[hr][i][h1][color=skyblue]Wendy[/color], [color=00ff7f]Rori[/color], [color=B0E0E6]Kei[/color], [color=salmon]Haruka[/color], [color=firebrick]Victor[/color], [color=FFDAB9]Anna[/color], & [color=gray]Quentin[/color].[/h1] [sup](Collaboration between [@tsukune], [@Mr Allen J], [@FernStone], [@Maxx], [@BurningDaisies] and [@Zombiedude101])[/sup][/i][hr] [b][code]Courtbridge, Prince Ed-Field_[/code][/b] The two girls arrived at a mall in Courtbridge. Not just any mall, but [i]the[/i] mall. The Ranchester Mall in Courtbridge. It wasn't the biggest mall in Baybridge, nor was it the most popular, but it certainly had it's own charm. Wendy rolled up into a moped parking spot, and the two walked through the massive parking lot until they made it through the busy doors of the Ranchester Mall. After they stepped inside, all that was in sight was store after store, after store. Ranging from clothing stores, to food, to electronics, to whatever. What this mall had going for it was how scenic it looked. There were gardens, various fountains, and even a nice little foodcourt. There wasn't much for Wendy... but she was here to take some pictures. This was just one stop before she gets high, and climbs on board a building to take the [i]real[/i] pictures. Wendy took a few large steps in. "So, Rori, wanna have a look around Ranchester before we keep moving?" "Yeah, let's look around here a bit first," Rori smiled. They hadn't been to Ranchester Mall in ages... It hadn't appealed for a while since it had been a place they frequented when essentially living in a forest. "There's some [i]really[/i] nice stuff in here'' "Yeah." Wendy stated. "...But I want to know if there's a good bookstore in here. Y'know those are hard to come by." "I'm sure between us we can find a bookstore!" Rori somewhat dramatically responded. "...If there is one that is. But we'll find it if it exists!" "C'mon, [i]every[/i] mall has a bookstore..." [hr] Shopping had always been Haruka's [i]least[/i] favorite pastime. It wasn't too hard to get all the materials he needed - Akemi was kind enough to provide him a list with all the specific shop names and details - but he didn't enjoy being asked for the reason he was getting them. ("Are these for your girlfriend?" "...No.") Sending a message to his aunt that he had everything, he glanced at the time at the corner of the screen. Maybe he could drop by a bookstore and browse a few books before heading home. It didn't take him long to find one. It was close to the escalator down a level, and the shop was quite empty - just two staff, and a few customers. Ignoring all the bestsellers that lined up the shelves near the entrance (most of which were some serial erotica he had no interest in), he headed for the back of the bookshop - to the non-fiction section. [hr] The man that was responsible for the previous Overload the very day mounted himself on a opposing building. Wearing a white armor with the Pure insignia on his chest, he had on a red mask that gave everyone clear view of his eyes - but well concealed his face. This man reached into a briefcase, and pulled out a specialized rifle in which the weapon was modified to fire darts, opposed to bullets. He knelt down on the very edge of the building, and aimed down the scopes of the rifle. The Metahuman menace wasn't going to end through violence... No, they have to turn the world against them. He's doing [i]God's work[/i] here. He leveled his scope towards Anna. A RAVEN... most of the RAVENS were Metahuman, and going off the information he'd gathered, this was one of those Metahumans. "...God's work," The man muttered to himself. The man fired the rifle, and a dart full of a blue, glowing, liquid came flying out the barrel of the gun, and went flying towards Anna's neck. Anna recoiled the moment the hypodermic tip stabbed into her neck. She could feel of rush of cool liquid under her skin and in a few moments, arcs of white energy crackled around her. The floodgates holding her power in check had been destroyed, and as the cascade tore through all of her mental barriers, the torrent of metahuman energy lashed out from Anna in every direction. The sensation was so overwhelming, she couldn't barely think or move. Her body shuddered and spasmed as if the energy inside her was clawing to get out. A wave of shimmering silky white light rushed across the walkways and into the bar nearby. As the seconds dragged on it threatened to cover the entire corner of the building. Pedestrians just getting off the escalator, shoppers in a nearby clothing store, and every plastered patron in the nearby bar were blasted with ethereal white waves that seeped into every fiber of their being. Anna's power stoked the fires of creation and spurred the birth of dozens of new metahumans in only a few moments. Her energy quickly pervaded the entire area. A woman who'd collapsed on the