[IC] The Energy Storm

RECAP {{THE STORY THUS FAR}}

Energy Storm is set in the real world with an alternate history that's mostly similar to the real world. Barack Obama was the previous president in the RP world, but the current president is David Forrester rather then Donald Trump. In the world of Energy Storm David Forrester managed to nab the republican nomination for president rather then Trump, but similarly to him he has no prior political experience & comes from a multi billionare background. His family owns the Forrester Corporation, a multi billion dollar biotech company that's had some previous association with controversy one most notable one being key partners & funding sources for the opioid epidemic/crisis. The Energy Storm occured on February 2, 2018 and caused energy beams to rain down on North America. These destructive beams of raw energy devastated parts of the country, taking the lives of 10 million American Citizens throughout the course of the few hours of the day they occured.

Soon after the country was gripped by a second disaster, that of the Energy Plague. The Plague has about the same symptoms as Covid-19 in the real world, leading to millions of Americans falling ill. Federal & State Governments implemented measures across the country to halt the spread of the virus including mask mandates & quarantines. Jonah Hanes, the director of Liberty transfered to Liberty's California office to investigate rumors of altered humans joining the Salzaras Cartel. Due to the enregy plague America's borders closed blocking people from leaving & entering the country to prevent the spread of the plague. This had an unintended effect of dealing a major blow to the illegal drug business, further restricting drug traffickers brining drugs ino the country. The Salzaras Cartel remained un-effected by the closing of the borders due to recruiting & using superhumans to aid them with getting drugs into the country, making them a powerhouse among the other cartels who could no longer get drugs into the USA with the border closures.

Jonah also investigated video messages from the masked revolutionary Reaper who encouraged altered humans to unite & work against the United States to fight against their oppression. He also studied Benny Stein a popular talk show host who'd gained an immense following for his intense unwavering negative view towards the altered. Anya is an undercover Russian FSS agent who infilitrated the United States Intelligence Community & is working as a leading field agent in Liberty directly under Director Hanes. SHe feigned having information about Shade, a notorious altered human killer who was waging a one man vigilante war against organized violent crime in California, specifically in San Francisco, Oakland & LA. Shade's real identity is that of Jace Williams a youtuber running a financial consultation business. Due to a bloody past with many of his family being killed by thugs he's devoted the use of his powers to murdering violent criminals like the ones who killed his loved ones. He ran into Anya who was masquerading under the alias as a US Agent Jennifer Donovan & struck an alliance with her. Jace offering to help her Russian employers in exchange for money & intel on Liberty the black ops group in charge of monitoring & policing Altered Humans in the United States.

Thomas is a native american & another person who the plague converted into an altered human. He moved to San Francisco where he'd already gotten a job & place to stay. Before long he would up in the midst of a battle between two masked altered one with super strength & the other with ice manipulation. With no choice he exposed his own powers to the ice-user named Xavier in effort to rescue him from a brutal death at super strong vigilante, who unlike Shade was hunting & killing all manner of crooks for crimes even petty ones. The Authorities managed to capture the ice wielding thief named Xavier, and transported him to a hospital in custody. While the extra strong vigilante & Thomas both managed to escape without any further connection or investigation from law enforcement.

Another altered named Amelia Mendez with the power of artistic animation, meaning she can draw things into existence used her power generously to generate food & supplies for nearby charities & people at FEMA camps who lost their homes in the eneergy storm. Another girl with powers named Alexis was using her powers of luck manipulation to get herself a hefty amount of cash in Las Vegas, but had built up a bad reputation as a suspected cheater at many casino's in Vegas. The President, David Forrester made an announcement that his older brother Nathan Forrester's company Forrester Corporation had devised a blood test that could determine if people were regular or altered. As such the Government had purchased the technology further enriching the Forrester Family & made blood testing mandatory for all americans. A declaration was made that all people must submit to testing within a week, and after seven days anybody found to be an altered who didn't submit to the test prior to the deadline would be commiting a felony & could be arrested by law enforcement. He also deployed the national guard to all fifty states to help forrester corporation scientists & local law enforcement administer the tests on a national scale.

Alexis was worried about her twin sister whom she feared might easily comply with these blood tests & returned home to San Francisco to check on her concerned that her sister might have also gotten powers from the energy plague. Sanzhar a journalist with metal manipulation was living at home with his family and was currently struggling in his career. Alexis flew out to San Francisco and upon searching for her twin learned that she'd adopted the alias Angel. Not only that but apparently she'd built up a reputation as a sort of under-ground medic/healer for those who could't afford or visit traditional medical facilities & doctors. Marcus was another altered human wth molecular acceleration who worked for Liberty, a military veteran who conducted missions to eliminate dangerous altered who used their powers for illicit funds & violence.

On top of the Blood Tests, the Forrester Administration went a step farther & enacted the Emergency Altered Act in conjunction with congress. These were a set of laws that implemented restrictive measures to altered humans such as a national curfew, banning the use of powers in public, making it illegal to be at certain locations such as schools & banning them from certain occupations/professions including law enforcement, the legal field, medical field & educational/teaching field. These led to protests erupting around the country from minority communities who felt these new laws would be used to enact racist practices against people of color who weren't even altered humans. Floyd Banker an empath was another altered human who was living in San Francisco, and working with Rita Salzaras, the sister of Hector Salzaras head of the Salzaras Cartel. As a result he was flush with drugs to sell including marijuana, cocaine & prescription pills. Aside from his illegal ventures with the Salzaras he ran a marketing & media company called PlugRich Media. As a consequence of his power he'd picked up horrific precognitive dreams from a semi consistent sexual fling he'd had with a girl named Luna who was plagued with future visions of death & other horrific events.

The most alarming set of visions he had was of modern civilization itself being wiped out in a series of violent explosions a year after the Energy Storm in February of 2019. The only clues he'd acquired from the vision was that it had something to do with something called Operation KIVA. While watching the news with Rita Salzaras, he learned CyberCorp a billionare tech conglomerate & main rival to the Forrester Corporation was planning to unveil Project KIVA to the public in a matter of months or sooner. Aside from the nightmarish visions he was primarily using his powers to help his criminal & legal business endevours as well as play harsh pranks on people he didn't like. He ended up going out for drinks with one of his friends Darius at TAP/Taste of Paradise, a joint strip club & bar. Whilst there they became aware of the Forrester Administration's new measures including the blood tests & Emergency Altered Act. His evening was interrupted by a confrontation with Lionel, a powerful gang leader who'd gained the power to cover his skin in organic metal coating. With his powers him & his gang had began extorting several legitimate business's in San Francisco & Oakland for protection from them & other criminal groups including those working with altered as well.

Floyd used his own power to emulate Lionel's power & fought him to a stale-mate, but ultimately Lionel was stronger then him with his own innate powers. Thanks to some quick thinking and help from Darius he managed to escape TAP after a brutal showdown in the club, From there he sought out Rita who was irate that he came straight to her residence after the battle, but ultimately decided he'd have to get a better grasp on his powers to survive another encounter with Lionel & went as far as to suggest they kill him before he takes their lives. Alexis made headway on tracking down her sister Angel and went to a local populated FEMA Camp where t was rumored that Angel resided. Marcus the killer Liberty agent also made his way to the same camp in search for Angel as she was on his list to be terminated.

Another altered named Jason Koravil also mulled about in the city of San Francisco, using his powers to read the minds of others & weed out racists & other undesirable people. With his alternate split personality Justice he used his powers to trigger accidents to harm, maim & kill others he felt didn't belong in civilized society. Aside from his judgement killings Jason Koravil was a therapist with his own practice who started & managed a secret altered support group with help from his girlfriend Saiyu whom had the power to control emotions. He sought to use the support group as a means to locate & recruit altered humans to an organized resistance against government oppression of their kind. To this end he also went to the FEMA Camp Amalia, Alexis & Marcus went too. He visited 2-3 times a week to deliver supplies & to use his mental powers to find altered to join him just like he did with the support group. THere he ran into Marcus who made a public showcase of his abilities to get the attention of everyone in the camp to accelerate his search for Angel, whilst at the same time he decided to quit Liberty after the passing of Forrester's emergency act. He decided to finish wiping out the altered human criminals on the list Liberty gave him, but added President David Forrester to that list as well having contempt for him after the passing of his discriminatory emergency altered act.

Another altered & ex military veteran named Karagoz also a resident of San Francisco was infuriated by the new anti altered laws passed by the Government. He used his powers to violently murder members of the national guard deployed help administer the blood tests, as well as scientists & others working at the center taking on the codename Silver Flame. His super powered murder spree caught the attention of Michelle, a woman with the power to create clones who was waltzing about and happened to run into the blood testing center as Karagoz murdered everyone working there. Anya made a positive impression on Jonah Hanes who was suspisious of her as well as others working for Liberty trying to weed out infiltrators. She presented him Shade's mask but regrettably informed him that SHADE escaped. Still her effectiveness put Jonah's fears about her to rest & raised his trust in her, although his dedication to his wife Amelia & family made him immune to her attempted seductive tactics to reel him in closer.

Jonah told her to focus on hunting Marcus who defected from Liberty & allowed his racism to show as he explained his anger that Marcus had fled & betrayed Liberty. Anya agreed to prioritize hunting down Marcus, but ended up kidnapping & torturing Dr. Scott a scientist working for the US to study the altered human phenomenon. Dr. Scott refused to divulge information leading to her Russian superiors to order her to kill him as she couldn't obtain any worthwhile intel from him. Jason allowed his other personality Justice to take control of him to handle the confrontation with Marcus who proved to have little patience for anyone who didn't have information about Angel. Justice was taking the reigns for Jason's body more & more as of late, as Jason wasn't able to handle being violent to others with his main personality. He used his powers to track down Angel & provide a mental image to Marcus in exchange for posing an inquiry to him about joining forces with his resistance finding Marcus's powers to be a useful asset to his operation.

Next the story brought in Dean Rivers, a black SFPD{{San Francisco Police Department}} Narcotics Officer who was stumped at how drugs were flowing into the country again with the border closed. He worked closely with his partner & fellow officer Lisa in the investigation, with them deducing that altered humans were the cause of this sudden influx of drugs getting into the country with thet closed borders. Another case that had caught & held Dean's attention was a string of missing women, mostly of ethnic backgrounds that seemed to begin occurring shortly after the energy plague began spreading through the country. After solidifying his alliance with the russian spy Anya Jace decided to take a break from his vigilante activities. He sought to meet up with his girlfriend Nikita who worked at a hair salon ran by her mother in downtown San Francisco. He learned that Lionel had successfully extorted her & fueled with rage he sought to hunt Lionel down as Shade unaware that Lionel also had altered powers.

At the local jail a girl named Lori Martinez was being held with extra security, as she had the power of optic beams. A week prior she was a promising nursing student who attempted use her powers to murder her fiance & the woman she'd found having sex with him in their shared apartment. Liberty had scheduled a transport of her to their secret maximum security prison for altered humans, and the FBI sent an Agent Mayas to conduct a thorough investigation of her before she was picked up. Agent Mayas turned out to be the alias of a murderous altered human with shape-shifter named Adora in disguise. As Mayas she revealed her parents had put up their home as collateral to get Lori released and only because the two people she attempted to kill had survived her laser beams & the Forrester's harsh measures hadn't been in a effect yet when she conducted her vengeful attack fueled by her fiancee's betrayal of her trust.

Adora ended up absorbing Lori's power & life-force, before taking her form. Upon doing that she murdered the guards nearby & elsewhere in the hallway before flying out a self created hole in the roof. Descending in the streets below still in Lori's form she declared war on humanity claiming to be motivated & enraged by the Forrester Administration's new anti altered policies. The main one which she attributed to her anger was that the emergency act declared that altered humans weren't a protected class. During the midst of this chaos, another altered human named Cynthia Ortiz was making her self at home in San Francisco. She was Hector Salzaras lover, and had powers that allowed her to manipulate the memories & minds of others making her a valuable asset as well as being a pro with technology. Her primary assistant Jessica divulged to her that she'd accidentally exposed her being an altered to a man who was dating a woman in the Salzaras Cartel. She also tried to reason with Cynthia to get an Altered ID License rather then one that hid her altered status which she'd easily acquired due to her powers.

This infuriated Cynthia & led to her having Jessica executed. With the chatty secretary dead she contacted Hector to let him know she'd confirmed his suspicion that someone was stealing drugs from them. She resolved to continue her investigation into the matter & uncover who was behind the thefts. Anya working on her own accord set up a meeting with Marcus whom she'd formed a somewhat close personal relationship with during their combined tenure in Liberty. Marcus agreed to meet with her at Botanical Guardian but planned to stay on guard in case she had plans of betraying him to Liberty. Setting aside the information Jason delivered to him about Angel, Marcus left the premise not wanting to run into law enforcement as his scuffle with Jason had no doubt alerted the authorities as both of them had used their powers in the open at the FEMA Camp.

Jace ended up burying money he'd confiscated from a group of violent coke dealers he'd murdered earlier before meeting with Anya in the backyard area of Nikita's mother's salon. His attention was drawn outside where a nine foot mutant monster with sharp claws was on a rampage outside killing civilians and fighting off soldiers & cops called to fight. Donning his SHADE gear he ordered Nikita & her mother to escape while he went outside to fight the creature who put up a fight despite his super strength. As the battle raged on the creature briefly pulled off his mask & almost killed him. Thanks to the timely intervention of the metal bending journalist Sanzhar Jace was able to get his bearings & re-mask himself before re-joining the fight against the monster now with help from Sanzhar.

