[IC] The Unwanted. Superpowered RP with a hint of horror.

[Rawk]

“None of this makes any sense”

Vincent held his head and blinked rapidly to clear the last remnants of his skewed sight, just as Nate’s clones strolled up to lift him by the arms. “What the-” Before he could even acknowledge the unusual situation, he’d been cut off by their barrage of words, something about a dead body, being arrested, and it was his fault, etc etc. The one piece of information that did stand out, however, was the fact that his car had been shot up, as his head instinctively turned in that direction to see his cherry red baby parked near the mouth of the alley riddled with bullet holes and, yep, two flat tires.

“Who the hell are you freaks anyway? And let me go for fucks sake, I can walk just fine!” In saying that, he attempted to gain control of his footing as the two Nate clones dragged him toward another car that had just pulled up, but the coordination was still lost while the numbness took its time to subside.

“Shit! Well where are you goons taking me then? Better be back to my place...” Vin remembered, that before all this happened, he had been on his way to the tattoo shop not far from here. “Wait! Just drop me off down on fifty-sixth ave, it’s like five minutes away, and I’ll be out of your hair.”

The passenger side door was opened, and both clones not-so-gingerly pushed him in and down onto the seat, knocking the top of his head on the door frame. “Geez! I fucking hate you guys!” He exclaimed, as the door was slammed shut, stopping only an inch from his face. Vin turned his head toward the driver, and recoiled in surprise as far back against the door as he could. “What the f-, how many of you shits are there?”

His eyes then shifted to the back seat, noticing not only another clone, but the girl as well leaning against the door and seat cushion, her body twitching every few seconds. He was about to ask of her condition, when his train of thought was completely derailed by the two clones outside suddenly vanishing. Vin closed his eyes, and turned to face forward again, crossing his arms and shaking his head in disbelief.

“Holy bitch tits, I knew I shouldn’t have watched that Twilight Zone marathon the other night...”

[Subject Zero]

Nathan Hunter

---

---

Both Nates started to laugh like something was absolutely hilarious and Nate, sitting in the backseat next to J.J, remarked "No, you should always watch the Twilight Zone marathon." Duplicate spun the car into another street right before a police cruiser zoomed into the street where they had just been. It was almost like he had experience avoiding the cops. The laughter died down and Nate introduced himself. "I'm Nate, by the way. This is also Nate." he said as he introduced his clone. "And this little lady of the night is Jennifer. Say hello Jennifer." Jennifer was currently unconscious so he planted a hand atop her head and bobbed it up and down like she was a puppet as he adopted a high pitched tone and said "Hi, crazy stranger. You got us into a lot of trouble. But that's okay because you're going to help us solve a mystery."

Vin received a quick but light hearted punch to the arm then from Duplinate who informed him. "That's for almost getting us killed, by the way. What the hell was all that about anyway? Did you owe those guys money? Did you give one of them chlamydia or something?"
"My money's on the second one." said Nate as he tried to balance J.J. in the back seat so she stopped falling over onto him.

[Shoe Thief]

Eric Miller

Eric and Eli were rushed away as Christi started with her whole deal. But as Eli and Eric got further, he wondered more and more what was really going on. So far he had been shot at today, arrested, "Kidnapped?", and met up with a few new people. One of which was bleeding pretty badly. Everyone's thoughts were so random it seemed. Eric really couldn't get an idea of what was going on.

Eric stopped in his tracks. He wasn't budging until he got answers. He didn't care if the person he was talking to was armed.... Which was strange because Eric was also technically armed. "Eli, I need to say some things. But I want you to understand that I don't believe you are a bad guy. But what the hell is going on here?! I mean, you drag me from the station while still in handcuffs, get em out, give me a knife, and now we're out here with a girl who is bleeding who you knew would be here? Like... What the hell is going on here?!" He was concerned at this point. Sure if he wasn't in a deep and scary mine he would be less but still.

He looked at the knife Eli had given him. "And why the knife?! In what situation would I need this? I mean if we really needed weapons I have some! That's not the point actually... Why did you give this to me? Why would I need it? And who is Christi? Should I be asking who you are now too? Could I get some kind of explanation into what's going on?"

[Rawk]

Vincent furrowed his brow as he listened to the exchange between the clones, half-snickering at the “solve a mystery” comment from the driver. With the sudden jerk of the steering wheel, pulling the car around a sharp corner, he quickly buckled the seatbelt. “I'm not dying with you fucks…” He mumbled under his breath, noticing that the driver named Nate wasn't strapped in at all.

Much of the bits and pieces lost during the scuffle back in the alley had started to return to him, a bit clearer now, but still full of just as many questions - if not more - as the two freaks who were asking them. And the girl, possibly caught up in whatever mess this was, but still shared the same burdens as the rest of the group, was still passed out and of no help at the moment. Had I really caused all this? What was happening to me? He mused, trying to sift through all the jammed up thoughts that had any real relevance.

“I have no idea who those pricks were, just like I have no idea who the hell you people are or why you two - or three, or four, or twelve - seem to have a hard-on for me suddenly.” He shook his head, half-smiling to himself, as though he’d actually figured it all as a big joke.

“I bet you aren’t even a cop, but maybe I should call them and sort all this shit out, yeah?”

