Can't Fight Fate

Torin shook his head and went to the door. "Who is it?" This time through the door.

"I'm Jack Winters. I was wondering if Christine was home yet." says the man from the other side of the door.

Shadow walks over to Torin "Jack Winters is Christine's father." he says "She didn't talk about him much, but what she said was that 'He was a super hero'." he explains as he opens the door.

The man looks Shadow and Torin over "Greetings, you two." he says with a winning smile. Shadow had decided that he didn't like this guy.

The black and red hedgehog turns and starts back to his office "Call me if troubles brews." he grumbles.

Jack looks to Torin "So, is my daughter back yet?" he asks "Last I seen of her, she was heading off to the Mystic home world and that was it." he chuckles.

Torin watched Shadow and mentally shrugged. Despite him mellowing out, it was almost comforting that Shadow was still..we'll Shadow he guessed.

"Yeah she is. If you want to talk to her.." He pointed where she went. "She'd be that way. At least from the last time I checked. Name's Torin nice to meet ya."

Now was the time for Abraxus to make an appearance "I believe it's best he wait by the door while we get his daughter." he says, still in a bad mood. He walks down stairs.

Jack quirked an eyebrow "He seems like he's not too happy." he says, then looks over to Torin "So, how's the life of a Hunter?" he asks "Incidentally, with such a dangerous job, how does it manage to get people to join?" he asks.

Torin shook his head. "Don't mind him. Anyway its a job or a calling but its a bit rough on people because you don't get much of a chance for a actual Life outside of it at times. As for your later question, I honestly don't know how they go about it. I kinda stumbled on it by chance and decided to join so it was dumb luck on my part."

Jack nods "I see. Well thank you for the insight." he says.

Christine and Abraxus come walking up the stairs "And further more, I don't appreciate being yelled at because you don't know all the facts about a situation." Christine says to Abraxus.

"You can't hardly fault me for that. It was You who didn't give anyone anything to go on except for that lame message." he shoots back "I respect that your personal life is Your business, but when it puts others in potential jeopardy, a bit more information about Why you're leaving would have been appreciated." he points out.

Christine nods "Yes. You're right and I Do apologize about suddenly leaving like I did. If anything of this nature comes up again, I promise I'll give you the full details about why I have to leave." she says.

Abraxus nods "Fair enough." he says as he looks back to the dungeon "Now if you'll excuse me, I feel I need to talk with Mad." he says as he heads back down.

Christine sighs, then looks over to Jack and walks over "Hello, Jack. What can I do for you this night?" she asks.

He looks over to Torin "Could you give me and Christine some privacy?" he asks.

Torin shrugged. "Was planning to. See you later." He headed up the stairs so they could do their thing, while he was curious of why Jack was here it wasn't his business.

Jack and Christine walk out in the night "You know, I was thinking something over and I would like to know, if it's not too much trouble, what happened the day Molly died." he says.

Christine frowns "I really can't tell you too much about what happened. All I know is that two Saiyans came down, one killed the other, the last one and Jason said a few words and then the last Saiyan fired at the shop and me." she explains.

Jack was straight faced while she was telling him what happened. He nods slowly when she finishes.

"If I may ask, why is any of this important? That was like, four years ago." she points out.

Jack nods "I had got to thinking, your mother was Very strong. Will made her as such so there wouldn't be any problems between us and as strong as she was, I find it Very hard to believe that one random alien attack would have been enough to kill her." he says.

Christine blinks in surprise "Wait, what are you saying? That mom's still alive?" she asks "If that's true, where has she been these past four years and why hadn't she tried to make contact?" she asks. "Also, what proof do you have that says otherwise that she's not dead?" she asks. Christine didn't know whether to cry or be pissed.

Jack pulls a newspaper article from his pocket "It was a strong blast from the looks, but there was much rubble left and with all that rubble, there would have been a body, no matter the condition it would be in." he says "The investigators and clean up crew searched the rubble completely and found nothing. That, to me, tells me that there's a chance that Molly's still out there somewhere." he states.

Torin knocked on Camlo's door. "Yo Cam. You up?"

After getting the go ahead, he went inside her room which had a Huge shelf crammed with books. They ranged from fantasy to autobiographies of people as she was a pretty avid reader. Camlo was on the bed reading something but put a book marker on it and placed it aside.

"You usually don't do this, so is there something you want to talk about?"

Torin nodded as he went against the wall and leaned against it. "Yeah. Just you seemed a bit off. I just wanted to know if everything was okay."

The artifical Heartless raised a brow then went back to her reading. "I frankly don't know what you're talking about."

Torin sighed. "Come on. I know you don't like talking about your problems but I'm still your friend and we've been through a lot together."

