As the beast flew burning through the air from the force of Diego's, Titus ran towards it. He was about to deliver the mother of all haymakers to its exposed and charred skull when he realized that a meta behind him was charging up. He quickly rolled out of the way and slid in front of the monster, holding out his arms to make himself wider. Should the attack miss or do little damage to the monster, its only form of escape would be through him (though through him was a legitimate possibility). Though he would never admit it, Titus was impressed with these new metas. Though he could have handled himself fine against the creature, it was nice to know that he had backup. Now he just hoped that this would work.
As the blast hit, Titus covered his ears and blocked his head with his arms. "WHOOSH!" The creature went limp. Titus laughed at its death and kicked it, sending the carcass skidding across the floor. Lupe walked over and gestured to Titus wounds. He puffed out his chest and flexed his muscles like a bodybuilder, showing off his ripped body.
"Haha! Don't worry about me!" Titus boasted "I am the great Titus MacArthur, the strongest man in the world! My regeneration powers are so great that not even the bite of a...whatever the fuck that thing is...can stop me!" As the adrenaline and testosterone began to wear off, several spots on Titus' body began to ache, especially the still-healing gash in his right thigh from the creature's bite. In fact, there were several gaping wounds all over his body which were still in the process of healing, and he was fairly sure he had broken at least one rib, maybe three.
"However," he grunted "I could use some Advil."
Spencer
Oh my God someone's talking to me. Spencer looked up from his book as Mika approached. His eyes glowed in the darkness, and the clouds of stellar gas swirling around in them turned a hot pink with fear. She was an Asian girl, well-dressed and slightly chubby. She said something about a monster, and he remembered the shouts he had heard from across campus. She introduced herself as Mika in an extroverted away, and Spencer seemed to almost visibly shrink into his mint oxford. He let the book go and lost his page. "Fuck" he muttered.
"I'm...um...Spencer." he said in an almost unsure way "If there's a monster on the lose, don't you think we should, y'know, like, get a teacher or security or something? That sounds, like, pretty bad." He grabbed the book and stowed it away in his messenger bag. Then he put the bag on and stood up. It was getting late and he didn't feel like being monster food.
It was a real test of willpower for Lupe to avoid busting out laughing at Titus's boast. She couldn't resist a quick chuckle and a smirk. The fuck you talking about, big man?! Lupe thought to herself. You were getting your asswhoopedbefore we came along. She shifted her weight to one hip, and put her hand on it. While it was funny as hell... she figured that she shouldn't put the big man down like that. After that asswhooping, Titus must be pretty embarrassed, and must be trying real hard to make himself look big and strong. Maybe to impress her. Well, she did sympathize with him a bit. She dramatically made a finger gun gesture, and closed one eye. "I guess you'll just walk that off, no doctors?" She said with a smirk, before both hands went onto her hips. She looked around. Oh yeah! They need to get the hell out of here and tell someone what the hell just happened. Because, boy, it ain't like the movies here. The Calvary isn't going to arrive after you defeat the monster. Looks like the heroes of this story will have to get them themselves.
"Let's go, we need to find somebody!" Lupe ran off, followed by Diego (And whoever else was willing - Lupe wasn't paying attention so it's just as likely someone else wandered off).
Get help? Just get some help! Why didn't Mika think of that one before!? Well, she was pretty shaken by whatever monster. All that was running through her mind was greatly expanding the distance between herself and that thing. Now that... now that she's here, she was able to compose herself again. Appear like the lady she was taught to be! And ladies don't sweat and show strong emotions like this! They merely degrade her. Mika stood straight up, and adjusted her glasses. "You are correct." She said, nodding her head. "Only problem...." As she composed herself, she realized a small problem in Spencer's plan... "With the lights out, this creature roaming, and the fact that we have no idea where the staff is... leaving the safety of the Cafe would not be advisory." She nodded her head. ".... However, a certain power of mind would allow me to... detect... any of the nearby staff members... It would just be a very taxing effort." She closed her eyes, and tilted her head downwards. She extended her telepathic will to the surrounding area. Technically she has a range of around thirty-three feet. With effort, she pushed her range beyond that limit. Quickly pushing from thirty-three, to around forty feet in a few seconds, and counting. She was shaking, and drips of sweat started rolling down her head. Is this a fruitless effort? Mika asked herself. Until she finally found a mind. Now was the other hard part - getting into this person's mind, and keep her range extended so far. She pierced into his mind, and shifted through thoughts, until it turned out that it was Adam Blackmore.
With the last of Mika's effort, Mika sent a telepathic message to Adam: Adam, I should bring to your attention that there is a rabid beast on the loose. I do not know if it's a student or something from the woods, but I should- Before Mika could finish, she had pushed herself too far. Stretching her range and attempting to send a message was simply too much for her. She stopped - but, she still got through to Adam. She was sure of it. She fell back into her chair, and let out a sigh, closing her eyes, and throwing her head back. She... just needed a moment to replenish her energy, then she'll be back on her feet! Suddenly, her head went back into a neutral position. What I did there was very unlady-like.
She placed a hand to her lips to cough, as her vision went over to Spencer - specifically his hands. He didn't take too much care of his hands. Sad. Other than that, the male seemed very composed, albeit somewhat timid. She could tell. Asocial types just got drawn to this school. "I have alerted the staff... I believe. Come now, we should head inside the Cafe. We don't-"
"S-somebody! HELP ME!" Mika's sentence was cut off by a shrill shriek. It came from the dorms... Which meant she should go in the opposite direction.
Not even waiting for Spencer, Mika quickly moved her legs until she was to the door. She opened it, and closed it behind her.
Fiona Barrett & Michelle Gallus
After the meeting with Reagan and Maurice was adjourned, the two animal-Metas went back to the dorms - because hell if they had anything else to do in the Cafe. Might as well head home. Though, Fiona was basically hiding behind Michelle. She heard signs of a fight. Roaring, flames, screaming... which ended with a massive bolt of lightning that nearly overwhelmed her sense of hearing. Sounds of crashing glass followed. Michelle, on the other hand walked confidently. Uncaring about what is going on in there. Even if it did interest her, it was none of her business. Though, after the bolt of lightning, it all died down.
"... What do you think is going on?" Fiona asked Michelle.
To which, Michelle chuckled, "How about you go over there and find out yourself!?" She said.
"... Not funny."
"Who said I was joking?" Michelle shrugged, looking back at Fiona.
"S-somebody! HELP ME!" A scream filled Michelle and Fiona's ears. Their enhanced sense of hearing allowed them to hear it in greater detail than most... and boy, it was not pretty. It was followed by bestial growling and chewing. Which meant that this was legit. Michelle immediately stood straight up, and began rushing down the halls with no idea what she would find. Someone was in danger, and they needed her help. That's all the reasoning Michelle needed.
"... Wait!" Don't leave me... Fiona weakly said as Michelle ran off. It looks like little Fiona is all alone... She'll be fine. All she has to do is find her room.
... While the group did put a hurting on the monster, they didn't truly finish it. After they left, it began breathing heavily. Letting slow, pained, breathes through it's nose and ruined mouth. It hoisted itself up on it's one good claw, and quickly climbed to all four claws. It took slow steps, limping on the leg where Cass had stabbed it. It retreated, left to lick it's many wounds. Slowly limping through the school fast as it could. It kept moving, and moving, and moving. Unintentionally going deeper into the dorms. Where, unfortunately, it ran into it's next prey. A small boy, with pink-highlights in his hair. Casper. He was wondering around the dorms after he had gotten lost. He had duplicated his phone, and created twice the light. He was facing away from the beast as he walked through the halls. Which made him perfect prey. The creature faintly grinned, and stopped it's audible breathing. Getting closer and closer. Filling with the excitement that a fresh kill would bring with every step! It got closer - but Casper heard it, he dove around - but it was far too late. Casper loudly screamed as the monster pounced on him, it's claws on it's chest. It slammed him to the ground with enough force to break bones. It opened up it's mouth to take a bite out of Casper's throat, before he could scream - but the child was nimble enough to flip over and begin crawling out of it's grasp. No matter, it simply latched onto Casper's leg instead, with a grip that he just couldn't escape from.
"S-somebody! HELP ME!" Casper managed to get out the panicked scream.
The Beast didn't listen, all it wanted was to get it's fill of previous human meat. It firmly placed it's claw on Casper's back, as it pulled his leg with it's jaws with an immense strength. It kept pulling for seconds on end, as Casper thrashed around (Uselessly at this point) - until skin, muscle, and bone ripped. The beast, in a bloody display, pulled Casper's leg clean off. Blood dripped down from the dismembered appendage, and the Beast held it in between it's teeth. It threw it's head back, and swallowed his leg whole. It wanted more. Casper was screaming uncontrollably at this point. More motivation for the beast to silence him... for good. It moved upwards, and opened it's jaws wide over his head. Ready to clamp down on his skull and crush it.
Before it could deliver the coup de grace, it felt someone grab onto it's tail very tightly. Whoever it was, it was pulling very hard - before, in one burst of strength, the beast was swung off Casper, and slammed into a wall. "... You get the hell off him!" Michelle shouted, as she did so. Michelle had her eyes narrowed, and stared at the beast - she was already transformed, at least partially. Her hands were morphed into large, green, scaly claws, her feet were the same, a long thick tail appeared from right above her waist (bursting through her skirt), along with rough patches of scales coating her skin. She took two steps towards the beast, which climbed up to it's feet, before Michelle raised her claws in the air and brought them down on it's skull hard as she could. She dug them into it's skull - but they got stuck. She shook her claws (And by extent, the monster's head) to try to get them free - but the monster quickly arched it's head around and took a quick bite out of Michelle's leg.
Within seconds, she was bleeding. A jagged wound was left from the monster's bite. "Ah!" Michelle loudly cried, and the beast got out of her grip. It leaped back, and swung it's tail towards Michelle's leg - which pulled her balance from under her and slammed her onto the ground with a bang. The Beast immediately crawled over to her, and primed it's jaws to take a bite out of Michelle's face. She grabbed each end of it's mouth, and held them open, groaning. She put her leg on it's underside, and kicked it down the hallway into the wall. She quickly jumped up to her feet and ran over to it. She grabbed onto it's tail tightly, and slammed her foot onto it's tip with enough force to break it. In response, the beast roared and thrashed around, and managed to kick Michelle off of it. She stumbled back a few feet, and by the time she had recovered, it was already up on it's feet. Turned sideways, with it's head arced around to face her. It's tail had gone limp, with the part where it's bones were broken visible.
I gotta finish this fast. Michelle thought to herself... Her gaze drifted to Casper at her feet - who was still bleeding out. Shit! He's gonna be done for- Fuck it! Michelle quickly bent over and scoped Casper up... She heard the creature running towards her, when she turned her head, all she saw was the creature's tail flying towards her at high speeds. The smack whipped her across the face, and echoed through the hallway. It knocked out a tooth. Michelle fell to the sides, unconscious, with Casper falling out of her hands. She hit the ground - the failure quickly sunk in.
The beast loudly laughed. It was victorious. The Apex predator had defeated the woman who had come to save it's prey - only to fall victim to the beast too. They were going to be an impressive meal. It walked up to Michelle, who had her hand stuck out. It opened it's maw, and took a chomp out of Michelle's hand - cleanly biting off half her hand. She had lost a almost all her fingers on that one hand. It threw it's head back to swallow it's meal. It came back, and this time, took a bigger bite of Michelle's wrist. Unlike her hand, it didn't bite through it in one chew. It simply began squeezing, and squeezing, and squeezing....
