally the others to come to their aid.

((Phone call okay with you, Rox/Leroy?))

[Leroy]

Leroy was sitting on the couch, watching some television when the phone rang. The moment he picked it up, someone started talking. "Hello? That you Leroy? Or whoever. Doesn't matter. It's me, Johnny. Um, Rox and I are on a bussed being held up by three morons with bomb-belts." Leroy scoffed. As if this wasn't exactly the type of prank Johnny would pull. "No seriously, they have explosives strapped to them- and, um, could we get a little help here?" Leroy was still almost positive that Johnny was pulling his leg, but he didn't really sound like he was joking...

Just as Leroy was about to say 'yeah right' and hang up the phone, the tv went into a breaking news story. I news reporter that looked like they had just sat down was talking about a bus on Stevenson Boulevard that was being held hostage. They didn't have any video clips yet, but the reporter said they were getting calls from people on the bus.

What was Leroy supposed to do? As far as he knew, he was the only one home at the moment. Should he go get the others? Did he have time? Leroy looked at the phone still in his hand the said, "I'm on my way."

[Rox]

Rox's nose started to harden into a beak as she tried to comprehend Johnny's hand gestures. She had never witnessed anything so confusing. However, when he moved his finger across his throat, she understood all too well what he meant. She quickly reversed her morph.

It seemed that Johnny managed to get ahold of someone on his phone and Rox tried to listen in. Unfortunately the bus was pretty loud and she was a bit distracted by their suicidal guards, so she missed most of the conversation. Rox glanced out of her window just as they turned to get onto the freeway. There were people in cars right next to them that were oblivious to what was happening inside the bus. Rox smirked, somehow finding a form of ironic amusement at the thought.

[Johnny]

After a brief hesitation (although to Johnny it was an eternity,) Leroy said that he was on his way. Good. He had convinced him and he had been sincere . For once. For some reason, the whole incident sounded like the week before when he had almost convinced Leroy that he was being held up in a bank. Of course he could've morphed away, but that didn't look like an option here. In the midddle of a bus. With people all around him. And three idiots looking to go out with a bang.

He then began typing on his phone, a text message that could've been sent, but he didn't press send. The message read:

Caled Leroy. Sed he'd cum to r res-q.

(Called Leroy. Said he'd come to our rescue (in case somebody couldn't read my attempt at chatspeak).)

Then he tossed the phone across the aisle to Rox, to allow her to read it.

[Rox]

Rox picked up the phone that Johnny threw after it landed on the floor in front of her. She felt nervous looking at it because she thought it might provoke the people with the explosives into doing something. However, they seemed not to even take notice, after all, most of the people on the bus were already talking on their phones to other people. What kind of highjackers were these, anyway?

According to the gibberish on phone, Leroy was on his way. That was a small consolation to Rox. Even if he did manage to find their bus, what was he going to do? Annoy them to death? If he tried anything, the goggled people would probably detonate themselves. But who knew? Maybe Leroy would think of something. Rox tossed Johnny's phone back.

Rox heard sirens and was pretty sure she caught a glimpse of a news helicopter in the sky. These people sure were getting the attention they had asked for. "Almost time for our cameo," Rox heard the person at the back of the bus comment to a crying woman. Rox wondered what that was supposed to mean...

[Leroy]

Leroy opened a window, took out the screen, and morphed into his duck form as quickly as possible. As soon as he was a bird, he flew out the window and headed towards where the television said they were. But that was three minutes ago, so who knew where they were now. But he would have to at least try to find them.

Learoy beat his powerful and tireless duck wings as he scanned the city, looking for the right streets and a bus that was holding hostages. He was not having much luck until he spotted a news helicopter a short ways off in the distance. That seemed to be a promising place to look. Leroy changed course and headed towards the flying machine. What he would do when he got there, he still didn't know.

[Johnny]

Johnny effortlessly caught the phone on its return trip. He turned it off and put it back in his pocket. There was nothing else he could do. The only weapon he had was the ringtone on his cell phone that only people under 35 can hear. Well, he could morph, but that wasn't advisable since they could kill him (or everyone) if they saw him.

All he could do was wait for Leroy and maybe someone else that Leroy might bring. But to do what? A weevil would be harmless, a dog wouldn't be frightening, a duck would be hopeless. But an elephant? Maybe they wouldn't blow themselves up if an elephant (in the middle of a busy town) attacked?

All he could do was wait, and just stare blankly out the window by Rox.

[Rox]

The bus turned off of the highway and back into the city. They were near the heart of Mariposa now, where the heaviest traffic was. Rox wondered why they would choose to go towards the traffic, and was about to move over to Johnny's seat to ask him, but was lucky she didn't. Right as she was about to raise out of her seat, someone else did the same. And was promptly shot.

Rox recoiled from the sudden loud noise just as one of the highjackers in the front yelled, "I SAID TO STAY IN YOUR SEAT!" Almost everyone in the bus was either completely silent or crying their eyes out. Rox herself was ducking as far down in her seat as she could manage, trying not to be noticed and wondering why the heck anyone would be firing guns while they were wearing explosive suits.

Suddenly, the bus stopped. Did they reach their destination? Did they get stopped by the police? Rox peeked out of the window. They were in the middle of an intersection, blocking off the traffic. Rox shot a worried and questioning look towards Johnny as the buss's engine shut off.

"Alright! We will need some volunteers to go outside of the bus! Any takers? If not, we will choose who goes ourselves." Rox's mind was quickly trying to decide if she would have a better chance of surviving if she stayed inside or went outside. Outside meant that she had a better chance of escape, but inside meant that she probably wouldn't be as involved in whatever those people were going to do. Rox looked over at Johnny again to try and see what he was thinking. She would stick with him, whatever he decided. There was nothing like being held hostage to make you forget how much you disliked someone.