Meanwhile Adora decided to use one of her most potent acquired abilities of mass control & turned herself into a giant towering at 200 feet. Still in Lori's guise she put her power to use as well as others she stole to go on a violent relentless rampage in downtown San Francsico murdering thousands without a care while shouting about humans being inferior to altered humans. A bystander altered human named Eric King with the power to tamper with time stepped in to play his hand at slowing down Adora's rampage but ultimately proved useless and fled himself to escape her rampage. She made her way to the hospital where Lori's fiancee & cheater were, killing them then demolishing the entire hospital among other structures without mercy. The police & national guard worked together to evacuate people from the area to allow the air force to deploy & take down the giant woman without worrying about civilian casualties in the process.

Michelle used her power to confront Karagoz, trying to lecture him about the consequence of indiscriminately murdering soldiers & thers enforcing the laws against altered. She pleaded with him to stop trying to explain that his actions would only lead to the Government passing more restrictive measures directed at their freedom. Karagoz was unphased using his own powers to threaten Michelle, but offering her once chance to flee as she too was altered. Michelle realizing she wasn't getting through to him took that opportunity & retreated feeling her clones were no match for his powerful flames. Marcus passed by Adora's rampage as Lori on his way to Botanical Guardian & added her to the list as well as Forrester viewing her as a monster who would lead to more negative laws being made against Altered. He went to meet Anya downtown, who offered him a place with her Russian employers. Despite betraying Liberty Marcus had only left because of his morals & refusal to support Liberty any longer after Forrester's passing of the Altered Act. He refused to join Anya not wanting to be a traitor to the nation due to his patriotism & military back-ground. He used his powers to flee after denouncing Anya, who was infuriated that Marcus wouldn't join & reported the incident to the Russian FSS.

Rafael was a marijuana dealer & a drunk who resided at his shared apartment with two others including his best friend Dave. As they partook in alcohol & marijuana consumption they felt tremors from Adora's nearby rampage. When police came to the residence o warn them to evacuate, they were at first fearful that they were being raided for dealing drugs. Upon learning the situation the two friends fled the apartment, where outside Rafael was hit by a speeding car trying to escape Adora's rampage dowtown. To his drunken surprise Rafael was unharmed, but this led to Dave outing his friend as an altered. Putting him in the same category as the giant woman murdering people downtown he was consumed with fear of his own friend & fled abandoning him causing Rafael intense sadness.

Another woman Olivia was also in San Francisco for college, and her father Jack the head of the CIA was determined to get her to leave due to all the altered violence taking place in the city. Olivia refused denouncing her father as paranoid & declaring her safety as she was far from Adora's murderous rampage downtown. Meanwhile Jonah had went to the hospital earlier before Adora destroyed it to interrogate the ice manipulating thief Xavier who was kept under heavy sedation. Upon learning he was a drug addict he offered him an injection of his drug of choice for intel about the incident that led to his arrest. THere he learned more about the super strong altered & that the native american Thomas who saved his life had powers as well. Jonah slipped Xavier drugs which he took and overdosed from as Jonah had spiked the dose. He was picked up by one of his altered liberty agents a psycholgist named Karlina who took him back to headquarters. There he ran into Nathan Forrester, who revealed to him that one of their plans had took a turn for the worst. It turned out Jonah & Nathan had fabricated both the story & identity of Reaper, to use him as a means to paint the altered as more dangerous than they were. The problem being that someone had actually taken on Reaper's identity & was releasing messages that encouraged violent rebellion against the US Government whereas the ones they had released had only instructed altered to protest and complain but not actually resort to violent measures.

With Sanzhar's help Jace finally managed to murder the mutant monster using his powers to raise the strength of an RPG missile to finish the beast off. The Military & Police tried to arrest them despite saving lives, forcing them to flee in Jace's jeep. They had to use their powers against the lawmen to escape into the woods. There Jace fled to a nearby second safehouse he had allowing Sanzhar to accompany him for saving his life. Sanzhar trashed his phone's sim card fearing the law identifying him & coming after his family. The two started a friendship & began bonding over their altered status & how it affected their lives & professions, whilst Jace confessed his reasons for being Shade to him.

Jonah ordered his field agent Angela to flee Adora's attack downtown, forcing her to take to the sewers to escape. His secretary and trusted agent Patricia presented evidence that the liberty agent Austin Green was working with the enemy. Jonah went to interrogate him learning Green was working with Adora, the source of her multiple powers & that Green had accidentally helped her get more powers. In a rage Jonah murdered Green & intimidated agents guarding the cells to support his lies that he killed Green in self defense. The U.S Navy & Air-force operated together to launch a joint counter-attack on Adora, involving Sergent Gonzalez from the Navy who had the power of teleportation. Gonzalez used his powers to teleport Adora away from downtown San Francisco to the ocean nearby a war-ship hoping to gun her down. Thanks to Adora's ability to fly this plan failed, and ended with her capsizing the ship slaughtering several soldiers. She flew back to San Francisco, overpowered the jets deployed by the air-force & murdered additional thousands of people before returning to regular size & fleeing the scene.

Floyd ended up visiting Amelia the artistic animator whom he already had a personal & business relationship with. Seeking money outside of what Lionel knew to avoid extortion he sought out her graphic talents to aid him into going into the business of selling doctored altered registration ID's. While there they both uncovered each other's powers leading to further bonding & even sleeping together. Dave, Rafael's roommate who fled from him earlier after witnessing his powers ended up kidnapped by a deranged scientist. The scientist was animal's as a conduit to try to transfer altered powers to caucasian individuals motivated to not let minorities outshine his own race in raw power.

Cybercorp Headquarters made a demonstration of new robotic warmachine it had developed called the XP9. In light of Adora's tragic attack the CEO Norman Chaplin had taken advantage to secure a joint military/law enforcement contract for his machines overriding President Forrester who was against it due to his family business being their main competitor.

[Chulance]

“The world is a vast place filled with a variety of people each with their own dreams, goals, motivations, likes, dislikes, friends and foes. What is it that makes us tick, what is it that makes us come together to achieve a common purpose? It is said of those who believe in the God of Abraham that the world was once nothing but darkness and that the good lord spoke light into existence. From then on the story of humanity began and despite our supposed initial fall from grace in the garden of Eden we managed to make progress over the centuries growing better making life easier for the following generation. However it seems this trend has come to an end and some of our old barbaric ways have come to surface again. People are turning against each other once more because of difference’s a common theme throughout history whether it be gender, race, class, or of course now genetics. Once again we are waging war, slaughtering each other like animals all because of fear and misunderstanding, it makes me wonder for those who believe in a God who created everything was it worth it to make light out of the darkness or would it have been better if we’d simply been left in the abyss.”

Volume One: Hunted

San Francisco, California - Jonah Hanes - Jonah's Apartment
“These people are monsters! They are far too dangerous to be amongst the rest of us in society! These past few months have been some of the darkest days of our nation in recent times. The vicious Energy Attack, the plague that’s ravaging the nation, and now these people if you can even still call them that manifesting these horrendous abilities. I’ll tell you one thing it is not ordinary for men and women to have traits like these. These monsters can summon lightning bolts down from the sky, walk through walls, and dominate the minds of others by force among other devious abilities.”

The man speaking was the infamous Benny Stein, who had a popular talk show that was attracting more viewers thanks in part to his focus on discussing the Energy Storm & all the tragedy related to it. He was sitting on his signature leather black couch. A Starbucks cup could be seen in his right hand that he would periodically pause to take sips of as he continued his rant about the dangers of the Energy Plague & the Altered Humans it had created.

The man viewing Stein’s broadcast was someone who shared similar if not more harsh views than Stein himself. Jonah Hanes, a high ranking agent of Liberty. An organization that was funded as a joint venture with recruits from both the Department of Homeland Security & the CIA. Jonah reached for his remote and pressed a button turning the television off. The sound of the television flickering was heard as the screen switched off.

“We live in a mad world when Benny Stein is one of the few people with the balls to say what needs to be said on live television about this new threat we’re facing.” Jonah muttered to himself as he rose up from the black metal chair he was sitting in. Truth be told he didn’t have much time to squander these days due to his high ranking position in Liberty. Getting up the intelligence officer made his way into the kitchen of his lavish high rise San Francisco apartment. Retrieving a bottle of deer-park water from the fridge he twisted the cap open to take a few swigs of the ice cold refreshment.

A satisfactory sigh emanated from him as he washed down the hydrating liquid. There was a stigma that many people in his profession had an issue with problematic drinking of alcohol. Jonah was not one that fit that particular stigma, despite the grim realities he encountered on a daily basis in his line of work. He was not a man who frequently imbibed in the consumption of alcoholic beverages preferring to have all of his wits at all times. He’d deemed it essential & more then necessary for him to be in maximum operating condition at all times with the heavy burden on his shoulders that came with a leadership position at Liberty.

“This country is really going to hell in a basket and good men & women are being “cancelled” for speaking the truth about what’s going on. Our enemies probably mock our disorganization & weakness within our own borders.” Jonah remarked to himself before stepping outside to his balcony taking his beverage with him.

He was welcomed to the brightly shining rays of the California sun. His eyelids shut and he inhaled the fresh summer air allowing himself to briefly bask in the sun’s light. After so many years entangled in a never ending war against the most vile elements of America he’d learned to stop & appreciate the small things in life. The sun beaming down on him, clean summer air, and ice cold water. After a few seconds of appreciating nature he decided to get back to work. Taking a seat at a glass table he had setup on the balcony he reached for his MacBook which had been outside charging. Propping the computer open he headed to a word document to pull up the project he was working on prior to taking a brief interlude to watch the Benny Stein talk show.

He’d finished typing up & submitting report about a field mission he’d carried out last night. Him & his primary partner Angela Fields had to bring in a dangerous Altered human that was causing a ruckus in China-Town. After a disagreement over a restaurant bill turned violent the target started tearing apart the restaurant unleashing shockwaves from his hands. Initial police response had proved futile when the man ha unleashed a shockwave sending the police cruiser that pulled in hurtling through the air. Luckily Jonah had been stationed nearby with Angela wolfing down some orange chicken & brown rice during this super powered outburst.

While both police officers in the cruiser that had been flipped through the air had survived, they were both in critical condition. The incident had found it’s way onto youtube and was racking up views. Luckily Angela with aid from other police nearby had managed to get onlookers away from the scene allowing Jonah to neutralize the target. “Alright well everything looks good I’m done with that. I swear no matter low Long I’ve been doing this, the paper work is my least favorite aspect.” Jonah complained to himself after a few more glances to ensure the field report was completed.

Thinking about those two lawmen fighting for their lives in critical care enraged him. He regretted following orders to simply detain & arrest the target rather than dish out some a brand of justice with some more permanent consequences for the rowdy superhuman. He’d been instructed to take the target in alive at all costs especially since the beginning of the scuffle was going viral on youtube. As Liberty wasn’t an organization whose existence was known to the public he understood why it was best for Liam Thiago to still be breathing. Even though he was currently imprisoned in a superhuman detention facility that the general public and for that matter a good portion of the intelligence community didn’t know existed.

He had a very black & white view on right & wrong that had little room for morally gray stances. In his opinion men like Thiago who walked around with unrestricted unbridled uncontrollable rage didn’t deserve the same freedom as everyone else. With the added factor of superhuman abilities, he felt his right to be free member of society should be revoked. Taking a few more swigs of his water he was briefly startled by his iPhone buzzing in his pocket. Setting the cold drink down on the table he retrieved his phone from the confines of his pocket. He squinted, eyeing the caller ID to see who was calling him before making a conscious decision of whether to answer or not. Upon seeing that it was none other then his partner Angela Fields calling he swiped to the right of his touch screen to answer.

“Hello Agent Hanes speaking, how may I help you?”

“Jonah please we’ve been working together for three months, I’d of thought by now I’ve earned the pleasure of being on a first name basis with you.” Angela retorted with a slight chuckle that let him know that she was most likely rolling his eyes at his overly professional answer seeing as how he had her number saved.

“My apologies Angela I spent the majority of my life engaged in a professional manner. What’s going on, I finished submitting the field report about Thiago.”

“I didn’t call to see if you did your assignment like some high school teacher. I’m calling to let you know that the suits down in Washington finally did. If you recall three weeks ago we learned that a method had been devised to determine whether or not someone has abilities by testing there blood. An Emergency order’s being issued by the President to make the blood testing of every American citizen mandatory. Not only that but for those that are revealed to be Altered Humans that information will now be incorporated into they’re drivers license, State ID or whatever primary photo identification they have. As we speak he’s addressing the entire country on live TV, informing them that these Altered human tests are both mandatory & will begin immediately. This is going to make our jobs a hell of a lot easier.” Angela exclaimed with a hint of relief in her voice.

“It’s about damn time, this whole situation is unprecedented. We’re dealing with people in our society who are manifesting abilities that use to be reserved for the pages of X Men comics & cartoons. On top of that it seems almost all the people who are getting powers are minorities so damn near everything we do is being labeled racist. Growing up I remember a time when trying to enforce the law & keep this country safe wasn’t met with disdain & character defamation on twitter & chatsnap.”

“It’s Snapchat Jonah Snapchat, not chatsnap, my parents are thirty years older then you and they know what snapchat is, my mom actually has one.” Angela teased her fellow field agent about his lack of social media awareness.

“Well as you know I don’t really have time to spend browsing the web & building my digital profile considering I’m working to keep this country from tearing itself apart. As much as I’d like to watch the President I used my leisure time to watch the Stein show again. Seeing other people who are just as concerned about this whole fiasco as me with the same views is one of the few things helping me retain my sanity, so you’ll have to be both of our eyes & ears for everything he’s announcing. I’ve got to get off the phone & analyze the latest message from Reaper to see if I can get any new leads. I’ll be down at headquarters within the hour, I’ll see you soon Agent Fields.”

