It had been one week since her mothers murder, niesha was 22, and all alone. The people she should have been able to call on just thought she was grieving, thought it was ridiculous for her to even think about hunting dowm the murderer, They, of course, didn't know that she had abilities.

"Excuse me? Miss, you said you were interested in the apartment" the real estate sgent, a woman in her thirties, wearing a black pant suit approached her. Niesha had been standing in the middle of the living room, apparently staring off into space.

Niesha smiled, "yes, Ma'am, I am" she had a slight accent, from being born and growing up in Nebraska. That is, until her mother moved them. "Its lovely, and in my price range" she looked around the living room, which was small, yet not too small. Just perfect. "I will take it"

Of coirse, there was other things to do, paper work and such, yet by the end of the day, the place would be hers.

She decided to celebrate, and headed to a coffee shop to continue about her day

Since I get into a lot of danger one would think perhaps right now was one of those excitingly dangerous times. However, life is not always dangerous and exciting. I laugh at how I am acting as if my mind was a transcript, waiting to be read. Then again, with telepathic people this could be more than possible, that my mind is read by many. A disturbing thought when you think about it.

Grabbing anything to distract myself from this train of thought, I marvel at how I have socially grown. Only a year ago when I arrived I was street trash, now here I am sitting at a coffee store wearing an expensive suit. I applaud myself mentally as I take a sip of my decaffeinated latte, looking around a bit as I enjoy the drink. In many ways, appearing like a middle class young man acting a little older than he should be. But in fact much more was happening. I moved my field of vision towards an alley next to the coffee store, and although noone is there, blood is splattered on the wall. I sigh, and continue my coffee, wanting my current tranquility to last a bit longer.

"Blood... so much blood."

Sounds of screaming and pain resonated through the air as a rampaging beast appeared within the haze of smoke and flame. It had a head of a demon, wings, a fortified armor, a sharp blade, and some enhanced limbs. Every soldier who tried to suppress it were sliced in half as blood spattered on the ground, running the waters red. The sky turned crimson as the wind hissed its rage... the beast looked to the heavens and released an ear-piercing roar.

Zed woke up from this hellish nightmare, his bandages pulsating above his pale skin. It was morning as it seemed. The boy stood up and showered, just letting the water pass through the spaces of his bandages. It was his usual routine, to start every day as normally as possible. The memories of his tragedy were every so clear in his mind, but for Zed, his greatest fear was the thought that his past might catch up to him...

Putting on some ragged clothes which partially covered his bandages, Zed went out of his dilapidated shack. He walked over to his broom and a waste bin, ready to clean the streets once more. As a street cleaner, it can be said that Zed abhors the new technology, calling it dangerous... which means, he preferred the traditional methods. Zed happily jogged to his area, just near the main city... His usual spot was beside a coffee shop. This was because some irresponsible consumers would just dump their cups down the streets when they took out their coffee.

Zed has experienced so much stress, he intended to keep everything under control by forcefully suppressing his emotions, although, his rope was beginning to get thinner. As the times went by, the dirt came as well. Diligently cleaning, Zed caught one trash after the other, skillfully dumping them into the bin. Suddenly, some arrogant bums came to his location, dumping all their cigar butts and other useless trash on the floor, not minding the cleaner angrily looking at them. Zed confronted those punks as his short stature made it hard for him to mean business.

"I'm sorry to interrupt your merry walking but would it kill you to just... throw your cra--- I mean trash, properly?" Zed spoke calmly as he looked at the man straight in the eye. Instead of being nice and just to pick up his trash, the bum sent a forceful blow to Zed's torso, knocking the cleaner back a few inches. It was a clear message: Screw you.

The bums left laughing... clearly amused by the futile effort. Zed on the other hand remained on the ground. He was trembling.

"Not now... not now please." Zed murmured to himself, his arms throbbing with anticipation for blood. "Let go... they deserve to be killed... they deserve it..."

"NO!" Zed roared as his pulsations stopped. The people were looking at him, thinking he had lost his bolts. Zed looked at his arms which were excited to spill some blood. "No... I will not do it again." Zed chanted to himself as he calmed down and forcefully cleaned the trash that those rats had left behind.

Katherin sat in a small coffee shop studying the newspaper. She needed to find a new place to live, because there was no way she could go back to the dorm. While no one had been hurt in the fire she had started, Katherin knew there no way she could go bad. If she ran into either Clark or Missy she was likely to set them on fire. For now college was off the list. She would have to find a job so that she could afford rent. Unfortunately her job choices were limited with only with only a high school diploma.

