[IC] The Gifted: A Fast Paced Superpower RP (Relaunch)

[Letter Bee]

((Collab Post between Letter Bee, Subject Zero, and AcerRo))

Cedric, and his new battalion of mutated followers, were rushed into the helicopter, where Healing Spore was waiting for them with a could of, well, healing spores, as well as some new pants for Cedric. Fuming at her commander's, well, foolishness, as well as the fact that she seemed to be brought here to be little more than a Deus ex Machina, as well as for discouraging the police forces due to his ingnominous defeat - which in turn can be spun as a testament to the strength of the enemy, not his weakness - Healing Spore, after Cedric was physically fine, spoke:

"I'm staying here; you and your new friends go back to the base - make sure the latter are debriefed and - what the fuck, Light?!" she said as the Toon-Metahuman tried to ride the Ice Dragon. "Just go, Cedric!" she said as she got off the helicopter; she intended to stay and heal people, while said helicopter's pilot began preperations to fly back to HQ...

Timeskip

After finishing the paperwork required for debriefing for his new battalion of 'monsters', as well as a request for clemency for said new battalion in exchange for them turning states' witnesses against New Sun and other MegaCorps, Cedric, physically whole but still mentally shocked, went to go to the cafeteria...where he found Eli, Nate, and Eva, casually chatting.

"Oh, hello, guys," he said a little fantly. "Didn't expect to see you up so soon, but that's Healing Spore for you. Sorry to be back early, I got wrecked."

"You mean you went and got fucked up? Should have kept the damage, you might have learned something useful for once. Experience is the most valuable teacher you could ever have. I miss those old days when you got your ass beat everyone knew about. When you had to own up to your own shit. Anyhow what happened? Some little girl gone and kick your ass?" Eli had a smile on his face. It seemed to him like these people high on the totem pole weren't much more than politicians that's shots rockets outta there ass. Two of them went and both came back hurt or other woss bleeding.

"I hate to admit it but he's right" said Nate, giving Cedric a sympathetic look. "You're the boss. You shouldn't be going into situations like that yourself. Not when you've got soldiers to go in for you" He smiled and not so subtly pointed a thumb at himself. He was a literal army. Maybe a small one but still more expendable than the boss man himself. But then this was the first time he had even spoken to the boss so maybe it wasn't the time to go selling himself. Not that he had ever lacked the confidence to sell himself at every opportunity.

Cedric chuckled at Eli's words, although they came close to home, and responded:

"Literally, yes. Said little girl had demonstrated the ability to speed herself up, slow me down, age me with a touch, and age others with a kind of goop. Oh, and she had a handgun. Basically, a small, fast combatant with damaging powers, but little stamina and a physique made of glass," Cedric was now sighing. "I only managed to analyze her style when it was too late, though; Light had to rescue me." To Nate, Cedric said:

"I don't want to stay in there, safe, while others do the suffering and the dying for me. It's just, well," he rubbed the back of his head, "it seems that taking the same risks as my people get me the same consequences that they suffer as well, if that makes any sense." He then sighed. "That doesn't change the fact that me being nice, well, sometimes, it's less 'policy' and more 'getting off on being nice'."

"Hey you do you booboo. But if you had to learn the exact same thing could or would happen to you as it could to anyone else. That child solder shit didn't teach you anything. The fact that you and whatever her name put yourselves in that position is nothing else foolishness. Grow some balls and learn to fight."

Once again, Nate not so subtly pointed a thumb at himself and said "Again...Can fight and expendable" He didn't like referring to himself as expendable but it was true. His duplicates could die and have no really adverse impact on him. Other than the mental impact of course. His duplicates had died a number of times, a hazard of his profession, and each time they had been reabsorbed by Nate. When they were reabsorbed, Nate gained their memories, including their dying ones. He wasn't fond of dying but knew that he could do it and still fight. Cedric couldn't say the same. If he went in and got his ass handed to him again, the Reformists would be without their leader. He knew it wasn't his place to tell the boss how to do things but he had to say something. "Just saying...Maybe next time send in the grunts, not the general...Or at the very least, learn some better moves...A pimp slap perhaps."

"Thanks, Nate," said Cedric, "and yeah, I'm going to need to do what you and Eli said. Fact is, I really am too nice for my own good, and I need to be firmer, harder, much more cautious and yet forceful." And, of course, learn to analyze anything smaller than an entire operation.

[Subject Zero]

What the hell were those things!? Jake jumped back almost four feet, backing himself against a wall as what looked like dragons emerged from the massive hole in the ground. Three of them. Oh hell, this wasn't good. Jake was all for a good fight and all but these were freakin dragons! He whimpered slightly and grew disgusted by himself at the sound. He nonetheless started to scamper across the street in an attempt to reach safety but was stopped dead in his tracks by a series of loud sounds and the ground shaking beneath him. One of the dragons was charging directly towards him. And on top of it sat something or someone beyond Jake's ability to describe. It looked like a cartoon. He began to wonder if that cake had been laced with something but then remembered seeing that face before. He didn't have time to think much further before a massive, scaly paw threatened to come crashing down on him.

He quickly dodged to the side, barely managing to avoid being stepped on. That just pissed him off. The dog growled menacingly at the creature and its rider before barking loud enough to actually rock the beast ever so slightly to the side. Enough cowering. Jake was going to teach this thing not to mess with him. He jumped forward and locked his jaws on the dragons leg even as the beast continued its forward momentum.

@Archmage MC

[RoflsMazoy]

((Collab between Raijinslayer, NarcissisticPotato, RoflsMazoy and Savato))

Ruby's Extraction. - Part 2

The squad

"You have arrived at your destination." Alto's phone said.

"Cool." He said, throwing it over his shoulder.

Sefia spared it a glance as it hit the ground, screen visibly cracking into tiny pieces.

"I would've used it if you didn't want it you know." She said.

He looked back at her, not sure what to think.

"Why, did you want it?" He said.

"No, but why would you waste it?" She said to him.

"Same with everything else I do, I suppose," He said with a shrug, "Because I feel like it."

They jumped to Damien's roof from a nearby shop roof and slid to a halt. They were treated to an almost poetic sight of the chaos that was unfolding. The military forces fighting back and forth against a horde of creatures from myths and legend pouring out of a gigantic hole in the ground. It was almost as if fantasy world was invading the real world.

If it were though, fantasy was going to win. Some dragons had just burst out of the waterworks, and they looked pretty angry.

"Yo Damien!" Alto said to his part-timer, "Anything interesting happen lately?"

"Craigh left with some chick, who seemed to summon a Valkyrie that fought with Shifter, thought it was short as she vanished into sparkle dust while Shifter headed into the building after a walking owl-guy and some other guy that needs to shoot whoever gave him that costume. Oh, and dragons seem to have entered the picture as well, and they're not on ourside." Damien was also dealing with Insomnium trying to jump into the conflict, barely keeping control as his battle hungry persona stressed against his mental defenses.

