[An Icy Reception][Mission]

Good the spoke english. She kept her fearful mask on her face, making it seem she was unaware she stepped in another trap. "I was... I was just minding my own business when all the sudden.. a man grabbed me... I managed to escape him... and I saw this small cave and decided to try and hide.. from him." She said describing how she 'found' this place. "He was big and scary, and he had this crazy look on his face..." She began to cry a little, using one hand to rub at one of her eyes. "Is there... is there somewhere I can hide so if he comes in here he won't find me?" If Matthew couldn't do anything, he could always distract them, and then she would use something to knock them out. If she could draw a long bow she could certainly do that. Speaking of bows she wished she had hers.

The second guard was getting a little antsy. "L-look. I really don't think you should be here, girl." When the first guard rolled his eyes, the second guard responded with, "Well, what if we get caught? There's a kid literally tied up right there! This girl could get us in trouble with the higher-ups." The first guard laughed and patted Sophia on the shoulder. He was sure that he could take the guy who was trying to beat her up. "Why don't you show me the guy who's trying to get you?"

Well that could work.. "I don't wanna leave... I feel safe here... but if you want to go find him... he might be outside the cave..." She said slinking back a little bit. Hiding her face as she let out a few sniffles. Maybe the guy would head in Matthew direction, and he could knock the guard out, then the second one would wonder where the first is and go check and then the winter could take care of them too? Or would she have to handle guy number 2? She was more than capable...

The first guard smiled cockily. He wasn't a very bright guard, and he thought highly of himself. "Well, alright then. I'll go see about this man who's after you." he said, sauntering off toward's Matthew's direction. Panic began rising inside the Winter. What was he supposed to do? He'd never been in a fight before. The boy took a few steps back to allow himself room to knock out the guard without alerting the second guard. Sophia'd probably have to take care of him, he seemed fairly cowardly.

The guard reached the corner and when he rounded it, he spotted Matthew a few feet away, and he charged towards the boy. There was a noticeable height difference between the guard and Matthew. The guard looked to be about 5'7" while Matthew towered above him at 6'1". Matthew stood his ground and readied himself for the impact of the guard against his metal arm. The guard, unable to notice the metal coating the Winter's arms, skidded to a stop in front of the boy. "So you're the one who's been giving that poor girl some trouble. You don't look older than me own boy, except the height. I can take you." he said, aiming a punch at Matt's face. Instinctively, Matthew rose his arms to block the punch and the guard hit his arm with full force, effectively breaking it. "What the-" he started before Matthew sent a punch sailing into his face. He was out cold, and would remain that way for hours.

Back in the main area with Sophia, Dimitris, and the second guard, the guard began to get nervous after a few minutes without the first guard's return. Then it dawned on him. He was always the smarter of the two. Was she tricking him? He took an aggressive step towards the girl. "What are you trying to pull here?" he asked.

Sophia watched with concern as the man left. She didn't drop her act for a single second. She couldn't afford to or else she would in end up in some kind of trouble. She kept a troubled look on her face as she patiently awaited the first guard's return. She turned to the second guard with surprise. "P-pull?" She said stuttering a tiny bit. "S-sir... this isn't a t-trick.." She said getting scared, and shrinking back as the guard stepped closer. She was trying to give him some doubt, but then it all vanished in a second. The girl dropped to the ground, turning and lashing out with one of her legs, sending the guard to the ground, then giving him a swift punch to the face, knocking him out. She looked around for a moment then called to Matthew. "It's clear."

Matthew let the metal dissipate from his arms as he gingerly stepped over the unconscious and slightly bloody body of the first guard when Sophia called to him that it was clear. He walked over to her and looked at the unconscious body of the second guard. He nodded. "Nice job." he said. The Winter then looked over to the boy tied to the chair with his limbs tied to it and his mouth gagged. However, it looked as if he had been sleeping for most of this. Or knocked out. Matt untied the gag from his mouth and loosened the binds around his arms and legs. He shook Dimitris slightly to wake him. "Hello? You in there?" he said as he shook the boy.

