The Changed: Origins

Plans

Actually, we had a lot to do. We had to figure out what I was going to say, who was going with me and who would go with Stephen, and what we would do when this whole thing turned into the shit show it was likely to become. It was late and everyone was tired but no one wanted to sleep. Kennedy and Stephen went back to the AV room to watch for visitors. Kennedy laughed that he didn't have the mind for scheming anyway. I was sad to see him leave, his seemingly ceaseless good mood helped keep everyone's spirits up.

The outside lights were turned back on and the alarms were set so we would know if anyone slipped past the watch. I joined Sean at the bar and poured myself a glass of amber liqueur while I explained the plan to him. He never looked at me.

"That's a stupid idea." He stared straight ahead. "You'll be lucky if they don't shoot you in the head before you get a word out of that pretty mouth of yours."

"Why are you such an ass?" He just smiled at the mirror. "Well you'll have a front row seat for the action then. I want you to go with me. If things do go to hell you'll get to do all that fighting you want so badly."

He looked down at his half finished drink, "I want to go back to my normal fucking life."

"Yeah, me too, but we can't Sean. Any of us. So you might as well suck it up and help."

He laughed and took a long drink. "Alright angel." He finally turned to look at me and gave me a smile that would turn even the stoniest heart to jelly. "I'll watch your back while you try the diplomatic approach. But if things go bad know that I will take out as many of those assholes as I can before I go down."

"I'm counting on it. That's why I want you to come. It's not that I don't trust the others but if things go bad I need to know someone is with me that will act quickly." He only nodded.

We discussed detail after detail, went round and round until my head ached. Everyone finally agreed that I should talk, but no one agreed about what should be said. Kennedy and Stephen figured I knew what needed to be done and were happy to let me do it. Which was ridiculous because I had absolutely no idea what I was doing. Ben however wanted to make sure I wasn't going to give us all up in the first five minutes which of course made everyone suspicious that was exactly what I planned to do. Colin wanted me to avoid threatening anyone which I would absolutely not agree to as playing to their fear of us was the foundation of the idea to begin with.

"What motivation do they have to listen if they are not scared of us?" I asked him. He saw my point but still tried to find ways to tone down any treat I tried to approach. He was also unhappy I had asked Sean to accompany me.

"He's too much of a hot head Jemma. He's likely to start throwing people around at the first raised voice. I could go. I can watch your back if it comes to that or Mel even."

"If things go bad I will need someone who can act quick. It would take too much time for you to do anything and it would be too dangerous for Mel to just go charging in."

He sighed. I started to argue more but he stopped me. "Fine, you're right. Mel was a bad idea and I used the whole fountain earlier so I'm basically out of ammo."

"That was incredible by the way, what you did with the water." He didn't looked pleased with the compliment.

"I have always loved the water." He chuckled bitterly and leaned tiredly against the table. "That's how I figured out what I could do you know? After the fire I was really unnerved. I sent everyone away because I was afraid they would get hurt by what I was. Everyone but Celia and Fletch because they're stubborn as mules and think if they're not here the house will fall down around me. Anyway, I was feeling low and being by the water has always helped so I went to sit by one of the little pounds in the garden. The water felt different...familiar somehow. I just thought about bring it to me." He looked amused, "I nearly drowned myself! But I've got a little better control now. I just kind of direct it where I want it to go. I don't know, it's hard to explain, but I feel like I could do more if I ever had the chance to work at it."