Daryn Elizabeth O'Conner-Roman (darynoconner) wrote in destructionisle, @ 2018-03-07 20:23:00 |
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Entry tags: | daryn o'conner |
Characters: Remy, Daryn, still-unnamed-child, and Phobia
Setting: Daryn’s house then a safe house, Wednesday March 7, 2018 evening
Summary: Surprise
Rating: Low
Since her release from detention, Daryn had been trying hard to focus on getting the clinic up and running. But the questioning she’d undergone still stuck with her, and she worried about putting the others in danger. She kept mostly to herself, but let them know why, wanting everyone to just stay alert and stay safe until things seemed to quiet down. But people had started to go missing again, and it felt like something big needed to happen soon before anything worse happened.
Curled up on her couch with the old standby dinner of popcorn and wine, Daryn tried to relax and distract herself with some television. Her thoughts kept drifting to Ashe, and she told herself that she would go see him tomorrow. Flipping through the channels, she tried to find something else to focus on for the moment.
—-
Remy has been shocked to find out that the child Phobia had found was, in face, Daryn’s daughter. They had suspected it because of her talk about her mother speaking to her but Daryn wasn’t the only telepath on the island. So to have it confirmed was still a shock. The next thing was how to tell her. He hadn’t spoken to Daryn much since she had been released past “are you okay?” And the like so showing up with a child all “Surprise!” seemed a little harsh. But what were his options?
Since they were trying to keep the girl hidden he decided to leave her at the safehouse with Phobia. He would go talk to Daryn first then bring her. He had no doubt she would want to see the girl the moment she knew. Heading over to Daryn’s he tried to clear his thoughts before knocking on the door.
—-
Hearing the knock at the door, Daryn hesitated before moving to answer it. She greeted Remy with a small smile and allowed him inside. Something seemed slightly off almost immediately, so she arched a brow as she closed the door behind him. What’s wrong?
--
Remy wasn’t surprised when she immediately knew something was up. Since it was entirely possible they were being watched or listened to he stuck to speaking telepathically. There was also no point in beating around the bush or trying to sugar coat anything. Phobia found a child. She was alone in the rain. About 5 years old. We’ve been keeping her at one of the safe houses to keep her safe and hidden. She escaped from the Facility. He gave Daryn a moment to process that information.
—-
Furrowing her brow, that was a lot to take in. Silent for only a moment, Daryn watched Remy intently. When? Is she alright? Does she need medical attention? Of course, she wanted to know more, like how the child escaped, and where her parents were, and how she could help to keep her safe, but first things first.
--
Remy was waiting for the barrage of questions and he felt like he was fairly well prepared for them. It didn’t surprise him that she was first worried about her health. That was Daryn. It’s been a couple weeks now. She’s fine. She’s decided she likes pizza but not soda. We’ve been taking shifts staying with her. She’s taking a liking to Phobia. It’s quite adorable. If you want to grab your coat and shoes I’ll take you to her. Remy smiled trying to hold back the bombshell.
—-
Nodding, she moved to get her things quickly so they could go. Weeks? Why are you just telling me this now? Have they been looking for her? Did she tell you anything about what’s happening in the Facility? And where they kept her? She knew it was a lot of questions, but she immediately wanted to help so she wanted to know what had already been figured out so she didn’t waste time.
--
Remy kept talking while she was getting ready. So far we don’t think they’re looking for her. Or at least if they are it’s been very quiet. We wanted to make sure she wasn’t a plant so we hadn’t told anyone yet. She told us everything she could and it matched up with what was in her head. Phobia has used that information and he has gone inside. There are other kids. They’re all being held in small groups. They’re not easy to get to and getting them out will be even harder. Once she was ready Remy led her out and toward the safehouse.
—-
Falling into step beside Remy, Daryn walked quickly, eager to meet this child and find out more. Good. So she’s safe. She frowned when he mentioned other children. It was just as she’d suspected, as they had started to find out was true with the documentation they’d found so far. But now it was very, very real. Have you located her parents? I’m sure they want her back, immediately. We’ll have to help them stay safe. And get the others out as soon as we can. How many others?