Ugh, he hurt. His whole body ached from being tied up for so long. Half of his arms were numb while the other half felt like they were on fire, not to mention he couldn't feel his butt. As he was shaken awake, all he could remember was being knocked unconscious by something hard connecting with the back of his head. As he opened his eyes from the shaking, it took him a second to register what was going on. His vision was blurry and it took a little bit to focus, but when he could finally see clearly, he looked up to see Matthew and Sophia standing a little too close for comfort. With a sharp gasp, he tried moving away from the two in a panicked state, but when he realized he couldn't go anywhere, he gave up. It took a little bit of shifting his gaze between the two of them before he realized that both of them were either as old as he was or maybe only a little bit older. They didn't look like the same people who had taken him. "Who... Who are you?" he asked, his voice shaking nervously as his eyes settled on Matthew.

Sophia waited for the boy to wake up, and she blinked and smiled slightly when he did. Though the smile soon vanished when he freaked out a tiny bit. Well that wasn't quite the reaction she was looking for. She stood back a little bit, and decided to introduce herself. "I'm Sophia." She said placing a hand on her chest. "And this is Matthew." She gestured to the winter boy. "We are both gifted like you. Or rather we have abilities like you ice ability. We were sent to save you." She didn't want to mention taking him to Beata just yet.

Matthew nodded with what Sophia was saying. It was smart of her not to mention Beata just yet. Backing up, he grabbed a metal ball from his bag and used his gift to cause metal to surround his arm. "See?" he said, surprised that the boy could speak English. He let the metal disappear from his arm as he continued. "I can do that and Sophia over there can make things disintegrate." He looked around for any new guards coming and saw nothing, thankfully. "But if we're going to save you, we should get moving soon, just in case more guards show up. Then it could get messy." he added.

Dimitris couldn't understand everything that was said like the word 'disintegrate' and 'ability', but he got the gist of it from context. He was glad that he didn't take English courses in class for nothing. What he wasn't expecting were two people who were obviously American to come to his rescue. He was half expecting the police but more of him was anticipating no one at all. It wasn't like his parents cared about him. That was his assumption, at least. They hadn't cared before, so why would they start now? "Save me?" He asked, trying to make sure he understood it correctly. "Yes. Save me..." The words didn't seem to settle right with him. Were they going to take him back to his parents? He wanted anything but that. He'd rather stay here captured by those people than go back there. Before they went anywhere, Dimitris looked at both of them with a determined look in his weak expression. "I do not... er, go back." He told them, trying to remember what he learned. "Do not get me back."

Do not get him back? Do not got back? "You do not want to go back to your family?" While they weren't going to do that, it was a bit strange that he didn't want to. Was his family not a good one? "Well that makes this next part easier.. You aren't going back permanently. Just to let them know you are safe, then you will be going with us to Beata. You are going to be trained in you ice gift, or power." Sophia said. She looked around. They really needed to get out of here. "Come on, we need to leave."

Matthew tilted his head slightly at the boy's broken English. It took him a moment to understand what Dimitris was trying to say. When Sophia spoke up it became clearer. "Really? 'Cuz your father seemed pretty concerned at the gas station he worked at." he said. "But yeah, what she said. You won't have to stay if you don't want to. We were told to bring you back to America, where we attend a school for people like us."

There was a quick look of confusion on the boy's face when Matthew had mentioned that his father was worried. Of course he would be worried now. Nothing says bad parents like an adopted runaway. With a huff of contempt, Dimitris stood up and stretched for a moment, trying to regain feeling in his limbs after being tied up for so long. There were several bruises that protested in response, but he ignored it. He looked at both of them with a rather neutral expression and a large sigh. "We go to America," he said with a little bit of hope. "Please."

Sophia stood back, and crossed her arms. "Alright." He spring girl wondered what was going on for him not to want to go back to his family, but it wasn't her business. She just needed to get this mission done, and they were close to being done right? All they had to do was rescue this boy, and then take him back, right? So then all they would have to do is get his stuff, and then hop onto a plane back to North Dakota and they would be done. "Come on let's get out of here." She said then lead the way up, and out of the cave. Once she reached the exit, she waited a moment for the others. Hopefully they wouldn't run into anymore guards.

Matthew took the rear of the group as Sophia led the way back up. He kept turning around to make sure no unseen guards came from behind. Once they exited the cave, he squinted at the bright sun. Thankfully it was still day. "Alright, well, Athens is about a mile south from here. Are you okay to walk, Dimitris?" he asked, looking at the silver-haired boy. He was nearly as short as Sophia was, he noted, but that didn't mean anything.