"Hell of a party you've invited us to Alto, how you want to crash?"

"Yeah, unfortunately we're not going to be jumping into that." Alto said, "We're still doing the stealth mission. I got us an entrance, just follow me."

With that, he jumped down from the roof using a hookshot to slow himself down before he hit the ground. Sefia appeared next to him as he ran to a nearby alleyway and took the cover off.

"Wait, we're not..." Sefia said as a rancid smell wafted from the sewer, "We're not going down there, are we?"

Alto looked to her, grinning evilly.

"You bet we are." He said.

Damien simply jumped down, using his limited control of Shadows to form claws to ease his way down the side of the building. Once he got to the sewer, he took a whiff then chuckled, turning to face Sefia. "Believe me when I say that there are places that smell a lot worse then that, and you wouldn't want to find yourself in any of them." With that said, Damien took the lead, climbing down the ladder to the bottom, a light glow emanating from him to give illumination of their surroundings. Every now and then, a spark would leap from his skin to arc a bit into the air before dissapating, causing a harmless bit of shock to anyone that got a little to close.

"Come on then, let's be on our way to get this girl before it gets even crazier over there."

You better hope those dragon's are still around by the time we make our exit, or I'm going to be pissed. Insomnium threatened, only to be ignored by Damien. He was on the clock know, and even Insomnium wouldn't pull anything stupid that could jeopardize the mission.

"You should be more like Damien." Alto said as he jumped down after him. He took off at a brisk jog as he hit the ground and he saw Sefia and Damien follow him. The manhole he had used had been a bit closer to the New Sun building, but the sewers were connected so it hardly mattered.

Alright, He thought, bringing up a map in his mind, Left turn here, right around this bend and... here we are.

They were at the tunnel now, it looked untouched which meant Alto's exit had gone undetected. He jogged up the tunnel and stopped at the wall. Ha, I did a good job, He thought. The piece of wall he had taken out was still perfectly in place, and still looked like part of the wall. He pushed on it, and the rectangular door-sized piece of wall fell forwards. He hooked onto it before he hit the ground, so as not to make a sound. He looked out briefly and there still weren't any guards around.

Except for that guard who he'd knocked unconcious, he was still out, handcuffed to a cubicle.

"There aren't any guards around because of the attack." Alto whispered, "We should be pretty clear." He stepped out of the opening to let Damien and Sefia through. After they came through, he pushed the piece of wall back into place.

"There might still be some people around, so Sefia, stay a little bit behind us and out of sight." Alto said, "Keep one of your invisible swords on me so you can teleport to us whenever." He looked around the corner, just in case anyone was listening. "If you see anyone, take them out." He handed Damien an overhead map of the compound, one of the pieces of data Ruby had given them.

"We're currently on that dot there," He said, pointing at a red mark on the sheet, "Stay in front and make sure we stay on course. If you don't have any questions, we're moving out."

Camille Meets the Squad

Siphoning the remaining bubbly liquid in her fizzy drink can, Camille had released a tiny burp as she made her way through the mighty underground dungeon. She didn't cross any resistance nor did she try to cross paths with any Light anytime soon. She had tossed the can on the ground and stomped it for whatever reason. The dungeon was dark but still well illuminated by the well spread lights all around. One cell in particular was open, the cell she was trying to reach. Upon approaching, she heard footsteps from afar, and they were definitely not mutants. Who could it be? She asked herself, now unfazed almost anything after facing that cartoon freak. All of a sudden she had stumbled on Harper's unconscious body, causing he to trip in a humorous fashion.

"Owwwiie..." she whined before quickly getting back up and peering down at the KO'd comerade. "The heck? Hey wake up débile." she kicked him lightly on the face in hopes to get a reaction.

Hmmm. Alto thought, Who is that?

Ahead of them, he spied someone really short standing over the unconscious body of that one guy that had been following Ruby for a while. Well, the short girl was kicking him so he was probably alright. He looked behind him at Damien, ready for action. He looked in a nearby darkened hallway, at Sefia waiting for him to give some sort of a signal.

He looked back around the corner. There was something he had to do.

We took off at a brisk jog towards the short girl stopping just short of the body. He crouched down and studied the sleeping guy's face for a few seconds. The guy was pretty tall actually. Alto fished around in his pockets for a few seconds before pulling out a red pen he'd used to mark the map with.

Wait, this is ballpoint. He thought, He'll wake up for sure if I use this.

He looked up at the short girl in front of him. She looked to be about 11 years old... But just about older than Sal and Con. He doubted she would have what he was looking for, but he could always try.

"Hey," Alto said to her, "Do you have a permanent marker or anything?"

Camille raised her head in response to what she was hearing: People were coming closer, but all of a sudden some of them stopped, only leaving one distinguishable sound. One of them who was wearing glasses had gotten a little too close for her liking, prompting the idea of shooting his face off on the double. But before any of this could be done, he mentioned something about a marker; A genius moment struck Camille's mind as she realized she didn't have a marker, however she noticed the red pen in Alto's hand.

"Huh? Erm... You want to draw a peepee on his face, huh?" she said with a little snicker accompanied with the question "I don't have any pen, non..."

Alto crouched down again, poking the bodyguard dude's face.

Hmmm, He thought, He was just kicked and he didn't wake up. I guess this'll be fine then.

He uncapped his red pen, and started tracing a penis on the dude's forehead.

Hm. He thought, What else could I do?

He looked up at the short girl again. She seemed to be somewhat juvenile, perhaps she could do something extra.

"Want to draw anything while he's still asleep?" He said, holding out the pen.

"... That would be amazing!" Camille said in glee, almost excited to bring upon pain and misery to her unfortunate colleague. She'd snag the young man's pen and wrote the word "Moron" on his cheek. She wasn't going to write a major insult or anything of the sort, given she barely used any of those.

She looked back up at her new buddy. "Your turn!" she'd return the pen to Alto, chuckling as she anticipated the unconscious man's reaction.

Alto took his pen back and proceeded to draw the outline of some nerdy glasses onto his face. Too bad he didn't have any nerdy glasses, but he could just draw one. He also drew a tongue sticking out of the corner of the guy's mouth.

Still feels like I could do more. He thought, But I do have a job to do.

As he drew, she didn't change her expression one bit, however she pulled the pistol she had put away in between her belt and pointed it at the guy's face as he drew once more. "Okay. Who are you?" she asked with a much different tone, though not as threatening as one would believe. She was more curious than defensive, but the gun pointed at point blank range would still be quite menacing.

He looked up at her, mildly surprised.

"I'm some dude drawing on this guy's face." He replied bluntly. Technically it was true, that was all he was doing at the moment.

