Say Cheese

Robin tucked a piece of hair behind her ear as she strolled down the Huntington Pier. "Bright skies, calm weather..." - She took a deep breath - "I should never take breaks." Her face fell into a little pout, missing the thrill of adventure. Looking down at her wrist, she sighed, feeling empty where her manipulator used to be. That's what she gets for letting her brother 'borrow' it. "'Oh I'll be right back, I promise. I just forgot the sandwiches.'" She mocked him, hating that the only time they'd seen each other in years was spent conning her. What really stung was that he had one of his own - how else did he get here from 5263? He was too annoying to take along on a trip, no one would bother. He probably just joined the Time Agency to get one - he must have. No matter how shady the whole thing was, Robin was too mad to focus on it. Hopefully she could get Theta to give her a ride and get another one. Or she could just stowaway...

She slowed down to a stop once she reached a retro looking diner, hearing a jukebox playing inside. That put a smile on her face, some good old fashioned music and lunch. Stepping inside, she took a quick look around. The bar stools were bright cyan, and he bases were chrome - which seemed to be the theme of the diner. There were a few pink glowing signs on the white tiled walls. "Nice.." She mumbled as she moved over to sit at a booth. While she waited for someone to come and take her order, she glanced at the jukebox. The whole thing was practically glowing with neon colors: blue, green, and pink. The pages on the inside looked rather new - maybe never even flipped. "Hm.." Deciding to take a closer look later, she spotted an old looking photo booth. "Well that's a bit out of place.. Just to attract the tourists, I guess." The price on the banner said $0.25, but it was probably much more than that. A thin black curtain shielded the inside from view. Another thing to check out after she ate. With a sigh, she leaned over and rested her chin on her hand as she looked out of the window at the beach, waiting for a waiter to come by.

Syra had a backpack slung over one shoulder,as she entered the diner. She sat down at a empty booth,and spread out her notebooks,as she walked to the counter." Excuse me,but you have customers waiting to order."

She went back towards her booth,as she walked to Robin,and decided to introduce herself."Hello,I am Syra."

She motioned towards the staff,who were oddly not present. Normally waiters would jump at you almost salivating to take orders."I hope they hurry up and send help,this place is new,and thought I would give it a try."

She felt a slight nervousness,and felt what if this is a trap. Weird things seemed to happen now a days. She mentally checked she was still casting an illusion over her wings. She then took in Robin,and let down the barriers,and allowed her dragon like wings to appear. She gave a smile as she walked back to her booth,and grabbed her backpack. She walked to a table closer to Robin,and sit down. She did this in case the girl wanted to talk with her.

Robin blinked once. Twice. Alright... Dragon wings. That's new. Realizing she was staring, she moved her gaze away - knowing how 'fun' it was when people stared at you. "Hello, I'm Robin." She offered, raising her hand to wave. "Don't blame them, though. It's probably their lunch break or something - we might not even be allowed in here right now." She chuckled at that, knowing how many times that happens. In a day. "I was just trying to find a place for lunch since my brother stood me up." Her face fell into a sort of frown at that statement, but she brushed it off. He wasn't going to ruin her entire day - something felt off about this place. That meant adventure - or they just had really bad food.

Hanna pushed the diner door open, the cool air a welcome, but also not. This diner had an eery feel to it. She saw two other people inside, sitting a booth together. Or is that next to each other? She could tell from where she stood. She smiled and waved at them then took a seat at the counter, unsure of what to do. She liked the seats there, they twirled around. She looked around, not seeing any waiters or waitresses. "Well. Slow business." She said, twirling the seat around, having forgotten the other two were there. She saw them and stopped mid twirl. "Sorry." She said. "My name's Hanna." She said, refraining herself from twirling the seat again. She looked around as she waited to see what would happen. She saw the jukebox first, and then the photo booth, which seemed out of place.

Syra looked at Robin,and down at her bag." I am sorry to hear that,my brother is a supermodel,and sometimes has to travel a lot,but has never stood me up."

She looked towards the kitchen,it was oddly quiet,and everything did look to new. She looked toward Hanna,"hello,I'm Syra,and they have been busy with ignoring us."

She then spoke to them both," I may be over reacting but does this not seem like an ideal way to lure unsuspecting people into a trap. I am half dragon,if you are wondering about the wings,long story,thinking of making it into a book.sorry I am rambling."