A sharp change in the air alerted it of danger, it could hear strong winds down the hallway. It released it's grip on Michelle in order to prepare itself - however, it couldn't react in time for a... coffee mug flying through the air at high speeds. It simply shot through the air, and shattered on impact with it's face. The creature took steps back, attempting to shake off it's wounds. It suddenly shot down the hallway by a powerful gust of wind. It smacked the wall with enough force to leave a hole in the wall. At the angle it hit the wall, it hit it's leg - so, the sounds of it's leg breaking could be added to the cacophony. It rolled out of the wall, unfortunately falling on it's broken leg. Sounds of footsteps approaching made it realize that it bit off more than it could chew. It got up, and tried to crawl away - before it was violently shot into a wall again, hitting it's mouth against the corner of the wall. Teeth came flying out. Followed by blood.
The footsteps got closer. What was going on?
It got up and kept limping off. It moved fast as it could, but once it made it down a large hallway, it was once again forced down a hallway. It went flying down the hallway until it hit the wall with a massive crash that absolutely demolished the wall. At this point, many of it's bones were broken. It's back legs were shattered, it's rip-cage was smashed in, and it was bleeding profusely (Out of it's mouth and it's wounds). It hit the ground again - but it couldn't muster the strength to get back up. Too injured. It could only crawl. In it's last moments, it attempted to crawl away, dragging itself along using it's front legs. However, a heavy foot came down onto it's skull hard and finally put an end to the Beast. "Disgusting creature." Adam Blackmore hissed through his teeth, staring down at the beast with it beneath his shoe. It was finally over. He bent the air to carry soundwaves to his ears, and it didn't have a heartbeat. It was completely dead. He nodded his head and got off of it, he went back towards Michelle and Casper. Though, he stopped, and turned around to look at the beast. It was dead. Not getting back up. Adam confirmed the kill.
After a short walk, he made his way back to the unconscious Michelle and Casper. Christ, the boy had lost a lot of blood. There was a pool by now. Adam did the same trick he preformed on the monster to make sure these two were alive. He first listened in on Michelle's heartbeat, and heard that her heart was still alive and pumping. On the other hand.... "... No." Adam exclaimed, "No, no, no, no, no!" He repeated to himself as he grabbed Casper by the shoulders. He shook the boy's shoulders, with his eyes wide.
There was no life in Casper's eyes. All this blood was a sure sign of what happened.... The boy...
... Was dead. That is the end of act one: Paradise.
What lies in store for the cast in...
Act 2: Approaching Darkness
3:42 PM
It has been a week since the monster's attack on the school. Repairs were made, and it was all covered up to avoid causing panic. After it's death, the beast was cut open to reveal the corpses of Sawyer and Piper Babinski - along with the severed leg of Casper, and Michelle's fingers. These details were hidden from the students, of course. With details and records changed to simply saying that the students had left the island. It would have been like they were never there. The students involved with the monster fight were thoroughly interrogated, and ultimately told to keep quiet about what they've seen. So, present day, it's after the classes. The day was bright and sunny, with storms on their way.
Michelle Gallus & Adam Blackmore
Inside Adam Blackmore's office, Michelle sat down in a reclining chair that Adam had presented to her with a thump. She looked to the side of his office, placing a firm fist to her chin, drifting out the window. White bandages and gauze wrap were wrapped around her dismembered hand, which was placed onto the sides of the seat. She dressed very casually today. A white V-neck shirt, with a long black skirt - with bracelets around her wrists, jiggling around with every movement. She looked around Adam's office, and took in the scenery. It definitely fit anyone description of a office. It was a large room with a wooden floor and walls, it had a marble ceiling. In the center of the room of a light-blue rug with the NEST symbol in black. On top of the rug, opposite to the intimidating doors, was Adam's hardwood desk. Behind the desk was Adam's filing cabinets. All around the room there were windows that overlooked the woods that surrounded the school. Michelle was sitting on a chair in front of the desk. Straight across from her was the same chair - with a small coffee table in between those two chairs. It was an office for Adam... without the Adam.
"You wish to have a talk with me, miss Gallus?" Adam said just as he walked through the doors holding two paper cups full of hot coffee. He sat down in the chair across from Michelle, placing her coffee on the table between them, and put one leg over the over the other as he took a sip out of it. "I am open ears." He said in between sips.
Michelle took in a deep breath, before letting it all out. She didn't know if she should even be talking about it or not. But she needed to get this off her chest one way or another. Adam didn't look like a therapist. "I... I wanted to talk to you about what happened that night..." She held the coffee in her hands, but she didn't take a sip. Michelle was never the coffee.
"Yes? What about it?" Adam suddenly perked up, but he leaned back down in his chair. Keeping cool as he could. "Remember, you can talk to me about anything."
He doesn't even care.... Michelle thought to herself and drifted off."It's... I keep thinking about that boy... I can't get him off my bloody head!" She exclaimed with irritation. "What could I have done to save him? Should I have held off the beast? Should I have...?" Too many variables here.
Adam placed the coffee onto the table. He leaned in closely, and wrapped his fingers around his opposite hands. He spoke, "It's... understandable, Michelle. You're feeling a bit - but I assure you that you've done the best you could. You choose to save him rather than continue to fight. That means you have a humanity like no other." He nodded his head. "You should... take a break. I believe there is a psychologist...."
"... N-no, that isn't what I need." Michelle was quick to rudely interrupt Adam, putting her hand out. She needed confirmation. Confirmation that she had helped. "What happened to that boy? I don't know him... but I never got to find out his name - let alone if he's alright or not. So, can you tell me what happened to him?"
Adam sighed. He didn't want to tell her what really happened to Casper - even though he did want to tell her. He'll have to give her the fabricated story he gave his room mates. "... After getting his injuries treated, his family requested that he leave the isl-" He was, yet again, cut off by Michelle.
"Your heart, your breathe..." Michelle blankly stated, with the cup of coffee in between her hands, staring at the lid. "They tell me something..." Her gaze went upwards from the lid to Adam. "... You're lying." She said.
Christ. Adam knew, from observing her, that she had enhanced hearing. However, he knew that there was no out way out of it. If she was expecting him to spill the truth. He stood straight up, speaking as he made the motion, "... We are done here."
"No! We're... Ugh!" Michelle fumed out of sheer frustration. Adam was a real tight-lipped motherfucker - Michelle knew that. Even though she had seen through his ruse, he still refused to tell her anything. Okay, okay. Then that meant she'll have to find out for herself. She stood straight up, and walked right to the door. She stepped through the door - but before she went through the door, she stopped and pointed at Adam. "If you're not going to tell me, I'll find someone who will." She left after saying that.
Adam merely sat down on his desk, crossed his arms, and shook his head.
Michelle stormed through the active halls of the Academy - and it made her even angrier! All these people, acting normally even though there was an attack on the school merely the night before. Dumbasses! Michelle needed to calm down. In this state, she would freak out and do something costly... Maybe she'll just unwind at the Student Lounge. Yeah! That seemed like the best idea right now. Michelle made her way from the offices to the Domestic Wing. She quickly found the lounge on the bottom floor, and stepped inside. It wasn't as active as it usually is. However, Michelle didn't feel like playing pool or anything - she simply sat down on the sofa, and crossed her arms.
Diego Julius Bellasquez & Lupe Ellie Bellasquez
A few days ago, strange people came into Diego's room, and cleared it of all of Casper's belongings, only giving the (Quite frankly very weak) explanation of "He's leaving." Which was odd, since they didn't even have a conversation about why. Casper never seemed like the type who would leave without a word. At the same time, a bunch of new items filled the room. There were games and other... nerdy stuff. He thought it belonged to Casper, but they never took it. Strange. Which meant he had plenty of games to play.
"... Oh yeah!" Lupe shouted as she got the last kill in their game of Call of Duty. The end match scoreboard popped up on the screen. While she got the last kill (by luck), the two were still at the bottom of the scoreboard. Diego pressed the start button and scrolled down to quit. "Awwww, we're done?" Lupe got up off the floor, and looked at Diego with a smile. She adjusted the baseball cap on her head, and turned it to the side. "... Let's hope your roomie doesn't mind us turning his K/D to shit. Ha!" She smiled as she looked down. Thank god, she didn't get any Cheetos crumbs on her clothes. Which, today, Lupe was wearing something very simple. She wore long-green baggy camo pants, with black combat boots on her feet. She wore a tank-top, and several bracelets around her wrists. All topped off with a red Chicago Bulls snapback.
"... I don't think he'll mind." Diego dryly said. He got up off the floor too. Diego wasn't in the mood to play anymore videogames. He wanted... he didn't know what he wanted to do anymore. Maybe just live a little. Ever since the whole monster incident, Diego wasn't too lively. He was just cooped up in his room most of the time. All alone. Diego didn't even get to have his second conversation with Cass. He looked around, before his gaze fell onto Lupe. He said "I just want to do something else for a change." Diego, on the other hand, was wearing light-blue jeans, and a black sweater. With a silver cross on a chain hanging from his neck.
"Wanna go to the lounge, then? I heard that place seems like fun." Lupe asked him, body halfway turned towards the door.
Wasn't like he had better things to do. He shrugged, and said, "Sure."
"Excellent!" Lupe grabbed onto his wrist and started pulling him towards the exit. Before she suddenly let go, and pointed at the closet. "Go get your guitar." Diego quickly ran inside his closet and pulled out his black guitar case. "Let's go!"
The two proceeded to the student lounge, wading through the crowds of people in order to reach their destination. They stepped into the room side by side, and looked around. It was the same old, same old.
Fiona Ashley Barrett
With one leap from a chasm, Fiona was on higher ground. Effortlessly traversing the grounds from the Academy to... this place she saw in the distance. She gazed up at the walls - cracked and decrepit, covered in moss and vines. Fiona wondered what was inside of this place, what was beyond the walls. Only one way to find out! It was too high for her to jump up. Fiona, wearing nothing more than a white t-shirt with a heart on it, and red gym shorts, pushed off her legs and began hopping around the walls. Until she found a convenient hole in the wall. She stopped, turned her body, and hopped clean into the hole. She took a few steps forward (Jeez, these walls must be thick.), and peaked her head in. She saw several buildings that were just as decayed as the walls. Her vision quickly scanned the - Heeeeeeeeey.... this looks exactly like a school. Fiona was quick to think to herself. There was a Dorm, a another building, a fountain. It's just that it's- Footsteps were picked up by Fiona. They were coming straight for her from inside the ruins. She... didn't know what to do. Every bone in her body was telling her to leave. Quickly, Fiona crawled out of the hole and turned around. She jumped out of the hole, and landed on her feet.
The soundwaves were picked up by the sensory organs in Fiona's legs - the footsteps were getting closer. She didn't know who it was, or if she's being jumpy... Better safe than sorry. She began hopping her way back to the Academy. She jumped off to the side, and followed the sounds of the waves crashing against to the beach. She stopped, and her feet dug into the sand. Fiona looked at the ocean - and nearly cringed. She can't really take a swim like people can... her brand of swimming consists more of flailing and screaming. Plus, she couldn't really jump from sand that well. So, she wanted to get off this beach soon as possible. Fiona made one large jump forward. Planting her feet into the sand, before making another massive leap. She repeated this process until she was back at the school... Well, she saw the Beach Lodge. Which she knew wasn't too far away from the entrance.
Fiona walked up to the building, and bent her knees into a squat - she quickly shot her legs straight into a leap. She managed to land on the roof - almost slipping, before she got her legs onto the roof. She climbed up to the very top of the roof. Fiona stepped onto the edge of the roof, and started watching the waves....