He drew a stick figure on the dude's other cheek that had a rather dorogotary face on it. It did well to emphasize the 'moron' on the dude's other cheek which the short girl had written. This guy was going to get a surprise when he woke up.

"You wanna add anything else, or are we done here?" He said.

"Oui~" upon saying that one word, Alto could feel everything around him, including himself, as if it had slowed down just enough to not really be visible but he'd sense it in his basic movements. However the only exempted from that bizarre phenomenon was Camille whom the weapon would simply turn to change its angle and shoot Alto's shoulder, the one linked to the drawing arm.

"I'm not going to ask twice~" she replied, keeping a very close stare on the man and his movements. The shot fired would likely provoke the rest of his flock, causing Camille to be on her guard.

"That's not very nice." Alto said, regarding the hole in his jacket, "What was that for?"

The bullet had bounced off his shoulder of course, it being metal and all. And there was also that weird thing with time slowing down and the short girl speeding up. He couldn't see his part-timers but he could guess Damien was looking around the corner and Sefia was probably getting a bit fidgety.

"If we're doing introductions, doesn't the person who asks do it first?" He spoke loudly enough for the other two to hear, but not loud enough to be suspicious. He needed them to know he was fine. Actually, the short girl probably expected something like backup. She kept a straight face even as she tried to shoot him which usually indicated someone who was in control of their environment.

Some kind of armor? Camille wasn't too bothered by that fact but it did cut some edge from her intimidation act. She fixated him as he thought it was a good time to talk with an impulsive invidiual such as Camille. Well anyway, she slowly pointed the gun back to his forehead, no rough movements so there wouldn't be a sudden outbreak of chaos even if her Time Dilation could limite the shock.

"Hello? I'm pointing a gun at toi. Idiot. Why are you here?" she followed up with another question he would have to consider. She slowly stood up while never changing her fixation.

Alto cocked his head sideways slightly, the barrel of the gun was sort of in the way.

"And that changes what, exactly?" he said.

"I won't miss your face next time." she responded, rather coldly. She was only now realizing the problem with this situation. Ruby was obviously gone and these guys could mean trouble.

"I know you're probably a good shot," He said, "But that still doesn't change much."

He thought for a second. Ruby wasn't here, but this was most certainly her cell. That meant she was out somewhere, perhaps she'd found his beacon. He ran a few options through his mind, he needed a way to go fast.

Ah yes, He thought, The rocket lance.

"Oh, would you look at the time." He said, looking down at his watch. It probably wasn't relevant what the time was, but it was for dramatic effect more than anything else. "It's been nice meeting you, whoever you are, but I've got stuff to do!"

With that, he raised his left arm in the air and emitted an extremely bright blue flash quickly followed by a sizeable shockwave of energy knocking the short girl down and sending the bodyguard guy a little bit further into the cell. He jumped to a standing position and sprinted around the corner, preparing his rocket lance as he did so.

"Sefia! Damien!" He called, "Follow behind me, make sure she doesn't get through!"

As he ran down the hallway, he brought his left and right hands together and concentrated. He helf his hands out in front of him, and as he ran he started to construct his rocket lance. The tip came first, a sharp point of black steel followed by a 7 foot cone of black steel with booster rocket looking things on the sides. Last came the handle, about a meter in length with one big booster rocket on the end of it.

As he ran he put it between his legs like a witch's broomstick and activated the booster rockets. Blue jets of flame erupted from all of the rockets on his lance, and he slowly started to gain speed. After a few seconds, he lifted his feet off the ground and he was rocketing through the hallways of the Underground movement, Sefia and Damien following somewhere behind.

She was caught in the shockwave, her small silhouette was submitted to the force unleashed by Alto, but luckily she could easily recuperate after a few meters away with a small backflip to end up on her feet again. Her little friend she had just met and shot had bailed already, what a shame. Her irrational behavior caused her to take less action than she should have, whether if it would have been effective or not. At least Harper would probably wake up after such a comotion.

"These intruders... They get even more annoying par la seconde." she'd complain to herself before delivering a rough kick to Harper's coxis to get him up faster, if that made any sense. "Get up lazy bum. Greenfoot is probably long gone so we have to tell mama!" she'd boss her colleague with her little prideful smile. It was almost as if she barely even cared about the escapees, likely because they didn't actually cause her that many probems.

Ruby Meets the Squad

A few seconds later...

Ruby somehow managed to dodge the rocket lance that blasted towards her - it was clear that whoever was driving it wasn't physically capable of driving the... broomstick? Using her powers, she slowed it down and turned before giving him a small wave. "Alto!" She called, beckoning him towards her.

"Oh, hi." He said, slowly floating towards her. She'd slowed down his rocket lance, just when he'd been building a decent speed. He slid off the lance and turned off the boosters. "Did you get that message I left?" he said, "That hard drive was expensive." He looked behind him, and saw Sefia and Damien still a ways off.

"We have no time. We can't go that way. Take me back to where you got in." She insisted, giving him a firm shake of her head as she disabled the broomstick. "And I mean we have to go now. Things are heating up down there - they've pulled out the dragons." Ruby stated, almost as if that statement was a normal day at the office in the New Sun building.

"I saw the dragons, they won't be a problem." He said, shaking his rocket lance a little bit. "Did you disable my rocket lance?" He flicked on of the boosters a few times. "Anyhow, do you know how fast this is? What are you worried about anyway?"

"Alto, trust me. Do not go that way." She warned, seeming very insistent as she stared at him. Thankfully, just to prove her point, a small explosion rocked the ground they were standing on, causing her to step forward, placing a hand on his chest. "Now, how'd you get in here?"

"Is it really that bad down there?" He said, ignoring her last question, "I need to pursue my secret agenda which just happens to be in that direction."

"Then can you point me in the right direction because I am not going back there." She stated clearly, shaking her head at him as she stared up into his eyes. "You can go and do whatever you like and more than likely die or you can lead me out and more than likely live through this thing, ok?"

"C'mon now," He said, deciding to try one last time to convince Ruby to come with him. "All I want to do is find Isabella and punch her in the stomach, then run away really fast. Don't tell me you wouldn't want to see that?"

Ruby hesitated for a single moment - damn right would she love to see Isabella getting pumelled by Alto because she had been on the receiving end of one of his punches before and it wasn't pretty. "Look, go knock her up all you want but I'm getting outta here. Now, which way is outta here?"

"Fine..." Alto said, seemingly defeated. "I'm assuming you read our exit strategy, right?" Actually, he wasn't really assuming that. "I'll need you to boost the lights, then Damien will power up, Sefia can just teleport whenever and I'll be taking you out the way we came in." He said that, but she didn't know where they'd come in from. One way or another, he was going to punch Isabella before they left.

"Now," he said, "Which way is the lights?"

