Channel 21 News 9am December 15th 2055

A young woman appeared on the screen. She stood in front of the burning wreckage of a building. She spoke into a microphone loudly. "This is Kelly for channel 21 news. I am standing at City Hall in New York City where a massive terrorist attack has just taken place. As of yet nothing has been confirmed but group called the Super Human Superiority Movement is speculated to be the responsible." An explosion is heard nearby. "Tom tell me your filming this!" The camera turns to show another part of the building that's collapsing. The camera zooms in revealing a man with deep red skin and no hair. The man carried a tank of what appeared to be water.A group of police armed with assault rifles went to bring down the man. The red man immediately splashed water into the air. upon hitting the ground the liquid caused a large explosion. The camera shot was covered in smoke. Then the signal cut out.

10am
The camera showed a news anchor at his desk. The man behind the desk spoke. "Due to the attack earlier today the mayor who is in the hospital for some minor injuries, has issued an emergency measure to deal with any other potential threats. It turns out researchers working for the NYFC have developed a blood test to determine if someone is a Non Human. They weren't planning on using this test for a couple months but the situation has sped up the process. Every citizen of New York City is required to get tested within the next two weeks or else they will be targeted for arrest for non compliance with the law. The mayor also encourages you to report anyone who acts suspicious to the police. Any suspects will be forcibly tested by authorities as soon as possible." A picture of the red man shown in the earlier news report appears on screen. "Any information leading to the arrest of this terrorist will rewarded with a large cash sum. He is a known affiliate of SHSM. These freaks are a threat to you and your families so please do your part to make this city safe for us all."

Rory Visculk's apartment 10am.
Rory sat on his chair watching the news. He spat on the floor and turned off the tv. "Fucking pricks. " He mumbled to himself. He took a swig of whiskey and stood up. His apartment was an absolute mess. The floor was covered in bottles. He had just lost his job a couple days before and hadn't really been sober since. Now this story on the news had really pissed him off. He poured the rest of the bottle in the sink. He had decided that he would go out tonight and raise some hell. He needed to sober up until then.

2pm
Rory was surprisingly sober already. It seemed whatever gave him his power also gave him a crazy high alcohol tolerance. He had spent the last couple few hours listening to loud music from his cd player and practicing with his lighter. There was a loud knock on the door. Rory quickly threw on his cloths, lit up a cigarette and opened the door. It was a police officer. The officer spoke. "Your neighbor called about a noise complaint." Rory quickly used a remote to turn off his cd player and responded. "I'm sorry. Tell him it won't happen again." The officer spoke again. "Well I'm sure it won't but after what happened earlier today I'm gonna have to take you down to the station to get you tested." Rory responded calmly. "Alright just let me grab my jacket." He reached to the side of the door and grabbed his welding mask. He then proceeded to knock the officer over the head with it. While officer recovered from the pain he quickly put it on and pulled out his lighter. The officer reached for his gun but was too slow. Rory lit up his lighter and torched the officers face. The officer fell to the ground blinded and in pain. Rory with his mask quickly ran out of the building knowing he could never return. Still he had spent enough time around non humans to know about the shelter. He knew a way to get there through the sewers. Rory hid the mask in a nearby garbage can as he went into a store and bought a crow bar. He left the store and grabbed his mask. He used the crowbar to open up a nearby sewer cover. He entered and was sure to close it behind him.

4pm
After over an hour of walking through the sewers Rory finally arrived at the shelter. Many people had heard the rumors of The Shelter. Some said it was a cave off in the woods somewhere. In reality they had many locations and all of them were fairly boring. The one in New York City is a series of storage lockers. The people running it ran it as a legitimate business at one point but in recent years it was converted for its new purpose. To keep up appearances they do still do some legitimate business but most of the storage spaces were actually living spaces occupied by non humans. Rory entered through the back door and found the owner. He told him that he needed to lay low and the owner gave him a key to a storage box. It would be expected that Rory would have to pay dues at some point but that wasn't a concern for now.