Mika Baozai
How hard would it be to find one simple Cricket-girl? It's been a few days since the blackout, and Mika has been searching for Fiona - fruitlessly. She couldn't find the woman for the life of her. So annoying. At the same time, she wondered if Fiona even wanted to be found... It's understandable to wish to keep your head down in a school such as this. However, Mika was not going to give up. She needed to try harder. Mika sighed as she walked into the cafe - wearing a red button up shirt, with a navy blue skirt with golden stripes across it. Mika sat down in a booth, yet again. Waiting for service.
"You know your orders, captain?" the man sitting next to him said through his headset.
"Yeah, sent from Verthaven. I know what I'm here for. More than likely nothing's gonna go down, but play security guard. Be there as psychiatric assistance for students. Reassure them by being there. Shit like that." was the short response.
"That it?"
"Well, I have to lead an investigation of sorts. I had Barney prepare the critter's body for overview. Nothing we didn't do in ninth grade biology."
"How come you always get the easy missions?"
"I'm a lizard in Alaska, Agent Barr."
There was a bout of laughter from the man, and a serious silence once again regained it's hold of the interior of the helicopter.
"And... if something does happen?"
There was a silence.
"From the pictures I've seen, this thing is child's play. In Black Fall, things actually get strange."
There was another bout of laughter, but it was soon cut off as the Armored vehicle came to a stop. Agent Olin, Spec Ops Captain of the Black Fall Division Of NEST was what could possibly be the most intimidating individual to ever live if you didn't know him. Most men and women, even meta humans, rarely reached past seven feet tall. Agent Olin stood head, shoulders, and chest above most people and just above every meta humans. To back this up, he was one of the most powerful meta humans in NEST's disposal.
He stepped out of the Helicopter as it landed on the school's helipad. He stepped off of the lift along with two other Academy officials who were in sorts, his escorts. His large suitcase looking comedically small in his hands, which he could more than likely wrap around most of a basketball. His escorts looking comedically small next to HIM. Along his visible body was a slick, black, technical, and expensive looking power amor. It clung to his body like a speed suit, leaving only his hands, feet, and head just below the jawline exposed. His skin was white, and his build was powerful, but he was distinctly nonhuman. More so than most other animal meats at least. Behind him, hovering over the ground by powerful muscles was a thick and long tail. His feet were concealed in specialized shoes and over his torso he wore a thick brown wooly hoodie, with a hole cut into the left arm. Over his legs, long and custom made cargo pants. The pockets seemed full of various materials and around his belt several tools were present. Ranging from a rather large pistol, to a taser and other law enforcement necessities. On his left forearm in place of where the hole was, was a large control device that currently displayed a map of the school in 3D. Heat emanated from his body, but he still shivered. He was relearning why he hated Alaska already.
"This way, Agent Olin." one of the officials said, motioning for the much larger meta human to follow him. Henry reached into his jacket and pulled out a pair of sunglasses built for his head and put them on to keep the strong sunlight out of his eyes. There wasn't much daylight in Alaska, but when it was out, it was powerful. He was very quickly learning this.
"Lead the way."
"Right this way, Agent. Blackmore has been expecting you." his escort said, opening the door for Henry , who strode through the door- giving his escort a nod in thanks, and then stood in his past teacher's presence.
"God damn, long time no see." Henry said, setting his briefcase down and offering his hand to his old mentor. " 'wish we were meeting under better circumstances," he continued, trailing off to allow Adam to speak.
The door had opened... Adam knew exactly who. His only scheduled meeting after his brief conversation with Michelle. Agent Henry Olin. A member of NEST that was briefly at the Academy - also spent some time at a location Adam knows called the Ivory Deer Community. When Henry walked in, Adam got up from off his desk, and looked at him. He took Henry's hand. "Mr. Olin, it is great to see you back at the Academy." He looked Henry in the eye, with no fear at the Lizardman's intimidating form. Adam has seen worse. "What... brings you to the Academy?"
"Well," Henry began, retracting his hand. He had seen some tackle the poor man, so knew Adam wasn't one for physical contact of any kind. Keep the reunion professional. "I guess I'll have to get right to it then. No bull. Just like old times." the reptilian man said, picking his suitcase up and placing it on Adam's desk, being sure to avoid misplacing or knocking over paperwork of any kind of course. He pressed the pad of his index finger, just before the claw, and unlocked the suitcase. As he opened it up, a portfolio, among other things were near the top. It was very obvious that something very solid and heavy was below the official paperwork though.
"I'm here mainly because of this." Henry declared, placing the portfolio down and opening it up, revealing pictures taken of Casper's body, with information on the boy himself. "NEST sent me in because this caught their attention. Because I'm on vacation time, I decided to take the case." He explained. "My job is to figure out," he said, placing his index-claw on the cause of death bar. "What 'Unidentified Dog-like Creature' means, where it came from, and why it's attacking humans and meta humans." He said, pulling up a chair and sitting down, careful as to not break it under his weight. "Because as you can imagine, we want to know if there are any other creatures like this out there capable of killing meta humans. Because that's a bad thing. A very. Bad. Thing."
Ah, yes. Adam had the feeling it was because of the recent student deaths. Adam sighed, and tilted his head downwards. He took in a deep breath, and let it all out a few seconds later. He didn't have to look at the files, he just knew what were on them. "... It deeply hurts me knowing that a student died here." Adam said. "I have little to no idea where the creature came from. There were mentions of "monsters" from the students every now and then, but I always thought they were simply just students in their transformed state. Not... anything like this." He finished explaining. "I will help you in any way I can... but I should tell you that heard from other staff members that another group of students fought the creature... Plus, another student, Michelle engaged the creature in an attempt to save Casper."
Henry nodded. He'd have to speak to this... Michelle in the future. NEST could use someone like that. But that was a matter for another time. He sighed. "My next question is, Casper is the first case I've had in thus far. Black Fall headquarters hasn't gotten anything and I've yet to receive an update from Vethaven. Are there any other victims you are aware of that I should know about?"
"Well," Adam turned his head to the side, before he centered his gaze onto Henry. "When we cut the beast open, we... found the remains of two other students. It was hard to identify them as they were partially digested, but we were able to conclude that they were Piper and Sawyer Babinski."
Henry's eyeridge furrowed and he sighed. He brought his arm up closer to his body and tapped a few buttons on his PIP, as if taking a few notes. He seemed to realize something, based on the sudden jolt of energy. "I have to legally state that this conversation is being recorded for official use, and none will be accessible to the public. Everything will remain in this room." he stated. "But on another note, Vethaven is notified. I'll be receiving information on the two of them shortly. Regarding the creature itself. I had a member of your staff prep the creature's body somewhat a few days ago. Do you by chance still have it's corpse in your facility?"
"In fact, yes, we do." Adam answered Henry's question. "It is currently being stored in the Science Wing for future study and dissection. You may take a look at it yourself."
"I'll take you up on that." Henry replied. He took the several papers off of the top of the briefcase's interior, revealing layered foam and several parts colored white. But of all of them, the thick stock and lenses that were organized nearly in certain spots carved out for their placement was telling enough what the parts were in a whole.
"This here," Henry began, pointing to the various parts inside the briefcase. "Is an unassembled .577 Tyrannosaur Elephant gun. Specially built to blend in with the terrain found in Alaska," he stated. "If you couldn't guess, this weapon was built to hunt elephants." he said. "My initial purpose in being sent here was is to figure out what these things are and where they're coming from. My secondary purpose is to provide security to students who aren't content with the security provided until the issue is resolved. My third, should we need to... well, my third purpose is to make sure these things never bother any of us again. But legally, I am required to ask your permission to own, carry, and operate this weapon should I feel that a student or staff member's safety is in danger."
Henry was asking Adam for a lot. Both of them had experience with the NEST organization. Adam trusted Henry. And that is all that mattered. "You have my permission long as it isn't used against the students."
Henry had to fight himself to keep from referring to making a joke about his taser. He was being recorded too, he couldn't say that stuff officially. Henry placed his documents back into his briefcase and closed it. "Alright then, that will conclude this meeting for the time being." he said, then tapped his PIP, ending the recording session. "I'll be doing a biopsy later today of the creature itself to get an idea of what I'm up against. If all goes well I shouldn't be here more than a few weeks tops." he said, "I'll send you a call or message if there are any issues and I'll keep you updated on anything I find or come across. If there any information you'd like me to withhold from the students should they or I ask?"
Adam moved his hand to his glasses, and tilted them, giving Henry a narrow look, ".... Withhold as much information about the deaths of the aforementioned students as possible. I would rather not deal with a crisis."
Henry looked over Adam for the time being and nodded. "I'll do what I can."
Henry was, much to his chagrin, beyond frustrated with the staff's abilities in the non-academic sector. They were often disorganized and by the looks of it, not used to having much responsibility.
But how...
HOW
...did one manage to lose a carcass the size of a tiger? Bodies like that dont just disappear. There were signs that the body was very well disposed of. Whoever removed it's body was careful about it to mask the scent once it had removed the body from the dissecting table. Everything was neat, almost as if it had never been there.
However, they had missed pictures of the creature's body itself. It wasn't hard for him to get somewhat of an idea of what he was up against here. The creatures were large. Much larger than the average man, but at the same time smaller than him. Black, xenomorphic creatures unlike anything he had seen before.
"Sorry sir, I assure you it's-"
"It's not here. Go and do your job. I have some business to attend to."
The man scurried off having been told, with no further questions. Henry sighed and stood alone in the dimly lit room, among several bodies of various creatures and animals. It was... Disheartening, this setting. But he knew who to talk to that would be able to help him in both situations. Henry lifted his PIP closer to his face and spoke.
"Dial Selena."
He stood in the dark again for a few moments until his call was picked up however, instead of Serena, Eva picked up. "Henry!" she said- genuinely surprised. "Eva! Good to hear from you! You mind if I get your sister's help with something?" Henry inquired. Eva nodded and yelled to Selena, who was apparently skinning something in the kitchen of their apartment. There was some ruckus, but eventually the woman came onto the camera. Just looking at her gave him chills down his spine because of her power, but he had grown used to it by now.
"Good to hear you're still alive, Goji." was her reply. Henry did not react, instead he angled his arm and held up a picture of the creature's body. "I need you to break this thing down for me." There was a pause as she got to work, with the occasional flick of her hand motioning for him to cycle through the pictures he had.
"Alright, what I'm getting at is a very canine like creature in basic shape. Exterior is armored and tough like that of an insects. The tail is segmented and flexible in those areas. More than likely venomous as well. If it's anything like dogs or cats, it could have a pack or a pride. If you break through the armor you should be able to mess it's body up pretty badly." Henry was silent for a moment pondering over what he knew. It was resilient of course, based off of how much punishment it had take from the other meta humans. Coupled with the idea that there could be more of them... not good. "...Thanks Selena. I'll be in touch. Don't do anything I wouldn't do while I'm gone." Selena rolled her eyes, the call ended.
"Call Adam Blackmore."
There was another pause.
"Hey, Adam. I have bad news and... more bad news. The first being that, the body is completely gone. Meaning this thing is either still alive somehow, or someone doesn't want me looking at it." Henry said, taking another breath. "The other bit of bad news is that I contacted my... animal control advisor and they taxonomized it as being canine or feline. Meaning it more than likely has a pride or pack out there in the surrounding woods."
"Pity," Cassidy said, the trace of a smirk etching through her poker face. "Absolute pity." Three royal flushes in a row. Cassidy swept the pot of chips (they weren't playing for money, merely bragging rights-not like the Academy had a real thriving economy, anyways) to her side and admired the burgeoning mountain of spoils she'd earned.
