Remember (A Ruby X Liam Story - The Darkest Minds)

Zu

Italics means signing/ communicating in sign laungage

With Hina being held hostage and Liam otherwise incapasitated, her only option was to somehow save them herself. Mind racing she desperately tried to think of a plan, anything that could save them. The rafters where Hina and her capture stood were metal, as was a pole that connected from the ground and as anyone knows, metal is highly conductible. Grasping the cold metal in one hand, she focused on the tingling sensation that ran through her and expelled it through the palm of her hand.

The entire support system was blasted with a single current of electricity, which broke their concentration and caused them to drop Hina. Liam, who was no longer being restrained by the Orange, reacted quickly and stopped her descent and because of that she made it safely to the ground. Zu quickly ran over and embraced her cousin, before they all turned their attention back to the stranger. The Orange was hanging from the rafters and struggling to keep their hold, much less climb back up. Liam's hand shot up to pull them down, but he never made that far. A fire blasted from their left, almost burning them in the process. It couldn't last on the tiled floors and when they could see again, they found a kid, with dark red eyes.

"Thanks for the rescue, Fanin." The Orange called from the rafters. It seemed that they had managed to pull themself back up and it was clear Liam was too afraid to try to pull down them again. "Though do try not to hurt them too much. They are children after all." Their voice had a surprising amount of empathy for someone who had captured Hina and paralyzed Liam moments ago.

The fire-breather hadn't taken an eye off of the party, perhaps hoping that they would move just so they could torch them again. They had short black hair and light skin, with possible sunburn on their ears and nose. They had an old T-shirt of a band that no longer existed underneath a bomber jacket with decorative patches and pins, beat-up jeans, and dirty sneakers. Their face gave nothing away, an excellent poker face that Chubs would have been jealous of.

"Shall we introduce ourselves?" The mind-controller called again. Without waiting for a response they said, "Hello, I'm-"

"What are you doing?" The other shot back. Their voice was slightly higher than Zu had anticipated, but still had a graveleness to it. "We can't tell them our names. We shouldn't even be letting them see our faces. If you had just agreed to the masks like I had said, we wouldn't be in this mess."

"Fine," They said, slightly annoyed. Turning back to the kids they said, "No names, but I use all pronouns, so use what works in a sentence but don't call me any gendered term like boy or girl. Kid, person, Mx., and things like that are good." She smiled a little and pointed at the Red, before continuing. "He/him/his for this one."

Zu's thought had been a little delayed. 'But didn't they call him Tanin?" She thought, but stayed silent.

"And before you ask-" Maybe-Tanin piped up. "-my name is not Tanin. That's arabic for dragon and a nickname." The definitely-not-Tanin sighed, as if he had been asked that question a thousand times. No one said anything for a long time. All seemed to be waiting for someone else to make the first move. It was Hina who finally broke the silence.

"Firstly," She points to herself, "She/her." Hina points to Zu. "She/her?" She looked inquizingly at Zu, who nodded. Then gestures to Liam. "And he/him. Secondly, what do you want? You have us here and you are clearly more powerful, so what do you want?"

The two glanced briefly at each other and the Orange smiled. "Information about the League, East River, and possibly Shadow." The Red tipped his head back and groaned at his friend's oversharing.

"Eastriver was destroyed. The Child's League is full of kids, and we don't know who Shadow is." Liam had been the one to answer, but Hina looked away and Zu knew that not everything he had said was true.

You know Shadow? She asked.

Yes. Bad man and dangerous. It would be best to avoid them. Hina answered.

"The middle one knows about the target." Red told Orange. Apparently he could read signs.

"Anything useful?" They asked.

"Probably not much. It's most likely just about the rumor, which is still weird." The Orange gave a loud groan and hopped off the rafter. Red easily caught him as if this was nothing new. Then she looked at the group, almost sizing them up for an attack.