"Alto darling, I've been hotwired into this entire building for the last five years. I can do what I want here." Just for emphasis, the lights above them became almost painfully bright. "I'm pushing these poor little bulbs to their limits. We don't have a lot of time until the most of them blow so please hurry along, will you?" She questioned, her eyes having a childish glint that reflected her cheeky grin.

"Damien! Sefia! Alto called behind him, time to go!" He said.

Damien had just been standing by the whole time, slightly on edge when the kid pulled a gun, but over all, just let things run their course. He did raise an eye when he formed the rocket stick, thinking of few things that were modes of transportation.

When they met with Ruby and she hit the lights, Damien smirked as even he was getting excited about fighting dragons. He gave control to Insomnium, who broke into a huge, manic grin, and turned to the group, their shadows flowing around him to form his armor, which was now black as night, the veins of red pulsating at an insanely high frequency.

"Well then, have fun guys, I'm going after those dragons. See you at your building when I'm done."

Insomnium turned back around and bolted towards the heat of battle. Once he arrived, he quickly summoned as much shadow as he could from the entire area, causing it to whirl around him, before he launched a intense beam of energized Shadow at the acid dragon. Hethen bolted towards the fire dragon, the shadow tendrils bursting from his back and charging towards the beast, focusing them all into the creatures chest, then rip them outwards.

Alto looked on at the carnage Damien was wreaking, sort of glad he'd had this plan. Sefia walked up besides him.

"You're going after your secret agenda thing, right?" She said, "Like I said last night, I'm coming with you."

"Nah, Ruby doesn't wanna go." Alto said, "You better just teleport back to your other emergency sword, there should be some ice-cream in the fridge."

She looked at him, a little dubious but she knew he knew what he was doing. She nodded to him and disappared. Alto turned to Ruby to say one more thing before they went off.

"Anything else you want to do before we go?" He said, "I think your bodyguard is in dire straits." Ruby didn't offer her supposed-saviour any words and simply shook her head at him before nodding down the corridor to remind him where she wanted to go.

"Wow, you're no fun." He said, teasingly, "But whatever, we'll roll with it." He led the way down the corridor, towards their 'exit' but little did she know, he only had a vague idea of where they were. Alto had left the map with Damien, and now he wasn't sure exactly where they were. He knew where Ruby's cell was relative to the rest of the labyrinth, but he didn't know specifically how to go through it. Still, it hardly mattered, he had a destination in mind.

He was after Isabella, but he knew she wouldn't have been in the control room at the current time. She was most definitely somewhere else, being obviously the commander when your base is under attack would've been the stupidest thing to do. No, she was definitely looking after her assets, and that meant Tree Baby Jesus. He knew his destination, now all he had to do was get there.

@Marx We may have done stuff to your character, hope you don't mind :D

[Archmage MC]

Much like she saw on TV, Light was riding the dragon, attempting to break it in. The dragon did attempt to freeze her with its icy breath, but gave up after Light looked unphased the third time, Light slapping it silly everytime she broke free of the ice in a playful manner. "Don't make me have to hurt you now! Or do I need to stuff you in a..." Light said, both her and the dragon stopping their squabble as the red fire dragon was ripped to shreds by shadow tentacles.

"See that dragon? Stick with me and you wont be the next Japanese tentacle victim." Light said, tapping the dragon. This snapped it free of its daze, and it started to fight her again. The acid dragon noticed its partner getting ripped apart too, and charged the shadow man.

Annoyed by the fact that the ice dragon wasn't surrendering, Light punched it in the back a few times before smacking it in the face until it was out cold. "Ice dragon. Doesn't that conflict? Whatever." Light mumbled to herself as she pulled out a cartoony plastic ball and tried to stuff the dragon in it. Of course it didn't work as well as it should have and...

"Aw... It was so cute til it exploded... Guess that show was wrong." Light said in distress at the mess the dragon had made when the ball she had stuffed it in stopped being cartoony and covered the area in guts. It was at that time she noticed a dog had decided to attack the green acid dragon. "K? Must be one of the officer's dogs. Oh well, I'm sure they can handle one dragon, esp with the shadow guy over there. I'mma go back and find objective B." Light said to herself. She waved to the cops with the dragons being dealt with more or less, and went back underground to see if she could find more hostages.

[Raijinslayer]

Insomnium

"Too easy, hopefully the rest of you are more entertaining." Insomnium, covered in the guts of the fire-dragon, chuckled darkly as he eyed all of the monsters fighting the officers, before the acid dragon rushed in from the side and devoured him in one bite. It seemed to chew him around a bit before swallowing, letting out a strong roar of triumph.

This sooned turned into a roar of pain as intense, electrical energy began to pulse through it's body, causing intense damage before a bolt blasted out from the creature's side. The bolt fellmdown a short ways away, the acid burns on his body already healing as he gave a pissed-off glare at the acid dragon, before he grabbed a Vampire by the head, draining it's neuro-electric energy into his other hand, concentrating it until it was almost too much to handle, before blasting it at the beast, it's eyes rolling back into it's head as it got fried inside and out. Damien kept up the attack, dropping the Vampire's corpse once he was out of juice, until the creature was dead. Once that was done, Insomnium switched in, turning to Isabella's army, his psycho smile visible as the shadows crawled back uo hus body. Once the armor was done. his laughter became insane and full of dark glee ashe truly let loose with his shadows, tearing down anything thag stood in hus way with either the two blades he had formed, or the tendrils sprouting from his back, clearing enjoying every second of it.

Jaden

The lizard-creatures detached the tendrils as soon as Owl-man caught them, causing the organic constructs to quickly retract to the meta's position. The tendril's would attempt to wrap around the Owl, particularly his arms and legs, in an attemot to hold him down. While not the strongest, they would stil be rather difficult to remove or break out of if they did manage to get around him.

Spectrum's blast did blast the creatures back, but they were quick to right themselves, growling at the colorful meta before they scuttled back over to Jaden, meshing back into him as he watched the proceedings from,a safe distance. The mutants upstairs could handle cops, he needed to take these two out of the picture until the system-wipe was done. That in mind, he formed a biological construct that looked like a crossbow, a barbed-bone bolt already loaded, and fired it at the glowing hero, then quickly loaded up another one to fire at Owl-man. The spot's he aimed for where the lower torso, going more for a disabling shot then a kill, though he knew these might as well kill them if they didn't get medical attention

Sebastian

He sneaking out through the back door, avoiding all the chaos.

[Letter Bee]

((Collab Post between Letter Bee and Lord Santa))

The Return of Constantine Ramiel King!

Two years of faking death, two years of having bet all; relationships, worldly possessions, and his authority over the Reformists on this gamble, and Constantine Ramiel King's body was now being exhumed, exhumed from a coffin where it lay in state, seemingly perfectly enbalmed. The truth was, Constantine had never truly inhabited the coffin after his funeral, and had been smuggling himself in and out for his time 'dead'.