Coffee would be nice right again now. A nice large cup of espresso with just enough milk to make the black liquid a soft brown. Maybe then this fuzzy haze she was in would subside. That's what she gets for not sleeping after work. Wait, she did sleep, didn't she? Well that didn't make any bloody sense. That's when she realized everything was dark. Oh, her eyes were closed. Mal slowly opened her eyes though it barely helped her sight considering the room she was in was poorly lit. The fog in her brain lifted a little, leaving a misty sky in her mind's eye. Oh, this didn't feel nice. What the heck happened? Mal couldn't remember even going out last night. But she must have, perhaps someone spiked her drink? No, the poor girl went home right after closing shop, she was sure of it...

Robin was about to reply to the new woman when a pimple-y teenage boy ran out of the kitchen. "I-I'm sorry, we were j-just backed up and.." He took a look around and saw they wouldn't buy that story. "A-anyway... uh.. I'll just t-take your orders now." Robin smiled apologetically at the boy. Poor guy... busy with.. stuff.. There was something about that boy that made her want to look away from the kitchen... huh. "I'll just have a basket of fries and a pop." She took a look at his confused face... "Oh wait. Wrong side of America. I mean soda." She waved at the new woman, feeling bad for ignoring her a moment ago.

Syra watched as the young teenage boy came from out of the kitchen,and quickly casting the illusion hiding her wings with her telepathy.She really needed to find a better way to hide them. She smiled at the server,and said,"After you get her order,I want a burger and since you do not have wine,I guess a soda. Surprise me and pick it yourself."

Syra was keeping her telepathy open,and the buy did seem scared,as she kept the smile. She made sure none of her notebooks were poking out. That was an adventure for another day. Too many things were too generic for her in the little diner. She decided to wait til she tasted the food before she complained.

Mal groaned and rolled her head to the side.  That was when she realized she was sitting in a chair.  OK, that was weird.  She went to move her hand to brush a stray lock behind her ear but found a force restraining this movement.  Struggling harder didn't allow the completion of this task either.  Mal was tethered to the chair and this brought panic to course through her, and with the panic came awareness which helped clear her foggy mind.  Her eyes could only see vague shapes of other chairs, some empty and some with occupants, it was completely silent in the room besides a soft hum that originated off to her left.  Perspiration formed on her forehead, her nervousness causing her to shake.  Where the heck was she?  How did she get here?  "Hey, can you here me?" Mal whispered to the people around her.  No one even twitched.  She swallowed heavily and looked around, her breathing was shallow and heart pumped wildly in her chest.

Hanna smiled at the girl with the wings. "Yeah. I wonder where they all are." She said, meaning the staff of the diner. When the other girl waved, Hanna gave a soft smile, and then faced the boy who had come out, just in the nick of time too. "Just a coke if you have any. And an apple." She said, smiling at the boy, she then turned her attention back to the two girls. "Nice....wings by the way." She said once the boy was gone, back into the kitchen. "I've never seen anything like them before." She said, that curious look in her eyes that she got when she wanted to know more.

Robin stared over at the jukebox, thinking now was the time to get a better look. It was like it didn't want to be seen though... like it wasn't really there... "I'm gonna go look at the jukebox and see what songs they have." She walked over to the machine across the diner and sighed. Why did she have to be so short? Getting on her tip toes, she peered in through the glass to look at the pages. "Wow... I don't even think these have been turned..." She mumbled to herself as she backed down. Now that she thought of it, it didn't even have a place to put a coin in, did it? Running her hand across the front panel, she confirmed this. "Then all this music is just planned..." She turned around to look in the kitchen - seeing no cooks. Nothing. There goes my lunch date. Again. She frowned and looked over at the photobooth, feeling the exact opposite from the jukebox. This time it wanted to be seen, like it was pulling her in...

Meanwhile...
A hiss sounded from a door across the room right before it raised into the wall, allowing some light into the room. A man with a black and silver tech looking suit strolled it, a blank expression on his face. "Confirmed, she's awake." He spoke into a device on his wrist, locking his gaze on Mal. In the darkness, the man looked pretty close to human... except the hair. Normal people don't have hair that moves like it's alive. A voice sounded back from the alien's wrist, "We can begin soon, then. Although it seems she's the only subject to make the jump - we should wait for another batch to join her." The alien nodded, as if the voice could see him. "I'll get the other's cleared out of here." Flipping his wrist over, he pushed a button on the back of his hand. Four more aliens entered the room, walking over to the other humans sitting in chairs. They simply checked for a pulse, then unlocked the chairs and dragged them away, one by one. Eventually they were all gone, the room filled with darkness once more as if they had never been there. Except one thing - now Mal was alone.

Syra followed thoughts,and the boy was the only one beside the two girls. She hung her backpack across one shoulder. She turned to Hanna,"As I was saying half dragon/half human,was human almost died joined a dragon heart to mine,and agreed to be it's vessel. Hence me being over 300 years old."