After a click he slid his phone back into his pocket and turned his attention back to his laptop. Closing the window he was in he pulled up his google chrome browser which had about seven tabs open. Sliding his fingers across the touchpad he opened up a tab that had youtube featured. He then slid his cursor over to his note pad widget in his docks and opened it up to allow himself to take notes while viewing the video. Pressing the space bar the paused video resumed allowing him to pick up where he left off. The Video was titled “Reaper Talk 5 - The Revolution Begins.”

The video showed a dimly lit room with a man wearing all black wearing a skeleton mask. The individual speaking & whom the video was titled after was a man only known as Reaper. Clearly the mask & his name derived inspiration from the Grim Reaper himself. Although the man who the agent was watching was no supernatural entity who ferried deceased souls to the afterlife after they’re passing. There was no doubt in Jonah’s mind however that this man was and would be responsible for innocent lives being carted off to death with the viral violent & villainous message he was pushing.

Reaper claimed to be one of the Altered Humans & was spreading a dangerous radical message. Reaper Talk was the name of his video series that had been circulating on youtube as well as instagram, twitter, facebook & other popular media channels. He claimed that the Energy Storm that struck the United States was a divine punishment from God himself including the horrific plague that was ravaging through the streets & causing a Government shutdown.

“Ladies & Gentlemen.” The masked man spoke in a very eloquent manner as he addressed any & all potential viewers to this message. “If you’ve been watching my previous video’s then you already know how I feel about America’s well deserved punishment. It is time for us to rise up against our oppressors, and use these powers we’ve been equipped with to escape our bondage. For too long our people have been disenfranchised, abused, oppressed, enslaved & tortured for natural traits we were born with. Victimized & villanized for our genetics, & routinely harassed by law enforcement for the color of our skin. Disproportionately targeted & arrested for a multitude of crimes many of which are benign in nature at at unfair rate compared to our fairer-skinned counter-parts. But now that’s all over, the universe has spoken & passed judgement loud and clear. Powers & abilities once thought to be limited to the likes of the last son of krypton & mild mannered wall crawling photographers fighting an eternal never ending war against crime have been granted to us for a reason. To usher in a new age of peace & prosperity, to take back the land which our ancestors were enslaved on, or for others robbed of. That is why WE have the power and they have the fear. He who orchestrates all that occurs in the universe has cast down his rage on the land of the free. Free for all unless you grow up sounding & looking like me! Well I say enough is enough we must come together brothers & sisters, powered & non-powered to fight the good fight. To bring down this crooked institution which employs vicious discriminatory practices to unfairly torment us & trample over freedoms which we are guaranteed in theory but not do not actually have in reality. Many news outlets are reporting on the school in Chicago Illinois that was swallowed into the ground.”

The screen changed to show the very school Reaper was talking about. Exactly a week ago a high school in Chicago Illinois had been the victim of the most vicious act of violence related to everything going on since the Energy Storm itself. A massive sinkhole had opened up and the entire high school was swallowed during the middle of a school day. 729 deaths had been reported including students & staff, Department of Homeland Security had determined that the culprit was an altered human with the ability to manipulate the earth & movement of tectonic plates with his mind. George Sanchez a student who Homeland Security had found out wasn’t even a legal citizen. George as well as the rest of his family were illegal immigrants who’d snuck across the border to unlawfully enter the country.

Among the many people who had recovered from the Energy Plague and came out with powers he was one of them. From information that had been uncovered & circulating through various media platforms he was a loner. He’d endured relentless teasing & bullying from his peers a good portion of which was racially discriminatory. In the past similar situations had ended up with students coming into possession of weapons and opening fire on other students seeking revenge for there supposed mistreatment. However George Sanchez had a far more destructive weapon then any gun he could have procured, he was equipped with superhuman powers. The whole country was in an uproar in the past three months many lives had been lost, & the atmosphere was filled with tragedy.

As a result of just the Energy Plague many hospitals around the country were currently packed. Several states were urging people to wear masks when out in public to shield themselves from the spread of this airborne virus. Various lockdowns had been instituted across the country, with the CDC & Science Community urging people to limit all travel to only essential movement. Various entertainment venue’s & other non essential operations had been effectively shut down across half the country. The mass murder Sanchez had committed with his powers had sent the country in an uproar. Between that event & the energy plague that was already ravaging the nations schools across the country were all shut-down. But more then that the fear that people had about these Altered humans had rose to extreme heights. Many were calling for blood, while others insisted on fighting for the rights of these Altered Humans. Many claimed that George Sanchez was not a representative of all the people who’d been gifted these powers.

Jonah was among the multitude who believed these Altered Humans were dangerous & the vicious murders in Chicago only further cemented those beliefs. This masked radical trying to incite a revolution, a superhuman race war only further divided the citizens of this nation. The screen had shifted back to the dimly lit room, the camera now focusing on Reaper. “The only thing that truly makes me sad about what happened in Chicago is the fact that Sanchez is in federal custody & that more people didn’t die. “ Laughter erupted from Reaper before he resumed speaking. “This is the power we’ve been granted, if but one of us can swallow buildings imagine what we can do with ten of us standing side by side. A hundreds. Thousand, ten thousand, a million!?! It is time for us to rise up and unite to bring down the American dictators. They call us Altered Humans, why Altered? I think a better name is Enhanced, because that’s we are. We are great, we are powerful, we are ultimate!!!!! Oppressors beware for your time is up, soon all who are like me will hear my call & together America shall fall.” The video ended and Jonah’s face was red with anger.

“That bastard.” Jonah hadn’t even noticed his teeth grinding together, hearing him speak with so little regard for the lives that had been lost by Sanchez’s brutality was maddening. Jonah was writing down notes from what he’d observed in the video in his notepad. Furiously typing away at the keys at the conclusion of the video. The world was truly going to down the drain and no matter what he wouldn’t rest until he did everything in his power to save this great nation.

[Bai Suzhen]

At the same time, in a FEMA camp located just outside San Francisco proper, the President's address was playing over a radio. There were people celebrating it, and there were people quietly concerned by it.

"Fucking hell." was Jennifer's response. Not for the first time, she wished the citywide destruction had spared the British embassy, so she had some way of getting travel papers, or even to claim asylum there. Her one attempt to try and explain her situation to an authority figure (Was he a cop? A soldier? Was there a difference right now?) had resulted in her being cuffed, placed in a 'Temporary holding cell' and a lot of talk of 'Illegal aliens'. She'd waited for the enforcer to be distracted, then turned into water and flowed to freedom, resolving not to try again until sanity returned. It seemed she'd be waiting some time.

In the meantime, Jennifer was keeping herself busy. She had three tasks her time was divided between. First, she'd made herself useful to locals with her knowlege of certain aspects of science.
"All that matters for this bit is that the water is cool. Doesn't need to be drinkable, so we can hijack the grey water pipes and it goes right back in again, just a little warmer so they won't even notice we're using it. Wrap the hose round this pipe, that's it, so it cools off the vapour. And that, mates, is a still."
This little improvement to the local black-market brewery had earned her some time with a smartphone. Signal and data were extremely limited, all she could really do was send her mother another 'Still alive, still stranded' email, and read the reply to her previous one promising that they were all trying their best to send help.

Secondly, she was using her skills as they were intended. A group of kids sitting on the ground listened as she used chalk and a wall to explain the structure of an atom. The lessons were more to keep the kids ocupied, give their parents a break and let them feel like some things were going back to normal, and the class was younger than she usually taught. The older kids had to grow up quick and help out at home. For this service, Jennifer was paid in supplies. A bit of food, a bottle of water, some old clothes, things people could spare. Which still wasn't much.

Jennifer's third and final job was as a scavenger. Or looter, depending on how generous you were feeling. Most scavengers went off with dust-masks (Which also helped hide one's face) and empty bags, sneaking into the fenced-off and poorly-guarded ruins to gather anything that looked useful. Store shelves were all picked clean, of course, but there were still treasures. Wires, pipes, firewood, all sorts of things had value.

All of which was a cover for what Jennifer really got up to. She snuck into the ruins, but made her way to a collapsed hotel, it's underground car park blocked off with tons of rubble it would take heavy construction equipment to shift. But an air duct was still clear. Making sure nobody was about, Jennifer stripped naked and hid her gear from other scavengers. Then she turned into mist, swept through the vent and emerged into her own private 'Batcave'.

Any self-respecting superhero would be ashamed to call it a lair, it's only gadget being an array of headlights hooked up to a car battery. Jennifer turned into phosphorus long enough to see as she switched it on, then began training. New elements, new shapes, faster transformations, everything she'd learned about her powers had come from sessions like these. Like learning she didn't need to breathe when she wasn't human. Not like solid granite had alveoli or mucous membranes after all.

A humanoid shape was optional too. Becoming mercury, she formed herself into a sphere, then became titanium and rolled in small circles. Where was the motion and momentum coming from? Another mystery.

She'd learned she could leave pieces of herself behind, a wet cement form patching up some cracks in the walls, but she felt hungry after doing it. Jennifer suspected that if she'd had access to scales, she'd find herself lighter afterwards.

And finally, she'd learned how to keep herself fed. After tossing chunks of masonry into a well-worn crated in the floor, Jennifer took her 'wrecking ball' form once more and began grinding it to powder. Then she became water and swirled, stirring and mixing it and herself into grey mud. Finally, she became human again. It tasted like a mouthful of dust, and her throat felt dry as a bone, but it would assimilate into the rest of herself and keep her 'fed'.

And then she'd leave the way she entered, once again make sure nobody was around as she reformed and redressed (Resolving once again to work out how to morph clothes) and scavenge enough to maintain her cover when she returned to the tents. Sometimes she spent a few days at a time in the ruins. It wasn't unusual not to see someone for a time, and people were secretive about where they lived. Tents weren't exactly hard to break into if someone wanted trouble.

[Xandrya]

---

The Centre had sent her a message that left Anya slightly concerned. Members of the Rezidentura had learned that there was a shapeshifter within the local community, and both city and county government agencies as well as state and federal agencies had tightened up on their security. Not that it would make her job impossible—she had after all fooled the American government into thinking that she was an American citizen born in New York, but she would have to be extra cautious around highly ranked officials, officials who worked their asses off everyday to seek and capture people like her. What may have been overlooked and passed off as a simple mistake in the past would now be thoroughly investigated, and Anya wasn’t the least bit thrilled to have additional eyes on her. But the job had to be done, whether she liked it or not.

With a sigh, the young woman shut off the water. She couldn’t even enjoy a damn shower without work issues creeping into her mind in the early hours of the morning. She dried off and wrapped herself in a warm bathrobe. Being that her hair wasn’t all that long, Anya didn’t need to wrap it up. She simply stepped into her slippers and walked out of the bathroom, yawning as she went. Las night had been...adventurous, if one could call it as such, and she had gotten little to no sleep, maybe a couple of hours at most. While she didn’t have bags under her eyes, one could easily tell she was having a rough morning as her snappy attitude would be a dead giveaway.

But food would help, as it did most of the time. When she got to her kitchen, Anya began toasting some bread. She would have that with some varenye and a cup of tea. Nothing too filling, but tasty nonetheless. In the middle of her preparing her breakfast, her phone went off again. She almost didn’t want to have to pick up the phone call, but she didn’t necessarily have a choice.

“Yes?”

What she heard next made her morning worse. Apparently, the target she had gone after yesterday evening was not the right guy. Anya rubbed her eyes with one hand as she began pacing around the kitchen, asking numerous questions. As it turns out, the FBI had somehow figured out what members of the FSS were trying to achieve and intentionally fed them bad intel, successfully misleading the operatives away from their real target. Anya’s blood was boiling, and coincidentally so was the water currently on the stove, her kettle alerting her of such

“Alright, thank you for letting me know.” Anya hung up the phone and dialed down the heat, at which time she started getting her breakfast nook ready for her morning meal, one she enjoyed despite rushing the process a little bit.

Roughly half an hour later, Anya left her apartment and went off to work. She wasn’t running late per se, but her pace was rather brisk because if she were to slow down, then she might be pushing her luck with her timing. When the young woman rounded a corner, it was then she remembered one of her tasks for the week. Anya took out her phone and began texting Jonah.

Hey, I have a contact who may possibly be able to track down Reaper. See you in the office.

Anya hit sent with a smirk on her face. Get Jonah’s hopes up, set up a fake hideout, and then claim they must have just barely missed him. He would be disappointed, but at least he owed her a favor, one that she would cash out on later down the line when it mattered.

[Martian]

San Francisco, California

The GPS on Thomas’ phone informed him that he had just entered San Francisco. He had finally finished his twelve hour drive, having spent a night in a motel while halfway there. Thomas was excited as he saw the beach, something he had never seen growing up in Phoenix. He had come into this drive with anticipation over starting a new chapter of his life. He had finally moved away and was stretching his wings.

That positivity was tempered by the negative feelings that also prompted this relocation. Since the death of his father in the energy storm, Thomas had found that there were too many painful memories in Phoenix. He had hoped that by moving away it would leave his negativity behind.

Thomas’ stomach growled, telling him that it was hungry after the long drive. Thomas pulled his large pickup truck into the parking lot of a Starbucks, one of several he had already seen since entering the city. He put on his mask before heading inside to grab a coffee and a croissant. Thomas went back to his truck, sitting in the front seat. As he chowed down on his baked good, his phone began to ring.

