The man’s chest slammed into the asphalt as Alice materialised on his back. She pulled his hands behind his back and zip tied them with a practised movement. He struggled futilely for a moment, complaining.
“You’re hurting me!”
Alice stood up, “yeah? And you weren’t going to hurt that couple?”
“They’re metas! Freaks!”
Alice grimaced, “probably could have picked up that I’m one of those freaks you don’t like.”
Another voice interrupted, “Agent! Sorry… you’re… faster than us…”
The cops weren’t particularly out of breath, they didn’t look like they’d really been running all that hard. If she’d still been in NYC she would have thought that it was simply because they knew she’d run him down easily. Here though, they didn’t look too happy that she’d caught up with the man who had gone after the mother with the furry child.
She read the perp his rights, then handed him over to the officers, after first making sure she knew his name and address so she could check up that he was processed correctly later. Things had been tense since the mall last week, since the market. Alice couldn’t entirely blame people. It was hard enough just be normal without having to worry about those people that weren’t, those people that could bend space or freeze a person solid with a thought. It terrified Alice, and she could do it herself.
In most situations it should have just been cops taking the man down, not a RAVEN agent. There was too much anti-metahuman sentiment on the streets however, and RAVEN was working flat-out to deal with the aftermath of last week’s events. She could only imagine how busy DOVE must be, dozens of people had spontaneously manifested abilities, and then subsequently lost control. Several of them were no killers, through no fault of their own, but Alice pitied them all the same.
It meant that they were now hated, and RAVEN was hated for not preventing it. She’d heard from DOVEs that more than a dozen metahumans had complained about losing their jobs since the riot in Greencrest. People were doing stupid things, she looked back in disgust at the man being shepherded into the squad car. For a moment she’d wanted to smash his face into the asphalt, but it would only have confirmed his view.
The world was becoming a darker, dirtier place by the minute; she only prayed that she could escape it still clean.
Ellen Nile
Academy 61
Ellen enjoyed school about as much as the next kid, although the next kid had his head on the desk beside her and she was pretty sure he was asleep. That was beyond her, once a week she could sleep, no more, and no less. It would sound like hell to anyone else, most people her age struggled just to get up in the morning, and an all-nighter would put them in an awful mood for the rest of the day. Not her, she was as bright and chipper after four all-nighters as anyone was after a full night of deep refreshing sleep. At least it meant she had escaped the caffeine addiction that seemed to be sweeping her class. Her altered brain chemistry meant that when she actually needed to sleep, no amount of drugs could keep her awake, or at least not caffeine.
She squinted at the board, it seemed unusually bright, and she toned down her perception a little, careful not to tone down the actual light in the room. Experimentation had absorbed most of her first day with her new ability, it frequently did with something like this. It wasn’t as easy as the physiology she’d had last week, that came with a whole parcel of instincts and movements sort of built in. This ability seemed a lot more complex than anything she’d had so far, and she knew she would never be able to understand all of it.
She’d screamed when she’d first opened her eyes, the enormous amount of input overwhelming sensory organs that might be evolved for it, but certainly weren’t prepared for it. She’d locked herself in her room for hours and painstakingly tuned out each frequency until she worked out which one was the normal one.
She hadn’t taken the drug.
It was concealed now at the bottom of a draw, wrapped in a jumper, away from prying eyes. Not that the Academy was in the habit of searching her rooms, but she felt like she shouldn’t discuss it. She didn’t know who the strange ceramic creature had been, and now thought of him as her mysterious benefactor, enjoying that thought a little. She needed to talk to someone about it though, and was pretty sure that he would not be the best candidate.
She pulled her phone out as she stepped out of class, pulling up a contact and heading towards a more private area so she could talk without someone else accidentally listening in.
“Hi mom.”
“Hey honey, what’s up?”
Ellen tried to call her mom at least once or twice a week anyway, and had in fact called her yesterday. She could hardly be called clingy, and she didn’t really get homesick, just Academy sick, so another call so soon was out of character.
“Can you talk?”
“Sure, I’m on my break, you ok?”
Her mom sounded concerned, though not exactly worried, she knew Ellen could mostly look after herself. Even so, she was a mother, and a child doing something out of character would always be a cause for concern for a mother.
Ellen paused, already unsure of how to continue, hey mom, some random stranger gave me a drug to control my power, I thought I might take it.
“Do you think… maybe one day they might fix me?”
“Oh honey,” Her sigh on the other end of the line was faint, but audible, “you don’t need fixing, you’re amazing just as you are.”
“Thanks mom, but really… do you think it’ll ever become easier?”
“I don’t know hon, maybe, you know they’re always discovering new things, but you don’t need it. You know I love you no matter what right?”
“I know mom.”
The bell for next period began to ring.
“I gotta go.”
“Ok honey, I love you, I’ll talk to you later ok?”
“Sure, love you.”
“Love you too.”
Ellen hung up and began walking to her next lesson, though she kept her head down, composing an email.
>_To: CindyGKeagan@Gmail.com Hi agent Keagan, I think I need to have another meeting with you. Can I book something with you some time this week?
Ellen
She doubted that Agent Keagan would have any answers, but the vial freaked her out. She’d been tempted to take it straight away after she woke up, the light pouring into her eyes and leaving her barely able to move for the pain in her head. She’d put it back, but it kept creeping in, lurking at the back of her mind. It could be a chance to avoid situations like that, to avoid looking like a freak. She was afraid of that too. You’d have to be stupid not to notice what was going on in Baybridge. People hated metahumans, and looking different was a sure sign of that. She didn’t want to become an easy target for people like that. Worse still, she didn’t know what RAVEN or DOVE were doing about it, whatever it was didn’t seem to be enough.
Taking Cindy's car was always a pain in the ass for Meifeng... mostly because of all the God damn rules Cindy set for a passenger ride. All retarded things because she doesn't want to get her fancy car all dirty. Though, the ride from Headquarters to Oakdell was not a particularly long one. They arrived in front of the bar which was located on the boardwalk of Oakdell. Cindy, of course, was the first one out of the vehicle, followed by the athletic Meifeng.
The bar in question was the Sugarbush Tavern. A small little bar that was located on the boardwalk in which many members of RAVEN and DOVE were frequenters of. Not that the bar owners didn't mind; business was business to them. Cindy in particular was no stranger to the place, since she spent plenty of time here.
Casually strolling up, Meifeng kept her hands in her pockets. "Heh, nice place," She said. "You sure the others are gonna show up?"
"Yeah, yeah, girl, I got this." Cindy said, flagging Meifeng off as they stepped inside. Even at this hour, the bar was alive with tourists who were drinking and having fun like everything was fine again. Heh. It kinda reminded the two of them of Verthaven. The bar wasn't too fancy, but it had fine wooden furniture, and it was finely illuminated with a bright light over head. It wasn't a particular closed-in bar, as there was a porch that gave everyone a good view of the beach, and the doors were always open.
The counter was a fine brown wood, and had stools up against it. However, at the bar was a familiar face.
"Mom?" Meifeng said, genuinely confused as to why Lihua was here. She put her hands on her hips, and stared the older woman down - who was merely sitting on the stools, enjoying her drinks (which was a strong alcohol). "Well, I didn't expect to see you here." Meifeng said in a rather smartass tone.
In response, Lihua merely turned her head, and shrugged, "I didn't expect myself to be walking in here... but your friend Cindy was kind enough to invite me." Lihua turned towards Cindy and said, "Thank you, Miss Keagan... I needed to get away from where I was."
"Yeah, you're welcome." Cindy confidently said, she stepped behind Lihua. "...Do you want to sit at a table somewhere? I don't think the stools are the best seats..."
"Whatever suits you best." Lihua said as she merely grabbed her bottle, and glass, and carried it over to the nearest empty table, in which Meifeng and Cindy followed her over and sat down.
It's been awhile since Meifeng's actually got both Cindy, and Lihua at the same place. Usually, Cindy and Meifeng speak to each other on a professional level. Though this felt... odd. "Hey, if you don't mind me asking..." Meifeng trailed off. "...And don't take this as me being an asshole, but what made you want to invite my mom?"
"C'mon, Meifeng," Cindy said with a smile on her face. "I stopped seeing her as just "your mom" ages ago. I see her as a friend now." Cindy said. "And I figured that we could get along..."
"...And I also was conversing with Ms. Keagan via text messages and she simply suggested it." Lihua started off. "I'd rather be here, than listen to Jiao-Long..."
"Oh, you were chilling with Jiao-Long?" Meifeng asked, raising her eyebrow. "You know, Mom... you're going have to stop hating him some day." Meifeng cooly said, even though the top was a certain sore spot for Lihua. Since the two had some hefty parental issues, that they more or less took out on each other. Honestly, this was why Meifeng made peace with her mother.
"I am trying..." Lihua said, "It's just... hard. It really is. Even though he helps me, and I'm showing him smiles, but I'm finding it difficult to truly forgive him." Lihua answered. "...Worst of all, it feels like I'm letting mere mention of him sour my mood."
"You just need to stop trying so hard for a moment, and let it happen." Meifeng answered. "I'm certain he feels the same way, too."
"...I don't know - but I'll settle things with Jiao-Long sooner or later. Let's not discuss that and sour the mood with my family problems." Lihua stated. "So, out of sheer curiosity, who else did you invite to this bar?"
"Oh... just a few of the others we met back in, you know." Cindy said. "Shizuka, Reed, Quentin..." Cindy trailed off, letting out a sigh as she brought back bad memories.
Putting down the glass, Lihua said, "Don't be ashamed to talk about it." She bluntly said. "Dancing around it, and bottling it up... No good for your psyche." She looked over to Cindy and flashed her a smile. "Especially since you're a DOVE now... people are counting on you."
"Yeah, yeah, I guess you're right," Cindy said. She didn't like opening up like this - only out of fear that people would treat her as if she's being whiny - but she was around friends. People that experienced the same thing she had. "Well, I just sometimes think about all the friends and family I lost... like, more than just the, you know, the psychopaths and monsters we ran into there."
Both Lihua and Meifeng listened intently.
"You know, Jackson, Jen, Lucy, Trevor, Cass... and, hell, every other person I knew there." Cindy said. "I just sometimes wonder what life would be like if they were still alive. How that would impact me."
Shizuka raised an eyebrow when he received Cindy's message about some get-together. Why now, of all times? No, he wasn't really complaining - a mere mention of Cindy's name was more than enough to dump all his work to someone else without wasting too much breath - but he couldn't help wondering why she wanted to meet him in a bar... especially when nothing she said could coax him into getting himself drunk, ever.
Instead of his RAVEN-issued vehicle, it was quicker to get to the place on his bike (not to mention, saving him from the trouble of trying to find a nice parking spot). He reached the bar with the neon sign that read 'Sugarbush Tavern': the bar was situated along the boardwalk, with an open concept that would give its customers a decent view of the beach. However, his eyes wasn't interested with the night scene; he scanned the tourist-filled bar for a familiar face.
Correction: three, in fact, and they seemed to be deep in their own conversation. Cindy was hard to miss (she was probably the best-dressed among the rest - who obviously screamed that they were tourists through and through); same for Meifeng for her bulk---
He stopped in his tracks when his eyes fell on the third person. Zhao Lihua. The last person he wanted to meet to further spoil his night. He was about to leave when Cindy called out to him. "...Shizuka, come oooooon! I can see you." Cindy looked disappointed for a moment. "You came all this way to immediately walk off?"
Rolling his eyes, Shizuka turned around and re-approached their table, before he sat down in one of the empty seats. "Well..." He looked from Meifeng to Lihua (whom he had narrowed his eyes at). "I hope you don't call me out here just for a drink."
"...Of course not," Cindy said, leaning back in her chair. "I called you out here because I also want to talk... and we're, you know, friends, and all that."
"And don't you forget it," Meifeng said.
Lihua kept her mouth shut, because she noticed the narrow glare that Shizuka shot her way. She would have returned an even fiercer glare, but she rather not sour the mood, and further ruin their bad relationship. It seemed Shizuka still holds a grudge against Lihua for what had happened seven years ago.
"Right." Shizuka acknowledged Cindy with a small smile; the two of them had come a long way to form a good bond (back then at Verthaven they pretty much hated each other's guts). He couldn't say the same with Meifeng - well, their relationship certainly had improved, but with the recent shitstorms it was starting to go downhill again. He didn't appreciate to be reminded by Meifeng that they were still... 'friends'.
"Old time's sake, huh... So I guess we're left with Reed and Quent to complete this circle."
It didn't take long for the Taylors to cross the distance between Reed's apartment in Greencrest Heights and down to this touristy bar. Granted, he'd have never called it a short walk, but seven years in this city had given him a good idea of how things were. Quentin, for the most part, was just happy for a chance to stretch his legs again after that shitshow at the mall.
"Say, thanks for letting me have your couch," Quentin put a hand on Reed's shoulder for a moment as they were just about to head inside the tourist bar.
"Well, it's not like you've got anywhere else to be, is it?" Reed chuckled, before nodding. "Besides, it's good company for the cat." That solicited an amused snort, not least because that same cat had kept him up late a few times with its midnight wake-up calls.
Stepping inside, Quentin tapped on his brother's shoulder. "I'll get us something, you go find 'em." It solicited a nod from Reed, who went off to go find the others in the touristy place whilst Quentin faced the bar.
"Yooooo, Quent!" Meifeng shouted with a wide smile to get Mr. Taylor's attention. She was glad he made it. Cindy certainly had something if she was able to gather Quentin, Shizuka, and Lihua.
Quentin... Now that was a name Lihua hadn't heard in so long. It felt like yesterday which Lihua and him were fighting alongside in NEST. Ah... She could never look back at those times fondly. What she could do was look forward. When Quentin finally walked over with a bottle in either hand, Lihua smiled at him kindly.
He returned the gesture, markedly surprised to find the Zhao Matriarch here. Part of him had wondered how retirement had gone for her, even with Mei's brief mentions.
Shizuka turned his head when Meifeng called out to Quentin, but he directed his attention to the other Taylor. "Hey, Reed."
"Hey, Shizuka? Good to see you, I ran into Haru the other week." Reed took a moment to greet his brother's colleague with a chest nudge.
Shizuka almost blurted out to ask him how his airhead twin had been doing lately (he was so caught up with work that he couldn't make time to have a get-together with his family), but in the end he settled with an "Ah ok", and managed a chuckle at Reed's friendly gesture. His idiot brother was old enough to take care of himself; he shouldn't keep worrying so much about him and learn to let him go.
"It's great to see you again, Reed." Meifeng said. "It's great that we got the old gang back together."
"Yes, yes, very excellent. Hello, Reed." Lihua said as she took a sip of her drink, very casually. Her sharp eyes scanned Reed as he sat down. She had kept in contact with Reed, but not Quentin. A small issue when she was busy going out and living her own life. She looked among the group. Seven years ago... at the rise of a new era, Lihua was fighting for her life alongside these people in the Verthaven disater. An event she thought she would never get out of alive. Though, they all left... changed people.
"So... from a veteran to some young blood," Lihua asked, turning her head over to Cindy - though, she was speaking to the entire group. "How has the whole business being treating you...?"
"Not good." Cindy started off, letting off a sigh. "Ever since the mall, shit's been flarin' up left an' right. Everything's on the verge of going crazy."
Slamming her drink down on the table top, Meifeng loudly snorted in an unlady-like manner. "Yeah, and worst of all, everyone's acting like we're not trying to help them," Meifeng looked over at Cindy, and shook her head. "When all the two of us have been doing is protecting them."
"Yeah, yeah, everyone wants to run their mouth until they need the big bad Metahuman to be stopped-"
"Girls, enough," Lihua quickly cut them off like a mother, as she exasperatedly took a sip of her alcohol. "Two of you sound like children, not RAVENS, not DOVES." She rolled her eyes up into her head. "You should know by now that people are inherently going to criticize you."
They both shut up when Lihua started talking. That was the thing that Lihua had about her; she rarely spoke, but when she did, everyone listened.
"You two should have this lesson hammered into your heads by by now; not everyone is going to trust you, and treat you like paragons..." Lihua stated with a sip of her drink.
"I, uh, understand that." Cindy stated.
"Clearly, not." Lihua was quick to reply. "Let me share a little bit of my wisdom to you," She placed her drink on the table, and shook her head. "Far as I can tell, RAVEN is still full of the same meatheads that comprised NEST." Lihua started off. "...And, of course, still has the Agents the organization is supposed to be comprised of."
Reed, for a change, was inclined to give his own thoughts on the matter. "Look, I understand how you both feel. Think I like taking abuse from the people we're trying to help? It's a fact of the job. Now, maybe that's just something I picked up on the VPD, but it still works here."
Quentin shrugged at the bickering, but had a mind to back up his brother on this one, to a point. "People won't always appreciate us. So fuck 'em, and get things done anyway, whether they like it or not."
Shizuka glanced at Quentin before he spoke up, "...I won't go that far to say that, but yeah it's not easy to earn the trust of people when they're all clouded by fear."
He still remembered what Daphne had said to him seven years ago: "Metahumans are ultimately not gods - we are no different from human beings, just a tad more special." There was only so much DOVE and RAVEN could do to help ease the situation, and there were times they wouldn't be able to save every single person.
"They are correct," Lihua agreed. "RAVEN, or DOVE, will not have the most ideal people inside of it, doing the most ideal things - but, long as there's people like you all out there, I can't say the organization is one-hundred percent rotten. Only the uninformed, can." She nodded her head.
Meifeng sighed as she silently agreed with them. "Yeah, yeah, I guess," She looked up at her mother - she's come a long way, yeah - but had more to discuss. More boring ass politics. "So, what are your thoughts on our good friends the Pure, and Allegiance?"
"You mean the psychotics on that side, or the psychotics on the other?" Quentin asked, rhetorically. "They're two sides of the same coin, Mei - and they're not helping the current situation."
"A fine example of misplaced well-intentions turned into extremism." Lihua said, knowing her opinion isn't the best. "Before you even say anything; they both had good intentions starting out; merely protecting themselves, and their interests, from perceived threats."
Cindy raised an eyebrow as she thought about it. "Yeah, and it quickly became blowing up buildings."
"Well-intentioned is a stretch now. Domestic terrorism and lynch mobs, it's gone too far." Reed said in response.
"Yes, and yes, that's merely compounding a point I'm about to make," Lihua started off, as she let the words hang into the air. "The Pure feel a threat from Metahumans - something that even I agree with - and they use that perceived threat to justify murder, and senseless violence."
"And the Allegiance - they're no better. Quent, what was it you said? Using a kid to cause hallucinations and start a riot?" Reed remarked, knowing fully well just how disgusted his brother had been about it.
"Yeah," Meifeng agreed. "I can't say that the Allegiance are the revolutionaries that will change everything..." She put her hands up into the air.
"When you get down to it, they really are just two sides of the same coin," Lihua stated. "But, that's the funny thing about altruism, good-intentions, valiance, and whatnot..." She started off, and looked at every member of her group. "...It's a slippery slope that can quickly become outright extremism."
Everyone listened and thought about it for a moment.
"You get an idea of how to help people, and then you let yourself fall off... even if it doesn't happen instantly." Lihua stated. "In the end... you'll be no different from the likes of them if you aren't careful." That was mostly a message directed towards Meifeng, and what Lihua heard about the things she'd done to the Hands of Science... It really was a slippery slope. Meifeng was a paragon for RAVEN, but few know of the things she'd done behind closed doors.
As Meifeng thought about Lihua's words, she looked away, uncomfortable.
"This is advice for all of you," Lihua grabbed her glass from the top, and gently swished it around, holding it by the top. "Don't lose yourself. Regardless of if you think crossing the line would help people, it won't." That was all Lihua had to say.
Cindy was looking at Meifeng, and Lihua's little speech applied to her more than anyone - but, Lihua wasn't saying it to just Meifeng. Cindy knew that it applied to her, too. She knew that anyone can lose themselves.
Reed too, wondered if there was an ulterior motive here. For a moment, his gaze shot to Quent and he wondered... his brother had never really let go of what had happened to them in Verthaven. Sure, Quentin had said the words, tried to move on, yet he read something else concealed behind that calm exterior of his. Not that he ever admitted anything.
Shizuka regarded Lihua with amusement, dropping the hostile look from before. He didn't expect this woman to give such a speech, not with how narrow-minded she was back in Verthaven, but maybe Haruka had been right... that she had really changed. Giving advice from her own past experience really did make an impact on all of them - especially Meifeng. Oh well - nothing better than the words from her own mother to drill some sense into her thick skull.
Lihua put the glass down on the table, and crossed her arms. "That said... I have one more thing to say concerning the Pure, Allegiance, and whoever else..." She started off, before letting out a sigh. "...They aren't the problem, they're merely the obvious one." She let the words hang in the air.
"There's still people like Luis out there," Quentin pointed out, "You remember what happened in Verthaven. You had that shit with the gangbangers, then that thing - and all the while the Changelings and the Hands were fucking us from behind. "
Lihua nodded her head. "From my experiences, the obvious problem, is never the problem," She started off. "There's always someone out there who can, and will, capitalize on the situation here." It's what I would do. Lihua thought to herself. "Baybridge has... plenty of resources, and someone who lusts for power could make a move to claim it..."
To that, Quentin could only nod.
Lihua's words reminded Shizuka of the Overload incidents so far: the damage and casualties did succeed in worsening the tension between Metahumans and anti-Meta supporters, and it was going to be hell of a problem to deal with when the extremist organizations were adding more fuel to the fire. Not only creating more shits for them to clean up, but also making it harder to reach the true mastermind behind all this.
"Anyway," Reed finally interjected, realizing this conversation had derailed from the original point of their meeting, "How's things?"
"Fine as it's going to get," Lihua said, somewhat bitter. "I'm enjoying my job as a teacher, as always, and Lijuan is doing fine."
Cindy realized they were drifting off towards politics... and while Cindy did enjoy Lihua's point of view, that wasn't the point of this meeting. "I'm doing pretty good, how about your-" Her phone buzzed for a second, a different notification this time. It's usually the notification she has reserved for emails. Cindy quickly whipped out her phone, and read the email.
>_To: CindyGKeagan@Gmail.com Hi agent Keagan, I think I need to have another meeting with you. Can I book something with you some time this week?
Ellen
"Oh, boy, she finally wants to talk this time...." Cindy muttered to herself as she read the email.
"Oh, Cindy, don't you know it's rude to use the phone when you're out?" Meifeng teased, sticking her tongue out.
"Sorry, yeah, sorry, sorry," Cindy quickly apologized. "It was just my work email... I still need to check on that, since, you know, my shift is still ongoing." She said. "One of my cases wants to have a meeting."
"Is it something urgent?" Shizuka asked, shifting his attention from Lihua to Cindy. He glanced down at his wind-up watch. "It's getting late - and I don't think I'd want to watch you all getting drunk here."
"No, no..." Cindy trailed off as she held the phone in her hand. "Dealin' with that girl can come later - Though..." She looked at the time. "I need to get to Prince Ed-Field to check up on the Wright Institute."
"The nerds?" Meifeng said with a toothy grin.
"Yeah, not lookin' forward to their science-y bullshit... even though I was the one who made the deal in the first place." Cindy said.
"How about this?" Meifeng said as she put her glass down. "We all go and endure their "science-y bullshit" as a group?"
"Well, I'm definitely in." Shizuka smirked at the two girls who were obviously not looking forward to getting a possible lecture about some 'science-y bullshit'. For him, he just wanted to get to the bottom of this case and close the file for good. "It's the least we can do for that Kei boy and... Agent Aikau."
Quentin swigged from his bottle once again, before shrugging. Reed, on the other hand, spoke for the both of them. "Sure."
"Course, I believe I'm not allowed since I'm not a RAVEN like you young people." Lihua said with a smile on her face. She had no place there, anyway. She needed to get back to Lijuan, either way.
"Yeah, would love to add you to the snore-fest, Mom." Meifeng said with an unlady-like snort. "It's your style!"
"Sorry for bringin' this little get together to a sudden close," Cindy regretfully said as she looked among her group. "But, it was nice, even for the moment...."
RAVEN/DOVE West Coast Joint Headquarters, White Coast
"So you're finally awake, huh?"
Kei looked slightly confused as his sister walked into the room he had only woken up in hours before. He wasn't entirely sure what had happened. He remembered that loads of metahumans began to lose control because something happened to Anna. Then he had started draining her power or something. After that he had frozen himself, and probably her. What on earth had happened since then?
"You were out for a week," Lihn somehow understood his confused expression, moving to sit down on a chair beside his bed. She seemed tired, and worn out. It was an odd look on his normally calm and organised sister. "I left Thanh at home with a babysitter, though she wasn't too happy about it."
"Oh." Kei had been wondering where the young girl, who more often than not clung to her mother, had been. "How have you been since...?" He didn't really feel the need to continue. He was sure she knew what he meant, and he'd rather not discuss it right now.
"Things have been stressful. Normal people don't exactly like metahumans at the moment. I've lost a few clients in the past week. They knew all knew I was a metahuman when I become their therapist. I was always open about that. Now some of them are claiming they're worried I'll get into their head! As if. I don't stop being a professional just because I'm a metahuman." Lihn folded her arms with a sigh. She looked more worn out than angry. Though Kei was sure she had been angry at first. "Enough have stayed that I've not lost my job. Still, I think I might start looking for something more metahuman specific." She paused, frowning. "Sorry, this is probably too much considering you just woke up."
"It's fine, I'd rather listen than talk," Kei shrugged.
"I see a week asleep hasn't made you any less lazy," Lihn laughed slightly. "But I guess that means you're feeling fine if you're being your normal self." She smiled. "Hmm, anyway, this unfortunately had to be a short visit. I have a meeting with a client quite soon."
"You should probably go then... I'll be fine." Kei just wanted to go back to sleep, honestly. He felt so tired and drained. And he wanted to find out what happened but he doubted he'd know any time soon. "Bring Thanh next time."
Lihn smiled, standing up. "I will. Try not to get into another mess before I see you again."
Kei just nodded in response as his sister left. He wasn't in a rush to go anywhere anytime soon.
Rori Aherne
West Woodlake, Hedgemount
Rori hadn't really left the house in a week. They'd, thankfully, been sent back home pretty quickly after recovering from the incident at the mall. Though Max had made her best effort to try and be around as much as possible, since Rori wasn't exactly in the best state, her workload had hardly decreased. As a result Rori had spent most of the last week alone.
They didn't particularly mind it. It was, after all, their own choice to not go out. At least it was in some ways. Their main way of getting about had always been as a bird. They hadn't tried to transform since their body had changed and grown more birdlike. Though they disliked admitting it they were slightly scared that something abnormal may happy. They were probably just being cautious. They would try it again when they were sure they'd properly recovered.
It had been a bit of a task getting used to having wings. Rori had had to go through all of their clothes and cut slits in the back for any of them to fit. Thankfully the tail was less of an issue. Though they had grown more feathers, they had also began shedding some the past week. So it seemed the ones that had reached their face weren't permanent. Rori hoped that would happen to the wings. Rori was used to them now... But they were hardly useful. Not like Rori's eyes, or anything else. The wings were just there.
For now Rori was curled up in the living room, sketching. They'd almost completely filled this sketchpad with drawings in just the past week. They varied in theme from things about the house to what they often drew; birds. They'd even tried a few self portraits. They had to admit one thing about having wings; it made them far easier to draw when they had real ones right there to copy. Still, they were running out of inspiration. And their writing wasn't getting anywhere. Not to mention that they had been struggling to play any of their instruments recently. They weren't sure why, but they felt like they were more clumsy than before. Maybe it was a lack of practice. They should really concentrate on their music at some point.
Still, now wasn't the time. It didn't help the fact that they were bored. Maybe, just maybe, they should actually venture out. It was probably a good idea. Yeah, a short walk would be nice. They'd do that.
Sighing softly, Rori stood up and sent their sister a quick text. There was no longer any way to hide that they were a freakish bird hybrid so they didn't even bother to pull on a scarf as they stepped out the door.
Wearing a grey, tattered, cloak Fiona turned around and saw the full gaze of the woman that would be her mother.... Well, her bug mother. She was Tracer Barrett, a bestial Metahuman just like Fiona that was covered in an exoskeleton. Every fiber of her being was coated in hairs that were either black, or yellow. She resembled a Honey-bee in appearance. Behind her was a large abdomen that had a fierce looking stinger at the very end, and transparent wings of a honeybee that were kept vertical. Tracer was also much larger than Fiona (Which was a feat since Fiona was already quite tall herself). Tracer walked up to Fiona, and put her hands on both of Fiona's cheeks.
"Yes, Mom?" Fiona said with an insectoid voice. "I... know to be careful out there. I'm going to be there and back."
"No... I'm sure you understand the risks... I just wanted to say how proud of you I am right now," Tracer spoke with all the all the sincerity that a mother could muster. "Going out there to search for someone, despite all the risks, is so noble of you...."
"With my abilities... I'm going to be the best option for searching for him." Fiona nodded her head. That person she was searching for was Harmon Rottlage. He went missing during the last week, and Fiona has elected to search for him alone. With her heightened smell, hearing, and vision, it'll be hard to Fiona to miss.
"Good... stay safe out there, and remember to choose who you're talking to carefully," Tracer said to Fiona. "Many people will try to hurt you for what you are... but, not everyone is out there to get you."
Fiona considered those words carefully, and then nodded her head.
"Okay, mother." Fiona answered. "Thank you."
With those passing words, Fiona turned around, and stepped out the Microcosm....
Oakdell Harbor, White Coast.
With a hop, Fiona made it out the sack in which the Microcosm was stored it. Archie's ability was quite amazing, it has the potential for limitless creativity... Something that Fiona herself wished that she had. However, she didn't have time to bother worrying about what power she wished she had, nor lament about being cursed with this inhuman form. She had to find Harmon... the first step was tracking his last location. Going off the text message he sent Archie, he was in Oakdell Harbor. Which was where she currently was.
A sigh escaped her lips as Fiona quickly adjusted her cloak so it covered her head. Before she stepped out of the alleyway, and into the street. She should be sticking to the shadows... but apart of her wanted to see the world outside the Microcosm. It was exciting....
... When she stepped out of the alleyway, several other people stepped in.
Having the insignia of the Pure tattooed on their shoulders.
It'd been a while since Rowan had been able to grab some more art materials. Ever since his last stencil piece, he'd kept his head down, recalling just how close he'd felt to getting snatched. Nobody would figure the ladder was his fault, he thought, though somehow he wondered just how much longer he could get away with 'borrowing' paint, cardboard and other supplies.
Luckily, it was quiet for now, though every step felt like it brought him under someone's eyes. At least the old man wasn't there to watch for him anymore. Or Miss Zhao, for that matter.
As he rounded yet another corner, he wound up treading on something.
It had been a long day for Geoff. At least, it felt like it had been. He'd had to spend far more time that he wanted to in the library. Admittedly, it wasn't like it was doing something as boring as homework (like he did that). He'd just gotten a bit distracted by one book on science, and then another, and hadn't really stopped.
His skin began to feel quite itchy as he walked out of the library and into the corridors. He was definitely due for a full submersion in some kind of water. Huffing slightly, he continued walking. Most people he passed had to move around him; it was kind of difficult not taking up much space when he had a tail that was longer than he was tall. But hey, it came in handy sometimes.
Scratching his arms slightly, Geoff stopped walking for just a moment. Shit. He was pretty sure he'd taken a wrong turn somewhere... Of course he had gotten lost. Great, and it wasn't like he knew the Academy well since he hadn't been there long. Ah well he might as well just retrace his steps..
And then he felt a foot planted on his tail, before whoever it belonged to jolted back and recoiled in surprise.
"Hey, watch were you're walking!" Geoff snapped, turning around to glare at whoever it was. What the fuck? It was hardly like it was unoticeable. And damn did it hurt when someone stood on it. "Oy, I know it looks weird, but it's hardly the most freaky thing around here." He rolled his eyes at the fact that the person, another guy it seemed, had recoiled back.
"Huh?" Rowan blinked for a moment at his serpentine victim. "Uh, what," he muttered, before turning to head back down towards the corridor.
Geoff raised an eyebrow as the person who had stepped on him walked away, flicking his tail out so that it caught Rowan's leg and tripped him over (at least that was what he was going for). "Oh, sorry, I wasn't looking where that was."
"Watch where you're swinging that-," Rowan grunted, only to be cut off as he stumbled over it yet again, this time narrowly avoiding cracking his head on the wall.
Smirking, Geoff tilted his head slightly. "Oh, I can't always control it," he shrugged. "It's almost like it hones in on assholes."
"Belongs to one," Rowan retorted, barely concealing his clenched palm. "And it'll get stepped on if it don't stop." It was, for all intents and purposes, an empty threat - he didn't want a visit from Agent Keegan, but something rubbed him the wrong way about this guy.
Geoff laughed slightly, not particularly bothered by the insult. Though he didn't particularly like being threatened (of course he'd asked for it, but that was not the point). "I'd like to see you try. You're welcome to... Others have before. Didn't end well." He stepped forward so he was closer to Rowan, and also blocking him from going in the direction he'd been walking in before. It was a clearly confrontational action without actually starting a fight.
Agitated, Rowan took a step forward to shove him aside, "Hven't you got some lakes or some shit to haunt? Leave me alone."
Geoff frowned, glaring somewhat at Rowan. "Fuck off, mate, I don't haunt anything." He shoved back against him, near enough knocking the scrawnier kid on his ass, along with his bag - which hit the ground with a heavy rattle. After doing this Geoff took a step towards Rowan so that he was standing over him, but did nothing else. That is, until that scrawny kid jabbed out a foot at the taller one's leg as he scrabbled to his feet. Not expecting this, Geoff almost got knocked over himself, but caught himself with his tail and went to kick Rowan on an instinctive response when....
... Interrupting their quarrel was a flash of electricity that flew over Geoff's shoulder, and hit the wall behind them. Which was enough to surprise them.
And it came from a confused Wendy Lucker, who had her hand put up in a "stop" gesture. Electricity was sparking off her finger tips as her eyes were wide in a surprise. Surprise that she suddenly shot a bolt of lightning at them, when she was merely going to shout at them to stop. Well, at least this way she got their attention better. This was odd for Wendy, since she usually stays out of this kind of stuff - but she recognized one of them, and knew that he was in Ms. Zhao's class. She wiped that look off her face, and put her hands to her side as she voice,
"You two need to stop," Wendy said. "Teachers are probably on their way now."
Geoff automatically jump to the side as electricity shot past his shoulder, hissing slightly. "Huh?" He turned to looked at Wendy in confusion. "What does it matter to you?"
"Because, I'm...." Wendy said, taking a step back. "I'm a student of this Academy, too, you know. I can't just stand by as two students beat each others faces in."
Ellen had only seen the aftermath of the fight, or at least the event that'd had the effect of breaking it up. She was wide eyed, though at least considerably less wide eyed than last week. The electricity had made her eyes burn, apparently she could see into the electromagnetic spectrum as well now. It was nice to know. So Wendy didn't just do paper. Could she replicate powers?
She was on the other side of the boys, her way blocked by the impromptu scuffle. Questioning Wendy would have to wait, she couldn't exactly shout it between the two fighters. Not that they were fighting anymore.
"I'd do what she says, she'd beat the shit out of both of you..."
"Oh really?" Geoff looked at Wendy with a raised eyebrow, appraising her. He doubted that she could beat the shit out of the scrawnier boy, nevermind him. Electrocute them? Yes. That wasn't particularly appealing.
Meanwhile, with the others already arguing with each other Rowan had just about pulled himself to his feet. The rattling of his bag's contents caught their earshot as he pulled it back on over his shoulder. "Just back off, alright? I didn't start this shit."
When Ellen walked up, Wendy was a bit surprised - worst of all was that Ellen said that Wendy would kick their ass. That caught her off guard. "What?! No-" She immediately said, before she cut herself off. She might as well roll with it. The bookworm caught herself, and then said, "Yeah, yeah, what she said." Arcs of electricity suddenly began to appear on her fingertips, and she willed it to go away. "Damn it," She hissed under her breath.
Geoff put up his hands in a kind of surrendering motion. "Look, I'll piss off, just don't shoot me with that electricity."
That earned a look from Rowan who, despite her help, didn't know what to make of her intervention or what her stake in this was. She looked familiar, but he wasn't sure from where.
Quickly adjusting her glasses, Wendy looked down Geoff. He was pretty willing to back off when faced against someone like Wendy... even though she was the least intimidating person here. Until she accidentally whipped out the lightning. Actually, she was glad that she did that in the first place now (Even though she was close to hitting one of them!). "Then get a move on already." She ordered Geoff, speaking in the best authorative voice she could.
Geoff rolled his eyes in response to Wendy. "Yeah, yeah, I'll get going." He probably wouldn't have normally backed down so easily but he really need to dunk himself in some water. With a shrug of his shoulders he turned on his heel, managing to narrowly avoid hitting everyone with his tail and stalked off.
Now, her attention was on the blonde haired boy that was funnily around her height. She was interested in him because he was in her class, along with the fact that he got into a fight. "So, uh, hi?" Wendy hesitantly said, "What was that about?"
Rowan shrugged as he tugged on the strap of his bag, "Snake tried to jump me, until your thing made him slither off."
"Oh, yeah..." Wendy thought about what Rowan said - there was a high chance he was lying through his teeth, but Wendy didn't bother probing into it. She merely looked Rowan in the eye, and shrug, "That...." She trailed off, "... Just happens."