Katherin was startled out of her thoughts when she heard shouting outside. She set down her newspaper and headed outside. She might not have a lot of experience fighting but that wasn't going to stop her from helping someone. Outside Katherin saw three guys. Two of them seemed to be just hanging around. The third seemed to be cleaning the street. The guy cleaning seemed upset, but Katherin didn't see anything that might have upset him other then the condition of the street. She wanted to help, but she wasn't sure what the problem was.

Niesha was just across the street when this event happened. She frowned, hesitating the cross, then took a deep breath, and walked over as the two 'bums' started to walk away, and before she knew what she was doing, she had yelled out.

"Hey! Pigs behinds! Dirt bags! Arragont jerks!" She yelled after them, suddenly not afraid. "When some one ask ya'll to do something nicely, especially picking up your droppings, you do it, you don't knock them down, ya'll hear me?"

She wasn't scared of a couple of jerks that probably relied on strength rather than brains. She prepared herself,both ophysically, and with her power to defend herself if necessary. "All I damn well wanted was a hot chocolate and a cake to celebrate" she muttered to herself.

niesha was all of 5"5, not a very threatening height, nor was she a tough build. Yet looks could easily be decieving. She was fairly stromg, quite fast, and k ew how to use a mans height and weight agsinst him. There was also the small benefit of her power. That would be a last resort, always.

"Well, you scared of a little thing like me? Probably think I ain't worth your time, or effort. Nkt the first time you been wrong today" she turned to the cleaner, "you alright, mister? Don't let them pea brains worry you. They aren't worth a dime"

Elevators were BORING! MindWarp thought astutely as she stood in one during its ascent back up to the surface, hiding a yawn behind her left hand while her right hand held onto the handle of a metallic briefcase. This particular elevator, unlike the nice ones found in fancy hotels or successful business buildings, was completely metal. In fact, the exact same metal was used for the walls, doors, ceiling and even the floor. It was the worst elevator ever to exist, it didn’t even have music! It was for this reason that she practically dove out of the contraption once the doors began to open and into a dusty and mould ridden brick room. Behind her, the doors closed with a barely distinguishable ‘hiss’ and the elevator faded into the brick wall, betraying no sign of there ever having being one.

Exiting the room MindWarp entered into a decrepit interior which could only belong to a shack of the slums. Her usual exit point when she was sent out on assignments, it was close to the main city yet far enough away so as not to draw any unwanted attention. The streets of the slums were precarious at best and as a precaution MindWarp illusioned herself an oversized well-worn cloak with a deep hood to shadow her face.

Now just outside of the city, the cloak illusion faded away to reveal a females business suit which allowed MindWarp to walk along in a crowd of other business men and women on their way to work. However she soon broke off from the crowd and slipped into a nearby alleyway which was used as a shortcut to get to her destination. Along the way she passed a few bums smoking, she ignored their leering, but found it increasingly difficult to ignore their jibed flirts. Disgusting, was the word that crossed her mind as they slowly followed after her. Returning to the footpath of a main street, her destination came into view. A small café, with a street cleaner busy at work nearby. Not feeling quite so bold due to the increased amount of people, the bums backed off their following of MindWarp and stood close to where the street cleaner was and dumped their cigar butts onto the ground much to the chagrin of the street cleaner. Appearing oblivious to the resulting exchange, MindWarp took her usual seat and waved to the cashier who gave a greeting and began entering her usual order into the cash register. While outside the situation seemed to escalate, a blow to the street cleaner’s torso just about had her ready to go over and return the favour, but she needn’t have to, as a spunky young lady from across the street dished it out vocally. MindWarp couldn’t help but grin at the bum’s humiliation, which in turn helped in her decision to further humiliate them. If not just for the fact that she had caught the way they and a few surrounding people looked at him after his outburst.

Whist seemingly distracted by the arrival of her Latte macchiato, she created the illusion of big hairy spiders crawling up the legs of the two bum’s. Their reaction to the spiders was instantaneous as they shouted in shock, trying to rid themselves of the arachnids which could not be seen by the people around them and now they were getting the same crazed assuming looks that the street cleaner had received.

After a good quiet laugh to herself, MindWarp returned to her assignment. Currently, it involved waiting for the recipient of the brief case. It held important a device, created by villainous mega minds to be used for villainous deeds. She would know the correct recipient by a coded sentence upon their meeting.

"Kill them..."