Now, at last, the operation that had torn him away from his family was paying off, and Constantine was about to be transported to the Underground Movement's base...

Soon, a blue portal appeared out of space and a masked man beast emerged, loping out from who-knew-where. He trudged through the dingy cemetery with a sense of purpose, as if it was looking for something. He stopped at a particular grave and bent down to begin digging. The isolated cemetery was thankfully devoid of witnesses and the beast continued, undeterred. Some 6 foot underground, it found what it'd apparently been looking for. Its monstrous claws unearthed a black coffin, the coffin of the allegedly dead Constantine King. The man beast took one side and hefted the coffin with unearthly strength, taking it out of the grave and carefully placing it aboveground. It climbed out and quickly re-filled the now empty grave. Once that task was done, it grabbed the coffin and made its way back to the still open portal.

It and the coffin emerged in one of the abandoned sewer's many empty chambers, repurposed as a dissection lab for Isaac's use. A walkway was suspended above the room, with stairs leading down into the interior. The walls were lined with benches on which were placed surgical and containment tools. A surgical bed lay in the center of the room, and to its left was a trolley with several trays, the uppermost having an array of dissection tools. A few lights adorned the room, illuminating its interior. The man-beast dragged the coffin through the portal next to the bed, on the right. He left it there, moved to an empty corner of the room and waited.

Isaac emerged from a door onto the walkway and proceded to walk down to his laboratory. It appeared that his dragons were having the intended effect and pushing the reformists back. Though if heroes like the cartoonish Light showed up, he could be in a spot of trouble. That said, he had confidence in his creatures, and should his dragons fail, he had something else up his sleeve. Hence, Isaac was focused on the task in front of him.

As he reached the bottom of the staircase, he took some gloves from the bench near the foot of the staircase and put them on. Hygiene first, as always. He proceded to walk towards the surgical bed, withdrawing his scalpels to check their condition. He was satisfied with their sharpness, he put them down onto the surgical tray. He was ready to begin.

First, he paced around to the coffin and removed his glasses, putting them in his pocket. As usual, the glowing points swam into view. He touched one on the coffin and noted down its characteristics. He waved to the man-beast who shuffled over. Isaac moved aside and the man-beast took the coffin lid and lifted it easily, revealing Constantine's body.

To all eyes, Constantine's body would look cold and dead, with years in the earth having given it a pallor. But manipulating eyes and brains were Constantine's specialty, meaning that Issac and the beastman were already under an illusion, an illusion that allowed Constantine to open his eyes without anyone noticing, and taking in his first sight of the Underground Movement's headquarters.

A second later, a glowing spear was thrust into the man-beast's chest, a spear that was extended from a cylinder that the 'corpse' had been holding.Issac might be puzzled, until the illusion faded, showing Constantine in a fighting stance, in front of them, and angry.

"A dissection bed, really, Issac? Oh, and how does it feel to be subjected to your own trick, basically someone faking their death?" Constantine said, his tone almost laughing in its mockery, as he used another illusion to hide any visual indication of his vital points. "I knew Isabella was a threat, I knew that she was out there somewhere. And you, you will give me all information you know about her," he said as he pulled out the spear from the man-beast.

"Otherwise...I will make sure that your sordid career is ended prematurely."

Isaac bent down to check his man-beast. It was still breathing a little, but its lungs were punctured. Its heart was fine, as he'd relocated it, but the lungs were quite the problem. They were a problem he could fix later, but still bothersome. He wasn't sure if he could keep it alive long enough to finish the bothersome confrontation and force Constantine to leave. He pinched a few vital points to stop the bleeding and left the man-beast on the floor for now. Its regeneration would keep it alive for now.

"You can't expect a liar to tell the truth, I suppose." Isaac sighed, dusting himself off.
Constantine had hid his vital points, but that didn't really pose any issue. There were vital points common to humans and if he wanted to use them, then he could. That said, he was unarmed. It would be quite another task to fight him without a sharp object, but it wasn't exactly impossible. He would have to sacrifice a few limbs for that, however, and he didn't have the time.

"Constantine, you spend 2 years faking your death to find Isabella. I find that extremely inefficient." Isaac remarked. "I know many things about Isabella, things I only took half a year to collect thorugh observation alone. It would've been much more expedient to find her whereabouts in that time with your allies and observing her. And yet here you are."

"Point taken, Issac," said the man, who appeared to be standing there, but was in truth sitting on one of the dissection beds, glowing spear still in hand, "but finding Isabella was not my only goal, it was also preparing defenses against the Third Party, the source of the phenomenon known today as Metahumanity. The time I spent out of my coffin has been spent preparing new weapons, new technologies, ones that will save all sapient life on this planet from the harvest. And, well, Issac, I won't make any claims to know you, but you're not as adverse to Non-Metahuman company as other members of the Undergrounds; why don't you join our project; even with my old faction 'observing' the Government, we're still able to get our hands dirty."

"Constantine, if you knew that I faked my own death, you should know why I cannot join you." Isaac sighed, as he took an office chair from a nearby bench and sat down. "It is not my hobby that puts me at odds with others, it is my nature. Specifically, my absolute apathy for humanity."

Isaac spun idly on his chair, as if bored.
"All I wish to do is to learn. To know. To study." He said. "If I can learn no more from observing the subject, I will kill them and study them. I have absolutely no loyalty to anything other than my will to know. This is what puts me at odds with your kind of people."

"I had to try," said Constantine before the sound of a door opening and closing can be heard; he had escaped.

Isaac sighed, picked walked over to the tray and picked up his tools. He walked over to his man-beast and began sewing the wound closed. That done, he left the man-beast to regenerate by itself and walked out of his lab.

As he exited, he commanded another beast to teleport him to his announcment room. It was a localised public announcment system likely installed by the builders of the sewer he inhabitated. It hadn't served him that well, but he wanted it now. He sent off the man beast to drop a package in front of the elevator leading to the surface (and the actual underground movement base) and turned on the PA system.
"Constantine. A package has been dropped in front of an elevator leading to the real underground movement base. Consider it a peace offering to prevent the wilful destruction of my test subjects. It contains a hard disk which has all of the information I know about the underground movement." Isaac said. "It's likely one of your colleagues has access to most of said files. Some of the files he or she has likely given to the reformists are encrypted, I have not taken the liberty to include them in your package."
The man-beast returned, signifying its success.
"As for the matter of the third party... I have something in place for that." Isaac said cryptically. "That is all."

Isaac left the public announcment room and walked into the nearby camera room. He had secret cameras surveying the above ground battles, and he was confident that Constantine was done with him. What he wanted now was to observe the battle.