Awkwardly clearing her throat, Wendy's eyes wandered down towards the bag he was carrying. She really wanted to know what he had in the bag - but, Wendy was smart enough to know not to ask right off the bat. "So, I'm Wendy from Ms. Zhao's class... I swear I've seen you in there."
A side-eye went towards Ellen, and she nodded in acknowledgement towards the girl.
At that point he finally clicked and realised why she seemed familiar. "Yeah, I'm in her classes."
"Oh! Nice!" Wendy said with surprising enthusiasm. "She... isn't the nicest, right? I kinda feel like she doesn't like me." She scratched the back of her neck, realizing that she really sounded pretty awkward right now. "Um..."
"You've got that right," Rowan said, bluntly. "I get the judgemental look from her, like she knows me." Same as the rest of them, he'd thought, tugging on his bag.
"I mean, yeah, she is a little condenscending, but I don't think she's that bad." Wendy said, putting her hands behind her back. She looked at the bag once again, and briefly wondered what was in the bag. She could probably check with her new ability... but....
"So, maybe we should talk somewhere else...? I'm sure someone called a teacher."
For a moment, he glanced over his shoulder, then shrugged. It wouldn't have done him any good if he got caught here and Wendy seemed to be alright. "I know a spot, I guess."
Setting off, there was a spot at the edge of the dorms that he liked to visit often; it gave him a little solitude away from where the teachers and other staff would be loitering around, keeping an eye on people.
"Yeah, thanks I guess," Rowan finally said in gratitude.
Luckily, at this time of day the dorms were fairly quiet - a lot of people were still out finishing their last lessons or stretching their legs elsewhere. Technically, this corner was a part of the dorms - but people seldom came here for whatever reason, probably because there wasn't anything of interest beyond a few chairs haphazardly dragged here by past students - along with a gap in the perimeter fence that lead out into the thick forest surrounding the place, on a trail loosely headed towards Eastgriffin.
Rowan, on his part, was happy to kick up his feet on a cardboard box and plant his ass down on one of the chairs. "I'm Rowan, I guess."
"Oh, nice to meet you, Rowan." Wendy cheerfully said as she steppped into Rowan's "special place." She was pretty familar with the Faircrest Woods, due to extensively exploring them in search of nice things to take pictures of. Her great memory was quite useful here. She didn't expect Rowan to pull anything... because he was probably worried about getting electrocuted (And Wendy's not pretty enough).
Rowan, on his part, was curious about her stake in things- if only becase most people seemed to have an angle. "Why'd you uh, flash off at the snake?" He asked, with an arched brow.
An awkward laugh escaped her lips. "... I totally did that on accident." Wendy honestly said. "I meant to just put my hand up." She followed it with more awkward laughter... It was pretty funny now that she thought about it.
"That's how it works?" he asked, before recalling his own accident.
"Yeah..." Wendy arced her hand up, and looked at it. She made a little bit of the electricity crackle off of it. "I haven't really figured this out yet...."
The proximity of her electrical field was felt by Rowan's own magnetic sensitivity, prompting him to wince a little in marked surprise. "I thought you were all paper, though? That's what Miss Zhao was talking about."
Immediately, Wendy put her fingers together - gently tapping them - as she thought about a reasonable response. Before she realized that she should probably just come out with it - since most people would figure it out. "... I'm a power replicator." She just came out and said. ".... And have you heard about what happened at the mall?"
He shrugged. "Uh, kinda? I don't really listen much, something about a bunch of people going crazy?"
"Well..." Wendy fiddled with her fingers a little bit. "I was rushed by this dude, and I accidentally copied his power... which is apparently electricity," Wendy started off. "I've been trying to figure out how to use it, because I can't switch back to my paper power until I do."
"Oh, right." Replicator. Once, he'd heard the old man ranting about 'freaks' who could take any powers they wanted. This was what he'd meant. "Ever tried, I dunno, rubbing up some paper? Maybe it's like you've gotta recharge with whatever you can."
"I tried everything," Wendy defeatedly said as she hung her head. "Touching paper is usually what does it, but-" Wendy threw her hands up in the air, trying to put them on the sides of her head out of stress, but she accidentally fired another bolt of electricity. A blue flash filled the room, as a stream of electricity went right towards Rowan.
Rowan flinched for half a second before the bolt made its impact - striking the air just a foot ahead of him and arcing around him in a spherical direction, scorching the brickwork behind him. In the process, his chair overturned and Rowan himself was flung to the floor.
"Woah, the.. the fuck?"
"Sh-shit!" Wendy stuttered as her heart started racing, and embarassment consumed her. Right when she meets this guy, she ends up almost electrocuting him. God damn it, Wendy. Wendy mentally scolded herself. "I am so s-sorry! I d-didn't mean to do that!" She quickly stuttered.
Grunting, Rowan brushed some of the gravel from his clothes and pushed himself to his feet. "It's fine, just..." he began, shakily, not too far from a cardiac arrest himself. He glanced over his shoulder to look for his chair, only to find it flung up high, one of the legs wedged in a gutter pipe a storey above them. "Oh... was that you, or me?"
"Uh...." Wendy trailed off as she was confused. "... I think it was me." She shamefully took the blame, even though she had little idea of whether or not she did it. It was already bad enough, she didn't want to pin this on Rowan.
"Someone might find it." he groaned.
"..... Hopefully," Wendy said. She was still a bit embarrassed.
"That's not what I meant."
"Oh, uhhh...." Wendy scratched the back of her neck, wondering what sort of topic she could come up with. She had just the subject! "... How long have you been at the Academy?"
"A few months," Rowan shrugged. He'd not exactly been keeping track.
Nailed it. Wendy thought to herself. "I've been here for three years, since I was fifteen... I'm from Stadium City." She realized that she was being a bit boring... Oh, no. The last thing she wanted was this conversation getting dull.
"Yeah? I guess I know Baybridge well enough - but I don't see what there is to do over here. Gets kinda boring."
"The Academy is pretty... boring. Once you get to know it," Wendy shrugged as she looked around. "There's just miles and miles of woods... which is why I like to go into town, Take pictures, and find stuff to draw."
"You draw?" Rowan asked, with genuine interest.
"Yeah, I do it all the time." Wendy scratched the back of her neck, trying to suppress the gushing about her arts. "I've always loved art - and any form of creativity for that matter."
"That's cool," Rowan remarked, his curiosity now piqued. "You've got an appreciation for art, then? What about, y'know, stencils and stuff? Where the city's your canvas?" It was, perhaps, a risky venture - but Rowan was legitimately interested in the notion of someone else with an appreciation for work like his.
A brief thought passed as Wendy wondered if she should be condonning spray painting of all art forms, but, truth be told; art is art. "... Yeeeah, I think stencil art is a great form of expression - some of it's crude - but you can find some really passionate "stencil artists" out there."
"Yeah?" Rowan sensed some of her hesitation, yet he also figured that it was just a matter of acquired taste. "There's good work out there, especially if you can see it. Murals especially."
Wendy's mouth opened like she was about to say something - but changed her mind.
"... I'd like to go out and see some," Wendy started off, grabbing her satchel tightly. "If you don't mind; that is."
For a moment, he moved to say something, before raising an eyebrow. "You sure? I know a place, it's a walk, though."
"Yeah, walking's fine with me," Wendy quickly answered.
Nodding, he gestured towards the perimeter fence and tugged at his bag. "Let's go," he said, pacing towards the fence, and Wendy followed behind him without a second thought. All she did was pull out a camera in case there were sights to see along the way.
If she was correct, they were heading towards Eastgriffin.
As she performed the operation, Livrelle looked closely at the other musculoskeletal system. She was already seeing into the alternate universe where this system looked how it was supposed to. Flawless. Something that the people around her could not see and it always worried them during an operation. They were left with thoughts of “What the heck is she doing?” and “Isn’t she supposed to not do that?” However, Livrelle knew exactly what she was doing and the amount of time she had to do it.
“Atraumatic suction tube.” she says, holding out her right hand for someone to give her the tool that moment.
“Wh-what. Wouldn’t tha-”
Livrelle cuts her off and averts her eyes, looking at the woman that had just spoken. “Waste my time? That’s not OK. Not OK at all. Give me the suction tube now.” Her words left her mouth quickly and wasted no time in getting to the point.
With that, the woman hands her the tool and she continues on with the process. Every single time they would question her methods and every single time they were left with great results. Great? No no. Not great. Perfection. And this was just a spine surgery operation. Not that it was any less important but it was far easier to do than the other operations that she was subjected to.
Livrelle had finished faster than usual and the spine was back to how it originally was before. Perfection. She just loved it. Throwing away the gloves which were covered in blood, she sighed. A slight headache arose as she took off her mask. Soon enough she had on a new pair of latex gloves on and her assistant came around.
“Ms. Alendier. The results were fantastic as always. Th-they're not even possible. It's as if nothing was ever wrong.” said the timid woman said with a smile.
“What? Of course they were. They always are.” her expression didn't change as she looks over at her assistant from the corner of her eye and continues walking. Alison smiles in agreement and doesn't say another word.
“I’m off for the rest of the day. Have Mr. Klark’s diagnostic tests by tomorrow. Please. Thank you.” her words are spaced out, as if she wasn’t used to using them at all. She knew of manners but she just always forgot to say them right away. With that, she went right past the woman with a slight nod as thanks. Oakdell Harbor, White Coast.
She was finally outside of the building and on the streets. Livrelle had on a lengthy gray trench coat that went past her upper body and nearly past her knees but not quite there. If you were to look at the meaningless details of the trench coat you could tell that it was in fact meant for men. The garments buttoned left over right instead of reverse or the fact that while women button theirs right over left or the fact that the left flap goes under the buttoned storm patch allowing the water should slide from the man’s right shoulder. However, pointless details are fruitless and have no reason to be addressed.
Her parents would have said differently with their “A lady must appear poise and proper. Not too proper though. Just enough innocence to have them wanting you but not so that they’ll be afraid of tainting you.” Half of the time she had no idea what she was talking about when she mentioned these things and the other half she just didn’t want to understand.
Beneath the trench coat was a simple black top that was just up to her elbows. The streets always seemed to be less busy when she just got out of an operation.
Why must they always question my methods? 9 seconds. I wasted 9 seconds speaking to that woman about how I was capable to do my job properly. She’s an amateur. A simple woman that doesn’t understand how my powers work so I mustn’t get angry. Walking in her raven black pants and in a pair of black Oxfords, her expression was irritated and bored at the same time.
Livrelle took out a cigarette and quickly a lighter followed. She light the cigarette before taking a nice long drag with her eyes nearly closed. It was becoming peaceful. The streets around her were tranquil for the time being and nothing mattered. She looked up at the sky as she walked down the street. Those moments when nothing around you mattered only lasted for 3 seconds tops. Looking back down and realizing that she was still in a shit town no matter how pretty the sky looked at 2 pm in the afternoon. The litter around her and the idiots as well.
Livrelle stepped out of the alleyway and took another drag before she lifted an eyebrow and looked at the hybrid which had many features that stood out. It was really a sight to behold. She had heard of hybrids but she never actually got to see one up close like this. The exoskeleton around the female was something that she found amazing, even the antennas.
"You. I've never seen anyone that looked like you. Grasshopper eyes? Along with antennas. You're abnormal..It's wonderful."
She spoke quickly and her expression only changes a bit, her eyes opening a bit wider. Livrelle then takes another drag and looks at the hybrid. These things always made her want to operate on them. Of course, she had common sense not to actually do it. Unless she had permission of course. But otherwise she just really wanted to get to know this hybrid.
"O-Oh?" Fiona promptly stuttered as she was approached by this strange woman. Well, not particularly strange - but tall as her, and Fiona's height. She looked up at the woman, and wondered what had attracted her attention to her... Other than the cloak she was wearing to hide her hideous form from the world. The words that she said weren't exactly uplifting - nor welcomed. They just made Fiona all the more aware that she was different.
"Ummm...." Fiona trailed off, her insectoid voice was becoming more apparent. "I... thanks?" She said at the wonderful comment - she didn't want to be rude. "I... I'm glad you aren't disgusted, or trying to attack me, at least."
“Hm? Your welcome.” She says to the girl, looking her up and down with curiosity.
“What. How old are you? Like 16?” Livrelle asked, lifting an eyebrow.
"Seven...." Fiona's voice faded as she looked off to the side for a second. "... I'm seventeen, so you aren't that far off." Fiona looked off to the streets, and saw that people were starting to stare at them. She could hear their voices mention the stranger in a cloak... and the weirdo talking to her. It made her uneasy. She focused on the woman, and could hear her very heartbeats, and smell her... metal scent. No, not metal. Fiona knows what blood smells like - almost like this woman was trying to cover it with some perfume. It made Fiona even more uneasy.
"Can we... can we go somewhere more private?" Fiona asked
Livrelle took a long drag before lowering it back down. She threw the cigarette onto the ground and crushed it. Livrelle then looked back up at the seventeen year old. She had probably made her feel nervous with the way the was but it didn't matter. Somewhere private? Sounded curious but honestly she didn't care as of now.
"I just got off work so I suppose." Responded Livrelle, taking a step forward. Her eyes averted over to a Pure that she say walking down the Alley. She then turned back to the girl.
Fiona heard something about the Pure, too, and fear overcame her, albeit briefly. It overcame any and all paranoia about this woman, and made her terrified about the Pure that are nearby. If they find her, they'll kill her. The Pure have no tolerance about the normal-looking Metahumans... they'll have less tolerance about her.
"Y-yeah... anywhere's fine." Fiona said.
Livrelle sighed, having forgotten that they would probably kill her if they saw how she appeared. This girl was walking bait. And here she was wanting to just explore the district that was around her job.
"Turn around. Lower your head just a bit but not too much because that's suspicious. Walk." Livrelle says, turning around smoothly and walking down the alley. Her white Lamborghini was parked nearby so they could just get in the car.
"My place, that alright? Unless you've got a place near here." She says to her, looking at the female from out of the corner of her eye.
"No, no, I don't have anything to do." Fiona quickly threw her head down, and kept quiet as she followed behind the woman.
"Good." Livrelle murmered, her car coming into view now. She took her keys out and unlocked the car, going over to the drivers side. Livrelle then unlocks the passenger side, expecting her to get in.
Fiona quickly hopped in without a word... what a nice car. She looked at the stranger - she didn't even know her name and she was getting in her car - but she had some confidence at least. Fiona could put up a fight if necessary.
“Livrelle Alendier. My name. And yours is?” she asks, only turning her head to her for a split seconds before beginning to drive.
Awkwardly, Fiona shifted her weight before facing the woman - now introduced as Livrelle.
"Fiona," Fiona answered.
Livrelle looked back over at her and nodded. She would have asked another somewhat pointless question but honestly, as of now, she didn't have any good ones in mind.
"I'm not good at conversations. Did you have somewhere that you were headed? I could take you if you want." Livrelle says, looking back at the front.
"Well... you see...." Fiona trailed off, unsure of whether or not she should be telling her. "I'm... looking for another Metahuman. A longtime friend of mine that went missing last week." She explained.
Livrelle looked over at her yet another time. Someone going missing? That must blow. The only people that ever went missing around her home town were felons and nobody actually cared about that.
“Alright. Any specific place you want to check?” She says.
"Ummm..." Fiona trailed off. "He was last time seen in Oakdell... Starrybanks? I don't know this city that well, but I swore I heard something about Starrybanks."
"Starrybanks? Not too far. Alright we'll head there."
McCready’s Irish Pub and Grill was not a place where one wanted to end up. It was just a place where, well, one ended up. A few dozen souls tended to pass through the rickety doors of the establishment on a daily basis. Most of them were just bored bar-hoppers, wanting the distinction of having visited every bar in Starrybank. Even those who came twice were just in need of a quiet dive bar to drown their sorrows in, it wasn’t long before they realized there were better choices than McCready’s. There were, however, those select few who frequented the bar. Maybe they especially liked the taste of Artyom’s greasy french fries. Perhaps they were under the impression that McCready’s was intentionally going after that niche crowd who likes dingy, quiet pubs. Or, if they were like Errol MacReid, they kept coming because the bartender was the closest thing he had to a friend.
“You know,” Said Artyom, the aforementioned bartender. “You should really start buying some alcohol.” Artyom, gracefully as ever, poured Errol his usual glass of Dr. Pepper and slid it across the thrice re-finished bar. Errol took a long drink and spoke.
“Why’s that?”
“Because I have better margins on the liquor.” Artyom said the same thing to him everyday. Though he hated the taste of the stuff, he might start buying some booze to shut the cheap bastard up. Errol took a look about. The air was filled with cigar smoke, courtesy of an old man who, on the daily, drank brandy at a booth in the corner while puffing away on as many cigars as he could before he had to leave. The walls were panelled wood, thickly lacquered over. The lighting was kept dim to keep the electricity bills low, and as such significantly reduced the visibility of the place.
“You should really kick that Scottish Brogue of yours.” Said Artyom. “It sounds less “Sexy foreign” and more “Your drunk uncle doing an offensive Irish accent.”
“Artyom, my friend.” Errol said. “You have lived here for twenty-aught year and yet, you sound so archetypically Russian that I can’t help but imagine you in a tracksuit.” He took another drink before speaking again. “And you know what? My accent is attractive. Granted, if that small forest you call a beard is any indication, you aren’t well versed in the ways of attractiveness.”
“Is that why there have been so many dates? Is that why you spend your nights in a dive bar that spends more money bribing health inspectors than it does on food?”
“Low blow, Artyom, low blow.” Errol sighed. “You know what, get me some liquor. Top shelf shit, something strong and dark. I need to look troubled, damnit.” Eroll watched as Artyom poured a glass of expensive looking whiskey. Eroll closed his eyes and reached out, brushing against Artyom’s mind. Make it free…
Artyom slid him the drink and paused for a second looking as though he had forgotten something. Then sudden realization dawned on him.
“You did that thing, didn’t you?” Artyom laughed bitterly. “You want some tips? On making friends and shit? Don’t mess with their minds, you crazy Scottish bastard!” Errol sighed and drained his glass with a grimace.
“Thanks for being my therapist, Artyom.”
“I’m not your therapist, I’m your bartender.”
“Is there a difference?” Artyom laughed at that, and Errol made an attempt to smile. It never quite reached his eyes.
"...So, Do we have any leads on our friend Missy?" Ray asked.
"Oh, nothin' yet, love," Megan said with her hands behind her head. "I was thinking we take a break."
"A break?" Ray asked. "With our enemies aware we're after them?"
"Yes, my point exactly," Megan answered. "Since they're on alert now, we can spare a day or two to let them ease up a little."
The group was walking on the streets of Oakdell Harbor. They were rather casually dressed, sans for Rush, who was still dressed like he was in his workshop. Wearing a black longcoat, goggles, and work boots (along with a blue shirt, and jeans under that). Most notably, the Nemesis was walking among them. Holding the massive umbrella that was keeping the rain from touching the group.
"At the same time, they could be looking to retaliate," Ray said.
"If they haven't went off the grid yet," Megan answered.
"Yeah, Missy threw things off for us... I'll have to-"
"Ray, sweetheart," Megan answered. "When we find her, let me do the talking."
Grumbling for a moment, Ray said, "Fine."
The Nemesis stopped for a moment, and everyone took notice because they were so engrossed in their conversation they stepped into the rain. Megan looked back up at Nemesis.
"Oh, what is it, Nemy?" Megan asked.
The Nemesis pointed across the street, at someone who was wearing a tattered cloak.
"Oh," Megan said. "That does look awfully suspicious, now doesn't it?"
"Yeah, but it's also not our problem," Ray callously said.
"But, I'm curious now," Megan said. "Can one of you lovely boys tail 'em for me?"
"No," Ray said.
The Nemesis shook his head.
"Possibly," Rush stated. "This person could be of use to us."
"Yeah, yeah, yeah," Megan said. "Think about it! Who else has reason to walk around in a big old cloak in the middle of summer? Another freakazoid like us!"
"...Freakazoid?" Ray asked.
"Yes... trust me on this; we're going to make a new friend at the end of this!"
Rori Aherne.
Oakdell Harbor, White Coast
Rori wasn't sure why they had ended up at Oakdell Harbor. It had seemed like a good idea in their mind; a relaxing walk along the harbour. Of course it wasn't quite working like that. It was busy. And Rori could feel people's stares and their whispers. It had been okay beforehand. Now they were quite obviously a bird-human freak. Not to mention the rain.
They'd sent a text to Max once they were in the area - just in case the RAVEN agent had some free time. Sadly Rori's cousin was pretty bogged down with work. Rori understood so they had resolved themselves to walked about alone until they found a restaurant that they found comfortable eating in.
It wasn't particularly fun for them but at least they were outside. Sighing softly they stopped outside a small food place and began to read over the menu.
Reed & Quentin Taylor.
Oakdell Harbor, White Coast
Boy, it was one hellof a view from here.
Even in the rain, over the years Reed had come to appreciate the Washington-based city. Granted, it was a contrast from the sun-kissed summers of California but all the same, Baybridge was as good as home. It'd grown on him.
From the canopied patio of the restaurant, which stood next to the edge of the harbour, one could see the lake from one end to the other. With the rainfall, it was enshrouded with a thin mist that reached as far as the bridge running across the center.
Yeah, this was a whole world different to Verthaven. On the outside, anyways.
Biting down a mouthful of the burger in his hand, Reed pushed back against the guardrail that he'd been leaning on and glanced over his shoulder to check on his brother, who'd already finished his.
"Good food here, eh?"
His brother seemed distracted, his gaze locked onto a small group of people across the street. Well, to be specific - one of the people in that group, the tallest one who held an umbrella overhead. It was strange, but Quentin got the feeling that he knew that one from somewhere.
"Quent?" Reed snapped his fingers again, finally drawing his attention.
"I said, food's good here," he repeated.
"Yeah, nice place." Quentin nodded in agreement, through his mind was somewhat wandered elsewhere. "Thanks, by the way."
"You're the one who paid, should be me thanking you," Reed remarked with a chuckle.
"Yeah, well... like I said, you've done good by me." Quentin countered, before returning the nod. "Anyway, I've gotta head back soon. Work's not done today."
"Already?" Reed sighed, before nodding in acceptance, "Alright, guess I'll see you tomorrow."
"See you," Quentin nodded, exchanging a hand shake with his brother, before turning and heading off round the corner, where his pickup was parked.
Now on his own, Reed leant back against the rail once more and took another bite out of his burger.
Haruka Takashiro, & Daphne "Holly" Hope.
Oakdell Harbor, White Coast_
Unlike the Sugarbush Tavern, 'The Lush' was situated further away from the dock, and the beach view wasn't as great as the former. Though it was much smaller and quieter, it was the kind of ambiance that Haruka preferred. After all the madness happening around Baybridge so far - two of which he happened to be at the scene of the incidents - he did deserve a good break.
Taking a sip of Negroni from his glass, he then turned to Daphne, who had a Manhattan. "...It has been quite a while since we last saw each other."
"Indeed," Daphne agreed, before she let out a sigh. It had been really hectic the past couple of weeks. "How are you feeling now? I know they already had you checked after the mall incident to make sure your Metahuman energy is stable and all..." She glanced at Haruka's bare neck.
"I'm alright." Haruka gave the agent a reassuring smile, but dropped it the next second. "I am sorry about my selfish request - to keep this quiet from Shizu and Akemi. I don't want to make them worry about me."
Daphne waved off his apology. "Ah, I can understand... but Shizuka is now one of the agents involved in the investigation of the Overload incidents. He will find out sooner or later."
"I know," Haruka replied and shaked the glass, where the rock ice clinked against the frosted surface sharply. "Still... just don't tell him, for the time being. I'm fine... Really."
"But don't drop your guard," Daphne cautioned him in a low voice. "We don't know who the next Metahuman target will be, or the location of the next attack."
Haruka nodded curtly, then decided to change the topic to shift the attention away from himself. "I have been wondering... Is it possible for someone to possess multiple powers? Or even more than one power-type abilities?"
"There are cases of Metahumans with more than one power type," Daphne began in her usual drawl, then taking a sip of her cocktail before continuing. "It is most common among power replicators - the degree of level can differ greatly from one replicator to another; for example, how much of the power they have copied from the original Metahuman, their knowledge or experience with the powers they have copied, and their command over the copied abilities stored within themselves."
Recalling the time Haruka saw how Wendy could turn into paper and also able to manipulate fire at the market incident, maybe she was a power replicator like what Holly had just explained. Wendy was a good girl - he felt that she wasn't the type who would abuse her powers to hurt others - but he couldn't be so sure about other people, especially when the anti-Meta tension was at all-time high now.
Seeing that Haruka had remained silent, Daphne went on, "Of course, that doesn't make them a particularly dangerous threat - they do have their own set of limitations and weaknesses, so they don't exactly have a lot of edge over single power-type Metahumans like us." Her kind face broke out a small smile. "The versatility of our powers is only limited by our own creativity - you should know that better than anyone else."
"...Yeah," was all Haruka said before he downed the rest of the liquor in the old-fashioned glass. "I really enjoyed chatting with you. Thank you for the trea---"
Daphne raised a hand to cut him off. "You don't need to be so polite with me - we're a family. It is also the least I can do, since you clearly don't want your brother to come fussing over you." She then raised her glass and finished her drink.
The mention of his overprotective twin made Haruka moody again. "...I wonder if Shizu is still busy with work even at this hour."
"A lot of things have happened around the city," Daphne looked away and said in a sober tone. "Currently Ms. Keagan is leading the investigation for the Overloading case. Shizuka once joked with me that he probably would have to camp in the HQ from now on."
Knowing Cindy (or at least, what Haruka could tell from the few times he actually had some sort of conversation with the African-American girl over the seven long years), he wasn't surprised that she was one of the few people who had a way to kick Shizuka out of his laziness.
"...I think tonight I will just stay over at your apartment, then go back to Roseview tomorrow morning."
"I don't mind." Daphne stood up and pass her keys to Haruka. "Can you go get my car first while I pay the bill?"
"Sure. Later, then." With that, Haruka headed out of the bar with the keys.
Just as the world was attempting to pick up the pieces of the last attack, it was time for another overload.
The death and destruction was taking a heavy toll on the community - and all it took was a little bit more to throw them over the edge. The armored member of the Pure took position on a rooftop of a hotel, and aimed down the sight of his sniper rifle, taking aim at Haruka as the young man walked towards a car.
He held his breath for a moment as he pulled the trigger, and a dart with a blue liquid came flying out of it.
The dart found its mark; the cold tip stabbed into Haruka's neck, and the blue liquid coursed through his body, charging up the Metahuman energy within him. He dropped the keys in surprise as the air around him quickly picked up speed, and the gentle night breeze soon became a full-fledged windstorm, with him in the center of the storm's 'eye'.
The palm trees swayed violently in the gale before the branches were snapped off the trunks, carried away together with the roof bits and signboards the raging gust had ripped from the buildings in the vicinity. However, it didn't end there - the openness of the coastal area provided limitless air to feed and expand the whirlwind of destruction... into a tornado-hurricane that was completely out of Haruka's control. The storm uprooted the trees, where they fell over onto the shops and roads, crushing nearby vehicles beneath their trunk. Then it went on to suck up the wreckage, smashing into anything that was in the way - including shocked passers-by, and some were unfortunate enough to be killed by flying wooden planks and furniture.
The roar of the wind drowned out the terrified screams beyond the calm eye zone, the safe haven where Haruka could only watch in stunned horror as his tempest continued to raze the dock area, reducing the once beautiful tourist district to rubble and chaos... But the super storm was showing no sign of slowing down - his despair was making the gale even stronger.
The hurricane slowly spread out towards the beach... towards the...
Daphne had received the telepathic warning from her green friends, but it was already too late - a typhoon had begun to rage outside the pub. People were yelling everywhere, pushing the others out of their way as they tried to scramble out of the place. The RAVEN knew better than to run out into the storm blindly - she ducked under one of the heavier, sturdier tables, pulling the gaping bartender along with her. She then whipped out her comm-piece and tried to contact the Headquarters, "Th--- Agent Hope. Overlo--- Harbor. Need hel---"
She frowned; there was too much static noise to get her call across clearly. She then turned to the bartender - shouting into his ear as loud as she could so that he could hear her above the roaring wind and deafening crashes from outside, "I'll try to - ask for help - but I need you - to watch my back - because I have - to concentrate."
The bartender nodded grimly and gave her a thumbs-up. Satisfied with his response, Daphne closed her eyes, her mind diving deeper into the chloropathic network she had with the living plants in Baybridge - to send out an SOS to anyone who hopefully might be in contact with the floras in the Headquarters building.
Something didn't feel right to Rori. Even when they were on the outskirts of the dock it soon became obvious exactly what was happening. A hurricane. There was no way this was natural - it couldn't start so quickly.
Trying not to panic Rori crouched down, flapping their still sore wings against the increasing winds to try and stop themselves from being dragged up into them as they pulled out their phone. If they could call Max... No signal. That was hardly ideal.
Moving slightly, in search for something to use to protect them from the hurricane, Rori kept themselves as calm as they could while people panicked around them. If they could get out from the winds they could call for help. That seemed like an impossible prospect, however. Maybe... just maybe they could do something if they got to the center. It was unlikely but it was worth a try. What was the worst that could happen? There was a chance they'd die either way.
Concentrating as much as they could Rori began the painful transformation into a bird.
While everyone else had split up, Lihua remained in the Sugarbush Tavern. She really needed to get back to Lijuan... but she could finish her drinks first. It would be shameful to return intoxicated. Ah. These were the thoughts and inner-conflicts of Lihua Zhao... deciding whether or not she should keep drinking. She merely sighed as she looked around, and got a good look at the people around her. The kind of people who were merely having some fun... she wished that she could feel the same way.
Raging winds quickly interrupted the peace she was just enjoying a few moments ago, and made the woman livid. Her heart started racing as the wind smashed the windows in. The bar quickly fell to panic, and Lihua started to feel the same way.
The first thing she did was look for cover... everyone was getting behind the bar. That was sufficient for her. Lihua grabbed her drink, before she got up with her hand in the air. She brought it down so hard that it caused the ground to shake, and then thick concrete spikes came out the ground and moved inwards to form a "flower" around Lihua.
The wind merely hit against the stone, but there was another problem.
Lijuan was still at the beach. That meant she was still in danger. Lihua quickly whipped out her phone, and went through her contacts until she found Meifeng - the best person to save Lijuan right now - and pressed call... but the wind interfered with the phone call, and that made Lihua nearly break it in her hand.
As stupid as it sounded, Lihua was going have to do this herself.
Because Lihua would rather die trying to save Lijuan then learn that she had died.
The light rain drizzle was replaced with raging wind as the umbrella the Nemesis was holding was utterly blown out of his hand.
"Oh?!" Megan said as she grounded herself and looked behind her. Suddenly, she was smack dab in the middle of a hurricane. "Was this on the weather, lads?"
Ray slammed both of his fists together, and looked at Megan, "No," Ray said. "But, I have a feeling that someone caused this."
"Possibly. The Hands of Science?" Rush asked, before...
"Actually, think we should get the hell out of this before we start throwing around conspiracy theories," Ray was quick to bark.
"Agreed," Rush said.
"Maybe help just a... little?" Megan said, putting her fingers together as closely as possible.
Shaking his head, Ray knew that it would be a waste of time to argue with Megan. "Fine, let's just go!"
The four ran as far away from the growing tornado as possible.
"Look, girl, I don't think you're old enough-"
"I am," Missy said as she casually sat on the bar stool at a beach side bar. It was a Hawaiian bar, manned by a Hawaiian man. He was drying off some cups as he gave Missy a skeptical look. Well, anyone with sense would since she's wearing a white hoodie, with jean shorts, and kept her surgical mask on. She didn't exactly look normal. She reached into her hoodie, and pulled out a wallet, reaching inside, she grabbed an ID. It was made by a contact of Megan... and it was mostly accurate. It should say she's born in June, lived in Minnesota, and, most importantly, old enough to drink.
The man looked at it, and merely shrugged. "Minnesota, huh? That's quite a ways away."
"I'm visiting with some friends," Missy said as she looked away.
"Oh? Where are they, huh?" the bartender asked.
Silent for a moment, Missy replied with a quick,
"...We're having a bit of a rough patch," Missy said, as the bartender finally put her Hawaiian drink on the counter, and Missy started drinking it... even though it did nothing to her. She just wanted a taste.
"Oh, what kind?"
"Don't want to talk about it," Missy immediately said... she should get back to them and apologize. She had ruined everything for them... and she was certain they were looking for her.
Her train of thought was interrupted when a sudden scream heralded wind changes. Missy immediately dropped her drink when she was reminded of a previous event. That city. Her heart started racing as she looked up at the growing destruction, having to ground herself so she wouldn't fall over.
Missy looked to the left, and there was a redhaired tough-girl trying to get away from the chaos when she was suddenly crushed by a stray rock. Her screams came to an abrupt end as all that was left was blood flowing from all directions. Missy shook her head. Her name was Reyna Baker, but Missy will never know that.
That wasn't the first time she'd seen that.
She needs to quickly get to safety... but something was telling her it wouldn't be simple.
Reed had only barely finished up his meal when the weather first started to change abruptly. It wasn't until he turned and saw the immense storm forming over the leg, sweeping clouds of dust from the beach and forming into a vortex.
Glass cracked and shattered as the restaurant windows were bombarded with debris. Reed realized in an instant just how shitty things were going and how people were going to get caught up. Bursting into the restaurant, he yelled, "Everyone, get under something solid! Stay away from the windows!" before bolting in a sprint towards the beach
There were still people there, families, even - and Reed wasn't about to just sit back and watch them die. If anyone had a shot at coming out, it was him - and it was his duty to get people out.
Raising a hand over his head to shield himself from the dust clouds, Reed kept calling at the top of his voice, looking for anyone else still trapped.
In the distance he could make out what he thought to be a little girl, with a collar around her neck...
While Meifeng and Cindy were heading towards Prince Ed-Field, the group's earpiece began to loudly buzz,
"Agents! We have a problem in Oakdell Harbor, another suspected overload incident, get there immediately!"
"Shit," Meifeng said as she looked at Cindy. "We literally just left there, how the hell did it jump off so fast?" She was honestly confused.
"If it's another overload, we need to get there, pronto."
They both nodded at each other, before they both drove off back towards Oakdell, after Cindy turned the sirens on in her car.
Fortunately, since the entire group wasn't that far off from Oakdell. All they had to do was turn back around, and speed around the traffic desperately heading away from it. However, Cindy's vehicle came to a slowed stop.
"Ho-ly... shit..." Cindy said as she emerged from the vehicle in full view of the tornado that was taking place, and utterly destroying Oakdell Harbor. She pressed her earpiece, and all she heard was static. "Sh-shit," Cindy hissed. "Comms are down... I think we should take this one carefully - because backup ain't gonna come easily."
"Heh... just makes it a little more challenging... no biggie..." Meifeng confidently said... before she stopped. "...But where the hell do we even start?"
Just then, a blue FZ-09 skidded to an abrupt halt right behind the girls' car; the tinted helmet visor was pushed up to reveal the narrowing eyes of Shizuka. He then got down the bike and pulled off the helmet, striding up next to Cindy.
"...They really got us this time - overloading a weather manipulator near the fucking ocean - and it's going to be hell trying to clean up all this shit later."
"We need to find out who's overloading, and take them out..." Meifeng groaned as she watched the destruction. "There's going to be a lot of bodies if we don't..."
Shizuka wasn't listening - his eyes were still fixated on the growing cyclone. Something was telling him that whoever had overloaded this time was someone he knew...
Only one way to find out.
Ignoring the bad chill crawling across his skin, he sprinted into the storm.
The Pure sniper had done his job, he decided to quickly make his get away...
He quickly turned around and ran for the door. He quickly ran down the flight of stairs, and hauled ass. There was a total windstorm outside, so he had to be quick. He didn't know that this would happen, but he had to clear the scene quickly. People were also trying to escape through the flight of stairs, and the armored member of the Pure shoved them aside as he made his escape. Once he was on the second floor, there were just too many people (this escape was getting messy enough with so many witnesses).
Turning out the nearest door, the armored member of the Pure ran through an open hotel room, and hopped off the balcony onto a nearby rooftop, where he landed with a roll.
He kept running.
Before the group could spring into action, Cindy caught sight of a man in armor jumping out of a hotel room window, and running it from there.
She pointed at him.
"Yo, that doesn't look right, does it?" Cindy said.
"A man running around in armor in the middle of a storm?" Meifeng said as she put her hand on her jawline. "I feel like we found our guy."
"Just go after him," Cindy said, nodding her head. "I'll handle things here."
"You're the DOVE," Meifeng said with a nod as she ran off after the man. She wished she could call it in, but she's going to be winging it from here.
Cindy merely watched Meifeng run off. "...Yeah, I'm the DOVE."
There was much work that had to be done here. First thing's first; a shield is in order. There were tons of broken glass, so Cindy at least had something to start with. She quickly gathered the glass into four octagon shaped pieces of glass. She had enough glass to make a good shield in case anything went wrong.
Time to get to work.
Throughout the nightmare storm, Missy was gradually moving her way towards the "eye" that she precieved. All she had to do was look up...
That was easier said than done. Every time she looked up, dust or some other stuff of debris would fly up into her eye. She grunted as she had to put her arm up over her face as she growled. Whoever was responsible for this was pissing her off. She was going to take that fucker out soon as possible.
Despite that, she kept moving closer and closer to the source... and saw this beautiful beach get destroyed. It would be years before it's looking pristine again. Missy just hated senseless destruction like this, which was why she's going to be the one that would bring an end to this. The hard way. Seemingly the only way she knew how.