"Stop it..." Zed muttered as a new voice broke his thoughts. It seemed that the little show attracted some new people... The bums seemed scared out of their wits.. a just reward perhaps. Zed was surprised that people actually cared for people like him which was quite rare nowadays with the growth of technology.

"Uhh yes... Thank you so much for your aid." Zed bowed in respect as he spoke awkwardly in a rather light tone. His eyes searched for other people who might have been responsible for the payback. It was more than a month that Zed has experienced human contact that was nice in nature... so this really came off as a wonder.

"You don't need aid... You are strong on your own. RELEASE US!"

Zed grunted as his arms pulsated with pain... He struggled to suppress the beast that had been awakened with the rise of new emotions. The lad leaned on his waste bin as he held up a hand to the girl.

"Please... I do prefer for you to keep your distance... It's not safe." Zed muttered as he winced.

"RELEASE US!"

"NO!" Zed shouted as he knocked over the waste bin, spilling his collected trash into the street. "Let it go."

With a grunt Zed knocked over his broom with his hand, slicing it in half. His eyes darted to the people around him who were looking at him with such judging eyes. They must be thinking that he is stupid or crazy. The metallic waste bin itself was punctured with over 5 holes.

"You have no friends... Everyone is an enemy! SHOW THEM THE PAIN YOU HAVE FELT!"

The bandages on his arms and face began to tear apart as the troubled cleaner dashed through the crowd, dodging one after the other. His body began to feel hot, it was starting... the Evolution.

Zed found an alley where he dashed into, toppling behind bins and debris. Zed slumped on an iron fence, the bandages began to fall apart. His will had become too weak by the sudden experience of nice emotions... The beast took advantage of his momentary mental slip and sabotaged his control.

"You are mine."

"STAY AWAY!" Zed shouted as his sanity returned... He was nearly exhausted. He checked his arms... they had slightly evolved into spikes, ready to turn into a blade. The feedback won't be too severe since it was only a partial mutation... "I need to get away from people..." Zed mumbled to himself as he tightened his bandages and exited the alley...

"I don't want to kill anyone... Not again."

Abaddon had been on top of an old building near the coffee shop when the little scene with some bums and a street cleaner occured. Though there was some violence involved, it wasn't serious enough to warrant his attention or even distract him from what he was doing... interrogating.

"Please man... y-you gotta let me down! I'll talk I'll talk, just don't move that thing closer to me!"
The pleading voice of a man could be heard faintly from the roof of the building. He was a street thug with some abnormal abilities, involved with a rather troublesome gang. Word was that he had information of the location of the "leaders" of the gang regarding their locations and whatnot, so Abaddon was determined to get it out of him.
Chuckling Abaddon pulled his extended tendril closer to him and retracted an extra set of fangs back into his body.

"That's the spirit," Abaddon said as he held up the man by his throat. "Now, spill it, or your guts will be the ones that get spilled instead."

The mutant spoke fearfully and hurriedly, detailing everything Abaddon wanted to know. Abaddon flicked out a forked tongue in satisfaction and hissed.

"Good. Funny how someone reported to be so strong and brutal could be reduced to whimpering and bloodied whelp."

The mutant laughed nervously.
"Ahahaha... so... will you let me down?"

"Yep!"

The mutant sighed in relief, but his relief soon turned to shock as Abaddon laughed.

"No wait stooooop!"

Abaddon released his grip, allowing him to fall to his death and decorate the ground nicely.

"Ouch," Abaddon mocked as he saw the scene and heard a couple of bypassers scream in shock. He would have remained there to observe, but his interest was soon caught by a different scent. Yes, a literal scent. What once smelled like a human now smelled... differently. Animal like, mutant...

With a growl, Abaddon traveled to the alley where Zed was struggling. He kept himself hidden with camouflage.
"Odd... he doesn't look like anything but a mummy... I mean human..."
Abaddon memorized his scent, deciding to leave him marked in case of future trouble if he was oit of control like his scent patterns suggested. Afterwards, Abaddon quietly sclaed down the building and headed towards the coffee shop, transforming back into his human self, Scipio.

"Could sure go for a mocha..."

Katherin was embraced that her inability to help the poor street cleaner. If she had only been more confident she could have been the one to tell those jerks to back off. She was a superbeing now. She couldn't let ordinary people scare her. While she didn't have any fighting experience she was not going to let that stop her any longer. From now on she wasn't going to back down from a fight. That decided Katherin made her way back to her seat. She still need to find a place to live. She had alittle money set aside. She would have to use that to rent a small house. Preferable something brink. She wanted to live alone so wouldn't have to worry about endangering others when she practiced. Katherin planned to practice every minute of her free time, so that she could perfect her powers. But before that she need a job. Katherin sat studying the want ads.