He felt around his pockets, only to realize that his phone was missing, and searched on the floor hoping that he didn’t leave it somewhere compromising...

“Dammit, we need to go back!” Vin exclaimed, his grin replaced by a worried expression, as he propped his elbow up on the door and rubbed the bridge of his nose. “My phone is still in the car, and I don’t need whoever these assholes are snooping around my-” He hesitated for a moment, choosing his words correctly, considering his phone was not only full of legitimate business-related clientele, but also contacts for his various leisurely activities.

“I-We, just don’t need anyone sticking their noses into my business affairs right now.”

He knew something wasn’t right with him, even before his powers, his irreconcilable curse, triggered earlier, killing one individual. In retrospect, it felt like a dark unknown entity was fighting on his behalf, either protecting itself, it's host, or perhaps both.

[Subject Zero]

The car suddenly jolted to a stop when Duplinate slammed on the breaks, causing Nate and J.J to almost slam into the back of the seats as a car behind them honked its horn and swerved around them. Nate managed to hold onto J.J to stop her from smacking her skull and quickly began attatching her seatbelt.

The clone shifted in his seat to face Vin and asked him "Let me get this straight. You want us to go back to a crime scene where there's not only a dead body that you killed with your tattoos and three other bodies that we killed while trying to save your ungrateful ass but also a metric fuckton of cops by this point all so you can play angry birds?" He stared at Vin like he was angry at the mere suggestion that they go back. Like it was the dumbest idea anyone had ever had.

"I think we can do it." said Nate in the backseat, completely contradicting his clone. "We still have FBI credentials. We could go in, get what we need and get out. We've done harder things." And that wasn't even a lie. Nate's background was in special operations and covert, undercover operations were definitely something that he had experience with. Dealing with local cops seemed like child's play. He hadn't used his undercover credentials since leaving the military but he still had them. Dig deep enough into his false identity and someone would probably find out that his credentials weren't valid but he doubted the local cops would do that.

"You're forgetting that they're already looking for us." Duplinate pointed out.

"So we'll send 3 in. He's back at the safehouse doing nothing." replied Nate before looking at his phone. "And if the selfies he's been posting are any indication, he has time stamped photographic proof that he, and therefor we, weren't at the scene at the time...Although I'm not sure the shirtless one is entirely necessary...He can get douchebag's phone and meet up with us later. If they recognize him and arrest him he can probably talk himself out of it. If not, it at least means they won't be looking for us anymore...Or me anyway. Meanwhile, we'll be figuring out why we have the world's worst case of split personality and these two clowns can figure out why they're so weird too...I guess."

Duplinate mulled the idea over for a second then turned to Vin and asked "Good enough?"

@Rawk
@Xandrya

[Rawk]

“Angry Birds?...” Vin grumbled to himself, as the slightly less offensive-looking of the twins turned to him, blasting his seemingly absurd phone idea until the other chimed in with a counter argument. Doing his best to follow the rabbit trail of pros and cons, Vin couldn’t help but get a small bit of satisfaction from the fact that he wasn’t the only one with issues.

“Eh…yeah I guess that’ll work” He said in response to the clone in the driver’s seat, surprised they even agreed to retrieve the phone at all, even though he didn’t fully agree with their plan. However, if anything that the wonder twins had said that resonated at all, it was that they’d actually need one another alive if they were going to figure their current mess out. A scary thought, yes indeed, but Vincent didn’t know where else to turn, and even with a laundry list of friends and acquaintances, the likelihood that any of them would understand or offer to help was slim to nil. Even James, his bud going way back to the beginning to time, didn’t know anything about his condition, and yet Vin was hesitant to even approach him about it.

So...you never answered my earlier question, Nate.” Vin turned to the one in the back seat, raising a quizzical eyebrow. “Where are we headed?” He then glanced over at JJ, who still hadn’t come out of whatever unconscious state she was thrown into. “And, what about your girlfriend?”

@Subject Zero
@Xandrya

[Xandrya]

Jennifer

"Ow, fuck..." Jennifer rubbed her eyes in an attempt to clear her mind and alleviate the colossal headache that had woken her up. She was groggy, and the dryness in her mouth was a sure sign that she had been out of it for more than a couple of minutes; that, and she was in Nate's vehicle again, only this time in the company of the tattooed stranger.

"I take it none of you died? What a shame." Jennifer wasn't expecting a response, and truth be told, she didn't want one. Instead, she motioned for one of the Nates sitting next to her to undo her seatbelt. When he only gave her the typical Nate look, she sighed in frustration and unbuckled it herself. Using her two hands, not that she had much of a choice because she was, as one might have guessed, still handcuffed, Jennifer reached into her bag to fetch her phone. She frowned upon her discovery that it only had a 12% battery charge, so she hurried through the contact list until she found the name she was looking for and proceeded to dial out. After a couple of rings, Jennifer felt a dash of relief when the person on the other end of the line finally picked up.

"Hello?"

"Hey, it's Jen. Can you do me a favor?"

"Yes, of course. Is everything all right?"

"Yes, everything's fine. Listen, I need you to do something for me. I need you to void the contract, effective immediately."

There was a short pause before Harrison spoke again.

