After the incident with Ravage/Zoe, I had to go give my family a reason to not go home yet: chasing me. Or, more specifically, chasing fake me's.
I stopped by the graveyard, and raised three skeletons of those dead for a long time. I sprinkled kudzu seeds on them then watched as the vines gave them muscles and substance. I handed each a hoodie, and they put them on silently. I made the vines grow dark bark that looked like my pants and shoes on the legs. "You are to split up, and run in different directions. One of you will use the rooftops, another the public roads, the third, through the alleyways. If you are discovered by any hero, you are to come back to your grave and rest. Understood?"
The three faux me's nodded and ran in different directions. I looked around, making sure no one was watching, before sliding my hoodie off and putting a jacket and ballcap on. Simple things throw my family off the best. Look like a normal, powerless person, and they will go right by you. They usually don't look very closely at civilians when they are chasing vigilantes or villains. They still care, but don't have the time.
Anyways, I merged into the crowd after jumping the cemetery fence. No one paid attention to me, thankfully. I took the bus to the stop near Jakob's house, then walked over to his house. I hope he answers the door. I thought in a sudden flash of insight. He is probably in his den right now, headphones on. I mentally shrugged.
I knocked on his door. No answer. I knocked again. No answer. I knocked once more. I kept knocking until my hand felt like it was going to fall off. Frustrated, I rang the doorbell. Repeatedly.
Jakob finally opened the door. "Ah, Raindrop, welcome back!" he greeted. "Sorry, I was busy with a customer's order. Come in!"
I followed him inside. "I have the spare clothes you brought in your box upstairs." he said as he locked the door behind me like he usually did.
"Thank you!" I sighed in relief. "This sweater itches like crazy! And I hate this hat."
After I changed, I talked with Jakob for a bit about video games. His favorite is 'Operation Green Truth', a game that was twenty players split into five teams, with the objective to uncover which team is the enemy spies. If the spies are not uncovered before they report back, they win.
That's how I met him: he was playing OGT (Operation Green Truth), and I was on his team. The other two players left, so he hacked into the system and created two CPUs for our new teammates. We met up later, and he accidentally learned about my, *ahem*, after-hour jaunts.
"I gotta head home." I sighed eventually. "My family will be home soon, if they aren't already."
Jakob smirked. "Yeah, have a fun time, Raindrop!" he said. "See ya' later!"
"See ya'!"
As I walked out the door, I walked into Daniel. "Daniel?" I blinked, surprised. "What are you doing here?"