In a world where new alien species are being discovered almost weekly, where superhumans are becoming more and more of a thing, nothing could prepare the heroes [or Champions] of Engine City for the radioactive mayhem of the villain called Tox once he exploded over the east end of Engine City. Hundreds of civilians were infected with a strange toxic mutagen born from the DNA of the villain and transformed into melted looking men and women with enhanced strength and speed however many of them are unable to see clearly. The authorities had no choice but to quarantine the area, but even with this five square block area off limits to the general public crime and injustice plagues the city. Will you join the fight for truth and justice, or play on the other side of the fence as an anti-hero or villain? Will you be a Champion?

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Rules:

1.) No back-to-back posting.

2.) PAY ATTENTION TO DETAIL AND SET-UPS!!

3.) Make sense. If we can't make heads or tails of your posts they're likely to get skipped over.

4.) Get permission before using another player's character in your posts if it involves changing the scene or making actions. Everybody will take beatings in this game in battle however, so don't get pissed if you get punched or blasted into a wall by the bad guys!

5.) Problems with the game or players should be sent directly to me through PM's. I don't want a bunch of bickering in the OOC.

6.) Abandoned characters will be used as NPC's or killed off within the context of the story.

7.) “I was waiting for [insert player/character] to make a move” is not an excuse to not post.

8.) There is no rule #8.

9.) My word is law.

10.) In the event that I'm offline for any period of time, the deputy GM (not yet selected) will take control and HIS/HER word will then be law.

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It was 10:27 am in Engine City, April 3rd. Mild tempuratures on an early spring day. Just two weeks after the radioactive man known as Tox seemingly exploded over the five square blocks of the city now quarantined, where the tempurature is a few degrees hotter than it should be for obvious reasons. Had it not been a criminal transport flight gone wrong Plex or one of the other new heroes of the city may have taken blame. Plex now has a few duplicates set up in various parts of the city, connected by the telepathy that links them all like an instant messenger app in their minds. It's no big addition to his power, but it makes Lucas and his duplicates more organized in a way. And his training and missions with the panther like teleporting Leopold of the Allies didn't hurt either. Lucas had a duplicate standing in for him at the garage, Miller Tire & Break, located just up the road from Warpath River. Five miles away and that much closer to downtown Engine City was Jefferson Heights where Lucas had a loft apartment that was obviously divided into a bachelor pad and a man cave with a separate entrance that served as his superhero base of operations. He had saved some money with all he'd earned in the Allies working for the United Nations, but not enough to have a Bat Cave.

Plex's other agents were in disguise throughout the city, another skill he'd learned from his friends in the Allies. While he was tossing around some ideas at his apartment and getting ready to go on patrol himself he had a duplicate disguised as a homeless man near Battery Park, another is hiking the endge of a mountain looking over what is essentially the heart of Engine City [namely several large factories so close they're almost connected]. Like an industrial trailer park but instead of being a subdivision it was like it's own half of the city with some factories being larger than many of the building and skyscrapers. Other duplicates are stationed in civilian clothes in places like coffee shops, the Fort Thompson Mall, and generally just walking around.

"Something doesn't sit right with me about the whole Tox situation," Lucas thought while taking a shower and getting in-costume to go on an early patrol himself, "any other time he was easy enough to contain but now his leftover slime and energy isn't coming together again to reshape him a body. It seems as though Carter Hills was targeted on the east end of the city about three miles from Thomas Sweeny High School. But how did Tox's mass expand and explode, and why Carter Hills?"

After getting dressed and stretching in his apartment, he went up a fire escape to the roof where he made a duplicate or two and reabsorbed them to get the mass for giant growth.

"Sorry to make you guys just to reabsorb you..." he said to them.

"It's okay, we got used to it with the Allies needing a giant man more than man power." one of the duplicates responded before a light blue glow from the original Plex absorbed the two like a black hole making the original Plex roughly ten to eleven feet tall and now bulletproof.

The original Lucas was the only one who could reabsorb the mass itself for giant growth. He now jogged and leaped from rooftop to rooftop throughout downtown Engine City like a more proportionate Hulk from the comic books on the racks at the Quik-E-mart.

"I need to try and get into Carter Hills past the quarantined lines of defense. Not many large buildings to leap from and I don't know anyone with the ability to fly or a plane to drop me down in there. There's got to be some clues as to why this is happening the way it is, a cover up perhaps?" Plex continued thinking while on patrol.