"She's cheating," a spectator muttered. The girl raised a hand to her head and stared at Cass for a moment-Cassidy felt a prickling feeling around her neck, as if she were being watched. How irritating. Cassidy immediately felt a strong disdain for this girl-of course, she was cheating, but what a killjoy. Cassidy had a suspicion she'd go on to ruin the trick.
"Really?" Cassidy said, glancing at the girl. "Tele-"
The girl gave her an arrogant smirk. "Yes, I am one, Cassidy Lynn Daniels."
Cassidy let her smile stretch out, a bloodlusted shark grin that made her scar darken in the lounge's low light. "Show me what you can do. I want you to really look back in there. About a week."
The others glanced back and forth with a mixture of irritation at Cassidy's cheating (the cards, somehow, seemed to change when no one was watching...) and this telepath's interruption. The telepath stared for six, seven seconds...
And then went very pale.
"Toodles," Cassidy said cheerily, leaning back into her chair. The telepath fumbled out a half-assed excuse and made her way out of the lounge. Cassidy did not like people fucking around in her head. She enjoyed a healthy degree of secrecy.
"Well," Cassidy said, tossing five Jokers onto the table, "It appears my run's up." Cassidy began to stand up, ignoring the glares of the would-be-bankrupt-in-Vegas teens around her as she picked up her jacket off the back of the chair and slung it over her shoulder. A few of the highest-value chips were missing from the stack, but they wouldn't notice for a few days at least. Cassidy began to meander away, attempting to pinpoint why she felt so...melancholy? There was an unshakable feeling Cassidy couldn't burn away, as if her shadow had turned against her or her heart kept missing every other beat or something. A nagging little terror that was turning her pillow into rock every night (there had been a great many staring contests with the ceiling, and Cassidy had won most of them). Her sword didn't hit its mark. The quarter fumbled from her knuckles.
Wasn't being exposed for cheating. Cassidy was surprised she'd lasted three rounds against people who can manipulate luck, see the future, scour thoughts...no, wasn't that. She'd gotten a watered-down adrenaline high from the scam, which was nice. Not nice enough. A fix when she needed a hit.
There are monsters tiptoeing through the halls and legs ripped off of classmates and people mysteriously leaving and you're swindling the survivors for worthless chips.
Cassidy stopped cold in the middle of the room, staring aimlessly at the blaring speakers across the floor. A chip fell from nowhere out of her palm, landing on the ground next to her foot. Mechanically, she tapped it away and send it skidding under a couch. A week. Been here a week and...ugh. No. Not now. Later. Later.
Cassidy forced a grin onto her face, the usual trickster's smile, and began walking towards the door. She'd wander. Walking off alone didn't seem entirely intelligent, what with the child-killing monstrosities roaming the school, but Cassidy had never been one to go along with logical reasoning or common sense. It was far too boring and...well, there were other factors at work, but typically those sorts of elements don't show themselves in the bass-thumping fellowship of a lounge. They wait until the lights are out and there's nobody but you.
You liked fighting it. You'd let another kid die if it meant you got to fight it again.
No. Fuck off.
Cassidy nearly ran into Lupe, but smoothly took a half step back and avoided any potential collisions. "Diego and Lupe," Cassidy said. Christ, was she relieved to see someone else who'd watched a man get eviscerated then stand back up and suckerpunch it? A part of her turned over-damnit if no one else there ever crossed her paths again it'd be all the easier to pretend it never happened, to convince herself it was just an illusion she couldn't figure out, some cosmic sleight of hand she was too slow to catch onto. "Interrogation buddies," she said quietly, lost amongst the music and half a dozen separate conversations. "Guitar?" Cassidy asked, rapping the case with her knuckles (when Diego opened it up, another cigarette would be lying inside). "Which one of you plays? Never had much skill with it, I was more a dancer than a musician. Not half bad with a piano, though."
Bah. Small talk. You're getting boring, Cass.
"By the way, don't try and have any fun when it comes to playing cards. The telepaths are killjoys."
When Titus left classes, he immediately moved to the gym. Upon walking in and seeing that the highest possible weight which he could put on the bench press bars was five-thousand pounds, he decided to leave and go find a car to bench press. Unfortunately, the cars in the parking lot by the cafeteria had all moved (maybe someone had seen him working out the night before). He took his anger out by punching a stop sign into the ground and then walked to the cafeteria to eat his second lunch (something which becomes a necessity when you're a seven-foot, nearly five-hundred-pound wall of muscle). The entrance of the cafeteria where Titus had kicked the doors down was blocked with caution tape. The doors rested against the wall on the opposite side. He ate a light lunch of a rotisserie chicken and an extra large salad ravenously. A few people watched as he tore the chicken to shreds almost animalistically. One grunt from Titus sent them away hastily. He didn't care; they were just jealous of how much muscle he had.
After lunch, Titus began to walk around the school looking for something to do. He walked with a slight limp, as his right thigh still hurt like Hell. It had mostly healed up by this point, but it was still pretty painful. The left side of his torso didn't feel very good as well, due to the broken ribs still healing, and there was still a little white scar on his right shoulder. He carried a gallon-sized jug of water with him as he walked down the halls of the dorm building. Every once in a while, he would chug about a quarter of the bottle, the water running from the corners of his mouth collecting in droplets in his beard and causing it to shimmer like a spider web after a rainstorm. The dorms were fairly empty, and he hadn't talked to his roommates much, though he figured that they didn't like him much.
Finally Titus approached the lounge, where he heard some familiar voices talking. He turned the corner and saw Cass, Lupe, and Diego, the people who had bailed him out the night before. The thought of thanking them crossed his mind, but then he flexed his biceps and changed his mind. He could've taken that thing and he knew it; they had just helped. He walked up to the three and crossed his arms across his chest, subconsciously showing off his shoulders and biceps.
"Hey what's up guys?" he said.
Spencer Holloway
It was sunny out in 218 and for once Spencer's mood matched it. He put on a pastel yellow oxford and a pair of light tan khakis to show his mood and put on a pair of orange mirrored sunglasses to show off his good mood. It was so rare, after all. All day he had felt significantly more cheerful than normal. After school, Spencer went to the library, where he began to work on his homework for the night. As he looked out of the window down at the sunlight reflecting off of the lake, he decided to finish the work later. He put his books away in his messenger bag and went on a walk through the park. He walked around the lake, watching the minnows flit back and forth at the edges and the ducks sail across the surface like sailing ships. He found a smooth rock at the edge and gently tossed it across; it skipped three times and then hit a duck. He chuckled and laid down in the short grass, his arms behind his head. A frisbee whizzed overhead and a German Shepherd plodded along by, barking and following it. Spencer's phone vibrated. He had a text message;
"Hey" the text read. It was from Whisper.
"Oh hey what's up?" Spencer replied.
"Nm. Figured I'd check in on u. How's the Academy?"
"It's a pretty nice place. Warmer than you'd think for being in Alaska lol."
"Lol yea. I thought ud freeze 2 death by now. Any cool metas?"
"Well there's a girl who looks like a grasshopper."
"lol cool! U shud get me a pic."
"Maybe later. She's not around right now."
"ight, cool. I gtg. Cya l8r."
"Cya Whisper." He sat the phone down on his chest and laid back down.
It was cold outside, but at least Kayla hadn’t gotten lost. The temperature around here was really strange- the air was cold, but the sun was very very hot. She.. didn’t really like the combination, she preferred it to just be warm and warm, or cold and cold. At least the trees were good for shading her. A sunburn would be bad.
Kayla had been keeping to the trees that lined the path up to the school. She had been trying to get outside and explore for the past week, and today was the first day she wasn’t stopped by some staff member that desperately needed help with something. Strange- All the staff had been acting strangely since the power outage that ruined her party plans, being very nice at some points and not nice at all about seemingly random others. It was really weird. Today, though, she was free, finally. Today, she decided she’d explore along the paths she didn’t have a chance to see thanks to her seasickness. It really was pretty; The whole thing was lined with unlit stone lanterns, which gave the whole thing a mystical feeling. She imagined it would look really nice at night, and made a mental note to visit at some point.
Eventually, she reached the end of the main path, which led to a building of unknown purpose. It bordered the sea, perhaps it was some sort of beach house? Strange- Perhaps this was where the principal lived. It didn’t look much like a house, though. Did houses usually have green chimneys? Wait- it just moved?
Kayla went around to the other side of the house to get a better look. Upon further inspection, there appeared to be an alien with a heart on its chest sitting on the roof of the building. She stared- She couldn’t actually make out any of its features, her eyesight wasn’t the best, but it was definitely an alien, and she had no idea how to handle a sudden alien sighting. She guessed that the heart meant it was friendly, but that could just be a trick to try and get her in position to be abducted. Kayla disregarded that, though, because much more important was the possibility of having an alien as a friend, which would definitely be the coolest thing ever. Ever. The alien seemed to notice her, and turned its head towards her. They stared at each other.
Lupe sidestepped Cassidy when the magician damn near ran into her. Christ, she liked the girl, but don't fuck with Lupe's thing, okay? Though, fortunately, Cassidy stopped herself. A sly smirk etched it's way across Lupe's lips. She realized something: she finally had her crew! Okay, they weren't the group she had in mind - I really doubt we clique that well - but hey, most of the Academy was pretty laaaaaame. At least she actually had one. Well, come to think of it. Lupe took a step back, and crossed her arms over her chest. This was Diego's group, not hers. She smirked, and put fingers to her chin. She was merely a member of his group of friends. A shame - but at this point, Lupe didn't care. She was tired of being ignored. Tired of being in the background. Time for the Platinum Girl to make waves! Even if someone else was leading. Eh, better Diego than some tryhard.
"Oh, uh, hey, Cass." Diego said to Cassidy as he turned his body towards her. He certainly wasn't expecting her to walk up to them like this. Maybe the Bellasquez made bigger waves than they thought when they helped them defeat the monster. Unexpected, but he was going to make the best of it. "Oh, yeah, this thing?" Diego pulled the guitar case from over his shoulder, and held the bottom of each end - presenting it to Cassidy to see. "I practice playing-" Diego was, unfortunately, cut off by Lupe.
Enough of this monologuing, Cassidy actually presented Lupe a subject that isn't lame. Their Guitars! Like, the two of them could go pro if they wanted to. She took a step in front of Diego (Before he said something lame). "Ooooh." Lupe immediately exclaimed. "Both of us play guitar real good. The two of us were taught by our Grand mommy who was, you know, a master at it." She smiled. "My guitar is back in my room, uh.... Diego!" She pushed her younger brother by the shoulder, making him step a little closer to Cassidy. "Play the guitar for her! Show her how good you are!" She was doing Diego a favor here. Showing her how good he is at the guitar would greatly help him tap that.
Wait, what? Diego didn't have too much of a chance to practice recently. And Lupe is expecting him to impress Cassidy? Damn her. Now that she mentioned it, now he had no choice but to do it. Otherwise, he was going to look like a chump. He honestly didn't know if he was good enough. Good enough for what? He asked himself as he came to the realization. While it was cliche, he was going to give it his all. While he's a little rusty, he couldn't be too atrocious. Diego placed the guitar case on the ground, and opened it - and was immediately confused. "Huh?" He scratched the side of his head as he picked up a cigarette with two fingers. His vision went back to Cassidy, was she behind this? This wasn't far off from her cigarette creating antics. Before someone caught him, he simply slid the cigarette into his pocket (He was going to need it later) and pulled out the guitar. His bass guitar in all it's wooden glory. He put the strap over his shoulder, and had the guitar waist-level. He sighed as he put his fingers on the strings. Closing his eyes - trying to think of a song to play. The pressure... it was bearing down on him.