Constantine found the package in its intended location, and, taking the hard disk and putting it in his pocket, began to head up, up to the actual Underground Movement base. It was time to do what he needed to do to help; while his heart had been hardened by Elena's incapacity, he was not leaving his once-comrades out in the lurch, not when he was in a position to help them.

Soft and hard; there was a balance. Cedric had forgotten said balance, and thus would have to be lectured, even though this would open him, Constantine, to be lectured in turn. Why? Because he had crossed his personal Moral Event Horizon, with what he did to his adoptive brother, Gary Stuart...

[Subject Zero]

Nate

Nate took a sip of what was supposed to be coffee but tasted more like something that had come out of a drain somewhere. Raven had spoiled him with great coffee and now everything else was just awful. He peered over the rim of his cup at the company around. Eva seemed like a nice enough person and Nate wondered what sin she had committed to be given the duty of acting as Eli's assistant. Eli was a conundrum. Sure, the guy was a douche but...god help him...Nate actually found himself enjoying the back and forth between the two of them. And then there was Cedric. The boss man himself. Nate actually felt sorry for this guy. Here was the figurehead of the reformist council, only 20 years old and a confirmed genius...And he had just had his ass handed to him. And by a little girl no less. That had to be humiliating. The eye patch was pretty cool though.

He realised that Cedric probably wouldn't want people pitying him, even though there would probably be more than a few who did after that smackdown. But there was no need for Nate to pile it on too. Instead, he cleared his throat and changed the subject to someone else. "So how's...whatsername?" He shoved a thumb in Eli's direction and added "That woman the flamer brought in so elegantly earlier?"

@AcerRo @Letter Bee

Jake

This was just annoying. Not only had he almost been stepped on by a dragon but now he had been splattered by that same dragons guts as it exploded all over the place. He had to fight the urge to gobble some of it up though. He snorted, blowing a small chunk of intestine out of his nose and peered at it for a second. How exactly had his life gotten to the stage where he had to blow dragon guts out of his nose? He watched the weird looking woman run off without so much as a sorry before shifting his attention to the maniac beating on the remaining dragons. Jake wanted no part of that psycho. His laugh was all kinds of creepy.

He briefly considered just getting the hell out of there but he realized that he was actually having fun. Despite the guts and constant threat of death. Maybe he'd hang around and see if any more chew toys crawled out of that hole. Or better yet, maybe he'd follow after the weird woman. She kind of looked like a chew toy he had once owned. He lost that chew toy at the beach and that loss broke his heart every day. Curiosity and a need to chew getting the better of him, he decided to follow after her.

@Archmage MC

[Letter Bee]

"Olivia," spoke Cedric, " and she's all right, still recovering." He then sighed. "As Elijah knows, she went on her own to try to make peace with the Underground Movement, but, all she recieved was not just a punctured lung for her troubles, but also the very war she wanted to prevent." Then, a note of steel entered his voice, a rare sight in these past two years.

"And before you ask, Elijah, I didn't do any better by pushing up the date of the war; instead of Next Monday like originally planned, I had to attack now; although to be fair, the flying False Angels and Fake Ophanim showing their pretty faces in public left me no choice." He then brushed himself off, although there was no dirt. "You're right, though, enough angsting and brooding over spilled milk."

@AcerRo, @Subject Zero.

[AcerRo]

Eli looked incredulously at Cedric. "Please do not tell you that really believe that horse shit? You have got to know just how badly all that shit went down. Two members of the leadership were critically injured, the whole of the public now knows you guys can't really protect them and that, not to mention that one member tries to show female empowerment or whatever the fuck by not waiting for the backup that she requested and a child solider got nick furied by some ten year old girl. On top of all that, you just showed them most of your cards which to proved to be at most mildly effective. Even after I had thinned the heard for you yah and none of this even touches the shit storm that's gonna hit when the news finds out that I landed on this door step. So tell me kid, did anything go well? Did you at least get the surrogate? Cut a nut from Jaden? Stab Lancaster in the ovaries? Something that might buy you sometime?"

Eli wasn't in the advising market. Truth be told as time went on and the more he learned he wanted less and less to do with any of this. There was no doubt in Eli's mind that this was a massive failure. Cedric being a former child solider should have the balls and mind to prevent such a shit storm. None of this made any sort of sense, well one thing did, the dumb ass kid was at best incompetent and not just young.

"Eli you need to back off! Mr. Wessex feels bad enough as it is!" Eva Adams snapped. Eva knew she might of been over stepping but someone had to stand up to Eli and him being nothing short of a bully and a creep. Eli had taken things too far. It was high time someone put a stop to it, or so that's what Eva Adams had thought, right or wrong.

Eli quickly turned to Eva before letting in to her. "Eva Adams. Just tell me how many people got killed today? How many deaths could have been avoided? Here's the answer, all of them. No one had to die to day. All the kid had to do was wait till another day or two. Fact of the matter, they got comfortable and when challenged they lost. The Reformists lost and it don't matter what the numbers say. Just what the people say and now this person says I'm starving, so can someone point me in the direction of either an exit or a place where I can get a huge meal?"

Eli knew he was being an ass, its not that he didn't care but more the kid needed to hear it. If he had heard it before then this was to drive it home. Eli couldn't help but wonder just how bad this would if he hadn't been there. Egotistical? Sure. But the fact remains he had saved the girl and had burned a shit load of... things to death.

@Subject Zero@Letter Bee

[Raijinslayer]

Kuro was walking through the Reformist HQ, bored as hell, when he heard some yelling coming from the infirmary area. Curious to see what was going on, he saw a 3 guts and a girl discussing something, though Kuro didn't care enough to pay attention. He did, however, see a wondeful pranking opportunity set before him.

Kuro . . . Jackson warned. Don't do it, man, this looks like something serious and we shouldn't interrupt

I'm not interrupting, I.m making this discussion more interesting, and if you try to stop me, we'll both get caught and you'll be stuck with the punishment.

I hate you, you know that right.

Yes I do, but hearing you say it is like music to my ears

Kuro sneaked into the room,slipping into the Zone as he approached his targets, ignoring everythi g they were saying in preference for his own thoughts on those gathered. Their was a scary looking dude who'd be skipped the stripping but would be subjected to marker doodles, two other guys who was going to be stripped to his underwear, a woman to be pantsed and that's it. He shivered to thinj what Cer might do to him if she found out he used his power to strip a woman, he didn't know the full extent of her energy manipulation, and didn't want to find out by having her use it on him.

Refocusing on his task he drew a bunch of warts, penises, poop piles, and a moustache on the scary looking dude(Eli), Stripped the other two(Nate and Cedric) and pulled the woman's pant's down. He took the collected clothing and placed it neatly on a bed, then walked over to a far corner to watch the chaos that was sure to come. Once he had reached said corner, each person would be able to notice what happened to them and react accordingly.