Aya, whose shift at the coffee shop started at nine that morning, had missed the announcement that would change her life. Like most other days, today she worked behind the counter making the drinks (after many valiant attempts to get Aya out of her shell, her coworkers all agreed she was too timid to work the cash register and actually interact with people). Popping the lid on the latest order, she lifted the cup up to her face to read the name scribbled on it. She opened her mouth to call out the name…

Only for her voice to come out in a squeak when the door opened and three men in uniform sauntered in, loaded with weapons and ammunition, "NYFC" printed on their helmets in bold letters.

Aya's world shrank down to that moment, and she swore she could feel her heart stopping. This was it. They'd finally found her and were here to make her pay for her crimes. She'd been so careful not to use her powers! Her mind buzzed with fears and anxieties, but she was frozen in place, unable to move. Her breath caught in her throat when her eyes locked with one of the officers. Then his mouth creeped up into a smirk, he threw her a wink, and he and his buddies made it to a nearby table. After a few minutes of talking, one of them got up and stood in line at the register to order coffee.

Aya nearly collapsed, she was so relieved.

Her mind snapping back to the present, Aya finally called out the name scrawled on the coffee cup and went to work making the next order. Adrenaline still thrummed through her veins, and she keep her hands from shaking as she mixed the different ingredients, or stop herself from being aware of the men in uniform.

"…'bout time we started tagging the freaks."

Her eyes widened as she caught a snippet of conversation. She looked up to see the two men sitting at the table grinning at each other.

Tagging?

Aya felt her stomach drop. They were finally hunting people with abilities down, and who knew what would happen to them after that? Who knew what would happen to her?

Annalise hadn't caught the news in the morning. Soaps were more interesting than a boring news casts, after all. It was one of her co-workers who filled her in, excited and panicked as she explained what had happened.

She hadn't left immediately, of course. Leaving early would just bring more attention to her. She hadn't exactly slowed down after her shift ended either, of course.
”Appointment with a doctor,” she'd yelled to the curious what's-her-name. They'd come for her, she knew. If not today, then tomorrow or the day after that. She had tried to hide her abilities as well as she could, but some of her neighbours followed her doings with undeniable suspicion. The old lady who lived above her had actually accused her of being a freak.

She ran to her apartment in record time. The NYFC hadn't arrived yet, thank god. The whole place smelled dank and smoky, and despite living at the apartment for quite some time, the woman still found herself grimancing at the smell. At least she'd be rid of that, right? Think of the positives, her psychologist had told her. Worthless advice, totally not fit for an occasion like this.

Isaac, the tall, homely guy who lived next to Annalise greeted her as she digged for her keys.

”Short day?” he asked with an awkward smile. He looked guilty, even if he tried to hide it.

”Mhm, yeah. Thank god. I'm so friggin' tired, you don't even know,” she answered, seemingly exhausted but calm as her door clicked open. She sent the guy a tired smile before stepping in and shutting the door with a loud slam.

Then she collapsed against the closed door, gasping in a shuddering breath. Oh fuck, why hadn't she been more careful? She didn't want to leave, but if she didn't, she was going to die, or worse!

It took well over 15 minuted for her to calm down. Packing was easy, even if her hands shook and she felt nauseous. Clothing was thrown into her worn duffel bag without much care. She'd travel light. Two pairs of shoes, lots of socks. Her phone - along with anything else with an internet connection - was left behind. Was she being paranoid? Yeah, but that could only be a good thing right now.

There was a loud knock on the door as she hid a photo of her parents into her wallet. No point in wondering who it was. That, at least, was obvious enough. She closed the door in her room and pulled her window open before peeking outside. Another loud knock and muffled authoritative words could be heard from the outside. Pulling the hood of her jacket over her head, Annalise grabbed her bag and threw it on her shoulder. Waiting for much longer would be stupid.

She opened a portal in the shadowed, hidden alleyway next to the apartment. Another appeared in her room with little effort. By the time the NYFC broke her door open, the teleporter was well on her way towards The Shelter.