At this point, however, Titus MacArthur walked up, and asked them what was up. Lupe looked up at him (Jesus, didn't know they made 'em this big.) and put her hand on one hip. The big guy was alright - but he sure as hell played the dumb muscle trope up. Well, long as he didn't bother her, then he'd be firmly neutral. Though, with his giant ass around, things will get boring. Nobody would want to fuck with them with Titus in their crew! Since Diego was focusing, she might as well talk to Titus. "Nothin' much big man," Lupe shrugged, "We're just chilling until something interesting happens. Lil' Diego is gonna play the guitar for us." She turned towards Diego, smirking.
God damn it, Lupe. Diego furrowed his eyebrows and then looked at Lupe. Not helping. He let out a sigh, and went fuck it. Just get started, he'll let his skill do the rest. He moved his fingers as he began playing the guitar.
(Just, uh, ignore the video, plox.)
Once he was finished playing the song, he merely stopped.
"Bravo... Braaavo." Lupe said, with plenty of sarcasm in her voice.
Kayla's footsteps definitely did not go unnoticed - Fiona's immense sense of hearing managed to pick it up. Plus, she could hear the girl's heartbeat! Of course, from the roof, she couldn't physically see the person. It was simple as turning her head, and letting her compound eyes do the rest. That's when... things... got a little awkward. Fiona was staring at the newcomer for what felt like minutes (It was only one minute of staring). In this time, Fiona was able to "take in" Kayla's many physical traits. The girl was really short (Fiona could tell), definitely of Eastern descents, and had blonde hair. She was kind cute, Fiona had to admit. Though... they weren't off to the best first impression given this staring contest. ".... Hi." The Cricket said in order to break the silence. She didn't know what to do next. She felt like such a freak right now because of Kayla's constant staring. Stay cool... just introduce yourself. Show her you aren't a freak. That you're just like her! Yeah, I'm going to do that.
Fiona nodded her head, and walked over to the edge of the building. Once she reached the edge, she did a little hop, and landed some distance away from Kayla. She didn't get too close because she didn't want to scare the poor soul! She landed with a thud, and little damage to herself. She walked up to Kayla and looked at her. Their height difference was even more apparent now. "I'm, uh, Fiona. I noticed you were looking at me up there."
After his meeting with Henry Olin, Adam simply waited behind his desk and relaxed. He let out a sigh as she read a book of his. Hoping that the rest of his day goes smoothly. However, he received a call from Henry Olin. That means the NEST agent must have a report? Hopefully good news. Adam reached over and grabbed his cellphone, pressing answer. "Adam Blackmore speaking." He said.
"Hey, Adam. I have bad news and... more bad news. The first being that, the body is completely gone. Meaning this thing is either still alive somehow, or someone doesn't want me looking at it. The other bit of bad news is that I contacted my... animal control advisor and they taxonomized it as being canine or feline. Meaning it more than likely has a pride or pack out there in the surrounding woods."
"What?" Adam said, the sheer disbelief in his voice was obvious. He didn't know what to respond to first. The body disappearing, or the fact that there might be more of them. He let out a sigh. "This is..." Adam said, trailing off. "... Very unfortunate." He finished. He knew that he needed to get to the bottom of this. Starting with what happened to the body. That creature was very dead - it suffered so many wounds that it would be implausible for it to get back up. Especially after what Adam did to it. Someone must have moved it themselves... which raised the question of who would do it, and why.
"This is very concerning indeed, Agent Olin." Adam stroked his beard. "However, I believe it is best for you to handle the beast... I will see to it that I find out what happened to the body."
Sleeping soundly, Beth rolled over on her bed, balancing precariously on the edge for just a moment before gravity won out and sent her to the floor in a jumble of blankets. Of course, the impact woke her up pretty quickly, which was obvious from the soft moan she let out as she struggled to free herself from her fluffy trap. Once she was free, she stood and stretched before she gathered up her blankets and tossed them back onto the bed, yawning as she did so.
Unfortunately, she had been dealing with nightmares ever since the incident the week before, which meant that she hadn’t been getting the best sleep. Usually, she would toss and turn for a few hours before jolting awake in a cold sweat, the phantasmal sensation of claws or teeth digging into her skin lingering beyond the dream. Absently, Beth hoped that she wasn’t bothering her roommate, whom she still hadn’t really met, with her nightmares as she went about getting dressed, tossing her pajamas onto her bed.
Once she was dressed in her blue and black flannel shirt and a pair of simple blue jeans, not to mention her regular green and black sneakers, Beth left the dorm and made her way towards the lounge, figuring that there might be something that she could do there to take her mind off the memories of the nightmare she had had while napping and what had happened the week before.
Beth spotted Michelle sitting on the couch, arms crossed and looking more than a little miffed, almost immediately after she stepped foot in the lounge. On a whim, Beth decided to see if she wanted to do anything, and so she made her way over to the couch. Thankfully, there weren’t that many people around to hinder her progress, so it wasn’t long before she climbed up onto the couch next to the massive woman.
”Hey, Michelle,” Beth said, giving the Amazonian woman a smile. ”How have you been? I haven’t seen you around all week.” As she spoke, she noticed the massive frame of the meathead, Titus, from the week before talking to Diego, Lupe, and Cassidy before Diego pulled out a guitar and started playing, the fringes of the melody reaching Beth’s ears despite the noisy atmosphere of the lounge.
The dancing bear had arrived. Cassidy gave Titus a once-over. Big hoss, wasn't he? Looked to be Irish or Scottish with the hair. Hmmm. If he was Scottish, that would explain things. There can be only one. He was standing standoffishly-defensive, beady eyes scanning the room. Was the boy expecting a fight? He was strong, and Cassidy was at terms with the fact he'd thrash her in a fight (the image of a wasp darting between an elephant's swinging tusks came to mind), he couldn't possibly hope to stand against every meta in here, could he? Starting a fight-as the beast that prowled the Academy's twilit halls had learned-was suicide.
Ah. What was that old quote? To the man with only a hammer, everything looked like a nail? Perhaps it was less that he seriously meant to, but rather that the dog knew only how to bark and bite. For the sake of the room's furniture and her own limbs, Cassidy was rather pleased Titus was choosing the former. "Nothing new under the sun," she quipped in response to Titus. She initially assumed the reference would fly over his head, but then paused to consider if it didn't-ooh, imagine that kind of brawn and a wit to match. He'd be quite the little showstopper, wouldn't he. Titus was such an intruiging figure, like a circus elephant, or a boxer in a ring. At the end of the day all the sleight of hand in the world wouldn't stop a punch, now would it? Cassidy admired finesse and grace and all the finer things in life but there was a part of her that had a healthy respect for brute raw force and Titus was certainly that.
Cassidy rolled her shoulder and fingered the cowl of her coat with one hand, letting the other hang idly at her side. A quarter rolled across her knuckles absentmindedly, flipped along finger by finger. If only she had chosen pushups or something as a nervous tic, she'd be on par with the Scot at this point.
"A woman who takes charge," Cass smirked as she interrupted her brother. Little brother? She got that vibe. Lupe had that "protective older sibling" body language to her, that "we're cool but if you fuck with him I end you" undercurrent to her actions. That was cool in Cass' book-she didn't really have anyone she had that kind of loyalty to-(she blinked and a hundred different old ruinous memories ran through her mind as a reminder of why, exactly, Cassidy shied away from intimacy) but it was lovely to see in others. Diego (ooh, was that a flash of irritation at Titus? Male rivalry was so much fun to watch-they'd be so busy glaring at each other, they'd never notice half the tricks she could play) played a rather nice song. Nothing mindblowing, but for a teenager with a guitar it wasn't bad.
How elitist of her. "Brava, brava, bravisima!" Cass said with mock formality, giving a golf clap. "That was good, though. Might be better if you tried, ah, smiling?"
Titus opened his mouth to respond, but Diego cut him off with his music. It was a pretty song, certainly something Titus would want to learn were his fingers not the size of bratwursts. He sat in waiting, looking around the room and meeting eyes with every guy he saw. All of them looked away immediately. As far as the girls went, he looked at...other parts of their bodies. They turned away too. Just like they always did. He sighed gruffly and scratched his beard. Titus always wondered why women around the school always found him so...unappealing. Didn't girls like guys who were really muscular? Was it the flannel? Was it just too much lumberjack? Oh, god dammit why did he have to have red hair! That's what it was! Girls hate gingers! The girls he was able to befriend weren't his kind of people anyways. Cass was kind of cute, but for some reason Titus found her to be extremely mistrustful, like if they were in bed she'd stab him and steal his wallet. Finally, the music ended and he, as well as several other people in the room, clapped.
"Nice job." Titus said "I haven't ever been able to play guitar, but I used to play bass some. I didn't really like it, though; it didn't have enough of a presence on the stage, know what I mean?" Just like everyone else in the group, Titus ran out of ideas of things to do. Naturally, he thought of fighting, something that he knew he was good at (though no one else did). He relaxed his muscles some to look slightly less intimidating. "So anyways, I was just about to head over to the arena for some training." he continued "Why don't you guys join me? It's more fun training with a group, afterall."
As everyone gave their approval, Diego felt... he didn't know. There was a welling joy inside of his chest. He, for once, smiled. His cheeks popped out - but he kept his lips closed tightly. Maybe he he was a little proud of himself for once. "Yeah, thanks." He said to Cass, Titus, and whoever else was listening. Enough of this performance. Diego knelt down, and placed his guitar back in it's case (What? No tips.). Before he rose back up to his feet, looking at Titus as he made his grand suggestion. ... Oh boy. Diego thought to himself.
HehehehehehHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!
"Oh! Training!" Lupe said with a smirk as she put both of her hands together with a silent clap. "That's not a bad idea, don't ya'll say!?" She look around her group, starting with Titus, and ending with Cassidy. She seemed pretty pumped to get some training in. Because this lounge thing was getting boring pretty fast. She needed a lil' something to spice it up. Maybe a little fighting might help. But big man, you'll have to show us some better moves than you pulled in that monster attack. Lupe smirked, putting a hand to her hip.
As much as Diego wanted to say no... Fights. Yeah, he did plenty of fights in prison. He didn't want to partake in anymore fights, really. But, at the same time, the monster's attack was a huge wakeup call for Diego. He knew that this school will certainly present him with plenty of similar situations. Diego peered at Lupe for a moment. Situations he'd have to handle without help. It scared him, but it was true. Some situations could only be handled with violence-
Now you're starting to get it, boy... Agni chimed in.
Still, Diego was going to avoid fighting as much as possible. He had no interest in killing another person. He only wanted to live peacefully. Though, he forfeited that right once he killed that kid. He let out a sigh. Then he looked up at Titus. "I'll go." He said with a shrug. He wasn't sure if Cassidy was coming along. If so, she would make this trip much better.
"Let's go!" Lupe commanded the group, and they walked out of the lounge. Leaving those fucking losers behind. The group walked through the halls of the school until they, once again, reached the garden. Since this place seemed to be the center of the school - they quickly moved to the training hall north of the school. It wasn't long until they reached the Training Hall. A collection of rooms with the sole purpose of training powers. They needed an empty one... or one with people who won't get in their way.
While they were walking, a boy in all black flew through the door in front of them, landing on his back. "Whoa!" Lupe shouted as she nearly jumped. The black haired boy, lying on his back, turned to Lupe and smiled, laughing a bit. A long, green, tentacle wrapped around his lower body and yanked him back into the room. "Haaaaaaave fun you two!" She waved goodbye to them, winking. "... This school is fucking weeeeeeird." She pointed a thumb towards the door and kept walking.
