Valiant- FPID volume one

Issue 9

So with it being settled that Rochelle and the other three needed answers, they gathered in the SUV and drove to Louisiana that night. On their way there they all began to talk and Rochelle felt less tense around them.

Rochelle asked free for anyone to answer "so does anyone have any idea of what I am?"

Dakota stayed quiet. Tate wasn't even paying attention to the question so Alison answered "well apparently you're not a psiot or someone with a loa inside her yet you made an entire set of satellites go crazy due to the amount of power you were giving off. Which by the way you don't seem to be giving off any energy signals at all. It seems the stress of yesterday being your birthday was making energy pulse from you. You come up as normal today"

Rochelle confirmed "yeah that makes sense since I hate my birthday"

Tate tuned into the conversation "why do you hate your birthday?"
"Because every year I feel this weird feeling of despair on my birthday. I wonder if it has something to do with whatever I am"

Tate didn't have any commentary after that. He was to busy glancing into the back seat at Dakota. He kept thinking back towards that party and those guys that were dancing. Tate wished that were him and Dakota.

Tate didn't notice that Rochelle saw him keep glancing until it was too late. They both quickly looked away.

Tate began to get nervous so he turned the radio up to make the car ride quiet. He's held this secret for so long. He isn't letting anyone ruin it.

He began having flashbacks from his earlier years when he was 14 and Dakota was 12. The government facility they lived at was making them go to school and abunch of the older kids decided it was funny to lock Tate in a janitors closet. Well Dakota knew something was up when Tate hadn't seen him at lunch so he went looking for him. This was when Dakota discovered his super strength. He got to the door and was so angry he took one tug at the door and it was pulled off it's hinges. That day they vowed to stick together because they always knew they had each other's backs no matter what.

Dakota was less emotionless back then. Tate was shyer as well....

They finally got to the small town in Louisiana. They stopped at a park to talk about things Alison began coming up with a plan "so we go in, get answers then we leave and go back and investigate how that guy died then we take her in"

Rochelle perked up "I'm on board with it. Let's do this"

Once they were all in agreement. They got up and made their way back to the car. Tate pulled Rochelle back a little bit to talk to her "I need to talk to you about something"
"What is it? Is this about you checking out bloodhound in the car earlier?"
Tate got red faced and just said "yeah"

She smiled "don't worry. Your secret is safe with me"
"Thank you" he returned the smile

They finally got back to the SUV and they drove towards the address. They passed swamp after swamp as the morning dew settled in the grass and water.

It was a 20 minute drive so Rochelle decided to rest her eyes. She hadn't slept all night. She saw blackness and began to hear whispers all around her. She couldn't understand what they were saying but one word stuck out. "Trap" came from the voice of an older gentleman. He sounded like he was actually concerned. It also felt and sounded familiar to Rochelle. But then it dawned on her they were going into a trap.

Rochelle called out "who are you!? How do you know it's a trap?"

As she called out to the voice, the dark world and the whispers began to fade. She was waking up. She awoke while screaming "trap!"

Everyone in the car was looking at her but it wasn't because she was screaming it was because her eyes were glowing blue like in the woods. The puppets that she got for her birthday was alive and hugging her. She didn't notice "sorry had a bad dream I guess"

They just kept staring at her very confused. Tate had the car pulled over. Rochelle was still oblivious "guys it's ok. Like I said just a bad dream"

Finally Alison points at the puppets. Rochelle looks down and sees all 10 of the wooden puppets hugging her. She screams to the top of her lungs "what the hell!"

She asked "which one of you is doing that?"

Tate said "none of us are. This is all you. Your eyes are glowing deep blue! Look!" He points to the rearview mirror.

She looks into it and sees the dark blue glow in her eyes. Just as she's noticing it, she stops and The puppets fall limp. She calmed herself down. She looked out the window "what am I?"

Tate cranked the car up and began booking it to Sandria's house. Rochelle didn't even know what to say she also forgot that little detail that they were walking into a trap....