Thomas answered, it was his mom, just checking in on him. She had calculated the length of the drive, and knew he was to arrive in San Francisco around this time. They spoke briefly, Thomas’ mother still worried about him moving to a new city by himself, especially with all the political unrest happening. Thomas managed to ease her fears by promising that he would be safe, before ending the call.

As Thomas finished his food, he thought back to what brought him here. While Thomas knew he had to get out of town, he wasn’t sure where he would go. Fortunately, Thomas’ boss at work had a cousin in California who was opening up a mechanic shop, but had been stopped by the plague. Now he was looking for good employees who still wanted to work. Even though he would be sad to see him go, Thomas’ boss secured him a job at the shop in San Francisco. So, Thomas packed up most of what he owned, and drove northwest to San Francisco.

Due to the abrupt nature of this move, Thomas hadn’t been able to find an apartment. But that didn’t deter him as he was recommended as his new boss Luke would allow him to use his guest room until he found his own place. Thomas was really glad that he was doing that as most people were trying to avoid others with the energy plague going on.

Thomas decided to head to the mechanic shop first. As soon as he pulled up to it he spotted Luke, his boss’s cousin, outside wearing a black mask. They had previously spoke over a video call, so Thomas knew what he looked like.

“Hey Thomas, you made it,” he said with a friendly voice.

“Yeah, it was quite a bit of a trip,” Thomas replied, the smell of coffee on his breath stuck in his mask.

“Well come on in. I’ll show you around the place.”

Thomas got out of the truck, and then began to tour the shop. It was small, but not a bad size for a first business. All the machines and tools seemed to be current and quality. In the corner, a small flat screen TV was attached to the wall, currently left on a all day news channel.

Luke had to run to get something, leaving Thomas in front of the TV. Rumours were abounding that California was preparing to go into lock down. Thomas considered himself lucky that he had made it to San Francisco before everything was shut down. But he wondered if that would include his new place of employ.

A new program began, this one hosted by a middle aged white man in a grey suit. Thomas didn’t pay him much heed as he waited for Luke to come back. That was until he saw that he was talking about an altered registry. A shiver went down Thomas’ back. Known only to himself, he was an altered, though he managed to conceal successfully.

“And now there’s rumour of a blood test for altereds. Mandatory for everyone to see who are these deviant individuals,” the man said.

“What a load of crap,” Luke said as he re-entered the room, “If there was a blood test they would already be doing it. What do you think Thomas?”

Thomas paused before speaking, “Yeah, its dumb. Plus shouldn’t these altereds be heroes like the X-Men or something?”

“Ah, but you forget the whole: the world hates and fears us.”

Hates and fears us. That is how Thomas felt right now. These were scary times he was living in, especially when you were different, an outsider. Things really did look shitty to Thomas at that moment.

[AliceFalling]

Amalia sat on her old brown rolling chair in front of her white sewing machine. The needle had just broken inside of the denim jacket which Amalia had been trying to sew for what felt like ages now. Her sewing machine was not quite powerful enough to get through the beautiful, but thick, blue fabric. "Why does denim have to be in style right now?" She felt defeated, a feeling she was becoming all too familiar with.

The one bedroom apartment had every light on, with every window open. This nice apartment in San Francisco cost her more than half of her monthly income the remaining amount always went to fabric and rarely food or other necessities. Amalia was living the starving artist life, even before the energy storm which, despite the new abilities she possessed, made her even more desperate for anything to be less of a struggle. She just wanted life to be simple again, happy.

Amalia could draw herself a new needle for her sewing machine, the needles were getting stronger and stronger as she manifested them off the white sketchbook. In return with each drawing she felt herself growing. Often she wondered if she wasn't doing enough with her power. What more could she do? Could she cause as much pain and destruction as others with new abilities?

The more Amalia thought about the bigger things she could do one day the more she wanted to scream. Overwhelmed. Scared. She felt it all, she just wanted a simple life. Yet she was here in this one bedroom apartment, away from both her New York and Philippines home with looming despair hanging over her. One would think Amalia wouldn't turn on the news, however, she turned on her phone to listen to the President's broadcast.

"A blood test, huh? So they can track us? Or will they throw us away as soon as they know?" Amalia wondered out loud, "What freedoms could they be taking from us?" Amalia flipped through a few more videos on her phone. She was trying to steer away from radicals, like the Benny Stein or Reaper. Both of them leaned so far right or so far left that it made Amalia's head spin.

There were few things she truly enjoyed right now. Amalia had very few close friends in the city, but she always enjoyed the company of the few she had, in particular Simon Hart. The other thing that made the days less dreadful and filled with anxiety was giving back to those who lost everything in the storm. Amalia found that her new power could be used for some good, which should earn her bonus points with the purging of the enhanced humans came, right?

Amalia pushed off her rolling chair and walked over to a second table in her living room which had her sketch books and ideas on it. She started drawing all kinds of food items. Burgers, fries, salad, cupcakes, and her personal favorite, danishes. When she first discovered that she could save money by drawing food the food items she drew up were god awful. They were real, the right size, and the right color when she manifested them, but they tasted worse then cardboard, flavored with pepper. After a lot of practice, and gaining a few pounds she swore she would work off, the food had become exceptional. Amalia wished she could feed more FEMA camps and homeless shelters in San Fran and more often, but making enough food for one camp already took a toll on her. She could already feel the migraine coming and if she wasn't careful the eternal nosebleed would start. (At least she called it eternal, really it just lasted longer than she would like).

After she finished up drawing enough food she grabbed some containers that she drew up the previous day along with some bags and headed out the door. Amalia did not have a car but did have a cute smile that would catch her neighbors attention, Dallyn, who did have a car. Yes, she was using him. The idea of having a single, down on her luck, lonely girl like Amalia in his bed was enough to make him drop anything he was doing and help her. She had wished Dallyn would help out of the goodness of his heart, but, beggars can't be choosers, now can they?

With a knock on the door and smile to Dallyn he drove her right outside of the city to a FEMA camp. This was the first time Amalia had been out to this particular camp so nobody really knew her or what she was doing. When she first showed up at the other camps people took her food with caution and ate small bites, worried that she was someone trying to eliminate the population or potential enhanced humans. However after making small talk and showing a bit of kindness they usually warmed up to her.

Amalia started passing out the food to the people at the camp. She saw a cute little girl with wide green eyes staring up at her and her heart melted. She remembered how her cousins and her used to up to her grandmother waiting to be served delicious baked treats, fresh from the oven, after school. Amalia felt a bit of a bitter sweet emotion run through her as she made sure the little girl walked away with her own personal favorite, the danish.

[Prosaic]

_{San Francisco, California - Dark Ideas (Psychic Readings & Enlightenment)}

<sub>Money meant a lot to Simon Hart.
It was the difference between his childhood and where he stood now. Of course, many had tried to have him believe things like "money isn't everything" or "you should find joy in what you do and money will follow". He mostly attributed these teachings to bullshit. Simon Hart had seen what it was like to be poor in San Francisco, hell, he'd lived it and there was no joy to be found in crawling through the slums to afford a sandwich at the corner store. Money was everything and if he intended to stay on top of the game, he'd need to keep his audience.

The problem with Simon Hart was that he couldn't ever just... stay on one venture. It had started with petty theft (which had quickly grown boring) and it had escalated into dealings with money launderers. He didn't consider himself a criminal, not really, just someone very familiar with criminals. Sure, he'd hacked a few things, transferred a couple hundred dollars into his own accounts, lobster-trapped a few ATM cards- sure, but he wasn't a criminal. Personally he thought that "criminal" was a very dirty word to describe someone with.

He liked to consider himself an... entrepreneur. He was constantly scheming and planning and cooking up new ideas all in the pursuit of gaining money. He was good at it too, absolutely fucking great at it. It wasn't criminal to have a talent, was it? It wasn't criminal to be good at something. After his divorce with Erin, he had fallen into a slump, a dark, dark pit where he had thought he was doomed to stay. She had moved on, started dating some blond guy and taken their cat and he was just stuck.

He had remained stuck for nearly four months and it had taken a lot of work on the behalf of Amalia Mendoza to even get him moving again. Once he did start moving though, he'd fallen into his latest scheme and that was Dark Ideas. Dark Ideas was nothing special, a shitty little storefront he'd purchased on a whim but he'd turned it into a home of sorts. A ridiculous, terrible little home. The bulk of his business was rich, old white ladies and edgy people with tattoos. He kind of liked it that way.

He didn't know if he would stick to this gig forever but for now it was amusing. Mostly it was amusing how people just ate up whatever faux-prophetic nonsense he spat. He had gotten pretty good at cold-reading but it was still no exact science, every so often he'd fumble a name or a guess and he'd spend the next few minutes trying to recover his image. Sometimes people would cut the session short and demand a refund when he fumbled, sometimes they'd threaten him. He was learning to roll with the punches (sometimes literally).

Between running his business and counting his money, he hardly had time to worry about what was going on around the city. Heroes and angry government officials, it's not my business. He thought, watching the broadcast on his phone. There was always down time at Dark Ideas, quiet intervals where he could gather his thoughts or catch up with the news. More and more of this hate-mongering, on both sides. He thought grimly, deciding to stop while he was ahead. "Dangerous" this, "dangerous" that, if I could actually read the future then I'd be rolling in it. Wonder if one of those bastards is looking for a job.</sub>

[Bai Suzhen]

An hour or so after Amalia saw the cute little girl leave, she sees her return. This time she's holding hands with Jennifer, leading a group of kids.
"OK kids, line up nicely, no pushing now. Liam, do I have to make you stand at the back? Remember to say please and thank you." she calls out to the class, keeping the kids as orderly as any group of kids expecting treats can be. Only when the whole class has something does she take a salad for herself, eating quickly but taking time to properly enjoy each large mouthful.

"Oh my god, this is amazing. I don't think I've had a lettuce that crunches since this whole mess started. Seriously, thank you, you're the best." she tells Amalia, shaking her hand and standing nearby to chat while watching the class and sometimes interrupting the conversation to deal with some rough play or nip an argument in the bud.

@AliceFalling

[Timemaster]

"Jackpot! AGAIN! Unbelievable!" followed by the sounds of dozen slot machines ringing and indistinct shouts of glee from the would winners. Little did they knew what actually happened.

Minutes later casino workers and guards stepped in to calm the crowds that gathered and kindly ask them to leave the casino while they figure out the issue with the machinery. Of course, they couldn't. Nothing was wrong with them, it was just luck. Pure luck that everything matched at the same time.

Or in Alexis's case, bad luck. It wasn't the first time she played at this casino and it wasn't the first time her powers backfired on her. She meant only to increase her luck tenfold but instead, she increased it for everyone around her just for a few seconds. Enough to make everyone a would-be winner.
Sooner or later, someone figures out what these "accident" happen only when she's in the room and she gets banned. Most people simply believing luck is just being a fairytale and with no evidence that she's using powers, it made her hard to catch but easy to be called a cheater of sorts.

Hours later, Alexis was in her apartment counting the night's winnings. A bit over 2000$ in cash. A weak night for her but ever since she got her powers, she was living better than ever. No more house sharing, no more drunk idiots that need their asses kicked, no more squatting.

Soon after she got her powers and understood what they were she went on to make money at the biggest casino Vegas had. She made a quarter million by the time she was asked to enjoy the rest of the night at a different casino. Everyone can win at the casino but in the end, the house will always wins. Not against her.

Turning on the TV, she sees the President's speech and only uttered one word : " F*CK! ". That meant one thing for her. Soon casino's would have the blood test to be done mandatory before going in. She'd be thrown out before even setting foot inside.
As she was thinking about the speech, a few notifications on her phone broke her concentration. Looking at them, she received an update on the Reaper. Alexis has been following him on all social media (under fake names) since he came out.

A Super that advocates rebellion against the government. While not interested in the ideology behind him, she knew one thing for sure. At one point, the government will crackdown on everyone with powers due to people like the Reaper. People like Alexis would be hard to be targeted as they're powers aren't obvious and then you add to the mix those with a bit of training, those that are streewise. People exactly not like her sister.

She stopped and stared at the TV screen and realized that it was the first time since Nafisa's and her 18th birthday that she even remotely thought about her family. What if Nafisa got powers as well? What if she's going to go submit herself to the goverment? She always followed the rules, she always followed whatever mom and dad said.

That line of thinking got her remembering all the fights, all the scoldings, all the speeches that her dad made telling her to be more like Nafisa. Everything that made her promise to never return home but with the threat of the blood tests and the idea that Nafisa might be an Altered Human...she made her mind.

Doing the one thing she promised never to do.



Go back home. Back to San Francisco.

[Prosaic]

_{San Francisco, California - Cafe}

<sub>"...I think a better name is Enhanced, because that's what we are. We are great, we are powerful, we are ultimate!"

Well, he's not wrong, is he?

He watched the broadcast with an ear bud in, brow furrowed over his phone. What Reaper was doing was risky, dangerous, absolutely suicidal but he kind of understood it. Sometimes it took someone kind of suicidal to get a point across, an impassioned speech here and there was nothing compared to what people without powers were doing to them. He didn't agree with all of Reaper's points, which was often the problem with radicals, but he agreed with most of his points. They weren't Altered, they were better.

"...soon all who are like me will hear my call & together America shall fall."

He took a sip of his coffee, shaking his head and clicking out of the video. He had been lucky, compared to some others. No one had suspected him of gaining a power which suited him fine because he preferred to keep his head down. He had never had any grandiose desire to be a hero, there was little part of Devan that genuinely cared to save anyone. He liked to monitor people, watch them closely, but that was more out of a desire for control than a desire to see them thrive. The tragedy in Chicago had very little effect over him personally, although, unlike Reaper, he would not say he preferred that more death had come of it.

