Enlightened

With a lax motion, Amy tossed Ryan's pants into his face and then leaned back.

"So what do we do now that you ruined all my fun?" she asked sarcastically. "Maybe we can drive around and lob water balloons at random people on the street?"

Ryan caught the pants in a single motion, quickly placing them back on before glancing at Amy as she made her suggestion. "Well I'm sure that we could make that work if it would make you feel better," Ryan said as he stretched and cracked his necks. "We do have like.......two hundred more to fill after all"

"Nah the moment's passed," Amy replied with a yawn. "I think it may be about time for me to start heading for home and get some rest. I'll save up the balloons for another day. I'm sure we can find something amusing to do with them!"

"I guess you have a point," Ryan said as he looked right at Amy. "Do you want me to drive you home or are you just going to walk? I'm happy doing either," he admitted.

"I'll walk. I need the exercise. Besides, driving with that foot probably wouldn't feel the best. Probably better to give it a little time to stop throbbing before you have to get up for the day tomorrow." At that she climbed to her feet, heading toward the door slowly, expecting Ryan to either show her out or start complaining that she was leaving a wet mess for him to deal with.

"Oh God don't start talking about how you're fat. You know that you're not," Ryan said with a small smile as Amy began to head towards the door. He walked over and opened the door for her. "I'll catch you tomorrow, I'll pick you up at the usual time," Ryan said before allowing Amy to head out. As soon as he closed the door he noticed and remembered the mess that was behind.

"Damn it!" Amy would hear him shout as she was walking away.

"I'll be there!" Amy called back with a final wave on her way out the door. She walked away calmly... until she heard the loud swear from within the house. She picked up the pace immediately, practically high stepping her way away from the house as quickly as possible. He could handle it! She was tired!

The next day, Ryan sat outside Amy's house in his car. Today was Friday so the only reason he was motivated to go to classes today was because of the fact that it was the weekend immediately after. So now he waited outside Amy's house as he normally did, as he offered to drive her to school. They needed to step on it though or they were going to be late to home room.

Amy was never on time, constantly bringing up that one needed to be fashionably late to everything they did. It wasn’t really on purpose, but she certainly made a valiant effort to make it seem as though it were.

Today she was running especially late, hurriedly brushing her teeth as Ryan pulled up. Damn that sucked! It took her at least an extra five minutes longer than usual before she was hopping around in front of her front door attempting to jam her foot into her shoes one after the other. She bolted out quickly, only to run back in almost immediately and emerge once again a few seconds later with her purse in tow.

A quick sprint and she was hopping into Ryan’s passenger seat entirely out of breath.

“You saw nothing,” she ordered almost the moment that her bottom hit the seat. “How’s your foot?”

"No idea what you're talking about," Ryan said with a small smile as he began to drive off once Amy put her seat belt on. "So how was your morning? Sleep well?" he asked curiously as they continued to drive forward. He was used to Amy's little last minute trips, so it wasn't like he was worried about anything in particular today.

"And my foot's perfect. I can't feel anything at all in there.........in the good way" Ryan added with another laugh.

“When have you ever known me to sleep well on a school night?” Amy asked about what was, to her, an entirely obvious question. She slumped back in her seat, holding her eyes closed for a moment before opening them again. “I have way too big of an issue getting to sleep at a proper time at night, but I’d rather not get myself hooked on sleeping pills. At least I can catch up over the weekend haul.” Her statement ended with an appropriate yawn. “I assume that means that you can at least feel the presence of your foot, cuz if you couldn’t that could be a little worrisome.”

"Yeah I suppose that you have a point, I don't think that anyone sleeps well on school nights," Ryan said as he continued driving. "After all, who really enjoys going to school you know?" he asked as he stopped at a red light. "And yes I can feel my foot, I just meant that it doesn't hurt that's all," he said as they kept moving forward.

Suddenly though, Amy would hear a sharp noise in her ear. "Amy? Amy can you hear me?" a familiar voice said in her ear. "It's Mr. Reese, I'm afraid that you two are going to be skipping class today. I have an assignment for you"

Amy’s eye twitched as a voice that wasn’t Ryan’s burst into her mind. It was a little creepy that he could contact her at any time. It also proved her belief wrong that the guy had just been a crazy old coot with a lot of money. Quickly following that she wondered if he could actually hear her thoughts and quickly attempted to fill her mind with random nothingness.

“I’m not the only one hearing that, am I?” she asked quickly, praying that she hadn’t just lost her mind.

"Hear what?" Ryan said at first. The voice had said Amy for a reason after all, but it was only a moment later that the same voice entered into his own mind and explained the situation. Ryan listened intently for a moment. "What you want us to just skip class? Don't you think that someone will get curious as to where we are?" he asked.

The voice gave a small laugh. "Believe me, I have enough connections to the point where no one will be asking any questions. And no that's not a threat, just a statement. Now, get down to Memphis Street, I'll have someone meet you there"

Ryan glanced over at Amy. "You ready for this?"