Craig hadn't seen the explosion, nor had he heard it. How he knew anything about it was the news, coming at the speed of homeless people. Many people didn't know this but the homeless and the freak where somewhat of kindred spirits. Both were either ignored or people wished they were gone. On top of that no one would care if either one was to "disappear". It was no matter to Craig, what did was the wave of violence that followed. Unfortunately he would have to leave soon, living in the Shanty Town and being well liked by its community would buy him some time but soon enough the NYFC would come crashing through peoples doors.

"Land of the free my ass," he thought to himself, "This was NOT what I fought for." Giving a rueful sigh as he left his little shelter.

Craig made his rounds, checking on everybody for sickness or damage. Everyone seemed in as good as shape as one could expect from people with little to no access to medicine, at least all but Michael. Poor kid got jumped by some sadistic ducks who just wanted a kick. Craig could sense the injuries, two broken ribs, three cracked, fingers broken in multiple places, and some internal bleeding. It was a god damned miracle that he survived the night, no less than limping his way to the Shanty. Getting to work quickly, Craig called over some people to help carry Michael to "The Tent".

After laying the kid down on the mat Craig used a pair of scissors to cut both the jacket and shirt to get to the most pressing issue. Placing a wooden stick into the kids mouth with an idle " This is going to hurt.", Craig focused his energies and a green glow emanated from the space between Craig hands and the kids body. Then came the sounds of snapping and the kids howls of pain as bones came together and reknit themselves together. To his credit the kid kept the stick clenched tightly between his teeth as the operation took its course. In about five minutes the whole thing was over and the kid passed out from exhaustion.

Stepping out of "The Tent" Craig made his way to his little shelter and began to get his stuff together, which wouldn't take long being homeless and all. As much as he wanted to stay it was futile to believe he could, the NYFC would tear through everyone to get to him so he needed to leave for their sake. Apparently there was a place he could go that would help him hide, he didn't know where it was but it was better than letting these people get hurt. With little else besides a backpack and a gallon of water Craig left the Shanty Town with some goodbyes and wishes fir safety.

James woke up, probably somewhere in the afternoon, almost naked and in a stranger's appartement. He wasn't surprised. This has happened before. As he rubbed his eyes, he started to sit straight up and looked around. It was a small appartement with a view over New York. The view made it look as if he was on the 60th floor. The appartement was really high up. James stood up and slowly started walking towards the window and looked out over New York. It reminded him of his own place. That thought reminded him of is own stuff. A quick bodysearch made clear he had nothing on him at the moment and he had to start looking around for his stuff. Most of his clothes were in the kitchen with his keys and phone still in their pockets. Couple of other people, all around his age, were still sleeping throughout the appartement. He found his coat a couple of minutes later and started to leave the building.

While he was walking down the street and trying to remember what happened last night, he noticed he had 12 missed calls and a lot of messages from Ken. Ken was a guy he once met at a party, he was a so called `freak´ aswel. James called him back straight away. "James?! Oh god, James I thought they had taken you already." Ken sounded scared. "What the hell are you talking about." James responded confused. He was almost at his appartement. "Haven't you heard the news or anything!?" Ken said. "Okay, okay...." a short silence fell. "Okay, listen carefully James. Listen carefully and listen good." Ken said as he explained everything that had happened.

"Wow. That's... well, I'm not sure how to respond. Where the hell do I go now, now that they're hunting us?" James said as he walked in circles through his appartement. "I guess I can't fucking stay here, right?" Ken agreed. "Right, you can't. But I know a place, I'm currently there. It's a place where you can hide for a small price. It's called The Shelter." There fell a silence. "The... Shelter?" James said as he started going through his stuff and putting everything of value in his backpack. "Yeah, The Shelter. Seriously, you can't stay where you are. They're checking every house in New York." James sighed as he grabbed the last couple of things and filled his backpack with them. He took all the normal stuff people take with them with him. Clothes, electronics, cash, all that jazz. "Okay... okay. I'll go there. Where is the place?" James asked as he closed is backpack. "You got an adress of that place?" He looked in the mirror and noticed he was a mess. He had already changed into a new pair of clothes and all, but something just made him look like a real mess. Maybe it was the fact he hadn't showered in almost a week. Finally, Ken responded. "Tell you what. I'll meet you at your place, okay? Just make sure you don't act too nervous around cops and I'll meet you outside." After that, he hung up. James sighed as he made his way down to the streets.