No, he thought as he scrolled through Twitter, looking at the shock and alarm over the broadcast. There's something to be said about subtlety.

Reaper was not subtle in any way but his continued ability to conceal his identity. That was the other issue Devan had with him but these were things that could easily be rectified. Too bad he didn't know the guy. He wasn't even sure that he would want to know him, seemed like a lot of trouble. More trouble than it was worth. However, if there were an uprising of the Enhanced, he wasn't going to sit aside idly while they struck.

Another sip of his coffee and he could feel the tips of his fingers burning. He exhaled through his nose and adjusted the bandages on his hands. However, maybe being "Advanced" wasn't all it was cracked up to be.</sub>

[Chulance]

San Francisco, California - Trap House - Devon’s Crew

“Man I don’t believe in all that shit that’s dumb as hell.” A man with a southern dialect was the prominent voice among a group of African American individuals outside engaging in the consumption of marijuana while some amongst them were rolling. They were standing along the sidewalk path leading up to a dilapidated house.

From within the boarded windows house, billows & columns of smoke could be seen escaping through the cracks of the shattered wood covered windows. The man who spoke was licking the ends of a backwood he’d unraveled before sprinkling the contents of a torn open packet within. His fingers tightened crushing the cannabis he had into a smaller nuts before dumping it into the backwood wrapper.

“Man Ramone just roll the gas formal you it don’t matter if this Shade muthafucka real or not he ain;t fucking with Devon’s trap house, we eating regardless. Big Dev ain’t going get ran outta business cuz of no damn fairy tale so we eating, listen to Uncle Leonard I know what the fuck going on.” Leonard said apparently the uncle too Ramon. He had just finished taking a few puffs of a stuffed back-wood that was passed his way before it was sent along to another man in the smoking circle that formed outside the apparent trap-house.

Ramone took a blue Bic lighter to the under belly of the newly sealed backwood. Running the flames underneath to dry the portions of the wood that were licked and tucked by the hand rolling process. “Yeah I mean I feel it but 3 months ago energy beams came out the sky. Some shit we only seen Goku shooting at Vegeta & Freeza was raining from the sky blasting buildings in LA, Vegas, ATL, Chicago, New York, Seattle, and other places into dust, now we got a virus that’s coming from energy, and they saying colored folks getting powers from it too.” Ramone continued speaking about all the developments taking place among them. As he was talking he took the lighter to the edge of the wood burning the ends and inhaling the reefer smoke as a nice secure cherry was formed.

“Man I guess unc you just know it’s some crazy shit going on nowadays. But all that talk about motherfuckers getting powers from the virus make me wanna run around the beach with no mask ond take my chances. Shit I always wanted to be in the X Men no cap.” Ramone continued ranting on about the possibilities of getting powers from self exposure to the virus while Leonard and some of the others laughed.

Despite standing around getting high and cracking jokes, all of them were heavily armed. Inside the damaged residence there were naked women & a few more dealers inside working on organizing and cooking product. The chemical smell of crack cocaine being made could be sniffed out at the entrance of the door. The chemical smell of rocky cocaine permeated through the thick odor of the marijuana clouds that were being blown about all around the entrance of the drug house. As the two were speaking, the leader of the dealers had emerged from the house. Devon to let people know the next batch of product was almost done and they’d soon be able to hit the streets with it.

“Go ahead and let all ya plays, jays, flunky’s all em know we back. Good crack, strong powder, great dogfood, I want a line wrapped around the door fulla jays we gotta get this money, feds focused on looking for the X Men right now so shit should be sweet right now.” Devon was thrilled with the whole Altered human situation and how much it was pre-occupying police & other law enforcement officials. As he stepped back in the building Ramone was stepping out the marijuana cigar they’d been passing around outside.

“Shit I’m cool with that let’s go, it’s time to get some paper anyway. I ain’t got no more time to be talking bout feds and all this other ole shit that don’t matter.” Leonard exclaimed whipping out his cell phone to text his plays that he had more product. The jays who were looking for opiates of course had been texting him the most flooding him with messages asking him when he’d have more heroin for sale. Thanks to the intense withdrawals that stuff caused he had no shortage of customers even with the Energy Plague going around.

As he was texting some people he was alerted to the sound of some gun-shots in the distance. He quickly reached in his pocket for his own gun, turning to see Ramone & some of the others did the same. “Aye you heard dat bruh, what the fuck was that? Ion hear no sirens coming so.”

Before Ramone could ask his uncle more questions, his question was answered/ An entire SUV was hurtling through the air. The air-borne vehicle slammed into one of the dealers sending both crashing through the front wall of the crack house, “AYO WHAT THE FUCK!!!!” Leonard yelled out only to see the one who had delivered the vehicle and his co-worker, for lack of a better word into the wall.

Turning with his gun raised at the culprit he saw a man dressed in all black. The man was also sporting a full black mask face covering and appeared to be wearing a TRU Religion jean jacket. But what worried him the most was what the mysterious man was wearing on his feet, black air forces.

“I suggest you all lay down your weapons and get the fuck out of the way If you want to live. I have no tolerance or patience for thugs sitting around wasting their lives smoking gas, selling this trash in our neighborhoods, to our own people.” The masked man spoke as he slowly approached Ramone, Leonard & the others calmly.

The strangest part about this man approaching was that he didn’t seem to have any weapons of his own. Of course he’d just chucked an SUV at one of their allies, and watched as it catapulted him through a brick wall. No doubt this man had to be one o those people from the news, Altered Humans was it. Leonard quickly changed to make sure he had a ready bullet in the chamber. If this guy could pick up & chuck cars he was getting ready to dump the whole clip on him if needed. “Aye look motherfucker, I don’t know who the FUCK you think you is coming up over here telling us what to do! But you got me fucked up, you got all of fucked up! I don’t give a fuck how many cars you can pick up, yo ass finna die today!.”

Before Leonard could speak any more, two of the others had pulled out their own weapons. They began firing emptying rounds into the mysterious muscle bound aggressor. To their shock & dismay, the bullets did little to deter the mystery man. They watched in disbelief as the bullets crunched up against his skin, having no effect. The man cracked a smile as the flurry of bullets did little to stop him, responding by simply cracking his knuckles.

Jace Williams was very happy with the powers he’d received from the Energy Plague. Upon finding out he could make himself bullet-proof among other things he’d decided to put these powers to good use. Having lost so many people to gang violence, he was determined to eradicate everyone who was involved with them. His violent crusade to end crime had been noticed by the media & attracted some attention of it’s own. The name he’d started going by was Shade, and it was one that was starting to spread through the streets of California from Los Angeles all the way to San Francisco.

“Yo bruh this the real deal Shade we gotta get outta here we can’t beat this guy! I seen what this mofo be up to on twitter, youtube all that.” Ramone balked, seeing their traditional weaponry had no effect on the masked bullet proof vigilante.

“Oh please don’t stop now, honestly you hit part of my shoulder that was really itching. Ya know one of those hard to reach spots, but I guess if your done I might as well return the favor.” Jace retorted a smirk forming on his face that the defenders of the drug house couldn’t see under the mask.

The moment of tension would quickly come to an end as Jace went on the offensive. He lunged forward towards his would be killers, causing them to resume firing to no avail. Rushing through the bullets he punched a hole clean through the chest of one of the attackers, jerking his fist back. The shooter fell to the ground his last sight being Jace’s blood stained fist and seeing him spin around to kick another one of his allies.

The gangster went sprawling through the air soaring until he slammed into an impala parked on the other side of the street. As his body collided with the car bashing through the driver side window triggering the alarm the remaining three including Leonard & Ramone seemed to realize that a gun fight with this man wasn’t the best option if they wanted to escape this encounter alive not to mention unscathed. But Jace had no intentions on sparing these enemies, if not for his own powers his body would have been riddled with bullets.

“Going so soon?! Not so fun when your on the loosing side is it!” Jace blurted out as he retrieved the gun from the first thug he’d brutally murdered. He opened fire with the automatic weapon gunning down Leonard & the thug next to him only barely missing Ramone. Ramone had sprinted inside the drug house yelling to the others inside that they were under attack by a masked superhuman enemy who was dead-set on sending all of them to an early grave.

“Oh wow that’s smart go get more grunts that’ll help I’m sure of it.” Jace mocked them as he turned to point the gun he was holding at the drug house. Pressing his finger against the trigger gently, he tapped into his ability intending to use the confiscated weapon as a vessel. Pressing down he opened fire while simultaneously using his power to vastly increase the strength of the bullets. The first round of rapid fire collided with the drug house doing far more damage then should be possible from regular shots.

Of course the shots were far from regular, having the power to increase not just his own physical strength but that of others including objects. As such the soaring projectiles piercing & explosive power was raised to far more dangerous heights.. The front door was sent flying back, and the bullets themselves caused explosions when colliding with the dilapidated property. The sound of glass shattering filled the air as what remains of the windows in the front of the residence were wiped out. The screams of armed thugs & the women inside helping the dealers cook & bag up the drugs was heard.

It was like music to Jace’s ears, nothing made him feel better the hearing the screams of terror of his enemies. He slowly waltzed towards the interest or rather what remained of it. Taking his time enjoying stalking his prey, who were utterly defenseless against his powers. “I know all yall ain’t dead so it ain’t no point hiding. Best thing you can do is say some quick prayers, cause you finna meet ya maker. Doubt it’ll do you any good, the way y’all living y’all going straight to hell. “ Jace mocked as he stepped through where the door should have been.

“Naw bruh only one going to meet Jesus is you.” Jace whipped around to see Devon the leader of the drug house. He had a shot-gun in hand and fired at Jace. The shotgun blast unlike the rounds from the pistols was actually able to send Jace stumbling backwards. Devon seeing the stronger gun had some effect on the muscle bound hero fire again. The second shot causing Jace to grind his teeth as the force from the second round sent him to the ground.

To the thugs dismay this also led to him dropping the gun, disarming him of the superhuman enhanced rounds. As he rose back to his feet Devon sprinted to another part of the house, causing Jace to roll his eyes. While the shot-gun had packed more of a punch it hadn’t left more then a small bruise under-neath his shirt. As he trudged forward to go around the corner to pursue Devon he realized that the dealer wasn’t just running to escape. “Oh shit.”

Jace let out a gasp as a grenade rolled over to mere feet away from him. Within seconds the hand-held explosive detonated. The explosion causing the area around Jace to be enveloped in flames caused by the subsequent explosion, as well as eradicating what was left of the wooden staircase that was next to him. A yell was heard from Jace as the blast consumed him. In the other room Ramone stood next to Devon with two other men and three women. They’d scrambled to toss all the remaining drugs they had in the house including the crack cocaine they’d just finished cooking into bags when the fire-fight had started outside.

“Oh shit I ain’t know you was packing them motherfuckers.” Ramone let out taken aback by the fact that Devon had ready access to grenades.

“Shit bruh you gotta always be prepared. We living in a world where motherfuckers can tank bullets, breath fire, and fly, a 40 ain’t going cut it in the streets now.” Devon replied. He took a few steps to peak around the corner as the smoke cleared hoping to be welcomed by the site of Jace’s charred body.

He was met instead with a violent death so quick he had no time to react. A cell broken cell phone from one of the men Jace had slaughtered outside had been lunged forward into Devon’s neck. Blood splurted from his neck as the head dealer fell to the ground gasping for breath in his final moments. Ramone raised his own weapon shooting both of the men still standing then pistol whipped the girl carrying the bags of drugs and cash.

“Fuck that I’m outta here.” Ramone stepped forward pushing one of the other two girls to the ground causing her to land on the ground with a thud next to Devon’s corpse. The girl screamed loudly as Ramone took off running towards the back with bags of cash & narcotics slung over his shoulder. Within seconds he was outside hopping in a gray 2007 Honda Civid parked outside. He heard the sounds of the people he’d left inside screaming bloody murder as he started up the vehicle. Plunging the keys in the ignition and moving the car into drive he slammed his foot down on the gas.

“YESSUR!!!! I’m getting the fuck outta here.” Ramone yelled out in excitement as he began speeding out from the back of the house. He had no ill feelings about turning the gun on his own co-workers if It meant escape. Not only getting away but getting all of the drugs & the money. He was ecstatic heart racing as he pressed his foot down intending to go as fast as possible to get out of the neighborhood.

In the corner of his eye he noticed some shadow that appeared to be getting larger and rapidly so. As he looked into the rear view mirror to get a glimpse of what was going on, he was suddenly catapulted forward into the front windshield of the car. Jace had used his great strength to leap into the air several miles and land on top of the Honda. The crash landing into the front of the car caused it to bend forward crushing the vehicle’s engine & sending the non seat belt wearing criminal into a face front meeting with the glass.

He stumbled out the car bleeding and more then likely with a couple bones broken. “Fuck….what the fuck are you……damn it.”

“You said you heard about me ain’t you, I’m Shade.” Jace stepped forward towards the gangster who was now bleeding profusely. He fell forward onto the cement unable to move further with the injuries he’d taken from Jace literally catapulting from the sky onto his car. Jace kicked the injured dealer’s head breaking his neck and killing him instantly on impact.

“Your a real piece of shit, shooting at your own people just for a head-start and you wasn’t even getting away, dumbass.” Jace waltzed over to the bags he’d dropped filled with cocaine, crack, heroin, & cash. Jace poured the drugs out on the ground & tore the plastic bags that sealed them apart. Narcotic powders spilled into the street and he brought his foot down literally stepping on the solidified crack rocks crushing them into powder mixed with the street’s asphalt. After a few strength enhanced stomps onto the drug packaging leaving it spread through the ground in unusable condition he felt satisfied. Checking the bag to ensure that the only thing that remained was the illicit drug money and no remnants of the hard drugs. “Alright looks like my work here is done.”