Getting through to the heart of the storm was a challenge, but Missy did it.
She was standing in the one spot that was clear of the windstorm, and there was only one other person here. She saw a black-haired Asian male floating slightly up into the air, and his hands were clutching the side of his head. Missy looked off to the side for a moment.
"...This isn't anything personal," Missy said to him. "I don't know if this is on purpose or not... but I have to bring an end to this."
Haruka looked down to see a queer figure in a hoodie and shorts, the face covered by a surgical mask. He tried to speak, but his lips were trembling badly from the increasing coldness he was feeling from the windstorm. He then wrapped his arms around his shivering frame. Whoever this person was, she was right - since he couldn't do it, then someone else would have to end this.
To stop his uncontrollable tornado from destroying more land, killing more people... and reaching the sea.
A spear made out of bone erupted from Missy's palm that was the same length as her arm. It was coated in blood and flesh, a horrid sight. But Missy didn't think any of it. She pulled her arm back, and charged towards Haruka with murderous intent...
Haruka inhaled sharply with shock at the sight of the bloodied spear, but he then closed his eyes. If the only way to stop this tempest of destruction was to kill him, then so be it...
...But, once she got a good look at his face, she stopped.
"Y-you..." Missy groaned to herself. "...You l-look fa-familiar..."
She trailed off, bringing herself to a stop.
Haruka opened his eyes, staring at the masked girl with confusion. Before he could probe her further about her strange words, he was distracted again by another voice - this time a male one, and it sounded extremely familiar to him, "---The hell you think you're doing to my brother?"
Right when Missy was addressed, she turned around and looked over her shoulder. It was a RAVEN, she could tell from the armor... but, his hair. There was no mistake. Missy quickly retracted the bone spear, and it disappeared into her hand. Her regenerative factor quickly went to work and it wasn't long until there wasn't even a trace. She didn't say anything to him, she just couldn't risk it.
Shizuka glowered at Missy, his stony eyes traveled from her suspicious mask to the surprised look on his twin's pale face. Before anyone could react, he stepped forward and grabbed onto Haruka, expanding his intangibility power to his brother; Haruka's body shuddered, and he could feel the telekinetic link the storm had with him to use him to feed the tornado with more air was suddenly cut off.
Haruka then fell down onto the ground; he felt really tired and his consciousness was slipping, but there was still one more thing he had to do before passing out.
Even though the whirlwind had stopped growing, it still continued to spin and suck up the wreckage into its vortex. Raising a shaky hand into the air, he poured whatever energy he had left to will the tornado to ease up.
The speed of the wind gradually slowed down; flying debris rained down onto the ground around the three. Finally the deadly cyclone was all gone but leaving the gentle night breeze, before Haruka blacked out from exhaustion.
Looked like someone else had taken care of this. Missy was astonished that the situation ended so easily... and here she was, about to put that spear square through his skull. She stared at her palm for a second, and wondered.
What am I becoming?
She shook her head, and quickly decided to clear the scene. Last thing she wanted to do was get picked up by RAVEN. Missy threw her hoodie back up, and hopped away, quickly making her way to the rooftops, and ultimately ending up out of sight.
Shizuka had completely ignored the mysterious hoodie girl - his attention was only on his unconscious twin, who had always been (and would always be) his utmost priority. He frowned at the emptied dart still stuck on Haruka's neck, but he didn't pull it out and simply left it there. As he picked up his brother in his arms, a rustling sound not far from him made him turned his head. He raised an eyebrow at the sight of the slim figure of Daphne emerging from the wreck with a disheveled bartender. Both were seemingly unhurt - they only had a few scratches, nothing serious.
"Shizuka!" the chloropathic agent called out to the fellow RAVEN. "Thank goodness!"
"Holly," Shizuka greeted his senior in a deadpan tone. "...I'll leave the rest to you while I get Haru to the hospital ASAP."
"Understood," Daphne replied with a curt nod, watching the departing twins with suppressed worry. After a moment, she pressed her comm-piece.
"To all agents: the overloaded victim has been secured..."
The Pure sniper was running away, quickly taking the fire escape down to the streets.
However, Meifeng was hot in pursuit, riding a wave. She was trying to catch him off guard before he got away (or the situation would escalate).
At the same time, Quentin pulled forward in front of the extremist's path in his pickup, having been hot on their tail since the call went out over the radio on his dash.
The Pure sniper came to a complete stop, and quickly reached for his sidearm - a Smith & Wesson 40 - and tried to run around the vehicle. His intention was not to kill the man unless he repeatedly got in his way. He didn't even waste time trying to get a good look at him.
It was a perfect opportunity for Meifeng to get to get the drop off him. She hopped off her water spout, absorbing the water into her pocket dimension, before landing with a roll. Meifeng shot the water out at his feet, and froze it, and made the Pure sniper slip, and nearly broke his neck when he hit the ground.
Quentin practically jumped out of the pickup, sidearm in hand as the sniper hit the frozen gravel. "Drop it!" he yelled, well aware of the S&W in his clasp.
The Sniper was about to aim for his gun, when he felt the Meifeng's pistol press against the back of his skull.
"Yeah, I'd do as he says."
With no other option, the Pure sniper tossed the gun away.
"Hands behind your head, don't move an inch. You're coming in for questioning." Meifeng said, as she looked at the ensignia on his shoulder... It was the fist of the Pure. Which meant her armored friend here was definitely with the Pure. If walking around with guns wasn't enough to bag him. "Quent, mind cuffing him?"
"Got it," he nodded, quickly slipping a hand beneath his jacket and withdrawing a pair of cuffs from his concealed duty belt. Wasting no time, he grasped the extremist by the wrist, slapped one of the cuffs on, then wrenched the other wrist around and clasped the other cuff on it.
Nodding her head, Meifeng looked up at the sky and noticed that the weather was starting to clear. She smiled as Shizuka's message finally reached her. "Heh, good work Shizuka." Meifeng spoke into the comms.
But, enough of that, she had to get this guy to a RAVEN vehicle, and into an interrogation cell. "This is Agent Rogue Wave, me and Agent Counterpoint have apprehended a member of the Pure suspected in the overloads. Taking him to HQ now."
Meifeng looked at Quentin, and said,
"Let's get him out of here."
"Meet you at the interrogation," he nodded.
The monstrous Nemesis was utterly undettered by the windstorm. He was so heavy that he was effectively grounded. He slowly moved over to a car that was overturned (with an unfortunate woman with her foot trapped underneath it), and lifted it up so high the car was above even his head.
Megan quickly ran up, and pulled the woman to safety, before the Nemesis dropped the car. Going to help anyone else the brute could find. Which left Megan with the woman who's leg was literally crushed. She was screaming in pain, and Megan looked down.
"Ouch," Megan said as she looked at her. "You're not walking on that for awhile."
She needed to get this woman to safety!
"Dexter!" Megan called, and her red haired assistant came running up. She grabbed onto the woman's shoulders. "Help me get this woman to safety!"
"Affirmative." Dexter said as he lifted the woman lower body. "Wait. Megan. Your strength. Clearly superior."
"Just help me, Dexter!" Megan said as she lifted the woman up with the help of Rush, and went towards some paramedics.
Ray, meanwhile, was dealing with the brunt of the windstorm. Cars were being sent flying, and Ray was the man for the job. He was running down the street, and conveniently noticed a car flying right towards him. He came to a skidding stop, and cocked his fist back, and threw the punch that summoned a dark-blue, transparent, copy of his fist. That punched the vehicle away, and the runaway car flew into a storefront.
Right after that, there was a bus that was skidding towards a group of people that were pinned between a wall (apparently helping a wounded member of their group). He had to act fast. He shot both of his hands out, and the same giant telekinetic copies of his hands appeared and stopped the moving bus.
"This must be one hell of a windstorm..." Ray groaned to himself as he closed the distance until he was behind the bus with them. It was easier to focus this way. However, the bus didn't stop. Which meant Ray was going have to put more effort into this one. He took a step forward, and several smaller hands appeared. He looked over his shoulder at the injured group. "The hell are you waiting for?! Get out of here!"
However, the Nemesis walked up to the bus, and started pushing as hard as he could. Which was enough strength to bring the bus to a stop. Which made Ray sigh in relief as the family left. Ray flew up over the bus, while the Nemesis scrolled around.
The group met up again in an intersection while the storm was dying down.
"Great, great, great!" Megan cheerfully said. "We all did our part!"
Ray merely shrugged.
"Can we get out of here now?" Ray asked. "I don't think we want to be around when RAVEN, DOVE, and whoever the hell else swarms the area." He dusted off his gloves.
"Sure, sur-" Megan said.
"Wait!" Missy dropped in, and landing on a vehicle before them.
"Oh, dropping in are you, Missy?" Megan teasingly said... hoping to break the tension between Ray and Missy because she can just see the look on his face.
"I... came back to apologize," Missy hung her head in shame.
"And rejoin the Megan company?!" Megan cheerfully said.
She tilted her head off to the side.
"...Yes." Missy said. "And there's a few things I have to say."
"...How about we say them later?" Ray said, throwing a thumb over his shoulder at the approaching sirens. "The last thing we want to be is spotted by the cops."
"'Kay, let's move." Megan said as the group left.
...The Nemesis was disappointed that he lost his umbrella.
The petite blonde had been on the other side of town when the storm had erupted, it had been an emergency warning on the news, though she had received a message on her wrist computer before even the journos had. That alone almost guaranteed that it was a metahuman, and considering the scale of the storm it was either another disaster level meta, or another of the mysterious cases of metahuman overload. It had taken her longer than she would have liked to reach the area, and by the time she had it was becoming clear that the immediate danger of the storm was now gone.
She walked past a bus that was on its roof, no natural storm could have done that, not here in Baybridge. Another car was halfway into a storefront, the shop manager would doubtless be unhappy and demand RAVEN or DOVE pay for the damage. The casual observer would have been surprised to see the agent simply disappear mid step, and reappear a hundred feet down the street, as though her legs were at one and the same time both one hundred feet long and normal sized.
There were survivors here, yet apparently no one buried underneath the damaged and scattered vehicles. It looked like some enormous child had grown tired of his toys and simply strewn them about before moving on to the next entertainment. Most of the people she saw looked stunned, white faced, often marred by dust or blood, but alive, for a certain given of alive. They would be in shock. They lived in a world where gods masqueraded in mortal flesh, but never here, never to them. The catastrophe at the mall had been awful, but no one had ever thought they could be caught up in such a disaster themselves.
Metahumans were hard to hate when it was just the girl who lived next door, your child’s best friend, the kindly old man who ran the local grocery store. That reversed when you remembered what they were. The girl next door seemed a lot less innocent when she could turn you inside out, your child’s best friend a danger when they could produce foot long claws from their wrists. The kindly old man who used his telekinesis to reach the high shelves could just as easily use it to hurl knives.
Just witnessing the destruction caused by one metahuman was enough to turn trust to distrust, caution to fear, and even love to hate. Alice didn’t blame them. She terrified herself sometimes, and some metahumans terrified her. The Beast had brought an entire city to its knees, the Devil had threatened an entire planet, and all because of the strange green energy that flowed through them. The name Devil had been appropriate, since then things had only gotten worse, metahuman hate groups were gaining in influence, and there were political factions that believed RAVEN and DOVE needed to be replaced with something harsher.
Sometimes she wondered whether Lucifer himself had risen in that form to wreak destruction upon man. She had faith, but had never been the kind to truly think angels and demons walked among them. She believed that human beings were often guided by her God, but with all the evil things that she was witnessing, and others were suffering… it felt like God was losing.
She needed to find a superior. The rescue effort would have to be co-ordinated, she only hoped they didn’t run into anyone who believed the human race would be better off without metahumans in it…
Ellen Nile
The school girl stared at the TV screen in dismay. A clip was replayed of a bus being flipped over. Howling winds were tearing at people’s clothes, and an umbrella was torn past, somehow humorous in a scene that otherwise was complete carnage. The sound of the News Anchor’s voice cut back in over the sounds of destruction.
“More carnage in Baybridge today as a meta-generated storm hurled vehicles and people through the air. Number of casualties is still unknown, as well as the identity at the centre of this terrible tragedy.”
The man somehow contrived to say ‘attack’ while at the same time making no mention of it whatsoever. That’s what people would be thinking. And the news footage was carefully edited, it seemed to show little of the efforts to save people who had been injured, there was no show of the metahumans who had helped, or at least tried to.
Ellen knew the footage had been edited because her laptop was also open on the bed beside her, a very similar video clip was playing, shot from a different angle. The low quality of the footage and the shaking camera suggested it had been taken by a phone. It showed the same bus hurled through the air, then scraping along the ground at speed until it was slowed by two shadowy hands. Then an enormous figure stepped up and halted the onrushing doom.
Metahumans, helping.
The phone on the bed buzzed. Mom.
“Ellen are you ok!?”
“Yeah mom, I’m fine, I was at the Academy.”
“Thank God! I was so worried… I saw the news…
“Mom…”
Ellen rather unsuccessfully attempted to insert a word in edgeways.
“They said lots of people had been hurt… I just didn’t…”
“Mom!”
She resorted to hammering it in with some verbal force.
“I’m ok! I wasn’t anywhere near the storm, anyway, I think they’d need a nuke to get in here anyway.”
Her mother sounded like she was at least calming down a little, “I was so worried about you. You should have tagged yourself as safe, Facebook has already got something for Baybridge.”
“I’m sorry mom, I was gaming, I just found out about it now too, I thought it was just a thunder storm or something.”
This was true, until it had grown worse, and the winds had reached far enough to rattle even her windows. She’d dropped her game and gone to look, then opened up her laptop to have a look at the latest news and…
Another meta losing control? Another Devil? No one seemed to know, and there didn’t seem to have been time for an official DOVE or NEST announcement. Rumour was rife on the internet about what could be happening, but no one seemed to definitively know, at least not yet.
She clicked into her emails, empty. She must have tried to get in touch with Agent Keagan four or five times. Each time she had either received no response, or a simple out of office reply. She’d been ignored.
It took her a moment to cross to the chest of drawers and unearth the vial, it glowed faintly in the dark room. She sat back on the bed and placed it carefully before her, crossing her legs. There had been a small piece of paper with the glass tube, and she clutched it now. The numbers were distorted by the creases of the crumpled phone number. She rubbed her thumb over the digits, then looked towards the one thing that could help.
The metahumans at the centre of everything that had happened over the last few days hadn’t been able to control their abilities, like her. The Academy could deal with her abilities, but she would possibly never be able to leave. She could never have a proper relationship with someone, for fear that she might develop an ability that might kill. And if a lynch mob came for her, or the Pure, she may not even have an ability that she could use to defend herself. It made her feel horribly powerless.
Rowan led them on a thin path through the forest, their route accompanied by the occasional bit of discarded trash, beer cans and used condoms. Wendy followed behind, occasionally stopping to take pictures. Her feet were starting to hurt, but she really wanted to see what Rowan had to offer.
Eventually, as the two approached what at first seemed to be a clearing in the forest, a building could be made out in the near distance. "Almost there," Rowan muttered, speeding up to a brisk pace as they'd finally got through the thickest of the woods. Ahead of them sat the remains of the Eastgriffin Community Resort, a decaying, fenced-off ruin that had sat there, practically untouched by larger society for well over a decade.
Whilst nature had already begun to reclaim the place, it was definitely clear that people had left their mark here - the road leading back into town could still be made out nearby, albeit it had since become weathered by the elements, cracked and coated in a layer of weeds trying to push through to the surface whilst whoever owned the land had put up some perimeter fencing to deter intruders.
Pacing up to the grid-shaped fence, Rowan glanced over his shoulder at Wendy, then shifted his focus back towards the fence. "Uh, should've asked - any good at climbing?"
Wendy gulped. She really wished that she had her paper powers right about now, she could have just went right through this like it was nothing. Looks like she's going have to do this the old fashion way.
"Umm...." Wendy walked up to the fence, and looked back at Rowan as she reached for the fence. "Yeah, I think I can mana-"
When she made contact with the fence, she transmitted electricity into it and it immediately began crackling. Wendy quickly retracted, surprised as ever, and looked back at Rowan.
"... I think you should go first."
Shrugging, he tugged his bag from his shoulder and, after a moment of contemplation, tossed it over the fence. Then, with that done, he glanced back towards Wendy one last time, then reached up to grab the first hand-hold in the fence, then the other. It rattled as he pulled himself up and he could feel the thin metal digging into his palms, but all the same he kept on climbing until he hit the half-way point at the top. With his legs thrown over the other side, he outstretched a palm for Wendy to grasp. "Come on, I'll pull you up with me."
That made Wendy a bit worried.
"... Aren't you afraid I'll shock you?"
"Uh... I'll probably be fine."
Wendy hoped that the worse case scenario would not occur - because there were no ambulances nearby.
Taking a deep inhale, Wendy grounded herself a little bit in preparation, and hopped up into the air and grabbed onto Rowan's hand. Thankfully, she didn't electrocute him. She grabbed onto the fence, and made sure that she wouldn't fall and drag both of them down.
With a slight grunt, he tightened his grasp and pulled her up as much as he could, assisting her in their unsteady ascent of the fence. Eventually, both of them had made it over and dropped to the ground on the other side, leaving the fence to rattle in the absence of any weight bearing down upon it. Rubbing his palms, Rowan grabbed his bag, then turned his attention towards one of the larger buildings in the resort - what had once been the Roseview Hotel. Even from here, one could make out where visitors had made their mark with graffiti scrawled across the lower walls along with signs of physical vandalism.
Landing on her feet, Wendy was glad that she didn't electrocute Rowan. She dusted herself off, as Rowan pointed her towards the hotel. Interesting... she's been to this place a few times, but never really paid attention to the graffiti (That was always she ignored). Though, this whole place always had a strange aura around it - like something awful gone on here. She's heard the rumors about the massacre that took place here almost ten years ago. No one is even sure of who attacked this place. Speculation lead to the Changeling Unit, but that's not even one-hundred percent.
Setting off, Rowan beckoned for her to follow - heading over towards the hotel. Even now, the place gave him a strange sense of mystery, yet at the same time it was comforting. Seldom did other people visit here and most were just explorers, or people looking to leave their mark. The first time he'd found the place, he felt uneasy but now... it was peaceful, really.
Circling around, he led Wendy towards the spa connected to the back of the hotel. Once, hundreds of people would've visited daily to relax and enjoy themselves inside. Now? As they approached, it became clear that any semblance of luxury had since been lost; one of the walls looked to have been collapsed, probably from the attack all those years ago, with glass shards and fragments still dotted all over the exterior. Windows that were shattered or otherwise non-existent were also pretty commonplace and as Rowan stepped in through the gaping hole where the wall had collapsed, he paid particularly special attention towards watching where he stepped, both to avoid getting shards of glass stuck in his shoes and to avoid injuring himself where the floor tiles had been destroyed.
Finding themselves in the atrium, the two came across one of the spa's chief attractions - a large swimming pool that ran from one end of the great complex to the other. Contrary to what it'd once been like, the pool had long been drained, rubble and discarded deckchairs scattered all over the place.
"Huh?" Wendy said as she poked her head inside. The dust and debris of this abandoned building messed her lungs a little bit - but this ain't her first trek inside an abandoned building. This was only as far as she made it inside this one. There was a pool, and Wendy had a feeling this was what Rowan wanted to show her.
Approaching the edge of the pool, Rowan gestured towards the inner walls. What had once been a calm, peaceful blue mosaic was now a collection of grand pieces from different artists over the last decade. From simple tags, to sarcastic remarks scrawled in paint, to stencil pieces, to great murals which spanned from end-to-end, they all sat here, on display.
"This is it," Rowan remarked in partial admiration for some of the greater pieces. Some might've called it disrespectful to paint over the ruin of a place left for the dead, yet he saw it as just another monument.
Following behind him, Wendy peaked over his shoulder at the art
"Oh?" Wendy said as she looked at it. It was a variety of different remarks, and art pieces... it was interesting. Truly what it means to be an artist. It wasn't being good, it was all about expressing yourself... which Rowan clearly knew. "This is... true artistic expression." Wendy told him.
"Oh, mind if I snap a picture?"
Hesitating for a moment, it occurred to Rowan that if she'd wanted to cause him trouble, she'd probably have done it already. "Sure," he said.
"I'll have to hop down to get a good picture of it..." Wendy trailed off as she knelt down to the edge of the pull. It wasn't that big of a drop - nothing that she hasn't taken before - so she simply just hopped into the empty pool. She held her camera tightly with both hands as she walked up to the wall of graffiti.
One particular mural was a piece displaying the evolutionary phases of man, beginning with a slouching chimpanzee and running all the way up to a tall human with a sphere. Yet after that came another figure, identical to the previous human albeit instead of a sphere they wielded a ball of light in their palms and held a glowing aura. Clearly a statement, though funnily enough, someone else had captioned "Stop following me!" over the last figure in that piece.
So much style.... so much passion. Wendy raised her camera up into the air, aiming for the graffiti, and the button. A bright flash appeared as Wendy took a picture of it. Looking at the backscreen, Wendy realized she took a great picture of it, and grinned a little.
Meanwhile, Rowan had something else in mind. The pool was a centerpiece here, where anyone who wanted to leave their mark could do so - and now it was his turn. Taking care to avoid ruining Wendy's view, he dropped down behind her and searched for an empty spot that hadn't been claimed just yet and found one in the corner, near a pile of rubble. Unslinging his bag, he knelt down and pulled out a stencil template, then a can of paint and glanced over his shoulder towards Wendy. "You've got photos, I've got this."
Wendy looked at the can of spray paint and nodded her head as a silent way of saying "go ahead."
With plenty of time to kill, he set to work on his little stencil piece; which slowly began to paint a picture as he switched from can to can, template to template, before finally unveiling an end result: an overweight neanderthalic thug screaming and chest-pounding with the words "Pure" crudely scrawled on their shirt, whilst a hooded figure with a magnet stood behind them, pulling all the loose change out of their pocket. Others might not have got the idea, but for Rowan the symbolism was clear - and this piece and given him an opportunity to see just how it'd turn out when those same 'Pure' folks saw it. Least to say, it'd be entertaining to watch.
Heh," Wendy said with a grin. She took a quick snapshot of the graffiti. It's pretty crude, but art's art. At least it isn't a dick. It had some pretty great symbolism. This would go on her Instagram if it wasn't such a bad idea (For reference, putting Anti-Metahuman politics on any form of social media is a great way to get attention put on you).
"There's more where that came from," Rowan remarked.
"Okay," Wendy nodded her head. "Impress me."
Shrugging, Rowan wandered over towards ine of the mosaic tiled walls, where yet another collection of tags and marks couls be found. Among them was a metallic-stylised tag, "Magnet", in red and white. It was anyone's guess as to who it was. "Every writer has a mark, y'know?"
"Nice," Wendy looked at the magnet... she had a feeling of what it had meant. It could mean that Rowan's a magnetic-type. Which would explain what happened when she accidentally discharged some electricity. She wanted to im explore, but Rowan had other ideas.
Digging a hand back into his bag, Rowan felt around for a can and outstretched one out for Wendy to grasp, "What about yours?"
"Oh?" Wendy raised an eyebrow. She wasn't particularly expecting the gesture, but it was just something she didn't want to do. It wasn't fear (Wendy didn't really mind bending the rules a little... and they're in the middle of an abandoned hotel), she didn't want to embarass herself making an awful tag. "Oh no... I don't think spraypainting is my forte...."
"Gotta start somewhere. You think my first throw-ups were great? C'mon, give it a shot." Rowan urged her.
After hearing him, she felt a bit more receptive to the idea. Peer pressure's a bitch, ain't it? She sighed as she swallowed her pride (and her excessively high standards) as she grabbed onto the can of spray paint and nodded her head. She stepped over to the part of the pool that wasn't tagged by Rowan (yet), and shook the can. She shook the spray can (and enjoyed the rattle) as she walked up.
Taking in a sigh, Wendy pressed the button ontop of the spray can, and aimed it at the wall. Out the nozzle was a jet of black spraypaint, and she didn't feel as bad about using it now. However, she didn't want to waste it all, she kept moving her arm just to adjust her aim.
When she was done, she smiled.
It was simply a W spraypainted on the wall in black.
"... It's a work in progress," Wendy said as she put both hands behind her back. "This is what we artists call the sketching phase - I'll put something excellent up over this later." She smiled at him again.
"It's a start," Rowan said with a markedly warm expression "If I were you there, I'd do the filler first - then the outline."
"Maybe you can..." Wendy thought about it for a moment as she stared at the spraycan. "... Yeah, maybe you can show me the ropes." She had no idea how to spray paint the "proper" way, and was winging it.
Pulling out yet another can, this one a white, Rowan gave it a firm shake before stepping over to the wall, pressing down against the nozzle criss crossing across the wall. First, he scrawled over Wendy's vague outline, filling in a "W" with a thicker form, before going the extra mile and starting on another quick piece next to it; the shape of an origami figure. "Now you try filling in the outline for them."
Wendy nodded as Rowan improved upon her horrid design. She nodded her head, as she given the prompt to write out the outline. She shook the spray can again, and instead of making another crude W, Wendy tried her best to fill out the outline as Rowan instructed. When she released her finger, she had willed out the outline. Which brought the original design one step closer to completion.
"Better," Rowan gave an affirmed nod of approval. "See? Just gotta work the paint 'till it's coming out your fingers."
Wendy nodded her head. This was looking better, but she was wondering what else it needed. If they had the outline... they needed another color perhaps? She realized that she had a bright future in spraypainting, but she knew that she could use her paper powers to form a better stencil.
"You know... if I had my paper powers, I could make some pretty neat stencils for us to use...." Wendy mused. "Anything we wanted really... long as we have lots of spare cardboard." She took a step back and examined the empty part of the wall. "... But, alas..." She looked at her hand as it sparked once again.
'So how'd you, uh, y'know, get the paper thing in the first place?" Rowan asked.
Now that was a story.... a simple one at that.
"Um. well," Wendy almost stuttered as she looked for the right words to say. Trying not to make this the most droll conversation ever. Before she realized that things got awkward. "My older sister... her power turned out to be paper manipulation and then I got it from here," Wendy sighed, feeling a tad relieved. "It's funny, since she thinks her power is the lamest thing in the world... but, to me, it's the greatest power in the world...."
"Right, so... just gotta find your sister and get it off her, again." Rowan said, with a shrug.
"... She's in Alaska." Wendy bluntly said. "You see... she got into some trouble with RAVEN-" And that was putting it lightly. "-a few years back, and she got sent to Academy 218, I think?"
She finished her explaination, but then remembered that isn't the problem.
"But, I didn't explain this properly; whenever I copy a new power, I'm like "locked" into it until I figure out how to use it," Wendy started off. "Which means I'm pretty much Electro until then." She shook her head.
Rowan shrugged, "Then you've just gotta figure yours out. Can't be that hard, right?"
"It's..." Wendy trailed off. "Challenging. I've been practicing for a weeks straight, and I just figured out how to shoot bolts... maybe I should stop complaining and get on the saddle...."
"You could try it on me, I guess? If that means you can get some stencil cut-outs set up faster, works for me. Always liked the idea of having a crew," Rowan mused.
"You mean you want to help me practice?" Wendy asked, raising an eyebrow. "I mean... if.your power really is magnetism... it can really help due to the connection between magnetism and electricity "
"I guess, yeah..." Rowan had never given his own power much thought, but it was there. The old man would've loved to have known that, he wagered.
"Good, good, good... I guess we'll get started then?" Wendy asked as she faced Rowan. "... We should get back to the Academy - they tend to get worried when I'm out too long..." She scratched the back of her neck. She didn't mean it in a way that they cared about her, mostly because she tends to get into trouble.
"It'll be dark soon anyways, best we go," Rowan nodded in agreement, tugging at the strap of his bag as he twisted to face the exit.
"Yeah," Wendy started skipping towards the way out.
It wasn't long before trucks and emergency vehicles swarmed the area.
While Meifeng and Quentin were preoccupied in hauling the sniper off... it was up to Cindy and the rest of DOVE to pick up the pieces. With a sigh, Cindy merely adjusted her glasses as she scrolled through the wreckage. Damn. Oakdell took a beating. It'd be months (if not years) before everything's back to normal.
And even then, the true damage was done.
They might have caught their mystery sniper, but... everyone's going to assume a Metahuman had done all this damage. At least it wasn't as bad as the mall. Still, it was hard to deny all the deaths that had happened - along with the destruction. Cindy merely sighed as she watched someone placed into an ambulance.
There was much work to get done here. Find survivors, assess the damage... and so on.
"Ms. Keagan!" Someone called out to Cindy... and she knew exactly who it was.
It was Lihua Zhao, coated in dust from concrete, and the windstorm. Her black dress was utterly ruined, and her bikini was showing. She took a few steps towards Cindy, and then Cindy could see the scratches done to the woman.
However, she suddenly fell over, exhausted, and wounded. She was on her hands and knees, heavily panting.
"Sh- Lihua!" Cindy said as she scampered over to Lihua. "Are you okay?"
"D-don't... worry about me... I'm searching for Lijuan... I can't find her anywhere." Lihua said, determined to stay up.
"No," Lihua said as she pushed herself to her feet, struggling to stand up.
Another mouthful of water was enough to stir Reed from drifting into unconsciousness, arm practically locked around the girl's bod... Lijuan, the storm had practically thrown them out to sea, but he'd been able to keep a hold of her when the tide had tried to claim them.
"Lij... Lijuan... can you hear me?" he rasped, "Stay with me, kid, stay with me, we're getting you to shore..."
Coughing up water, Lijuan looked up at the man. "Y-yes..." Lijuan said. She was terrified, and shaking.
Not too far away, Reed could make out the shore and, with all the energy that he could muster, started swimming for it as swiftly as he could with Lijuan underarm. With each passing moment, it grew closer, then closer again - until he could make out the first response crews at the shore.
"Hey!" One of the first responders shouted as they first saw Reed floating. "We have survivors!"
Still kicking, he pushed the two of them towards the shore as volunteers and paramedics alike scrambled to pull them onto dry land.
After loading the unconscious Haruka into an ambulance, Shizuka immediately requested for a container to store the dart before he had to snap the suppressant collar around his own brother's neck. He had the strong urge to hop onto the ambulance and continue to stay by his twin's side, but he knew that Haruka would be all right; besides, he still had more important work to do.
He raised the transparent container to his eyes - it was hard to imagine whatever the serum this little dart had contained before it was injected into the overloaded victims was enough to cause so much damage in the three cases so far. Which meant that it was something extremely concentrated... and only few organizations would have the capability to create such stuff.
The Saviors, the Hands of Science... maybe even DOVE/RAVEN.
As he tucked the evidence safely into his breast pocket, his earpiece buzzed. "Ah, Shizuka?"
"Holly," he responded while he started up the engine of his bike. "What is it?"
"Agent Zhao and Taylor have caught a Pure sniper suspected to be involved in the Overloading incidents, and they have already gone back to the HQ with him." Daphne paused for a moment before she went on in a softer tone, "Although you will probably not be allowed to question him directly due to your relation with Haruka, you can still watch the interrogation if you wish to."
"...Got it. I'll be on my way," Shizuka replied and put on his helmet, then he mounted the bike.
"I will let Agent Keagan know. I will also continue to scout the area for other survivors."
"'Kay." With that, the silver-haired agent shot off on his bike, en route to the Headquarters.
Rori had still been a bird when the winds had slowly died down. They'd hoped to reach the eye of the storm but in the end hadn't been strong enough to do more than seek shelter. It had been easier as a smaller creature. They had nestled themselves into what had once been a building; finding a small space in the rubble.
They hadn't exactly came out unscathed; though they thought they'd been fine, the dull nagging pain at their side was actually one of their wings being mauled by debris picked up by the wind. Pulling themselves out of where they had seeked shelter they tried to change back. They weren't going to get anywhere as a bird with a broken wing.
The change began painfully. It was slower than it should be, too. Shit. Something certainly wasn't right. Rori tried to stop transforming, because they were going to get stuck at this rate, but they couldn't revert back either.
Most of their body slowly changed back to that of a human, as did their head, but their arms didn't reform. They both stayed as wings with one badly injured. It was obvious these were trying to change back as the bones cracked slightly and shifted slightly.
Unable to stay conscious while stuck in this state Rori blacked out among the debris of the harbor.
After Daphne finished her call with Shizuka, she heard the Lush bartender, who had chosen to stay behind to help with the scout, yelling, "Ms. Holly!" She turned around and saw him waving at her frantically. "I've found a survivor!"
She moved over to his side, and looked down at where his finger was pointing. A teenage, bird-like girl sprawled among the debris, and Daphne could tell that this young one was only halfway transformed; worse, it seemed like she had some broken bones.
A bestial-type Metahuman who got stuck in this form while unconscious was no laughing matter.
She turned to the bartender. "...Please go get the medics here. Quickly."
RAVEN/DOVE West Coast Joint Headquarters, White Coast.
Everything was getting processed in the Headquarters a few hours later, and Cindy finally managed to get back there after hours of work.
All in a day's work.
Cindy took a swig of her coffee as she walked down the halls of the headquarters. Who would have known she and Meifeng were just in the area to catch the sniper? Oh, that reminded her. As she was walking, Cindy took a sharp turn and made it into a interrogation room. Meifeng, Quentin and Shizuka were already there.
Meifeng had her arms crossed (but she had a folder underneath her shoulder), and got up off the wall when she saw Cindy.
"Yo," Meifeng greeeted her friend. "You're here. Looks like we bagged our mystery sniper indeed."
"Good." Cindy nodded her head. "What's the info on him?"
Meifeng shook her head for a moment, and gave Cindy a look.
"...Well, you're gonna like this," Meifeng said. "Mason Conner... A god damn board executive of the Savior foundation."
"W-what?" Cindy said, honestly surprised. "What you were telling me is that the jackasses running around causing all sorts of bullshit was a member of the Saviors?"
"You heard it right," Quentin folded his arms, mouth curled in disgust, "This asshole probably shook hands with us a couple of weeks ago at some publicity event."
"That ain't all... a little raid on his home exposed all sorts of shit." Meifeng said. "...He's a Knight of Purity."
"Okay... okay..." Cindy.looked through the glass of the interrogation room, and stared at the guy. The bastard was not only up there in with the Savior execs, but the bastard was also a Knight of Purity - a member of the biggest, and meanest members of the Pure. NEST in the past, and RAVEN had been on them. Which is great, because now RAVEN has one of their big wigs. Though, Cindy was wondering what was under Meifeng's arm. "What's that?"
"This?" Meifeng held the folder in the air and shook it around a little bit. "This is his "recon data.""
She threw it on a table, and Cindy opened it up and was horrified... Mason here had pictures and all sorts of information on various Metahumans around Baybridge. Including her cases. There was a folder on Lihua, Wendy, Rowan, and various elemental types... he was going for the people who would cause tons of destruction. All because they wanted to give themselves some ammo.
And this was why Cindy thought of the Pure as a cult.
"Damn it..." Cindy said. "...He's gotta have a contact in DOVE or RAVEN - there's no other way he could have gotten this information."
"And when we do, there's going to be hell to pay for it..." Quentin spoke with a dangerously low tone that almost sounded like a growl. "Things are bad enough without having a fucking mole in our own."
"Yeah... I'm going to find that bastard, and shove his own head so far up his own ass he's going to watch his shit digest," Meifeng angrily said. The one thing that pisses her off the most is a bastard screwing over everyone else for the sake of a few bucks.
Shizuka had remained silent throughout the conversation; he finally spoke up coolly, "I don't think it's a surprise that we might have a traitor among us, especially in a big organization like this where the stakes are high, and also after all the recent shits that have been going on... But if some asshole among us has a part in the overloading, then this case is more complicated than we'd have thought."
He pulled out the container with the emptied dart. "For one, this serum can easily worth a fortune if it ever gets commercialized. It's not just some petty cash - we're talking about thousands of millions. Making weak Metas much stronger... even awakening anyone with dormant Meta-energy."
He forced down the rising anger at the thought of how his twin was used as a lab rat for the drug, and simply shrugged. "This is like holy water to the pro-Meta extremists - they'd probably love to get their hands on it. Of course, as shown by the overloading cases, the effect is devastating if this falls into the wrong hands."
"What I want to know is; where did he get this stuff from?" Cindy asked. "This shit doesn't appear out of nowhere; this is Hands-level serum."
Meifeng shrugged and leaned back up against the wall. "He mentioned this mysterious dude in black armor selling it to him... Calling him the Black Hound or something."
Shrugging again, she added, "Hell if I know... but we should look into the guy," Meifeng sternly said as she pointed at Cindy.
"Agreed." Quentin nodded. "This could be turn out bad as it did before if we don't end this now, the sooner we move, the better."
"Also, we better sniff out whoever our bastard mole is, as soon as possible," Shizuka added. "...I've a bad feeling about this." He narrowed his eyes at the Pure sniper beyond the tinted glass.
"Well, we got a lot of work to do." Cindy said.
Baron Moreau.
Seattle.
After a long day of teaching, Baron Moreau merely resigned to his lounge with a bottle of fine wine. He rested in his lounging chair, and poured himself a cup of red wine while listening to some classy music. He took a sip of his wine, and...
He immediately tensed up, beginning to choke. He lost sensation in his body as he began to struggle. Baron dropped the glass of wine as he fell over in his chair. Unable to move his body. He could only watch as he was completely paralyzed. Only able to breathe.