~KL~

Elli had yet to decide on an acceptable super hero costume and often when Investigating had to dress much like a cat burglar in all black with an all black ski mask.
She'd originally come to Engine City to look at some rare glyphs of the Metotec people which had come to the possession of the Engine city Museum.
But those reasons had shifted when Tox exploded polluting the city.
The people needed her abilities to quickly deduce the cause, reason an cure of the disaster.
Presently it seemed as if her trouble was how to get past the quarantine.
Setting her mind to it and applying her focus on causality she observed the patterns of the CDCs troops watching for the optimum opportunity to simply walk past them.
Though she was no specialist in mutagenic compounds she did know how to gather data and who she could submit it to for study.
She did know that if she could find the key temporal point that then she could bring her ability to bare on the problem. But till then she'd have to sit an wait her chance to enter the quarantine zone and look around

Damien Kane

Damien took a step out of the old shack he'd spent the night in, and surveyed the slums of Engine City. Various people were leaning against the walls of the alley, dressed in ragged clothes, and trash littered the ground. He looked over at one of the nearby men, who he had hired as a guard, and asked him why no-one had come for medical attention.
"Well sir," he replied with a gruff voice, "people've heard about the quarantine, and are afraid they might get infected."
Damien stared at the man for a moment. "Where is the quarantine zone?"
The man pointed in the general direction, and Damien took off. Why would an area be quarantined? he thought to himself as he headed that direction. He suddenly stopped as he rounded a corner, CDC and SWAT teams covered the area, seemingly working to build a make-shift fence of some kind. Damien quickly backed into a nearby alley, and climbed up a fire escape to the roof of a building. He looked out over the quarantined area, and saw people wondering aimlessly through the streets. Every now and then they would bump into each-other, then continue walking like nothing had happened. What is going on? he thought, astonished by their behavior. He sat down and stared, deciding to wait, and see what other situations may arise.

In the 20 storey Lloyd & Associates, a law and financial company located far to the west of Engine City's borders, a young woman typed away on a computer while inputting data into the facility's massive database. She was a 25-year old Chinese immigrant who had moved to Engine City the previous year and quickly secured work as a lawyer's secretary. Her name was emblazoned upon a small gold plate that read 'Liu Qing'. Qing had short black hair and wore a typical secretary's blazer and skirt, but her eyes were an unusually bright shade of blue.

Qing kept working, not looking at the keyboard as she fervently keyed in data, totally transfixed on her work. On her left eardrum was a tiny speaker, which was imperceptible to the naked eye. When she originally started working here, she managed to slip in a receiver in her boss' office that would help her overhear anything her superior would say when she wasn't around. Her boss, Martin Lloyd, had influential contacts within the political, military, financial and legal worlds, and he was often paid exorbitant amounts for his services. This was why she had infiltrated the office; whoever his contacts were would be hers as well, whether he knew it or not. Qing was using the speaker to listen in on a private phone conversation while focused on her work.

"Right... yeah, okay," Lloyd's voice echoed in the speaker. "So you wish to... lawsuit against... for the Carter Hills incident... Your daughter... quarantined even though... healthy the day before. My condolences, Senator. However... cannot use... argument against them. The villain Tox... far greater threat... ever before. But if we use... in the trial..."

The static was overwhelming Qing's hearing, so she opted to turn it off. She needed to think about replacing the receiver with a new one when she had the chance. Despite the poor reception, she had a good idea of who Lloyd was talking to - some Senator who lost his daughter in the Carter Hills tragedy brought upon by the super villain Tox. She didn't know the purpose behind his attack, but it put Engine City on far higher alert than ever. The eastern district was cordoned off, although she wasn't sure if the government was planning to create a cure or leave the victims to Tox's mercy. None of this affected Lloyd's office in the west, so Qing was completely safe working here. As she was also an immigrant, she had no connections to anyone from the east, so she wasn't concerned with the losses.

With the conversation fresh in her mind, Qing robotically worked on her documents while planning what to do once she punched out for the night. She definitely wanted to find out who this Senator was that (apparently) wanted to sue the city for neglecting its citizens. Perhaps there would be a job opportunity if she went to meet him this evening. Finding out the man's name would be easy once Lloyd was gone to play with his mistresses.

Avery was starving, he hadn't eaten a proper meal in days and the effects of hunger were beginning to set in. Clutching his stomach the young man walked through the streets of Engine City keeping his head down desperate to avoid being seen, if anyone saw him they might tell the police and then he'd have to go back to 'the men in white coats'. A baseball cap pulled tightly over his head to conceal his amethyst eyes, Avery made a beeline for the nearest news stand. Picking up the Engine Gazette a single story dominated the headlines. "Super-villain Tox's death leads to quarantine." Avery disliked the term 'super-villain' things were rarely so black and white in the world.

The paper noted the quarantine zone as being 'Carter Hills' what was once a 'friendly' part of Engine City had become a bio-hazard. Towards the back of the newspaper there was another story more close to home for Avery. 'Eldritch still on the run after gas-station hold-up' The paper painted him to be a monster, sometimes Avery believed them.
The truth was that Avery was confronted by the police for the destruction of a government facility and had to take a cashier hostage, since then Avery had gotten nothing but bad press.