She face palmed herself,if this was a trap,she just raised the interest on her up. She watched Robin,and answered,"i agree,that is just too inviting. We could always give it a try,and see what happens."

She meant how Robin was being pulled towards the photo booth.

Mal swallowed heavily again and just barely suppressed a scream that threatened to escape when the uniformed man walked in. She didn't even see that door... The light was unexpected so she squinted as her eyes adjusted. Wait, what did that guy just say? Oh no, if it meant what she thought it did.. she was about to be a lab rat. A victim of some creepy, alien experiment. And what was this about a jump? Mal wasn't one for physical activity... but she couldn't remember jumping at anytime before this. Her hazel eyes were wide as she watched the occupants of the other chairs carried out. Oh god, then it clicked. Those people were dead... And soon enough she was left in the dark once again, this time alone. The anticipation of what was or could happen to her began to naw at the edges of Mal's mind. Oh... where was that stupid Doctor when you really needed him. She was going to die... totally. This time it was for sure. Impressively enough, at least she wasn't having a panic attack or bawling her eyes out.

((You're welcome Mal ))

Robin looked over at Syra, confused. "I didn't even say..." She shook it off, not going to try to think about it. "Alright. I just don't like something about this diner, and this photobooth certainly feels fishy." Walking towards it, she frowned. It was free. The photobooth was free. "This is not good. Not good at all..." Stepping inside, she sat down on the bench and stared at the screen. "Hold on.. that's not a camera..." Her eyes widened in realization as the machine powered up. "No!" She yelped, ripping the curtain open, about to run out. Too late though, because with a flash of light, she was sitting in a chair, unconscious, next to Mal. The restraints on the chair activated, holding her arms down.

Sylvia walked through the street, looking at the files her mother had managed to get for her.
"A lot of missing people and some dead bodies..." She sighed and put the files away in her bag. Even though the case interested her there were no clues, thus nothing she could do, but checking crime scenes was much better than hanging out with her stepfather.
Why she'd even come to visit her mother was a riddle in the first place, considering how much she hated the man, but Arthur had been convincing enough to make her accept the invitation and get on the first plane to America.
If only he had come with her... They could have looked at the case and maybe done something romantic together, but of course he'd been too busy studying criminology.
A sudden flash coming from her left caught her attention, and for a moment she looked up to see where she was, a pier apparently (she was too good at getting lost in her thoughts, now she had to find her way back to her hotel somehow), before she turned to the diner next to her, looking like something her dad would have wandered into any time, and entered through the front door, observing the interior quickly.
Neon lights on the wall, an old looking photo booth and jukebox on the left near the bar surrounded by cyan barstools with chrome bases and booths on the right. It was all too bright for her taste.
Two other people were present, one wearing what seemed like fake dragon wings, though they looked very realistic, but then Sylvia had seen stranger cosplayers in Japan. Ignoring them she glanced at the photo booth, it's curtain having open.
Something about that booth was wrong, very wrong. Not only did it look out of place, it also gave Sylvia the urge to run away from it, causing her to do the opposite out of interest.

Hanna watched as the girl disappeared in the photo booth, then with a sudden bright light was gone all together. She hopped up...down? form the stool and was over to the photo booth just as someone else walked in. She peeked inside, not wanting to go in just yet. This made her curious, but at the same time,s he knew she should probably leave, never even look back at this photo booth. She looked over at the girl with the dragon wings. "I have a bad feeling about this." She muttered, then looked back at the photo booth. There were three option. 1 - Do nothing. Just walk away. 2 - Wait and see what happens, then act on the results, or 3 - Dive in. She settled on number three and shrugged. She looked back over at the dragon winged girl and then over at the new gone. "Wish me luck." She said before taking the number three express train to the same place the girl from before had been taken.

Syra stood up,and having a feeling she was going to a confined space,she opened her wings,and then folded them back in. She looked at Sylvia,and said," I am always up for adventure,maybe we should see where this leads. And yes,they are real."

Syra stepped into the booth,and with a light,found herself,strapped to a chair,and a little groggy,as she heard numerous voices in her head. Her telepathy choose a fine time,to go wonky on her. When she got her bearings maybe she could send a message,or at least give anyone with telepathy a headache till they checked things out.

The sudden appearance of Robin made Mal scream. She quickly stopped, face frozen comically in her fit of terror before it relaxed. "H-hey, please.. please d-don't be dead!" More appeared then, Hanna and Syra. Mal swallowed heavily and began to panic, her heart beating at a very abnormal pace. She was going to hyperventilate if she didn't calm down. So she concentrated on taking even breaths as she struggled to look around at the people who seemed to just keep popping up. Hopefully they were all alive so she- well, they- could find a way out of this place.