ground writhed wildly as shocks of black fur tore through her skin and twisted her muscles. The nearby store clerk wretched at the sight, and fell through the floor like a ghost as she fainted. A small boy nestled in his baby carriage took flight, taking the stroller with him as his distraught mother held desperately on to the handle bars. A gout of fire seared the air inside the restaurant and ignited several bottles of hard liquor in a colorful ball of fire. One patron at the bar became as black as the cinders of his cigarette; the ashes falling off his body burned through the fabric of the two ladies sitting next to him. Another fell into a rage and with inhuman strength ripped a booth from restraining bolts in the floor and threw it into the main thoroughfare. Myriad bystanders were forever changed, and still more would fall victim to Anna infectious, energizing power in the minutes to come. Mass hysteria wracked the building as nervous shouts of bombs and Allegiance attacks created a rancorous atmosphere of contagious anxiety. Chaos had descended. [hr] As Wendy was leaning over towards the mall map, she was unaware of the disaster that would be overcoming the area. She felt a wave of white energy overwhelm her as she suddenly felt stronger. "Huh?" Wendy said as she took a few steps back, and found herself staring at her hands as she felt her grasp over her power slipping. Her hands started turning white like paper as paper, cardboard, and everything similar started flying around out of control. The paper around her had started to form an uncontrollable storm as [i]tons[/i] of paper began to whirl around. Wendy's head started shifting from right to left as she realized the mighty storm that had begun to form around her. "What? What? What the hell is going..." Wendy trailed off, worried. She started floating up into the air, and she began to panic as her body turned into paper - starting at her hands. Her hands were turning into paper slips that were being added to the growing paper storm. It was a painful experience that caused her to scream. Before she had completely vanished. Standing beside Wendy, Rori had only just realised that they were being hit with a [i]lot[/i] of paper before the white energy also hit them. A hot, prickling pain moved down their arms and legs along with up towards their face from their neck. Not sure what was happening, and ignoring the other chaos that was happening around them, they pulled off their hoodie to try and look at their arms. It wasn't a pretty sight. Feathers had began to grow from whatever part of their body that was left uncovered by them, sticky with blood from piercing through Rori's skin. No. They didn't want to become more like a bird. The pain intensified and spread across their entire body. It was similar to the feeling they got when they got stuck mid change, yet different all the same. Rori fell forward, landing on their knees with a pained cry. A loud crack, coming from their own body, just about reached their own ears through the loud noises from other panicked people. It felt like something was ripping into their back and tearing away at the flesh. They didn't know what was going on. Something was seriously wrong with their body, and it hurt so badly. They just wanted it to [i]stop[/i]. [hr] Haruka looked up from the book suddenly - although muffled by the loud in-store music, he could hear sounds of screaming. He was about to put the book down when a flash of white light hit him. He could feel the Metahuman energy inside him growing stronger... No, it was beyond just becoming stronger. It was getting out of his control. His wind power made the shelves the rattled before the books were ripped off from them, spinning around him as the cyclone grew bigger and faster. The hardcovers shattered the lights, plunging the bookstore into darkness. Then the whirlwind of books knocked the shelves over, tearing through the ceiling and sucking more air from the ventilation... from everywhere within the mall. To feed the growing tornado that was soon bursting out of the bookstore, pulling more than just books into the vortex. Haruka had no idea what was going on, but he knew he had to do something... because if he couldn't stop his power, he would end up suffocating everyone in this entire building. But how? Gritting his teeth, he poured every ounce of his willpower to try regaining his control over his air manipulation power. The rate the whirlwind of books and debris was expanding was starting to slow down a little, but he knew that dispelling the tornado was going to take [i]a lot[/i] more work. At the moment, that was impossible for him. Not when merely holding the cyclone at bay was already draining his stamina very quickly. While he had an outstretched hand to hold down the whirlwind, the other was clutched to his mobile. Should he try to call for help? He thought of his twin, then decided against it. Sure, Shizuka would abandon whatever work he was doing and come running here at top speed, but Haruka had sworn to himself that he should stop being overly dependent on his [i]younger[/i] brother. Besides, he didn't want Shizuka to be caught up in this - not with how his intangibility could become a double-edged sword. Pocketing the phone, he continued to try slowing down the tornado's growth as much as he could, now with both hands. A part of him was hoping that help was already on its way, while the other part posed a question in his mind: [i]What is this deja vu feeling?