"...Don't bother, my neuromuscular-blocker will ensure you won't be able to move for hours." A mechanical voice spoke from above as the Mannequin dropped down. Landing on all fours, and then standing straight up and looking at Baron. "Hello, Baron Moreau... surprised to see me?" The Mannequin sarcastically asked.
"Confident that you killed me?" The Mannequin's words, despite his monotone, mechanical voice, were laced with poison. "It's amusing... you speak so highly of yourself for being so... unreliant on your power... yet, you fall into the same trap that the likes of Luis have fallen into."
The Mannequin leaned forward so much that he was practically face to face with Baron.
"However... I have not come here for revenge... there's something that you have that I want," The Mannequin explained. "Jiang?"
"Yes, yes, I have found Peter's research!" Jiang said, very cheerfully. "My, my, my, he was quite brillliant."
"Good, place it into the vehicle," The Mannequin stared Baron right in the eye. "It'll do better in my hands, than rotting in your safes and vaults."
The Mannequin took a few steps back, before he walked over towards the kitchen. He pulled the oven back, and reached back and slashed the gas valve. He walked back to Baron, and Jiang had returned - holding red petrol canisters.
The Mannequin grabbed the petrol and opened it, pouring it all over the place.
"...Unfortunately, I cannot let you live," The Mannequin said. "I am removing a possible threat from the equation... I wished you could live to see my plan reach fruition... but I cannot take that risk."
Jiang was walking off by the time the place was soaked.
"...Enjoy death, Baron." The Mannequin said as he shot a stream of fire at the pool of petrol, and began walking off.
There was nothing that Baron could do, but wait for death as his home was consumed with flames.
The Mannequin, & Jiang Song.
Eastgriffin Ruins, Roseview.
Inside an old house in the Eastgriffin Ruins, the Mannequin and Jiang have set up shop in the basement.
They chose Eastgriffin because it's out of the way of everything else, not to mention completely safe from Eco-Naturá's insane plan. They have a fully functional lab, with everything they need for the upcoming operation. They chose the most stable building, which is heavily booby-trapped in case anyone stumbled across this location.
Peter's research was laid out on a table, and Jiang was carefully examining it.
"My, my, my... we'll make great usage of this," Jiang said with a grin on his face. "...After your plan, of course."
The Mannequin was currently mixing chemicals, and turned his head and looked at Jiang like a vulture.
"Yes..." The Mannequin said. "Eco-Naturá is close to launching their operation, and tensions have reached an all time high... all out war is next..."
The Mannequin explained.
"And... our plan require that both those pesky DOVEs and RAVENs are too busy with them to worry about us, I presume?" Jiang said with a grin on his face.
"That is correct," The Mannequin said. "...We need access into their Headquarters if we're going to get what I truly want..." Her jerked his head robotically at Jiang.
"...However, that is not what I want to know," Jiang cheerfully said in a sing song as he stopped, and started walking towards the Mannequin. "There's... something I want to know - about you of course."
Jiang was practically touching the Mannequin.
"Your origins... you would have had quite the interesting past if you went from a human to... this " Jiang looked the Mannequin top to bottom.
"...Another time." The Mannequin quickly said, as he turned away. "My past... my past is something I am not proud of - I am not actively ready to share."
"Oh, yes, yes, I understand," Jiang quickly said. "But, what about Luis...? You were in the same organization as one of the most ruthless Metahuman terrorists in the world... Surely, you would have learned something from him?"
"The story of Luis... I know much about the man, from his origins, to his very end..." The Mannequin looked over his shoulder and faced Jiang. "To explain, I'll have to tell you a little bit about myself... I was someone who was involved in some of the more... inhuman acts commited in the wars of the past... afterwards, I had to go on the run, that was where I first met Luis."
"He had his own group... The Lazarus Society... a group comprised of many Metahumans that wished to defend them from the world," The Mannequin took a few steps around Jiang, "Which meant hiding them, and defeating any threats that would expose them."
"Luis knew of my past, but all he was interested in was my redemption, and offered me a position within the Lazarus Society, where I served as the team's scientist. I assisted Luis in his goals, and we added many Metahumans to our ranks. Eventually, we were as strong as a small army."
The Mannequin started walking on all forms as he said.
"Luis was a kind man, who only wanted the best for everyone else - and regardless of what he faced, he remained just that," The Mannequin said. "The two of us became rather close... Luis told me all about his past, and I eventually became a very close friend of his."
"He told me that he was one of the first Metahumans, who started out as a small poor child born in Madrid... He realized he couldn't die, but hid his gift. He became a soldier in the Spanish Army, and fought for the country during the various wars of independence. That's where he became aware of other Metahumans... he battled one in the war, and unfortunately lost."
"Afterwards, he abandoned the army, and dedicated his life to traveling, finding out more about these people. He went all over Europe over the course of several years, but barely aged. Luis eventually came across several different European Metahumans, most notably James Blackmore - a Metahuman who could replicate abilities."
"James became a mentor for Luis, and the man gave him knowledge like no other - they all formed an organization which was supposed to gather people like him. They eventually gathered every Metahuman in Europe, and at least have thirty members... This organization... it eventually would become the Philosophers."
"However, more Metahumans were beginning to appear, and one of which changed the face of everything they once knew. You heard of the Devil, correct?" The Mannequin asked.
"Yes," Jiang said. "She was... quite the concern in China, shall I say."
"Another Metahuman of her level appeared in Russia, and was utterly bent on destroying the world... A metahuman with the power to burn all to ash. The Philosophers assembled to defeat it... at the cost of their entire organization save for James and Luis."
"Afterwards, Luis separated from James, seeing as he had no interest in rebuilding the Philosophers. However, more Metahumans than ever were appearing since this event, and Luis had his own goals for them. That's why he formed the Lazarus Society."
"After World War Two, our primary opponent was the Russian Government... who were intent on using Metahumans as weapons. We merely liberated them from imprisonment, and sent them on their way."
"It wasn't long until we came across... a utopia, as you'd say."
The Mannequin leaned into Jiang's face.
"Metahumans and humans living in harmony, hidden far away in the European wilds. It was known as New Eden, a city that would be the catalyst to Luis' fall into darkness... After coming across New Eden we were accepted into the society, and Luis made it his mission to defend the city from all threats; at any costs."
"We stayed here for five years, and became heroes to New Eden, and saved the city countless times... Luis even fathered a family there," The Mannequin said.
"However... it all came to an end once she came..." The Mannequin said, "Who is "she"...? One of the most dreaded, and powerful Metahumans we've ever encountered."
"Verschlinger, the devourer... the first Metahuman to ever rise, and was insanely powerful. She came to New Eden along with her group, the Coven... she demanded a Metahuman among us, someone she feared would end the world... Luis rejected, and a battle ensued between New Eden, and the Coven."
"Verschlinger... she was far more powerful than we thought, her Coven was easy to defeat, but she was so powerful, cunning, and intelligent, that our best forces were unable to defeat her. Luis was the only one able to fight her on even ground... and even he was hard pressed to defeat her."
"But, she was getting desperate... she didn't want anyone to escape, so she merely launched a powerful attack... I barely remember what happened, but it left New Eden in ruins. Killing almost everyone there save for a few... I approached Luis, and saw the look on his face as he stared at the destroyed city... The city he poured so much love into."
"Verschlinger escaped - we are unaware of her whereabouts, but she got what she wanted. Her Coven was destroyed, but she has eliminated her target," The Mannequin started off. "Afterwards, Luis was changed. The sheer guilt from failing to stop her, mixed with his hatred against Verschlinger, and the sheer bitterness of it all... drove a noble man insane."
"He became more ruthless, changing the group's name from Lazarus, to the Changeling Unit. He became obsessed with the idea of Godhood, and a Perfect World, in order to fix everything that went wrong. Luis became utterly sadistic, and lost every shred of his humanity until there was nothing left. He never even realized that he was losing it."
"That was when I realized that following him would not be optimal... and that I pursue my own goals by using Luis, and his Changeling Unit... once that became less than ideal... I pursued it myself... and I am so close - we just need the last key."
"Ah... interesting..." Jiang said, stroking his beard. "That explains a lot... but makes me more curious about what the man knew."
"Don't be." The Mannequin said, voice was nearly showing emotion. "That era... that era should be forgotten."
Soon, Livrelle came to a halt as she finally got to Starrybanks. She opened her door and exited the door, waiting for Fiona to do the same.
“So this is the place you last saw him? Looks…” Livrelle noticed the increase in litter here along with a club that was in the distance. There was an empty beer bottle on the ground that had yet to be disposed of along with a glass shard near it. Livrelle's expression was clearly one of disgust.
”Repulsive.” she finished in a somewhat quieter voice, pulling up her right glove as she toned the look of disgust down.
There was a more enthusiastic hop as Fiona made her way out the vehicle. Her cloak fluttered in the wind. She came to a land as she looked around. Fortunately, her enhanced eyesight gave her a bit of an edge over Livrelle. She scanned the dark and dirty alleyway... unfortunately, there was also plenty of horrid smells that made Fiona regret the fact that her sense of smell was a few notches higher.
"Well..." Fiona trailed off, searching for the right words. "He's like me..." She started, but quickly backpedaled. "No, no, I don't mean he's a cricket, but he's... mutated."
Another one that was mutated? I wonder how often you see a mutated person around here.
She put her hands together, "And thus... we have to stay out of sight, opposed to...." Her head drifted towards the street.
That should shed light on what happened here. "This is the last spot where I saw him... I'm hoping that none of the Pure came after him." The Pure... the boogeyman to Fiona. To the normal looking Metahumans, they were only a threat if they knew what you were.
To Fiona and her people they were the... easiest targets.
In the distinct, she could hear some chanting... probably because of her enhanced sense of heaing, but it still concerned her.
"... You hear that?" Fiona asked.
Livrelle looked over to the spot that she spoke of. “So, if the pure found him he’d be… already dead?” she asked, no expression on her face any longer. Perhaps she shouldn’t have said that but oh well.
She looked up, also noticing the voices that resembled that of a chant. Livrelle began looking around. Fuck. The atmosphere that she was getting was an ominous one and that didn’t sit well with her.
“...What the bloody hell?” she said in a hushed voice.
"Should we....?" Fiona trailed off as every fiber in her body was telling her to go investigate further. Swallowing her growing fear, Fiona began to pace towards the chanting. With every step she took, the chanting began to get overwhelming, but she had to get to the bottom of this.
When they approached, they came up on a park, and there was a stage... and before it was a lot of people. Loud rock music filled the air.
Livrelle had seen a couple of horror movies in her life and she wasn't a fan of investigating things that needn't be investigated. Should we? No. Would you even listened? Probably not. Just as she had predicted, Fiona was already walking towards the noise so Livrelle sighed, scratching the back of her head and walking behind her but making sure to stay a nice distance away from Fiona.
Pure rally.
Fiona immediately identified it, and quickly ducked behind porta-potties.
A man walked up on the stage with a megaphone. He was muscular, had a bald head, and had to be in his late-twenties. He wore nothing but a tank-top, and camo shorts.
"Everyone here is tired of the dumbasses in DOVE who push act like Metahumans are no different from us - but turn their heads when they massacre a mall!" He screamed into the megaphone.
The booming megaphone made Fiona cringe as it caused her pain, but she had to endure.
"It means we have to take matters into our own hands!" The Pure Rallyman shouted as he raised his fist up into the air. "We have to let them know we won't stand by and have our hard work destroyed by MONSTERS!"
At this point, someone was hauled onto the stage with a bag over his head.
"This right here is one of the Metahumans we found, walking among us like he was normal!" The Rallyman shouted, before he snatched the bag off his head, and revealed the eyeless face of Harmon Rottlage. He was clearly terrified.
"Harmon!" Fiona yipped to herself as she covered her mouth. This is what happened to him.
"Tell me! Do you want your children to go to school with these freaks?!"
"No!" The crowd shouted.
"Do you want your cities burned to the ground?!"
"No!" The crowd shouted.
"Do you want your wives and daughters raped by sub-human defects?!"
"No!" The crowd shouted again.
"Then join me! As we make the first steps towards genetic purity!"
The Rallyman suddenly pulled out a revolver, and before Fiona could even let out a scream, he put the revolver against Harmon's head and pulled the trigger. A torrent of blood and brain matter came flying out of Harmon's head as he descended towards the ground at high speeds.
The crowd went wild.
And this was exactly why she didn't like to go towards things that didn't need to be inspected. Livrelle went over to Fiona, grabbing the back of whatever she was wearing and pulling her away from the scene. She had already made a noise and that alone was something that could get them killed if noticed.
Fuck. All the blood. Disgusting. But not worse than what she saw at her job so it wasn't too bad. However, she didn't like how messy it was. She was already pulling her arm and getting the hell out of there.
She had practically just finished a surgery and now she had to witness someone get murdered. Great. Just fucking great. Livrelle honestly felt disgusted at the scene, wishing to wash her hands as soon as possible. Seeing someone die always made her feel this way.
Tainted.
"L-let's... get out of here," Fiona said as she took a few steps back towards the car. They just killed Harmon in broad daylight, she had to get back to the Microcosm soon as possible That was her best friend. "Please. I... I... have to tell the others...."
She stopped for a second and looked at the girl. "Tell them what you just saw?" If this child was trying to warn some people, just shit. She didn't care either way as long as she wasn't risking herself for anyone.
".... Yes, I-I have to tell them Har-Harmon's d-dead." Fiona stuttered as she started walking away. "P-please," Fiona said.
"Are they somewhere in this shitty place?" she asked.
"No.... they're in the Microcos- Um, they're back where I met you." Fiona explained. "J-just get me back there...."
"Alright." she says with a sigh, stepping into her car. This is why you don't talk to strangers. Mom always said that but do you listen? Nope. If someone looks interesting and experiment worthy, you go ahead and talk to them. Now you have some jittery chick that just witnessed a death- no, a murder and you had to see it too. Great job Livrelle. Just fuckin great.
Livrelle began to drive a bit faster than usual. At the red light, she shuffled through her pocket and found a lighter and a pack of cigs. Quickly, she lit it and took a drag. She needed some alcohol right about now.
That cigarette made Fiona shudder as she smelled it.
"Can you stop? My smell is enhanced."
She asked, pointing up at her antennas. Then she thought about it for a moment.
"Actually... can you just drop me off here? I'll walk the rest of the way."
After Liv pulled over, Fiona wasted no time in leaving her behind. It was great that she helped, but she had the feeling that she was better off without Livrelle. Throwing the hood up, Fiona noticed that the rain had picked up, and people were leaving. It didn't bother Fiona since she's an insect, and the rain would draw people indoors.
She kept moving, sticking to the shadows and back roads. Before long, she had walked all the way back to Oakdell Harbor. She had to complete her mission - which was find Harmon. She was hoping she wouldn't find her longtime friend dead. If she was correct, they would be back in Oakdell Harbor.
It was a short walk before she came across Archie's sack... but, no Archie. She could smell blood. She would have to be careful, she hoped nothing happened. Fiona carefully lifted the sack up, and then carefully stepped inside.
[
... And her heart immediately sank.
The community hidden inside a sack was destroyed. Far as the eye could see... all Fiona saw was fire. All she could smell was this community burning. It utterly overwhelmed her senses, she looked around. To her left was a burnt building, and to her right was a man slouched up against a wall, dead.
She gasped in fear. What happened here. Fiona covered her mouth as she looked around.
Fiona took a few steps forward, and saw a dead body on the ground. It was... a friend of Archie's. Filled with bulletholes. The mere sight made Fiona recoil. She kept walking.
"Hopper!" Fiona loudly called for her father, with no response. "Tracer!"
But there was no response... Then, throughout the chaos, Fiona's hearing picked up movement. She immediately turned towards that source, and saw Archie lying on the ground. Her heart started racing as she hopped over to him.
"Archie!" Fiona said, "Are you okay?!"
The Lamp-head was full of bulletholes. Archie was desperately typing on a phone device, and threw it at Fiona.
Fiona, it was the Pure I won't last much longer you have to get out of here I don't know what will happen
With that Fiona warning, Archie's lamp went dead, and Fiona shed tears... However, just as Archie predicted, the Microcosm was beginning to fall apart. The Microcosm was being sucked into a dark expanse. Fiona looked around, as the Microcosm fell apart around her. She was getting desperate.
She had one choice;
Run.
Fiona jumped up high up into the air, and landed close to the exit. She jumped up top of another building, but it was consumed with darkness - so Fiona had to immediately jump right off of it. She made it to the exit, and saw a brown haired woman run towards it. It was Arianna, an acquaintance of hers.
Unfortunately, she was caught in the void, and was killed instantly as she was literally erased from existence.
The only thing Fiona could do was hop out.... as the Microcosm was destroyed.
She made it out, and landed in the same alleyway. It was utterly consumed by rain. She knelt down, and opened the sack, but it was reverted to a regular sack.
Tears were running down her eyes... as she realized the Microcosm was destroyed. For good. She lost another home, and the hundreds of friends that lived there. All because of a Pure massacre.
There was... a sorrow inside of Fiona. She lost everything, and won't get it back.
She had to... she had to....
Run.
Fiona put the cloak back up, and ran off out of the alleyway.
Eco-Naturá.
Havenfield Market, Roseview.
"We are nearing our goal..."
Old Man Winter said as he gently placed his glass of alcohol down on the desk. His sparrows made out of ice were fluttering their wings as a woman with blond hair stood behind him. She wore a pinstriped suit, and had a notepad.
"We have everything we need for Operation Reclamation," the Secretary said to Old Man Winter, and adjusted her glasses. "We just need to wait for the right moment to reclaim Baybridge in the name of nature."
"Hmph,".The word "Baybridge" irritated Old Man Winter. He nearly crushed his glass in his hand. "Baybridge... a city of fools. This city is a personal affront to nature, and everything it stands for. But, today is the start of our final operation... the day we revery this whole nation to the state it naturally should be."
"Agreed, boss," the Secretary said.
"But, we have to be prepared... are our fighters ready?" Old Man Winter asked. "We'll need people willing to defend us from the unenlightened."
"Yes..." the Secretary said. "They're being assembled, and trained, by Bison as we speak."
"Good... good..." Old Man Winter said as he leaned in on the desk.
"...In three days, we will launch the operation of a decade..."
Three Days Later.
Three days after the Overloads had been brought to an end, tensions were still quite high between Metahumans, and those against Metahumans. DOVE had been doing their best to quell the situation, but there's only so much they could do. It's only a matter until all hell broke loose. Since then, RAVEN and DOVE had been investigating the source of the Overload serum, a possible mole, and who this mysterious "Black Hound" was. So far, they hadn't found anything substantial. Only dead ends, and meaningless rumors about, more or less, a "boogey man."
However, Eco-Naturá was preparing to launch their operation on Baybridge. Which would trigger a chain of events that would change the face of the city forever, and echo throughout the world.
Today was a bright and sunny day... but rain was approaching.
6:13, PM.
Fiona Ashley Barrett, & Wendy Lucker.
Faircrest Woods, Roseview.
After the demise of the Microcosm... Fiona only had one choice. Hide. Until she found the survivors of the incident, she couldn't leave Baybridge. However, she still had hope. Her family weren't exactly the easiest bunch to kill. They were insects to their core, and could easily escape. Which was why Fiona was going to find them before leaving Baybridge.
For once, Fiona could ditch the cloak. She was in the Faircrest Woods, standing there on a rock wearing a T-shirt, basketball shorts (both of which barely fit her body), and having the cloak draped around her lower body. She looked off to the side when she noticed something moving in the distance. Fiona would have to find some cover fairly quickly. Or else she would be exposed to the elements.
Fiona sent out a chirp which didn't travel very far. She shook her head, as she kept walking. She grabbed onto a nearby branch and yanked it off. It was full of nutritious leaves that she took a bite out of. She was in the neck of the woods, and above her was only the trees. The sun was coming down soon, which meant it was almost night time.
Fortunately, Fiona doesn't have to worry about too many people out here, long as she stays out of sight.
However, that noise she heard in the distance was approaching. She wasn't sure if someone was looking for her, or if it was someone else bad. A sense of panic overcame her. Fiona merely hopped up into the air, and grabbed onto a tree branch, and hoisted herself up. She remained on the tree branch as the person walked by.
It was a girl, with a rather long head of hair, and wearing a red summer dress. Merely scrolling by with a camera in her hand. Fiona had no interest in the girl, or what she was planning in these neck of the woods. All Fiona wanted was for the world to leave her alone.
Though, Fiona slipped a little bit, and nearly fell off the branch. She dropped her weight to reorient her weight. Much to her irritation, she caused a lot of noise.
The woman turned right around, and stared right at Fiona.
"...Hi." Wendy said, looking up at Fiona with the blankest expression on her face. As if she's seen weirder. "I didn't notice you up there." She cheerfully said.
Fiona didn't say a word.
"Um," That made Wendy very uncomfortable. "What's your name? I'm Wendy. Are you from the Academy?" She asked some questions.
"...Fiona." Fiona uncomfortably answered. "And... I'm not from the Academy."
"Well, it's nice to meet you, Fiona." Wendy said. "I'm just going for a walk, find stuff to take pictures of... you know"
"Oh, you like nature?" Fiona asked.
"Yeah, I love it. Places like this... I don't know why, but I love them," Wendy said. "How about you?"
"I'm an... animal-Meta," Fiona said. "I think I do better here than city streets..."
"I can tell," Wendy started off. "But, I gotta go now... I have a friend to meet... maybe we can talk again later? Do you have a cell phone? Social media?"
"No..." Fiona awkwardly said.
"Oh, that's cool, too." Wendy said. "I guess I'll find you... I have a friend that I think you have a lot in common with."
Wendy turned away, and started waving as she said,
"I'll be seeing you around."
Fiona awkwardly watched her leave, before muttering,
After the meeting with the curious cricket-girl, it wasn't long before Wendy made it back to the Academy grounds. Hopefully, she could get something done today. Since she'd been spending the last couple days training with Rowan, and getting the hang of her electricity powers. She hadn't quite gotten the hang of them - since she couldn't change back to her paper powers - but she's mostly getting there. Rowan was a pretty good kid, despite his rough exterior.
She wondered how Rowan would go with the rest of her friends.
The youth always kept her pool of friends small. It was because of her nature, she believed. Not exactly being the most social kind of person - but apparently having a strong enough personality to attract people to her. Maybe having a small amount of friends was what's good enough for Wendy, honestly. She wasn't like her far more extroverted sister, and she's fine with that.
When Ellen and Rori met, it went relatively well (except for the photograph incident). Wendy wondered how it would go if they were introduced to Rowan. Hopefully good. Hopefully. Rowan's rough around the edges, but Wendy could see the good in him.
Wendy approached the main gates, she whipped out her phone, and started sending out a group text to all her friends in Baybridge. Right when she was about to walk into the gates, Wendy turned into paper, and appeared on the other side. In the exact same position as before. She kept walking.
She sent out a text to her "squad" as her sister would say. Rowan, Ellen, and Rori.
Hey guys, do you all want to go out to town just to hang out? Let's meet in Prince Ed-Field.
After sending the text, Wendy moved towards her moped.
Rowan dragged the point of the pencil slowly across the page, taking care not to press down too hard or too light. Just the outline, he'd decided. Another one of his stencil pieces, still in the planning process on the pages of his black book.
Just before he finished, he heard the brittle sound of his phone rattling in his pocket. Raising an eyebrow, he set his black book aside and leaned over to check on it, finding a message from Wendy.
Hey guys, do you all want to go out to town just to hang out? Let's meet in Prince Ed-Field.
"Guys" caught his attention pretty quickly. From the sounds of it, Wendy meant to invite him along with her other friends, though he'd never met them yet. She'd not said much about them before except in passing, though maybe they were decent enough. Shrugging, Rowan hid his black book in his bag once again and pulled his stuff together, before heading off to meet them.
Rori hadn't left their house since being injured, and almost getting stuck somewhere in between bird and human, in the hurricane. It had taken them almost a day to change back to being a human and the injured wing had somehow translated to a broken right arm and wing (not that the wings they had as a human could even be called that).
It seriously sucked. They'd got stuck a few times while transforming, but had never been injured. The doctors that had seen to them had basically told her that if she did change to a bird she wouldn't be able to fly, as the wing in that form would still be broken.
So Rori was pretty much bored out of their mind. They couldn't draw that well with one arm, play their instruments... even writing was a struggle. And it was difficult to get about!
They'd pretty much been aimlessly wandering the house when their phone buzzed, immediately gaining their attention. It could be something exciting!
Hey guys, do you all want to go out to town just to hang out? Let's meet in Prince Ed-Field.
Rori smiled down at the text from Wendy, before sending a quick response saying that they'd be on their way. Grabbing all the stuff they needed they practically ran out of their house, in a rush to get on some form of public transport to meet them all.
The room had been unfamiliar; it had no home comforts, and had looked as though it had been constructed on a far lower budget than her room in the Academy. It was probably also not equipped to deal with the vast majority of metahuman abilities that she could manifest. Ellen shouldn't have been there, and she hoped that no one at the Academy would notice that she had not been in her room for her latest metamorphosis. With everything that had happened recently, she was relying on the confusion and panic in the wake of the latest attack to distract the staff from her absence.
She had taken the small vial of glowing liquid with her the night before, and reached the address he had given her. The tall ceramic figure was waiting for her. He towered over her, his lanky frame intimidating, almost frightening. Ellen had doubted for a moment whether she had made the right choice. Could this figure really want to help her?
His eyeless face had watched her impassively as he welcomed her, and kind though he seemed, she had been too scared to backout. There had been another as well, a slight Chinese man with a delighted smile that still somehow crept into some dark part of her brain to lurk. At least the Mannequin (she was later told what she could call him) was only creepy because of his power.
She sat up from the bed after the metamorphosis and turned towards the faceless machine.
"What... should I do?"
The Mannequin turned his head over to Ellen and looked at her. There was a simple answer to her question.
"...You should get back to your school, before anyone notices."
The last thing the Mannequin wanted was Ellen getting discovered - and by extension, him getting discovered. If he was going to get anything out of Ellen, he would have to make sure that she remained useful long as possible.
"I will be in touch... I simply wish that you attempt to control your transformations... if it's successful, you should be able to access a variety of powers. However, I need more data... simply contact me if there's any complications."
He would warn her to stay out of Prince Ed-Field, but he didn't want to give anything away. Besides.... He looked at Jiang, then back to Ellen.
She seemed bright enough to stay alive.
Ellen's phone pinged as she entered her room; it was a message from Wendy. She replied quickly, her thumbs flying over the keyboard with the ease most teenagers enjoyed with such things.
I'll be there in like 20 mins, gotta shower first.
It looked like she wouldn't have time to work out what she had. She'd gone to sleep with no firm idea of what she wanted, concerned that the serum would have no effect. The Mannequin had said it would allow her some control over her transformations, but how she had no idea. Instead she'd gone to sleep with her mind full of recent events, worried that she wouldn't be able to defend herself, that she wouldn't recognize danger until it was too late.
It didn't take her long to shower and get ready, and before long she was walking out of the Academy gates, her phone back in her hands.
So where are we meeting in Prince Ed?
Wendy read the text as she was getting on her motorcycle... She hadn't thought about that. So, she just sent the first thing that came to mind.
Chinatown, that place has great food.
Sounds good, see you in a bit.
Ellen pocketed her phone and head off down the road to the bus stop, it wouldn't take long to get to Prince Ed-Field, and Chinatown wouldn't be long after that, she could do with the walk at least.
Wendy herself decided to quickly pick up the pace and get over to Prince Ed-Field. After the various shitstorms, people were avoiding the overloaded areas... Or simply avoiding larger areas. While DOVE and RAVEN officially confirmed that they had the suspect in custody, not too many people were keen on believing them. Some were even saying that there could be more people behind the overload attacks. Wendy herself was suspicious, but she wasn't about to lock herself in her home.
She had a life, surprisingly enough.
Most importantly, Wendy had artistic aspirations, and dreams that were just waiting to be fulfilled. That's why she hopped up on her scooter, and slid her helmet on as she revved up her moped. After everything was prepared, Wendy hit the gas pedal, and started speeding off towards Courtbridge...
...At thirty miles an hour.
Thankfully, traffic died down.
Courtbridge, Prince Ed-Field_
After a looooooong trip into Courtbridge, Wendy arrived in Chinatown. She saw the Asian-styled decorations line up the streets as all she saw were Chinese-themed stores, and restaurants. She rolled up into a moped parking space, and then stepped off. There were all sorts of people walking around - it was a Saturday - what was surprising was that people were trying to live their life despite the threats of a terror attack.
Perhaps people weren't so afraid after all.
Wendy wasn't.
So, the only thing that Wendy could do was find the others. She shrugged as she put her hands in her pockets, and pulled out her phone. As she walked, she looked like another teenaged girl distracted by her phone. She was merely sending out a text to all of her friends:
I'm here guys... where are you all?
I'm here guys... where are you all?
Rowan raised an eyebrow as he stepped off the bus, phone in hand, before tapping in a response of his own.
just got off bus, where are you?
"I'm..." Wendy voiced out loud as she looked around. She was trying to find the best reference to give everyone an idea as to where she was. She was by a few restaurants - Oh, she'd just stay in this area.
Stopping for a moment, Wendy leaned up against a tree as she sent out another group text.
I'm on Race Street. Right outside the Twin Tiger Delight restaurant.
Unknown to her, Ellen had in fact just stepped off the bus immediately behind Rowan, and looked curiously at him as they appeared to simultaneously receive a text. That was weird. Ignoring the strange coincidence, she turned to head down towards Race Street, picking up her pace a little. It didn't take her long, and she was moderately surprised to find that the boy from the bus was here too.
"You followin' me?" Rowan asked, glancing over his shoulder with a quizzical look as they hit Race Street in search of Wendy.
When she actually caught a look at the boys face she was sure he looked familiar, but couldn't quite place him.
"Don't think so... Don't I know you from somewhere?"
She was hesitant to ask if he was at the Academy, in case he turned out to be a meta-hater. She couldn't think of where else she could have seen him; after all, she didn't spend much time outside of the Academy if she could help it. Add to that one week of every three she never left unless friends talked her into it.
"You one of Wendy's friends?" he blurted out, her face suddenly a familiar one with the connection in his head.
"Wendy's..."
It clicked, clearly this guy knew Wendy somehow, and Academy or not, surely that made him mostly safe. She smiled hesitantly.
"Yeah I'm... Ellen, I go to school with her but I'm a couple years below her."
"Yeah, I know her. She's... good, right?"
"Yeah, she is pretty cool. I mean she puts up with losers like me so she could be a lot worse."
Still on a bus - will be a few mins.
Rori wasn't particularly used to using public transport for getting around. Normally they would just fly, but that wasn't exactly possible. Navigating public transport had been a bit of the nightmare - especially with the wings causing a bit of frustration for other people.
They arrived about ten minutes after Ellen and Rowan did and heading off in the direction of what they hoped was Race Street.
Haruka was finally discharged after three days of sleep - and an even more stringent check-up than the last time he had after the mall incident. Unfortunately, the suppressant collar had to stay on his neck for another week as a precaution. He sighed - he had never expected himself to be a target for overloading, at the worst possible place.
Shizuka happened to be off-duty today (or he probably found some ways to slack off work, as usual), and he offered to drive his twin in his car. Haruka was a little amused to see him - especially not after the comedic episode of Shizuka's sour pouting the day before, when he was struggling to make an apple bunny slice ("How the hell did they actually do it in the anime?"), and Haruka had to show him how after all the laughing.
Aside from Shizuka's usual overprotectiveness, Haruka felt that there was something else his twin wanted to discuss with him. Sure enough, once the car was out of White Coast area, Shizuka turned down the volume of the radio, starting off, "...Did you mention that masked girl we saw back then in your statement?"
"No." Haruka shook his head, scratching his neck - the collar felt awkwardly cold against his skin. He didn't want to tell his brother about how she almost tried to kill him... but the line she said after that was still on his mind. "I don't know why, but she feels like someone I know."
"I get what you mean," Shizuka said. "The look that she gave me when I yelled at her - she knows me too."
Haruka raised his eyebrows. While he didn't recall anything about the spear from back then, the speed of her regenerative factor wasn't something he could forget easily. And her eyes... he didn't know what she might have been going through after all these years, but he could feel a sense of familiarity behind the hardened gaze. "...It can't be." Then he sank back into his seat. "How..."
"I know what you're thinking, but let's not jump to conclusions just yet."
"Remember what she had said to me - to us - before? Her regeneratio---"
"Haru," Shizuka cut him off firmly. "Like I said: until we've more information about our mysterious masked witch, for now just keep this matter in view - and just between us. I'm not going to put her into my report either."
Haruka sighed; his brother was right. He turned his head around to look out of the car window, and he sat straight up again when he saw the sign that read: Prince Ed-Field. "Shizu, what...?"
"Taking a detour, obviously," Shizuka snickered at his twin's flustered face. "And we can continue our catch-up over a big bowl of hot ramen in Courtbridge."
After the whole incident in Oakdell, Lihua decided to take Lijuan out somewhere to get her mind off things. It was the best she could do. Such an incident was... scarring. For a child her size and age. Especially after the incident where she burned her schoolmates alive. Lihua looked down at Lijuan as she held her hand. This child had been through so much in her young life...
...Lijuan would do great things, Lihua could feel it.
They were walking down the streets of Prince Edfield, searching for something to do. Lihua went into the emergency fund in order to buy Lijuan whatever she wanted, within reason. She took a look off to the side, and only saw the streets of Prince Ed-Field.
Something was off. Even though Lihua was bent on helping Lijuan, she couldn't shake that feeling that something was wrong here. Baron was found dead in his house just three days ago. His house was literally burnt to the ground, and there were traces of accelerant. Only problem was that they couldn't find any clue.
Someone obviously killed him.
However, Lihua didn't have the slightest clue as to who. Possibly, someone out to silence the man. She just couldn't put her finger on who would have such a grudge against Baron. If it was a Changeling - honestly, she, Meifeng, and the others, would be a larger target. Then again, that bastard had so many messy mysteries, and was so closed off that Lihua didn't want to deal with it.
It just made her a tad concerned, that's all.
It was just the itching paranoia in the back of her skull. Either way she wasn't going to focus on that, and focus on making Lijuan happy.
Shizuka had no choice but to park his big ass car a little further away from the place the twins were going to - it was a weekend, so it was no surprise that the Downtown was packed with people.
...Except for the closed-down mall where the second overload incident had happened. The shoppers were avoiding that area like a plague, but Shizuka merely saw it as an alternative route to get away from the suffocating, crowded street, and dragged his brother with him.
Haruka allowed himself to be led around by his twin - it was somewhat unnerving to get glares from passers-by at the suppressant collar around his neck. He glanced at the ruined mall. "...I wonder if it will be abandoned and left to crumble away."
Shizuka shrugged. "Probably. Superstitious fools still exist even in this era."
Haruka let out a chuckle. "Your power is definitely something they won't want to encounter."
"Either that or they can start 'worshiping' my ghostly existence," Shizuka said, rolling his eyes. He looked around - even though they had already passed by the mall area, the crowd was still thin, with only few odd individuals and pairs strolling around the inner areas of Courtbridge. It was almost like the majority were staying around the outer parts so that they could get away faster in case another Metahuman disaster struck the district again.
Which made it easy to spot a particular someone among the few.
Shizuka had hoped to pretend not to see that person and continued on, but Haruka didn't share the same sentiment as him and called out, "Hey, Lihua!"
"Hm?" Lihua vocalized as she came to a sudden stop and looked over her shoulder. A quick scan of the people calling her had told her that it was the Takashiro twins. How lovely. She didn't hold any ill will against either of them - she held Haruka in high regards, Shizuka... she could just feel the passive aggression. However, she was going to "kill him with kindness", as they say. There was no need to return such senseless aggression.
"Oh, Haruka, Shizuka," Lihua said kindly as she turned Lijuan towards them and started walking in their direction. "It's a pleasure meeting you two here."
"It's nice to meet you here too," Haruka greeted back warmly; Shizuka simply nodded and said nothing, his face impassive.
Lijuan was quiet as always. It's funny, the child was always cheerful and happy any other time.
"What brings you two here? I'm here to give Lijuan here a very special day."
"Oh?" Haruka bent down slightly and smiled at Lijuan. "Let me guess... is it your birthday today?"
Lijuan shook her head left and right. "My birthday's in October," she blankly said to him, before returning to silence.
"She's not very good with older people," Lihua was quick to say.
"...Ah." Haruka's smile faltered a little - not at the answer, but at the sight of the collar around the young girl's neck. He had heard a bit about her losing control of her pyrokinesis in school when her fire power suddenly developed. His hand went to his own collar - after the incident at Oakdell, he was still feeling guilty about all damage and death he had caused (which, according to his twin, would take years to restore the harbor back to its former glory). Shizuka had told him it wasn't his fault and he was merely being used by some assholes to further their evil needs, but they both knew that the public would still blame it on a "disaster-level" Metahuman to fuel their hatred for people with powers that they couldn't have.
"Well..." Shizuka stuffed his hands into his pockets. After the gathering with the old crew back at Sugarbush Tavern, he was starting to see the former matriarch in a less negative light, but he couldn't forgive her for what she had done so easily just yet.
Of course, he wasn't that petty to let his personal problem spoil a kid's special day. Make that two, he thought, glancing at Haruka. "Just bringing my bro here to cheer him up instead of letting him to sober at home like a hopeless puppy," he joked to lighten up the mood, earning him a look from his brother.