About 20 minutes later, Ken finally arrived. He acted way too friendly and made a comment about James' holiday trip and that he should've packed more than just one backpack. He said it loud enough so that the ungoing stream of people could hear it aswel. James thought it was cheesy but clever at the same time. After some more smalltalk, they left. In just a couple of minutes they left the busy streets behind for alleys. Those soon enough turned into sewer tunnels. "What the hell Ken, this place is inside the sewers?" James said angrily, he wasn't fond of anything that has to do with sewers. "Nobody checks here okay? This is one of the (if not the) safest ways to travel." Ken replied. James didn't say anything after that.

15 minutes later, they arrived. Ken showed James around and introduced him to the owner. The owner told James that he could stay as long as he paid his dues, but James had enough money for that. After that, James thanked Ken for all he had done and Ken left. James got a key and started looking for his so called 'room'. As he was searching, he got the idea that he should get to know some people around here and walked up towards the first person he saw. A guy with black hair who smelled of alcohol and cigarettes. "Hey" he said as he held his hand out. "I'm James Qatr. Call me James."

------double post, nothing to see here-------

c3p-0h said
Aya, whose shift at the coffee shop started at nine that morning, had missed the announcement that would change her life. Like most other days, today she worked behind the counter making the drinks (after many valiant attempts to get Aya out of her shell, her coworkers all agreed she was too timid to work the cash register and actually with people). Popping the lid on the latest order, she lifted the cup up to her face to read the name scribbled on it. She opened her mouth to call out the name…Only for her voice to come out in a squeak when the door opened and three men in uniform sauntered in, loaded with weapons and ammunition, "NYFC" printed on their helmets in bold letters. Aya's world shrank down to that moment, and she swore she could feel her heart stopping. This was it. They'd finally found her and were here to make her pay for her crimes. She'd been so not to use her powers! Her mind buzzed with fears and anxieties, but she was frozen in place, unable to move. Her breath caught in her throat when her eyes locked with one of the officers. Then his mouth creeped up into a smirk, he threw her a wink, and he and his buddies made it to a nearby table. After a few minutes of talking, one of them got up and stood in line at the register to order coffee. Aya nearly collapsed, she was so relieved. Her mind snapping back to the present, Aya finally called out the name scrawled on the coffee cup and went to work making the next order. Adrenaline still thrummed through her veins, and she keep her hands from shaking as she mixed the different ingredients, or stop herself from being aware of the men in uniform. "…'bout time we started tagging the freaks."Her eyes widened as she caught a snippet of conversation. She looked up to see the two men sitting at the table grinning at each other.Aya felt her stomach drop. They were finally hunting people with abilities down, and who knew what would happen to them after that? Who knew what would happen to her?

A man in a trench coat and wearing a ski mask entered the coffee shop. It wasn't terribly unusual or suspicious considering it was a cold winter day. The man walked up to the table where the NYFC officers were sitting. In a quick motion the man grabbed the necks of two of the officers and crushed them with his bare hands killing them. The remaining NYFC officer jumped up and reached for his gun but before he could pull it out, the trench coat wearing man punched him in the face smashing his skull. The officer fell to the ground unconscious bleeding from his head. The ski mask wearing man pulled the gun from the officer knocked to the ground and fired it into the air twice. He then pointed it at Aya. He yelled loudly. "Money in the register! Now bitch!"

