Scouting the Sounds

The group, as a whole, froze in response to the sound that had torn through the night sky. Wesley's mouth went dry, and his brain began to immediately whir into action as the sound faded from around them, the echo slowly fading away. "Left, hide," he hissed, and the group began to move toward the left, with Theodore needing Evie to grab ahold of him and basically drag him off the main path that they'd been on, heading out toward the left side.

An older, ruined building provided an excellent cover for them, and while part of the interior had collapsed, there was still more than enough room to fit them. Wesley lifted a hand to his lips, indicating silence and they all (including Evie) nodded. He didn't know what the sound had been, but it had been awful, and he didn't want to lead the group into anything that could potentially lead them into harm.

Jay's eyes were wide, and paired with his furrowed eyebrows, it was clear that he was looking to fight something, now. When the fight or flight response took hold, his body had done the former, rather than the latter. Still, at his brother's request, he didn't act- not yet. He wanted to, but kept himself in check. If there was another Beast, there was no way in hell they were going to be able to take it out on their own.

John glanced to Wesley, able to see the young man's mind working out something for them to do. "I can go scout," John spoke, his voice barely above a whisper and at that, Wes vehemently shook his head.

"Not enough information," he returned, just as quietly, before another ear-splitting shriek of cacophonic noise ripped through the night sky. He swallowed, closing his eyes for a moment as he realized that the only way that they could get more information is if they went out to scout something. He knew that the other had a lot of Skills in Summoning and Teleportation, due to his high Life and Space Frameworks.

Not to mention he was a Tier Two.

"All right. Just a quick look. Report back," he spoke to John, and the copper-skinned young man nodded as he moved, shifting past Jay and out of the house before he simply vanished from sight as he tapped into his Teleportation Skill. As soon as he was gone, Wesley exhaled slowly. "I hope he doesn't run into anything dangerous."

"He can take care of himself. He's a damn Tier Two or whatever," Sasha hissed low under her breath. "But until we know what we're looking at, we should stay put. If that's a Beast out there, it could tear us all to pieces before we even know what happened," the woman spoke, and the others nodded in response.

Theodore cleared his throat. "We are here... for information... If we have... the information... we should leave..." hes poke simply. There wasn't any fear or any sort of concern in his voice, but that usual matter-of-fact way that he spoke. He just didn't see a reason to stick around and potentially be in more danger if they were able to locate the information now.

"We don't, not yet," Jay responded, glancing toward his brother. "Right?" he asked, a little more wound tightly than usual. Wes could tell that the stress and nerves were making his brother a bit more direct than usual, but also the fact that he wanted to throw down with something in a fight. And there was the chance that this was something they could fight.

Wesley frowned slightly in response to the words. "Look, everyone's right, okay? There's a lot going on here that we don't know yet. We can't move forward until we know what we're looking at. If it's something we might be able to take on, then sure, we can take it on. But if we're looking at another Beast out there that's destroying something, we'll go and report back and I don't really care what they say as far as us being out- they need to know if there's another Beast roaming about out here," Wes spoke, his eyes narrowed as he looked at the rest of them.

There was a hesitation before a few nods came his way- but they were cut short at another loud screeching sound, and Wes' jaw clenched tightly as it went on, before it finally started to fade. He didn't hear back from John, and that made him nervous. "Should we go-" Sasha spoke, seeming to be able to read Wes' mind in that moment, before John suddenly appeared outside the building, looking both shaken, confused... and angry. Very angry. "What the hell is the matter with you?" Sasha asked, the young woman a little spooked, as she wasn't used to seeing that expression on him.

"You need to come and see this," he said, looking directly to Wes. He blinked then, the rest of his gaze flickering to the rest of those gathered. "I can't even... Just come with me," he said quietly, beginning to make his way out of the building. "It's not a Beast," he said, but the way that he said it... it almost made it seem like he wished that it had been. That was foreboding in a way that Wes didn't quite expect. Wes nodded at Jay, who followed John out of the area and began to creep along the darkness of the empty city.

"What is it?" Wesley asked, coming up closer toward John, but the other didn't respond at all, his face flushed and his eyebrows knit in an answer that Wes couldn't really follow or understand. But whatever was coming up here, it was very clearly something that had angered the young man to his core. "All right. We'll wait and see," he responded evenly, not sure of what else he could really say to try and get through to him.

As they drew closer to their destination, voices began to be able to be heard. They were talking amongst themselves, and seeming to be rather excited. Words were difficult to make out, but all the same, there was clearly someone up in front of them. John suddenly vanished, and Wes glanced up, seeing the man on the rooftop a short distance away. "Evie, if you'd do the honors?" he asked, and the girl nodded as the others began to pop up there, one after another.

Wes used his Elemental Emulation Skill to take on the abilities of the Space Framework, before teleporting the energetic girl up on top of the roof as well, before he shifted, letting the Space pull him up on top of it as well.

He glanced at the others as he arrived, seeing expressions ranging from shock and fear to anger, before he turned and looked at the scene below them. Immediately a mixture of emotions, like a cocktail rigged to explode, filled him. "No way..." he whispered.