"Jenny, I--"

"Don't, I already know what you're going to say. I'll be expecting a copy of the file within the next few minutes. And Harrison? I'm not asking you anymore, I'm telling you."

Not caring for anything further he had to say, Jennifer hung up the phone and turned to Nate. "I don't know where we're heading, but I'm going to need you to take these off now so that I can put some shoes on and be on my way. And don't worry about your job, Harrison knows not to blame you for the breach of contract."

Jennifer smiled triumphantly knowing that it was only a couple of minutes before she could walk out and never looked back. She didn't care whose mess this was, but she wasn't going to keep risking her life because someone wanted to play "Curious George".

@Subject Zero
@Rawk

[Subject Zero]

Nate furrowed his brow as Jennifer made her call, knowing exactly what was happening. How very dare she? Trying to cancel his contract? And Harrison was such so spineless that he'd probably do it just because she told him to. Hell, if Nate listened to everyone who told him not to do something, he never would have jumped off of that moving train that one time...Okay so he did end up with a broken collarbone and a concussion after that so it was probably good advice but if he hadn't he would have ended up in Detroit and a few broken bones are a good price to pay, considering.

"First of all, you owe me a lot of money." He informed J.J. "And second, you're adorable. You really think I'm just going to just let you walk away after all the time and effort and bullets I wasted getting you this far?"
"Nathan." said the duplicate. "It almost sounds like you're suggesting we kidnap her."
Nate made annoyed face at his clone and replied "It's not kidnapping. It's a surprise adoption."
Duplinate looked at him in a way that was eerily reminiscent of the way his mother used to look at him and said "We can't do that. She has a life to get back to." He raised an eyebrow then at Nate and Nate mirrored him.
"You're right." said Nate as he grabbed Jennifer by the hand and pulled her over to undo the cuffs. When they were off, he said "Well goodbye, Jennifer. It's been nice knowing you. You have fun with your drugs and the boyfriends who want you dead and the cops who want to arrest you for mass murder and the families that want you dead for that mass murder and the general downward spiral. We're gonna go actually find a solution to some of our problems but I'm sure we'll come visit you in rehab slash prison someday."
"If we're not too busy that day." added the clone.
"If we're not busy." Nate echoed, agreeing with his clone. He then leaned over Jen and opened the door for her before leaning back with one arm resting over the seat and the other waving at her. "Byeeee" he said with a smile.

@Xandrya
@Rawk

[Xandrya]

Jennifer

"Oh how I wish I could say I was going to miss you," she said, grabbing her bag. "And you," she said to the man in the passenger seat, putting a hand on his shoulder, "you're not that bad. Look me up if you ever need a +1 to your party." With that, Jennifer exited the vehicle. She slung her bag over her shoulder and rubbed her wrists. The little things that people take for granted everyday end up being the most rewarding, that's for sure. She turned around to watch the vehicle speed off, and after they were out of sight, she made her way over to the sidewalk to sit on the curb and put her shoes on. She hadn't noticed it before, but the street was somewhat deserted. Jennifer didn't pay much mind to the lack of people, or cars for that matter, as she checked her phone again. The battery was at 5% now. Seriously, who designs these things?

Jennifer looked in various directions, but she knew she was lost. She figured it was best to not stand around looking the part though, and she made her way to the nearest intersection. There would probably be a corner store that would have nice enough employees to guide her in the right direction. That, or she'd just find a map. A real one. As she started walking, she dug inside her bag to find her wallet. Being lost without any money was always a pain in the neck, not that she would know.

@Rawk
@Subject Zero

[AcerRo]

Eli reached into his as Eric's connection came to close. He pulled out a pack of cigarettes and lit one. After taking a hard pull form the lit cigarettes. He rubbed his temple for a moment, trying to find the right words. He had no idea what to tell or how to explain what was going on. Hell he didn't even know what was going on.

"We'll first things first. Christabell Sami Raines, this Eric Miller. Eric moved here a while back with his family and runs a wood working shop outta his house. He's pretty good at it." Eli said as he pointed to Eric.

"Eric this Christabell Raines. If the rumors are true, she just killed her shit stain old man today and her shit for brains brother shouldn't be too far behind us. You can his handy work on her face." Eli said point to bruises on her face. "Like you saw, girl knows how to move in the woods. Damn impressive."

"Me and my momma used to go over to their house back before Christi's Momma passed. Used to sneak away and goof off in the mines. I also have a map of just about damn near everything on this mountain the and the next one over. Young girl, panicked, running through the trees, wasn't hard to put together." His words were flat, like he was reading from text book.

"Now, what's going on... I have no fucking clue. I woke up this morning to find some fucker in a goat mask trying to kill me. Goat boy had a man tied to my tree with bared wire... Oh yeah his face was ripped off... Goat boy exploded in flames and burned to death." There was an eerie calm in Eli's voice. Like was commenting on the weather more than describing a murder scene.

"We three here, and the faceless man's only connections. Old man Johnson's farm, his party the other and Tillie Helton. I'd sure love to find the who did wrong for Tillie, get some information and justice for the poor. She was a sweet kid, she didn't deserve that shit. No one does." Eli's commenting on the weather tone quickly fell away to murderous intent.