Amy’s brow raised as their recent acquaintance said something incredibly frightening and then dismissed it as nonthreatening.

“That’s kinda scary man!” she chastised in partial alarm. “Don’t say that kinda stuff to kids you’re inviting into your unmarked van!” It was a slightly off kilter comparison, but overall fairly accurate. They were being forced to trust a stranger when they weren’t even positive of the consequences. For now, at least Amy was only in it for the reward at the end.

“Let’s see what this is all about then…” she spoke cautiously to Ryan with a quick sigh, leaning back into her seat in dejection. Normally she wouldn’t object to skipping out of class, but saving the world or whatever sounded like an even bigger possible hassle. She had the feeling that, by the end, she’d wish she’d gone to school instead.

"Oh come now Amy, I thought you of all people would appreciate a nice day off," the voice said with a small laugh at the end. "Besides I'm not making you do anything, just offering you a good deal of a reward for you helping me out," he pointed out. "Anyway, just get down there and my man will find you. His name will be Lloyd Flinnton, don't trust anyone until he gives you that name"

Ryan glanced over at Amy as he listened to her tone. "You know it's not like he's blackmailing us," he said as he looked right at Amy. They were at a red light so he wasn't worried about the road. "We can go to school and call it quits, he can't make us do anything"

"Nah, my interest is piqued," Amy replied as she attempted to regain her casual air. She was still a little nervous, but she also had an uncanny curiosity. "Let's see which it is we find: a bowl full of candy... or a tear-stained mattress. If things go south I'm sure we can handle ourselves."

"Alright, but keep in mind we can stop at any point. We don't have to do this," Ryan said as he continued towards the target destination. They continued driving for some time, although Ryan had to look around at one point because he didn't exactly know the street that they were going to. Upon arriving they would see several stores nearby. "I wonder what we're supposed to do here," Ryan said as they pulled up to a parking spot.

They got out and locked the car. Ryan also went over and paid the toll for parking in that spot. He put in enough quarters for an hour's worth of time. "The guy said to wait and this Lloyd guy would find us right?"

“I… think so?” Amy responded, seeming just as unsure as Ryan concerning what they were supposed to do now. Finally, she just sat on the hood of his car and glanced around. Nothing about the place seemed special. “I can’t really say that it’s immediately apparent why we needed to come here…” she spoke up with exasperation.

"Of course not, because it hasn't happened yet" a sudden voice cut in. Ryan and Amy would both turn to see a blonde-haired man. He was about six feet tall and decently built. "You were hired in order to prevent crimes from happening, not fix them when they've already taken place," the man said before extending his hand. "Lloyd Flinnton. I'm told that we have a mutual friend," he said as he looked right at Amy.

Amy actually jumped, practically falling right off the car with the new and sudden voice in the area. It took her a moment to catch her breath again once the guy announced himself as the associate that they were supposed to be meeting. With one final deep breath she reached her hand out for a shake.

“And how the hell do we manage that?” she asked frankly.

"Sorry, didn't mean to startle you," Lloyd said as he shook Amy's hand. "Guess I'm just used to this job by now," he added as he looked at both of them. "Your mark is right over there," he said as he motioned to a restaurant across the way. There was a man sitting outside of it, heavy coated and staring down at his food without eating any of it. "His name is Greg Morris, he has abilities like you do and we know that he plans on robbing several of these local stores. As many as he can before police shows up"

"He's a broken down man, with too many gambling problems and a large amount of debt. By taking all the money from this area he hopes to stay afloat.........that's where the three of us come in," Lloyd stated. "We need to talk to him, convince him to give up this plan before he does something truly terrible"

"Okay, I have a few questions before we jump right into this," Amy spoke up once he'd finished explaining himself, shoving her hands in her pockets casually. "Who are you exactly and why are we so concerned about some stores getting robbed? Stores get robbed all the time and everyone generally leaves it up to the cops to fix. I'm not saying that I won't do it, but I'd like a better reason than that I'm being paid to be a good samaritan, ya know?"

Lloyd glanced over at Amy as she pointed out that she had a few concerns. He supposed that she had a right to ask, but he didn't really want to do it right now. Still, if it would make her do the job he would afford the minute to explain. "Well you know my name already, in regards to what I do I'm like you. I got recruited about a year back in order to stop crimes from happening," he explained.

"As for the store thing, it's about avoiding publicity," Lloyd went on to explain. "The existence of people like us is still a large mystery to most of the world. Our boss would like it to keep that way, he especially wants to avoid bad press, as it would begin to sway public opinion of what we are like," Lloyd said as he looked right at Amy. "There will be a time when we have to reveal our existence, but he doesn't want it to be now. He wants to wait till we're able to show that so many of us are good. "Greg Morris plans on using his ability to rob that store. That word will spread, and people will begin to fear us"

“Alright, makes sense,” Amy replied, actually sounding a little skeptical despite the situation. “Now how do we convince a guy like that to turn from the dark side and face his mounting debts like a man? I get the feeling if we all crowd him and call him out he’ll lose his cool. …What’s he actually capable of anyway?”