[/i] [hr] Kei tried not to panic as white energy arced off Anna. People all around started losing control... At least that's what Kei assumed it was. He stood beside her, frozen, with no idea what to do. He could only assume he was unaffected (mostly) due to the suppresant collar around his neck. He knew he should do [i]something[/i] to make Anna stop. But he wasn't exactly the right guy for the job. When he'd lost control he'd been knocked out by something. He didn't want to knock out Anna - it didn't really seem like the right thing to do. He didn't know what the fuck he should do. [hr] Shortly after the child at the demo station had won his third straight game of Super Smash Brothers with Bayonetta, Victor felt a strange wave of nausea overtake him. A blinding light from outside flooded the store. He fell to his knees, his hands covering his eyes, his eyes filled with blinding orange light. It didn't take long for him to realize that the light wasn't coming from the hallway anymore. Orange flames flew from every spot of open skin on his body, igniting whatever it touched. Soon, the store was engulfed in flames. The shelves of video games melted into plastic sludge and dripped to the floor. The TV screens exploded. The glass windows shattered from the fire. He held out his hand to grasp the wall. A jet of flames rocketed forcefully from his fingertips. Ceiling tiles collapsed. Light bulbs popped. Chaos ensued. Sarah had run from the store and was now laying on the ground in the hallway, covering her ears with her hands. A nearby cell phone cart was alight with ring tones and vibrations. The mall security cameras spun three hundred-sixty degrees around. The elevators started moving backwards. Her jacket was on fire. A wooden beam crashed down from the ceiling. Victor heard screams from the floor up above. He guessed that the heat was causing the floor up above to burn. Victor wracked his brains for ways to stop the fire. He considered smothering himself with his jacket, but that wouldn't work. The fire had spread from him and was now consuming other flammable objects in the room. A portion of drywall collapsed. The fire began to gnaw away at the wooden frame holding the store up. Victor could feel his body grow thinner with every second. The wood in the walls was ripped away and flew telekinetically to his fingertips, fueling the fire. More flames rocketed towards the floor from his idle hands. If someone didn't do something soon, the walls would collapse and another store would be engulfed in flames. Victor pulled his hands into their sleeves. Then he took his jacket off. He threw the jacket over his face. Then he pulled it tight with his hands, hoping to prevent more flames from spreading. All he could do now was cross his fingers and hope that nobody died. He didn't see any bodies around, but someone easily could suffocate from smoke inhalation if they were behind the counter. He thought he could hear someone screaming nearby. He hoped to God they'd be okay. A crash came from overhead. A jewelry kiosk collapsed through the burning floor with a deafening "WHOOSH!" Victor was crushed under the weight. Then he blacked out. [hr] Moments ago, Quentin had just parked up somewhere and was about to head inside to pick up a parcel for Reed. What it was, he'd no idea and now it didn't matter. Seconds after stepping inside, he'd noticed the screams resonating through the crowd, the glowing white energy pulsing in rapid succession as it spread from one to another. Instinctively, a hand shot for his holstered P-01, the other for his phone to call in backup, but the wave of glowing energy grew ever closer and it seemed as if 911 was overwhelmed. Out of options, he dialled one of the few people that he knew he could count on. As the call dialled, then picked up, Quentin said what he could. "Mei, it's Quent - I'm at Ranchester Mall, something's happening here, can't call HQ, it's..." "Quentin? I'm in the middle of..." Meifeng tried to answer, but Quentin trailed off. "Quentin - Hold on, help's on the way!" She tried to state, but the phone went dead. And then.. Quentin didn't know what the hell it was, but it made him feel... [i]overwhelmed.