"That's all I got. Past what I told you, there's some strange shit going on these Hills. People turning up deaf isn't anything but the way the body's are turning. Something ain't here... But finding who did Tillie comes first. I get the feeling things will into place after that riddile gets answer." Eli took another deep drag. That's when he noticed the silence again, the lack of birds chirping. Someone was coming.

@Remipa Awesome
@Thundercrash

[Rawk]

( Collab with @Subject Zero )

And as if by some magical means via the spoken word, Nates handcuffed girl woke up from her seemingly eternal stupor, eyeing the three guys in the car as if they were from a another planet. Vin sheepishly smiled at the chick, knowing exactly how she felt, and yet somehow being held responsible for her condition. Either way, JJ didn’t hesitate to do what any attractive, blue-blooded, and extremely uptight girl would do after waking up from an unconscious state of mind…

She whipped out her phone to make a call.

After her surprisingly brief conversation - giving Vincent just enough time to zone out while accidentally, yet purposefully staring at her thighs - the woman exchanged a barrage of words with Nate that Vincent didn’t really care to follow, but based on the fact that he was stuck in an enclosed space with them both, was forced to listen to the incessant bickering. Afterwards, Nate hesitantly uncuffed her and she quickly stepped out of the car.

“Wait!...” Vin shouted before the door slammed shut and JJ took off in the opposite direction.

"Let her go." said Nate, cutting Vin off. "She's been nothing but trouble since I met her...She cut me with a kitchen knife you know."

"She what now?" asked the duplicate with a genuinely surprised look on his face as he started driving off.

"Yeah, she's a psychopath." said Nate. "It's okay though. I'm good." He took a moment to look at his palm where JJ had cut him, poking at it with his other hand just to make sure it was indeed, good.

Duplinate looked from Nate to Vin and said "Well she may not have liked us but she kind of liked you...for some reason."

Vin turned around to face forward, and leaned his head back with a smile across his face. “Eh?...did you hear that numbnuts?, I’m not that bad...” He said, pointing a thumb at himself, and turning to give the Nate boys a quick wink.

Of course for Vin, things would have been a lot nicer if he’d had his phone to key in and save JJ’s phone number, but shrugged off the notion knowing that he didn’t need to include any more disturbed women in his already deconstructed life. One thought did seem to linger like an ownerless puppy looking for a home, and that was the fact that he felt some unusual connection to her, yet couldn’t place it. Aside from the obvious powers that they've come to realize, the girl left a mark that Vin just couldn’t shake. He shook his head, musing over the whole ordeal and assuming that his lack of sleep or perhaps bad drugs, alcohol, or a myriad of deficiencies was contributing to his damned one-tracked thinking.

What he did know, however, was that he needed to find out where exactly he was being taken.

“Okay...Nate? For the love of the Bee Gees and Betty Crocker chocolate cake, where in the nine hells are we headed?”

"Yeah, in a minute." Nate replied "But first, were you at that charity Gala a couple of weeks ago?" Nate didn't remember seeing Vin there but if he was, his theory about that place in that time being the catalyst for their powers may prove correct.

Vincent narrowed his eyes for a moment, going back a couple of weeks ago when...

“Holy shit!, I was, at least I know was at some kind of event with my bud James, who had been invited by one of his clients, who was then invited - ah fuck, you get the idea.”

He drummed his fingers along the top of the dashboard to a random tune in his head, as he thought back to that evening, which turned out to be more than he bargained for. He stopped drumming, sat back against the seat and took a deep breath before continuing.

“Yeah, I remember being messed up pretty bad that night, but no surprises there. I met this chick and her boyfriend, and we ended up back in the kitchen doing shots and eightballs until we’d been forcefully escorted out by an uptight security guard.”

Vin’s voice trailed off for a moment, as he stared blankly out the front windshield.

“I-I don’t know how it happened, but as soon as this asshole grabbed me by my collar, because I was resisting of course, my head started screaming with pain...same as earlier in the alley. Next thing I know, these ‘things’ were erupting from my skin, attacking the guard, and even the other two. I just ran. Ran through the rear emergency exit and didn’t look back. Didn’t even look to see if they were dead. I just knew I had to get the hell out of there. So I ran...”

Nate furrowed his brow as Vin recounted his tale about the party and how he ran away. "Real brave of you." he commented.

Duplinate sighed through his nose and told Nate "Oh shut up"

Nate was confused and slightly annoyed by his own clone telling him to shut up and tilted his head at him. He was about to say something when Duplinate cut him off. "He's lucky he got out alive. Not everyone did."

Nate noted the serious look that came over the clone's face as he looked at the road ahead and asked him "What's up your butt?" The clone glanced back at Nate then back at the road, pausing for a moment as he thought about what he was about to say. In the end, he simply reached into his pocket and pulled out the photo he had taken from his attacker, handing it over his shoulder to Nate. Nate took the photo and stared at it for a second. Confused by it, he asked the clone "Who's this?"

"She was at the gala." the clone informed him. "The guy that attacked our car? He had that on him."

Nate looked at the photo again before slumping back into the seat, coming to the same realization that his clone had come to earlier. "...Oh."

The car was quiet then. Painfully quiet.

Vincent peered over at the picture briefly, and then lean back against his arm on the door frame. "Well shit, I'm hungry. Any one else hungry?..."