Eventually, they found themselves a room. A large square training room, it had plenty of people in it, but they were doing their own thing. Like the other training rooms, this one was made out of smooth metal. Around the room there was various things for everyone to do, like trampolines, and weights, and targets. But in the center of the room was what the group was looking for: a round elevated circle for sparring matches. Surrounded by blue padding so they don't fall down and hurt themselves.
Lupe immediately ran up to it, and hoisted herself up, and stood on the edge. "This'll do, don't cha think?" She said with a smirk. Though, that smirk turned upside down as she put her hands out. "Though, before we get started, we need to get some ground rules established," She nodded her head, and put her hand out. "... No shots to the face or hair. Because you wanna know how hard it is to get a pomp like this?" Lupe gently caressed her pompadour.
The massive woman recognized a familiar scent approaching. It was hard to tell in between all these people - but Michelle certainly smelled this person before. But where...? That was the question. She turned her neck towards the scent - using her hearing to assist in finding this source - and noticed a tiny little girl walking up to her. Red hair, round facial features, young looking - it was Beth! Michelle remembered the little chicko from the day she came here! It didn't take too much remembering, since, Beth was pretty distinct (And so was Michelle herself). Though, Michelle's mood was still soured by Adam fuckin' Blackmore. Ugh. She best get over it. She took in a deep inhale, closing her eyes, before she let it all out. Nothing other than her chest moved, she remained perfectly still. Like a statue.
"... Hey Beth." Michelle began, opening her eyes a moment or so later. They haven't seen each other in a week, indeed. Mostly because Michelle has been largely avoiding people for awhile. Between the the interrogations, and what happened to her hand, she just wasn't in the mood to be bothered. Ignoring her room mate in the process. She shrugged. Well, she changed her mind ever since the incident with the monster. Was Michelle going to open up to Beth? No, not at all. Last thing she wanted to do was dull their conversation by talking about her feelings. So, she was going to do what felt natural and simply cut to the chase.
"Between this," Michelle began, and raised her bandage covered hand for Beth to see. "And that damn monster attackin', not too good." She casually dropped what the staff would keep quiet about. Did it matter? No. Not at all. Michelle knew that some people ought to know about that damn mutt, so why should she beat around the bush? She let out another sigh. "Speaking of which," Michelle began again, looking around the room just in case any staff members are nearby. She was certain there was a telepath or two - hell, probably a few people with enhanced hearing like hers. Again, did she care? Not one bit. Those dumbasses in charge may think they're helping by keeping it a secret, but actually knowing what's up will help way more.
"I have to ask you if you heard of any devil dogs attacking the school. Got into a brawl with one tryna save some other kid, and it suckerpunched me. Next thing I know, I'm in the goddamn hospital, missing a part of my hand! My hand!"
Oooh, the musclehead wanted to measure dicks-of course, he doesn't come out and say this, but "training", well, what else could it mean? Everyone wanted to see what everyone could do. The curious thing, Cassidy had noticed, about meta humans was that their supernatural abilities were a wonderful equalizer to the normal boundaries. There were eleven year old girls who thrashed grown men in fights, bored kids who could dabble in fields with more expertise than seasoned veterans.
It was lovely. Kept you on your toes, kept you guessing. Watching a chemistry teacher get show up by the boy who sees at the molecular level? So wonderful. Cassidy, of course, was being careful to keep her cards close to the chest-primarily, because she enjoyed a healthy amount of secrecy. And secondly, because when your cards are up against your skin, it's a lot easier to switch 'em out for a better hand.
Cass slid into her longcoat, which is really not the most accurate term-it barely came halfway down her thighs-and tied it up. It was well-fitted, and it was clear she was rather fond of the garment-Cassidy Lynn dressed nicely, if for no other reason than to add a little flair to the doldrums of high school. Even with superhumans running the gauntlet of puberty, high school was still high school. Things got dull, and if a splash of purple in her hair or a suit kept her grinning, she didn't mind spending money on it. Cassidy absentmindedly flipped the dime (wait...) down into her palm and clenched her fingers around it, opening her fingers a few moments later to reveal empty air. "Training, mmm? Can't imagine what we'd need that for. School seems pretty safe."
The training room was quite interesting-much as she would have preferred to test her limits all by her lonesome, away from prying eyes, there were some neat things in here-she well couldn't resist. A wide range of stuff, too-she saw weights and bikes and treadmills for the more mundane gifts, and a little arena for bashing each other's skulls in. Wonderful. Well, she wouldn't be stepping into the ring anytime soon-Cassidy didn't expect she'd be fighting any of these fine individuals in the future, but the girl was, at the end of the day, a teenage girl-for all her gifts, there was still an element of fear of...the real world. Against Titus, Diego? She'd need every edge she could get to stay alive if they came for her head. In the real world, the stakes were not quite as serious-but Cassidy had her suspicions about what had truly occurred a week ago, and her faith in the school's justice system was not...without its reservations.
"I can understand not wanting shots to the hair," Cassidy mused, "But none to the face? They go crazy over that, Lupes." Cassidy removed her coat and slung it over her shoulder, an act very vaguely reminiscent of Linus' blanket. She rolled a penny over in her hand and stared at one of the targets, meandering over to examine it more closely. She rapped it with her knuckles. Hmm. Foam. Probably for arrows or knives or spikes or something. Cassidy reached into her pocket and drew out a deck of cards, taking a few steps back from the target. No, that wouldn't do. Cassidy pulled up a chair and reclined back, feeling the strain in her core as she leaned back.
A lazy flick of the wrist. Bullseye. The Queen of Diamonds embedded perfectly into the target. She wasn't too terribly far out, but it was a decent shot nonetheless. "I'm happy to referee your brawl," Cassidy announced. "But I'm afraid my insurance doesn't cover every bone in my body breaking," Titus "...a foot-shaped burn within my ass..." Diego "...sudden and perhaps irreversible blindness..." Lupe "...or being bitchslapped by God's little walking Taser." Beth There. A bit of flattery ought to placate them-and assuming all of them wanted to test their mettle, they'd be squared off even now-two against two. Cassidy would judge or referee or whatever it was. That was more her style-watching from the sidelines, teasing them. No sense showing your hand until there was a nice jackpot in front of you, none at all. She was more than willing to play the weakling until then.
A paper tiger in a house of smoke and mirrors. Cassidy flicked another card into the target. "Hurry up and start thrashing each other. Solitaire's getting dull."
Now that Titus was here...he had no idea what to do. Most of the exercises were being taken up by others and none of the other people in his group had strength-based powers. Titus' adventures in the training room generally involved lots of punching, and he wasn't sure if his new "friends" could, well, take a punch. Yet again, that Diego kid did look kinda gruff. Maybe Titus would beat him to a pulp to show off to all of the ladies. As if to call order in his court, Titus stomped the ground loudly, making the floor vibrate momentarily and causing a loud "BANG!" to echo around the room. A few newbies looked up, but the others knew that Titus wasn't worth looking up for.
"Well what are we going to do then?" Titus asked "I'd spar with one of you, but I don't want to hurt anyone. Not sure if you're, y'know, tough enough." His eyes momentarily met Diego as if to challenge him. After all, he was the only one here who looked like he could take a punch or two. Cass would be an OHKO and Lupe...well, Lupe just seemed like a less-cool ripoff of her brother.
Bursting through the front doors of Adam's office like a man on a mission was...well...an octopus...thing on a mission. Dr.Tobias Wright may not have been the most attractive of all of the scientists at the Academy, but he was certainly the smartest and his forensics skills were unmatched. His labcoat billowed behind him like the sails of a ship and in one of his hands (he had six) was an iPad with the results of his genetic tests on it. Another hand gripped a travel mug of coffee and two more swung at his sides like he was running. A small and mousy intern followed behind him, hugging a large manilla folder filled with a jumble of papers.
"Adam!" Dr.Wright shouted from not far away "I did the analysis on the monster DNA. You're gonna want to look at this. Sarah!" The intern stopped and, her eyes glowing, projected what was on Wright's iPad onto the newly-scrubbed walls. Adam swiped a few times with his tentacled hands and accessed a DNA karyotype. Twenty or so stained chromosomes appeared on the screen, all of them at their longest. Several of them were deformed, a telltale sign of extreme mutation.
"This is a DNA Karyotype." Dr.Wright began to explain rather abruptly "It shows the shape and form of chromosomes so that we can identify genetic abnormalities. At a base level, all that becomes obvious is that this is a mutation, but, if you take a closer look..." SARAH zoomed into the top of a few chromosomes, which was dyed a deep black "You'll see that these chromosomes have no signs of aging. The telomeres, the protective caps on the ends of the DNA that prevent damage during replication, aren't worn down at all. What that means for us is that this isn't an organic meta-animal; this "thing" was created by someone, ie, a student and/or wannabe supervillain." Dr.Wright crossed one of his arm pairs across his chest triumphantly. It was nice to have power in a situation every once in a while.
Lupe watched as Cass tossed cards into a target like the bitch was throwing knives. Each card got embedded into the target, and it just looked like Cass was gambit. "Damn, girl, you just showing off now." She slyly responded to Cass, as she jumped off the platform. Eh, she wondered if she should blow Cass out the water right now and show off a massive blast of energy. Nah, nah. That'd just be mean. Plus, she'd upstage Diego! He was the one who was gonna get into Cass's pants, anyhow (If he had a brain in there). Afterwards, Cass began this silly little rant about what her insurance didn't cover. It promoted a chuckle out of Lupe. "C'mon, you know we wouldn't burn a hole in ya ass on purpose. We all friends here." Lupe responded to Cass's lovely speech with a smirk. Though, you should be careful about Diego. It's a possibility with him! She thought to herself with a smile. Though, Titus challenged Diego to spar, and Lupe smirked. It'd make sense for the two of them to fight each other. The big two, testosterone pumping males. Lupe shrugged, then she walked by Diego and whispered in his ear, "Don't lose, lil' bro. You'll make the Bellasquez family look like a bunch of bitches." Before she got clear of the battlefield. "Alright, remember! No face or hair shots!"
Diego let out a sigh. Of course he wants to fight him... He couldn't complain. This is exactly what he signed up for. He merely sighed again, as he silently climbed up upon the platform. He listened to Lupe's advice, but he wasn't going to take it seriously. One loss wouldn't shame their entire bloodline. He stood on one end, and Titus should be smart enough to get on the other. In the meantime, Diego prepared. He dropped into a stance. Standing at his side, with one leg far behind him, and he had one fist up to guard his face, and the other to guard his torso. The symbols on his body that many mistake for tattoos started glowing - almost like they were on fire. He was ready.
Someone else burst through the front doors of Adam's office, giving him quite a scare. He was leaning against his desk, with a book in his hand. His gaze went from the book to Toby. "... You could have knocked." Adam said as he dramatically closed his book. Standing straight up and looking at Toby. Like, it was only polite to knock. Adam prefers that he isn't so rudely interrupted. Though, he wasn't going to make a big deal out of it, since they have urgent news. Adam merely crossed his arms and kept looking at Toby as he, and his assistant, explained their breakthrough. He opened his eyes wide, it was merely the result of a Metahuman. It makes sense! So that's why Adam couldn't sense any powers (But he felt a faint presence of an ability within the beast). "This is..." Adam put his hand on his chin. "... Certainly interesting.... This is certainly of great help, Dr. Wright." This changes things. If someone made this thing... Adam will have to find out what. "But, I highly recommend you find Agent Olin on the island, he is investigating the matter... He is down by the Science Wing, if I recall."
"... I'll be looking into this myself. Thank you for telling me this."
Beth waited patiently while Michelle closed her eyes and took a deep breath, figuring that something had just gotten under the larger woman’s skin and that she was attempting to calm down. In the meantime, Diego had stopped playing his music and the group of four had departed for an unknown destination. When Michelle spoke, Beth directed her attention back towards their conversation.