Camlo said nothing she was just silent. Torin was about to leave but just about he leave when he was interrupted.

"It's about Harlan."

Torin blinked, then came back he decided to shut up and not put his foot in mouth to let her talk. Camlo placed her book on the nightstand. "I just realized something a bit too late, as always I take everything else into account but miss the obvious when it comes to me personally."

"You have feelings for him huh but just realized it recently?" Torin asked or rather pointed out in between. "So then how is that a problem?"

Camlo looked at him sideways. "Because of him and Christine getting rather close. Christine is my friend I don't want to hurt them and there's something it seems on her end even if its one sided. Besides..she'd be a much better match for him."

Torin nodded slowly. "Okay, but first off nothing has really happened. Second 'the better match' crap is up to the person Involved in the first place, you're smarter then that. Though, I guess if you feel something is there and don't want them hurt I can't fault you too much."

Camlo shook her head. "I'll be fine, Strider. I don't want your or anyone elses pity. Just leave me be."

Torin left Camlo after that he guessed he'd head to bed too.

Christine was still frowning and, frankly, she looked unconvinced "I would suggest you talk to Jason about this." she says "He was present throughout the entire ordeal and he has a knowledge of things. Things he couldn't possibly know, he knows." she says as she turns and starts back to the firehouse "I have work to do. I'll see ya later, Jack." she says.

Jack sighs "I'll see you later then, Christine." he mumbles as he slowly takes to the air and heads back to the shop.

* *

Harlan was wandering around the firehouse, looking for Torin, to tell him the news. "Torin! Where are ya, mate! I got some good news!" he calls "Where'd ya get to?" he calls again.

Torin was about to go to his room when Harlan caught him. "Eh I just wandered around. I just got through talking to Camlo about some personal things that were bothering her. You know she's not exactly a chatter box about her problems but everyone needs to vent sometimes."

Harlan pats his friend on the arm "Good news! Lee and Dino said they'll be over tomorrow and set up the holo-room and thanks to Mad, it's all paid for." he says with a grin "So once they're finished, we're good to go!" he says.

Then he sighs "I, uh, suppose I should have told Abraxus and Shadow about this, huh?" he asks "Well, the good news is that they'll preload it with training programs that they believe will be useful to us. You know, teach us to do other cool things." he says, excited.

Torin smiled. "That's pretty cool and you can still talk to them about it but what's done is done. I'm gonna head to bed, is there anything else?"

Harlan shakes his head "Nope. Imma tell Abraxus or maybe Shadow, since Abraxus is in a bad mood. Night." he says as he heads back down stairs just as Christine comes walking up. She nods to Harlan and Torin, respectively, before heading into the girls run.

(Going off she went into the girls dorm, if not I'll edit it)

Camlo was still reading when Christine came into the girls dorm. "Heading to bed or staying up a bit longer?" She asked the young Mystic girl.

Christine greeted her friend and flops on her bed "I think I'm going to hit the hay. It's been a long and stressful few days." she says "Sorry for bugging out on you." she mumbles as she drifts asleep.

"Good night.." Camlo closed her book, putting it back on the dresser and on her way back paused before placing the covers gently on Christine so she was comfortable. She got into her night gown before going to bed with a somewhat tired sigh.

Camlo wondered if this was truly it for her, her life as a Hunter that is. Was she content? Yes. Was she happy? That question was harder to answer. The past was the past and it shouldn't and couldn't hurt you but she had developed a huge case of survivors guilt during her years.

First was the original group she was apart of; out of all the fourteen original Heartless only she and Kyco remained, the later who was now stronger then her. It wasn't a surprise, their creators and Rachel had always pointed out she had a large amount of potential, its just her body was too young to properly handle it at the time. It was different now that she was a young, cheerful teenager. She'd really have to pay the now young lady a visit.

Still, she wondered why she of all people had survived in her different journey's. So many wonderful people she had met on her travels, up to including her dimension 'away trip' she had been gone on so long that had died before their time but she was still here, somehow.

As everyone, except for Mad, Shadow and Abraxus were sleeping, the half devil decided to go out scouting. He needed to clear his head from all the crap that had happened in the past Day! Mad being a monster, while having a monster after him, Christine abandoning them and returning all 'la-di-da' like nothing happened, Cedrick Darkside and her all 'I was bad, now I am good and will bring your family back to life.' and finally Harlan contracting a training room in their firehouse without so much as a 'Hey can I do this?'.

Though, a training room might not be such a bad idea. They had a small gym, but that was only for physical training. From what Harlan said, this room could use holograms for Any kind of training exercise or skill building and what's more, Harlan said the room was going to be build by Lee and Dino Smith! The creators of the Universal Sub-space Storage and Retrieval system.