[Xandrya]

Jennifer

Ding dong

Jennifer entered the empty gas station, her "grand" entrance grabbing the attention of the man behind the counter. As she walked over to him, she avoided eye contact knowing a little too well he was staring her down. When she noticed he wasn't letting her out of his sight, even though she was almost at the counter, her anger got the best of her.

"Hey!" she yelled, slapping the counter between them with an open palm. "My eyes are up here buddy!" She pointed them out with two fingers, the man quickly apologizing and avoiding eye contact from that point on. "I'm sorry, how can I help you?"

"That's more like it," she added. "Which direction is Eddinsburgh?"

He pointed past her. "It's about a 40 minute ride from here."

Jennifer cursed under her breath. "Alright, thank you." She didn't wait for a reply from the man, and instead, rushed out the door.

Ding dong

As soon as she got outside, Jennifer breathed a sigh of relief, although she couldn't help but feel like a complete idiot. Her phone wasn't working anymore, but she still carried one of her cards with her in her wallet. She noticed an ATM in the distance and decided that the walk of shame was worth her getting her hands on some cash in order to get home.

[Rawk]

As much as food was the last thing he should be worrying about considering the complications he’d found himself in, Vincent hadn’t eaten since sometime last night during the pool party, and even then it had been mostly a liquid diet. After JJ left the car in a hurry, Vin had wanted to take off just as well, and get the hell out of whatever mess he’d been pulled into, forgetting everything he heard and saw just to go back to his comfortable life. But some semblance of morality crept in and slapped him upside his narrow-minded head, reminding him that there were much larger issues, that, or his new psychotic friend Nate was starting to make some sense.

His thoughts, however, dwelled on her. Thoughts that didn’t seem familiar to him in the slightest and yet she was there, rummaging around in his head nonetheless. Vin thought it was some kind of silly infatuation that keep her on his mind, and somewhat true as that might be, he also realized it wasn’t just that. He recalled JJ leaned over his body in the alley, cupping his hands in hers, and moments later, the pain slowly dissipated as though it were being pulled from his body.

Whatever it was, she left a lingering impression...

“So, Nate, tell me about this girl, what’s her name?...Jen?. What part does she play in the grand scheme of things? Why were you hired to track her down if you’re also…” He paused, trying to think of a term for whatever they were. “...ya know, ‘special’?”

Vin crossed his arms and stared out the window, watching as city life flew by at whatever speed Nate was pushing the accelerator. “...Just curious is all, not that I care anything about her…” He snorted, keeping one eye peeled for JJ, and the other for a McDonald’s drive-thru.

@Subject Zero

[Subject Zero]

Not entirely paying attention to Vin's question's, Nate continued to stare at the photo he held in his hands. The image of the girl affected him more than he cared to admit. But now was not the time for that and he shoved the photo into his pocket before answering Vin. "JJ is entirely unimportant to this. She made her decision. She's out. She's just some girl who gets into trouble a lot so this guy that works with her asked me to keep an eye on her. Keep her safe."

"Well..." began Duplinate. "That's not entirely true."

Nate shot him an angry look which the clone saw in the rearview mirror. "Stop contradicting me. It's getting annoying...And really weird."

Duplinate rolled his eyes at that and informed Vin "She's some rich girl. She was at that gala too and she's one of the few to walk out alive and in one piece..." He thought about that for a second and giggled at the inadvertent joke. "We were hired to protect her, that much is true but--"

"Stop talking!" demanded Nate as he cut his clone off. He was clearly annoyed and sat up, sticking his head in between Duplinate and Vin. His expression of annoyance was quickly replaced by his usual smug smirk mixed with curiosity as he turned to address Vin. "Why so interested in little miss bossy britches? Just curious huh?"

Duplinate chuckled at that and commented "Yeah, the same way I'm curious about the wonderful Ms Salma Hayek."

Nate chuckled himself and said "Aw, someone has a crush. You're so adorable." He then proceeded to reach over and pinch Vin on the cheek.

@Rawk

[Xandrya]

Harrison

That bitch won't get away with his... Harrison hung up the phone, his right hand still clutching the pen that hovered about half an inch right above the "Sign Here" statement on the document. Searching through his long contact list, Harrison scrolled down until he found the name he was looking for.

"Samuel!" he said after the voice on the other end greeting him. "It's Harry, how's it going? Hey, listen, can you meet me at the tavern tonight? There's been a change of plans." The man on the other end confirmed, a tad of urgency in his voice which was easily picked up by Harrison. Both men avoided any small talk and said their goodbyes, Harrison hanging up the phone with a little smirk on his face.

---

Jennifer

7724

It was a miracle that Jennifer remembered her PIN number without having to look at her phone. The ATM menu took her through a series of options from her to choose from before she was even able to pick an amount to withdraw. Jennifer found it all to be rather pointless, but if she wanted to get her cash, she'd have to play their game. "No, I don't want a goddamn receipt," she said to herself, pressing the Enter button on the keypad before the machine dispensed her money. "Finally..." She grabbed the five $20 bills that were neatly stacked on the tray and walked away counting them to check she hadn't been played. Once her money was safely put away away in her purse, Jennifer proceeded to the nearest busy intersection to hail a cab. She didn't want to talk to anyone else, and she definitely didn't want to be walking around with cash in hand. Everyone already thought she was a hooker, and the faster she could get home to take a shower and put some decent clothes on, the better she'd feel.

