Supernatural

44

FEBRUARY — UNKNOWN LOCATION — 3:20 AM

"Teddy Camden?" Tyler repeated, him and Pepper whispering in the kitchen. Pepper shared a room with Monica, Tyler with Marcus, so they couldn't use either room to speak. The walls were thin anyway, so doing so would be useless.

"That's what it said. With a home address of a club," she stated, holding a cup of water. "Which is incredibly odd. No one would live in the same building as a club—way too loud. Unless he works there and sleeps there, which is still just as weird."

"It doesn't make sense." He shook his head. "But it's something to go on. Tomorrow, we'll tell Mon and Marcus what we got then we'll organize a time to go down to this cl—"

"Wait, what?" She interrupted, looking up at him with wide eyes, an expression on her face that proved she was going to deny him. "There's no way we're telling them. Like I said before, they'd kill us."

"We'd still need someone to stay and watch," Tyler said, "and there's no way you're going back out there again."

"Excuse me?" She demanded, raising her voice, then lowering it again. "You're not the boss of me. And I did fine. Probably better than what you would have done."

"Oh, please," he joked, flipping imaginary hair back. She didn't laugh.

"Tyler, just because we..." she paused, "... Kissed doesn't mean you have ownership of me. You don't decide what I can or can't do."

"I just want to keep you safe."

She snorted. "Right. I'm smart enough to get myself outside of bad situations. I may not be strong, or have Rylie's powers, or be able to kick ass like Sav, but I have a brain. I think that's enough."

"I still don't want you back in a risky place." He pursed his lips, and reached for hand to comfort her. She snatched it back.

"You let your best friend go out and fight crime every day," she snapped, "but you won't let me leave an apartment."

"This is different, Pepper," he said, firmly. "We're against a much a bigger enemy, and you don't have superpowers, or super healing. If you get hurt, you'll stay hurt. You won't be fine a couple hours later."

"This is fucking my superpower!" She again raised her voice, and pointed at her head. "It's about time you stop treating me like a child, just because we're a couple years apart!"

"Pep, it's—"

"No," she cut him off, shaking her head. "Whatever. What—fucking—ever. We just won't go. But neither of us are telling Mon or Marc. Happy?"

Pepper then stormed off to her room, and Tyler was scared she was going to slam it at first, but she didn't. He exhaled, running a hand through his hair, regret swimming around him. But, at the same time, he didn't want her to go back into the face of danger. Even if that made him the bad guy, he was happy with his decision.

FEBRUARY — THE LAB — 8:39 AM

Rylie's head hurt. Bad.

He couldn't move. He just laid there, a stabbing pain similar to a sharp-ended hammer being pounded into his head, waiting, and praying it was one of those times where it'd last a couple seconds, then disappear.

It didn't.

After a few minutes, it calmed. He was so thirsty, too, and his throat was on fire. Was this another one of the tests? He couldn't for the life of him remember what happened before.

He looked around, finding himself in a cell. It was small and white, with thick bars surrounding the entirety of it. He couldn't even lay down completely, and the ceiling was only a few inches higher than his head. If someone had claustrophobia, this cage would be torture.