[Hider=Intro](Read-along :x ) [youtube]2c7a2wb2EyM[/youtube] Through the dull night, a distant clock chimes in a mechanic tone to mark the midnight of a new day. Through the haze from the smokestacks of the city, the scene opens as the camera descends through the smog to find Jericho sitting on the edge of the roof of a small half-constructed apartment complex on a block of others like it with a small courtyard in the middle of them which he faces. Next to him, he sets a long blue box, adorned with a small sticker of a rose and opens it to reveal a set of worn paints and a wooden brush. He reaches into his coat and pulls out a medicine measuring cup which he lifts to his skeletal jaw plate, blowing gently into it. The mist of his breath condenses on the sides and runs down to gather at the bottom as he begins to sing softly to himself. [i]'I feel you Johanna I feel you Do they think that walls can hide you? Even now I'm at you window I am in the dark beside you Buried sweetly in your yellow hair Johanna'[/i] He turns the cup slowly, swirling to get everything off of the sides as he dips the brush in before tapping a bit off on the edge and letting the water drip onto the paints of the discarded water-colors paint set, narrowing his eyes before mixing colors on the palate and musing to himself, touching his chest as if feeling a heartbeat. His fingers click for a moment against the rib-like plates under his shirt. He continues, to the painting... [i]'And are you beautiful and pale, With yellow hair, Like her? I'd want you beautiful and pale The way I've dreamed you were' "Johanna..."[/i] he sings to himself as he works on a piece of paper from a stack to his left. His hud shows only the outlined square of the sheet and shaded outlined splotches with words representing their color. His motions are swift, drawing in beige of her skin and tracing in texture with a smaller clean brush he leaves in the water. [i]'And if you're beautiful, what then, With yellow hair, Like wheat? I think we shall not meet again My little dove My sweet Johanna...'[/i] He pauses for a moment while drawing in the texture of the hair and sighs, the steam washing over the painting as he looks at the brush which is simply marked 'Yellow' on his hud. [i]'I'll [url=http://www.thefreedictionary.com/steel+yourself]steel[/url] you...Johanna'[/i] he thinks to himself, closing his eyes as he takes a deep breath. In frustration, and partially in disgust for not even being able to see the color...if it was even the right color, he dunks the brush in the water, tipping it over and spilling the liquid across the roof. [i]'Good-bye Johanna You're gone and yet you're mine I'm fine Johanna I'm fine'[/i] He crumples the painting as he sings before stopping to look at his work, the blotches of the display showing a young woman's face from a time that felt so long ago...she shape of it at least. A small blip appears on his HUD from a distress signal as a notification of heart stats read across the bottom as he touches his chest, again, rising to his feet. Somewhere below, the footsteps of one of the street dwellers stop as Jericho sighs the name once more before a dark haze envelopes his arm, a skull washing over the painting, violently setting it alight along with a bit of the roofing around him for a second. The horrified mutterings of a small crowd gathered in volume from the shadows, shocked by his power; many crouching behind dumpsters or other trash for cover. They hid, both terrified and curious of the figure who tossed the ashen cinders of the painting into the darkness below, gradually going out and being consumed by the drafts before reaching the ground. The crowd grew quiet as it died, as not to draw attention to themselves though not invisible to Jericho in the slightest by now. [i]'And if I never hear your voice, My turtledove, My dear I still have reason to rejoice, The way ahead is clear Johanna'[/i] Jericho looks off in the direction of Wily's tower, the pollution obscuring it to near invisibility to the naked eye, though the GPS ping read its location through the darkness. [i]'And in the darkness When I'm blind with what I can't forget It's always morning in my mind My little lamb My pet Johanna'[/i] The image inverts a few times, to try in vain to pick up any trace of the building before giving up and bending down to pick up the paint set. [i]'You stay Johanna The way I've dreamed you are Oh look Johanna A star'[/I] He clicks the box shut with the brushes inside and returns it to his coat with the medicine cup. He looks up and notices movement in the sky, although it could be anything...though usually something unwelcome. [I]"A shooting star..."[/i] He sings as he once again ripples with his shield and kicks the pile of collected papers into the air, taking a chunk of the roof with it in a small explosion of burning cinders and half melted roof tar which peppers the neighboring building and a few of the onlookers as it rains down upon them. Meanwhile, Jericho starts to walk off back to where he had climbed up, ignoring the cries from the congregation of paranoid gutter rats he had left in pain, but otherwise unharmed. A few were in uproar about their supposed 'protection', especially the ones who had been hit and burnt by debris. Seeing he had already left, they focused on quietly stomping out the smoldering pages in the small clearing before they either ignited other trash or attracted the attention of patrols...which it very well may have. [i]'And though I'll think of you, I guess Until the day I die I think I miss you less and less As everyday goes by Johanna'[/i] He slides down the ladder, the rungs bent and broken in places from his weight as he had gotten up. The pavement cracks slightly from the landing, but his wastes no time in starting off down the ally away from the scene. [i]'And you'd be beautiful and pale And look too much like her If only angels could prevail We'd be the way we were Johanna'[/i] He shifts the box of paints in his to make them less noticeable, and to make way for his hand as he touched his chest again, narrowing his eyes in as sad of an expression he could make before snapping back up, his tone laced with anger. [i]'Wake up, Johanna Another bright red day We learn Johanna To say Good-bye~'[/i] He lowers his hand from his chest into his jacket pocket, the camera lifting back into the sky. In the distance, he pulls the collar up on his jacket as a flying patrol robot passes in front of the camera. He is gone, but the scene of the event is now increasingly visible with the movement of the camera, revealing the courtyard to be buzzing with two other patrols which the previous one flies to join, spotlights flicking on and scouring the area in a different direction from Jericho. One seemed to notice something and take chase as the scene fades to black.[/hider] As I watch the marks on the radar disappear of the edge of the display on my Heads-Up-Display, I step out from behind the corner of the ally and onto the sidewalks of the mainstreet. Setting a GPS ping on the distress signal, I took a turn at the next block as per directions detail while I questioned my interest. Certainly others got the same message...or the police. Jericho spits...or tries to...at the thought; the police were only good for meddling and ruining lives...the fading sounds of patrols at the scene he'd left were proof of that. Still, with the strength of the signal, the patrols should have 180'd by then to find the source. There was something strange about it, and Jericho made it in his mind to investigate.