[Thundercrash]

Outwardly, Christi wrinkled her nose at the acrid smoke from Eli’s cigarette. It smelled worse than the saturated atmosphere of home.

Inwardly, her heart screeched to a stop. Another person was dead, worse than the way Tillie had died. Eli wanted to find out who had done it, who had killed her. She could hear it in his voice, it was the same note that she had heard in Daniel’s when she had ran; he wanted revenge. And she knew, she knew who had done it, at least one of them. She knew that if she told him what her brother had done, he wasn’t going to stop. And as strong as Eli looked, she knew that Daniel wasn’t going to be alone. He’d bring help, and he’d probably bring the police with him to, to get her.

The silence in the trees made her tense, and her eyes scanned through the foliage. Jack’s ears were nearly flat, and the only sound to be heard was his low growls. Once, twice, she heard a snap of a branch, then a faint voice that sent a chill down her back.

Danny.

Christi didn’t think, she just acted. Before either Eli or Eric could react, she had slung her backpack over her shoulder, grabbed her crossbow and bolted at a dead run, Jack at her heels. This time, however, she knew where she was going. The mine shaft has given her her bearings, and she knew that almost a quarter mile south of here was a steep cliffside. It was far from unclimbable, more of a hillside than a cliff, but it was still quite steep; a single wrong step could send you tumbling down straight into a tree. It was also a shortcut to a river that lead to a tall, narrow ravine, within which was an old bear cave. It was a place that most people didn’t know about; even she had only come across it by accident, and she’d spent more time in these forests than she had at home. It wasn’t complete safety, but it would be good enough for now to get her brother off her trail.

And if the others chose to follow her, well, she’d deal with that later.

@AcerRo@Remipa Awesome

[Shoe Thief]

Eric Miller

Eric got an explanation from Eli. Enough that is. "So now what? Do we go investigating and hope we don't get murdered ourselves? Because dying sounds like a very bad idea." Eric thought about it for a moment. "Because if we are continuing with this possible suicide mission, with some potentially very bad people following us, I would like a gun. Because I don't know if you can tell, but I am not a big person. Nor am I that strong. If you don't have more guns, I'll get some of mine. And if somehow that's not enough, my parents still have some of my uncles guns stored away." Though, maybe things were not bad enough to go breaking into his Uncles collection of guns. Then again people chained with Barbed wire and missing faces is pretty bad. So are goat masks.

Before much more thoughts could come out, everyone was tensing up. Eric tried to listen in but all the sounds were starting to mash up. This normally only happened when... More people arrived. Not long after Christi ran. And she ran like a bee trying to avoid wasp repellent. "Hey! Wait up!" Eric didn't know what got into him, but he knew something was up now. So he ran after her, leaving Eli up to his own decisions. Though Eric was not the ideal athlete. His running was done poorly and he wasn't that fast. Agile yes, but not fast. He was able to keep following Christi though, her thoughts were racing. While running he wasn't able to listen that well though.

@AcerRo@Thundercrash

[AcerRo]

ELI CRAIGH - HARLAN

Eli gave a raised brow to Eric as he ran off after Christi. If Raylan was proved right he couldn't blame her for running. Eric taking off was smart as well. There wasn't much the boy could do and if the truth were known, he'd only have gotten in the way.

Eli took another drag, only find there wasn't much left his cigarette. Exhaling the smoke from his lungs, he dropped it and lit another. If there was ever a day to chain smoke, today easy it.

Being a smoker Eli, didn't really notice scents. Someone's shampoo or lotion or whatever it was. Most of the time it was just lost in him. He didn't know if Christi or Eric and something like that but the smoke would hopefully cover it.

Eli drew his weapon, a 45 acp. Ejecting the clip, he looked over the first visible round in the stack. It was a hollow point bullet. Eli felt bad for whomever was gonna take one. It was gonna hurt, thankfully it wasn't gonna hurt long.

Then the moment came, the voices were getting louder, as did the bumbling sounds footsteps on the forest floor. These dumb fucks expected to find Christi? Whatever they were smoking must have been good stuff.

As the passed through the brunches, Eli was racking a round in the chamber of his handgun. "Danny... You look like bear shit. Who are you're friends?" Eli said flatly. There were four if them total. If anyone ever wondered where the dumb hillbillies serotype came from, it was these four. Each of them where armed to the teeth like they were going to war. Had they been a smarter bunch, Eli might have been worried.

"I ain't in no fucking mood for your shit Eli. Where's my sister, Imma kill that bitch for what she did." Danny shot back, his speech altered by drugs.

"You know it's the damnedest thing, I just talked to her not five minutes ago. My guess she's down by the Bear cave. About a mile or down the hill. Where you boys jerk each other off." Eli said with a smile, it was just a thing kids do and grow out of.

It didn't take long for one to swing his gun towards Eli and take a step forward. "You wanna die, you drunk bastard!" One of them shouted.