A five by five free block meant that there was bound to room for some looting, perhaps even some food if Avery was lucky he'd even find enough food to get him through the week maybe even more. It wasn't that Avery was a evil person, he understood what he was doing was wrong, it was simply that there wasn't an alternative for the boy who had been dealt all the wrong cards.

Reaching the district Avery was halted by a uniformed SWAT officer a gun slung across his chest. "I'm sorry! I have to get in." Avery whimpered as a single tentacle wrapped around the man's neck from the ground holding him until he fell unconscious. Leaving the man Avery entered the quarantine zone to see shambling abominations that must have been affected by the radiation. Avery tried to hide his fear of the creatures trying to find an entrance into one of the houses in search of any loot.

((Where is that delete post button when you need it? Will leave this here for the time being, it was originally an IC post but I decided to wait for a few more people to post before I did anything more))

- D -

Phantom floated above the quarantine area of the city, to assess the situation below and see if there was anyway he could help fight against the infected civilians. He flew down into the quarantine area and was on the look out for the infected. His ghost powers allowed him to easily get into the sealed off place thanks to his flying. But regardless of his flight, he didn't want to draw too much attention and used his ability to become intangible to phase through a building.

He quickly moved through the building since he didn't want to use up too much energy to maintain his intangible state. Once he was on the ground floor, Phantom made himself touchable again, and quickly moved to the door of the abandoned store to observe the commotion. From what he had heard, the super villain known as Tox had infected a good number of civilians on the east end of Engine city, and these poor souls were reduced to mutated flesh melted ghouls that were now a danger to the entire city.

This wouldn't be the first time he had fight sick monsters that belonged in a B movie horror film, but he had yet to battle against ghouls in numbers such as this. But he had to help since he was a hero and there were uninfected people still in the zone who needed help and the authorities already had their hands full with trying to contain the chaos. Phantom opened the door to the streets and went to get into the fray.

First he saw a group of six infected going after a family and Phantom acted quickly, flying straight at the ghouls. When they were within fifteen feet, he used his spiritual energy to lift all six of them up off the ground and slammed them right into the side of a building. He didn't know if the infected civilians could be cured of the disease, so he decided that saving uninfected civilians was of the greatest importance. And that meant stopping the ghouls by any means necessary.

A small squad of Engine Cities finest seemed to be blocking even a grunge covered entrance. Obviously the group was following orders but they vehemently disagreed, stating over and over how they would have been of better use else where. But when your CO, tell you to move your A** , you tend to start protecting it.

For the last hour or so they group had not seen a newspaper blow by, let alone one of these So called shamblers. 4 men standing, well one standing two leaning and one sitting on the hood, of their cars just in case....A heftier man, Bruce, stretched before breaking the silence. "Well this sucks." His words make the others burst out laughing, they where all thinking it, so it was a relief when someone actually said it. A younger man, Parker, used the eased spirits to gather some information. [b["So any idea what is really going on? The only thing I could tell was there where apparently "monsters", but with so many heroes running around why is this being treated like some catastrophe?[/b]
The other officers roll their eyes, like they wanted to be reminded how feeble they look in comparison some of the cities residents. Bruce interjected "Just because they have the ability to fly or shoot lasers.....or turn into giants...THE point is they cant be expected to handle everything that comes up on their own. So shut up and earn your check boy." Bruce turned to his partner and began speaking to him about something that had happened at his home, his wife was angry or something of the sort. Parker took this as an obvious sign that the conversation was over, and once again he managed to say all the wrong things.

"Guy must be on his period, I swear Bruce can be so brooding. I wonder why hes so serious all the time?" Parker had begun speaking to his own partner before actually facing him. "You know what I mean man?" As his eyes reached where his partner had been standing just moments prior he was greeted by a strange sight. 5'8 slender frame, most likely female? His eyes drift downwards to the most definitely female legs, he would have had finished the shallow thought if not for the glisten to the skin. It seemed as if mist had begun collecting around her feet?
"I am going to have to ask you to step back, the area is under Quaran-umpgh?!" When did she? The woman had closed the distance so quickly he had not had time to notice. Pete struggled to get air into his lung, but the jarring strike seems to have sent his mind on a roller coaster of both Shock and awe. As the world goes dark he notices the odd glow from the girls eyes.....

Zero watched the man fall to his knees before passing out in a most peculiar manner. Her hooded head does not linger, the other officers had now come to inspect the noise. Internally Zero noted of her fault, she should have simply snapped the neck of the man instead. [/b]"On your knees!"[/b] Both officers had their sidearms drawn and aimed in the frost queens direction. Several things come to her attention, but first and foremost was the fact he had not seen her as a threat? An odd twinge of pain makes the woman wince.[/b] "I SAID DOWN!"[/b] The officers take a rather aggressive step forward.
The officers seemed all to ready to relax as Zero seemed to slowly raise her hands. As she gets on her knees, the two rush to her "You know how much trouble your in?" Once more the officer seems to think himself in control? Bruce slapped cuffs on her and pulled back her hood, tugging her hair at the same time. "Girly I don't know what got into you, but you just assaulted a police officer. You know what that means?" Bruce began forcing Zero forward while the officer rushed ahead to open the door.
As Bruce "forces" Zero along he just about has her in the car when she finally said something.