BeepBoop said
Annalise hadn't caught the news in the morning. Soaps were more interesting than a boring news casts, after all. It was one of her co-workers who filled her in, excited and panicked as she explained what had happened.She hadn't left immediately, of course. Leaving early would just bring more attention to her. She hadn't exactly slowed down after her shift ended either, of course.”Appointment with a doctor,” she'd yelled to the curious what's-her-name. They'd come for her, she knew. If not today, then tomorrow or the day after that. She had tried to hide her abilities as well as she could, but some of her neighbours followed her doings with undeniable suspicion. The old lady who lived above her had actually accused her of being a freak.She ran to her apartment in record time. The NYFC hadn't arrived yet, thank god. The whole place smelled dank and smoky, and despite living at the apartment for quite some time, the woman still found herself grimancing at the smell. At least she'd be rid of that, right? Think of the positives, her psychologist had told her. Worthless advice, totally not fit for an occasion like this.Isaac, the tall, homely guy who lived next to Annalise greeted her as she digged for her keys.”Short day?” he asked with an awkward smile. He looked guilty, even if he tried to hide it.”Mhm, yeah. Thank god. I'm so friggin' tired, you don't even know,” she answered, seemingly exhausted but calm as her door clicked open. She sent the guy a tired smile before stepping in and shutting the door with a loud slam.Then she collapsed against the closed door, gasping in a shuddering breath. Oh fuck, why hadn't she been more careful? She didn't want to leave, but if she didn't, she was going to die, or worse!It took well over 15 minuted for her to calm down. Packing was easy, even if her hands shook and she felt nauseous. Clothing was thrown into her worn duffel bag without much care. She'd travel light. Two pairs of shoes, lots of socks. Her phone - along with anything else with an internet connection - was left behind. Was she being paranoid? Yeah, but that could only be a good thing right now.There was a loud knock on the door as she hid a photo of her parents into her wallet. No point in wondering who it was. That, at least, was obvious enough. She closed the door in her room and pulled her window open before peeking outside. Another loud knock and muffled authoritative words could be heard from the outside. Pulling the hood of her jacket over her head, Annalise grabbed her bag and threw it on her shoulder. Waiting for much longer would be stupid.She opened a portal in the shadowed, hidden alleyway next to the apartment. Another appeared in her room with little effort. By the time the NYFC broke her door open, the teleporter was well on her way towards The Shelter.

Annalise arrived at the shelter. She went to office building on the property. In the building was an old man sitting behind a desk with a computer typing away. The man looked up at her and spoke. "Can I help you?" he said in a tired voice.

Pathfinder said
Craig hadn't seen the explosion, nor had he heard it. How he knew anything about it was the news, coming at the speed of homeless people. Many people didn't know this but the homeless and the freak where somewhat of kindred spirits. Both were either ignored or people wished they were gone. On top of that no one would care if either one was to "disappear". It was no matter to Craig, what did was the wave of violence that followed. Unfortunately he would have to leave soon, living in the Shanty Town and being well liked by its community would buy him some time but soon enough the NYFC would come crashing through peoples doors. "Land of the free my ass," he thought to himself, "This was NOT what I fought for." Giving a rueful sigh as he left his little shelter.Craig made his rounds, checking on everybody for sickness or damage. Everyone seemed in as good as shape as one could expect from people with little to no access to medicine, at least all but Michael. Poor kid got jumped by some sadistic ducks who just wanted a kick. Craig could sense the injuries, two broken ribs, three cracked, fingers broken in multiple places, and some internal bleeding. It was a god damned miracle that he survived the night, no less than limping his way to the Shanty. Getting to work quickly, Craig called over some people to help carry Michael to "The Tent".After laying the kid down on the mat Craig used a pair of scissors to cut both the jacket and shirt to get to the most pressing issue. Placing a wooden stick into the kids mouth with an idle , Craig focused his energies and a green glow emanated from the space between Craig hands and the kids body. Then came the sounds of snapping and the kids howls of pain as bones came together and reknit themselves together. To his credit the kid kept the stick clenched tightly between his teeth as the operation took its course. In about five minutes the whole thing was over and the kid passed out from exhaustion.Stepping out of "The Tent" Craig made his way to his little shelter and began to get his stuff together, which wouldn't take long being homeless and all. As much as he wanted to stay it was futile to believe he could, the NYFC would tear through everyone to get to him so he needed to leave for their sake. Apparently there was a place he could go that would help him hide, he didn't know where it was but it was better than letting these people get hurt. With little else besides a backpack and a gallon of water Craig left the Shanty Town with some goodbyes and wishes fir safety.