In the distance Jace could hear the blaring of police sirens. Between the gun-shots, the exploding bullets he’d used on the drug house & all the other violence that followed his confrontation with Devon & his goons it was no surprise that law enforcement was on the way. He didn’t want to be around when the police cruisers showed up to the scene. He sprinted off with the bag of drug money towards his jeep which he’d parked a few houses away from the trap-house when he’d arrived. He slung the bag of drug money into the back-seat, and took off going in the opposite direction of the approaching cruisers. It felt good to be able to use these powers to make a positive impact on the world, even if he had some extremely brutal bloody methods to do that. Of course the fact that he was taking whatever money the criminals he murdered had on hand with him was an added bonus to his murderous vigilante operation. The vicious killings of Devon’s crew would soon make it’s way to the news & social media accompanying stories of other gang members & operations that had met a violent end at his hands in the past few weeks.

San Francisco, California - Liberty Condo - Jonah Hanes

Watching the latest Reaper video had stirred Jonah up and not in a good way. Seeing this suspected superhuman radical spewing nonsense about Altered humans rising up against the Government was something that boiled his blood. It also served to justify his overly aggressive behavior towards the newly empowered superhuman population.

He’d wrapped up his notes on the latest visual communication from Reaper, then bagged up his MacBook as well as some other supplies. He’d informed his partner Angela that he’d be making his way to the office soon and he intends to keep his word. With the President’s announcement of the mandatory blood testing he was sure they’d have their hands full at Liberty’s head-quarters.

California was starting to become a hotspot for Altered human activity, and with people like Reaper spreading radical messages of revolution he was certain that further conflict with Altered humans was imminent. It wasn’t long before he was all packed up and getting into his car. As he was plugging his keys into the ignition he felt his phone vibrating once again.

This time however it wasn’t a call but a text message & not from his main partner either. Taking out his phone once again he was welcomed to a message from Jennifer. She was one of the newer recruits to Liberty, but her credentials spoke for themselves. Although he was wary of any and all newer operatives to the operation he’d vetted her himself pouring through her documentation a couple times to verify her identity.

It didn’t matter to him that she’d passed the rigorous background checks implemented by the CIA, Homeland Security, and even Liberty. The threat they were facing was dangerous, resourceful & unprecedented. All that went out the window as he glanced over at the message on his screen.

Hey, I have a contact who may possibly be able to track down Reaper. See you in the office.

“I might have been wrong about you after all, if your telling the truth that is.” Jonah spoke out-loud to himself. Having just reviewed the latest uploads from Reaper, he was eager to bring him to justice. If she really had any leads on Reaper’s whereabouts then he wanted to review the intel & make a move. While Reaper hadn’t been associated with or tied to any active or previous altered human crime scene’s yet. He was a dangerous radical who was no doubt spreading a message that he was sure resonated within the hearts & minds of some of the Altered humans he was employed to investigate.

He sent a response text to Anya/Jennifer. I’m on my way to the office as we speak, I’ll be there in no less then 25 minutes. Whatever you’ve got on Reaper spring it on me there, right now bringing him in is one of Liberty’s top priorities.

@Xandrya

Jonah pressed send, shooting the message to the agent. He briefly thought about informing Angela about what he’d just been told but decided against it. He had no idea what intel she actually had about Reaper. As such he wanted to wait to see what she had before he actually passed any news about his potential location & capture to anyone else in Liberty. With thoughts of making a dent in the operations of dangerous Altered human radicals on his mind he departed from the condo.

[The Man Emperor]

---

Sanzhar Kravchenko

---

San Francisco, California

"Hmmmm..."

Sanzhar quietly sat on his desk chair, staring at the empty Google Docs document in front of him. He had some ideas for a new book; a vision of some far future, where another star had a close flyby to the solar system, and thus kicked out the Earth, turning it into a rogue planet. Pretty much everyone was dead, except for those few million that had been able to stay within specially built domes powered by nuclear and geothermal energy. And then the story goes on from there...

And he's stumped. He couldn't tell why, but Sanzhar just couldn't find the right words for his first sentence. He already had everything! Why... why couldn't he think of something? Sanzhar cursed at himself, placing his feet on top of the desk and reclining on the chair whilst putting his hands on the back of his head. The writer's block had him again. And it was having him far too often these days. It was really unfortunate, too. He needed something to get his mind away from all that had been happening in the country; many sections of the city lay in ruins, millions are dead, there was a plague going on, and... people were getting superpowers.

Including himself.

Sighing, Sanzhar motioned at one of the magnetic earth balls lying in a tray on his desk, prying it from its magnetic connection to the container. The silver sphere levitated two or so inches above his palm, his eyes utterly fixated on its prime curvature. What to do, what to do...

Ah!

Taking on his imagination, Sanzhar began to shape the sphere with his metalbending, etching out depressions on its silver surface. The earth ball shuddered under the pressure of his newfound powers, but he was careful and gentle in his craft. The shapes of the world's continents etched themselves on the miniature sphere, turning the thing into a literal Earth ball. Sanzhar smirked as he looked upon his creation, and placed it onto a pedestal on his bookshelf.

"Hey, Sanzhar?"

"Mmmmm." Sanzhar turned to his brother, Erasyl. "What is it?"

"I... uh, I'm going out." Erasyl said sheepishly. "Just gonna get groceries for lunch today."

"You sure?" Sanzhar asked. "You just got discharged."

"Nah, I'm fine." Erasyl said. "By the way, did you hear about what that guy said on live tv? Benny... Sten?"

"Stein." Sanzhar corrected. "All I can say is that he's an ass and I'm making a post about it soon enough. Bound to get a lot of attention now..."

"Okay." Erasyl nodded and turned away. "I'm going now."

With his brother now gone from earshot, Sanzhar sat back on his bed, thinking about what to do. He had a severe case of writer's block, had nothing better to do, and...

Oh! He'll visit a friend. Maybe that will get his spirits up.

Quickly, Sanzhar pulled out his phone, and texted Devan Flores.

"Hello there friend, I was thinking of hanging out today. Are you busy today?"

Now, now. Now he'll wait for a response.

@Prosaic

[Timemaster]

San Francisco - Airport

*yawn* This place hasn't change at all. said Alexis to herself while waiting get her small luggage. San Francisco was always one of those town that bored Alexis to death. No matter what others said about it, there was nothing here for us. Almost nothing...

As soon as she was out of the Airport, she lit up a fag, took a big puff and sighted. Home sweet home. As soon as she moved a bit from where she was standing, a cab driver rolled the window and asked where she wants to go. A smile creeped on Alexis's face. She didn't even look for one yet but here it was, a lucky break.

Sometime later she arrived Downtown. Paying the driver, she got off the cab and closed her eyes. She couldn't remember where the shop was but if she would be lucky, she'd reach it, somehow. As if guided by an invisible force, she weaved throught the streets and sneezed exact in front of...

" What the fuck happened here? "

The shop was a mess, windows boarded up with anti-muslim graffiti on them. A lot of grass on the ground and planks of wood. The sign just above the door was in pieces and of it's letters only a F,K,U remained, probably a message from some smart idiot.
Looking around Alexis noticed that her parent's shop wasn't the only one vandalised or closed, most of the others on the same street were. None of those that were held by white people tho'.
As she was trying to make sense as to what happened, a girl, no older than 13 ran towards her cluching her arm. Blood trailing behind her.

" Hey! Nafisa! Please help me! "

Alexis looked at her in confusion and said with a smirk :

" I've got no clue who you are kid but I'm not Nafisa. I'm Alexis. "

" But...but, you look..."

" The same? Yeah, that's what having a twin means. Now, I'll give you ten dollars if you tell me what happened to the store here. " said Alexis, seemingly ignoring the fact that the girl was bleeding.

" You are a very rude lady. You are not Nafisa but for 30$ I'll tell you where to find her. "

Alexis laughed, a street kid that knows how to make money. That's a smart one. She took out 40$ and held it in front of the kid.

" I'll give you 40$ but if I find out you double crossed me, I'll find you. "

" Go to the corner of 3rd street, look around for the Angel. " as soon as she finished talking, she snatched the 40$ and ran into the other direction, getting lost throught the streets.

" Damn, she's fast. "Look for the Angel" what the fuck is that?" muttered Alexis and then took another fag out and lit it. Finding her way towards 3rd street.

[AliceFalling]

Amalia watched the children line up excited to see the little girl bring more children and Jennifer, who was notably very pretty, back with her. The girl really reminded her of herself and it made grin, along with how Jennifer took control and talked to the kids. "I am sorry I couldn't be here sooner. There is so many people who need help. I don't have much but," she looked around at the faces while talking to Jennifer, "I have starved for food before." When it was sunny at home, just like today, all of her family used to eat outside together. Her older cousin was the one who always tried to sneak extra food or cut in line. Then New York happened, money was low, food barely made it on the table. Even after moving out food hardly made its way to her table still, until recently.

Although the FEMA Camp was a very different situation compared to her home life as a child, it made Amalia feel warm inside. She lived to chase her dream of happiness from her family again, so moments like this, even though the times were rough, made her feel closer to her old self again. A feeling that wouldn't last for long. She felt like a pendulum, one days like this she would recharge and her emotions would swing high and steady. But as time went on she would feel the low, the drowsiness, the bitterness. "Am I a good person or am I just chasing the high?" Amalia wondered.

Amalia returned Jennifer's handshake and introduced herself, "My name is Amalia Mendoza. It is a pleasure to get you a nice crispy salad today! If you are gonna eat healthy, it should at least taste good. Let me know if you crave anything else, I have my ways of getting it." She gave a small wink. Maybe it was risky, but one, It was just food, right? It couldn't be a dead giveaway that something strange was happening. And two, at this rate everyone would know who were altered humans anyways. "I like how you talked to the kids," Amalia pointed out, "you seem to have made an impression on them."

@Bai Suzhen

[Bai Suzhen]

"Jennifer. Miss Harrick to the kids. Food I'm craving... I think even if there wasn't a disaster, I'd have a hard time finding a good steak pie. I dunno why, America just doesn't seem to care for them."

She smiles at Amalia's little wink, not entirely sure what to read into it. "I'm not too bothered about the source, so long as you're not Sweeney Todd. If the ingredients snuck across the border or fell off the back of a lorry... better that it gets to people than just sits in a warehouse. You know there's places with a drinking water shortage? She begins gesturing as she talks. "It's because Nestle is the official government supplier and they can't meet the demand of the disaster, but made sure to include 'exceptional circumstances' exceptions in their half of the contract. So if anyone else supplies water in bulk, Nestle gets a massive payout..."

Jennifer takes a moment to collect herself. "Sorry, that was a rant... it's pretty stressful sometimes, but the school is a little bit of something normal. I'm a teacher back in England too, so I think it's helping me as much as the kids."

It's good to talk, to relax. There's a spark of something there as well, perhaps. "So, I'd ask for your number, but I don't have a phone right now. Or offer to get you a coffee, but same problem with money. If you come back after school, I'll give you a hand with your washing up, or baking the next batch?"

[FunnyGuy]

Time: Morning
Location: San Francisco, California
Interaction:

---

Cornered in a container yard, a Latino American man stood his ground with his hands pointed at none other than Marcus who walked casually towards him with a pistol in his right hand.

"You're one of us! Fuckin traitor!" The man's hands charged up with energy. He had been running from Marcus for the past 20 minutes, almost being toyed with as he dodged everything he threw at him, but now they were in a more closed off space and he could- Hot lead pierced his skull, dropping him dead immediately. The charged energy dissipated with Marcus looking over the man with disdain.

"You're wrong." He used his phone to snap a picture of the now dead altered human. "I ain't nothin' like you. Same reason why I'm breathing and you're bleeding." Marcus said aloud as he sent the picture to Liberty's South California field office. Sergio Lopez, 26, Energy Emitter, Multiple Homicide

[Prosaic]

San Francisco, California - Cafe

Mentions

@The Man Emperor

<sub>It was relatively peaceful in the cafe, listening to the sounds of chatter around him while he scrolled through his phone. He didn't get breaks often because his job was demanding, it required long hours, hardwork, and aching fingers, he often wound up missing out on these moments where it was just him and his coffee. Another long sip and a quiet inhale, he listened to a mother scolding her unruly kids nearby and came to the conclusion that he was almost certainly never having kids.

It was for the best though, wasn't it? He wasn't exactly sure if the whole rot-thing was genetic. He certainly wasn't going to be responsible for passing it on to the next generation. If he hardly wanted it, he could only imagine that a kid didn't deserve to get stuck with it, in fact, it seemed cruel to perpetuate-

His idle thoughts were interrupted by the sound of his phone going off, he blinked and went to go check the message waiting for him. It was Sanzhar, an old friend but a trusty one. Not that he had many friends to choose from, people usually got tired of his temper fairly quickly. Not Sanzhar. Not yet anyway. "Hello there friend, I was thinking of hanging out today. Are you busy today?"

Am I busy? He wondered before responding. "Not terribly, do you want to meet at the cafe down the road from the clinic?"

At the very least, the company would keep him from idling there much longer. He took one last long swig of the coffee before sending out another text. "I've been bored out of my mind over here."</sub>

[Martian]

Thomas was still a little bit flustered about what he saw on the TV as he drove away from the mechanic shop. The whole superpower thing was so different to him. He figured he probably was one of the few not revelling in it, having only used his power like five times. Those who embraced their powers kind of scared Thomas, like that Reaper guy. While Thomas liked to consider himself a progressive, he was definitely not on board with the whole overthrow the government thing.