"Are you not going to ask?"

Bruce struggled with all his might but he may as well be trying to push an iceberg! Between the mans grunts and strains he obliged her question. "What do you mean? What am I asking? Aside from if you will require an attorney" His partner ran to his side to begin trying as well. The longer they struggled with her the more mist seemed to be forming at their feet. "Where is the fourth man?" As the words left her mouth, Bruce became all too aggressive! His clenched fist struck Zero straight in the small of her back! A loud crack echoed in the tight street, How hard had he struck the woman?

"ARGGGHHHH!!!!!?????" Bruce had been the one to scream out in agony?! "The Hell? It was like I punched a brick wall?" As Bruce pulled away to clutch his broken hand his partner seemed to retreat, that instinctual fear of what he didn't quite understand..Zero turned away from the ajar car door, as she did a husk of ice seemed to break apart falling from within the strange robe like garment. The other officer cried out, "She's got powers!" Bruce lashed out with a sarcastic tone, "No sh*t?! Get your gun on her idiot before she gets away!"
Zero winces yet again, going as far to grab her forehead with her hands? Her temper flaring at the idiots! "Wait where did her cuffs go?" Bruce fought the urge to inform his partner of his total incompetence at following a situation. "She broke them, just keep your gun on her man!" Bruce grunted as he starts to reach for his walkie, his shattered hand and most likely fractured wrist flopping about.

"Your incompetence is PAINFUL!" Zeros sudden out burst was met by the sound of silence. Zero turned and walked away rubbing her temples? Bruce and his partner? Their eyes dart about in their icy prisons, looking up they spot their missing officer frozen to the overpass, muffled cries of joy escape the statues as they realize neither they nor their fellow officer was dead.

Why was she even heading into the zone? What was driving her? Zero while not the friendliest of sorts, was not known for random acts of violence? This sort of behavior seems to clash with any information they have on her....

With the office day wrapping up, Martin Lloyd rushed to put on his best evening suit before telling Qing, "I'm off for an appointment. Take any messages for me and close up the office for me."

She nodded silently and watched him leave. She knew that getup wasn't for a client meeting but rather for him going out with one of his lovers. He never told her that, but she wasn't stupid. The man had a reputation for playing around with celebrities. His irresponsible behavior was perfect for Qing to take advantage of as he rarely paid attention to the gadgets and listening devices she had planted shortly after being hired here.

She turned the phone's voice recorder on and entered his office, confident that she wouldn't be bothered while replacing the damaged listening device with a fresh one. Then she approached a painting of Lloyd in his younger days and reached up for one of the eyes, removing a tiny black camera disguised within the pupil and pocketing it for later use. After that, Qing scoured his documents for any record of the senator that Lloyd spoke to earlier and found a Fargo Tilley, a well-known anti-superhero politician.

So Tilley's daughter was caught in Tox's attack. That would certainly lower his opinion of super-powered persons residing in this city, she pondered. Even so, I may be able to eke a mission out of him if I use the girl's safety as my trump card.

She continued cleaning up the office, both of her boss' paperwork and her own hidden spying gadgets, before closing up for the night. Qing drove back to her bachelor pad and ate a simple heat-up meal for supper. Once she was ready, she approached her bed and opened one of the drawers below it, then removed the wooden panel at the bottom to reveal her costume. It was an ultramarine tunic and pants, black boots and gloves styled with silver skulls and spines, and a ninja-styled breathing mask she wore on the lower half of her face.

Once she was dressed and out for the evening, Qing would become the underworld mercenary Chaotic Blue - a blue-colored shadow that made her living by taking advantage of discord. Now in her getup, she crossed her fingers together and concentrated until her body turned invisible. Even if anyone were to witness her window opening, no one would see who it was. Chaotic Blue leaped on the balcony and then, thanks to her ninja training, effortlessly jumped from building to building like an invisible grasshopper towards Senator Tilley's home.

It had been two weeks since the villain known as Tox spontaneously exploded in the middle of a upper-middle class neighborhood. That was normal in a city full of so-called "superheros" and "supervillains." What wasn't normal is that Tox never regenerated. Instead, his "suicide bombing" infected dozens of regular citizens and slowly melted their skin off, resembling irradiated zombies. One of the newest resident superheros to Engine City wanted to help, but couldn't. At least, not from her Engine City University dorm room.

We can't go in there. It's a quarantine zone! We have no idea if this infection is contagious. Sraif "spoke". The small iridescent alien was half of the superhero Symbiont, and the source of Symbiont's powers. Phoebe was the body of Symbiont, an average 24-year-old human.

