And home

Back home, despite the best efforts of the US government. hah

The mansion IS in bad shape, but not as bad as MASC made it out to be. Or well, it looks bad, but hardly in as bad a shape as it was when we first moved in, and look... we have power! I'm using my own computer. I was half afraid they would have confiscated it while they were combing over our home for whatever it is government agencies look for in these situations. I don't pretend to know or care; I'm not too terribly impressed with these guys. Maybe the people Rev Loon's been dealing with are smarter or more on the ball, but if this is the best the government has to offer... I'm scared. (I know you MASC people are reading this. I don't appreciate Big Brother tactics. I'll sass you as I please.)

I'm not going to waste time combing through that Thuggee guy's post to debunk any of his gross exaggerations. It was bad. He did terrible things. He did roast the orderly in our bathroom. I hope MASC is willing to remodel it because I just cannot see myself using that room ever again. I'd sooner go behind a bush and scrub myself down with dew every morning. At least they removed the body... I feel so bad about letting Shady keep that guy with us now. I know he wasn't a pleasant man, but no one deserves to die like that.

Shady is content that her papers were largely untouched in the attack. They were separated into two boxes in my room and aside from a little dirt and debris, very little in there was damaged. Did MASC go through the papers and take any? Shady says not. So far they haven't earned my trust though; So I'm ready for whatever underhanded, creeper thing my government might do. I mean they tried to pin Tikka's murder on Ecko and are threatening to deport Lucas as an illegal alien. That's pretty vile right there. Lucas should be given political asylum or something... I don't think they even have an official term for the kind of protection we need. And trying to plant evidence to incriminate Ecko for killing Tikka and setting the fire... ah, my tax dollars at work. Thank you for renewing my faith in the people who are supposed to be looking out for the public.

But I'm getting ahead of myself.

I know how Thuggee and Dodgy got past the wards because I let them in. Dodgy was the repair guy I paid off to fix our wiring. The attack was my fault. Everyone who said I was too trusting, you were right. I should have been more suspicious. That won't happen again. I'm not exactly sure how Wolf got past the wards though. That will bear some looking into when MASC releases Lucas, and they will. If I have to wrestle them into giving him full citizenship, I'll do it. I don't have any respect for bullies, and that's all they've been doing to all of us since they "rescued" us. It makes me deeply ashamed of my government. Where's the compassion?

Anyway... to the events leading up to our abduction and unlawful incarceration by a duly sanctioned arm of the US government. (Call it protective custody if you like, Mr Brood, but threats do not endear me to you.) I was relieved to see Drake and Ecko run off into the woods as I slowly regained consciousness. I could only imagine that everyone else was running too, as I had told them to do if we were ever attacked. Hopefully they will listen to me next time. Maybe if they'd all run with Drake and Ecko, they could have better defended themselves from the proxies hiding out in the woods. I know from Thuggee and Executor's posts that Prosper and 85 were busy with Thuggee, but there's no way of knowing if maybe Road Runner is responsible for taking Drake or Tim, or if being blind, Drake isn't still wandering around in the woods somewhere.

MASC tried to corral Sunshine sometime after he picked me up. I have no idea if he caught me or I hit the ground. Everything hurts. I think if he hadn't been carrying me, Sunshine might have hurt someone. As it is, he did almost break someone's jaw and bruised another guy's ribs. At which point the jostling woke me up, and I managed to calm him down. Considering they weren't having any telekinetic freakouts or swinging pointy implements, I figured they weren't with Thuggee and probably weren't proxies either. I let them take us to a truck where they gave me some quick first aid and tried to do the same for Sunshine until he attempted to take a bite out of their medic. Shady arrived soon after, and I think only her rage was keeping her awake at that point. They brought Trina, and that proxy, 85, and finally Lucas. It seemed like we sat there for hours, staring at each other's injuries.

Shady was starting to get antsy, which was making Sunshine fidget. She cracked the door to peek out and that's when we heard our guards talking about giving up the search for the others and taking us to their headquarters for questioning. Shady was all for leaving the truck and cracking some heads together, no doubt leaning on Sunshine the entire time, but none of us were in any shape for more drama. At the same time, we didn't want to be hauled off by some secret government agency where we might never be seen again. (Yes, that is how much faith you have instilled in me, agents of MASC.)

Luckily, some brilliant soul had left the keys in the ignition. I have to admit, after being beaten to a pulp and generally run through a wringer, it was pretty funny to see our guards' faces as we started the truck and drove out of there. One guy made a halfhearted attempt to open one of the doors as we drove by, but we're not stupid. Those were locked before we even crawled into the front seat to gun the engine.

We weren't really thinking about getting away, not with our friends still missing. We just wanted to hole up somewhere to figure out our next move. So the abandoned motel was a godsend when we found it, especially as we didn't have any money and all of us were beat up and bloody enough to be wanted by the police in ten states.

The place was a sty, but it was good enough for us to crawl inside and rest a little while. Of course the minute we all felt safe enough to pass out, Executor swooped in and retrieved his little proxy, spouting some cryptic BS before poofing. Which ticked Shady off to no end because she wanted to question him or to rehabilitate him like Sunshine... not really sure beyond she's taken some kind of proprietorial interest in the kid. We tried to set watches, but the next thing we knew, it was sometimes past midnight and MASC was there to take us away again. We didn't put up much of a fight, and really only Sunshine was in any shape to. So once we calmed him down, we went with our "kind rescuers" to their secret facility. Wherever it is (it was dark when we got there and they loaded us into a van without windows on the way back), it can't be very far away. We were only on the road for a little under two hours.

Anyway, that's my disjointed recollection of events. I have not been playing nice with MASC. Maybe they expected a grateful damsel. Well, none of us are that. I know my rights as an American citizen who has broken no laws. They threatened to have me taken back to the asylum, and I just laughed at them. I don't respond well to threats. Every time they found some new way to make my life interesting, I called their bluff. Every time they threatened one of my friends, I let them know in no uncertain terms what I would do to them if something happened to a member of my family because they decided to jerk us around.

No, they need us. They're interested in the Ark too, among other things. I got that much from their line of questioning. It's amazing what you can pick up from ineptly asked questions. If they don't play nice, I won't even share the unlikely locations with them. At least they're smart enough to realize that.