She was a little surprised when Michelle mentioned the monster, as she was pretty sure most of the students were entirely unaware of the cause of the blackout the week before, but she let out a gasp when she saw Michelle’s hand missing most of its fingers and wrapped in bandages. Before she could ask what happened, Michelle explained that she had gotten into a fight with a monster while trying to protect someone and that it had managed to tear off part of her hand.
Though a little nervous to be talking about the event when the staff had instructed them not to, Beth felt like Michelle deserved an honest response when she asked if Beth had heard anything about other monsters. Before she responded, however, she also took a look around to see if anyone was paying them any undue attention. Of course, the sight of a dwarf sitting on a couch next to an Amazon was interesting enough to draw people’s attention, so it was rather hard to tell if they were looking at them because of the conversation or not.
”Y-yeah,” Beth replied after she finished looking around, nodding. ”Me and a few other people killed one outside the cafeteria last week. It was really strong, though. Even being smashed with a vending machine didn’t stop it completely. I didn’t know that there was another one though.” In fact, the thought of there being more of those beasts made Beth’s face turn even paler than it normally was, as the feeling of claws tearing into her back, a remnant of her nightmare from earlier, came back.
Hopefully, the school would be on the lookout so a pack of them didn’t just come in a wreak havoc, but the thought did little to alleviate her fears. Still, she couldn’t help but subconsciously slide closer to Michelle while she waited for the larger girl to respond, gaining some measure of comfort from being closer to the Amazon.
"Showing off? But, love, my clothes are still on."
Cassidy leaned forward in the chair, and, in one fluid motion, hopped up, gliding a step or two before she resumed her normal gait and removed the cards from the target. She shuffled them (did she? they wound back up in perfect order) and tucked them back into her coat, presumably into an inside pocket. She walked a bit closer and observed the arena pit from a cautious distance-she'd seen the fire Diego slung around, the little lightshow Lupe let out, and she wasn't too keen on being posthumously known as "Collateral damage". "Oh, this is all quite true, Miss Belasquez. Think I've got enough scars, eh?" She folded her arms across her chest, which was an infrequent pose for the girl-she generally preferred one hand clutching the coat, ready for a quick getaway. Perhaps she was genuinely interested in the fight. Perhaps she was more at ease with the others. Perhaps she forgot.
Diego and Titus duking it out. How curious. She knew Titus' raw size didn't matter-well, didn't matter much, anyways. That beast in the halls (Cassidy blinked and for a moment there was some unnatural thing snapping Titus' femur like a hurricane snaps saplings) had been a rather big kitty, and they'd taken it down all the same. Powers were an equalizer-Cassidy had watched that fight of the century in her dorm, and vaguely wondered how she'd fare against a few of those haymakers. The problem, of course, was the small space-less room for Diego to sidestep the brute's punches. Main reason that Cassidy wasn't stepping in the ring-she'd rather dance them to death than sit and trade blows. Getting suckerpunched by the Scot with no room to dart away? Not her style. Not her style at all. Not to mention there wasn't very much flammable, not a lot of metal to work with...Cassidy always found this sort of fight to be...boring. So prototypically male. Fencing taught her the easy part was landing a touch-the footwork, the environment, that was tricksy. Reading body language, simultaneously remembering where your feet stood and where your enemies were...kept her sharp, at any rate. There were a lot of toys in this room to play with-if she had to fight, she'd try and kill the lights pretty early on. A few playing cards at each one would do the trick. Diego or Lupe lights up, and there's the target. If she had a bit more time, she could have some fun with the weights and the jump ropes, rig something up. Confining herself to a roped in square was...less than ideal. Entirely less than ideal. No such thing as fighting fair. If Cass had to throw down, it was going to be something serious-life or death, and there was no reason to give quarter on such an occasion.
All in all? Arena fighting seemed...entirely unnecessary. But these silly geese wanted to break each other part, so she'd happily watch and take bets. A future bookie was Cassidy Lynn Daniels. "If either of you get carried away and go on to that great Academy in the sky...I'll be happy to loot your corpses before the EMTs get here."
Titus stepped up onto the platform and cracked his neck loudly, a trademark of his before fighting. This was going to be an interesting fight; Titus certainly knew he was superior at brute strength, but Diego's fire was going to be an issue, and he didn't heal from fire as well as he did from, well, alien-dog-thing attacks. He would have to get up close and dish out as much pain as he could before Diego could burn him to a crisp. This tactic at the Academy was famously known as Titus-ing. It didn't work. Did Titus MacArthur care?
Of course not.
"Alright, then!" Titus growled "Let's go prettyboy!" Titus began to run at full speed towards Diego, his arms out wide and ready to dish out the pain. If he was lucky, one punch to the jaw would be all he'd need to incapacitate a normal human like Diego. He almost felt sorry for the poor kid. Maybe the fight would be more drawn-out. Really, who knew?
Dr.Tobias Wright, PhD , and Henry Olin
(Collab between Maxx and Urban)
So NEST was here. Bummer. Dr.Wright was hoping that this time he'd be able to solve the Scooby-Doo all on his own, but having NEST agents at his disposal would make it much less-likely that he would actually need to fight. Sarah quickly projected the outside of Dr.Wright's office. Of course a giant lizard man was walking past wearing NEST insignias. How stealthy. These new guys were just overgrown cops (literally), not phantoms in the night like they used to be when Wright was there. Oh well, he'd have to deal with the Triassic Meathead if it meant keeping the school (ie, his lab) safe.
"Alright, see you around Adam." he said, leaving.
In the matter of a minute or two, Toby and Sarah walked into the science building and nearly ran into Henry.
"You are Agent Olin?" Dr.Wright asked "I'm Doctor Tobias Wright, PhD, former NEST intelligence and genetics professor. I have some information that may be useful to you."
Henry stepped back, as to avoid the scientist to keep them both from damaging anything on their bodies. "Shoot, sorry about that," Henry said. He quieted as the strange, octopus man began to speak. In the meantime, Henry was searching his name in his PIP, to try and get an idea of who he was dealing with. He was indeed who he said he was. He reached forward with one of his hands- the polite thing to do. "Henry Olin, Captain of the Black Fall division of NEST. It's a pleasure to meet you, Doctor." They exchanged a rather slimy handshake.
"Anyways," Wright began. Once more Sarah projected the iPad screen onto the wall "I received some DNA samples from Professor Blackmore last night and I took a karyotype to see what exactly we were dealing with. What I discovered is...troubling. I examined the caps of the DNA chromosomes, the telomeres, which are the parts of the DNA which are correlated to aging. There is minimal damage to them whatsoever. What that means from a biological perspective, is that these things weren't born; they were made, by someone or something on the island."
"As someone who deal with this kind of stuff on a semi-regular basis, I like you're theory." Henry replied "But I'm still not ruling out the possibility of a bus sized mother out there if these things are babies."
"If there was anything that big on the island, we'd know about it." Wright said confidently "We may not be NEST, but our security is good enough to find a mother the size of a blue whale. These things are far-"
"Your security is obviously not ot good enough to stop several killings in one night though. That's what I'm interested in."
"Stopping an army of spontaneously-created genetic freaks is harder than finding a mother big enough for them. If they were made instantly they could have gotten through the webs with ease."
"Well, look at you and I? We've done it before." Henry said with a wink "Here, let's run some of the names by me, I can pull them up on my PIP and send whatever you need directly to you through a method of your choice. Verthaven's got a database of every meta that's ever been recorded by NEST or born in the past seventy years on file and... well, I have access to those files."
"Very well." Wright said "While you take care of that, I'm going to run through the student database and see if we get any matches."
"Hit me with a name."
"I'll have to go to the headmaster to access the database." Wright concluded "If you'd like, you can use the computers in my lab to expedite your search. Sarah?" Sarah's eyes winked off and she nodded meekly to show Henry which way to go.
"This way, Agent Olin." she said in a fearful voice.
... Telegraphed attack. Agni noted. The fool is haphazardly rushing you rather than any advanced tactics... This attack is easily dodged. Boy, don't bother wasting your breath on this fool. He is muscle, and no brain.... He noted, which made Diego nod.
Pretty boy? A lot of things have been sent Diego's way, but "Pretty-boy" was a first. He had that rugged demeanor on his side. This should be a pretty straightforward fight. He felt as if Titus is... holding back. But at the same time, Diego could feel the raw energy Titus is giving out. Which confused him to say the least. Mixed signals and all that jazz. Didn't matter, Diego was going to put in a little energy of his own. To impress Cassidy... and Agni. When Titus got close, Diego dove out of the way, rolling from one shoulder to the other before he firmly planted his feet onto the ground - in a kneeling position. His head snapped over to Titus, and he jumped up to his feet. He could play keep away all day here, but he needed to take Titus out. He put a fist up to his face, and it erupted into flames. Flaming like a torch. He quickly outstretched his arm, palm out, then shot a stream of fire at Titus's chest. We can't go for the hair or face, after all.
Outside the ring was much less exciting than the brawl going on in it... but that wasn't to say it wasn't fun to watch. Diego better put on a good show! Though, her conversation with Cassidy wasn't bad either. It further convinced her that maybe loosening up a bit would work out for the better. She found friends in places she hadn't expected - through Diego. Cassidy wasn't bad - at least she was a looker. She had a great sense of humour, and was far from a boring person. Lupe laughed for a moment. "Enough scars?" Lupe knelt forward a bit, and kept her eyes on Cass. "You can never have enough scars, sweetheart.... Just not on the face..." She dramatically put two fingers to her scarred face, and ran her fingers down it. "Let me tell you something, sista, if you're trying to fly, make sure you know how to land!" She remembered exactly how she got the scar. It was a story she'd save for another time. Because, after thinking about it, she never really told herself what she thought of the Big Guy. Titus...? Nah. He was hunky, but she couldn't forge an opinion of him. He's meh, in her eyes. Sure, he's big and strong - but he's still a kid, and Lupe's looking for a man. So, Lupe couldn't give a fuck if Diego (Or herself, down the line) stepped over him. He was merely... an obstacle. Though, she's fine with him being their "friend", long as he gave them a reason to continue being their friend.
Though, her reverie was interrupted by Cassidy mentioning that she calls dibs on their shit if they die. Dream. On. Lupe placed Diego's guitar case in between her legs (Almost looking lewd), and stared at Cass, "Pttf... You'll have to fight me for this guitar." She wrapped her arms around the Guitar case - feigning defense of it.... Still... Lupe would fucking claw Cassidy's eyes out if she went for the Bellasquez family guitar (At least that's how Lupe sees it). These poor guitars are one of the last things her Grandmother gave her before she passed away. Bless her soul.
Two fucking monsters.... Two of them! And the goddamn staff want to keep their mouths shut about it?! That just pissed Michelle off even more. Good news that whatever monster she took on was real weak-shit... because if it was tough as Beth described it, then she would have been in a fight like no other. Though, she would have loved the challenge. That wasn't the point... if there's more than one, then that'll be one hell of a problem. Because, creatures like that probably work in packs. If there's a pack on the island... then what the hell is stopping all of them them from running through the school and killing everyone they see? Two of them were more than capable of infiltrating the school - slipping by security undetected. While one easily ripped someone's leg off, and was tough enough to provide Michelle one hell of a fight. Enough of that, she had asked a question that needs to an answer... and the answer is: Michelle.