Phoebe pursed her lips. Sraif was currently inside her head, and undoubtedly felt the movement. Exactly. It's a quarantine zone. Nobody knows anything, even the doctors who are supposed to be watching the infected. They're too scared to get close and risk infection. We need to go in there, figure out what's going on, if there are any uninfected, and hell, if this is even a disease of just little bits of Tox f***ing with people. Phoebe "said" that to Sraif, thinking fast, imagining the faraway glimpses of infected zombie-people on the news, with the melted face and shambling gait. Phoebe was too new to this job to fight Tox, but she had heard of him and did a bit of research recently to learn about his MO. Suicide-bombing a neighborhood didn't quite fit with his profile. She was very curious, and to be honest, a little selfish. If Symbiont solved this on her own, Symbiont would become famous overnight. A new favorite superhero, one that fights with her own fists like a bada**!

Phoebe felt a wave of annoyance overcome her. Those were Sraif's feelings. The alien let her feelings show through to make them bluntly clear. You know I won't stop you, but I won't actively participate in this...tomfoolery.

Phoebe grinned and leapt off her couch. Underneath her crappy dorm room furniture was a loose floorboard where she stored her Symbiont costume. Phoebe didn't have one of those "fancy-shmancy underwear suits" as she dubbed the spandex costumes. She had a bright red turtleneck sweater, a ski mask with eye and mouth holes, thick gray sweatpants, and cheap steel-toed work boots. The costume was warm and protected her identity, so she didn't bother with a pretty one.

Phoebe quickly put the costume on and looked out her window. No one around. She climbed out, shut it once more, and ran through the night.

Adrian let out a grunt as his leg kicked into a bag hanging from the ceiling in the gym. He Jabbed with his right fist twice then hooked with his left. and sending up a knee. He did this over and over, Jab jab, hook, alternating knees and kicks switching his legs up. he then ducked down bringing his left arm up in an upper cut. Sweat was running down his body as he stopped grabbing onto the bag as he panted picking up his towel on a near by bench. He looked over at the T.V.s as they were of course reporting on the recent events that had transpired in Carter Hills as he wiped his face off before slinging that towel over his shoulder. It had been two weeks since the bombing. Heroes and Super villains, he wanted nothing to do with any of it. He walked into the locker rooms of the gym to take a quick shower as he threw on a simple pair of Jeans with a black t-shirt that formed to his body. He was by no means a small person, standing at 6'3 and working out contently he was a large imposing presence. Probably why he had no problem getting a job as a Bouncer at a night club. He walked out into the street and slung his bag over his shoulder as he shoved a hand into his pocket as he walked down the street. He tried to avoid the quarantine zone as much as possible mostly wanting to leave that to the "heroes" of the city. Those with powers who felt the need to constantly get involved for fame or whatever. But today he ended up right along the border of it as he errands would take him around the other side of it.

Damien watched carefully as a young man walked up to a guard near the quarantine zone, and strangled him into unconsciousness by forming a tentacle out of thin air. Surprising. Heroes aren't usually ones to initiate violence towards innocents, let alone police. He continued tracking the boy's movements, until he lost sight of him as the boy walked around a building. Damien quickly crawled his way down the fire escape he had previously used to get atop the building, and ran back towards his home. He rushed to his room, pulled a chest out from underneath his bed, and slowly opened it, revealing a customized suit he had ordered over a year ago. It included gloves with holes for his fingers, so he would still be able to use his power, even while wearing the suit. Damien put everything on, then stepped out into the alley where the entrance to his home was located. He walked at a brisk pace towards Carter Hills, avoiding civilians as best he could, making his way by taking a route through different alleys, and derelict buildings.

Damien stopped suddenly as he got nearer to Carter Hills, a gust of cold wind had blown his direction. Odd. He thought, and on such a beautiful spring day. He changed direction and headed towards the area where the cool air had come from, and was surprised by what he came across. Four of Engine City's police officers were unconscious. Damien quickly examined them all, one was frozen to the overpass, another was knocked out by some sort of blow to the chest area, and the other two simply seemed to be trapped in solid ice. I don't understand. Why would a hero do this? He then noticed the walkie on the knocked out guard, and quickly walked over to grab it. Thinking of what to say, he pressed the side button to talk. "Hello, any nearby officers?" He waited a few seconds. "Hello? Anyone there? We have an emergency over here." A moment passed, then a voice came through. "Roger, we can hear you loud and clear. What seems to be the problem?"
"You have four officers down, they need immediate medical attention." Damien replied, at which point he gave them the details of his location. He climbed to the top of a nearby building, and waited. A few minutes later, cops were swarming the area, thawing out the officers and looking for clues as to who may have done that to them. Damien continued watching from above, assessing his next move.

