[Kitsumi]

Sitting on the worn-down couch in the two-bedroom apartment that she shared with her sister, Carly grabbed the remote controller and switched on the television. Flipping idly through channels, she paused on the news, curious about what was going on.

When she heard a door open and close, she called out, "Beck? Is that you?"

[Bug]

"No Carly it's Santa Claus", Beck retorted grumpily. School had soured her attitude, not to mention her lower lip was swollen and sore. Beck quickly tried to recover so as not to offend her sensitive sister. "Uh haha, kidding. Yeah it's me. The bus was a little late....something about a fight or something that I don't know any about..." She wasn't exactly stealthy about her excuse but Carly could earn a degree in being gullible. (Not that she was exactly the sharpest tool in the shed.

"What are you watching?"

[Kitsumi]

"Rude," Carly said simply in response to her sister's sarcasm. "I'm sorry if you had a bad day at school." She had a feeling that Beck wouldn't want to talk about it. If it was something that she cared to share with her sister, she would already have explained.

Moving aside so that her sister could sit next to her, she shrugged. "It's just the news. Nothing good is on right now..." as she spoke, the news reporter began speaking about the allegations that one of the science facilities in the area may have been performing illegal animal testing. "Whoa, what the heck?" Carly, normally a very passive person, instantly hardened. "That's seriously messed up!"

[Bug]

Beck pounced to her feet like an animal positioned to strike. Heat flaring up in the pit of her stomach, spreading into her veins like a gas fire. "Someone has to do something about this! We should do something about this!"

The rapid surge of adrenaline still pulsed through her from her prior fight and even now all rationality was seeping away from her. Her temper was a delicate scale, somedays you couldn't do anything to gain a reaction other days...it was safer not to acknowledge her presence.

[Kitsumi]

Carly should have known that Beck would react like this, but instead she jerked back, startled when her sister reacted violently. "Um... I don't think that there's really much we can do," she began, sounding slightly timid. "I mean, if the authorities are already looking into it, hopefully the animals won't be tested on for much longer, right?"

Even as she said the words, she felt a bit bad about them. Of course she would want to help poor animals. But honestly, what could she do by herself?

[Bug]

"Carly, haven't you ever heard of superheroes?" Beck said riled and excited watching her sister flinch at the rising tones of her voice. "They're the people who take action without thinking. Heroes aren't just born, you have to choose it we could be heroes Carly!"

Beck had never much considered herself a hero. In fact most of her life she'd been the one to start trouble, chaos always seemed to follow her. However, she did have a strong sense of justice. Sure she was sporadic and impulsive but she meant well. If there was anything she could do to prevent injustice there wasn't a whole lot you could do to stop her.

"C'mon Carly. That facility is barely a ten minute walk. What if one of those animals mutated into crazy monsters or something! Obviously the police are taking their time on this. So why don't we take matters into our own hands?"

[Kitsumi]

Normally, Carly would have never, not in a million years, entertained the idea of breaking into a science facility. But hearing her sister's impassioned speech about being super heroes... it was hard for her not to agree. "I... I want to be a hero," she said slowly. Then, standing, she lifted her fist. "For the animals!"

But almost as soon as she had agreed, her enthusiasm began to die. "But uh, how will we even get in? It's not like we can just wait until nighttime, put on black clothes, ski masks, and gloves, and climb in through an open window... right?"

[Bug]

"EXACTLY! CARLY YOU ARE A GENIUS!" Beck exclaimed directing a finger at her sister causing her to startle once more. Then she curled her hands into fists again anticipating what sort of trouble they'd run into along the way. Her bruised knuckled ached slightly at the motion. Despite her petite stature she firmly believed she could take on the world.

"Where did we put those ski masks nana knitted for us?" She bustled frantically about laying out the whole situation, just as Carly had already said. Before her sister could protest she cut in, "Come on Carly we're gonna be heroes! Besides what's the absolute worst thing that could happen?"

[Jedi]

Paul

Though he had only been working here for a week, he was already being working himself to the bone. But all this time he'd been spending at work had helped him grasp a better hold of the English language.

Normally, he had been working day shifts, but one of his co-workers had begged to switch shifts just for one day. Apparently, he had an important event he couldn't miss, or something. So now, Paul was watching the particle accelerator building all by himself. His job was to make sure that no one would trespass or cause trouble.

[Kitsumi]

"I think I'm gonna be sick," Carly complained in a strained whisper. She had one knee on the floor, her hands cupped so that she could help lift Beck over the chain linked fence. Even with her 'disguise' she was paranoid that they were going to be caught, and that she would go to prison. She suddenly felt much less like a hero, and much more like a villain.

But Beck was already on the other side of the fence, waiting expectantly. Carly couldn't leave her alone now. "Just... just give me a second to climb over," she said. "Don't go anywhere without me!"

[Bug]

"Ya know who else probably feels sick? Those animals stuck in cages-" Her voice was a disgruntled array of grunts and words as she tried to wriggle over the other side of the fence. Fortunately the backside of the facility was completely vacant, which made it easy to infiltrate. After another chorus of grunts and an ungraceful face plant Beck successfully made it over the fence.

The fence wasn't too tall especially since it had been left unattended and deprived of maintenance. It seemed no one was too concerned of anyone raiding this place. Beck smirked at the thought, it was too easy.

"I'm not going anywhere. Just hurry up. It's kinda cold out here!"

[Jedi]

The night had gone fine so far. It was a couple hours into his shift and there had been no activity at all. He had been set up in the security office with a half dozen monitors, which were filming the halls near both entrances and the other four hallways as well.

His stomach was starting to rumble and his eyelids were feeling heavy as lead. Paul was debating whether he should stay in the office or go to get some coffee and snacks. With several minutes of torture, he finally gave in and walked out for the vending machines. Hopefully, he'd only be gone for a couple minutes.

[Kitsumi]

"I'm coming, I'm coming," Carly said, somewhat grumpily. "It's... hard to... climb over... these things!" Even though the fence wasn't that high, she wasn't a small woman. Still, it only took a minute or two for her to climb over without assistance. Once she was done, she felt a burst of pride. "I did it!" Riding the high from her accomplishment, she continued, "Let's free the animals!"

She charged towards the building, looking for an open window. Of course, none of them were open, but she believed that she found one that was unlocked. "Do you think this one will work?" she whispered to her sister.

[Bug]

"Definitely", Beck replied. While Carly had been scrambling over the fence she had scooped up a rock and now her chilled fingers curled tightly around the stone. She cocked her arm back and chucked it toward the window. Tiny shards showered them and Beck ignored whatever reaction was suggested on Carly's face and started to clear the glass away from opening.

"-give me a boost."

[Jedi]

D6

The cup dropped, followed by the sound of boiling water mixing with coffee and creamer powder. He then inserted a dollar into the adjacent snack machine when he was stopped by an alarming sound. The shattering of glass and a loud thump, which caused him to drop his cup. He turned and ran down to the security room to find that one of the windows had been smashed with a rock, and now there was someone struggling to crawl through the window. He abandoned the  dollar in the snack machine to race toward the scene.

Unfortunately, he hadn't remembered the coffee and slipped in it, cracking his head on the hard linoleum. Now dazed and confused, he struggled to get off the ground.