"Naw, I'm good. But I'll tell yah right now, take another step, you die. Go after Christi, you die. I don't think you guys see a pattern here. Go home Danny. I won't tell you again." Eli said with a chuckle. He knew one of them WA gonna try something. He hated it for them but they were warned.

It was surprising to Eli what they did next. They laughed, so sure in their numbers they couldn't help it. Eli couldn't help but laugh with them. As one them took a step, Eli raised his handgun and shot him in the head. The laughter stop as the gunshot echoed out into the mountains.

"Now Danny, I really liked your Momma and I'm starting to like Christi." That was all Eli could say before the shock of what happened wore off, another one tried to raise his gun. Eli turned his lights out as well. As the second shot rang out, Eli was tired of of the dealings.

Eli had already killed two of the four. Why stop there? It was clear they were too stupid to turn around and just leave it alone. Eli quick shot Danny and the other one in the leg.

Eli tried to be nice, but they wouldn't listen. "Now since you two aren't going anywhere. Let's talk for a minute. Yall know anything about what happened to Tillie?" Eli said slowly walking towards the now groaning boys. "Come on now boys. Yeah your gonna have a hitch in your git along. That don't mean you have to die. Just point me in a direction and yall can just... Go." Eli said pacing around them like a hungry shark waiting for the moment to strike.

Danny's lone friend was quick to point the finger at Danny and one of the dead men. Eli looked at him with rage in his eyes. Eli raise his handgun with the intent of killing his new found informant. What happened next only made Eli smile more. His new found informants leg erupted in flames. It was shocking at first, but Eli deep down enjoyed the man's anguish.

Eli looked over to one of the dead bodies only to see it go up in flames. Was it him? Was he doing it? It wasn't important right now. Eli kicked Danny in head. "You wanna beat on that poor girl? You wanna rape a girl that ain't never hurt one? Get your shit apple redneck ass up and try that shit with you stupid bastard." Eli said after kicking Danny a few more times.

"You're fucken-"Eli quickly unloaded the rest of his bullets into Danny's last living friend.

"You wanna talk or get you ass down that fucking Hill. You better hope your sister is happy to see you. That so much as flinches I... Will.. Beat... You.. To.. Death."

It seemed like an hour an passed as Eli slowly followed Danny to the cave he thought Christi had ran to. As the time ticked away Eli had every opportunity to detail all the horrible things Eli could do to him. Eli had picked up everything he could from the dead bodies. Whatever was left Eric could fetch.

As Danny got closer, it was time for him to come to Jesus. "Christi, I got danny." Eli looked at the mangle mess that was Danny. "Come on out so we can all talk this out. Eric I need you to head back to the mine shift and pick up the shit they left behind." Eli shouted as he slowly walked behind Danny.

[Subject Zero]

Crushes, Clones & Crickets

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_{A collab with @Rawk}

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“Ah!, what the holy fuck is wrong with you, man?”

Vin recoiled, completely missing Nates initial advance toward his cheek until he felt the slight pinch, staring at both Nate and his clone with a disgusted expression.

“Don’t ever touch me again dumbass. You already saw what happened to that other guy back in the alley, yeah?” He took a deep breath, calming his edgy tone. “Look...just don’t is all, okay?”

Truth be told, Vincent didn’t know what to expect from the cursed gift of...whatever the hell it was supposed to be. What he did know, however, was that it was bad news and took the life of at least one person and possibly the lives of the others he’d come into contact with at the Gala two weeks prior. But how would he have known since he ran, never bothering to look back.

Vin's threat did little to discourage Nate. He pulled his hand back but grinned like the entire situation was immensely entertaining. "That's the thing about me, bucko." he told Vin. "There's always more." He ruffled his clones hair as best he could, which was very little with it being cut so short, and sat back.

Despite his hair not actually being messed up, the clone still ran a hand over it as though straightening it and glanced over at Vin, declaring "That's not an invitation to kill me...And don't avoid the subject. Is he right? Do you like the drunk princess?"

Duplinate's smile was not as big as Nate's but it was definitely there. They were like a pair of schoolboys, toying with a friend and trying to embarrass him by talking about a girl he had a crush on. No one ever accused Nate of being mature.

Vincent suddenly felt trapped in a bad episode of Beverly Hills 90210, although he’d never actually admit watching it as a kid in the nineties, the two Nates became like the annoying friends you just couldn’t shake off, until, of course, one of them offs themselves with a bullet to the head…

“Why do you two knuckleheads even give a shit about my feelings for this girl?”

"I don't really" admitted Nate. "But we've gotta do something to pass the time."

Vin decided to ignore that and stared out the window, glancing at the passing buildings and side streets as the sun was beginning its descent behind the cityscape.

“Besides, it’s getting dark soon and this chick is obviously being hunted same as us. Do you really want to leave her on her own?” Vin turned back to the others, staring at them with a disapproving expression.

“And I thought you assholes were supposed to be protecting her! Why in the hell did you just let her go so easily anyway, knowing she’ll probably be killed out there?...” Vin’s heart was racing, as he allowed the lack of food and sleep to offset his self control. He hadn’t realized until now just how much he wore his feelings for JJ on his sleeve, and yet the only others he could confide in didn’t seem to show much concern or regard for the girl’s life. However, Nate and his bumbling clones were the only ones he knew of at the moment that could help him regardless.