The quarantine zone was the hottest topic on everyone's lips. Everywhere she went, Lucina heard people talking about it concerned voices and every newspaper she saw had the incident stamped on to the front page. It was a sad affair really, but she also knew there was nothing she could do. This didn't seem to stop her curiosity though. So there she was having found herself sitting outside the quarantine zone in the form of some kind of wolf/ dog hybrid looking curiously in.
The first thing she had noticed while approaching the area was the horrid smell, the smell that was so much worse for a poor dog's nose. This didn't stop her though as she came as close as to the border as her poor senses would let her. The second thing she noticed was the people wandering around aimlessly. Bumping into each other and mumbling, they looked like a poor man's version of some kind of zombie movie. Watching them she wondered what was going through the minds, that was if they had them anywhere. Sighing loudly she turned to look at the border and the guards around her. No one had stopped her coming so close, but then again who was going to worry about some stray dog getting into a quarantine zone. They were also probably more worried about all the curious people looking in and even some seeming to try to get in.

Phantom was still trying to fend off the ghouls, and was holding them off with his use of moving stuff with his spiritual energy. after he slammed a ghoul with a postal service mailbox, a local ghost floated over to him. the spirit was that of an average looking man in a trench coat and smart looking pants and shoes. the ghost said to Tom, "you need to get out of here."

"why?" Tom asked.

"There is a nasty chemical in the air that is what turned this poor people into these sick ghoulish freaks. i don't what it might do to you so i would leave and try to keep from breaking through the quarantine zone."

Tom nodded agreeing, if it was true that the toxin was in the air then it would be best to guard just outside the edge of the quarantine in case any of the ghouls break free from the area.

"Thanks for you warning" he said with gratitude in his tone of voice.

"I may be dead but I'll try to give help to anyone who listen" the ghost responded. Tom nodded, and then flew off towards the edge of quarantine zone. he hoped that the few survivors managed to get out of the place before becoming infected by the toxins.

2:43 pm

On the edge of Carter Hills leading into downtown Engine City the quarantine line was on high alert. Several flags occured within hours and the melted ones inside seemed to be stirred up. There were armed police as well as shady looking SWAT members guarding the line at the ten foot tall wire fences put up around the area. Large wooden barracades were also in place to help with support in case the melted ones charged together. No matter which angle you look at it from, it's always a damn mess.

"For two weeks the Westman Chemical Plant has told civilians to stay out of Carter Hills due to the radiation levels. But nobody has went in looking for survivors unaffected by the direct contact to Tox's leftover mass. Some of those houses have sturdy basements, but it's hard to tell without smoke signals or something. With power out in the area there's no way for anyone inside to reach beyond the quarantine line. Even with the lower levels of radiation directly, the thousands of melted people in Carter Hills are emitting enough radiation to make most people vomit after about an hour or two. Survivors won't have much longer to hold out." Plex pondered looking at the line from some nearby woods about a block or so away.

He was back to regular size now and trying to form a strategy once he got in there. There were a few law firms in Carter Hills as well as a strip mall, a gas station, and an empty building that used to be a warehouse of some kind. All that plus a bunch of residential housing. Suburbs, sub divisions, trailer parks, you name it. There were also a few train tracks around town.

"If I wait until sundown I'll have no problem sneaking in and getting to the warehouse. That's a kind of obvious place to look for clues... 'old abandoned warehouse,'" Lucas thought laughing a little bit, not loud enough to be heard. "After that I'll sweep through the law offices and see if there's maybe some legal action being taken against Westman Chemical for something."

Lucas faded into the backgroound more and more before coming across one of his duplicated with a duffle bag with civilian clothes. Lucas threw them on and pulled his hair back as best he could and went in the opposite direction of the duplicate. The duplicate that was now being followed.

~KL~

Miss Alice Revya Rose
Being homeless wasn’t so bad. Not when you could take whatever you wanted and didn’t mind the consequences. Breaking in a house when no one was home. Eat some of their cereal. Go ‘shopping’ through their clothes. Clean up. Alice did bring her own toothbrush. That was one of the few things she bothered to keep with her. Sometimes she ran into kids. She’d just play a few games with them and they wouldn’t mind her staying. Sometimes the kids were older, sometimes it was adults who were as irresponsible as kids. Just a bit of violence fixed that problem. At this point, she was pretty good at just knocking people senseless.

Still, Miss Rose did have a sense of responsibility, and as such she found it would be suitable to have at least some source of income. Money was king, and it was much easier to buy some things than hope that some house somewhere would have it. So she had gotten a job at a run-down pizza shack. It seems they were pretty desperate to hire, since many of their employees took a leave or simply quit. Something about being near a quarantined zone, Alice didn’t really know. Or care. She had never been sick here on Earth. Not beyond the first few flus, colds, and vaccinations. That didn’t count as never did it?