@Letter Bee
@AcerRo
@Subject Zero

((Got bored, decided to give Kuro a moment of fun. Inspired by Alto's treatment of Harper in the Collab))

[Letter Bee]

Cedric was saved from having to reply to Eli's accusations by the sudden disapperance of his clothing, leaving him in his underwear in public. The 20-year old blinked, then looked at Nate and Eli, while pointedly refusing to gaze at Eva, before his mind began sorting through all the possible culprits. Kuro, you might have just saved your future old man, he thought. Now for payback.

"I know who did that," Cedric said, "and where he's staying now. But if you want to pursue immidiately, I'm not going to tell. No, we'll get (Edit: our) clothes first, then clean up, then after that, I actually have a plan; yes, my brain's working again, Eli."

@AcerRo. @Subject Zero.

[Pirouette]

Despite the Owlman was lacking credentials before, this building certainly proved something. The entry and main lobby was a sight to behold and Ann became lost in the architecture. While scanning around, Ann looked over at her sister, Ariadne. As expected, her grumpy sister was still stewing in some type of anger but perhaps she was right. There wasn't anything to be happy about yet. Just because everything looked official, there was always something to hide. The question then became, what were could they be hiding here?

A man greeted both Owlman and Ann. The man, while certainly appearing to be a teen's dream, came off a bit rude by addressing Ann as "another stray", as if this were some type of dog impound. She didn't let it show but Ann certainly tensed up in a sudden fury. Then the man addressed her as a "meta". That was a term Ann had rarely heard as she didn't often times socialize and when she did, she made sure not to expose her meta status. But thankfully the man changed his tone and both Ann and Ariadne eased up a little.

"I... uh. No." She stated hesitantly. "There isn't anybody to call." She answered him as she looked away and clasped her arm. If there was somebody, Ann couldn't remember but the fact that nobody found her yet means there probably isn't a somebody.

Before the interrogation could continue, a boy came up. He seemed just as nervous as she did and her mind suddenly flashed to "another stray". This was probably another one like her. The fact that he was still alive and not subjugated to experimentation yet seemed to be promising. "Hi!" Some excitement resonating her voice. But she didn't press farther. Instead she became conscious of just how gross she must look. She turned back to the older man. "Um. Can I.. Do you have a shower and clothes?" It wasn't the first time she had been in a type of foster care and usually those that take her in provided her with both.

[Gentlemanvaultboy]

Jaden

The lizard-creatures detached the tendrils as soon as Owl-man caught them, causing the organic constructs to quickly retract to the meta's position. The tendril's would attempt to wrap around the Owl, particularly his arms and legs, in an attemot to hold him down. While not the strongest, they would stil be rather difficult to remove or break out of if they did manage to get around him.

Spectrum's blast did blast the creatures back, but they were quick to right themselves, growling at the colorful meta before they scuttled back over to Jaden, meshing back into him as he watched the proceedings from,a safe distance. The mutants upstairs could handle cops, he needed to take these two out of the picture until the system-wipe was done. That in mind, he formed a biological construct that looked like a crossbow, a barbed-bone bolt already loaded, and fired it at the glowing hero, then quickly loaded up another one to fire at Owl-man. The spot's he aimed for where the lower torso, going more for a disabling shot then a kill, though he knew these might as well kill them if they didn't get medical attention

@Raijinslayer

The tendrils were pulled out, but were still alive. The wiggled and thrashes, quickly trying to wrap him up. Luckily, they were gripped in the middle by his talons. Before they could begin to get a good grip he applied the considerable pressure of his grip, messily snipping them in half before throwing the thrashing bundles to the sides.

Then there was another sound, something else souring through the air. Not at him, at Spectrum. He focused his head on it, allowing sound to paint a picture of it in flight even as he heard another fired. He considered how cool it would look if he could snatch that bolt out of the air like he was some sort of kung-fu master but these claws weren't meant to grasp something that thin. So he leaped in front of spectrum, bringing his talons together like a big black ice cream scoop and swinging them into the path of the incoming bolt. He connected, diverting it and sending it clattering to the floor even as another whizzed through the place he'd just been standing.

He turned to Spectrum, and tried to be a quick and clear as possible. He pointed to the door the cops had just gone thorough, then tapped him quickly on the chest, then rotated his wrist and pointed up. Go up. Follow them. They need backup.

Then, hoping that his intent had gotten through, and turned and ran toward the railing. Those shots had come from the ceiling, and now there was only one heartbeat up there. He hated doing it but he brought his talon up to the neck of his suit and brought it down, ripping the poor thing right down and throwing off the ruined remains to expose his chest and back. Then he jumped up onto and over the railing, and there was a sick organic pop as his wings sprung out from his back in a flurry of feathers. He beat them, the flapping producing no noise at all, as he let them carry him to the ceiling and the source of all those sounds.

@Weird Tales

[Gentlemanvaultboy]

Despite the Owlman was lacking credentials before, this building certainly proved something. The entry and main lobby was a sight to behold and Ann became lost in the architecture. While scanning around, Ann looked over at her sister, Ariadne. As expected, her grumpy sister was still stewing in some type of anger but perhaps she was right. There wasn't anything to be happy about yet. Just because everything looked official, there was always something to hide. The question then became, what were could they be hiding here?

A man greeted both Owlman and Ann. The man, while certainly appearing to be a teen's dream, came off a bit rude by addressing Ann as "another stray", as if this were some type of dog impound. She didn't let it show but Ann certainly tensed up in a sudden fury. Then the man addressed her as a "meta". That was a term Ann had rarely heard as she didn't often times socialize and when she did, she made sure not to expose her meta status. But thankfully the man changed his tone and both Ann and Ariadne eased up a little.

"I... uh. No." She stated hesitantly. "There isn't anybody to call." She answered him as she looked away and clasped her arm. If there was somebody, Ann couldn't remember but the fact that nobody found her yet means there probably isn't a somebody.

Before the interrogation could continue, a boy came up. He seemed just as nervous as she did and her mind suddenly flashed to "another stray". This was probably another one like her. The fact that he was still alive and not subjugated to experimentation yet seemed to be promising. "Hi!" Some excitement resonating her voice. But she didn't press farther. Instead she became conscious of just how gross she must look. She turned back to the older man. "Um. Can I.. Do you have a shower and clothes?" It wasn't the first time she had been in a type of foster care and usually those that take her in provided her with both.

@Pirouette

Ohh, damn, looking at her reaction to asking if she had anyone to call hurt. Max had seen a lot of that face.

The girls request, then, didn't come as very much of a shock. She either didn't have anyone, or she didn't have anyone she trusted. Either way, sometimes you just needed a safe place to get cleaned up. He pressed a button on his ear. "Melony. I need you to come cover for me for a bit. Right. Thanks." He looked around, got up from his console, and started walking down the hall. "Honey we got more than that. Come with me."