Still, with all this crap happening all at once, he was starting to wonder if whole starting their own Hunter Cell this was a good idea or not. It's not like they were all friends or anything. They worked together and were acquaintances at most...at least, he was. All of these people were Torin's and Shadow's friends. With the exception of Joyce (who was a temp) and Mad (who didn't seem to care).They all had history with one another. Had fought and bled together. If anything, he was the outsider of this group. As he always was.

Maybe, it was time to change some things up. Level the playing field a bit and call on some acquaintances of his own. Not only could they use the extra man power, but he could use some peace of mind as well.

Torin and Camlo continued to sleep.

(very crappy post, but there's not much to do at the moment since they are, we'll sleep)

Like the cycles of the seasons, the cycle of night to day worked it's celestial magic and like that, it was morning. Shadow comes out of his office, stifling a yawn as he goes for some coffee.

Mad, though suspended, stayed at the firehouse and was working out in the gym, as usual. Harlan, who normally wasn't much of a morning person, was up bright and early!

He was excited for the new training room. He was wondering, though, when they would get here to work on the training room and once here, how long would it take to get it up and running.

Torin was in a coma, though Camlo was up and about and decided to get some breakfast for the time being. She was thinking of a couple of things but many of them were out of her hands.

Christine, for her part, had finally gotten out of bed. She takes a quick shower, gets dressed and heads downstairs, still feeling quite drained. It was almost like she couldn't get any energy *Note to self, ask Jason to teach me how to build up energy like he does.* she thinks to herself "Morning..." she mumbles as she walks downstairs.

Harlan was sitting by the front door, apparently waiting for someone to show up. Shadow was sitting at the kitchen table, enjoying a cup of coffee and reading the morning paper. Mad was training. Joyce and Abraxus were the only ones who were unaccounted for.

Camlo greeted those who were present before grabbing something to eat and starting. Joyce and Abraxus weren't around but the former was suspended anyway and the later we'll who knew for now.

As the morning dragged on, Harlan was getting impatient "Where in the Hell are those two?" he asks, checking his watch.

Christine looks at the clock at well "Who are you waiting for?" she asks.

Harlan stifles a frustrated sigh "I'm waiting for-" his words were cut off when a storage closet opens.

Out of it comes two Humanoid Turtles, dressed exactly the same, except one has a scar on his nose. Everyone, of course, would know them as Lee and Dino Smith. The famous inventors and creator of the Universal Sub-space Storage and Retrieval system.

Dino, the one with the scar, looks at his watch "And..." he starts as Lee shuts the door "We're done! And in record time." he says, triumphantly.

Lee looks over to Harlan "Sorry that took so long, but at long last, it's finished." he says as he taps the panel next to the storage closet, which flips into a touch screen control console "Your new holodeck and training room is complete!" he says, full of pride.

"Why, it's simply the best work we've ever done." Dino says "Oh yes. It's quite the marvelous work of wonder." Lee chimes in "I would dare say that it's even better then the V-Carrier we made for the Vindicator." Dino pipes up "Well I wouldn't go That far, but our work is still quite astounding." Lee corrects.

Harlan holds up his hands "Chaps, I'm certain that both are wonders of science and engineering. But could se get some instructions on how to work this holodeck?" he asks.

Lee nods "Absolutely!" he says as he taps the control panel, which blinks on "Computer, run program 452.001." he says.

There was a confirmation chime as the panel reads 'Running: Jump Program.' "Specified program is now running. You may enter when ready." a female, computer voice says as Lee opens the door. Inside was a vast city scape, full of towering buildings, of which the program was taking place on top of!

Lee closes the door "Computer, end program." he says and gets a confirmation chime "It's that simple. There Are, of course, safeties in place to keep the users from getting seriously hurt." he assures "But those safeties can be manually turned off. In which case, you can be hurt or even killed in there." Dino says "So really think about what you're doing before you decide to shut them off." Lee cautions.

Dino looks over to Shadow "Also, if the safeties are deactivated, a warning will come up on your computer." he explains "Which we took the liberty of upgrading as well. You can now shut the holodeck off whenever you choose as well as restrict who can use it." Lee says "We trust you'll be objective about how and when to use such authority." Dino says.

Lee pulls out a data pad "For any other details, please consult the owners manual and we'll be back in three months to do a routine maintenance inspection." he says "Or if, on the unlikely chance, that it were to break down or malfunction, give us a call. Torin and Harlan can get in contact with us." Dino points out "Any questions?" Lee asks.

There was a lot of possbilties with this thing, though Camlo had only a passing interest in it she could clearly see the potential with this. "At the moment, none I can really think of."