"Says the one who keeps skipping work to fuss over me like a nagging granny," Haruka returned the sarcasm with a raised eyebrow, hinting at Shizuka's silver hair.
"Oi, don't push your luck."
Hearing the twins bickering made Lihua laugh a little bit. She found their antics rather... charming. Rather than annoying. She found it nostalgic, in a way. "Well, today is a beautiful, beautiful day!" She cheerfully said. "I hope you two enjoy it despite everything's that's been happening..." Shizuka was probably getting the brunt of it while in RAVEN.
Shizuka stared at Lihua - he couldn't tell if she was trying to sound optimistic, or rubbing salt into their (his) wound. Just as he opened his mouth, Haruka beat him to it and spoke first, "Thank you, we will."
Shizuka understood the hint from his twin; he kept his thoughts to himself and followed up with, "As long as he stops moppin---"
"Anyway," Haruka continued on, cutting his brother off. "If you don't mind, you can join us for a meal. It's Shizu's treat."
"Oh, I'd love to," Lihua said as she put both of her hands together, realizing that she had let go of Lijuan. She briefly looked down at Lijuan. "...I'm certain she'll love to, as well." Even if she isn't talking, Lihua briefly thought to herself. She knew, from the look on Shizuka's face, that he wasn't fond of being volunteered. Though, he wasn't that against it since he wasn't speaking up.
Shizuka frowned at Haruka's sudden invitation (and the equally abrupt interruption), but shrugged in the end. He wasn't sure if he could ever reconcile with Lihua, but maybe at least he could give it a shot, to try to improve their relationship bit by bit. Also, there was something he could probably ask her about.
"So," Lihua started off. "Where is this place?"
Shizuka ran a hand through his hair. "...There's a nice Japanese restaurant called 'Shiraisake', near Chinatown."
Lihua herself wasn't too familiar with Japanese food - but, everything's a learning experience!
"Excellent, excellent, lead the way."
The last few days had been increasingly stressful for Lihn. She'd lost a few more non-metahuman clients due to all that happening meaning the number of people she actually saw was beginning to thin. Thanh had been growing increasingly insistent that Kei must return home; and when told he couldn't she just threw a tantrum.
And Lihn was scared. Her brother was a target for anyone who was anti-metahuman. That could always translate to them too. Her powers, and Thanh, were not exactly noticeable - but that didn't make the fear go away.
She had decided that the best way to relax was to go out; leave Thanh with a (trusted) babysitter and have an evening to herself. She'd texted Kei to see if he could come, but the answer had been as expected. He had, however, recommended a place for her to eat.
So she had ended up outside a Japanese restaurant named Shiraisake, reading the menu outside before she decided if she wanted to eat here. It looked nice enough. Shrugging to herself she headed inside.
Shiraisake was a pretty posh Japanese restaurant; the interior was surprisingly spacious, where there were some traditional tatami-styled seats on raised platforms with low tables and cushions aside from the standard modern tables and chairs, a contrast to the seemingly smaller storefront seen from the outside. The lights were kept dim, giving it a dreamy atmosphere, though it might amuse some to hear well-known jazz songs being sung in Japanese playing in the background.
The twins would have gone for the more comfortable tatami - if it was just the two of them. They went for the normal seats instead - a glance at Lihua's towering height told them that it was the right decision. They were already some customers around, but the restaurant wasn't particularly busy today.
Once seated, the waitress placed a menu book each before the four. "Would you like to have any drinks first?" she asked politely.
"Tea for him," Haruka began, gesturing at his twin. He then looked at Lihua. "They have the Nikka Yoichi whiskey here. Do you want to try?"
Lihua quietly looked down at Lijuan for a brief moment as she considered it, before she replied.
"...I'll pass."
Drinking in front of Lijuan was shameful. However, this restaurant was fairly... pleasant, Lihua had to say. She enjoyed the pleasant music, despite not understanding the lyrics. She was curious as to what she could eat here... Lijuan wasn't a very picky child, so would eat whatever Lihua gave her. Lihua herself had to watch her weight.
Haruka followed Lihua's gaze to the young girl. "...I see. Then I guess tea for you too. How about you, Lijuan?"
Lijuan nodded her head in agreement.
"Let's just get tea for everyone - and no, you can forget about keeping the whiskey for yourself," Shizuka spoke up, rolling his eyes at Haruka's disappointed face. "I'm very hungry now, but we can have a deluxe sushi set and some fried sides to munch on before the main course." He snapped his menu shut. "I'm here for the ramen."
"I would like some ramen, too," Lihua quickly injected. "I just want to give some real ramen a try, opposed to the disgusting blocks of depression they sell in the stores..."
...That she's regrettably been eating.
Of course the real deal is nothing like those disgusting instant junk you can buy off the shelves." Shizuka shrugged at Lihua. "For one, you'll get the actual thick pork broth with fresh ingredients, not some dried processed crap in MSG soup." He was a little amused to see another unknown side of the Zhao woman - he was often under the impression that she was a vain bitch with an expensive, classy taste, not someone who would actually consider instant noodles as food.
After they had placed their orders, Haruka tried start a conversation with Lijuan again, but she continued to give him the cold shoulder. Leaving his twin to entertain the young girl (and failing hilariously), Shizuka faced Lihua, lowering his voice, "There's something I thought I could ask you... given your past experience before you came to this land."
He tapped on his mobile a few times before he showed her the image of the same blue dragon tattoo taken from the victim from the first overload incident at the market. "...Does this look familiar to you?"
The question made Lihua raise her eyebrow, but she thoroughly examined the image to the best of her ability. It was a tattoo of a dragon going in a circle, almost like an ouroboros. Lihua herself wasn't familiar with it. So, she was going to be honest with the boy.
With a shake of her head, she said, "I've never seen it before, unfortunately." She wondered what it was. And more importantly; what it meant to Shizuka.
Shizuka sighed and switched off his phone before pocketing it without another word. Something about this tattoo kept nagging at his gut feeling, but he just couldn't quite understand why.
Another dead end.
At that moment, the waitress came to their table with a huge sushi palette. Shizuka quickly snatched up his chopsticks. "Food's finally here!" he said cheerily, albeit somewhat forced.
Haruka raised an eyebrow at his twin. "...You are weird today." But he did the same, and went for his favorite: the grilled eel.
With a smile on her face, Lihua opted out of the chopsticks for a fork. She was going to enjoy this meal.
"Shiraisake?" The younger of the Taylors interjected on his brother's behalf.
Quentin cleared his throat, "Yeah, don't lynch me. I never said pronunciation was a strong point of mine. You sure this stuff's good? I'm still feeling cramps from that Korean place in Black Falls..."
"Japanese food." Reed emphasised, "Big difference, better learn it or you will get lynched around here." Reed pointed out, with a thin chuckle.
"Still, no idea if I'll like it," Quentin complained.
"Have you even tried it?" Reed let his brother's silence hang for a moment before answering his own question. "No. Didn't think so. Quit being pessimistic, it's about time we had a chance to enjoy something. Trust me, the Asian food in this city's worth it." That day at Oakdell was still fresh in his mind, though he'd wanted to push it to the back of his mind.
Dragged out into the water, tightly clutching onto Lijuan... he was glad he'd found the girl and been able to pull the both of them back to shore.
His brother, on the other hand...
Quentin had a great many thoughts swirling through his head, few of them were good. The years since Verthaven had left him with a keen set of instincts and they hadn't truly settled from the moment he'd set foot in this city. Reed had tried to distract the both of them from it, give them both a break, but all the same - Quentin kept up his guard.
"Hello, Dr. Cross," the Mannequin said as he dropped down from the roof into the room, followed by Jiang in his misty acidic form.
The group had assembled in a large warehouse in the middle of Old Raygate. Dr. Cross has been at work getting as many of the former Hands of Science, and REAPERS from off the grid as possible. Thankfully, they were able to do it right under the nose of all their enemies.
"Hello, Mannequin," Dr. Cross said, folding her hands behind her back, and Ignatius taking her side. "I take it Old Man Winter's about to enact his plan soon."
"Yes..." the Mannequin said, hunched over. "I need all of your 'employees' to be at their finest."
Ignatius took a few steps forward, and crossed his arms. "Yeah, you've got the best of the REAPER organization."
"Hehehehe, Ignatius," Bison said as he put his hands on his sides. "Yo' pale ass came out of hiding? Well, I noticed you were a few shades lighter! Ha!"
Ignatius sneered, "Bison... someone hasn't killed you yet?" Then he said, disappointed, "...Unfortunate."
With a wide grin on his face, Bison rushed towards Ignatius, assisted by his wind manipulation. Cocking his fist back. "Heh! I'll show you something unfortunate! Freak---" he shouted, before Ignatius literally caught his fist.
Both were sent sliding back a few inches as Ignatius was struggling. Ignatius' hand was surrounded with a blood-red aura as Bison was pushing him with all his strength. He started surrounding his fist with a wind to throw Ignatius off.
"Bison! That's enough!" Eliza said as she put both hands forward, and created a giant transparent hand (which had a lilac color) that grabbed Bison and pulled him away. Before Bison could.
"Ah, the Bull is entertaining, isn't he?" Jiang asked the Mannequin.
"Bison... save your violent urges for later. We'll need you to put it to good use later," the Mannequin said.
"Sorry, but I don't appreciate little freaks like him talking down to me," Bison said, staring Ignatius down.
The REAPER general didn't say a word.
"As I was saying..." Dr. Cross said. "Is Old Man Winter ready?"
"Yes... his operation is going to be launched," the Mannequin said. "We have to be ready..."
"I'm always ready!" Bison said as he slammed his two fists together. "Just gimme the word!"
"...We have to be careful," Dr. Cross said. "The Founding Family isn't going to appreciate our defection... some of their members are... extremely unstable."
"We'll have a plan for them later," the Mannequin said. "Once Eco-Naturá causes a big enough scene to get a large RAVEN force deployed, we have to be ready."
Old Man Winter stood on top of a rooftop of a building. Far as the eye could see... were nothing but fools. He stood upon an empire of dirt... Today was the day he tears it down, and gives it back to its rightful owner. Nature.
He walked over to the edge of the building, with a cell phone in hand. He looked down on the streets of Courtbridge. They were merely expendable casualties. He was doing God's work here.
The phone in his hand buzzed, and he checked the message he just received.
The bombs have been planted, sir. We are waiting for your signal.
"Good..." Old Man Winter said to himself as he scrolled through his phonebook. There was a specific number to call to activate all the bombs. The bombs that would change this city for the better. He thought on it for a moment... he would need to decide quickly, or else he risks the bombs being discovered.
...He pressed call.
"Let the games begin."
Strategically placed around the Prince Ed-Field area were the devices made by former members of the Hands of Science by "studying" certain Metahumans. Most people would define these "devices" as bombs, due to their purpose.
When Old Man Winter called the number, a signal was sent out that basically told them all to activate. Each of the devices, cylinders in design, began to start beeping before they exploded with a bright green energy that acted like a gas as it expanded to the area around them.
Before they suddenly became nature.
Massive trees expanded from the devices, and destroyed all in their path as they quickly formed. As the area was being blanketed with a layer of vines that sprouted and coiled around everything. A tree sprouted through a building, and utterly destroyed it as people were desperately running away.
And these bombs were all over Prince Edfield, so there wasn't no escape from the destruction. Buildings were being demolished, as the death count was rising. In less than a minute, Prince Edfield began to look more and more like a forest.
It was the start of an era that Old Man Winter planned on ushering in.
Reed and QuentinTaylor.
"Ah, shit-" Quentin grunted, as he fumbled through his pocket, finding an empty space. That was unusual, to say the least - until he recalled where he'd left it. "Hold up a sec, I left my wallet in the truck. I'll go and get it."
"It's fine, I've got it-" Reed offered, drawing a hand into his own pocket.
"No, seriously - wait up for me, I'll be back in about fifteen minutes." Despite his little brother offering to cover the bill, Quentin was insistent on paying for his half. Whilst he was under his roof, he'd pay his way however he could.
Shrugging, Reed nodded and decided to pass the time by wandering just a little ways down the street, checing out the other stores and restaurants here. Seven years in Baybridge had given him plenty of time to visit the place, though quite a few storefronts were relatively new in the wake of recent refurbishments. Minutes passed, Reed reached for his phone, hoping to find just where the hell his brother had gone when he heard the first explosions.
First, the shaking started, then the ground had fractured as the plants had swarmed them. It was like Verthaven all over again - all that was missing were the Devil's creatures rising up from the ground, but even those had been substituted when vines began to seep out from the cracks and crevices in the architecture. People began to scream, panicking - Reed soon began to make a beeline for the end of the street as the plants overtook everything, narrowly avoiding the crush, except...
Down from the road he heard a screech and when he glanced in its direction his direction, thrown off course by the fractured road and vines. Reed let out a heavy grunt as he dove to avoid the car, then felt something smash against his body, the sound of shattering glass, a biting tinge as something cutting into his side. Overwhelmed on all sides, he found himself ensnared. Trapped.
Written in collaboration with @Mr Allen J, & @tsukune. Courtbridge, Prince Ed-Field
When the food got there, Lihua smiled at the waitress before she walked off. The tall woman showed restraint as she grabbed her fork, and slowly cut a piece of her shrimp tempura and slowly put it in her mouth. She was saving the ramen for later - she just loved the taste of tempura. Though, she's certain that she'd love the ramen (it's better than the blocks of depression that you'd get from Walmart). Lijuan quickly ate her food just as she predicted.
Right as Lihua began to savor the taste, the ground started shaking.
"Huh?" She said, caught off guard.
She could hear the destruction outside. Lihua looked outside, and saw a tree suddenly sprout through a restaurant across the street as the streets were being laced with scrubbery. "Huh?!" Lihua loudly said as she was surprised.
Shizuka just downed his tofu (which he had expertly picked it up with chopsticks without breaking it into pieces) when Lihua's exclamation jerked him out of his food bliss. He was amused to see the street outside the restaurant turning into a forest's understory. "Pretty sure it's not Holly's doing..."
It wasn't long before their restaurant was being affected, as well. A tree burst through the ceiling and knocked a great deal of it down as well. A block of the ceiling was knocked down over the great.
Lijuan's screams motivated Lihua to act quickly.
Jumping out her seat, Lihua raised her hands in the air, and accessed her terrakinesis to catch the falling block of concrete. It stopped in mid air, and Lihua sighed as she put it off to the side and it broke into pieces as it hit the ground.
Shizuka had pulled his twin and Lijuan to himself. The two of them still had their suppressant collar on - though he could burst Haruka out of his collar and let him use his air manipulation to work alongside Lihua. Lijuan... well, it was up to him to keep her safe so that Lihua could concentrate on her task at hand.
...Whatever. Screw the collar.
He phased the device out of Haruka's neck and threw the useless collar aside, much to his brother's surprise. "Get out of here with the kid - I'll handle the rest."
"But---"
"Just go."
It took all of Lihua's energy, and concentration to stop the roof from collapsing on them. Though, that pool of energy wasn't what it used to be. Lihua was brought to one knee, because it felt like there was a million pounds of force being pressed on her. It was the greatest feat of her strength yet. She looked off to the side, and knew that Lijuan was safe.
"M-move..." Lihua groaned underneath her breath due to the pressure. "...Move! Get her out of here!"
Haruka gave his brother one last worried look before he grabbed Lijuan's hand and they ran out of the groaning restaurant with the rest of the panicking customers and staff. In no time the store was empty sans the two agents - one former and the other current - in the middle of the restaurant.
Shizuka went over to Lihua, placing his hands on the woman's shoulders. "...You can let it go now."
He channeled his intangibility to Lihua, and the entire store collapsed onto them - or rather, the roof simply fell through the two harmlessly as if they were mere ghosts. He then pulled the woman above the wreck and released her, breaking the power connection which returned them back to their solid, normal state.
"...Let's go," was all he said before he turned around and hopped off the pile of debris onto the pavement, walking towards where Haruka was waiting with Lijuan.
The second Lihua got herself a break, she immediately dropped to her hands and knees. Frantically panting. Jesus. It felt like it was just yesterday when doing that was a menial task. She slammed her fist on the ground in shame. She was a proud woman - one that didn't need to rely on children half her age to keep herself and Lijuan alive. However, she couldn't give up just yet.
She wasn't a little girl anymore.
"Mommy?" Lijuan curiously said. "Are you okay...?"
That child's voice was enough to snap Lihua out of it.
"...I'm fine, sweetheart," Lihua said as she pushed herself to her feet. She did a slight hop as she inhaled, and then exhaled. Attempting to clear her mind. Before she was at her mental peak. She opened her eyes, and looked at the destruction before her.
Prince Ed-Field was being utterly destroyed around her. Not by bombs, or explosives, but by nature. Trees were destroying the city, all while vines and plantlife were utterly covering the ground that she stood upon. This...
She quickly stepped over to Lijuan, and put her hands over her ears. "...This seems like the work of Eco-Natura," Lihua said to both Haruka and Shizuka. Despite leaving the business, Lihua made a note to keep up to date on relevant information. The eco-terrorist group Eco-Natura. "I'm not sure... maybe they were behind the Overloads, and just wanted to test it."
"Holly's so not gonna like this," Shizuka muttered to himself. Then he spoke louder, "We can talk more about them after we get out of here." He knew about Eco-Natura, but what Lihua said in her last line struck a chord in his mind.
If the Pure, Eco-Natura, and whatever other nasty organizations (including some bastard traitors still hiding within DOVE/RAVEN) were somehow collaborating with each other beneath their noses all this while...
...Shit. Something didn't feel right about this, but he had no time to mull over his own thoughts as the greens around them were closing in.
Haruka had swiped his hands to cut a path through the thickening shrubbery with his wind blades. "This way!"
Though, Lihua gritted her teeth a bit... from that usage of her power, she had injured herself. Her skin had cracked, and flesh was exposed. It wasn't a pain unfamiliar to her, but it was bleeding.
"Lihua?" A quiet, and slightly strained voice, came from a bit to the left of the group. Lihn had been situated near the door of Shiraisake when it began to collapse; making it easy enough to escape. She approached the group of four, visibly straining as other people's panicking and fear began to get to her. However she was emanating soft calm; subconsciously shifting people's emotions in a positive direction. "What's going on?" The question wasn't directed at anyone in particular.
It was sad to see that Lihn was here. Lihua herself felt calmer just by her presence, but she felt some level of grief knowing that the woman was here. In the thick of it. Lihua held Lijuan's hand tightly, "I don't know... it's a disaster out here."
Something about this newcomer felt familiar to Shizuka, even though he was sure this was the first time he had actually met her. He also felt a strange pull - a sense of tranquility - inside him with her presence. A Metahuman who can manipulate emotions? He knew a particular someone who had a similar ability... but that wasn't the point. The Vietnamese lady obviously knew Lihua - maybe they were friends of sorts?
He was learning loads about a new, different side of the Zhao woman he had never thought he would be able to see in just one day, one random meeting; they even managed to hold a proper conversation without going for each other's neck for the first time in seven long years.
Lihn nodded, glancing towards the restaurant they came from. "The trees are going to rip everything apart." She winced. There were too many emotions; not necessarily from this small group, but from everyone else around them. She ignored the dull, nagging pain in her head.
"Which is why we should leave," Lihua was quick to note. Her time in NEST was over, and she knew that she had no stake in this. She's a fifty year old woman, and she has a daughter to protect. She had zero stakes in this. "Fast as possible."
If Prince Ed-Field was the center of the attack, the solution was simple - leave Prince Ed-Field.
"Agreed," Lihn nodded. She needed to get home and make sure that Thanh was alright. Assuming they could leave.
"Let's go, my car..." Lihua looked towards the parking complex where her SUV was parked.
A massive tree sprung out of the center of the complex, and it was knocked outwards. Destroying everything in sight - and more importantly, everything inside. It was reduced to a pile of concrete and rubble.
"Oh," Lihua blankly said. "That's..." She trailed off, trying to contain her growing anger. "...Unfortunate."
She looked off to the side, and hissed in Chinese,
"My insurance better fucking cover that."
Shizuka raised an eyebrow at Lihua, and kept his face straight at her cursing that he had clearly understood. "We can take my car instead, but we'll need to go further out a bit."
"That works," Lihua said, honestly containing her anger. "Lead the way... I'll cover us in case we run into more trouble."
Wendy Emily Lucker, Rowan Campbell, Rori Aherne, & Ellen Nile.
While Wendy was waiting for her friends to arrive, she was basically doing anything to pass the time. Fiddling with her camera, playing on her phone (checking social media or playing a mobile game like the casual she is), and just leaning up against the tree. She was wondering if they got lost, but she was hoping that they would get here soon.
Oddly enough, two of her friends, Ellen and Rowan arrived. Right when she noticed them walk off, Wendy stepped off the tree with a smile on your face. "Hey, hey, you're here." She said with a nod. She faced Ellen... and she was hoping that this would go better than the last time two friends met.
"Ellen, I've wanted to introduce you to Rowan... a friend of mine I met a few days ago." She nodded her head. "He's been helping me with some power training."
Then she faced Rowan.
"And Rowan, this is Ellen... a friend I've made at the Academy."
She smiled.
"I wanted to invite you all out here because I wanted you all to meet each other."
...And not because my older sister said to do it.
"We kinda already met... just now..."
"Yeah, what she said." Rowan shrugged.
"Oh?" Wendy was honestly hoping for a big old meeting between the two. A grand event. Now, it seems like her plans have been spoiled. Unfortunate. However, she can make the best of it regardless.
"...Now, where's Rori? Once she gets here, I'm treating you all to a day in Chinatown!"
"Sorry I'm late!" Rori arrived just around the time that Wendy mentioned them. "I'm not used to public transport at all." They shrugged sheepishly.
"Rori! You're here." Wendy said, rather pleasantly. "...And you shouldn't take it. At all." She laughed a little bit. "I used to take it before I got my moped, and it was hell."
"Hi Wendy!" Rori grinned. "And I wouldn't if it wasn't for this..." They indicated their broken arm and wing.
The girl didn't notice it at first, but Wendy realized that Rori's arm was broken. Jesus Christ. What happened to her? "Jesus, Rori, your arm..." Wendy pointed at Rori's arm. "...What happened to it?"
"Oh right, yeah, this," Rori ran a hand through their blue hair as they spoke. "You know that big hurricane thing that happened? I got caught in it as a bird. Broke a wing - seems it translates to a broken arm. So now I can't fly..." They didn't look particularly happy at that.
"Shit..." Wendy mouthed, as she felt a little bad. Yeah, she heard about what happened in Oakdell harbour. It sounded really bad, but while it was going on, she was with Rowan. She wished that she was there to help - but what really could she have done if she was? When she got caught up in the last two overload incidents, she was incapacitated pretty quickly. "Well, I'm sorry to hear that you got caught in that, I hope you get better."
Ellen echoed the expletive, and wondered aloud, "so can you still transform?"
Rori quickly responded to Ellen with a nod.
Ellen opened her mouth to speak again, realizing that there was something that Rori wasn't quite saying...
...However, the ground shaking signaled something horrible approaching.
It was yet another disaster. Wendy almost mouthed a swear as a tree burst from the building they were right next to. Fortunately, Wendy could see it coming (since she looked through the window) and quickly grabbed Rori and jumped out of the way with her in her arms.
The tree pierced through the restaurant, and would have tore through them if they hadn't moved out of the way when they did.
While Wendy was on the ground, she was heavily panting, and she looked up. She noticed the vines wrapping around everything. She was confused as hell as to what was happening... Before she realized it was another disaster.
As the vines began to overwhelm them, one instinctively flexed their arms and enclosed the four of them in metal.
The vines wrapped around the makeshift shield, a tangled mesh of metal pulled together from the debris surrounding them. Effectively saving them from getting cocooned.
Wendy looked up, and noticed that they were saved! Though, they probably should have ran.
"...Thanks Rowan," Wendy said with a nod of her head. Though, they have another problem. They're now trapped in here, and with the buildings falling apart... staying here would be foolish. And then she realized she was on Rori.
"Um," Wendy awkwardly said as she got up. "We gotta get out of here. I don't think it's a good idea to stay here with all the - you know."
It took Rori a moment to get back up onto their feet, looking a bit dazed by all that had happened. If they could fly they could have helped. They felt a bit useless as they stood, staring up at the metal that had saved them.
Ellen had managed to keep her feet, just, and turned to Wendy, "you got that right."
Realising that she probably had Rowan to thank for their metal protection she turned, "Thanks, can you use them," she indicated the metal fragments, "to cut through that stuff outside?"
"I'll... try, this thing's not easy as it looks..." Grunting, Rowan flexed his palms and gestured forward, his concentration fixated on the web of vines surrounding them. Pushing forth, the crude shield began to twist and turn, its form buckling as the teenager exerted his will upon it. "We've gotta walk," Rowan said, walking with the shield as it began to move.
"Don't push yourself too hard," Wendy said. She wondered if she could use her electrokinetic abilities to help, but, at the moment, it wouldn't do too much to help. She did realize she had a slight affinity with metal.
The effort the boy was exerting was obvious to Ellen, though she didn't muse on why it was so much more obvious than it should have been, instead she started to walk with him, picking her way carefully across the broken ground.
"So... nice to meet you... I guess?"
While Ellen was talking, Wendy thought about their situation. Being under the metal dome wasn't the problem, it was the fact they couldn't see. With the world falling apart around here. "We should get out of here - this dome, I mean." Wendy explained to Rowan. "We can't see out of this... and everything's going crazy."
"It's..." Rowan paused, "I'll try."
"Look, I'll help you," Wendy said as she sighed. This was some advanced stuff, but she needed to try something. She put both of her hands up, and electricity arced off her fingertips and touched the metal. "Ready when you are...."
"Ready." Rowan nodded and pushed forward, putting all of his concentration into parting their metallic shield. Easier said than done, but... he had to try. A long time ago, this would've been an impossible feat, but practice and a need to make it through this drove him to function.
Closing her eyes, Wendy put all she could into clearing her mind, and becoming one with the electricity. This was out of her skill-range, but she was going to give it a shot. Electricity came out of her fingertips, and went into the metal shield that Rowan created. It was pulled apart - pushed outwards - as both Wendy and Rowan put the same amount of effort into taking apart the shield.
And for a moment, there was harmony.
Resonant, the metal split down the middle, light seeping through the growing cracks in the shape. To the sound of rustling vines, buckling and snapping under the pressure of the metal pushing outwards against them, the group found themselves at the surface once more.
"Yes!" Wendy got excited, as they finally escaped. She looked around them, and saw that the city was falling apart. Looks like she had a great idea after all. They would have been crushed by a rock. Or would have walked into a river. The electricity faded away... She quickly got out and started running. "Alright, let's get out of here!"
Seraphine Campbell & Alice Barrett
Seraphine was enjoying a rare day off. Technically she was still at work, or at least one of her was. Not that there was much for her to do during the day, occasionally a client would purchase her services during the day, or for an extended period of time, though the former was only occasional and the latter downright rare. She was still dressed well though, not the exquisite dresses and outfits that she would wear for clients, but in expensive jeans and a designer top that she knew was turning heads.
Admittedly it probably wasn't the outfit that was turning heads. Though it helped. Her teachers in the Society had explained that she absolutely did not have to show skin until the clients demanded it. What a man, or woman, could visualize would be far more arousing than even the most perfect courtesan could achieve.
She'd felt like Chinese food, crappy Chinese food. She mostly avoided junk food, ate what the Society told her to, and trained with the personal trainer who was on the Society's tab. It was nice every once in a while to get out and eat crappy food full of salt and chemicals. There was the Chinese equivalent of a greasy spoon further down the street, right on the edge of Chinatown, it was a far cry from the good restaurants of the quarter. She was carrying a box from the shop, chopsticks in hand, helping herself to the fatty food.
It was cheap, unhealthy and oh so delightfully satisfying. Until it fell from her hands as she was sent sprawling. Something had caught her foot, something that hadn't been there before. She turned to shout at whatever asshole had tripped her up only to find it was a root protruding from the pavement. It hadn't been there before. Then the pavement erupted, and an entire tree forced it's way up through the concrete and asphalt. A broken slab hit the ground six inches from her head and she screamed, looking around desperately for shelter.
A petite blonde woman appeared in front of her, and Seraphine abruptly stopped screaming, almost in shock. She'd appeared literally out of nowhere. A hand seized Seraphine's and before she could protest, they were gone from the pavement.
She felt her stomach turn upside down, strange colors whirled past her eyes, but at the same time no time had past. She in a currently undamaged area, at least mostly undamaged area, and she stared around in surprise, before her body caught up to her and she bent over to empty the contents of her stomach onto the ground.
Alice watched the stunningly beautiful girl she had pulled out of the sudden wildlife of the street throw up. She was in a white summer dress, and cursing her luck. Her day off and this had happened. Another Overload attack? An actual disaster level metahuman? "No rest for the wicked. Fuck!"
She turned back to the young girl concernedly. "You ok miss?"
Seraphine was on all fours, trying to convince her stomach that since it was now empty there was nothing left to throw up. She looked up hesitantly, afraid that any sudden movements might prompt more vomit.
"What... was that?"
Alice grimaced, "the vomiting? That was me, side effect of jumping a few hundred feet in space. Sorry. The rest of it? I have no idea..."
Meifeng Zhao, Maxine Diaz & Cindy Keagan.
RAVEN/DOVE West Coast Joint Headquarters, White Coast
The last three days were days of tedious paperwork.
Cindy was the last person to complain, but when shit hits the fan it tends to make the paperwork pile. And when it piles, it tends to leave some very disgruntled employees. As high and mighty Cindy acted, she was one of them. She was at her desk, and simple writing away. Not only did she have to help clean up after the Overload attacks, but she also had her usual paperwork on top of it.
"Uuuuuugh!" Cindy said as she leaned back in her chair. Throwing her hands over her face. She was so stressed, pent up, and irritated lately. She just wanted a ten year break. From work, and all this bullshit.
Though, nobody said that she couldn't take a break.
Reaching for her phone, Cindy decided to play a little mobile game to relieve some stress. Just to keep herself from going insane. She was playing Candy Crush, and having a great time. She was racking up a rather high score, too!
"...Cindy!" Meifeng loudly barged into the room, and shouted.
"Oh!?" Cindy almost dropped her phone. It fell in between her legs, and she had to clench them together to catch it. After that was settled, she looked back up at Meifeng. "Girl, you gotta knock." She said, annoyed.
"Girl," Meifeng returned with venom in her voice. "It's a disaster out there!" She pointed at the door. "Prince Ed-Field is being torn apart by plants and shit."
"Huh?" Cindy said. "Is it another Overload?"
"We're not sure, but we need to get out there, now." Meifeng said.
"Alright," Cindy said as she got up, she quickly ran out the door, followed by Meifeng. They needed to get to Prince Ed-Field fast as possible.
However, the problem with that is that most of their agents were already in Prince Ed-Field. They needed to go get some agents that were already in Headquarters. And that meant that Cindy would have to, once again, swallow her pride for the sake of helping everyone else.
And what she meant by that was...
Meifeng and Cindy burst into the break room, and saw Maxine Diaz.
...Recruiting Max.
"Yo, Max," Meifeng greeted the brown-haired Spanish girl. "Want to put even more fucking paper work on your desk?"
Cindy shook her head as she stepped up.
"Max, there's a disaster in Prince Ed-Field, and we need as many RAVENs as possible there," Cindy said.
"Eh? Definitely don't want more paperwork," Max looked up from where she was aimlessly looking on her phone before standing up. "I guess I better do my duty as a RAVEN, though. What exactly is happening?" She sighed slightly. Another disaster. Great.
"It's..." Meifeng said, trying to find the best way to explain it. "...Trees and shit are sprouting up from all over the place, and causing tons of destruction."
"Sounds like Eco-Natura." Cindy added.
"Righhttt," Max frowned. "Guess this shit never stops," she half muttered to herself. "I just need to go change into armour and I'm good to go." She was just hoping her regen would somehow save her from being killed by trees. However dangeorus they may be.
"Alright, everyone get ready," Cindy said. "I gotta grab some body armor..." She trailed off.
"Suit up!" Meifeng said as she ran off.
"Aye aye, captain," Max responded in a half-mocking tone before hurrying off to get suited up.
Missy Baroness, & Megan Jervious.
Coutbridge, Prince Ed-Field
"...Mmmm." Megan loudly mouthed the noise as she ate a piece of sushi with a piece of chop sticks. She was in a state of bliss as she sat in this sushi bar. Eating the most delicious sushi in the world! "...This is the most delicious sushi in the world! Don't you agree?"
Because she could never use them for the life of her, Missy opted out of chopsticks, and preferred to eat her sushi with her hands. She dipped it in spicy mayo, before she ate it whole. She enjoyed the taste, but she couldn't help but feel the welling grief. "...Yeah, it's pretty good."
"But, why so glum?" Megan said.
"It's just..." Missy was about to speak her mind, "...old ghosts."
"Oh?" Megan questioned. "Elaborate, please."
"I just ran into someone I thought I knew... probably didn't recognize me..." Missy stared at the surgical mask that was neatly folded and placed next to her plate. "...Or forgotten. Hopefully." She lowly said.
"Sounds like... you've had a rough life, love," Megan said. "You clearly have history with the Changeling Unit - can't say I'm surprised, they were the nastiest bunch of people I've come across."
Missy didn't say anything.
"...I wish I could have stopped them when I got the chance," Megan said. "I had history with the Unit myself - I could have done more to stop them, and the Hands, from getting so powerful, and before they became such gigantic threats."
Missy raised and eyebrow, and gave Megan a look.
"Oh, don't give me that look, I was never a Changeling," Megan flagged Missy off, as she awkwardly laughed a bit. "...But, I might have maybe played a part in what made Luis such a sick little puppy!"
That made Missy narrow her gaze even further.
"But, that's a long story, and something I'll gladly tell you after you tell me your past!" Megan loudly, and cheerfully said.
"Huh, what?" Missy said.
"C'moooooooooooon," Megan said like she was much younger. "You can't get a tragic past, without sharing one!"
Missy sighed.
"...Alright," She resigned, defeated. "It started in Verthaven..."
It's been a rather lengthy conversation, but Missy gave her boss everything she needs to know. All Megan could do was give her a rather sympathetic look as if she was thinking on her past.
"...So that explains your grudge with the Mannequin." Megan said. "I... completely understand."
"I... just feel so much anger... so much rage.... and I can't ever get rid of it!" Missy said as she slammed her fist on the table. The table created a loud sound that drew the attention of everyone nearby. "I... I... I can't explain it, and it's driving me insane."
"I know what it is," Megan said. "It's unresolved emotions... Even though Luis died, you can't get out of your head what he did to it... It's the very definition of pure hatred. I can't ever say you'll get rid of it."
Missy sighed as not a single word left her lips.
"...But, what you need to do is get contact with your former friends," Megan said with a smile. "I'm certain they would be glad to see you."
"Huh?" Missy said. "No... I can't do it." She shook her head. The mere prospect filled her with fear, guilt, and shame. "It's too late for that..."
"C'mon, sweetheart," Megan said, "It's never too late! You'll have people who can really help with your growing insanity."
Missy gave Megan that look again.
"C'mon, love!" Megan shrugged with a goofy smile on her face. "All that hatred ain't good for you... you need a little bit of love to balance it out!"
Another sigh escaped Missy as she resigned.
"...I'll do it." Missy nodded her head, finally accepting it.
"Yay!" Megan said... and drew eyes on their table yet again. "You know, I wish I had friends like yours. They're all dead, or insane."
That reminded Missy...
"Oh..." She trailed off. "What about your past, Megan?"
"Oh, yeah, almost forgot," Megan said. "You see... two hundred years ago-"
Before Megan can explain the greatest backstory of all time, the ground started shaking, and cracking.
"Oh my, e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-earthquake!" Megan loudly said as her teeth started jittering. The buildings around them were collapsing as Chinatown was being turned into a literal jungle. So much destruction.
"The hell is going on?!" Missy said as she looked around.
"Disaster!" Megan said.
Missy looked out the window, and her eyes opened up as the biggest coincidence occurred. It was the man she almost killed before, and the silver-haired RAVEN - running alongside a tall woman that Missy couldn't mistake who was holding a child's hand.
"...It's them!" Missy said as she hopped out of her chair.
"Well, what are you waiting for?!" Megan cheerfully said. "After them!"
It wasn't what Missy had planned today, but it was what she was going to do.
The Mannequin, & Jiang Song.
Courtbridge, Prince Ed-Field
Both the Mannequin, and Jiang stood on a rooftop that overlooked the destruction.
They could see the destruction from up here. Trees were sprouting in places that they never should have been.
"Ahhhhhhhhhhhh," Jiang said, as he looked down at it with his hands behind his back. "This destruction... It's almost beautiful, I'm almost glad the place is being turned into one big forest. Wouldn't you say, Mannequin?"
The Mannequin only tilted his head slightly.
"It doesn't make any difference to me."
"Of course it doesn't," Jiang said with a sinister smile. "Old Man Winter may be an idiot, but he's certainly going to make this city look interesting."
The Mannequin was silent as Jiang stepped off the side of the roof, more towards the center of the rooftop.
"...I'm still wondering if you're an idiot myself," Jiang said. "I still am rather in the dark about your true motives, and past, after all."
"This again?" The Mannequin's monotone voice almost formed a groan.
"Yes, yes, yes, this again." The scientist said with a wry grin on his face.