But back to the point, the pizza delivery part-time woman girl was busy staring down some thugs. It wasn’t very effective with sunglasses and some ridiculously logo’d company hat. Quizza Pizza. Did that even make sense? Ah, Alice was sure she missed some part of the recollection that had gotten her in this situation, but it didn’t really matter. Do what you want, deal with the consequences, and forget the rest. She went into action, smacking one thug down with the pizza box, smashing her foot in another’s jaw, and tossing the remaining thug (who tried to run mind you,) into a garbage can. It didn’t matter if the food was ruined in the process. She could just coerce the customer into paying anyways. ”Now where’s 216 Oak Street…?”

Ziogen said Miss Alice Revya Rose

Dirk had no idea what he was doing.

Well, no, he knew that he was doing something incredibly dangerous. He also knew had to be out of his mind. It was crazy, stalking through dangerous alleys with literally no idea as to how he would get behind the biggest quarantine he'd ever witnessed. As he stumbled over a discarded trash can, he realized he was probably just an idiot.

It had been months since Dirk had last spoken to Richard "Tyke" Bartlett, the short man with a talent for super speed. Things between them had been distant lately, their friendship little more than seeing each other occasionally on social networks. Still, Dirk could fondly recall the man's constant corny jokes and endless amount of energy. It was no surprise that someone who could be just about everywhere at once would have the most zest for life. For someone as vibrant and awesome as Richard, to be stuck behind that dumb quarantine was a crime against humanity.

Dirk knew Richard lived within the quarantine zone, and knew his friend had been in the area when the entire mess began. There was no doubt that Richard would never try to break out of the quarantine to save himself. If the man was still alive, he was probably doing all he could to help those trapped within the quarantine. That's why Dirk had to break in. He had an obligation. The group was going to get back together, even if it would just be the two of them.

It had been a few years now since Dirk had last taken the Conduit get-up out of his closet. He found it fit a bit too snug now, showing off more of his body than he would ever care to show. He had stared at himself in the mirror when he put it on, cursing at himself for not taking care of his body. It was a ritual he went through often, but seeing Conduit look just as flabby as Dirk made him feel worse than ever. If the situation hadn't been so dire, Dirk would have probably fried the house in a torrent of self-pity and stayed in bed. It didn't matter now. Here he was, running around in a stupid too-tight costume and looking like an idiot. Dirk desperately hoped no one he knew would see him.

Turning a corner, Dirk found a strange scene suddenly unfolding before him. A girl was in mid-strike, smashing a pizza box into some poor man's skull. She evidently had superhuman strength, as the man dropped immediately. Effortlessly, she then moved to smash the next guy with her foot before grabbing a fleeing man and tossing him across the street.

Dirk stared. The girl had a pizza delivery hat on.

That kind of strength wasn't exactly uncommon. Superhuman strength was a talent many people possessed, though it was unfortunately not one Dirk possessed. It was the kind of talent that could get one across a heavily guarded quarantine.

In an effort to appear friendly, Dirk raised his hand to wave at the pizza delivery girl. Unconscious to Dirk, a faint blink of static emitted from his hand as he got the girl's attention. If she tried anything funny on him, he would be ready to retaliate.

"Hey," he said, walking toward her. "I, uh..." He paused, unsure how to word his admittedly odd request. "You seem pretty strong!"

Right, flexing that charisma.

Adrian walked along the fence to the quarantine zone, well across the street on the side walk, and as he did he kept his his hands his his pockets as he walked. As he did he was approaching an ally, he new before he even got there, a fight, four people. F*ck me he thought to him self as he approached it and turned looking down the ally, only to see the tail end of the fight as the girl with a pizza box had just defended her self. Goes to show you it's just not safe in this city for your average thug, soon though some one else came up. Was this some new "superhero" team, pizza girl and flab boy, he swore that they seem to be getting lazier every year(thought the one with out a costume, and who mostly just works out in the gym, lives in a shitty apartment, and works as a bouncer where he really just stands around and beating the crap out of people half his size. Though his boss said he did make the perfect bouncer, Big, strong, and never speaking with eyes that look like he might simply snap your neck for looking wrong.) For a few moments he stood their looking at the two, before simply turning his back to walk away. But that is when things got complicated.

Some more thugs showed up about four, their three friends on the ground. They looked over at Adrian "Did you do this? Huh did you beat up my guys" a taller man about the same height as Adrian said at him as he smiled, reaching back and pulling out a knife as he flicked it open. Adrian grunted, of course he was the first suspect here, even though he did nothing. He personally knew it was the girl, the sounds of her landing after the fight were to light to be the larger male. But people generally belive what their eyes see. And they saw a small girl, a guy in a costume to tight, and then there was Adrian. He walked closer as Adrian just started at him with those hard eyes of his. "are you going to say something?" he said as adrain brought up his hands and signed "i'm deaf and mute" though another of the thugs stepped forward "the fuck was that" This obviously was leading to one thing.