[/i] Hairs bristled on the back of his neck, his bare skin tingled every time anyone else stumbled near him, as if just a single touch would overpower his senses. Luckily, he still had his gloves on, but it still took an intense amount of focus just to fight it. Already, people in the crowd were running or turning on each other. He saw a hundred faces die and be reborn anew, their new abilities adding to the unnatural glow. Some stumbled towards him, he felt a hand grasp his shoulder and pulled away. Then another tugged at his leg, then at his palm, then his face - that last one was overwhelming. With all the might he had, Quentin tried to focus, stop them from using him as a conduit before they ashed themselves out. He fought through the crowd for as long as he could, before finally blacking out. [hr] Still panicking, Kei glanced around him to see if there was anyone else was around to help. Unfortunately, everyone in the near vicinity was in the process of losing control to some degree; after all, they'd gotten the full effects of Anna's power. He didn't have any fancy stuff like the RAVEN agents had when they took him out but he was just going to have to deal with that. Not that he knew how to safely knock someone out. Or anything combat related, outside of the video game world which didn't help. Trying to stop panicking Kei grabbed Anna by the shoulders and started shaking her in the hope that doing just that would somehow help. Unsurprisingly it didn't do anything to stop the energy that was spreading from her and causing chaos in the mall. Great. Kei tried to breathe. He could do this. He had two choices that he could think of: knocking her out with some kind of punch or semi-strangling. He didn't feel like either were safe. Though... with this chaos the entire mall wasn't safe. He should probably do [i]something[/i]. Sighing slightly to himself, he gathered his attention. while trying to ignore everything that was going on around him, Kei hesitantly wrapped his hands around Anna's neck and squeezed hard. As he did, Anna's body twitched on instinct, but she still couldn't move her arms to resist. Her nerves were on fire and her mind was being blasted by the stimulus of her own power. She had no way to keep it in check. Arcs of pale white energy struck at Kei's skin, as if trying to enter his body. Like a swarm of wasps, they stung at his skin. Kei's eyes widened as the energy hit his skin, wincing at the pain. Confusion crossed his features as he slowly realised what exactly was happening. He loosened his grip on Anna's neck so he was no longer actually constricting it, but didn't move his hands. If he could continue like this maybe it would drain whatever she was doing...He could handle the stinging. Probably. He didn't really expect the pain to get [i]worse[/i]. It began to feel like something was growing inside of him, something he couldn't release. It felt absolutely horrible. He realised that this must be something to do with his power. He was beginning to overheat slightly, and he desperately wanted to cool his surroundings. But he couldn't. And he was glad that he couldn't, considering what happened last time. But the collar would stop him from losing control like then. At least, he thought it should. However after a short while of doing whatever the hell he was doing, however, he realised that the collar wasn't going to hold it all back. The growing power inside of him had only gotten a lot worse, the stinging seeming to increase. It was as if his power was try to push out of his body and past the restraints as best as it could. He felt like he was either going to melt, or the inside of his body was going to rip itself out. It began to get cold. It was gradual, a lot slower than when he was first overloaded. The cold slowly moved outwards from him, combatted within the restaurant by the person who had began setting things on fire. Slowly, but surely, his power began to leak out around the restrictions placed on it. Ice began to form on him. First the top of his hands, slowly spreading across his arms. The thin layer began to thicken. Thankfully the ice seemed to stay put as it slowly covered his body. And he didn't feel like he was melting anymore. However what had begun gradual suddenly got a lot worse, whatever was happening was now speeding up. The cold aura that hung around him increased in radius and temperatures plummeted to well below freezing near him. Any exposed water, including a few spilled drinks due to the chaos, froze instantly. With most people dressed for the summer weather, the sudden drop in temperature would make them very uncomfortable at least. It was different from when he had been overloaded himself. The ice that had begun on his hands was quickly spreading to all of his body and increasing in volume, some of it breaking off and in a small area around him. A bit spread from his hands and onto Anna. Soon he was coated in a solid layer of ice that covered every inch of his body. As it continued to grow on him it began to break off and actually shoot off him in most directions; only small His power seemed to be fighting against the continual restraint from the collar... Pushing against it more and more. What had been an uncomfortable feeling at first escalated as a small ice storm localised on Kei formed. Thankfully for anybody nearby this was short lived as what seemed to be a classh between his power and the collar trying to restrain it set off a large, extreme burst of ice and cold, only solidifying the ice around him, before it got too much and overwhelmed his body. Frozen into place, hands still placed on Anna's neck, he blacked out. [hr] [i]This is... true freedom.