A woman grabbed Craig by the arm as he began to leave. She spoke. "Wait. Don't leave yet. That boy you saved was my son. If your leaving at least let me help you."

Spencer said
James woke up, probably somewhere in the afternoon, almost naked and in a stranger's appartement. He wasn't surprised. This has happened before. As he rubbed his eyes, he started to sit straight up and looked around. It was a small appartement with a view over New York. The view made it look as if he was on the 60th floor. The appartement was really high up. James stood up and slowly started walking towards the window and looked out over New York. It reminded him of his own place. That thought reminded him of is own stuff. A quick bodysearch made clear he had nothing on him at the moment and he had to start looking around for his stuff. Most of his clothes were in the kitchen with his keys and phone still in their pockets. Couple of other people, all around his age, were still sleeping throughout the appartement. He found his coat a couple of minutes later and started to leave the building.While he was walking down the street and trying to remember what happened last night, he noticed he had 12 missed calls and a lot of messages from Ken. Ken was a guy he once met at a party, he was a so called `freak´ aswel. James called him back straight away. "James?! Oh god, James I thought they had taken you already." Ken sounded scared. "What the hell are you talking about." James responded confused. He was almost at his appartement. "Haven't you heard the news or anything!?" Ken said. "Okay, okay...." a short silence fell. "Okay, listen carefully James. Listen carefully and listen good." Ken said as he explained everything that had happened."Wow. That's... well, I'm not sure how to respond. Where the hell do I go now, now that they're hunting us?" James said as he walked in circles through his appartement. "I guess I can't fucking stay here, right?" Ken agreed. "Right, you can't. But I know a place, I'm currently there. It's a place where you can hide for a small price. It's called The Shelter." There fell a silence. "The... Shelter?" James said as he started going through his stuff and putting everything of value in his backpack. "Yeah, The Shelter. Seriously, you can't stay where you are. They're checking every house in New York." James sighed as he grabbed the last couple of things and filled his backpack with them. He took all the normal stuff people take with them with him. Clothes, electronics, cash, all that jazz. "Okay... okay. I'll go there. Where is the place?" James asked as he closed is backpack. "You got an adress of that place?" He looked in the mirror and noticed he was a mess. He had already changed into a new pair of clothes and all, but something just made him look like a real mess. Maybe it was the fact he hadn't showered in almost a week. Finally, Ken responded. "Tell you what. I'll meet you at your place, okay? Just make sure you don't act too nervous around cops and I'll meet you outside." After that, he hung up. James sighed as he made his way down to the streets.About 20 minutes later, Ken finally arrived. He acted way too friendly and made a comment about James' holiday trip and that he should've packed more than just one backpack. He said it loud enough so that the ungoing stream of people could hear it aswel. James thought it was cheesy but clever at the same time. After some more smalltalk, they left. In just a couple of minutes they left the busy streets behind for alleys. Those soon enough turned into sewer tunnels. "What the hell Ken, this place is inside the sewers?" James said angrily, he wasn't fond of anything that has to do with sewers. "Nobody checks here okay? This is one of the (if not the) safest ways to travel." Ken replied. James didn't say anything after that.15 minutes later, they arrived. Ken showed James around and introduced him to the owner. The owner told James that he could stay as long as he paid his dues, but James had enough money for that. After that, James thanked Ken for all he had done and Ken left. James got a key and started looking for his so called 'room'. As he was searching, he got the idea that he should get to know some people around here and walked up towards the first person he saw. A guy with black hair who smelled of alcohol and cigarettes. "Hey" he said as he held his hand out. "I'm James Qatr. Call me James."

Rory simply stared at the man for a moment. Without lifting his hand to shake he said "Well James people around here call me Charcoal. I see your new here so ill give you some advice. Stay on my good side or you'll find out why I have that nick name."