Lass

---

A child's laughter was echoing in an alley "W-What?! Who's there?!" shouted the thug at the voice "I-I'll kill you kid once I see you!" he screamed once more as he took a knife out his pocket. Soon, the voice spoke "Well, what if you didn't see me?" mocked Lass as he rose from the shadow behind the thug. Dark particles rose beside Lass and soon morphed into a dagger "Hello!" he called to the thug as he plunged the dagger on his back "GAAAAAAH!!!" screamed by the man "YOU BASTARD!" he swung his knife behind him, but there was no one there "D-Don't mess with me kid!" his voice wavered as he continued to act tough. Lass then appeared once more and this time, he took out two daggers and stabbed the thug once more "W-WHAT THE HELL?!" he screamed in pain as he knelt on the ground "Goodbye mister." said Lass while raising a dark hammer "It was nice killing you." then soon after, the thug laid on the ground with blood streaming down his head. The daggers behind him disappeared and so did the hammer "Let's see!" he walked towards the corpse and grabbed what was inside the man's pocket "Bingo." taking out what was inside, a wallet was revealed and inside it was a nice amount of money. Lass shoved it inside his messenger bag then removed the coat that he was wearing to prevent blood from getting on his clothes while heading out of the alley.

To avoid being suspected at, he camouflaged himself in the shadows and once he was far from the alley, he made himself visible again "That's the second one today." he said to himself while grabbing the contents of his messenger bag. "Now then! Where am I?" he looked around and noticed that he was in front of a coffee shop "Ah! A drink would be nice while thinking about things." Lass entered the shop and headed to the counter "Hot chocolate please." he ordered and placed the money needed for the beverage. His drink was made after a short while and he sat at the corner of the shop while drinking. Suddenly, he noticed that a person started running all of a sudden 'There's something different about him...' he thought but the crowd was a hindrance to Lass's observation 'It's probably nothing.' then he continued his drink while deciding where to go next.

"#You let a good snack go to waste, Scipio," spoke a hissing voice from within the mind of the relaxing teen. "#I haven't eaten in a long time, why do you starve me?"

Scipio smirked as he took another sip of his iced mocha. The two often conversed with each other on pretty much anything and everything that happened, so it was no surprise to him that the symbiote was complaining about his decision to simply let the mutant thug go splt against the pavement.

"Ah can it would you? The last time we fed was like, three hours ago with that common mug in an alley. Besides, you've technically been living off me for years now, and that's why your species even bonds with other organisms in the first place!"

A couple of eyebrows were raised at Scipio's audible response to seemingly nothing and no one. Some even said, "What's with all the weirdos around here today?"

Another sip of the drink.

"#Yes, but a bond as advanced and powerful as ours sometimes requires supplements to ensure the most beneficial consequences for both of us. Not to mention your... other powers, which is something completely foreign to my species."

"Kay whatever. You've gone longer without your extra vitamins before, don't know why you're complaining now."

Scipio scanned the surrounding people in the coffee shop and caught sight of a girl with red hair examining some ads against the wall. Really? Searching for jobs in a place that was more or less closer to the poorer parts of Arcus? Scipio decided to walk over to her and give a few words.

"You'd probably find some better jobs up north, you know. I've heard they're big on reporters and journalists considering there's always something going on. Hell, there's even a story down the road right now!"

While he spoke, he sensed something change in the atmosphere. He wasn't being alerted to any danger, but whatever it was that caused the shift had certainly the potential for it. It was... attuned to something..

Katherin looked up when someone approached her table. "I am not familiar with the north. I don't know anything about reporting or journalism. Don't you need a degree to do those kind of things?"

Katherin studied the guy. There was something different about him. She couldn't quite put her finger on it. But his vibe was different from anyone she had ever met. Katherin wondered if he was a super like her. She was tempted to ask him, but this probably wasn't the best place to have that kind of conversation. She wondered if there was a website or something where a person could register themselves as a super. "Since you seem to know the ins and outs of this town do you know anything about property? I am looking for a cheap rental."