[/i] The thoughts whirled around in Wendy's head as she became one with the paper storm. It felt like she was losing it. Slipping into an insanity as she stopped panicking... and stopped feeling anything for this matter. This is the longest she's ever been paper, she didn't feel like she was out of breath even in the slightest. This is true... [i]freedom.[/i] Her entire consciousness was spread out throughout her paper form - a true storm of paper - and she could see everything through her eyes. The destruction, the pain, the chaos. Yet, it didn't matter much to her. There was only a sense of bliss as she felt like she was attaching happiness to this moment as some desperate attempt not to lose herself. It was working. She couldn't control herself, or her power, but everything was fine. Wendy saw the world tear itself apart around her, but she still had all the books that she had loved oh so very much. A brief fear appeared in the fear of ashing at any given moment now, but Wendy would hold onto hope long as she could. She had no idea what was going on, but she hoped that it would come to an end soon. Before she, or Rori, died. Wendy just wanted the two of them to make it out without dying... "...Huh?" Wendy voiced mentally as she noticed a change. The paper storm that had been raging, causing so much damage was beginning to slow down. Wendy was weakening, and the paper began to slowly descend downwards. She didn't know whether or not to feel relieved that she could maintain her paper form while not having to worry about holding her breath. It wasn't long before the paper slips that Wendy was previously comprised of were added back to her main body. Forming a vaguely humanoid mass of paper that slowly lowered to the ground. Once every piece of Wendy was reassembled, she immediately snapped back into her human form. Flesh, blood, and bones. The Wendy she's used to. Her fall back to earth was graceless - falling facedown onto the dirty mall floor - but she was glad to be alive. Albeit, exhausted. Her eyes reflexively closed, before she forced them open as she raised her head up into the air to have a look around. The paper she was controlling was all over the place, slowly falling to the chaotic mall peacefully. For a moment, everything seemed peaceful. Whatever the hell happened came to a stop, and everyone was confused as hell as to what happened. A relieved sigh managed to escape Wendy's lips as she stopped wondering what happened, and focused on the fact that it's all over. However, as she was scanning the area, she saw something familar. "...Rori!" Wendy tried to cry out, but she was far too exhausted to climb back to her feet. She... she needed to make sure Rori was okay! It was her damn fault she got caught up in this like she was. It was all because of Wendy's selfishness because she couldn't be alone for one night. Every bone in Wendy's body was telling her to get up, and help Rori. She has already paid the price for losing control merely by coming here. She could afford to spend a little bit more just to help Rori. Using every once of her strength, Wendy managed to push herself to her feet. She stumbled a little bit, greatly weakened by the previous experience, but she managed to collect herself. It was a challenging experience for Wendy to walk her way over to Rori, she was exhausted, and in pain. She couldn't use her power at all, either - she was simply too exhausted, and it'd be a waste of her resources given that she was so hellbent on getting over to Rori. She pulled her feet to the best of her ability. With every pace, she managed to drag herself closer, and closer to the bird girl- Wendy was suddenly blindsided when someone ran up to her. A tall man, with a head of blonde hair, and blue eyes. Wendy didn't get a good look at him as he bumrushed her in a blind panic. Screaming into her face as he desperately grabbed onto her shoulders and shook her back and fourth. It didn't take Sherlock Holmes to deduce what had gotten the man so frightened. He was ashing. The whole experience was too much for him, and his Metahuman abilities, and his body was self-destructing. Flicks of black