B) Interrogate him
“To conquer fear is the beginning of wisdom.”
============ CARTER MORCANT ============
February 2, 2013
New York
Sewers
10:20 PM
"Who are you?"
The figure down below suddenly stopped in his tracks hands out to the side in a defensive stance. He located the source of the voice, Carter, staring him down for a few moments of silence before standing up straight.
"Don't make me repeat myself," Carter warned as he dropped down. He slowly took a few steps forward, detecting hostility in the other man's posture. "
Who are-?"
Carter didn't get his answer, for the man suddenly attacked. His arm shot up, reaching towards Carter. A tendril-like limb shot out from his sleeve, catching the victim off guard. Carter grunted as he was pulled forward, gritting his teeth as the tendril began to burn at his torso.
The attacker's other hand came up, and Carter could see a slit open on the palm of his hand. His eyes widened as the blood from the wound suddenly expanded and transformed into some sort of scythe.
In retaliation, Carter manipulated the demon fire within him, summoning a broadsword in the nick of time to block the scythe as it chopped down at his skull. He shoved it backwards for a brief instant before slicing through the tendril, chopping the end of it off. He brought the sword back above his head to block a trio of follow-up scythe swings.
That was when Carter caught sight of a small note nailed to the wall of the sewer that read:
"The Deadly Virus. Have fun."
============ SARAH BANNINGS ============
January 28, 2013
California
Sarah's House
5:35 PM
Sarah had given up trying to flee from Aoka; the dog was simply too hyperactive and more physically able for her to compete. Besides, as she had come to pleasantly realize, he wasn't dangerous.
After realizing that the dog wasn't going away anytime soon, and that she found him rather adorable, Sarah carried him into her house, sitting through a lecture from her mom about the responsibilities of taking care of a stray dog. She just rolled her eyes and went along with it, taking Aoka to her room and setting up some ground rules.
"One: no talking when anyone else other than me is around. Got it?"
"Yes, yes! I understand loud and clear Miss Sarah!"
"Rule number two: You
stay in dog form. No turning into a human anymore. I mean it. My dad has a gun."
The corgi just nodded his head, wagging his tail and sniffing the bed Sarah had bought down at the thrift store, snuggling into. "No worries, Miss Sarah! Guardians don't like using our human forms all that much. What are they called again? Hormones? How do you humans
deal with those things?"
Sarah scratched Aoka's ears before plopping down onto her bed. "Okay. Explain."
The dog cocked his head to the side. "Explain what?"
Sarah held her hands out, as if the answer should be obvious, and it certainly should have been. "This whole freak show magicy talking dog stuff. The...Guardians thing or whatever.
That!"
"Oh," Aoka answered, wagging his tail again. "Right!
Well..."
And so Aoka went on to tell his incredible story, explaining to Sarah the details of everything from why his name was Aoka (it meant 'mistake' in Guardian language, though the poor corgi wasn't sure what that meant) to the game Sarah had played that brought him about in the first place.
Custos Praeter.
"So...that game actually worked?" Sarah asked, baffled. "I thought it was just some dumb superstition thing."
"It usually doesn't work," Aoka explained, stuffing his nose into one of Sarah's socks scattered on the floor. "But it did for you, Miss Sarah! I'm not sure why, though...but I'm happy it did!"
Sarah smiled and snatched the sock from Aoka's snout.
"Hey!" Aoka began, hopping onto Sarah's bed. "Wanna try out your new powers?"
"...Huh?"
"Oh boy! Oh boy! Oh boy!" Aoka cheered, running in circles on Sarah's bed. "This is always the best part! Because you're connected to a Guardian, you get your own special powers! Isn't that AWESOME?!?"
Sarah did not know how to react. Powers? What did he mean by that? She wasn't quite sure what it entailed, but because of what Aoka had already shown and said, she had no reason to not believe what he was saying now.
"What do you mean by powers?"
Aoka suddenly stopped running, dropping down into a sitting position. "We're gonna need to find a big, open area without many people. It can be...a little loud the first time. Explosions and stuff, ya know?"
Explosions?
"So do ya know any place that fits the bill?"
--------- SARAH DECISION ---------
Aoka has explained the situation to Sarah, but he's also said something about Sarah having...powers? Sarah has been charged with finding an open area without many people to try them out...Where should she take him?