Robin groaned, her eyelids fluttering open. All she could see were blurs and Mal's voice sounded like it was moving through a wall. "W... Wha...?" She mumbled, blinking her eyes clear of fog. She moved to go brush a piece of hair behind her ear when she noticed her arms were belted down. Her heart skipped a beat as her eyes shot open and her head bolted up, "No, nononononononono..." She whispered to herself, looking around the darkened room for any clues on where she might be. Engines. I think I hear engines... Turning her head from side to side, she tried to make out who else was in the room. Syra.. Other woman whose name I can't remember... did she tell me? Anyway... Mal... Mal! Locking her gaze onto Mal, her eyes opened ever wider - if that was possible. "Mal, how'd you get here?" She whispered, not trusting this place enough to talk properly.

Sylvia stared as the two vanished in the light, her eyes wide.
That... did not just happen...
But the girls were, so was the one with the dragon wings, what had she said? They are real?
Sylvia snorted, she'd seen people tell others they were a kappa before and get away with it, but she wasn't falling for those kind of tricks.
Shaking her head, she focussed on the photo booth, pushing the blanket aside to discover there was no camera.
"Then how." Ignoring the feeling that she shouldn't enter she did, sitting down on the small seat, waiting for something to happen.
Only nothing happened.
"Great..."

"How'd I get here? How'd you get here? I don't remember anything, man." She sobbed once before clearing her throat and pulling herself together. "I was just finishing a work shift, I think... then next thing you know I wake up here. I don't understand but there were dead people here just moments before you arrived. We gotta get out of here, we gotta. They're gonna kill us or experiment on us or something even worse. Please tell me there's something we can do." OK, so Mal was turning to the little kid to think of a way out of here. How mature of her.

Syra was naming random things in the room,when Robin woke up. She then noticed Mal,how could she of missed Mal? She looked at the Hanna girl,they had never gotten her name. Their were others in the room with them. Well at least the things did not have a mind dampener on her,she was gonna make who ever did this pay. She had the perfect thing,as she saw the others,Black Sorrow would work. She hated violence,but she had no choice. She had her backpack when she was transported but it was gone now. She had notebooks on the companions who she lived through her dreams. She must have astral projected on the TARDIS at one point.

 She was not thinking straight,and that was a bad sign.Her mind was wandering too far,and her arms were tied down." Dead,oh man,I am not sure I can not get my mind to work right. It is slowly pieces itself right,what ever they knocked us out with did a number on me."

She kept shaking her head,but the cobwebs were receding slower than normal,her head slumped forward,as her heart slowed. Five minutes later,she threw her head back with a scream,man she hated dieing,because you always screamed when you systems rebooted. Her head was clearer,as she decided to wait and see who they were up against. She raised her telepathic shield so her wings were not visible to anyone other than beings with off the chart telepathic abilities. She was going to play a scared girl till she could come up with a plan.

Robin was about to reply to Mal when she heard a scream and looked straight at Syra. "Well that can't be good..." She mumbled, then turned back to Mal. "It's gonna be alright, we can get out of here. Whatever is out there should come for us soon, so we have to think fast. They probably won't kill us - there would be no point in that. Not purposefully anyway..." She looked around the room once more, trying to place what type of aliens these were. "Experiments are probably right... I'm not to worried about that, there isn't much else they could do to me that I haven't already been through. I just really hope they don't touch you guys... So. Getting out. Gotta find out how to get the arm restraints off..." She moved her wrists around, then tried to feel around the arms of the chair, seeing if there was any button. Not likely but worth a shot...

Sylvia sighed, sitting in a booth of the diner, case files in front of her along with a cup of coffee a more than surprised boy had brought earlier.
Just as the feeling she got from the photo booth he gave her a bad feeling, especially now he was staring at her from behind the bar, eyes fixed on her like he wanted her to move, to do something.
Well, too bad, she wasn't leaving any time soon now she discovered people vanished here. No, she would stay here as long as she could. If it was possible she would even call for a sleeping bag to stay there for the night.
Sighing again, Sylvia glanced at the neon light, which she had discovered were not the source of the constant humming sound. It came from something different, but she couldn't place it. Yes, this was already an interesting case, now if there just was something she could do.

Mal jerked in surprise at the agonizing scream that came from behind her.  She craned her neck to see who it could possibly be and realized it was Syra.  She had only met the odd dragon lady once before.  It was funny that she seemed to run into the same people every time trouble was around... well, the majority of the time she runs into them and then gets into trouble.  "I-is she alright?  Oh, she's talkin' now... hello.  Ok, if only we knew h-how to.. untie ourselves."  She started to struggle as hard as she could, twisting her wrists around but the only thing she managed to do was hurt herself.  She started muttering cusses.