Niesha watched the cleaner run off, hesitated, but didn't follow. What would be the point? She headed into the coffee shop, and ordered a large hot chocolate, a piece of cake, and just for the hell of if and because the real estate lady had set her mind on cookies with that trick they did to make places seem more homely, a box of cookies that she would take home.

her mother use to bake her cookies. Niesha wouldn't think on that. She couldn't, not with out completely breaking down, and she couldn't do that, not here in a coffee shop.

because she actually craved human contact, she sat near a girl, and guy who seemed to be talking about rentals, and jobs. The girl seemed down on her luck, yet to Niesha she seemed like an okqy person. At least, her aura wasn't bad. The funny thing about auras thougn was they could easily change.

When the girl asked about cheap rentals, she spoke up "I just got a rental about two and a half blocks from here. Not a bad place"

she wondered, breifly, why she had spoken up. Why she had defended that cleaner. Well, she knew the answer to both those quesrions, she was too nice for her own good, but she had an powerfully sense of honor, and what was right or wrong. Sometimes, she just couldn't stoo herself interfering. Despite people thinking she was nothing because she was quite, serious and shy, she could easily get her point across.

"Wasn't in the paper, but on a website. Apparently the owner doesn't trust the papers or something. There were a couple of other apartments avaliable"

Katherin shifted to see the woman who was talking. It was the lady who had yelled at those jerks who had been mean to the street clean. She was surprised to be gathering so much attention. Katherin smiles as she said. "I would rather find a small house. Something made of brick if I can find it. I was going to check the web next. You never know where you will find a good deal. I figured that I would start with the paper."

"With today's technology, easier to create something on the web then in tje paper" niesha said, then bit her lip, "but...I doubt you'd have to go there. I have a house that I'd be willing to rent" her mothers house. She couldn't make herself live there. Too many memories "its small but has two bedrooms, and a place to park a car, and seeing as you appear to be down on your luck, I can accept any price for rent"

Why not rent it out? It would just be sitting there anyway, empty and gathering dust. Might be nice to have a bit of extra income too.

Katherin bite her lips nervously. She accept her offer? She didn't know the women but she didn't have a lot of options. The money she had saved up wasn't going to last long, especially without a job. Liz took a deep breath she had to start somewhere and having a place to stay would certainly ease her mind. She offered the other woman her hand. "Thank you that is a wonderful offer. I can't offer a lot right now, but I think I can swing 500 a month if that is alright. My name is Katherin."

"I don't need much money, I got savings, more now then I bad before. You pay whatever you can" niesha smiled, accepting the offer hand, "im niesha" she said, "give me time to cut some keys, and make sure the place is okay, you can come round later this afternoon" she rattled off the address, and then her phone number.

she remembered her drink, took a quick swallow of it, and bitr of her cake, "funny how fate works, isn't? I just rent an apartment, and you need a house, which I have"

Scipio had had no response to the red head's words. He did own a rather nice apartment, but he really didn't spend much time there. More often than not, he prowled around the Underground and made alien dwellings there. It was mainly symbiotic instinct that drove him to do this, but every now and then he did go to lodge in nice places above.

"I really should do that more often..."

Despite being young, Scipio had a nice amount of money to spend. His acquired knowledge from the symbiote had allowed him to offer help in some expensive research projects within the science and medical communities, and it wasn't all too rare for him to receive envoys from people of Arcus to work as "special security" or as an assassin. All of these things ended up netting him some wealth.

The teen had relaxed in his chair when a new arrival spoke up to answer the red head's question. Good, at least he didn't have to pretend to know about some cheap places. Now, as for work...

"You would be right in saying that things like reporting and journalism requires study, but I'm pretty sure they have some freelancing things around..."

Freelancing was pretty old school though, especially in positions such as those. Besides, he didn't even know what this girl could be looking for.

"But those are just suggestions.... ah screw it, I don't have any particularly good advice.... my work is a bit different, so yeah."

He hoped none of them would inquire.

Katherin smiles happily pleased the day was off to such a good start. She already had one thing crossed off her list. "Yes the world is a strange place. Sometimes luck finds you sometimes it doesn't. I'm glad that things have worked out so well."

Katherin wondered why Niesha was renting an apartment when she had a perfectly good house, but it wasn't any of her business so she wasn't going to ask. She was just thankful to have a place that wasn't going to be impossible to afford. Katherin took out her phone and type in the address into the map feature so she would have directions later. That done Katherin turned her attention to the guy standing next to her table. He seemed to be uncomfortable now. "Free lancing is an option, but hardly reliable income. But I will look into it. It might be the perfect fit for my new life."