Adrain attacked first, grabbing the arm of the guy with the knife so that he was to the left he pulled down, bringing his right knee up into the guys stomach, Though there was almost no sound to the hit, and you could see the mans lips moving but nothing came out. The next guy pulled out a knife and came at him as he brought his arms up knocking it to the side and punched forward hitting the guy square in the chest as he was sent sailing through the air to the opposite wall, further then a normal person's hit would of sent him and Again, there was not sound from it. The next two guys came at him at once. Bringing us fist, his right extended further then his left, he dipped and weaved under there blows before bringing his right fist out accross to the guy on his left, dip, his left fist hooked hard hitting the man on his right square in the jaw before before bringing his his left elbow over he hit the man on his left, as his right leg came up hitting the man on the right sending him flying back before, like last time he seemed to go further then any normal person could hit him. The one who was on his left was staggering back, his lip bleeding as he pulled out a gun. He shouted something but nothing came back as he reached up grabbing his throat. He only just now realized that there was no sound as he didn't notice it in the heat of the fight. Looking at him Adrain lifted up his left arm, his palm facing him as it jerked back and the man was scent flying through the air hitting the wall behind him. Though there was no sound the other two would be albe to fee the shock wave from that sounds blast. The whole thing was like watching an action movie on mute, and as Adrian looked of at the pair before he turned and walked off.

As soon as he rounded the corner it was like some one suddenly un muted everything, the men laying on the ground groaning, holding parts of there body. They looked to be in much more pain then those hits should of given them, to them though the world was ringing inside there heads as the one with the gun was laying on the ground unconscious with blood dripping out of his ears.

Adrian shoved his hands in to his pockets as he started walking down the street again.

Chaotic Blue followed the streets of west Engine City, remaining invisible as she hopped from structure to structure, whether they were buildings, houses, signposts, trees, traffic lights or lighting fixtures. She avoided vehicles as the dull thud of her landings would attract unwanted attention from the drivers. Eventually, she reached Senator Tilley's address in Piston Heights, the affluent part of the city where politicians and celebrities called home.

The ninja perched herself on a thick tree branch just outside his bedroom window, where she saw a woman lying in bed while staring at a photo and bawling silently. She looked emaciated and exhausted from so much crying and worrying, which Chaotic Blue assumed it was related to the family's missing daughter. It looked like Senator Tilley wasn't home for the evening, so she opted to speak with the woman instead.

She hopped onto the balcony and slowly creaked the sliding door open, scaring the bedridden wife as she exclaimed, "Who's there!?"

"Do not be alarmed. I am not here to bring harm upon you," Chaotic Blue murmured, remaining invisible.

"W-What do you want!? Are you one of those superhero alien freaks I've been hearing so much about!?"

"Call me what you will. I have come because I heard about Jennifer TIlley's disappearance in Carter Hills."

"My daughter...? Where did you hear that from!?" the woman panicked, reaching for the phone.

"If you wish for me to bring closure to your pain, you would be wise to put that phone down and listen to what I have to say."

The two women remained silent for a short while, the wife unsure of what to do. Chaotic Blue waited patiently until the stricken lady reluctantly put the phone down and asked, "What is it? Do you want to rescue my daughter?"

"For a price."

"Then you're a mercenary?"

"Correct."

"Why should I have to pay you when there are plenty of other people willing to do the same thing for free?"

"There is no guarantee that those with good intentions will actually try to rescue Jennifer. They would have their own agendas and motives, which wouldn't involve your daughter. At least you can rest assured that I would be venturing in on your behalf. I cannot promise that I will return with good news, but any news is better than living life without answers. Investing in my services will be a guaranteed way to give you some measure of peace."

More silence. Then the wife sat up and asked, "How much do you want?"

"As my life will undoubtedly be put on the line, I ask for $500,000, with half paid up front and the remainder upon my return. I prefer cash only."

"Half a million... Would you have done the same for a poor family?"

"Indeed. Five cents from the impoverished carries as much value as 500 grand from the well-to-do. My rates reflect this country's inherently flawed caste system. Nothing more, nothing less."

"... Very well. Please give me a moment. My husband won't notice if I take some from his safe. I assume you're invisible right now, so where do you want me to put it?"

"Right here," Chaotic Blue knocked her knuckles against the nearest reading table. The wife left, then returned five minutes later with the promised money. The ninja gripped the cash, and to the wife it seemed to suddenly float before vanishing in her pocket.

"You will return with Jennifer, won't you? You won't bail out on me?" the woman asked fervently.

"I cannot earn my keep without honoring my contracts. I shall be swift as the wind and strike like fire for Jennifer. You must remain immovable as the mountain, and be as silent as the forest regarding our contract. So say Sun Tzu and Takeda Shingen, so we shall abide."

"I understand. Please come back with Jennifer, if you can. And... please take care of yourself as well."

"Duly noted," Chaotic Blue murmured, then slid the door shut and departed the same way she came.