ash fell off him, and it's rate was increasing. [i]That[/i] wasn't the problem. What Wendy had noticed was that he was touching bare skin. His electrical ability was causing the energy to dance across his skin. It wasn't bothering Wendy because it was [i]transferring[/i] to her. As the man was making contact with her, his very touch was causing her Metahuman energy to glow brightly. She started shaking as she subconsciously absorbed a bit of his Metahuman energy, and added it to her supply. It wasn't long before her own energy shifted and changed to mimic this change. It went from paper manipulation, to [i]electricity[/i] manipulation. As his grasp continued, electricity began to dance across her own body. Desperate to get the man off her (being geniunely frightened), she used all of her strength to push him off, screaming, "Get off!" Since the man was already weakened by Ashing, he started falling backwards, before he hit the ground. His rate of ashing had drastically sped up, and it wasn't long until he was nothing. Gone for good. Throwing him off her had managed to throw Wendy herself off balance. She fell backwards onto her side, her body was still arcing with electricity. Wendy tried to push herself back up to her feet again, but she was just too weak at the moment. Which meant that she had to take the high route here. This all meant the Lucker girl had to physically drag herself over to Rori. Which is what she did, using her determination alone to crawl along the floor. Every arm movement she made, every inch she moved towards Rori, she came closer and closer to her objective. Her determination paid off when she made it over to Rori. Right before she reached out to Rori, grabbing her by the arm, and giving her some gentle shakes to make sure that she's okay. "H-hey... Rori...." Wendy trailed off... before she realized that her newfound electrical ability was still active. She didn't give Rori any electrical shocks, but she made sure to let go before she could. "Hey..." Wendy said, raising her voice. "Are you... are you... okay?" Rori was in something of a sorry state. They had been moving in and out of consciousness. The pain due to whatever was happening to them was enough to cause it. They're arms were something of a bloody mess from the elbow down, with new feathers having painfully poked through and only just shed their protective coating. This was also true of the underneath of the chin and lower face; which were also now covered in soft brown feathers. That definitely, however, wasn't the worst of it. Rori's body seemed to have decided it need to take a step further towards being a true human-bird hybrid. And it had taken the most logical leap. Out of Rori's back potruded what could hardly be described as wings. They were small, perhaps the length of Rori's arm, and shared some similarities to the wings of a baby bird. Flesh had only just formed on the bones, sticky with blood due to literally ripping through Rori's back. The sparse feathers than had formed on the membrane will still surrounded by a protective coating and as a result taking the appearance of tubes. It certainly wasn't a pretty site; nor were the longer tube-like feathers that had grown from her lower back to form something of a tail in the making. Though everything seemed a little fuzzy, the pain had now moved from sharp to dull as they stopped turning more birdlike. Things moved a bit more into focus as they heard Wendy speaking. "Huh?" Rori blinked for a moment, turning they're head slowly to look at Wendy. "Oh, hi Wendy. I'm not sure if I'm fine. I think that something hit my back, it hurts. Feels like there's something there. What even happened? We were-" Their eyes widened as, through their somewhat delirious state of mind, they recalled what had happened. "Are you okay?! You were turning into paper and everything more than normal! It was all papery everywhere." Though they seemed to be able to talk normally, if a bit pained, it was more of a constant stream of delirious thoughts coming out of their mouth. "You're not paper now though..." "Yeeeeah, I'm... fine." Wendy stated as she finally rested her head down on the dirty floor. After what just happened? Wendy couldn't care less. She just kept her eyes on Rori. "Don't worry about me, I'll be fine... I just want to know if [i]you're[/i] okay..." "I think I'm okay now," Rori just about managed to say, voice growing weaker. "I don't hurt everywhere... just more covered in feathers I think... And I kind of want to go to sleep." They frowned, trying to keep their eyes open. Something in the back of their mind told them that they should probably stay awake. "That's... great." Wendy said as she was slipping into unconsciousness. "I... don't know what happened... but I'm just glad that you're okay." "I'm glad you're okay too..." Rori said, before closing their eyes and blacking out.