"If it will satisfy you..." The Mannequin longed for the days he could express emotions as if he could. "I was born Heinrich Thòrmer... A young boy born at the turn of the century. The late... eighteen hundreds."
The Mannequin never explained his past to anyone other than Luis. He was an ambiguity, after all.
"I was born... born with a gift. As a child, I realized I had an affinity with medicine and technology that was eras ahead of the time. It took me ages before I truly understood it, but I finally managed to do so as I grew with age. I looked back... and saw all the brilliant inventors, and chose to become one of those men. Someone who would change the world for the better, and be remembered."
"However, for a Metahuman like myself, that was harder than anticipated. Technology back then... was not easy to come across, or even make practical use of. Along with the fact that no one took me as a credible man of science without the certificates. In order to achieve credibility, I became a scholar, and easily passed through the courses."
"That excellence gave me attention from... let's say..." The Mannequin trailed off, he walked on all fours as he moved towards Jiang. "...Around this time, the Nazi party was rising, and I was a perfect supporter."
"I myself didn't share the same ideals as my fellow Germans at the time... It was the only way I would receive any recognition as a man of science," The regretfully said. "I helped the research projects, and many developments of German science.... when the concentration camps came around, I was one of the many scientists doing human experimentation... I knew Metahumans were looked down upon even by the very top in the Nazi Party, but few could deny how useful they were."
"However, interest came when my superiors wanted to know more about Metahumans, and I was happy to oblige... I discovered much about Metahumans that, strangely ended up being "discovered" by the likes of the ISD. Pitiful."
"Once the war came to a close... my brand of "science" had to come to a close," The Mannequin started off. "I went on the run, fearing that I would be tried for war crimes, and executed... I didn't deserve nothing more."
"That's when I came across Luis, and the Lazarus Society... you should know what happened next. I found love in New Eden, had a child... fortunately, they were spared from the destruction of New Eden."
However, the Mannequin took a more somber stance, as his words conveyed his emotions quite nicely.
"But, they couldn't be spared from time, as the years went by my wife and child died from illness. I wish I could have saved them, but I was busy serving with Luis' Changeling Unit... it was regrettable, truly. I could have saved them - because, as my body failed, I replaced it with machinery...."
"...Until I abandoned everything... my flesh, my sanity, my name... until there was nothing but the Mannequin. I longed for means to revive them, and return my body, so I can properly continue my work."
"Then... after the Verthaven Disaster, I found much information on the Hands of Science's various projects... and one caught my eye," The Mannequin stared at Jiang, if he had eyes, they would be piercing through him. "The Genesis Project. A machine that could restore any biological organism to a previous state in it's lifecycle. Any organism. Long as there's DNA, or a piece of that person... I have all the components I need."
"It was completed, before RAVEN came in and confiscated the device. Thanks to a contact within DOVE, I tracked it to their headquarters... it's just gathering dust in their storage room."
"...I want it."
"And to get it you must distract them?" Jiang suggested. "It all makes sense. So much sense. You wanted to save your family all along."
"Yes." The Mannequin said. "I... just want to return them... However, I also want a new beginning. No longer will I be the Mannequin... I want to return my knowledge to the world... which is why I'm making one last operation... which will show the death of the Mannequin, and the rebirth of Heinrich."
"Ah, I see," Jiang said. "You know I'm behind you all the way, my friend."
"Good..." The Mannequin said. "I will return the favor, I promise."
"A surprising display of humanity from a machine, I see."
Before their conversation could continue, their lovely friend Bison phoned in.
"Hey, Freako!" Bison loudly shouted into the comms. "When are we going to do our thing at their headquarters? RAVEN must be swarming the scene!"
The Mannequin looked down from the rooftop.
"...We need a bigger distraction."
...
???
Inside a dark room, in a place that was a mystery.
A tall man sat on a sofa. His bright cigar was the only light in the room. He sat there, motionless. However, he wore a black armor, with a long coat draped over it. Consistent with the description of the Pure Sniper. Except, sans the imposing helmet. He sat hunched forward, and enjoyed his cigar. His face was blurred.
The room was silent - until footsteps entered the room. Tapping against what had to be a tile floor, were some heels as a woman approached the man. In the darkness, she was concealed. He raised his head at her, and gave her a stare.
She handed the man a folder, and he opened it up and looked at it.
"I have a mission, straight from the Blessed Three," She said, starting off. "Your orders should be in the folder, you should know what to do from there..."
She placed a metal briefcase on the table, and opened it. Revealing darts full of a blue liquid unlike what Mason Conner was using.
"...Black Hound."
The Black Hound put his helmet on.
"I'll get right on it..." He stated, his voice was digitally altered.
As they were running, trying to follow after Shizuka (who could easily ghost though anything in his way while the rest either had to blast the obstacles out of the way or were forced to go around them), they were also being followed by another group of people. Missy and Megan were hot on pursuit.
It was hard to notice given all the destruction.
Passing through the debris and the tangled web of vines, Shizuka saw a human figure snared in one such trap, their predicament worsened only by the chassis of a car which held them in place.
As he drew closer, it became clear they were alive. His eyes widened when he recognized who this person was.
"Reed?!" He phased the figure out of the trap. "Hey, old man!" He turned to look around - he was still ahead of the rest of the group.
"Grh... Haru?" he mouthed for a moment, before realising. Wrong twin.
"Shizu," the younger Takashiro corrected him automatically. More importantly, they had to keep moving, if they didn't want to be lost in this growing forest of doom (which seemed to continue expanding at an alarming rate). He quickly pulled Reed to his feet. "I hope you can still walk - we have to keep going."
"Yeah, I'll... keep up," Reed nodded, clenching his teeth as the pain started to bite once more. Blood was smeared across his jacket, a clear gash in his side from where the glass had torn into his side. Knowing it would slow him down, he pressed two fingers against his side and watched as he drew it back inside, clotting the wound.
When the rest of the group had finally caught up, Haruka gasped at Reed's state. "Wha---?"
"No time to explain. Just keep moving!" Shizuka urged, with Reed in agreement on that one.
However, it wasn't long until the group ran up to an intersection, and there was a collapsed building in the way. They were going to have Shizuka phase all of them through the obstacle.
"W-wait!" Missy called, and made the group stop.
Well, here comes the moment of truth. Missy said as she ran up to them. Yeah... there was no mistake. She had found the people she was looking for.
"Hm?" Lihua said, raising an eyebrow. "What is it? We have to get out of here." Though, taking a look at the girl... Lihua couldn't help but notice that she looked familiar. To whom was the question.
The twins exchanged looks. Just when they thought their mysterious hoodie girl wouldn't show herself before them this soon, but no - here she was, and it seemed like she had been following them the whole time.
"Oh, hey!" Megan cheerfully said, and waved at them. "My friend here has something to say!" She put both of her hands out, as if she was introducing Missy.
Missy pulled her collar, nervous. This was much harder than she once thought.
"...I wanted to say that I'm sorry for almost killing you," Missy said to Haruka, wussing out of it at the very last second.
Shizuka narrowed his eyes at Missy, but Haruka raised a hand before his brother to stop him. The elder twin nodded at her in response but remained silent - he had known back then that she didn't mean to actually kill him (she had stopped herself in time the moment she recognized him), and he already forgave her in his heart. He waited for Missy to continue - he had a feeling that she didn't call out to them just to say an apology.
He was waiting for her to confirm the suspicion he had towards her. An old ghost that everyone had thought was long gone.
Megan rolled her eyes up into her head.
"Oh my God, Missy," Megan put a hand on her hip. "You can't back out now, since you already got them interested!"
"Alright, well..."
However, before Missy could reveal herself, a large block of ice hit the ground near them. The size of a small building.
"What the hell?!" Missy said, as she jumped, and faced the block of ice. She stared at it curiously, almost ready to deploy a bone spear.
When the block of ice took a brand new form - it turned into a huge humanoid colossus. With a thin body, and huge, bulky limbs. Its head was a glowing blue orb.
"Oh dear..." Lihua said, she would get ready, but she was still spent from the time she saved the group.
Haruka had noticed the injury on Lihua's arms, from the time when she held up the restaurant ceiling with her power to save them. He shook his head at her. "You don't have to keep pushing yourself too hard - we will watch your back while you can look after Lijuan." He gave the young girl a small smile. "She still needs you."
A smile appeared on Lihua's lips. She wished that she could help, but it's time for an old time like her to retire and let the young ones handle this. Holding tightly onto Lijuan's hand, Lihua said, "Let's go." Before she ran off.
Meanwhile, Shizuka swore at the ice golem, "God. Damn. It." He was getting really annoyed that his plan to spend some good time with his twin was turned upside down with yet another dumb terrorism act - by turning the downtown into a bloody rainforest.
"I do not like fucktards who interrupt us in the middle of a very important conversation."
With Lihua and her daughter now gone, Haruka went over to Lihn's side. She looked like she was in some silent pain. "...Are you alright?"
Lihn had only been half paying attention to what was going on around her, mostly concentrating on trying to keep the emotions of those around her stable while blocking out the others. It was taking a toll, however, and her head was starting to hurt. "Huh," she blinked as she looked at Haruka, just noticing he had moved over. "Not really. I'm probably going to get a migraine soon."
Seeing that the golem had its attention on the two mysterious girls who had followed them here, Shizuka decided to leave it to them, and bail out with Reed and Lihn instead. "Sorry, but we'll have to leave that iceman to you!"
He still had Reed in one hand; he gestured his other hand to Haruka to grab his shoulder before he held it out to Lihn. "C'mon. And you better take in a deep breath and hold it."
"Okay," was all Lihn said in response, taking Shizuka's hand and preparing to do as he said. They didn't have time for her to ask why - her mind was beginning to become too fuzzy to process it anyway.
Without wasting another breath, Shizuka dragged the three straight towards the fallen building and they disappeared into the wreck, before they finally reappeared on the other side.
Haruka immediately stepped away from his twin, breathless. He could never get used to Shizuka's power, no matter how many times he had experienced it. It was a mystery how Shizuka could be perfectly unfazed with such an uncomfortable power. He stared at the fallen building - in the direction where Missy was left behind. So close, yet so far...
Shizuka was barely even panting, unlike his brother. "Let's go," he said blankly, then he simply continued on the way to get out of the expanding vegetation, with Reed in tow.
The other two nodded and ran after the silver-haired agent.
The Mannequin was desperately trying to devise a way to attract even more attention to this one spot.
The more RAVENS that are out of the base the better, if the Mannequin's plan is going to be a success. Which is why the Mannequin hadn't killed Old Man Winter yet. If Eco-Natura is seen attacking civilians, the plan would go better. Though, the Mannequin was developing an idea.
He was staring down his scope, and spotted an interesting group of people.
It was Lihua Zhao... he couldn't forget that face, especially since he was stalking her. Nemesis of the Changeling Unit during their time in Verthaven, and the rest would have to be members of the RAVEN organization. He kept tabs on them, and knew what would work and what wouldn't.
The Mannequin had the most devilish idea.
The Mannequin contacted Bison through the comms.
"Bison," the machine spoke into his ear.
"Well, look who it is, it's the Mannequin - called to ask how I'm doing?" Bison asked with a smile.
"I need you to convince Winter to order his forces to attack people, turn this situation into a massacre."
If it didn't work, the Mannequin had a plan of his own.
Bison walked up to Old Man Winter with a grin on his face.
"Y'know, the best idea just occured to me!" Bison shouted with a grin. "We should let these fools know we mean business! And by that I mean, we should send a message, I say that we start tearing them up, just so they know Eco-Natura isn't something they should be messing with."
"It is already in my plans..." Old Man Winter said. "We need to defend our progress, after all. We can't let fools just come in, and ruin everything we've done."
With a snap of his fingers, Old Man Winter managed to touch his earpiece. "Brothers and sisters, it's time for the next phase of our glorious reclaimation... lay waste to everything they built! Destroy it all! Show no mercy!"
It wasn't long before the member of Eco-Natura sprung from hiding, and decided to escalate a poor situation to an all out riot. Members of Eco-Natura filled the streets with violence and mayhem, as they destroyed every building in sight, and beat up whoever was unfortunate enough to get in their way.
"Good, good, good!" Bison slammed his fists together. "I'm gonna get down there!"
Bison leaned in, and tapped Winter on the shoulder.
"Oh yeah, before I go," Bison pointed at Lihua's group. "They're with RAVEN... if you get them out of the picture, maybe your plan would go a little smoother."
"Hmph," Old Man Winter said, "I'll take care of them myself!"
It wasn't long before he put his hand straight out, and a beam of ice came out of the palm of his hand. He created a path of ice, and skated his way right down it. Second he was on street level, he raised that same hand up into the air, and a stream of ice came out of it. It eventually formed a large block of ice, that he then launched at them. If they weren't killed in the initial attack, they would be taken out by the golem being created.
"Hehehehehe!" Bison said, "Your plan is, well, goin' as planned. But we better split," Bison started off, "Liz probably set up the bomb on the bridge by now, and we know we're all on a really tight schedule."
"Agreed," the Mannequin said, before he faced Jiang.
Who was staring at the group through his binocolar. One person in particular caught his attention. "... Qiaolian?" He asked himself. "She's here of all places?!" He said in disbelief, that turned into anger.
"We have to move-" The Mannequin tried to say.
"No thank you," Jiang said. "I have unfinished business to take care of!"
Jiang turned into his purple acid form, and quickly melted his way through the building as he moved towards Lihua's group.
A spear of white bone erupted from Missy's wrist, as she stared up at the golem. She has no idea what the hell it is, where it came from, or why it's attacking them - but she does know that letting it do as it pleases would not be beneficial for her new "friends." She couldn't do much to ice, but she was going to try.
"...Heeeeeey, Rush," Megan spoke on the phone. "Mind coming to Chinatown? Oh, it's in Courtbridge. Bring Ray and the Nemesis, please."
The Golem took a step forward.
"Like, right now." Megan said, worried. "Oh, you're already in the area? Well, look for the big thing!"
It raised its foot into the air over Missy, but she was quick to dive out of the way. When its foot hit the ground, it caused such a shockwave that it would knock anyone not fully braced over.
Missy herself was wondering how she was going to pierce through ice. It had to have a weakness. However, Megan wasn't intent on standing by. She hopped on the golem's shoulder, and laughed.
"Hello," Megan said, as she quickly transformed her hand into a long drill. She quickly jammed it into the golem's shoulder, and used her ability to drill into the golem. The cyro elemental started thrashing and that knocked Megan off it.
"Whoops!" Megan said as her hand turned into a liquid and grabbed onto a nearby street lamp. They would need some solid heavy hitters to take this thing out. Though, the sound of the car speeding up made Megan smile. She looked at it, and it was the exact vehicle used by her group.
Except, Ray and the Nemesis were on the roof of the vehicle.
"Alright, we're rolling up!" Ray said, as he knelt down, and put his hands together, palms up, as if he was hoisting the Nemesis somewhere. However, two giant copies of his hand appeared, and the Nemesis stepped on them.
The second they got in range, Ray threw his hands up, and tossed the Nemesis through the air. The Brute cocked his fist back, and threw a mighty punch at the Golem, which scattered the left side of it's body into tiny pieces. While Ray came flying up into the air, and stomped in mid air, which was enough to smash the golem even more, sending it stumbling backwards.
Both the Nemesis and Ray landed on the ground, as Rush sweerved in using his vehicle.
"Yay! Good show everyone!" Megan said, clapping her hands together.
However, the Golem wasn't done yet.
It got back up on it's feet, before it started charging at the group. Ray, who had his hands in his pockets, rolled his eyes up into his head. "God, would it kill you to just stay down?" He asked, annoyed. He threw a kick forward, and knocked the golem over. It landed right before their feet.
The Nemesis was the one who dealt the finishing blow, as he took a step forward, put both of his hands together, and brought it down on the golem as a axe handle blow. The Golem shattered into pieces.
"Excellent, excellent, excellent!" Megan said. "Now you all know why I hired the whole lot of you!"
"Hmph," Ray crossed his arms. "What we can do... we do it good." He said.
"Now, let's find Missy's fri-" Megan looked around, and noticed that they were all gone. "Well, bloody hell."
"Okay, I don't know what you two are up to," Ray shrugged, "But, I'm not gonna ask at this point."
"We have. Reached the point. Where we no longer question." Rush blankly stated. "Only inquiry is. Who's behind this?"
Megan looked around.
"I'm not sure if our friend the Mannequin has anything to do with it..." Megan trailed off as she thought about it. "...But, I wouldn't cross that off just yet."
"Well, what are our orders?" Ray asked.
Megan looked between Missy, and then Ray.
"Let's investigate, and see if the Mannequin, or the Hands, have something to do with this," Megan said. "Missy... your orders is to find your friends!"
"Me?" Missy said. "No, I'm-"
"I need you at your best, little girl!" Megan cheerfully said. "You have to rid yourself of all these undisclosed desires!"
Nodding her head, Missy turned off and ran towards where Lihua went.
"I have something," Rush said. "Last encounter. Scanned Mannequin's system. Know him. From head to toe."
"Oooooooooh!" Megan said. "Attaboy!"
"Not all," Rush started off. "I am able to tune. Into his frequencies. Know his signals."
"And?" Rush said, as the Nemesis walked up to Rush.
"He is in the area. Communicating. With a distant ally. Can triangulate," Rush explained. "However. One message. Caught my attention."
Rush raised his hand up into the air, tapping a few buttons on his wrist mounted device as he played back what he already recorded.
"Hey, Freako! When are we going to do our thing at their headquarters? RAVEN must be swarming the scene!"
They didn't know who it was, but what he was saying was... quite concerning.
"...We need a bigger distraction." The Mannequin said.
Megan looked quite interested. "...When did you get this?"
"We were tracking the Mannequin while you were on your girl-date," Ray said. "That's why we were in the area." He crossed his arms.
"Not all." Rush stated, he played another recording.
"Hehehehehe! Your plan is, well, goin' as planned. But we better split, Liz probably set up the bomb on the bridge by now, and we know we're all on a really tight schedule."
"Agreed."
The Mannequin and his mystery conspirator said.
"Oh dear... they're after something in RAVEN headquarters." Megan put her finger on her chin. "We should warn them!"
"It's the best idea we got, if they take out the Mannequin, we don't have to," Ray said. "Though..."
"What is it?" Megan asked.
"Nothing, let's get a move on." Ray said, gesturing towards the car.
Lihua Zhao, and...
Courtbridge, Prince Ed-Field
The only thing on Lihua's mind was getting the hell out of here.
No matter the cost. Which is why she was running fast as she could towards Shizuka's car. She didn't know what the others were up to, but she was hoping that they were okay. She didn't get the idea that the golem was after her - for all she knew, it could be after that mysterious stranger. It wasn't her problem - as crass as that sounded. She kept running, and running, despite fatigue catching up to her. Looks like adrenline doesn't give her the energy it should.
While they were running, a splash of a purple liquid seemingly fell out of the sky in front of them. It sizzled as it dissolved the pavement, and plantlife in it's way. The two came to a stop, as Lihua raised an eyebrow. She quickly looked up to see where it could have came from, but she couldn't find a source...
"My, my, my..." A voice came from the purple liquid as it quickly took a form. A humanoid shape of an average heighted man... Lihua didn't know who it was, but she was on guard. She put Lijuan behind her, while taking steps back.
Until it formed the complete form of Jiang Song. He stared at Lihua.
"I couldn't believe my eyes when I first saw you, but now it's confirmed..." Jiang said with a sinster grin on his face. "...Qiaolian."
That name made Lihua's heart race. After getting a good look at the man, she knew exactly who he was.
"...Jiang." Lihua hissed.
"It's been so long, Qiaolian, how have you been?" Jiang asked, with a cocky smile on his face. "I bet you've been living the American dream... I see how a traitor like yourself would not only betray her country, but her own heritage on a whim."
Lihua grit her teeth. "One; I am not Qiaolian - at least, not anymore." She hissed. "Two, I did not betray anyone... I did what was truly necessary to protect what's mine."
Lihua's mind flashed back to that one night. The night she massacred the Hei Long with Bohai... It was not pretty.
"Truthfully... I stand with no nation," Lihua was quick to say. "I am my own woman, Jiang. Always have, always will be."
"Ah, that validates so much." Jiang said with a smile on his lips.
"Mommy, who's-" Lijuan said, before Lihua loudly shushed her.
""Mommy?"" Jiang said, amused. "Let me guess, you mothered another bastard. Let me see her."
"In hell, you bastard." Lihua said as she was intent on keeping Lijuan safe. She reached into her purse, and opened up the secret compartment. She was going to end this in a second, and blow Jiang's head off.
"Nonsense!" Jiang said as he flicked both hands together, and generated acid, and shot flecks of it at Lihua. She slammed her foot onto the ground, and the pavement rose up into the air, and took the acidic substance instead. However, the rocks were melted with ease.
"It's been sixteen years, Qiaolian," Jiang said as he got into a pose - his hand straight, but his arm bent by the elbow, standing straight up - facing her as acid began to drip down his arm. Melting his clothes. "Sixteen years since you betrayed the Hei Long, and went on a rampage... sixteen years I've been looking somewhere for revenge. When I couldn't find you, I turned my eye against the government for turning you into a soldier... Because, sixteen years ago..."
The acid pooled at Jiang's feet.
"...You killed my precious siblings in your little rampage - along with my first son."
The final words Jiang said haunted Lihua. She didn't give much thought to the people she killed... but, now she realized that she created this monster.
Which was why it's her business to slay it.
She was exhausted, but she was going to give this her all. Lihua slammed her foot on the ground, and lifted up more chunks of stone out of the ground. She followed that up with a punch that sent them all flying straight for Jiang. However, the man merely turned into acid, and they passed through him - melting to slag by his acid.
It was time for Jiang's counterattack as he hopped up into the air as a giant orb that went over the concrete. He tried to land right on Lihua, but as Lijuan screamed, she dove out of the way. However, the woman found it hard to get back up. She pushed herself up with her arms. By this time, Lijuan had gotten up, and tried pulling Lihua to safety. A noble gesture.
But, Lihua had to get up herself. She saw that Jiang was approaching her from behind, firing a jet of acid at her. She managed to launch herself off the pavement they were on. However, there were some heavy wounds being dealt to her body. She was already bleeding. There were already cracks on her face that were oozing blood. Not to mention the fact that manipulating concrete was already straining enough.
"Not fast enough!" Jiang loudly shouted as he shot a ball of acid at Lihua. She wasn't in the position to properly defend, and the orb splashed against her shoulder. She let out a hoarse yell as the pavement she was riding on hit the ground as she ran out of focus. Lihua screamed as the acid caused her horrible burns.
All while Jiang was getting closer.
The rest of the group had finally managed to catch up with Lihua, but they weren't expecting to see the woman writhering on the ground covered in blood and burns, screaming in agony.
"Zhao?" As he bore witness to the matriarch being approached by her assailant, Reed's eyes darted towards Lijuan, cowering behind her mother - and something drove him to reach for his sidearm. "Back away, now!" He growled, in a tone with such a threat in it that he sounded just like his elder brother, if only for a moment.
Shizuka immediately went for Lijuan and pulled her away - the last thing anyone (especially Lihua) wanted to see was the little girl getting hurt by the acid just like her own mother. Lihn followed Shizuka, to make sure the Lijuan was okay - and to help prevent her from having any kind of breakdown. Haruka threw out some wind blades towards the approaching Jiang to reiterate Reed's point.
Jiang looked very annoyed when the blades of wind hit him. He instinctively turned into acid, and the attacks launched against him merely reduced him to a puddle of acid. It quickly dissolved the ground, before Jiang quickly took a human shape, but not returning to his vulnerable human form. So, he was walking towards Lihua like a blob.
"This has nothing to do with the likes of you," Jiang said, his voice was warbled. "This is between me, and Qiaolian." He addressed the group.
Then, whilst still moving forward, he swatted some of his acid towards Reed, who recoiled and cursed as it made contact, throwing off his coat in haste as the corrosive substance slowly burned and ate its way through the material. Close, he'd thought for a moment, before his focus snapped back towards the stranger facing Lihua. Lijuan, where's... and then he saw the girl, with Shizuka pulling her aside.
Grasping for his sidearm yet again, he called to them, "Shizu, get the kid out of here!"
Shizuka had made sure he kept the little girl close to his side - it did help that she was obedient and quiet. He didn't need to be told twice by Reed; with Lijuan still safe by his side, he nodded to Lihn. "You heard the old man - let's move!"
He knew he could leave Lihua to Reed; besides, that proud woman probably wouldn't want a kid like him to save her old ass again.
"I will watch your backs," Haruka said, bringing up the rear as the four ran away from the battle they had no business with.
It took another moment for Reed to level his sidearm with Jiang once more, but this time he didn't hesitate in pulling the trigger.
The bullet merely went through his acidic form. Jiang didn't even flinch as the bullet just hit the wall behind them. Though, it was mostly dissolved by then. I'll just have to burn a hole through you, then. He thought to himself as his arm stretched, and went flying towards Reed's chest all while it was dripping dangerous acid.
Oh, man. Reed had barely a moment to react to Jiang's attack, but the short distance he'd moved left the blow off-target. Not again! Instead, it scraped past his arm. His left arm. "F-fuck-aargh!" was about all he had time to curse as the corrosive substance seeped into his skin, eating away as if it were flame. The pain was even worse than when the Devil's creature had bit him all those years ago.
But he was still in one piece and still on his feet, if only just.
Jiang wondered what this man was thinking. Heroism... Well, heroes don't last that long. He peeked over Reed, and gritted his teeth. Lihua got away! Damn it.
While Reed was keeping Jiang occupied, Lihua was making her escape. Her left shoulder was horribly burned by the acid. Parts of her clothes were dissolved, and what was left was hanging off her like scraps. She couldn't crawl on all fours, for that reason. She gritted her teeth, and contained her pain, because she couldn't show pain. No weakness. Lihua managed to get up onto her feet, and clenched her burned limb as she scambered off after Shizuka.
Jiang let out a hoarse hiss... Lihua could be anywhere. No matter. He'd find her eventually. He didn't know who this man was, but she must be weak if she's hiding behind him. Jiang started dissolving into a pool of acid. In his puddle form, he went into the sewer grate, and disappeared into the sewers.
Meanwhile, Reed could only watch and take a few sullen steps back, the burning sensation still coursing through his arm. Why do you get yourself caught up in this shit?
Meifeng Zhao, & Cindy Keagan.
Courtbridge, Prince Edfield.
The first Golem went down, Old Man Winter was disappointed.
However, it didn't matter, because he had already changed this great city. The cyrokinetic man started walking, and made it to the edge of a hill. He saw the city before him. It was being wrapped in trees, and plantlife. Prince Edfield - the pinnacle of arrogance - was being transformed into a forest. It was perfect. This is what Eco-Naturá was made for. Perfecting-
"...Hey, asshole," Cindy said as she pressed a gun against the back of his head. "If you're done jizzing yourself, you're under arrest."
Old Man Winter... a wanted terrorist. Just making himself an easy target. Cindy didn't know what was going through his head. Maybe he was just observing the beautiful sights.
"Aaaaaaand just in case you think you got this," Meifeng chimed in as she reached for the power suppressant collar. "It's three on one Eco-Terrorist, so make this easy for yourself."
Old Man wondered if this was going to be it. The end of his dream. He could try to fight, but it was risky with the woman with a gun pressed against his skull.
Right as Meifeng stepped up, however... a whole new party just entered the mix. An even more destructive party.
A dart came out of no where, and struck Old Man Winter in the neck.
"Huh?!" Cindy quickly took several steps back, but kept her pistol trained on Winter. "Wher- where did that come from?" Cindy quickly looked up to see a figure on the rooftops, standing tall with a rifle in hand.
"Oh shit!" Meifeng said. She noticed the glowing blue contents being injected into Old Man Winter. "Cindy, take the shot!"
Old Man Winter was transforming into a tall being made out of ice. Cindy stared as she could only take a few steps back. She knew that this wasn't going to end well - it could be an overload incident. She couldn't let a shitty situation get even shittier. There was going to be a lot of paperwork after this, but she was going have to shed her humanity. Just for a second.
It wasn't easy. Cindy's a DOVE, which means she's no fighter - not even a killer. Staring at the gun for a moment, she had to consider all of her options. She pulled the trigger, and blew Old Man Winter's head off, and then he dropped to the ground.
The growing blizzard around them immediately came to a close, and Cindy let out a sigh. A pool of blood was at her feet.
"You..." Meifeng said. "You did the right thing, Cindy."
"...Did I really?"
"Well..." Meifeng looked up at the rooftop.
The Black Hound.
Courtbridge, Prince Edfield.
"...So, was the mission a success?" The woman spoke up to him via comms.
The Black Hound stood on the side of the rooftop. He did as they ordered, but, he had to bring to an end to this bloodbath. He couldn't make this situation even worse. At least, not in right conscience. Heh... conscience. As if he has one. To his superiors... he is a killing machine. Nothing more, nothing less. He walked off inwards towards the exit, as he pressed a button on the side of his helmet.
"...Unfortunately," The Black Hound said, his voice sounding very digital. "Old Man Winter was killed before the Alpha Strain could take effect." He said.
"Damn it, Hound," The Woman said. "The Blessed Three aren't going to be pleased with this."
"I did everything I could, they shouldn't complain." The Black Hound said.
"It's not going to be you they complain to," The Woman said. "I'm their lieutenant, more or less. When they want something done, they pass it to me, who passes it to someone else..."
"...Foundation Woman," The Black Hound said, "Remember... our plans-"
"Hound, keep quiet." The Foundation Woman said. "Just get back... I'll deal with it when you get there."
The Black Hound nodded his head.
Wendy Emily Lucker, Rowan Campbell, Rori Aherne, & Ellen Nile.
Wendy's squad was trying to get the hell away from Prince Edfield, on foot. She was certain that her precious moped was destroyed. Whatever. It's insured. Hopefully. She was running down the street, and wondering where DOVE and RAVEN was. Whatever, in days like this, it was Wendy on her own.
Right when they were running down one of the streets, they came across a distant figure that looked very familiar to Wendy. Mostly in the case of the African-American woman standing behind a man - with a gun to his head. She came to a stop, though Rowan was the first to recognise his case worker. "What?" he whispered, "That's Cindy, I think.. the agent they have on my case. What's she doing here?"
Wendy knew that getting involved would be twenty different kinds of stupid. If Cindy's pressing a gun to his head, he must've been a crook.
However, a dart came out of no where and hit the prep in the neck, and everyone started freaking out as the man underwent a transformation.
Having a quick eye, Wendy quickly looked up at the buildingline above her, and spotted a suspicious figure on the rooftop. She quickly whipped out her camera, and zoomed in on the man with black armor. Right before he could leave, Wendy snapped a picture. Even though the city's falling apart around her, this was the first thing that came to mind.
Quickly taking a moment to take a look at it, Wendy realized what she just did. She took a picture of the man standing tall, holding a rifle with both hands. This is evidence.
"Guys-" Wendy tried to say before she heard a gunshot down the street. She looked down, and remembered what was going on. "...We should keep moving." Wendy said, there was no time to play around.
Ellen didn't see the dart, she only saw the man tense as the gun was pressed to the back of his head, and then saw all life drop from his limbs as the gun went off. He collapsed, and she watched in stunned horror. Her case worker had just murdered a man in front of her, a metahuman. She could see the doubt in Cindy, a person she hardly knew, could read it in every line of her face and the stance of her body. What was this? Was she an empath now?
"Fine, let's beat it." Rowan twitched, flexing his fingers.
Rori just nodded, rubbing the arm that was in a cast. The sooner they managed to get out of this place the better.
After the death of Old Man Winter, Eco-Natura was thrown in shambles. They quickly lost morale, and left the area. Which was surprisingly easy, given all the chaos. The Nature Bombs had done their damage, and they simply stopped. Afterwards, the area seemed almost scerene. Everyone had left, and all that was left was a giant forest. If one were to ignore the destruction, it was beautiful.
One person who wasn't in any rush to take in the nature was Lihua Zhao, who had to swallow her pride yet again, and run away. However, she had to take a break as the adrenaline wore off, and she was in pain. She slammed her back against a brick wall, and started panting - before she hissed in pain as her body was destroyed by the acid. But, it felt like her pride took the bigger hit. There wasn't any shame in running away, but it was the fact that she had to rely on other people that was the bigger problem.
Clenching her burns tighter, it was just a reminder of how weak she's gotten. Before, she could easily kill a man like Jiang. Now, she's at his mercy... and dependant on children to save her. She wanted to change the way she sees the world, become less arrogant... but, it was still hard realizing how weak she's become.
"...Ms. Zhao," Missy said, dropping down above, landing on her knee right in front of Lihua. "You look badly hurt... let me get you some help."
"I'm fine," Lihua said.
"...Says the person with the melted arm," Missy quickly snapped back. She wanted to help Lihua, but didn't want to get caught up with her prideful bullshit. "I need to get you somewhere safe..."
It wasn't just altruism guiding Missy; Lihua was the best bet in finding the others, so she was going to keep her safe at all costs. It wasn't like Missy couldn't heal.
"F-fine." Lihua stuttered.
"Where are the others?" Missy asked.
"Hell if I know," Lihua crassly answered. However, she had an idea... her first piority was making sure that Lijuan was okay. She reached down for her purse - which had holes burnt into it from the acid, but thankfully her phone was still in one piece. She punched in the number for Haruka, and pressed call. The second she heard him answer, the first thing that came out her mouth was,
"...Haruka, is Lijuan okay?"
"Lihua, thank goodness!" Haruka's voice came out of the receiver, relieved. "Yes, she is fine with us. Where are you now? We can pick you up in Shizu's car."
The only thing that Lihua wanted to know was whether or not Lijuan was okay. They got away from Jiang. She wondered what happened of Reed... Nonetheless, she knew he was a capable man, despite being a DOVE.
"Apple street..." Lihua weakly said, as her hand went to her shoulder. "I'm on Apple street, under the giant tree."
"We are---" Haruka started off; at that very moment, there was a loud tire screech before a black RAVEN vehicle emerged from around a corner sharply, then it came to an abrupt stop near the giant tree where Lihua was. "---only a street away."
Lihua looked up, and saw the RAVEN vehicle. She didn't waste any time in trying to move over to the truck. However, she took two steps and fell forward. She caught herself, and ended up on her hands and knees. She was still panting.
"Jesus, you're about to fall over," Missy said as she knelt down. She quickly got under Lihua's shoulder, and hoisted the tall woman up to the best of her ability. The problem was that Lihua's tall, and much heavier than her. Still, she did her best as she tried to move the woman towards the vehicle.
Haruka was the one who opened the door; he was quite surprised to see Missy with Lihua, but the latter's injuries was more dire than settling his personal score with the mystery girl. "Take it easy. Anyway... where is Mr. Reed?"
Lihua raised her head as Missy hoisted her into the open door. She didn't know what became of Reed, but she hoped he's okay. "He... he stayed behind to hold Jiang off... I'm certain he's okay." Lihua said.
Missy was using all of her strength to put Lihua in the vehicle. She laid the woman down on her back, and got in with them... but, she wasn't sure of what to do next. Should she... should she tell them? She looked between Haruka, and Shizuka. She started twiddling with her fingers as she thought about it.
"...Do you want me to finish what I saying before?" Missy awkwardly asked, feeling like a teenager. "Or... do you want to get to safety first?"
Once the passengers were settled down, Shizuka floored the accelerator and the car shot off; soon the group was on their way out of Courtbridge. "Sure, go on," he finally responded to Missy. "Now's the best time to tell us what you want to say."
It's been so long since Missy had said this. It felt like she was a whole new person... discovering her past life. Hell, it felt spiritual to the woman. She couldn't just come out and say it, she had to give it her all.
"It's... I... well..." Missy said, very nervously. "I wanted to... renounce the part of me... the old part of me. Since all of that happened. I figured that it was time to shed the old me, push away the emotions. Since I'm going to be here for awhile..." She started off, looking down.
"I thought that it was dead. Gone. Died in that city," She continued. "I never thought I'd ever see any of you ever again. But... it's... it's so hard keeping up this facade. Seeing each of you here - thriving in this city - it's... just so hard to pretend. I wanted to just forget, but... I'm... I'm... done pretending I'm somewhere."
Tears started running down her cheeks.
"The girl... the girl you knew... back in Verthaven..."
"...She never died. My name... My name is Jennifer Caspin!" Missy finally shed the "alias" she held onto for seven years straight. Now... there's only Jennifer. "I survived. I'm so happy to see you all again..."
More tears began streaming, as she felt like a whole new girl.
The twins were silent as Missy talked; while Shizuka made no reaction when she had finally revealed her true identity and merely kept his eyes straight ahead, Haruka was fighting to control the mixture of emotions welling up inside him. He had so many questions to ask her: how did she survive the Verthaven disaster, what happened to her power, how she had been all these years...
But nothing was more important than the joy of seeing an old friend alive and well. "...Welcome back, Jennifer," he managed to say the words in a steady tone. "We are all happy to see you again, too."
"T-thank you," Jennifer said, crossing her arms over her stomach. "It's great to be back... Where is Meifeng? Cindy? Trevor? Are they okay?" She asked, unaware of what happened to the latter.
"Well..." Haruka began. "Meifeng has become a RAVEN like Shizu." He paused to look at his brother.
"That's great..." Jennifer muttered... she realized that she was going have to face her former best friend. She couldn't help but sigh. "Honestly... I can't say I'm surprised, she always wanted to be a NEST agent..."