--
Remy walked as quickly as they both could without drawing too much attention. They didn’t need to be followed at this point and ruin it all. He avoided the parent question. He’d get to that part. phobia counted fourteen more kids. They’re kept in small groups completely separated so she only knew about four. He hasn’t been able to figure out why they’re separated or anything. I’m assuming that information is kept with all of the documents, separate from the kids. They all seem outwardly healthy so they’re at least feeding them and such. I didn’t find anything wrong with this girl or any abilities. But you’d have a better chance than me at identifying something.
When they got to the house Remy stopped outside, preventing Daryn from going in yet. “There’s something you need to know before you see her.”
—-
Daryn nodded, listening and trying to process all of this information. She told herself not to ask more before letting it all sink in. Remy and Phobia had handled this for weeks now, she trusted them. They’d probably already thought of and done anything she would have. Taking a deep breath, she stopped short, surprised that they didn’t go right in. What is it?
---
Remy looked at Daryn for a long moment. He probably should have waited to tell her but that may not have made any difference. Steeling himself for her reaction, he made sure he was out of range in case she threw a punch, he decided to just say it. She’s your daughter.
—-
Daryn froze, shocked by his thoughts. She took a moment before shaking her head. Please don’t say that if it’s not true. How do you know she’s mine?
--
Remy hasn’t expected that response and it took him a heartbeat to be able to reply. I wouldn’t even dream of saying it if I hadn’t verified. I ran her DNA. She’s very much yours. She talked about her mother speaking to her at night. I know you used to do that. She’s your daughter Daryn.
—-
Daryn swallowed hard, looking to the ground. That was a lot to take in. She heard me? Taking a deep breath, she looked back up to Remy. I need to see her.
--
Remy took her hand in his and squeezed it. Nothing else needed to be said at the moment. Unlocking the door he headed in with Daryn. After introducing her to the girl he headed into the kitchen with Phobia to give them privacy.
—-
Daryn squeezed Remy’s hand back and followed him inside. When he introduced them, Daryn’s eyes filled with tears but she tried not to overwhelm the curious little girl too much. Sitting with her, Daryn ‘spoke’ with her and after a few minutes the girl recognized the familiar voice. Climbing into Daryn’s lap, the little girl hugged her mother and Daryn tried hard not to break down completely as she held her daughter.
Once they’d spent some time together, Daryn left her to play for a moment and went to find Remy and Phobia. Thank you, both of you, for taking care of her.
--
Remy smiled when Daryn came into the kitchen. He had kept an ‘ear’ out to see how Daryn was doing with this huge new revaluation. He was impressed at how well she kept it together. He’d tell her that another time. “She’s an easy kid, honestly. And Phobia here did most of the work. She took a liking to him right away which made it easy. That and pizza.”
—-
Phobia kept quiet as Remy and Daryn came in. He didn’t know what to say to Daryn, or to the kidlet, and he was glad that Daryn could finally be a part of this. He shrugged at Daryn’s thanks. It wasn’t a big deal and Remy was talking him up way too much. He had no idea what he was doing with the kidlet. Keeping her alive, it seemed.
“She’s a good kid,” Phobia said, “I’m glad you’re here now for her.” Awkward.
---
Daryn stayed in the doorway so that she could keep the little girl within eyesight. After five years without her, she wasn’t about to let her out of her sight any time soon now. She wanted to say something more to thank them, but right now it was hard to find the right words. So she left that for later. So there are others? What else do we know? We have to get them all out, as soon as possible, obviously. And find their families.
—
Remy looked at Phobia when Daryn began talking about the other kids. “We know where they are and how many there are and how hard it’s going to be to get them out. But it’s doable. The biggest hurdle is going to be what to do with them once we get them out. It’s going to be extremely suspicious to see all of these kids around suddenly. That’s part of the reason we haven’t done it yet. And I’m not sure how quickly and easily I can get DNA run on 14 more kids. And we can’t exactly reunite them until we know who to reunite them to. And if they’re even still here.” Way to be a pessimist, Remy. He sighed softly. “I’m not trying to say we leave them there. But we need a plan.”