“So who was the guy she was talking to on the phone earlier? Something about a ‘contract’? Did you work for him?”

"Worked!" Nate practically yelled, barely leaving time for Vin to even finish his sentence. "He hired us to keep her safe and we did that. Right up until her little phonecall. You saw that."

"She told Harrison to cancel our contract." added Duplinate.

Nate grumbled something under his breath and said "He's so spineless he'd do it too. Contract's over so she's not our concern anymore."

The car suddenly screeched to a halt again and Vin was thankful he had put his seatbelt on. Nate slammed his hands into the headrest of Vin's seat in front of him to stop his face from doing it instead and complained "What the hell, man!?"

"What if she is?" asked the clone, talking over Nate's question as he turned in his seat.

"What if she's what?"

"Our concern." Nate only looked at his clone as though exhausted by the very question. Duplinate continued "She may be a bossy pain in our collective but beautiful asses but..she's one of only two other people with powers that we've met. If we really want to find out what's going on, shouldn't we explore every lead...No matter how bossy and annoying?"

Nate continued to stare at his clone until he finally said "You do realize you're supposed to be me, right? Same thoughts? Same opinions?"

Duplinate mulled that over and finally said "Maybe that's not exactly how it works. Maybe I'm like a more reasonable version of you. Your conscience. The Jiminy Cricket to your Pinocchio." He smiled at Nate, who looked positively disgusted by the whole idea,

"I was always more of an Aladdin fan. You know, steal a bunch of shit and look good doing it?" He reached out then and grabbed the clone by the shoulder. Duplinate seemed to vanish as he quickly merged back into Nate. Nate shivered for a brief moment as the clones memories filled his head. He had been free for quite a while and accumulated quite a a few unique memories of his own. It was always weird when so much new data rushed into his head. When he stopped, he commented quietly "Pinoccio..Pfft."

"Shit!, I'll never get used to that!" Vin exclaimed, as the two Nates essentially merged into one right before his eyes.

Nate then began clambering over into the driver's seat, using Vin's face for balance, causing an "Ouch! fucknut!" response from his passenger as he went. He dropped down into the front seat and sighed as he planted his hands on the wheel. He was quiet for a moment, seemingly lost in thought, until he said "It was a good movie though." He was quiet again for a second as he thought about the current situation His face scrunched up and he whined "God damn it!"

The car was quickly in motion again and the tires screeching as Nate spun it around and began driving back the way they had come.

"Stupid Cricket!"

Vin snorted. "Better 'crickets' than raging migraines the magnitude of a hundred icepicks sticking out of your brain...give or take."

[AcerRo]

ATLANTA

"All units stand down, I want two sqauds watching the next blocks west of my postion." The man in the unmarked black suv said into the radio. His gut told him something bad was about to happen, he was proven right. As the car cotaining Nate and JJ was attacked, he and his cohorts stayed put in the safty of their vehicle. Watching everything that happened as if they were the Big Brother everyone thought they were. They kept watching as gun shots rang out in the alley, everyone of them initially reached for their weapons and went to open the door.They were ready for a fight. "HQ shots fired in the alley, situation unknown." The man in the driver seat said into his radio.

"Stay out of the way. Best case is the targets get killed. Maintain eyes on both the male and the female... Kill the male if you have too, I want the woman taken in alive. Do I make myself clear.?" The voice of the radio said in a commanding tone. "10-4" Replied the man in the driver seat. He sat for moment, comtemplating his next move. There was a better way to do this. "Pull the truck around the to the other side of the alley, I'll seal off this side. If they make a run for it? Kill em all.

He exited the vehicle and poked his head the corner of the alley way. It was like watching a the aftermath of war movie. Dead bodies and blood seem to fill the alley way. What the hell were this people? Looking down the alley even further the man could Nate, and JJ and an unknown man pile into a car only to see it drive off. He ran down the alley way trying to get a tag number or something that could identify the vehicle. Everything that he could was relayed through the radio.

It a phone call that was the real interesting part. When the person on the other end of the line answered. The man quickly said "shes out in the opening. The cars heading north. She'll be contacting you soon." There wasn't another word exchanged before the phone line went dead.

Harrison was enraged at the situation. She was supposed to be dead, that stupid bitch was supposed to be dead. The Gala should have killed her, it should have killed everyone. Nice and neat. Harrison didn't know if her and little body guard knew anything, Harrison knew they had to go and was only made harder by the fact the stupid bitch had cancelled the contract.

Harrison made a phone call a man that he was in desperate need of. When his man answered his phone, all of Harrison's pride and anger was replaced by fear and respect. "Sir, the girl is out in the open. She has left her bodyguard. I have failed to-"

He was cut off by the man on the other end of the line. "Hush now my child, all is well. She'll come to you, as will the other. even should worst happen, there are many more than just two. " The man said in fatherly, singsong voice. One that sounded more at home telling bedtime stories than plotting the death of a person.

"Yes sir. I'll take care of it." Harrison said with a slight tremble in his voice

"I know you will, everything will fall into place." The line went dead, and the man with the fatherly voice sat back in his over sized chair that looked out in the city below. The city of New Orleans had never been so pretty to him. Things were coming together nicely