"As for Cindy, she is in DOVE. Trevor..." Haruka stopped, trying to find the right words to say...
Which Shizuka simply finished for him in a curt tone, "Trevor's gone; shot in the head by Luis, who's later finished off by Mei."
Trevor... No... Luis killed him, too? That just brought Jennifer's blood to a boil knowing that he took out another one of her loved ones. She clenched her fists tightly. Though, she's glad that he's dead, and gone for good.
"Anyway... are we missing someone?" Shizuka asked, glancing up at the rearview mirror.
Haruka rolled his eyes. "We kind of left Mr. Reed behind. Took you long enough to realize that," he added drily.
"Reed." Jennifer immediately remembered the name. The VPD officer that saved her, and fought in that never ending disaster. "Is he and Quentin okay, too?"
"I hope the old man's alright," Shizuka muttered. "That acid bastard seems pretty nasty." He looked at Lihua through the mirror's reflection. He was curious about the relationship between her and her assailant - it felt like they probably had known each other before, and that guy seemed to hold a certain grudge against Lihua... strong enough to make him want to kill her and her daughter badly.
The acid man had also called Lihua something else - a different name. Qiaolian. So much mysteries around that Zhao woman that he had learned today, on top of Jennifer's revelation...
Well, it was yet another long day, as usual. Besides, right now his priority was to do something about Lihua's injuries pronto - the first person that popped up in his mind was a DOVE agent by the name of Jade West. He had heard that she was a pretty good medic, and she probably could heal the Zhao woman in no time.
As the vehicle was almost near the end of the road that would lead to the bridge linking Prince Ed-Field and White Coast, a sudden, deafening boom shook the ground beneath them, followed by a chorus of screams, car horns and screeching tires ahead that pierced the air.
Shizuka quickly turned the car around, cursing, "...The fuck is going on now?"
"Shit!" Jennifer hissed as she braced herself. This felt like Verthaven again, everything is going to shit constantly. When Shizuka swore, Jennifer was quick to answer, "I don't know, but we don't want any part of it," She looked over to Lihua, "Where's the nearest hospital? There has to be one on White Coast somewhere..."
"Right," Shizuka replied, clearly irritated at all the shit that had to happen at the worst possible moment. "From that sound just now, I think some dumbass had just blown up the bridge. Going to the HQ by car at this rate is going to kill that woman."
"...It's true." Haruka was staring at his phone, his thumb scrolling the screen. "It's now all over the social media: someone did bomb the bridge."
Shizuka gritted his teeth and glanced at Lihua again. There had to be another way. If they couldn't go there by land...
He pulled the car to a sudden stop, then he turned around to face his twin. "You. Get out of the car with Lihua. Now."
"What the---" Before Haruka could speak out his mind at his younger brother's rudeness, Shizuka told him the plan.
"You're going to fly her across to White Coast. Once you get to the HQ, look for a DOVE woman called Jade West. Now get out before I've to drag you two out myself."
"...Are you sure that's a good idea?" Jennifer didn't really want to butt in with Shizuka's... "take things by the horn" approach, but she wasn't sure what was going on. Taking her to another hospital would have been smarter for the time being... and Lihua was pretty big and heavy. Oddly bigger than Haruka, but that didn't matter. "Who knows what could be going on there?"
Shizuka's unblinking eyes shifted their attention to Jennifer. "Getting her to the HQ is the fastest way - it's better than to get her thrown out of the normal hospitals to die because she's a Metahuman."
Jennifer hadn't considered that. However, she took in a deep sigh, and nodded her head. "Alright... I wish, I could go along with you," She said. "But, I'd only slow you down."
"I can carry two people---" Haruka began, but Shizuka silenced him with a pissed look. The elder twin simply sighed and carried Lihua out of the car (which was an amusing sight since Lihua was much bigger than him).
He gathered the air around towards himself, and soon he was riding the wind with Lihua on his back, flying in the direction of White Coast.
After they were gone, Shizuka drove off once more, searching for another route out of Prince Ed-Field to White Coast.
"Zhao?! Haru?! Are you okay?"
Reed's voice cut through as he finally approached where he'd last seen them go, moving with a weary gait, hand still clutched close to his torso. The corrosive substance had burned through deep, agonisingly so, and even with his ability... one could still see the exposed layers of muscle tissue. It had taken all of Reed's willpower to block out the pain, even after all these years of having the Bloodsucker's power.
But there was no one else there.
Guess I'm walking."
[i]
Meifeng Zhao, Maxine Diaz , Quentin Taylor & Cindy Keagan.
The bodybag for Old Man Winter was zipped up as he was hauled away on a stretcher. It didn't really feel like a win for RAVEN, since, while they removed Old Man Winter (and possibly Eco-Natura) from the mix.
Cindy was writing on a clipboard. Jesus. Millions of dollars of damage was done. Just like Oakdell, it'll be years before this part of the city. Though, with the trees and whatnot, it'll probably be way longer. The trees probably fucked up the foundation of a lot of buildings. Cindy looked around. A lot of these places will probably be torn down.
"Damn..." Cindy muttered under her breath. "I liked a lot of these places."
She was still in doubt on whether or not killing Old Man Winter was the right thing to do, but she knew that she had to keep pushing forward. Killing people was something that Cindy had to do sometimes. The Verthaven Disaster told her that. And if Old Man Winter was undergoing an Overload, then a bad situation would have gotten worse.
At least, that's how Cindy justified it.
There were a few deaths, and many were injured. Well... here in Baybridge (or anywhere for that matter) that was a "average" statistic. Unfortunately.
"RAVEN, or DOVE?" A familiar voice shouted from the thick undergrowth.
Huh? Cindy immediately whipped her head around to the voice, and looked inside. "It's Cindy Keagan with DOVE, identify yourself."
"It's Taylor, who's with you?"
Quentin emerged, no worse for wear than how he'd been before - save for his clothes being snagged on the new eco-system that had instantaneously popped up. Part of him was lucky that he'd headed back to the truck to pick up his wallet; he'd avoided the worst of it, thank god, but had run in, against all senses in an attempt to find his brother.
"Have you seen Reed?" Quentin asked, concern shifting to the Taylor that'd been left behind,
"I haven't seen Reed around, sorry." That quickly made Cindy wonder if Reed was already here, or was he asking if he came with them. "I'm certain he's okay."
"Probably-" he was cut off mid-sentence by the arrival of something else.
A vehicle came driving up at high speed. It caught Cindy off guard as it came to a swerving stop a few feet away from her. Cindy reached for her pistol just in case.
The inhabitants of the vehicle came running out.
"...Yes, some RAVENS!" Megan said, as Ray and Rush took her sides, and the Nemesis got behind her, which elicited a suspicious look from Quentin as he noticed the oddly familiar figure. She panted. "Okay, I wanted to warn you-" She put her hand on top of Rush's head, which earned her a distinct look. "-my friend here - who's a technopath, by the way - picked up some communications that might interest you."
"Okay, okay, what are you talking about?" Cindy turned towards her and raised her eyebrow up into the air.
"You know the Mannequin? Changeling, mad scientist, robot man? Well, he apparently isn't dead, and he's planning on something in your Headquarters. He manipulated Eco-Natura to cause a big ol' scene so he can take something out."
"Wha-"
Before either of the two agents could say anything, Rush had activated his wrist device, and played the recording.
"Hey, Freako! When are we going to do our thing at their headquarters? RAVEN must be swarming the scene!"
"...We need a bigger distraction." The Mannequin said.
That voice chilled Quentin to the bone. A changeling, the last of them. It flooded back memories of Verthaven all over again, but like Cindy, he too, kept listening.
"Hehehehehe! Your plan is, well, goin' as planned. But we better split, Liz probably set up the bomb on the bridge by now, and we know we're all on a really tight schedule."
"Agreed."
That was the end of the recording
It was obviously the Mannequin's voice. Cindy could tell that from anywhere. Shit... Meifeng isn't going to like this. She thought that Baron dude took out the Mannequin. Looks like she thought wrong. Baron's dead. Which meant it was up to Cindy, Meifeng, Quentin, and the rest of the RAVENs there to take him out.
"Okay, I'm going to phone it in..."
However... There was an explosion in the distance. Towards White Coast.
"Agents, Headquarters is under attack! This is not a drill!" A random mission control shouted. "The bridge has been destroyed!"
"S-shit!" Cindy said, looking at the strangers.
Quentin almost sprang to motion, ready to head off. "Quick, we need to move!"
"However." Rush injected, raising a finger up into the air. "During last encounter. I have hacked. Into his communcations system. Long as he uses it. Can track his position anywhere in Baybridge. Possibly beyond."
"Okay, pointdexter," Cindy said, putting a hand on her hip. "I'm going to need you to stay put, we'll figure something out."
"Headquarters, Agent Green Bird is returning to headquarters alongside Agent Rogue Wave, Agent Mimic, and Agent Counterpoint."
There was nothing but static.
"Headquarters! I repeat, this is Agent Green Bird!" Cindy shouted, but she got no response. No one did. All comms at Headquarters were dead. "...Aaaaand comms are down."
"Looks like we'll just have to work without them then," Max commented, pointing out the obvious. She had mostly been listening up until that point; she would rather not annoy Cindy, not when a bunch of more important shit was going down. "If the bridge is down we might have problems getting over there."
"God-damn," Quentin paced, that cold fury springing to life, "Cindy, you know how this is going to go. This is Verthaven all over again, I know their tactics. I know how they think, we need to get back there now!"
"Uhhhhhh..." Cindy thought about what Max said. If they were going to help, and the bridge is down, then they have to either get there by the sea... or... "Wait, I gotta pilot's license. If I can get my hands on a copter..." She suggested. Well, it was better than nothing.
"Possibly. Constructive criticism." Rush said. "Acquiring a helicopter. Unlikely. Getting to headquarters in a timely manner. Unlikely. Mannequin. After something inside Headquarters. When he leaves. Can track."
"So, what are you saying?" Cindy asked. "Let the Mannequin do as he pleases? For your information, there's shit in there that's priceless."
"And people. Our people." Quentin added.
"No." Rush blankly said. "Can listen in on communications. In addition to tracking. Meaning. We are going to be. One step ahead of him. Gather your trusted Agents. Find your vehicles. Then we surprise him."
"Ah... now, I get ya..." Cindy thought about what Rush said. Honestly, this whole situation was fucked. Not only did he destroy Prince Edfield, but he also destroyed the Brave Water Bridge. This was going to be a massive pain in the ass to clean up later. However, if they can catch the Mannequin off guard...
Though, that meant that she would have to drag the kid along. This was going to be a tough one. Bring a child along... Though, if they keep him out the way, it can't be that bad.
Cindy sighed.
"Okay, we gotta find a way to get a good team of RAVENS together..." Cindy said to herself. She fiddled with various ideas, hoping that she could come up with a good one in a timely manner. Cindy herself had one idea, and one idea alone.
She quickly went back to the APC, and opened up a plastic box. It was full of flares... She didn't know if it would extend that far, but there's gotta be a way to attract some RAVENS here. She stepped out the APC, and shot a flare up into the air.
It flew high up, and then exploded. Which should be enough to catch someone's attention.
They managed to gather most of the RAVENs in the area. While they were doing that, Rush was on the ground with his legs folded, typing away on a computer. He was doing something
"Alright," Cindy said. "We have what's left of REAPER attacking Headquarters, and we're here... without a good way to get to them."
"Ah." Rush said, as he discovered something. "More communications. Coming from a docking storage. Oakdell."
"Oh?" Cindy said. "Well... I have an idea... let's scope it out."
Rush quickly got up to his feet, holding the laptop under his arm.
"May I come along?" Rush asked "Can track Mannequin."
It was a risk... but, Rush is their trump card. The only way they're gonna track the Mannequin.
"Alright, come on," Cindy agreed. "Everyone, into the cards."
Mannequin, & The Hands of Science.
Greencrest Heights, White Coast.
A white van sped towards White Coast from Prince Edfield. Hopefully running under the cover of someone escaping the chaos of Prince Edfield. When it was actually Bison carrying the Mannequin in the back.
"Hehehe! Looks like Winter didn't last long, did he?" Bison sarcastically said as he looked back. "All that talk about a new world order, and that dickhead went down in a few seconds! At least put up a fight!" Bison started laughing.
"...Just get us to the meeting spot," The Mannequin said. "A majority of RAVEN and attention is on Prince Edfield, we'll get in and out before they notice."
"Yeah, yeah," Bison said. "We almost there, hold on."
They kept speeding towards the mostly destroyed Oakdell Harbor.
Oakdell Harbor, White Coast.
The van stopped outside a boat warehouse - which was damaged, so were many of the buildings around here. Fortunately, it means there were few people walking around. Bison stepped out the van, and walked around to the back, and opened it up. The Mannequin stepped right on out, and they casually made their way inside the building.
Bison opened the door, and they caught sight of many REAPERs, and members of the Hands of Science that Dr. Cross and Ignatius had assembled. Armed with whatever they had. Assault rifles, pistols, shotguns. They couldn't put REAPER armor on, since they had mostly destroyed it to cover their tracks, but the most they could manage was body armor.
Dr. Cross faced them. "Is everything prepared, Mannequin?" She said.
"Yes..." The Mannequin whispered. "RAVEN has their hands full elsewhere."
"Good, because we're going have to hit hard, and hit fast," Ignatius started off. "Even if we manage to cut the power, we're going have to deal with a army of heavily trained guards, some with superpowers... and we're just a ragtag group."
"If we catch them off guard, we'll be in and out..." The Mannequin said as he stepped over to a crate. He jammed his fingers inside, and opened it up. The top went flying off, and hit the ground. The Mannequin looked inside, and saw that his device was still in perfect condition.
It was a metal device with a glowing center, and two cylinders on each side. It was an EMP bomb of Mannequin's creation. All the Mannequin has to do is get it in close, and it'll trash the RAVEN's electronic systems.
Now, the Mannequin lifted up the crate, and placed it onto a boat.
"Only attack when I give the signal," The Mannequin sternly said as he get onto the boat.
"Heeeeeeeeeey," Bison said, "Where your creepy friend?" He asked.
"Jiang had his.own agenda... We don't need him at the moment... " The Mannequin said, he turned the ignition on, and started driving the boat off. He was in open waters, heading towards the RAVEN headquarters. He quickly contacted Eliza, "Are you clear?"
"Yeah, yeah, I'm off the bridge," Eliza said on the phone. "The bomb's set, do your thing."
Not a word left the Mannequin's robotic form as he sent a signal to the bomb that was on the bridge. Eliza, using her abilities, set up an explosive on the Brave Water bridge that blocks off RAVEN headquarters from the rest of Baybridge. It was set up underneath the bridge. The moment the signal hit the explosive, it went off, and caused a giant boom that raged through the bridge that blew apart the bridge.
Cars came to a sudden stop as they desperately tried to save themselves. Not all were able to. People were already killed, as the bridge came to a crumble. The bridge was rendered useless in an instant.
Meanwhile, the Mannequin was going towards RAVEN headquarters fast as he could. He came to the coast of the island, and didn't waste any time in jumping off, grabbing the crate, and quickly moving it towards the building. He placed it up against the side of the building. He broke the sides of the crate off, and then left the crate there as he hopped back on the boat.
As the Mannequin left, he made sure to get far away as possible before he sent out the signal to detonate the EMP. It caused a massive that sent out an electric pulse throughout the area. It bombarded the building in EMP waves, and shut off all the electricital devices. None of the systems inside the building would be working.
"... Attack." The Mannequin ordered.
RAVEN/DOVE West Coast Joint Headquarters, White Coast.
Riding on the boats, and using the confusion, the REAPERS, lead by Ignatius, and Bison stormed Headquarters on a team of boats. They drove the boats onto the shore, and came running out. Without the alarms, or advanced security systems they should be able to get in and out.
They ran through the field, crouching. Moving towards their closest objective. They knew the windows were bulletproof in case of assault. So, they merely would have to use another entrance. There was the vehicle garage. They all took position on each side of the garage doors. Ignatius was crouched, he looked up at Bison, and nodded his head at him. Doing a hand signal for him to move in.
A wicked grin etched onto Bison's face, as he ran up to the door, and punched it down. Following it with a destructive gust of wind that sent the gate flying into the garage. Following behind him, the REAPERS opened fire on the garage. Anything that moved was abruptly shot up. There were a few RAVENS and DOVES within the Headquarters, but they made short work of them.
Their bodies hit the floor, and Ignatius looked behind him to see the Mannequin move forward.
"Let''s go." The robotman said as they kept moving.
Lead by the Mannequin, the small squad of REAPERS quickly moved through RAVEN Headquarters. It would be a short trip from here, to their objective. Just one long hallway away, in fact. They kept running for it, but they quickly came across some Agents when they were right there at the warehouse.
"Shit! Intruders!" A man shouted, as he shot a beam of ice at the ground, and created an ice wall that blocked the way.
"Shit," Bison said with a whimiscal grin. "What ever shall we do?"
He dusted off his knuckles, as he walked up to the wall, and punched it hard as he could, followed by another deadly gust of wind. It immediately scattered to pieces, and sent the agents flying. Horribly wounded. They were no longer a threat to them.
Walking up to the locked door, Bison used his brute strength to break it down.
"Alright, grab what ya' need, robot man," Bison said, standing over the destroyed door. "I'll watch the back."
The Mannequin didn't speak a single word as he walked up to the massive warehouse on all fours. In here... in here were various pieces of evidence gathered over the years. Boxes that had ziplocked containers so they wouldn't get contaiminated... they were no use to the Mannequin. The man turned into a machine walked through the halls of the warehouse, looking for a specific tag, and designation.
He was looking for a large box. The box that contains project Genesis. He was wondering why they would still keep it around. Until his keen eyes found a large box. With the designation he was looking for. The Mannequin was overjoyed to finally find it.
Now was the matter of getting it out of headquarters. Fortunately, he had just the idea. The Mannequin quickly grabbed onto the sides of the crate, and carried it until he made it back to the entrance, which thankfully had a handtruck to put it on.
However, RAVEN had managed to put up a counterattack, and was opening fire. Ignatius filled the hallway with a bright red energy. It was getting pounded with bullets.
"Got an idea!" Bison said as he punched the wall, breaking a hole clean through it. "Go, go, go!"
They ran through the exit. Ignatius made sure to extend the shield to the hole.
They all eventually made it outside, and they were being chased by fleeing agents. However, they had the perfect plan. During their approach, they lined up beach and surrounding area with explosives.
When they all got on the boats, they set them off, and started running fast as they could.
Everything was a success... Mannequin got what he wanted.
"We're heading back, Dr. Cross," The Mannequin said. "Is everything ready?"
"Yes, yes, yes, I'd hurry up," Dr. Cross said. "It won't be long until they're swarming the area."
Oakdell Harbor, White Coast.
The group finally made it back to their boat warehouse, and they quickly abandoned their vehicles, as the Mannequin held his precious project above head. The scene looks a little odd... There wasn't as many REAPERS, or Hands Scientists here as there were before. However, the Mannequin had to quickly get out before anything happens.
"Quickly, let's go." The Mannequin said, gesturing towards the vans that were set up for their escape route. The Mannequin lifted up this box, however...
Dr. Cross was standing there, with her hands behind her back.
"...I'm sorry."
Out.of the blue, several canisters of Meta-Suppressant gas exploded into a cloud of red gas. They were hidden all over the room, and when they all exploded, every Metahuman within their group was almost immediately put out due to the chemicals.
RAVEN, armed with gas masks, stormed into the room
Following Rush's advice, the RAVENS quickly got mobilized and went to Oakdell Harbor as fast as they could. They came up on the boat warehouse.
"Mannequin sent order. From there." Rush said, pointing inside the place. "Be careful. Am detecting many electronics."
"Such as?" Meifeng asked.
"Phones. Computers. Gaming devices."
"I got an idea..." Meifeng said. "Hey, techie, how much can you fuck with electronics?"
"Only limited. By the extents. Of the hardware." Rush answered in his odd speech tone.
"Can you make them spaz out on signal?" Meifeng asked.
"Yes." Rush said. "Simple usage of power."
"Good, good, good, kid," Meifeng said with a smile as she grabbed her rifle, and opened up the back of the APC. "See, I like you already, kid."
"Alright, I have a plan," Cindy said, as she grabbed her pistol. "We're going to scout a little bit, and find out where the dudes are within the building. If we're quick enough, we can take them out with taser rounds." Cindy said as she checked her clip.
Meifeng looked surprised.
"What? Not using our technopath friend?"
"Girl, we don't need to make their phones spazz out, or whatever," Cindy reached for the flashbang that was hanging off Meifeng's belt, and held it up for her to see. "You got this."
"She's right, we can handle this ourselves. Just remember what we're dealing with." Quentin advised, though with Mei that last note wasn't entirely necessary - the two of them had been working ops like this for years.
Cindy stepped out the APC. "Alright, let's go... Agents, we'll going have to rely on hand signals." Since there's no comms currently, they have no choice but to. However, Cindy had an idea. It relied on them getting the drop on the Hands in here before the REAPERS get back. Which means they can't waste any time.
"I'll move in and wait on your go," Quentin agreed, before taking a position counter to the window.
Meifeng took position on one of the windows, and peaked up inside to the best of her abilities. Cindy wasn't too far away. She saw a couple members of the Hands... just chilling. Perfect for Meifeng and the others to catch them off guard.
Just to signal the others, Meifeng put her thumb and index fingers together to make a circle. Ten. Then she put up two fingers. Twelve.
"Alright, I'm gonna move the windows, on my signal, throw the flashbangs through the windows." Cindy said as she raised her hands up into the air. She began moving the glass, and then nodded her head as she gave them the hand gesture to move. Quentin nodded in return, waiting for her signal.
A grin etched it's way onto Meifeng's lips, as she, and the rest of the RAVENS threw their flashbangs into the building. They exploded, and optically-raped everyone in sight.
While they were recovering, the RAVENS quickly pushed in, and began unloading on any target with a barrage of taser darts, and it wasn't long before they were all down.
"Targets neutralized." Meifeng said with a flair as she shifted her weight over to one hip. "Get them cuffed."
Cindy looked around. "...Where's Dr. Cross? The Ringleader."
"Right here," Meifeng said as she picked the woman up.
A pool of purple acid appeared from a sewer grate right outside the boat warehouse. It quickly formed into Jiang Song, and he took slow steps towards the edge of the alleyway he found himself in. He came in full view of the scene, and could only shake his head.
"Oh, Mannequin," Jiang said to himself in Chinese with a wry grin on his face. "You had such great ambitions... unfortunately, I cannot share the same fate as you..."
He watched as the Mannequin was placed in the back of a RAVEN vehicle, along with the pockets of resistance left of RAVEN and the Hands of Science. Jiang thought that the Mannequin had everything downpack, but it seems he was wrong. He likely didn't consider every possibility, and was outmanuevered by his enemies.
Sad.
But Jiang couldn't care less.
At least now that he has found Qiaolian. It was just mere chance that he came across the woman that of the subject of his obsession for so long. He can now get the revenge he's desired for oh so long. He couldn't care less about the Mannequin or his goals - the only thing Jiang was glad about was he abandoned the Mannequin while there was still time. Now, he can act freely without being attached to the Mannequin's crimes.
The only thing Jiang wanted was the death of Qiaolian, and her bloodline.
Jiang Song turned into his purple acid form, and went back down into the sewers. For now he was going to lay low, make her think there's no threat, before he returns and kills her in a grand spectacle.
RAVEN/DOVE West Coast Joint Headquarters, White Coast.
Fortunately, Lihua was quickly able to get medical attention from DOVE officials. Thankfully, they're well prepared in dealing with Metahuman related injuries. She was placed within a room, and lying down with a hospital gown on. There was a DOVE that was supposed to heal her, but she's busying trying to heal some of the injured agents back to full health. She was being pumped with pain medication to bide her time until then.
Someone stepped inside, and it was Meifeng Zhao, wearing her RAVEN armor. "Heeeeey," Meifeng said, smiling, but forcing it away since she has to keep a professional demeanor. "Are you okay?"
The wounded tiger had her pride damaged as well. She turned towards her daughter, and said, "Fine as I will be..."
"Yo, what happened?" Meifeng said. "Shizuka and Reed told me you were attacked by some dude... and he knows a little secret." She gave her a narrow look.
Lihua sighed, she knew this was going to happen. "He is... Jiang Song. An enemy I've made in China." She didn't want to say too much. "I... don't know why he's here in America."
"I don't know either, but for what he did to you and Lijuan, I'm not going to let him get off easy," Meifeng said... though, she sat down on the chair, and looked at her. "I'd love to ask you questions, but I don't think you're in the mood right now."
"No..." Lihua rested her head down, and looked at the ceiling. "I feel like such a failure... I couldn't defend Lijuan from one person... I had to be saved by someone else..."
"Well, Mom..." Meifeng tried to find the right words, but it's hard to say the right things to her. "...These things just happen. You're not getting any weaker," Meifeng grinned. "I know you would just die before you let that happen. You were just faced with shitty circumstances that put the odds out of your favor. I knew you would beat that man if you were at your best."
The words did little to reassure Lihua, but Meifeng was doing her best. She merely sighed, and went along with it. "I guess you're right... but, I'd rather not get into anymore fights... that's your job."
"Yeah, we're going to find Jiang, and kick his ass," Meifeng said, planting a punch into an open palm.
However, the door opened again, and another person stepped in. It was Jennifer Caspin, or her persona Missy Baroness. Stepping in wearing a hoodie, and her hands in her pockets. When she stepped inside, she immediately caught one look from Meifeng that sent chills down the girl's spine. It made her cringe, she couldn't face her former friend.
"Uh," Meifeng raised an eyebrow. "Hello? Are you in the right room?"
Behind her, again, was Cindy Keagan who prompted Jennifer to take a step aside to let her in. Cindy stepped inside, and leaned up against Lihua's bed. "Hi everybody," Cindy greeted them, before turning her brown eyes onto the newcomer. She put the clipboard on her lap, and looked up at the girl. "Hey, some of the others mentioned you had something to say?"
"Well..." Jennifer said, awkwardly playing with her fingers. "You might find this a little hard to believe..." Honestly, she found it hard to pour her heart and soul out again. "I'm... so happy to see that you're doing well, Meifeng... you, too, Cindy."
"Huh...?" Meifeng said, raising an eyebrow. "Okay, how do you know my name?"
On the other hand, Cindy wasn't quite as dense as Meifeng, she was able to piece together what it had meant. She noticed that the girl had looked mighty familiar to her. "...Hey, wait, are you Jen... No... It can't be." She quickly displaced the thought.
"Yes..." Jennifer said. "It is. I survived, after so long... I thought everyone would have moved on without."
Meifeng was ultimately without words. She never thought that she would ever see Jen again. Ever since that day when Jennifer let go, after everything that happened to her... she's back. Meifeng was so moved by this. She ran over to Jennifer, and gave her a hug that kept her locked in tight.
"Jen!" Meifeng said. "Oh my God... I can't believe it... you're back..."
"I'm... glad to be back," Jen said as she returned the hug.
"I feel like a schoolgirl again..." Meifeng said.
"Wait," Cindy said, putting her hand up. "Before we start getting too comfortable, let's confirm it first." She knew that she was being harsh, but she couldn't take risks like this.
Meifeng let go when Cindy said this... she didn't want to do this, but she might have to.
Quietly, Reed had entered the room, wearing a blanket-white dressing across his arm. It hadn't technically been necessary, but Quentin had been insistent enough on it when he'd first seen the damage done to the arm. Haruka then followed in behind the Taylors; Shizuka ignored the door and simply walked through the wall with his power.
"It's been... yeah, a long time." He said, with a grunt. "You remember me, Jen?"
"Yes... how can I ever forget you, Reed," Jennifer said. "Or anyone who lived through that hell?"
"You remember. Alright, when we found you, what happened?" Just thinking of it made his fingers twitch.
"I remember it like it was yesterday..."
Everything was going to shit. Jen long realized that this city is one thing after the other - but this was a whole different situation all together. Adrenaline and her healing factor were the two things keeping her running like a rabbit. Every footstep splashed a puddle of water underneath her feet. She had no idea where she was going, but her plan was "anywhere but here".
She kept running alongside the sidewalk - but one of the creatures, crawling on all fours, with a alien-body and large claws, landed in front of her. It looked up at her, and Jen instinctively took a few steps back, putting her hand up in some attempt to get back. However, the thing lunged at her, and she screamed, jumping to the side. She got some scraps on her arms as as she the ground, but she kept running.
That wound she recieved earlier was all but healed. Only a little bit more to go - but the process of forcing her body at this rate was always painful. She had little idea if the creature was still behind her, but she had little defense against them. She wasn't Meifeng or the others - she had no offensive superpower or training - she was basically your average sixteen-year-old girl.
Not precisely thinking too much, Jen ran across the street, hoping to get away from it.
Not too far away, a set of dimmed headlights died down and a silhouette climbed out with something heavy in its hand, before suddenly moving forwards.
"Keep your head down!" A heavy voice shouted as the silhouette closed in.
Jen briefly wondered what the hell was going on, but it felt great knowing that someone was coming to her aid. She knew that she couldn't keep running forever. Almost immediately, she dove downwards. The Purple Eyed beast was distracted by the newcomer and went for them at high speeds.
Cass stood his ground and shouldered his Ithaca 37, firing off an aimed spread of buckshot at the beast before firmly pumping the handle for another go.
The Purple eyed beast charged into the shot head on. Causing a chunk of it's flesh to immediately turn to liquid. It stopped, shaking. It quickly lunged at the man and forced him to take a dive to avoid getting pounced on, yet it quickly turned on its feet for another strike.
"Don't touch either of them!" Another voice shouted from behind the creature. Reed readied his glock and opened fire, gunning for the bright purple eye which painted a target on its form.
Attention went from Cass to Reed the second the bullet knocked off another chunk of flesh. The beast turned towards Reed. There was a clicking sound coming from it. It quickly lunged through the air at breakneck speeds, and landed on Reed before he could react. It's flesh split, and revealed a mouth of vicious-looking teeth - giving no indication that it had these before - and brought them down on Reed's arm as he scrambled to get a last minute shot.
"Raargh, fuck!" He let out an agonised scream as the teeth punctured through muscle tissue and bone alike, like an industrial vice.
"NO! Get away from him!" Like that, Cass sprung to his feet faster than anyone had ever seen the old man move before and pointed it downrange towards the creature's central mass, but knowing that there was a chance he could harm his nephew made him hesitate.
All Jen could do was hopelessly stand by as the fight went on. Her breath rate accelerated, and she started biting her fingernails - more of her fingers - until she drew blood. She was frozen. Unsure of what to do. Everything was just so damn crazy. And she was just one girl thrown into the thick of it. But she had to do something. Anything. She didn't want to see this man eaten alive in front of her.
Next to her was a pistol - Reed's pistol, pushed away in the confusion.
Should she even touch it? Jen was so terrified right now that she was worried that she might make the situation worse. But she had to try her best. She grabbed her guns, and immediately realized that this was much different than the games she played. She didn't even hold it the right way. She aimed it at the beast, and grit her teeth as she thought about pulling the trigger. This was dumb, and impulsive - but she was too rattled right now to realize it. So, she just pulled the trigger, and the tiny explosion propelled the bullet out of the gun. The bullet didn't even come close to the beast - it merely hit a car down the street. And the recoil hurt the hell out of Jen's wrist.
But, the Purple-Eyed monster was distracted, and this was enough for Reed to frantically slide out from under its mas and drag himself out of Cass' field of fire - allowing the old man to take aim and fire.
It was the final shot that put an end to the beast. When the last shot hit, it hit one of it's vital organs, and caused it to dissolve into a grey sludge. Dead.
Cass quickly ran over to Reed and took a knee beside him, fear washing over his face as he saw the scope of the injury, "Reed?! C'mon kid, lemme check you out," His eyes darted to the puncture marks in his sleeve, "Dammit, you're... bleeding. I'll get the kit from the car, patch you up."
"...It was hell." Jennifer finished her explanation, shaking her head.
Her recollection of events left a chill running down his spine and along the nerves of his arm, and whenever he heard Cass' name being brought up, it felt like he was talking with the dead.
"If you're a ghost, you're still Jen." Reed said, with a slow nod.
That detailed explanation was something that Cindy picked up on. It feels like she remembered it vividly. Meifeng went back to hugging her.
However, the silent Lihua finally spoke up. "...It's great to see you're okay, Ms. Caspin," She said with a geniune smile. At least Meifeng would have her friend back, even though Lihua herself had no connection to her.
"There's something I wanted to ask," Jennifer said, scratching the back of her neck. "How's Cass doing? I hope the years have been treating him well."
Talking to the dead, again. Reed's expression drooped as he hesitantly answered. "...My uncle... he didn't make it."
Jennifer was quiet as she took a step back, gasping. Honestly shocked. Both Trevor and Cass died in Verthaven. And she didn't had the slightest clue up until now. She just assumed they all defeated Luis, and rode into the sunset... But, truly. This was a merciliess world. That would take, and take, and take, but give nothing in return. There weren't any happy endings in this world.
"Heartbreaker to blame for that." Spoke Quentin's voice, which had a markedly blunt tone to it from his corner of the room. "Luis' dogs turned on us the moment they saw a chance. She got Sonya too." Mayfield had been one of the first NEST agents he'd come to trust... and had been a good friend. "But she's gone now, and that thing... Mannequin, is going to be buried along with the rest of the Changelings." Small solace, but better than none.
"I... I'm glad... I hope he rots in hell with the rest of them." Jennifer said, trying to contain her anger upon hearing his name.
"That doesn't matter anymore," Reed finally said, picking up on their anger. "We're putting it in the past and setting things right. What matters is that we make sure people are safe. It's good to know you are." His tone was defusing, to say the least.
Jennifer sighed.
"...I guess so."
"So, how did you survive that?" Cindy said, curious.
"Well..." Jennifer said as she started off.
It was that night in hell. Where Jennifer was holding onto Meifeng for dear life as a tentacle threatened to pull her into the deep.
"...Just go on without me, I'm just not needed." Jennifer said with surprising calmness, and tranquility. "I know you can do it, Meifeng. You can get out of here safely... so can everyone else. You're strong... stronger than I am. Stronger than I'll ever be. I know you can beat the Devil... Luis... everyone else who gets in your way."
"Jen-" Meifeng tried to pull her back - but her arms were getting weak.
"I'm sorry for this - but, if I ever get a chance, I promise, Meifeng... I'll make you happy next time!"
At that point, Jennifer had let go. Having finally given up, and choosing death over desperately holding on, and being a parasite for great people like Meifeng. She was dragged into the depths of the ocean, where she was submerged in the dirty rain water mixed with the sea that the Devil of Verthaven had summoned. It was horrible.
But, all that Jen could feel was nothing. Only the sweet resignation of death that she had accepted the moment that she let go.
Ha... In a way, Jen was always jealous of them. Each of them. Meifeng. Trevor. Cindy. They always had a goal, or some quality about them that made them a good person. Something. While Jennifer... she had nothing. The only remarkable thing that she had about her was that she was alive.
She was always the person who held everyone with potential back. They were always worrying about her, instead of succeeding.
Which was why she gave up. The war that raged inside her had finally killed her when Luis did the same to her family. Hell... that man was the only thing in her thoughts as the water consumed her. How she didn't have the power to stop him. How she didn't have the power to save them.
Darkness overcame Jennifer as the last bits of her life began to fade.
Honestly... This was... for the best...
That's when things took a turn.
Explosions rocked through the water, and sent vibrations that woke up the dying girl. Suddenly, the water was being suctioned to one area. The Devil had released her, and used the water to save herself. While she was too weak to actually fight it, a piece of a building was knocked over, and pinned Jennifer's leg. As the flooded streets were being removed.
Then it was over. The water was all gone, and she didn't have a clue as to what was going on. Her regenerative factor allowed her to come back faster. The brain damage from drowning was quickly reversed as she looked around. Her head went from one side to another. She... survived? No, no, no, no, no... she had to die.
Why the fuck was she still alive?! Why couldn't this cruel world put her out of her misery already? She sat up, and started to cough up water, which was being forced out. Jennifer looked over her shoulder, and saw the frozen dome the Devil had created over herself. Why was she always surviving these stupid encounters?
Then it hit her; She was given a second chance.
The last words her mother gave her came to mind. Live on. For me.
Jennifer looked at the rock that she was pinned under, and then tried to pull her foot free, but it was stuck. She let out a groan as she desperately tried to pull herself free, but, to no avail, she couldn't get it loose. Jennifer looked around, and her keen eyes spotted a rock. She was desperate at this point... she couldn't rely on someone coming in to save the day...
There was only her, and her alone.
It was big as her head, while she was never the most physical, but she was desperate. Desperation breeds fucked up decisions. Jennifer raised the rock over her head, and a tear escaped her eye as she slammed it down as hard as he could. The impact was successful, and she managed to break her ankle with a sickening crack. She let out a scream of pain, but she realized that she had already began regenerating it.
The limb would regenerate if she lets it stay like this. Jennifer teared up again, as she slammed the rock down again, and further damaged her leg. The plan was to try to break it free somehow it wasn't going to be easy.
But, she realized she couldn't take the easy route from here on in.
Jennifer brought the rock down again, one last time, and absolutely demolished her leg. She was weeping.... this should be enough. Jennifer looked to the side, and reached for the sharp rock. This was going to be awful... but this is nothing compared to the pain she feels inside of herself. She raised the sharp end of the rock in the air, holding it with both hands like a knife.
