San

San walked down the terminal, trying hard to hold in his scowl. He'd been told it was effective but memorable, and he was trying to be anything but memorable.

He swore to himself that the next person who spouted that 'you know who you look like' nonsense was going to find themselves put through a wall. He glanced to one side at the panorama windows framing a jet pulling in. Or a window, he silently amended. A window would give him just enough amusement to offset the ginormous annoyance he was feeling. San was fairly confident he could dodge the aftermath. His speed had been inexplicably increasing for the last month or so.

He shrugged his bag a little higher on his shoulder. He'd considered checking the bag, but he also remembered Nelson complaining that the security measures had been stepped up. It was probably because of the chips; they didn't fit any known drug profile and the sniffer dogs were always confused by them.

San paused, eyeing the escalators. He held in another sigh as a pair of teenage girls passed him and started whispering in high tones. He wanted to tell them that he could hear them, but that would probably make it all worse.

He descended the less crowded escalator, muttering apologies to the people he pushed past. San took a deep breath. While the chips didn't really do much to him, he'd found during this trip that he'd been leaning on their minute influence a bit more than usual. He resolved to mention it to Nelson.

He could already picture Nelson's face. While Nelson was the manufacturer of the chips, he disdained eating them himself. Nelson's goal was reproducing San's Quell, and he couldn't do it if San's biochemistry changed too much. San's Quell didn't alleviate anything as much as it held him in a holding pattern of pre-adolescence.

San glanced at waiting crowd for the shuttles to baggage claim and decided to walk. The walkers were sparse and seemed in a hurry. It was perfect for him.

He sighed again. The things he did for Dawnie.

******

Surprisingly, the meeting place wasn't at Star Labs or even at the twins' residence. Instead, they were all meeting at what looked like a furniture warehouse. He ghosted into building via an open window, bypassing the security that was slowly toodling by.

Shouldering his bag, he started walking towards the center of the warehouse. It held the only illumination in the place. If it wasn't for the neatly laid out corridors, he was sure that he would have tripped over something before reaching them.

He paused just outside the circle of light. Taking a deep breath, San dispelled the negativity that had been building ever since Dawnie called him and told him that Ella and a few others weren't where they were supposed to be. If not for certain influencers, San was positive that he would have wound up in a 'study room' right next to Ella.

He took a few steps forward, turning a corner into an almost empty square of space. A bubble of joy slowly grew as he took in his old friends.

San felt an anxiety he wasn't even aware of fade as he spotted Lucy and Court. Lucy was sitting on the arm of an overstuffed sofa, her legs in Court's lap. Court was solemnly painting her toenails alternating shades of purple and green.

San held in the eyeroll that threatened to erupt. His hand brushed over the inside pocket that held the last of his Quell. It was an almost absentminded gesture he nearly didn't notice.

Dawnie zipped up to him, smiling. Behind her, Don was rolling his eyes as he stuffed a candy bar into his mouth. San frowned just a bit at the sight. He'd seen those calorie bombs before, and there were already four wrappers on the floor.

He smiled down at Dawnie. Despite the obvious attempt, he noticed that she'd slimmed down recently. Her clothes, while fitted, were loose in places. Her collarbones were also showing. They hadn't been the last time he'd visited.

Lucy looked up from the tablet in her hand. Her skin seemed even paler than the last time he'd seen her. She beamed a welcome at him while Court looked up. There were shadows in Court's eyes that he didn't like.

What happened to everybody?

"Where's Aarti?" he asked instead.

"She's stuck on that island. The Amazons have been on the warpath since Liberation Day, y'know," Dawnie said, tugging him to another sofa. She pushed him down and he let her. "Sit! Sit! The flight must have been so monotonous."

San bit the inside of his cheek to stop the chuckle that wanted to escape. Dawnie always made him laugh.

"The man is fine," Don broke in. "Hey, San. Killed anyone lately?"

"I haven't killed anyone that I know of," San replied with a roll of his eyes as he leaned back. "So, tell me what everyone's been up to?"

"Well, Aarti's incommunicado, Court got tossed in jail, Me and Don are slowly starving to death, and Lucy almost got kidnapped. Oh! And Ella's somebody's test subject," Dawnie tacked on.

San held up a hand as Lucy and Court swiveled towards the twins. He could feel the anger he usually had in check start to bubble ever so slightly.

"What was that last one?" He finally managed.

"Oh," Dawnie paused. "Ella's a test subject?" She ventured, nibbling on her bottom lip.

"The one before that," Lucy said, her voice sharp and pointed.

"Lucy was nearly kidnapped? It was by some sycophant which is so not good," Don answered. He unwrapped another bar, this one with 'IWA' spelled out in colorful letters.

The faint scent told San that this one had many times more calories than the first one. Dawnie's head snapped around at that scent, worrying him even more.

"Not the one about Lucy or the one about me," Court said as he capped the nail polish.

"Oh, that one," Dawnie said, swallowing.

San was sure it was saliva she was swallowing. Suddenly, Dawnie wasn't next to him but to her brother. Don passed over an unopened IWA bar as if it was a regular occurrence.

"Dawnie," San began.

"Is there something you wanted to tell us?" Lucy finished.

Even though he'd never really thought it, at that moment San felt as though Lucy was totally the leader.