The woman kept her arms crossed. "I didn't either," She started off, raising her head. "You know that means there's more of 'em, right?" She asked Beth legitimately - because, this was merely the first step. Michelle couldn't do this alone... and, right now, her only friend is Beth. The child sliding in closer to her certainly didn't go unnoticed - she half-smiled. She didn't know what the little bit was capable of, but she hoped Beth was packing something (Otherwise, Michelle isn't going to babysit her). She put her hands on the sofa, and hoisted herself up to her feet. If she were to stop the students from becoming monster food, she would need the help from the students. "Not gonna lie, I think the staff here are useless, or against us." She looked around - still wondering if anyone heard her, before keeping her mouth shut. "And I'd like it if nobody else gets eaten, so you know what that means?"
Michelle turned her torso, making the bones in her back pop. "We gotta do it ourselves. Get rid of them, stop them from getting into the school, or find some way to level the playing field - doesn't matter in the end, right?" She shrugged. She... didn't know where to go from here. This was the point where she came up with some inspiring speech? Well, that was it. Better just get to the point... "I'm probably the best choice for handling them... My power... makes me a little monster. I can help track them, and fight them." Michelle huffed - thinking of that one night. What if she took some more time to transform? If she achieved a full Dinosaur transformation, then she'd easily be able to handle the monster. This is a what if - because if she hadn't done anything then Casper would have certainly been killed.
"What do ya say?" Michelle dropped the question on Beth.
Selena turned her head slightly, looking up at the NEST representative. Mid-thirties. Starting to bald. No ring on his hand, but a tan line to match. Smelled like prey. "You...you have to get off the bike eventually, ma'am."
"Yeah, I know." Selena swung up and over the motorcycle, almost hearing a faint whine of protest as she turned it off. She handed the keys to the guy and began loading herself up with her belongings. Selena generally traveled light, but there was no sense in going unprepared-no sense at all. The man swatted at a small swarm of mosquitoes, but they didn't seem to bother Selena. "I'd tell you the usual bullshit about 'not one scratch!' but you've probably heard it before. You've got work exemptions carried away?"
The man nodded, flipping through a clipboard. "Yup. Wasn't tough, you work for a national park, just a temporary reassignment. You are aware of the terms of your deputization, Miss Chilver?"
"Yeah, no illegal shit, no making any PR nightmares, I can't fuck any of the kids..."
There was a very pregnant pause.
"What?"
"I..." the man sighed, resigned to his fate. "Yeah. Don't...do any of those things."
"They're kids, not things."
"No I meant...okay, we have the gear you requested." The man moved over to his car and pulled out a duffel bag, which Selena swung over her other shoulder-with two strapped across her back and chest, she now looked like some eldritch butterfly who had caterpillars growing out of her spine instead of wings. However, this was still better than the NEST agent, who just looked like some eldritch bitch. "Should all be in there. If not, the school's got a security team, they can probably hook you up with about anything you need. And you'll receive your payment when you get back."
"Whoa, I'm getting paid?" Selena asked, her eyes lighting up behind her sunglasses. A dreadlock had fallen over her face and she casually flipped her hair to get it back into position-she'd tie it back once she got on the boat. If her luggage was straining her, it certainly didn't show-she was standing just as confidently and casually as she had been before, worn boots digging into the asphalt of the Anchorage docks. Alaska's eternal sunlight had taken some getting used to-she'd be really in her element once winter rolled around, but Selena was nothing if not adaptable. There was the comforting feeling of being watched, a subtle, had-to-focus-or-you'd-forget-all-about-it itch where the moon was lingering out of sight. "Even better. I was just hoping for the chance to kill some lab rats you let loose."
"NEST has not-"
"Yeah, I'm sure they're the next form of evolution for the groundhog or something, that'll be the official reason. Remember, you called me in. Let's roll with the punches a little better."
There was a deep, deep breath taken by the NEST representative, who was probably reminding himself of phrases such as "25 to life" and "suspended without pay pending the investigation". "Ah...okay. Fine. Just...go. You'll miss your boat."
"And you'll miss me!" Selena said with annoying, put-on cheeriness. She turned and walked swiftly towards the boat, fumbling a bit to pull her wallet out (Selena sure as hell didn't carry a purse) and flipping out her ID. There was a new NEST ID tucked above her old driver's license (which, very possibly, had expired) and the ID very clearly emphasized that Miss Chilver was not a permanent operative for the agency. She'd been genuinely surprised they even let her along-she had a track record of attempting to casually disrupt whatever they were doing, and needlessly creating paperwork. Selena wasn't too fond of regulation of any kind-it pained her to have to work for the government, but the perks of being a park ranger greatly outweighed it. Besides, there wasn't a whole lot of the Man's interference with things-aside from budgetary crap and other pencil-pushing issues, they were fairly autonomous. Alaska as a whole felt that way, and it was how Selena preferred it. Long ways from Black Fall-and Eva. Eh. Her little sister could take care of herself.
Selena didn't bother loading her stuff into anywhere-the ride would take a few hours, maximum, and she was happy to stay out on the deck and watch the waves. Tucking her duffel bags under the seats, she sprawled out across the open deck (even in the summer, the open waters wicked away the heat, and Selena was one of the few dressed for the occasion). The freezing air was...refreshing. Selena spent most of the journey just watching, occasionally putting her hair back in place after the winds slapped it out of position again. Selena wasn't one to fret over her hair very much-it was generally a bit of a mess, and the bastardization of wavy locks and dreads made it...an interesting look if nothing else. She added another dread for each meaningful hunt.
She expected to have a few more by the time she got back on the boat.
A few small infinities later, the boat pulled up at the Academy's docks. "This it?" Selena asked.
The driver stared at her.
"Yeah, kind of a dumb question. Thanks for the ride, Cap'n."
The driver sighed. Selena had this effect on most people.
Selena double-checked to make sure she had everything, although she realized it would've made a bit more sense to check before she left. Yeah, everything seemed to be in place. She didn't know how long she'd be staying, so she'd brought a week's worth of clothes-which basically boiled down to enough socks to keep her from getting foot rot. Selena stepped off the boat and surveyed the Academy. So this is where they sent those metahuman teenagers, eh? She was surprised the place was still around. Leave a room full of teenagers alone and they'd burn it down just cause. Leave a room full of teenagers who can piss hurricanes alone and they'd take out half the continent. She wasn't planning on sleeping with any of the kids-firstly, because half of them were like twelve, and secondly because Selena was never much in the seduction department-but she did want to slap the shit out of one or two of the little runts. Give a thirteen year old superhuman abilities and see how quick their ego inflates. Selena generally thought therapists and psychologists were a bit...useless...but she figured they were probably in high demand here.
"Well, time to find the lizard who can't do anything for himself," Selena muttered. "Hey, you," Selena barked at a passing student. They flinched and double-taked between her bags and hair. "You seen a big-ass lizard walking around?"
"....no?"
"Figures. Doing this the old-fashioned way, then." Selena took a deep breath in, closing her eyes for a moment. The scent of teenager had settled into about everything-neurotic stress and unchecked hormones and potential and fear lingered over everything. There were a half dozen different trails of cologne and perfume, managing to keep their foothold even this close to the windy shores. And just barely, she picked up on the trace of the cold-blooded bastard himself-it was faint. It had been about a week ago he'd given her that call, and she figured he probably hadn't been past by the docks since then. Readjusting the bags over her shoulders, Selena casually walked through the Academy's sidewalks, admiring the buildings. Whole lot of money went into this place. She figured NEST had some...well...nest egg that they kept replenishing. Maybe they found a meta who could turn water into oil or something. That'd explain it. Selena followed the scent trail, stopping every now and then when she got into crowded areas or the breeze picked up, but it wasn't too terribly difficult. Lizardman was big and not the sneakiest. Well, he could be sneaky. But not Selena sneaky.
The labs. Figures. The scale-covered nerd probably hadn't left there, looking at blood samples under microscopes or some boring shit like that. Selena knocked twice and then opened up the door, the lizard's scent far more easy to track amidst the sterilized floor and backdrop of cleaning solutions. "Knock knock," she announced as she walked into the room, scanning her surroundings. "You guys have a pretty dope set-up here. You could pull a Walter White and make a killing." Selena had a put on laugh. "Oh wait, I can't discuss illegal things any more. Because I," She pulled out her wallet, flipping out her NEST ID, "Aaaaam a deputy for you, Mr. Henry Olin. I would've called you about it but I figured you were too proud. I can read between the lines. Monsters show up, you need somebody to kick ass and hold your han-claw. It's what I do." Selena took off her sunglasses and tucked them into her pocket, realizing she still had them on. "Hey, who are your doctor friends? Selena Chilver, NEST deputy as of, like, two hours ago." If the octopus tries to shake my hand we're gonna have some problems. "Henry, hook me up with a room and then I'm ready to go kill these damned things whenever you are. Or...bring them back in for studying or whatever you guys do, I don't really know."
Oh a lady from New Hampshire, name of Mary Alan-Ghoul Could not have done much better living in that woman’s shoe She managed fourteen babies like the Catholics often do And she brought ‘em all on down to my cathedral
Time had passed. Not much had changed.
Harmon and Ruben were both seated in the latter’s classroom. Harmon was working on assignments issued to him by other teachers running other classes (mainly math and tech related), while Ruben was adding on to the Cranial Eclipse’s protective layer with the latest batch of plucked head shards. It was after classes, so they had the room to themselves, no one bothering them. The radio was sitting on the same table they were both occupying, playing another strange song.
Now Angelique was broken, when she came out of the box She tried to run away but wound up stickin’ to the docks And Lazy Ann got restless while Rene reset the clocks But they all came down to my cathedral
It was nice.
And they all came down, yeah they all came down Oh they all came down to my cathedral From the youngest to olden, they knelt down just like I told ‘em And the sisters never spared the rod or cane
Suddenly, there was a pause in Harmon’s jotting down numbers and letters. He raised his head a bit as he began to speak. “What… did happen… to that, that… thing?”
“Speaking. Of the matter. Is ill. Advised.” Ruben responded, as he ran some kind of welding tool across the inner layer of the Brainvault with one tendril.
“I understand, but… everyone just, just seems so… dismissive, about the experience…”
Jimmy-John was just a baby when his suicide was planned And Christopher was never dealt one single winning hand The old man hated Latin, so he signed ‘em up for band And he practiced what he preaches, in a way
“It. Is not. Surprising.” Ruben replied, “They. Are simply. Passing. Through. The interval.”
“But…”
“Harmon.”
Now Giselle could see me sideways, and she filled me with desire She would tease me in confession, ‘till I feared the mortal fire And I know that there were others, but my mind is old and tired But trust me when I say That I remember to this day How they all came down to my cathedral
“You. Took. The proper. Course. Of action. You removed. Yourself. From the situation.” Ruben said, setting down his tools, turning towards Harmon. “Leave. The matter. For your own. Benefit. As well. Any. Others. That may. Transpire. In. The future.” There was a bit of a pause as he continued with, “And. They will. Happen. I. Am certain.”
And they all came down, yeah they all came down Oh they all came down to my cathedral From the youngest to the olden, they knelt down just like I told ‘em And the sisters never spared the rod or cane And not one kid outlived the family name
Harmon simply sat and listened as Ruben finished speaking. “The appropriate. Measures. Will be taken. By select. Individuals. Nothing. You need. Concern. Yourself. With.”
Harmon slowly turned his head away. After a short moment, he said, “A-… alright…” He gathered up his papers, mostly done with his assignments, and stood up from his stool, deciding to take the remainder of his work elsewhere. Maybe his dorm, maybe the garden, wherever seems appropriate at the time. He walked towards the door and exited the room, and Ruben simply kept working on the Cranial Eclipse.
And they all came down To the center of the town Yeah they all came down to my cathedral My cathedral My cathedral My cathedral My cathedral My cath-