Another tear had left her eye as she brought it down, and impaled herself. She didn't have a second to spare. She desperately started cutting away at the limb. The pain was unbearable, any other person would have died from the pain, but somehow she can last without passing out. She would need it.
After one last slash, she managed to loosen up the limb enough to pull her trapped leg free. In a bloody display, Jen had finally gotten herself free. She pulled herself back, and then separated herself from her limb. This is the first time she's ever lost a limb, and she wasn't even sure if she was going to get it back.
But, anything was better than being a sitting duck for when the Devil's monsters got here.
Getting herself up to her feet, Jennifer looked up at the God hidden inside a dome of ice.
"...After that, it wasn't long before I was caught in a giant wave. It was a few days until anyone found me."
Jennifer finally explained, playing with her fingers.
"My God... that's horrifying," Meifeng said. "I... wish-"
"Don't." Jennifer cut her off. "I was dead."
"So? What were you doing in the seven years? When did you stop calling yourself Jen, and start calling yourself Missy?" Cindy asked.
For a moment, Jennifer was completely silent.
"...I don't want to talk about it."
"Alright, okay," Cindy shrugged. "Now what?"
"Huh?" Jennifer asked.
"What are ya' gonna do now? And don't tell me you're still going to hang around that weirdo, are you...?" Cindy asked, raising an eyebrow.
"I..." Jennifer trailed off. "...I think I'm going to stay. Here. In Baybridge."
"Good," Meifeng said, with a passionate smile on her face. "I wouldn't have it any other way."
Cindy wanted to know more about what Jen did in her spare time, but clearly she isn't going to get an answer for that right now. walked around. "You can stay in my apartment with me and Meifeng," Cindy was quick to say. "At least, at least until you get back on your feet."
"Yeah, it'll be like old times." Meifeng said.
Jennifer nervously shifted her feet as she played with her fingers.
"...Yeah, like old times."
"And you won't believe all the forms you're gonna have to fill out, since, you know, you were legally dead for seven years," Cindy said, exasperated. "You better get ready now, because you won't be done until August..."
She gave Jennifer a narrow look.
"...Of next year."
Jennifer smiled. Cindy didn't change one bit.
"Alright... but, can I have a word with my old friend?" Missy said. "I have to sever ties with them first."
"Alright, go ahead, girlfriend."
[i][h1]Cindy Keagan, Meifeng Zhao, & Dr. Cross.[/i][i] RAVEN/DOVE West Coast Joint Headquarters, White Coast.
After the heartfelt reunion, there was much work to be done.
Mostly picking up after the bullshit left behind by the Mannequin, and Eco-Natura.
Oh boy, she can just hear it now, "deranged Metahumans destroy Prince Edfield," or "The return of the Changelign Unit!"
Both of which were the same kind of bullshit she heard being spouted. As she walked down the halls, she rolled her eyes up into her head. It's funny. She's just a soldier, fighting a war for a better future. And it's starting to feel like everyone else was the enemy.
Regardless of what happens, Cindy must soldier on. She stepped into the interogation room, which already had Meifeng inside, surprisingly enough. On the other side of the double ended mirror was Ignatius.
"Oh? You're here?" Cindy said, raising an eyebrow. "Thought you would be catching up with Jen?"
"She was in a real rush to run off to find her friends, and I might as well let her," Meifeng shrugged. "Honestly, I'm more concerned with our new prisoners. So what's the dealio?"
"Well..." Cindy said as she scanned the clipboard, tracing it with her fingers. "Mannequin isn't saying anything - but it won't matter, because he'll be executed at the drop of a hat." The Mannequin was a Changeling, and now that the world knows exactly who the Changeling are... they won't be kind.
"Wait, hold up," Meifeng put both of her hands up. "Don't tell me they're even thinking about giving him a "fair trial." God... I hate pointless bureaucracy." She made sure to finger quote.
"Honestly... as crass as it sounds, I don't see the point," CIndy sighed as she reluctantly argreed with Meifeng on this one. "We might as well just skip the trial - because have you seen this? They want to pin the Mannequin for everything the Changeling Unit did."
She rolled her eyes.
"Terrorism, mass murder, torture, kidnapping and human trafficing, theft, and... you get the point by now," Cindy adjusted her round glasses as she kept up a professional demeanor. "It honestly feels like they're just tryna to give him the death sentence. We could honestly ice him right now, and not a soul would care."
"But we aren't." It was surprising for Meifeng to be saying this. "Long as we got the Mannequin caged, we don't have to worry about him. Let's let them do their stupid trial, and then we move on with our lives."
Then the thought occurred to Meifeng that the Mannequin wasn't the root of this problem. He was merely a ringleader... and the Hands were the circus.
"...What about Dr. Cross, and Ignatius?"
"Ignatius hasn't talked yet, he says he won't until he gets the go ahead from Dr. Cross..." Cindy said, as she looked inside. "Dr. Cross on the other hand... says that she'll only talk if we offer her protection."
"Protection from what is the question." Meifeng said. "I don't know what would have her up in arms." She crossed her arms.
"I don't know, but I'm gonna find out," She pressed her earpiece, "Send Dr. Cross in for interogation." Cindy wondered what the hell would have the Hands leader so scared that she's willing to give up everything she knows for protection. Which worried even Cindy. She narrowed her eyes as she watched Ignatius being carted out, and Dr. Cross being carted in.
A sigh escaped her lips.
Cindy sat down on the chair, and right across from her was Dr. Cross. The feared leader of the Verthaven Branch of the Hands of Science who was such a terror several years ago. Now, she was nothing but a straggler who somehow got away. Hm. There were so many questions, but so little time.
Neatly placing some folders on the table.
"Hello, I'm Cindy Keagan, and I'll be questioning you for the duration of this session," Cindy sternly said, the woman barely even flinched.
"Are you going to give me protection?" Dr. Cross asked, raising an eyebrow. "Otherwise, I'm keeping my mouth shut." She crossed her arms.
"We will provide protection for our prisoners to ensure they are alive and treated fairly," Cindy said... even if it was completely redundant. "Even if I have to make you sign something."
"Do it." Dr. Cross. "Give me the papers in agreement, and I'll tell you everything."
Rolling her eyes, Cindy pulled out the papers - which she printed just in case - and handed it to Dr. Cross along with a pen. The woman of science was quick to sign it, and hand it back to Cindy.
"Okay, I have to warn you about them." Dr. Cross said, pressing her finger against the table. Hard.
"Let's not play the pronoun game, who are they?" Cindy finger quoted
Dr. Cross leaned back in her chair.
"...The Founding Family." Dr. Cross put her hands over her face. "They're... they're like a cult. A giant organization that spans nations. They're obsessed with the idea of "human perfection" and "perfect genes" so they set out to create the perfect human being at any cost."
She let out a sigh.
"The resources they have at their fingertips are insane. They have scientists, and that exceeded the Hands, and they have politicians and all sorts of people on their side..."
"After the Verthaven Disaster, the Hands assets were "transferred" into the Founding Family, and I experienced first hand how insane they are. The entire family is lead by three people known as the Blessed Three... I don't know much about them, but they have total control over the family. They will not stop until they get what they want, no matter how many people die."
"Okay, okay..." Cindy was trying to process everything. "Let's take a step back here - what you're essentially saying there's some Nazi-ass cult out there?" She let her urban side shine as she tried to think about this. "Do you know who they are, or where they operate?"
"I have an idea of some people... but, they're all low level, if you want to make a difference you need to kill the Blessed Three," Dr. Cross said. "Without them, the Founding Family is powerless... and don't think they are the biggest threat; the Founding Family has people from all over the world on their side..."
She stared Cindy straight in the eye.
"...Don't think there isn't a DOVE or a RAVEN on their side."
Those words echoed within Cindy as she looked around. She knew she could trust Meifeng, Reed, Shizuka... etc. She could trust them no matter what. However, she wondered what was going to happen next. While she didn't want to say it... it obviously sounded like the Founding Family were the next big target.
"Okay, I'm going to look into this matter..." Cindy pulled out some more papers from the folder. "Can you identify any members of this family?"
Dr. Cross quickly wrote them down, before handing them to Cindy.
"Okay, don't worry, I'm going to make sure that the Founding Family is taken down, while you survive," Cindy said. "I promise you that."
...Cindy couldn't believe she was saying this to a mad scientist of all people.
Dr. Cross replied with a exasperated sigh.
"...Can you really?"
Those words made Cindy wonder.
...Can she even ensure her friends and family survive?
Haruka & Shizuka Takashiro.
Little Seapond, Roseview_
Jennifer's return was supposed to be something joyous to the old crew - the Verthaven survivors that were gathered in Lihua's room moments ago - but the twins didn't share the same sentiment as her former best friends.
For Haruka, while he wasn't close to the girl like Meifeng and Cindy and therefore knew little about her, he could feel she wasn't no longer same girl as he had known back in that forsaken city. The tragedy that had broken her during the battle against the Devil and the Changelings, the hardship that she probably had gone through in the seven-year gap, those cold, murderous eyes that pierced into his when they met back at Oakdell...
Time could change anyone, whether for the better, or for the worse.
He didn't like how his twin's paranoia was starting to rub into him, forcing him to have second thoughts about trusting people - she was a friend, even if they were technically more like distant acquaintances. He just couldn't help feeling hesitant - she had refused to speak about whatever that might have happened to her during those seven years. He tried to keep telling himself that he was simply being curious and he should respect her choice not to talk about it, but he couldn't suppress the nagging suspicion rumbling beneath that curiosity, and the fear of repeating the same mistake he had made back in Verthaven.
As for Shizuka, obviously he wasn't going to let the part about Jennifer almost killing his precious brother to slide that easily, but for now he knew that it was better to keep this sour opinion to himself and not put unnecessary strains into the stable relationship he had managed to build with Cindy and co. (through lots of hard work, mind you). It would be better to just observe her for the time being before jumping to conclusions.
However, right now Jennifer was the least of their concern.
Friends were important, but family would always come in first before friends, no matter what.
Blood is thicker than water.
Akemi's voice message still echoed hollowly in their ears. "Haru? Shizu? I know you two are legally adults now and have your own life, but forgive me for being a worried guardian when I can't seem to reach any of you for a whole week. Your father had called in two days ago... It seems that Asami has gone missing. She hasn't been to work for a whole month, and she can't be reached at all..."
It was time for them to face and settle their relationship with the mother who had virtually abandoned them all these years, once and for all.
...
Unknown_
The manager wasn't bragging. He was right to say that this room had the best view - an unobstructed view of the ocean that stretched out into the horizon beyond.
Seated in a colorful armchair on the balcony, she tilted a glass in her hand slowly in a circular motion, then she brought it to her lips. "Hmm... nasty." Her face cringed as she set down the wine on the antique round table before her - or rather, an exceptionally well-made counterfeit.
She let out a sigh - the sea breeze that carressed her cheeks did little to ease her growing annoyance at something.
She was a rather tall woman for her race, made even taller with the black stiletto heels on her feet. The velvet-red silk gown hugged her healthily slim figure in all the right places, showing off the perfect, feminine curves that could easily put those undernourished supermodels to utter shame. The cut of her front was low enough to accenturate the cleavage of her modest D-cups. The heavy makeup hid her true age splendidly, but not without emphasizing the features of her own heritage, which she was extremely proud of.
Her Asian roots.
"How do you like here so far?"
She turned around slowly to look at the tanned manager, her face impassive, but inside she felt contempted at his unannounced appearance. How rude of him to creep up to a lady without knocking on the door first.
"Lovely view," she began. "Sadly, this juice has left an unpleasant taste in my mouth." She drew a circle on the rim of the glass with a finger, smudging the lipstick mark until it became a ring of red - the color of luck, and also of blood. "...What a pity."
She suddenly swept a hand across the table and the glass flew off the top, where it shattered before the manager on the carpeted floor with a dull thud, spilling its contents all over. The scarlet liquid soaked through the dark blue carpet into an inky-black.
The color of death.
The man didn't react. He continued to lock his gaze with the woman, but his lips trembled slightly - with silent rage.
The woman continued in a clipped voice, "Now that we are done with the, ah, unnecessary formalities, shall we get down to the real business?"
The corners of the manager's lips twitched upwards into a sneer, his eyes traveled down to the broken glass before they moved back to the lady. "I wonder... why the redundant act if there's nothing I can do to change this fucked-up fate?"
She let out a giggle. "It always brings me such joy to hear that word - rough around the edges, yet so beautiful." She stood up and crossed her arms before her chest, pushing her assets up, which seemed like they were going to spill out of her low-cut. She walked towards him, the sharp heels cutting into the carpet mercilessly with each step. "You are absolutely right - the deal has already been sealed, and there is nothing you can do to stop it."
The manager narrowed his eyes at her. "I may not have the power to stop you, but one day... you will surely meet your end. An end even worse than death, that you're powerless to be able to rise above it, ever."
The lady laughed. "How kind of you... to still care about me even in your last breath."
The fury on the man's face quickly turned into horror. "You... bitch... Why..."
"My dear, surely you can't be this ignorant... Or are you too afraid to face the truth?" Her full lips curled into a smile - a mesmerizing one, if it wasn't for the words that were followed after, "It is time for the 'Old World' - your world - to drop the curtain..."
She then spreaded out her arms dramatically. "...And to welcome and embrace the New Order with open arms!"
"You... you are... insane..."
"Oh? You think I have lost my own mind?" The woman was now inches away from the manager. "How amusing to hear that coming from a fool..."
Her hand shot out and choked the man in a vice-like grip, and her long, magenta-painted fingernails digging into his skin. "I would have preferred not to have the blood of an unsightly toad like you to stain my hands, but I shall make an exception in return to the gracious advice that you have given me."
The sleeveless arm burst into flames; raw blisters were already spreading out from the manager's neck area from the mere heat of the red-hot arm, eating through his skin into his flesh, his blood and bones. In no time the man was completely engulfed in a ball of raging fire, burning away every fiber of his being...
Until there was nothing left but specks of ashes on the ground.
The lady flexed her lava-like arms and it turned back to its human form, though it was still smoking from the use of her power.
She couldn't help but sigh again; she then headed out to the balcony once more, watching the waves of the ocean lapping lazily onto the deserted sandy beach.
Rori Aherne && Maxine Diaz
West Woodlake, Hedgemount
"You're going to Europe?" Rori looked up from where they were, somewhat awkwardly, sketching at the kitchen table. They were slowly getting better at drawing with only one arm available to use.
"Yeah, some kind of exchange program through RAVEN," Max shrugged as she grabbed a can from the fridge. It was slightly frustrating - she had been hoping to get a bit of time off, especially with all the shit that had been going down. Especially since Rori had been caught up in a lot of it. She'd wanted to spend a bit of time with her cousin.
"So what am I going to do?"
"Stay out of trouble, for one. You're practically an adult anyway so I'm not worried about leaving you alone here... I've hardly been around anyway." Max moved over to ruffle Rori's hair, earning a glare from them. "Don't go running towards the disasters, yeah?"
"It's not like I choose to," Rori frowned, not taking their eyes off the paper. "I want to get this cast off soon anyway." And they'd like their wing to heal. It was annoying enough having wings while a human, never mind when one was broken. Not being able to fly around everywhere was annoying. "When are you leaving?"
"A few days; I've got time off until then. So how about we go watch some of them shit movies you love so much?"
Rori's face lit up. It'd been a while since they'd got to spend time with Max, so it would be nice to do so before she left. "Yeah!"
Max ended up being busy the next day, much to Rori's disappointment. Of course the poor RAVEN agent was exhausted from a night of watching whatever movies Rori wanted to force her to. They had both enjoyed it though. Even if Max had complained the entire time.
There was a certain sense of freedom to not having any actual adult in the house. Not that Max really counted as an adult. Apart from the fact she had a job and Rori didn't, Rori was probably the overall more mature one. They had no interest in having any kind of crazy parties.
Their phone buzzed where it sat on the coffee table as they went to turn on the TV. Maybe it was Wendy! That would be nice, the last time Rori had seen Wendy they'd all almost died (again).
Hey, Roisin, it's Conor. I'm moving to Baybridge - heard from Max's brother that you live there. We should meet up.
Rori looked at their phone, slightly confused. Huh? How the hell did their younger brother get their phone number? That just didn't make sense. They guessed he was talking about Salvador telling him that the two of them lived here - maybe it was him. Whatever no point in dwelling on it.
It's Rori now. And I don't know, I'll have to check with Max. Why are you moving out?
He wasn't much older than her after all.
Sorry, Rori, got it. It's complicated. We can talk about it.
Sure. We'll work something out.
Great, see you sometime!
Rori smiled and locked their phone. Maybe this was their chance to reconnect with the family they hadn't seen in years.
Lihn Phan && Kei Phan
Greencrest Heights, White Coast
"What's that?" Thanh pointed to a picture on the screen of Kei's laptop, smearing a bit of the ice cream she had just been eating on it. Kei sighed softly, moving his laptop slightly where it was in his lap. He'd been trying to catch up a bit on college work and his sister had expressed interest in helping him with it.
Or she had claimed to. It seemed she really just wanted him to distract the six year old that was currently bouncing up and down beside him while she wrote up some reports for work, along with filling out more job applications. It was hardly productive.
"That, Tani, is a beluga whale," Kei smiled softly at his niece.
"I want one!"
"You can't have one - they only live in cold climates. They're also very big."
"Mommy! Kay Kay won't let me get a booga whale!"
Lihn turned her head around to fix Kei with an exasperated look, to which he gave a shrug in response. "We can go to a sea world to see a beluga whale sometime."
"Yay!" Thanh grinned, only getting more excited. Lihn turned back to her computer before frowning as a new email popped up in the inbox for her work email. She recognised who it was from - but they certainly weren't someone she would expect an email from.
"Thanh, why don't you go to your room and read that book Kei got you?"
"But why, mommy, I like being down hereeee."
"Thanh, go to your room." Lihn's tone was more stern, causing Kei to look up from his laptop. Thanh, somewhat unhappily, slipped off the sofa and dragged herself out of the room.
"What is it?" Kei looked inquisitively at his sister. She wouldn't just send Thanh out of the room for no reason.
"I got an email from our uncle."
"Eh?" Kei got up, walking over to stand beside Lihn and look at her screen. "Why would he be emailing you? I thought they basically cut off dad..."
"Seems like they've changed their mind. Our grandfather wants me back in Vietnam for some kind of family meeting. It involves my mum, for some reason."
"Well, he's going to be in for a surprise." Kei frowned. While their father had kept in contact with his own family after moving to the USA they had cut him off after he married Kei's mother. It was a rather complicated mess of affairs - Lihn had retained contact until their father had died. It had been years since they'd heard from any of their family in Vietnam. It was a bit out of the blue. Kei had learnt about them from both his dad, and Lihn, complaining. "They won't approve of Thanh."
Lihn shrugged. "They don't approve of you either. You're clearly not invited over."
"Can I read the email?"
"Go ahead."
Kei frowned at the Vietnamese writing on the screen, taking a moment to figure out what it said;
Lihn,
I am contacting you to ask you to return to Vietnam for at least a few months. My father has matters he wishes to discuss with you regarding your father and mother. It is a matter that must be discussed in person. While your mother is not part of our family anymore it concerns us. You have no need to bring anyone else along with you.
Please respond quickly, Vihn Phan
"That's an odd email... and they definitely don't want me coming along. Are you going to go?"
Lihn sighed. "Well, Thanh's never been out of the country before. I don't want to jump to cut off our extended family. Who knows, people change."
Kei nodded. "I guess we're taking a family trip to Vietnam then... Soon. Are you going to tell Thanh or will I?"
"You can take that responsibility. I have flights to book, and emails to make."
[i][h1]Wendy Emily Lucker, & Cindy Keagan[/i]Oakdell Harbor, White Coast.
It could wait, but Wendy really had to show this to her case worker. She knows that she annoys Cindy a bit, and she knows she's probably going to be busy - but, this could be of help. Especially if it's another lunatic running around. Even if Wendy didn't want to lend a helping hand directly.
She was willing to stand on this destroyed beach just to give it to her. The whole place still took a beating from the last overload attack. No one was here, and she was hoping that she was able to have this conversation before someone comes by and tells her to leave.
A boat came from the sea, and rode all the way up to the beach.
Stepping off of it was Cindy Keagan, who had elected to come alone. She didn't have a clipboard or anything professional - but Wendy could just tell from the look on her face that she had better things to do than be here. So, Wendy knew that it was best that she doesn't waste her time.
"Hey, you said it was urgent, right?" Cindy said as she walked up, putting her hand on her hip.
"Y-yeah," Wendy said as she nodded her head. She had her camera in her hands. "When you were with that... suspect. Me and some friends saw someone, and I managed to take a picture that you might want to see..."
Rotating her camera around, Wendy showed the back part of the camera - the golden camera screen. She was displaying the image she took of the Black Hound standing on the side of the rooftop holding a rifle.
"He was standing on the roof over you." Wendy said.
"Wait..." Cindy raised an eyebrow. "Could this be..." She trailed off as she quickly put two and two together. This has to be their target. But... before she investigates, there's one thing she has to say.
"Give this picture to me, and then delete it, I can't risk anyone coming after you for this picture." Cindy preferred that Wendy didn't take the picture altogether. "Actually, let me hold this camera for a bit," Cindy said.
"Um..." Wendy trailed off, unsure if she wanted to give the camera to Cindy.
"Girl, don't act like I won't give it back - if I break it, I'll buy you an even better one." Cindy said, presenting her fist.
Wendy looked at it, and sighed.
"Alright," Wendy said, giving her a fist bump and Cindy smiled. "But, just don't go looking at it... some of the pictures on there are really... personal."
Cindy kept that smile on her face.
"...I don't even want to know."
Academy 61, Roseview.
It was a long day, but the only thing that Wendy could do was go back to her dorm room, and stay the rest of the day there. She opened up her dormroom, and merely walked inside. she turned on the TV, and the first thing that popped up was a news report.
"...Old Man Winter, the leader of the Eco-Natura eco-terror group who was behind the terrible terrorist attack today, was killed by RAVEN agents after he put up stiff resistance. After his death, the members of his former organization have mostly fled. Many of which were apprehended. There is a man hunt for the rest of the organization as well. However, the damage to Prince Edfield was extensive. Many of the buildings will have to be demolished as many ask the question of what can even be rebuilt at this point.''
While the TV was rambling, Wendy merely took off her dress, and then plopped down on her bed in nothing but her underwear. She had no interest in going out anymore, since something crazy always happens. And she seems to be at the epicenter of it constantly. It's all weird, but she didn't want to piece the missing pieces together. It wasn't her fight, she was just a bystander.
However, her phone began to ring, and she quickly grabbed it and pressed answer with her thumb. The voice immediately told her who it was.
"Hey, Wendy," It was Euan Lucker. Her beloved father. "I heard what happened in Baybridge, and wanted to ask if you were okay."
Oh. Oh. She didn't expect this phone conversation, but she had to lie through her teeth.
"Oh? That?" Wendy said, brushing it off. "I was in the Academy all day, eating ice cream." She followed that up with a quick laughter.
"Oh, I was worried for a second," Euan said. "So I wanted to ask how were you doing?"
"Yeah, I'm doing... great," Wendy said, unsure of if she would call a state of constant disaster great. "I'm trying to publish more pictures, and whatnot - you know, the usual. My academics are doing great, too."
"I'm glad... So, they know you're a replicator now? How have you been working with that?" Euan said.
"I'm... disappointed in myself that I slipped up like that."
"Don't be," Euan said. "You did everything you could, you had no choice but to."
"Yeah..."
"... Alright, I think it's time I skip the small talk," Euan sighed. "Not that I don't enjoy talking to you... but, I have some news."
"Oh?" Wendy asked.
"You know my brother... Uncle Zack?" Euan asked.
Wendy wasn't particularly close to Uncle Zack, but she knew him at least.
"Brianna is being sent to your Academy... and so's her stepbrother, Cody." Euan said.
"Oh? Oh." Wendy said. "That's great, dad..." Wendy and her cousins weren't super close... but, she still appreciated them. But, now they had no choice but to be. She was wondering why they were being sent here of all places, but beggars can't be choosers.
"...I'll be sure to show them around," Wendy said, nodding her head.
"Good, they got into trouble with DOVE, that's why they're being sent to an Academy," Euan said. "They're heading there now on a plane... I'd love for you to meet them at the airport."
A smile appeared on her face when she realized they could all take one big selfie.
Jennifer had made it back to the motel room back in Havenfield.
More precisely, the space right in front of it. The Nemesis was putting things in the back of their truck, while Megan and the others sat in the seats. Jennifer wondered how she was going to break things off with them. Since she was a loyal employee, and Megan was so nice to her when they first met.
Walking up to the side of the driver's seat, Jennifer said to Megan, "Hey Megan, cam we talk?" She asked.
"Oh, sure, love!" Megan cheerfully said as she didn't even move.
"...Outside the car?" Jennifer suggested. "Ah, no know, let me just get it out of the way; after talking with some friends... I've decided that I'm going to stay in Baybridge. Leave your organization."
"Oh? I'm sorry to see you go, but I can't say that this isn't unexpected," Megan said. "You are a whole new person now, Jennifer." Megan said with a smile. "But, I can't chain you down to us - here at Jervious enterprises, we encourage you to spread your wings!"
"Yeah..." Jennifer scratched the back of her neck. "You were a great help, Megan."
"Thank you, darling," Megan started laughing. "Now, we're going to go now... now that the Hands are gone, we gotta expand to new horizons, in new cities! Hope you understand."
Jennifer smiled.
"I do." She laughed. She watched as the Nemesis slid into the vehicle.
"Now, I'm sure the Nemesis appreciates the extra space, we're off!" Megan said as she pressed the gas and left. She poked her head out the window and shouted, "We'll be in touch!"
"Goodbye!" Jennifer said.
However, after they were off, the group had a conversation.
"...So, we're laying low now?" Ray asked as he looked towards Megan. "I don't think we should stay in Baybridge."
"Of course not," Megan said. "Let's just wait and see who tries to spring the Mannequin, and the Hands... then we eliminate them, simple as that."
"Because the freaks just never stop coming, do they?" Ray asked.
"Nope, that's why people like us do what we do..." Megan leaned back in her chair.
"...Now, let's go to California, yes?"
Ellen Nile
The building was empty, it was the same one she had gone to when she had first taken the drug, but it was more unnerving now that it was empty. Her footsteps were quiet in the derelict, somehow swallowed by the silence that filled everywhere else. Ellen felt like she was intruding, which she supposed she was, but then she had been invited, sort of. She'd received a text from Mannequin.
It simply read:
There is a gift for you in my lab on the table. Use it wisely.
He had simply directed her here, to what had been, she supposed, his temporary base. No one else was here, though she still glanced around guiltily as she entered what looked like a lab. There was a case, what looked like an overlage briefcase of brushed aluminium with a high tech scanner on top. This is what she'd been sent to find. She looked around once more, as though worried there might be someone watching her theft, then took the case and hurried out.
Now she sat before the heavy case, simply staring at it, not quite sure if she had the courage to open it. She wondered why she was scared, this was an answer, something to allow her to finally take back control of her life. Perhaps only in part, but it was the part that had ruined it in the first place. She pressed her thumb against the small glass plate and it glowed momentarily, before, to her only slight surprise, it opened. There was a click, and she lifted the lid to expose the glowing vials.
The faint light was reflected in her eyes, and she knew that things would finally change...
Fortunately for Cindy; her apartment complex wasn't leveled. Unfortunately, it's been turned to a jungle so atrocious that not even Tarzan would want anything to do with it.
Stepping over a large root, Cindy hissed underneath her breath as she walked up to the front door of her apartment. She put her keys into the door, and cringed as she expected nothing but destruction. However, when she opened the door... everything was perfectly in tact. Not a thing was stirred. There were some vines, and roots growing inside the place - but long as it doesn't grow into the walls, or anything important, they can be easily removed.
A sigh of relief left Cindy's lips as she slipped off this uncomfortable business suit, and went towards the shower. She could have gotten dressed at work, but she had to be quick. After a brief shower, Cindy stepped out, wearing a towel over herself (normally she wouldn't since she's alone, but she has guests coming over).
Very special guests.
After Cindy had settled everything with her case, and at work, she called her closest friends in RAVEN to one point. It was a bit of a risk, and she could get into some serious trouble, but Cindy couldn't just ignore what Dr. Cross said. It'd be stupid to do so, especially with stakes this high.
So, putting on jeans, and a black-button up shirt, Cindy walked to the living room of her apartment. Before she could get comfortable, someone was knocking at the door. She was hoping it was everyone at once. Skipping over to the entrance to her apartment, she opened the door, and - lo and behold - it was everyone at once.
"Hey, hey, hey," Cindy said with a smile. "Come on in, ignore all the plants."
Shizuka was the first to step in; he was pretty much walking through the vines and roots in the way as if they weren't even there at all. "Hey."
He had a good idea why Cindy had gathered all these people at her own apartment instead of the Headquarters, though whatever the reason was, he couldn't help having a bad feeling about it...
"Hey," Max gave a slight way, waiting a moment before stepping into the apartment. She was just a tad confused why she, of all the members of RAVEN, had been asked her by Cindy of all people. Time to people civil, she guessed.
She sat down on the sofa, and crossed her legs as she watched everyone walk into the room.
The Taylors were the last to show up, together as before. Reed had a habit of flexing his left palm, which had long since healed but left him with the phantom pains of the damage done. Quentin, on the other hand, crunched through the vines with firm steps, greeting the others with a nod. "Good to see you," he remarked, with a thin smile.
"Okay, I'm going to be brief; because, officially, we're going off the books," Cindy started off as she looked between her group of fellow RAVENS. "Our good friend Dr. Cross spoke of an organization that caught my attention... the Founding Family. I don't know who they are, but they sound like a problem, so... We should find out..."
Cindy reached into her pocket, and pulled out a picture. The picture that Wendy took of he Black Hound standing on the roof.
"One of my cases snapped this picture, it's the dude who shot Winter with the overload serum, but that's not all," Cindy shook her head. "I showed it to Dr. Cross, and know who she said it was? The Black Hound." She leaned in. "Does that ring a bell?"
"It's familiar," Quentin said, trying to recall where it'd come from. "Heard it thrown around a few times but we've never had much info about it." He shrugged. "Why is it these assholes choose some stupid fucking codenames?"
"Think about it, Quent," Meifeng said with a grin as she leaned back in her chair. "Do you think a big and mysterious badass would use Harold as his big badass name? Or Kevin?" She started laughing.
"He's the guy our Savior Mason Connor got the overload serum from," Cindy said, rolling her eyes up into her head. "Which means the two are connected." Shizuka bobbed his head in agreement.
"We should really look into this organization, but..." Cindy trailed off, looking to the side, somewhat nervous. "...We gotta do it off the books, unofficial shit. Dr. Cross said there's some agents working for the Founding Family. So I took the recording of the interogation, and threw it into the lake. I don't know how much of that is true, but we can't take that risk.
"Fortunately, our mad scientist friend was kind enough to direct us to a few companies, and businesses that work for the Family... but, here comes the problem..."
"Break the news, Cindy," Reed said, with low expectation.
"...Some of them are in other countries."
"What, other countries?" Max turned her head to look at Cindy - she'd mostly just been listening up until now.
"Let's see..." Cindy had all the files here on the table. "Dr. Cross pointed out a lot of stuff. There's a political party in the good old UK that works for them. A big university in Germany is a front for them. A research center in Sweden is also a front. Dr. Cross also said a shipping company in Singapore works for them, and another research company in Spain is also with them... so we got our work cut out for us."
"Well, I'm being sent to Europe..." Max trailed off, looking thoughtful. "I'm pretty sure I'll be in at least Spain. I can try and investigate while there."
"Good," Cindy said. "Just keep your head down, don't let them find out."
"So, let me guess..." Meifeng asked. "You want us to go 'round the world, searching for this mysterious 'Founding Family'." She finger quoted.
"No," Cindy shrugged. "I don't think we can all go on this little foreign exchange program - and even if we can, it's unlikely we won't end up in the places we need to... but, we can at least try."
Looking between her group, Cindy thought about it.
"See about the foreign exchange program, and see where you can go," Cindy thought about it for a moment. "With all the racism goin' on globally, I'm not sure if I'll go."
"We need you here," Reed pointed out, "You're one of the people holding this together. I'll stick around as well. We're needed in Baybridge and besides, I couldn't see myself being any use outside the states."
"I'll go wherever I'm needed, you know that." Quentin folded his arms.
"Well, I'll be flying off to Asia - again - in three days time." Shizuka shrugged. "I can try to poke around and see what I can gather while I'm there." From the bits of information they had about this 'Founding Family', they sounded like they had a lot of powerful connections around the world, and that was enough to tell him they were extremely dangerous creeps who had to be taken down at all costs.
If they didn't want another tragedy like the Verthaven disaster to happen all over again...
This time, on a global scale.
[i][h1]...[/i] ???.
A woman ran fast as she could. Running for dear life as adrenaline made her quick like a rabbit. Running through this maze-like building with something in her hand.
However, there were slow footsteps coming up behind her.
There were always footsteps.
Her frantic run through the building came to an end when she was stopped by a locked door. "Come on!" The woman said, desperately trying to loosen it. That power of hers was turning out to be useless. She would turn around, but this hallway had no other exits. Which means she has no choice but to keep trying. She started kicking the door open, hard as she could.
The woman didn't know whether or not she should be relieved, or terrified, when the door unlocked. She muttered a "thank you, Jesus," as the doors opened and she was getting ready to run through... However...
On the other side of the door... the mere sight made the woman's heart sink. It was three of the people she didn't want to encounter.
The Blessed Three.
Two awfully tall men, and a woman who was tall by female standards. Each wearing suits so expensive, that they were reserved for the one percent.
"...It seems we have found our thief." One of them said, he was tall, and had angular facial features. His face was strong, and he had black hair, and brown eyes. He stared directly at the woman, and put his hand out. "Can I have back what you've taken from us?"
Her aggressive persuer, the Black Hound, wearing his black armor with the embelm of a snarling dog on his chest piece painted in white, approached from behind. Holding a M16 assault rifle, he slung the weapon over his shoulder. Not a word left his lips, but his presence alone was enough to sway the woman.
She was shaking - each of the people here could reduce her to a stain on the wall with a thought. What she swiped was, what she believes, the only way to get out of this life. She... had no choice. Maybe she can appease them. Holding the object with both hands, she shakily handed it back to the man who addressed her first.
"Good..." The man slipped the stolen article - with was a syringe with a glowing yellow liquid - into his suit. Not like she could ever make good use of it. "What is your name?"
"...Angie."
"Angie... You have made the Blessed Three very disappointed in you," The Man said as he grabbed onto her wrist. "The Family has placed a lot of trust into you... and you betray that trust, by attempting to steal our hard work..."
"Give that whore up for experimentation, Blake, her genetic materials will be useful," The other man aggressively said, he raised his fist up and it was sparking with electricity. He looked between the three. "Or better yet, give her to me to play with, the best we can do for her is enhance her broken genes for the next generations." The electricity intensified.
"Ezekiel," Blake started off as he turned towards Ezekiel, and looked at him, "What do you take us for? Men living in the dark ages?"
He sounded clearly disgusted. He grabbed the woman, and pulled her in, wrapping his arm around her.
"She... merely just need a bit more guidance," Blake started off. "However... a punishment is in order so we avoid events like this again."
"Oh, no!" The woman shouted trying to run away, but the Black Hound grabbed her, and slung her over his shoulder. While she did her best to squirm, it didn't help.
"Black Hound, take her to the detention center."
"Wait, what?!" Angie said. "No!"
The Black Hounds eyes started glowing a red color.
"Affirmative."
His robotic voice said as he carried the prisoner off.
"Now, we can get back to our meeting without being interrupted," Blake said as he closed the doors slowly, watching the Black Hound do his job. The Blessed Three retreated back inside their meeting room, a large round, room which had windows that gave everyone a great view of the city skyline. There were three chairs arranged in a triangle, all of them facing each other.
The Blessed Three took seats.
"Julia, would you continue?" Blake asked, leaning in.
"...As I was saying," Julia, the only female member of the Blessed Three - a tall redhaired woman with a curvy, yet muscular figure - stood up and looked between Ezekiel, and Blake. "Dr. Cross, and all the employees that she has left, have been captured by RAVEN."
"Serves her right for such insolence," Ezekiel said, rolling his eyes up into his head. "She was expendable, truthfully - but, what we have to decide upon is whether or not we take action. She knows something... enough to cause us trouble."
"Assassinating her within that building would be quite the challenge, even with our men and women within the organization," Blake stated. "... And, if she has spoke of us, they would be on guard for assassination."
"Which means that wretch has already started problems for us..." Ezekiel groaned.
"I wouldn't say that much..." Julia mentioned. "The last thing we need to do is act brashly... we are the Blessed Three after all."
Both Ezekiel and Blake laid their eyes on Julia.
"We are blessed with perfect genes, intellect, and abilities... we should be more than capable of handling this," Julia first said as she crossed her arms. "We shouldn't falter because of one risk."
"What I'm annoyed about is how Cross, and her scheme took valuable resources away from the Family," Ezekiel said, crossing his arms, annoyed. "Hell, they even removed potential resources such as Baron..."
"...But, we all know we wouldn't have been able to trust him," Julia said. "Nor would we have any real way to control him."
"Nonetheless, we are inching closer and closer to our goal..." Blake said as he leaned in forward. "The device that will change the world is almost finished... and with it, humanity will be improved, for the better."