—-
“We aren’t leaving them there,” Phobia said firmly. He had been back in the Facility several times, trying to get as much information as he could, “I have the place almost completely mapped out. I’m pretty sure that I can get them out but after that? I’m not sure where to bring a bunch of rugrats. It’s easy to hide one kidlet but more? That’s going to be a little more difficult.” But was the alternative? Phobia would not leave the kids there. He would take them home himself if he had to. He wasn’t sure where he would fit them all and he was pretty sure Ashe wouldn’t want that many kids running around. It didn’t matter.
---
Leaning back against the wall, Daryn nodded with a sigh, folding her arms. No, we’re not leaving them there. Not much longer, anyway. Not now that we know exactly what we’re dealing with. I saw we just go in and get them all and worry about the rest later. Each day they spend in there is one day too many.
--
Remy quickly shook his head. “No. We can’t just rush into this. I don’t want them in there any longer either. But if we just rush into it we could end up worse off. THEY could end up worse off. Right now they’re relatively safe. But if we pull them out and we can’t hide them there’s nothing stopping them from taking them back or worse.” Remy shook his head again and crossed his arms over his chest. “We need a plan. As soon as we get that figured out we’ll go in and get them. Not before. We have to be smart about this. For their sake. And ours.”
—-
This was not the first time Phobia and Remy had that talk and while Phobia knew Remy was right, he also wanted to throw reason to the wind. He wanted to get those kids out. Now. It was one reason why he kept going inside. Yes, he was gathering intel but he wanted to make sure those kids were still safe. As safe as they could be and they would be safer outside of the Facility.
“Or we get them out and then worry about the rest,” Phobia said, “They aren’t about to start asking where a bunch of kids are unless they want to admit they had kids locked up like zoo animals.” That wouldn’t work forever, however. They would need the kids not in hiding eventually.
---
Daryn shook her head. I don’t believe for one second that they are safe in there. In any way. If they were safe, they wouldn’t be hidden, people wouldn’t have thought their children were dead. I’m with Phobia, we get them out and then figure out everything else. I don’t care if I have to walk in there myself and kill anyone who tries to stop me. Typically, Daryn was cautious and level headed, but that was out the window with this topic. She knew it wasn’t safe or logical, but she didn’t really care. They were getting those kids out one way or another.
--
Remy narrowed his eyes but he managed to keep his cool. “We are not going in with guns blazing on a suicide mission. That wouldn’t help anyone and you damn well know it. You’re not rational at the moment so you need to sit on your hands. The last thing that little girl needs is to lose her mother.” Okay so it was a low blow but he needed to get through to Daryn. “Let’s have a Faction meeting, tonight. Get feedback and make plans. We can also take stock of how many safe houses we have and who would be available to get them ready. We make a plan. Then we go in.”
—-
Phobia looked between Daryn and Remy. Yeah. Not getting caught between those two. It didn’t matter if he agreed with Daryn, yeah, a suicide mission wouldn’t be a good idea. Yet.
“What about that basement?” Phobia asked, “I hate to hide the kids somewhere dark like that but it’s big enough to hide an army of kids. Just saying.” He supposed a Faction meeting was necessary. They needed to see what their resources were. He paused before saying, “I think when we go in there, Thursday and I should be the ones going in. If Thursday agrees. We won’t be seen. Anyone else who wants to help should stay outside. You guys can scatter better outside the building than in.”
---
Daryn watched Remy and then looked back to watch her daughter. She didn’t agree with him, but she also wasn’t about to lose any more time with her child. She listened to them talk, trying to refocus her energy on good plans instead of revenge. That could happen later. The basement and the safe houses are only a temporary solution. They’re going to know they’re gone, they’re going to go looking for them and these children have been hidden away from the world for long enough. They don’t deserve that. Getting them out is the first part. Giving them freedom, and finding their families needs to happen soon enough after.