The voice of the GPS on his phone told Thomas to take a left. Luke had given him a spare key to get into the house. Apparently Thomas would be staying in the semi-finished basement under Luke’s house. Luke said that even though him, his wife, and his son lived on the top floor, they wouldn’t bother Thomas, except for using the washer and dryer that was in the basement.

Thomas wondered how big his living space would be. Truth be told he actually hadn’t seen any images of the place. In fact he hadn’t known about a lot of things before coming to San Fransisco. He had rushed to leave Phoenix as he felt a desperate need to leave it and its memories. Some of those memories came back when a ping on his phone announced that his brother had texted him.

Thomas and his brother’s relationship had been rocky ever since the death of their father. Both of them had survivors’ guilt, and when Thomas looked at his brother’s face all he saw was a younger version of his father. Thomas assumed that his brother felt the same way about him. It made it to painful to actually talk.

As Thomas’ truck came to a stop at a red light, he decided to look at the text. While he knew he wasn’t supposed to do this while driving, the need to hear what his brother was saying outweighed the rules. Thomas read the text out loud.

“Hey bro, how are you? Mom told me you made it to San Fransisco. What’s the coast like? Anyways, I just hope your okay. I know this energy storm stuff was messed up and how it changed things. I hope it didn’t change you too much. Just be safe.”

Various emotions washed over Thomas as he put down the phone. One that surprised him was fear. The wording of: I hope it didn’t change you too much. Did Daniel know that he had gained powers? He had been very careful the very few times that he used them to do so in the middle of nowhere, with not a single person around for miles. Maybe Daniel had powers too? It wasn’t out of the realm of possibility. If Thomas had gained powers from that energy bolt, it had also hit his brother, so maybe?

Several honks broke Thomas’ concentration as he realized the light was now green. Cussing quietly, Thomas began driving toward Luke’s home. He had only made it about six hundred feet before a wave of ice covered the street. Thomas slammed on the breaks, bumping into the wall of ice, denting the front of his truck. Thomas turned off the ignition and stepped out of his vehicle.

As he left his truck, Thomas saw someone sliding down the ice, which seemed to be coming from their hands. The ice creator seemed to have dark skin, but it was to tell as they wore a big hoodie and a mask over their face. Thomas locked eyes with the man as he slid past him. Thomas broke eye contact when out of his peripheral vision he saw someone leaping off a rooftop and onto the ice.

“I’m gonna fuck you up!” the man shouted as he collided with the ice, causing it to shatter.

This man was also wearing a mask, but also had some kind of superhero outfit on, including a bullet proof vest. More cars slammed to a stop as the costumed man leaped at the hoodie guy, who shot out a blast of ice. The guy in the costume punched the ice, making it instantly shatter. The hoodie guy swore as he jumped back, barely avoiding his attacker’s fist.

“Man, I just robbed a 7-11,” he spat, “That shouldn’t give me a death sentence.”

“Crime is crime. A sickness,” the costumed one said as he punched again.

This one landed, knocking back the hoodie guy, blood rushing out his mouth. Gurgling on blood, the hoodie guy attempted to create a wall of ice between himself and the costumed man, only for two punches to break it completely.

“Fuck!” the hoodie guy screamed, blood launching from his mouth.

The costumed guy raised his fist, clearly ready to finish the criminal. Without thinking, Thomas moved. Jumping toward the ice, energy burst forth from Thomas, propelling him toward the criminal. With a few milliseconds to spare, Thomas grabbed the man in the hoodie, pulling him out of the way as the costumed man’s fist bore into the street.

“An accomplice?” the costumed individual said confused.

Thomas swore as he and the criminal tumbled to the street. That was time six of using his powers, and he did it on a busy street in a big city. Thomas prayed that he had moved fast enough so that there were no witnesses, or much worse, footage taken of him.

“Thanks?” the criminal spattered in between bloody coughs.

“Don’t thank me yet,” Thomas replied as they both got to their feet.

Thomas turned to see that the man in the costume had spotted them. He leaped up into the air and began to fall down toward Thomas. Thomas prepared to launch himself again, but then he heard police sirens. He definitely didn’t want to use powers in front of law enforcement. Not sure what to do, Thomas pulled the criminal and himself backward, hoping that was enough to dodge the crushing blow of their attacker.

[The Man Emperor]

---

Sanzhar Kravchenko

---

San Francisco, California

Am I busy? He wondered before responding. "Not terribly, do you want to meet at the cafe down the road from the clinic?"

At the very least, the company would keep him from idling there much longer. He took one last long swig of the coffee before sending out another text. "I've been bored out of my mind over here."

Sanzhar quickly texted back, his thumbs tapping at the keyboard of his phone like in a blur. He almost never took more than a minute to reply to text messages, which has been noted by his publisher to have made it easy for him to be worked with. Plus he was absolutely patient and methodical with everything else he did. "Good, good, I'm on my way. See you friend."

As Sanzhar walked towards their supposed meeting place, he reminisced the older days with Devan and the others. They went to the same high school, and had been the source of some trouble back then. Funny how time seemed to pass so quickly these days. Natural disasters, superpowers... what else...?

Ah, right. He gained his own metal manipulation abilities after being afflicted by the Energy Plague. His brother Alek didn't manifest anything weird, but a common denominator of people that got powers were that they were of minorities, and had been down with the plague as well. Devan was Latino and had the plague too... maybe he has something...

With certain personalities trying to restrict their freedom, it was high time Sanzhar looked for others like him. Birds of the same feather flock together, after all.

---

After a few good minutes, Sanzhar arrived in the cafe, just to find Devan already there with his own cup of coffee. "Man, you really couldn't wait, huh?" Sanzhar chuckled, stooping down a little bit to give him a short hug. "Okay, I'll get my own coffee and a donut first. Gimme a minute."

Walking up to the barista, Sanzhar pulled out a few dollars. "Frappe cappuccino please. And one of those glazed donuts..."

With that done, Sanzhar got back to their table, setting his tray of orders. First thing he noticed were the bandages around Devan's hands. Weird. He didn't have those before.

"What's with the bandages?" Sanzhar asked, sipping from his cup with a straw. 'What happened?"

[Chulance]

Washington D.C - President David Forrester - White House Press Conference

“Ladies & Gentlemen, men & women of this proud brave country. It’s with a heavy heart that I announce these laws that must take place in order for the continued survival of our great nation.” David Forrester, the President spoke. The brother of Nathan Forrester, CEO of Forrester Corporation he was hardly anything but a man of the people. Thanks to his family’s uber wealth he responded the major corporations & corporate conglermate’s that ruled America with an financial iron fist. He was making an announcement of some new laws that would be passed to address the situation with the enhanced humans. These laws were most needed especially after George Sanchez’s vile use of his ability to create a sinkhole that enclosed his entire high School in Chicago resulting in the deaths of 729 people including students & faculty.

“These measures are known as the Emergency Enhanced Act. In addition to the mandatory blood tests, these laws will also accompany them to ensure our nation makes it through these tough times. As I’ve said before I’ll say again I want nothing more then to keep my promise to the hard working American people. I will stop at nothing till I MAKE, AMERICA, SAFE, AGAIN” David spat out getting an eruption of positivity & claps from several in the attendance of the White House. Investigative Journalists, Reporters, Critics, and regular citizens alike had joined in the chorus of claps to President Forrester’s announcement.

Although he wasn’t the man the nation had chosen to be their leader, quite literally in-fact. He’d lost to Hiliary Clinton in the popular vote, but against all odds the electoral college had voted to select him to be next person for presidential power. Many felt the Republican Party had pulled a fast one letting the electoral college pick him despite loosing the popular vote. Rumors of various conspiracies had spread like wildfire across the four corners of the country of how David Forrester had truly attained power. The mysterious aura that surrounded & oozed around the Forrester Family didn’t help. Like the infamous Rothschild family who had massive influence & control over the banks, the Forrester Family had been in power & wealthy for centuries.

As far as back as the early days when Columbus had first “discovered” America so to speak for the British immigrants. They’d been known, a family who was the complete definition of “old money”. It was known that they’d had a massive hand in slavery & the transatlantic slave trade back in the day. Not ones to settle for over-seas money, they’d made a great deal of profit & secured quite a bit of land from actual slavery within the confines of the new world as well. They and the people they represented fought to the bitter end to maintain slavery during the Civil War. They were staunch against Abe Lincoln’s efforts to free the slaves due to the economic repercussions they’d face. Even now in the present the fact that their family was still enriched & wealthy in America despite their iron tight hold to maintain slavery was a strike against them. However their known infamous acts of evil didn’t end with trying to maintain & expand slavery during the 1400’s to the Civil War. Oh no in more recent times they’d played a major financial role in investing in prescription pain killers, and as a result were implicated in the opiate crisis that was roaring through the nation.

As the number of addicts rose & the amount of over-doses rapidly increased the Forrester Family name & The Forrester Corporation were dragged through the mud with Purdue. Like the Tobacco Companies who pushed to make smoking nicotine specifically cigarettes mainstream & downplayed the addictive damage inducing & cancer causing effects of their product they acted similarly with prescription pain-killers. They’d worked with Purdue to surprise any scientific information about the dangers of opiates, and their vile addictive nature even when used in cycles & periods of time prescribed with medical oversight. The pattern of devious behaviors & projects the Forrester Family had their grubby hands in with money didn’t stop with those two incidents in history. So you could see why people who were more curious then the average American layman were curious about how David Forrester managed to wiggle his way into Presidency during the recent 2016 election.

“As for these laws.” The President was speaking again and people were listening intently. Political writers were speaking writing down every word the leader of the free world spoke as he went about explaining these new laws being passed for America to control it’s superhuman situation. Journalists where bubbling getting ready to ask questions, & others in the crowd where just there in present to listen to their leader speak about how he planned to lead the country to deal with this situation. “Altered humans will be required to declare their status on their driver license or whatever form of ID they have, Altered humans will NOT be allowed to be sold or consume alcoholic beverages due to the danger of superhumans being intoxicated, Altered humans will not be allowed to consume marijuana or any illicit drugs for the same reasons as their ban on alcohol consumption, Altered humans will have a curfew and will not be permitted to be roaming the streets from the hours of 10PM to 8AM under no exceptions, Altered humans will not be allowed to be present at any educational facility including all schools & college’s neither as student or faculty regardless of age. Altered humans will not be allowed to use their abilities in public for any reason or face federal prosecution. Altered humans will not be allowed to utilize their powers during the the commission of any business or financial activities. Altered Humans will be temporarily barred from certain profession’s where their inclusion right now is detrimental including law enforcement, practicing law, all forms of medical practice, the educational system. Altered humans are not considered a protected class like race, religion & gender and can be banned or removed from any private or public business for safety measures without warning at will. Altered Humans are banned from using all forms of public transportation including privately owned such as Uber & Lyft. Altered humans are not allowed to engage in ownership or possession of guns or other weaponry.” The President continued on delivering the series of restrictive laws that were being passed against Altered humans in tandem with the mandatory blood tests.

After the President’s announcement of the laws multiple hands shot into the air. An invisible tension so thick it could be cut with a knife was felt in the atmosphere. The mandatory blood tests were one thing entirely, but these other laws being enforced under the guise of emergency powers were restrictive. They were quite frankly combating the rights that Altered humans had as American citizens. There were some who were questioning if these new rules came from a place of heartfelt security in the country or from a place of deep seated hatred. One factor that some felt these laws were rooted in was racial bias, especially considering that thus far all advanced humans in America belonged to racial minorities. Along-side the Blood Tests these laws were in effect immediately, and the President had finished his statement with a declaration that the National Guard would be mobilizing in all fifty states to ensure that these new laws & regulations involving altered humans were enforced & followed promptly.

The Forrester Administration had wasted no time swinging the metaphorical hammer of justice down against these advanced humans. With these new precedents being carried out, there was sure to be those among the altered who might be further pushed towards the Reaper’s agenda which was starting to look slightly less radical with the new rules being pushed by President Forrester. Of course considering that in the past month an advanced human in Chicago had used his abilities to snuff out the lives of 729 Americans it was hardly surprising. The icing on the proverbial cake was the national guard was being mobilized in all fifty states. With the rapid spread of the Energy plague ravaging the states many had discussed rumors of military involvement to enforce the proposed government lockdown & quarantine regulations to prevent the further spread of this deadly virus. Despite the rising number of cases over the past three months, U.S Soldiers had yet to march the streets armed to the teeth in body armor & impenetrable vehicles patrolling the states.

San Francisco, California - Floyd Banker - Fuck all that shit Forrester Saying
Floyd wasn’t the least bit concerned with the political climate surrounding Altered Humans. Yeah he knew about the kid who dropped his high school into a hole. Plus he was no stranger to the activities enhanced humans were involved in thanks to being an avid twitter user. So yeah he didn’t use traditional news media, social media was a fine substitute to him. Besides unlike what he saw on the evening news, there was no filter to the information spread online. Really it had a more authentic feel in his opinion, especially since it was coming from the people not outsiders in suits reporting on the situation.

Life in California the past seven months had been interesting. It hadn’t been an easy choice to just up and leave his home-town of Atlanta. But he needed a change of scenery, and a different pace to his life. Plus recreational marijuana being legal and readily available here was another bonus. He thought about that specific aspect of why he moved as he took some deep inhales from a fat filled marijuana cigar he was puffing on.