---
“Yes. That’s exactly what I’ve been trying to say. We need to look past just getting them out. We will need a place to keep them safe first. Safe houses and the basement can work as long as we have enough people to take care of them. But then we need to figure out how to identify them. Who they belong to and all of that. Then we can reunite them. But we’re going to need to have a way to help those families. The last thing they need is to be attacked because they got their missing child back. The one thing I think we have in our favor is the fact that they’ve kept this so secret. They aren’t going to want to be loud about the breakout. Then it will be even more obvious what they were doing in the first place. So I suspect they’ll mostly leave families alone, outwardly.”
---
Phobia rubbed his face. The after is what he wasn’t good with. He couldn’t think of a reason why the government would play ball. The only alternative he could think of was to get those kids off the island and to the mainland and he had no idea how they could do that. They couldn’t get off the island. He had tried to think of ways a million times but never succeeded.
Phobia opened his mouth then shut it. He had no standing here, making decisions or plans, did he? The meeting seemed necessary. Then they could figure out the after. Then they could rescue the kids.
---
Sighing, Daryn couldn’t think of much else to contribute at the moment. This was a lot to process all at once. Glancing to Phobia, she waited for him to speak, and when he didn’t she arched a brow, picking up on his thoughts. Go on. You might have something we haven’t considered yet.
---
Remy looked over at Phobia as well. “You can say what’s on your mind. No matter what it is.” He dropped his crossed arms, loosening his stance. “Of if you want to think about it for a bit you can toss it out at the meeting.” Bringing a hand up he rubbed it over his face. “I promise you both we will get those kids out as soon as possible. I’m just trying to make sure we aren’t going to get everyone killed.”
---
Phobia shook his head, “I don’t have a lot to add. I’ve been trying to figure out how to, well, like you said, Remy, how not to get everyone killed and the only thing I have is to get them off the island but that’s impossible. Maybe someone else has a better idea. Someone else will know how to save these kids.” At least better than what he could do.
---
Daryn nodded in understanding, rubbing her forehead. We will save them. One way or another. Going back to watching the little girl, she tried to think of something else productive to add but was too distracted. I’m not going to the meeting, I can listen in from elsewhere. I want to stay with her. I want to take her home with me.
---
“We will. I promise you that.” Remy watched her. “That’s fine. Not going I mean. You’ll be better off with her but I’m going to have to insist you not take her home. Not yet. It’s extremely likely they’re watching you and your house. So the moment you go there with her they’ll know. So stay here with her until we get them out. Phobia or I can get whatever you need from your house. I think both of you need to lay low but we’ll keep you in the loop and update you on anything you’re not directly privy to.”
---
What Remy said, Phobia thought, not really being add to the whole don’t go home, didn’t they just detain you train of thought. He didn’t really need to speak that out loud for either of them to get it. He did nod and said, “I can grab what you need. Just stay here. It’s getting pretty well lived in as it goes.”
---
Daryn’s jaw tensed but she kept her thoughts to herself. They didn’t understand how important it was to her, and how painful it was to hear that she couldn’t keep her child safe. Even if it was the truth. Turning, she left the room to return to her daughter. Fine.
---
Remy sighed softly and rubbed a hand over his face again. He didn’t understand directly how she felt but he had a pretty good idea with the thoughts and feelings radiating from Daryn right then. “I’m just a ray of sunshine aren’t I? How can I ruin YOUR day Phobia?” He shook his head at himself. “Anything else you want to talk about before the meeting?”
---
Phobia maybe didn’t get the kidlet connection or sense anything except fear and that was something he could sense from her regarding the kid. He smirked slightly at Remy when Remy turned to him. He thought about flicking an ant at Remy, ruin someone else’s day but decided that was too mean. He shook his head.
“Nope, I’m good. Just know I want in when we go get those kids. I’m going into that building,” Phobia said. He wasn’t asking. This was his thing. He had to be there.