“Floyd pass that shit c’mon puta!” Rita Salzaras protested, as Floyd was doing what he did best. Smoking the marijuana himself without sharing. At the sound of her voice ringing in his ears he passed the cigar to her. She promptly snatched it from his hand and took a few deep puffs herself. “Ahh ya that hits the spot. Sheesh you smoking this weed like you bought it or something, you gotta roll the next blunt.” She retorted with anger in her accent.

“Okay okay jeez Rita calm down, you act like you going anywhere. Yo fine ass finna be right here in the crib with me, yeah I hit it a couple more times before I passed It but shit we got enough weed. “Floyd responded nonchalantly wondering why she was worried about him chiefing at all when she was connected & had pounds of weed. After a few more minutes of going back and forth Floyd had rolled up another one for them to smoke. He looked around for a lighter but mentally face-palmed realizing how silly it was for him to look for a lighter. With a simple motion flames erupted around his finger tips which he shot forth to spark the marijuana. “Yeah that never gets old, I ain’t Neva aint nevaaaa gotta worry about a lighter again.” Floyd exclaimed with the upmost satisfaction to having a permanent lighter for his smoking habit.

He was enjoying his day right now, kicked back using his literal ability to disperse flames from his finger tips to light up. Not only that he was fucking the Rita Salzaras, who’d played a big role in him being able to move up in the drug game in California. He’d came out here wanting to boost his illicit revenue to really rise up financially shipping pounds back home to Atlanta. But getting entangled with Rita meant he could get his hands on other stuff than grass. He wasn’t ashamed to say that he was moving white girl & pain pills now making way more money. Although the risk was greater, thanks to his newfound abilities he found himself adjusting just find.

Of course shooting flames wasn’t going to keep him out of prison & off the fed’s radar. Quite the opposite really since he figured being a human flame thrower was an attention drawer with how the feds were cracking down on people with powers. Lucky for him and perhaps unlucky depending on how you looked at it unlike Rita his power wasn’t necessarily just shooting fire. Ever since he’d a sexual fling with Luna right after recovering from the energy plague his life had been on a wild ride ever since the past two months. He seemed to pick up something from every different person he encountered, and at first he wasn’t able to notice that. He figured he’d lost the superpower lottery to take a page from the tropes, but it turned out he might be the overall winner. As ecstatic as he was to be living his literal power dream, it brought up the age old moniker of being careful what you wish for.

Since plunging himself into Luna’s warm embrace, and trysts with her throughout the late night he’d been plagued with horrific nightmares. The thing is these nightmares weren’t just horrid dreams filled with dark confusing events. No these were extremely lucid visions of future occurrence’s, of real bad things that were coming to past in the world. At first he thought that taking a break from cannabis was triggering the usual lucid dreams that come with any tolerance break. But A he hadn’t slowed down on smoking recently quite the opposite. And B once he witnessed the events of one of his nightmares on the news play out scene by scene the same way it did in his dreams he knew that the extra spring in his step he felt from getting over the energy plague wasn’t just overall satisfaction from recovering from the deadly illness.

His mind drifted away from the smoke session & to the details of the nightmare he’d experienced this morning. Of all the dreams he’d experienced so far, this That’s so Raven moment was the worst.

He recalled seeing the streets of Atlanta, Georgia. They were filled with people roaming about, the city was bustling with life as always. He was back home and it was May of 2019, about a year from now. He was at a baroque at his homie Juice’s spot and they were talking about plans to take their marketing business to the next level. “Man this shit really finna be some major, we going next level with this shit, the streets is ready for this shit, after all we been through we finna be on top.” Juice spoke elated about the progress their business ventures was making.

“Hell yeah I mean my super powers playing a big role in that my dawg, Tres always use to say I was a magic man, but I never thought that’d really be the case.” Floyd beamed happy about the role his powers had played in him & Juice getting a major big break in the entertainment & music industry.

“Shit I ain’t hating man, I swear with all the luck you’ve had over the years I think you’ve had powers before the energy plague shit, the real luck being that you was able to get pass that blood test shit. I mean shit you see what’s been happening to the rest of the Altered people, shit. Been telling y’all to get the fuck out the country before it’s too latest his some modern us vs them bullshit.” Juice spoke leading the conversation down a darker tone that Floyd found somewhat uncomfortable with his own status as an Altered Human.

It was clear from the vibe of the conversation in the vision, that although he managed to use some of his luck to skirt through the testing. The situation for Altered humans a year from now in the vision was bleak. But the focus of the dream wasn’t about the cryptic conversation he had with his friend about him skating Liberty. The dream had taken a plunge for true darkness shortly after that. The vision had continued relatively normal with him, Juice & others in their business & inner circle smoking some weed, having some cold stiff drinks, mingling with some gorgeous instagram models, & jamming out to some new tunes. Within an hour the entire sky was filled with darkness, and then it happened. The vision began moving at a rapid pace, skipping time constantly. One minute he saw his lovely city of Atlanta the good, the bad, the ugly. Then there was a new way of seeing his home town he wasn’t use to. The destroyed, the eradicated, & the remains.

It all happened so fast in the blink of an eye. He’d never seen some a graphic brutal scene of such desolation in reality. The entire city was engulfed in flames, people running for their lives in every direction. Buildings on fire, crumbling to the ground. The blood of innocents spilled, the entire city of Atlanta all the way to the metro area engulfed in massive explosions. This was like the Energy Storm but worst, it wasn’t just energy beams raining down toppling a few buildings. No the entire city of Atlanta was disintegrated, but it didn’t stop there. These explosions weren’t just taking place in his city, but other major American cities. LA, Chicago, Vegas, New York City, New Jersey, D.C, all engulfed in simultaneous explosions. Millions of people dying in a blink, but it didn’t stop there. Because unlike the Energy Storm whatever he was witnessing wasn’t just happening in the United States. The entire world had succumb to this fate, all around the world civilization crumbled. The entirety of the human race was slaughtered. Blood spilled across the globe, every major city in every major country toppled. Buildings collapsing, rivers of blood, every city engulfed in flames, destroyed countries, streets littered with corpses. The earth flooded with dead bodies, dismembered, many disintegrated. It was if some major event had occurred all round the world at once, and everyone fell victim at once. No one was prepared, the entire world’s intelligence community was unable to see this coming.

This brutality, this globe spanning massacre was something he’d only imagined in his worst nightmares. It Brought back feelings of true fear that had been cousing through his veins when learning about the biblical apoylcapse back in Sunday school when Jesus was suppose to return for the believers. But in this particular vision he didn’t see any glowing crosses in the sky, nor did he witness a chorus of angels coming down to the earth. No this was just pure destruction & eradication of the human race. There was no one who was spared from this horrible fate, he was witnessing the end of the world.

As the bloody vision was nearing an end, a battered and beaten man was see walking through the remains of New York City. The entire city was wiped out, and lifeless as was the rest of the world. The skies were gray, and radiation resonated through-out the entire atmosphere of the planet. All life or the bulk of it was gone from the earth. The man continued truding forward through the remains of the big city stumbling into what remained of a parking garage and collapsing onto the ground. Reaching into his tattered sweats he took out a radio and set it on the ground. A Buzzing could be heard as the radio was locked in a battle with heavy static. Finally a voice could be heard speaking through the radio. “Hello if your hearing this you have survived, not that means much. What is survival anymore, there everywhere. It’s bad enough that the entire planet was wiped out. But then they came out, then they began coming out hunting us down. For anyone listening you know what I’m talking about, they’ve managed to track us down under-ground. All around the world, they’ve burst into the fallout bunkers. For those of us lucky enough to make it under-ground or happen to be in a protected area right when the bombs went off. Sometimes I think that we the remnants had it the worst, at least they were all gone in a flash. Of course I can’t say I’ve never been disintegrated, maybe it was worst. But knowing that only 5 percent of the human population is around and that those monsters are out there tearing us apart limb by limb metallic demons with no souls. Picking us apart, hunting us like wounded animals. Well if your out there all I can say is this as pointless as it is we need to find each other, fight. We’ve lost everything, but not our hope if we’re all going to die we’re going to go out with a bang. No matter what we stand togther we fall together, it’s funny we were all worried about that energy storm, those superhumans it made but in the end the real monster was the one we crafted…the one who anyone hearing this broad-cast knows of very well, the real monster…that it’s looking like humanity won’t live to stop…KIVA.” Right as that word was spoken the broadcast eded.

Tears rolled down the man’s face, Floyd was in sheer agony watching this horrific journey. HE had no idea who this man was, why he was roaming the ruins of the desolate New York City and the bone chilling name KIVA what it meant. What was going on, if all his visions had come to life so far, then what did this one mean. As if it couldn’t get any worst the man leaned up to push the radio aside when a spear flew forward from out of nowhere and pierced the man’s skull/ Blood splurged from his cranium as the man fell to the ground dead. In the distance the sound of metallic whirring and a cold dark laughter could be heard. As the ear shattering metallic empty souless laughter grew louder the vision faded to black. Moments later Floyd woke up shooting up in the bed covered in sweat, nearly whacking Rita who was laying in bed next to him passed out.

Floyd was breathing heavily looking around to see the world hadn’t ended. Civilization hadn’t collapsed and there wasn’t a sole beaten, battered & weary man walking the streets with a damaged radio. “Puta!!! Banker, aye what’s going on?!” Riya protested about Floyd jumping up out of his sleep and nearly smacking her. Rita caused some flames to appear in her hand, shooting a stream past Floyd’s face causing him to jump back startled.

“Hey shit calm down what the fuck was that for”!” Floyd barked back at his cartel accomplice upset about her sending a column of flame past his face to catch his attention.

“I should be asking you god damn it, dream that bad you almost woke up and whacked me sheesh. What the pussy was so good you had a dream you woke up without it.” Rita teased leaning forward to kiss Floyd.

Back in the present Floyd saw another column of flame brush past him and snapped out of his day dream. Turning to see once again that it was Rita again using her powers to catch her attention. This time it wasn’t about him waking up from his sleep rapidly in fear but something more mundane. This time it was her who had been chiefing on the weed, and taking too many hits. “Damn you really are high as fuck right now aren’y you.” Rita laughed and passed the blunt to Floyd who accepted gladly.

“Shit hell yeah it’s some good shit, see I ain’t say nothing when you was over there being Cheech & Chong with the wood, now make sure you give me the same behavior,.” Floyd said in a joking tone as he hit the backwood a few times. It felt so surreal sitting up in his apartment with Rita getting super baked on Zaza when he knew that the potential end of humanity itself loomed over his head. He mentally cursed about the visions he’d been experiencing, what with it being so horrific that he couldn’t even focus on the smoke session he was having with Rita. As he was hitting the blunt he froze and almost dropped the backwood on himself hearing a word that caused him to almost freeze him.

“God damn I know we’re fire proof but your bed’s not Floyd. You want the fire department coming here, we got too much damn weed in the house and we’re fucking mutants, what’s wrong with you, you sure you not on some other shit baby.” Rita asked wondering why Floyd was being so jumpy today. She noticed what seemed to startle him was something to do with the television. She didn’t get it because they weren’t watching a horror movie, they were just watching the news. Something about CyberCorp, some major tech company & the biggest rival to the infamous Forrester corporation. Those two technological titans were in a race to be the company to develop supposed world changing technology for the American Government. “Hello earth to Floyd, a bunch of old white scientists talking about there projects can’t be that scary what’s wrong with you?

But Floyd wasn’t listening, and it wasn’t because of the weed. He as staring at the television screen brows scrunched as he was looking at the title of the broadcast. He had no idea what it really meant, but it gave him an horrible feeling. The title on the news broadcast was a simple read, but one that caused him to feel as though he was frozen in time. The title was “CyberCorp unveils it’s newest project, state of the art tech defense that will be sure to change the world, Project KIVA”.

[Bai Suzhen]

Horror grew in Faridah's heart as she lisgtened to the President's address.

"No. No no no no, this can't be happening! I was free! I was finally going to do... anything! Aaaargh!" The walls of her simple shelter cracked, dust and gravel sliding out the damage. Faridah began pacing, talking to herself. "I just wanted a place... somewhere safe... I kept it small. I could've helped rebuild, but now..."

She collapsed, sitting on the ground, breathing heavily. "Fine. Fine, it's fine. I'm not letting them decide for me. I just have to go bigger. Stronger. Too much trouble to deal with." Faridah gripped the floor, hands going throuigh the concrete as though it were wet, squeezing hard.

In what appeared to be just another part of ruined city, the concrete trembled. Collapsed buildings slid across the ground, grinding massive scars into the road, exposed rebar twisting around other pieces almost like they were holding hands, then pulling tightly together. A patchwork quilt of stonework began to form walls, different shades of paint and raw stone pressed into each other, fused together, gravel and dust plugging the gaps.

What formed was a small castle. A boxy fort three floors tall with thick walls, narrow windows and metal doors that still showed traces of being parts of cars pressed and bent into shape.

Then the outer walls began growing, smooth, steep concrete with stairs on the inside and battlements along the top. The materiel came from the ground below, a ditch forming to make the wall even more impenetrable. There was no gate or bridge, Faridah wouldn't think to add those for some time.

Instead, the leftover car parts started to form furniture. Plastic chairs and tables, a bed with a polyester mattress, a fake leather sofa. The genuine leather and cotton remained where it lay, no matter how much Faridah glared at it. Eventually, she moved it manually into an empty room.

There was only one more thing her castle needed. She'd saved the rarer metals for it. Not that there was anywhere near enough. Gold, silver and platinum were supplemented with bronze and brass, forming into a simple, blocky and very functional throne.

Faridah sat down and waited. No going back now. People would see her castle, and she wouldn't move. Let them try.