Considering she followed him he lead her serendipitously to one of the suits of the luxurious Private Shelter 4, opening up the door to let her see. "Now, technically, these are exclusive to people with superpowers who we take in that are hiding or running from something or, hell, just need a safe space to get their head on straight. Buuuuut, we are never even near full up so I don't see the harm in bending the rules juuuust a bit, let you stay the night. I'll be 'round with your clothing presently, just fold anything you want washed outside the door, and if you're hungry I'll pop down to the cafeteria to pick you something." He said jovially, before taking on a more serious, compassionate tone. "Seriously though, are you sure there's no one you want me to contact? If you're in trouble I have friends in the precinct, we work with them a lot so we have a good relationship. If you don't want to get the police involved there are a few battered woman shelters I could point you to. Believe me, I wouldn't be working this job if I didn't want to help."

[Pirouette]

<Snipped quote by Pirouette>

Ohh, damn, looking at her reaction to asking if she had anyone to call hurt. Max had seen a lot of that face.

The girls request, then, didn't come as very much of a shock. She either didn't have anyone, or she didn't have anyone she trusted. Either way, sometimes you just needed a safe place to get cleaned up. He pressed a button on his ear. "Melony. I need you to come cover for me for a bit. Right. Thanks." He looked around, got up from his console, and started walking down the hall. "Honey we got more than that. Come with me."

Considering she followed him he lead her serendipitously to one of the suits of the luxurious Private Shelter 4, opening up the door to let her see. "Now, technically, these are exclusive to people with superpowers who we take in that are hiding or running from something or, hell, just need a safe space to get their head on straight. Buuuuut, we are never even near full up so I don't see the harm in bending the rules a juuuust bit, let you stay the night. I'll be 'round with your clothing presently, just fold anything you want washed outside the door, and if you're hungry I'll pop down to the cafeteria to pick you something." He said jovially, before taking on a more serious, compassionate tone. "Seriously though, I you sure there's no one you want me to contact. If you're in trouble I have friends in the precinct, we work with them a lot so we have a good relationship. If you don't want to get the police involved there are a few battered woman shelters I could point you to. Believe me, I wouldn't be working this job if I didn't want to help."

@Gentlemanvaultboy

Ann followed the man in silence, still looking around hoping for a glance of something... incriminating. But it all seemed alright and the man opened up a private room. "Thanks..." she muttered under her breath as she stepped into the room. It was quiet and looked cozy. "No... there is no one. I'm fine." She answered without the confidence to back that assurance up. But the man didn't press further and left. He came back some time later with food and clothes and Ann took a long overdo shower and picked at the food she was given, still fearing sabotage. The clothes were plain but they were clean. Fresh undies and a bra felt terrific. A clean white shirt and a loose, pink sweater, with a comical cartoon kitten on the front. Finally a pair of jeans finished this conservative look.

Then she fell asleep while watching cartoons and awoke the next day. The man, introduced as Max, who had offered her assistance, brought her breakfast and Ann finally opened up and admitted her Meta status. She agreed to a sort of Meta physical which was more of an interview. She told them of her powers, of Ariadne, and some information about her origin. A lab in the middle of Arizona was most likely responsible, she admitted she didn't know much before that. She mentioned that there were others and that they escaped somehow but wasn't sure how. Seemingly satisfied, they gave her the rest of the day. She wandered and explored the building but eventually settled on watching cartoons again. This time in the staff break room because it was surprisingly warm and it offered a nice view from the third story window of the park she had just been at yesterday.

[c3p-0h]

Today had been a long day. Midterms, work, people… all Aya wanted to do was collapse into bed. Turning the last corner, she saw her building casting a shadow over her, relief washing through her at finally coming home. As she walked along the path, she saw a read-headed man collapse in front of the landlord's door. Concern ripped through her as she watched as the landlord and his wife usher him inside. Aya's brow still crinkled in worry, but at least the man would be taken care of. At least, she thought so until she heard a scream that froze her blood.

Aya's feet were glued to the pavement, unable to move. Something was wrong. Someone was in pain. Her mind shouted at her to move, to see what the danger was and help, but fear paralyzed her where she stood. Something that would make someone scream like that… what could she possibly do to help? Maybe if she just… but memories shot through her at the last time she'd used her powers. The fear and guilt that rushed through her every time she thought of it, the man's face, distorted by rage, his angry shouts… and then the echoing silence when he died.

Another scream tore through the air, ripping Aya out of her memories. She had to do something. At the very least she had to see what the situation was, and if she even could do anything. Decision made, she steeled herself, ducking into the alley next to the apartment. Sitting down on the dirty floor, she took a deep breath. Second thoughts rushing through her head, Aya switched on her power.

Suddenly, the overwhelming LA heat, city smells, the hard ground underneath her were all gone. Sounds became muffled, as if Aya had cloth over her ears, and when she opened her eyes, the world was dark around her, objects and people shining brilliant like stars in the night sky. Only her spirit carried the same colors as in life, and she raised her hands to her eyes. She was getting more and more accustomed to the changes that came when she activated her abilities, but every time they still perplexed her. Another scream came, this time muffled by the veil separating her spirit from the world, and she remembered what she was supposed to do. Standing up, Aya left her body behind and walked through the wall of the apartment so she was standing in the living room. And then she screamed.

The sight that greeted her was horrifying. The ginger man (clearly a Meta) was laughing as he draped carnage around the room like tinsel. Forgetting that no one could hear her, Aya slapped a hand over her mouth to stifle her scream. Her body trembled as she watched in horror. The Meta took absolute delight in the nightmare he unleashed, blood spraying every which way as he murdered two people and corrupted a third.

Aya dropped to her knees and began dry heaving, sickened by the sight. And then in the next moment she was snapped back into her body, uneasiness building in her stomach. She threw her head to the side and threw up until her stomach was empty, and all that was left was her rasping coughs. Rocks and cement dug into the skin of her palms and she clutched for something to ground her, to remind her that she was awake and not living through some twisted nightmare, panting out heaving breaths.

She stayed like that for a few minutes when she heard the apartment door open and that man's sickeningly sweet voice. Pushing herself back up to a sitting position, Aya wiped at fresh tear tracks on her face before switching back to the astral plane. She had to call the police… but first something was telling her to follow this man.

And so she did – all the way down into some hidden alcove. She watched in confusion as different people made themselves known. A scientist who could apparently control dragons, an elegant woman, a young girl… Understanding dawned on her as they discussed. This was the Underground Movement. And the murderer, Sebastian Lyon… worked for them? They weren't exactly on good terms, but that seemed like the case. And they were planning something awful.

Aya watched until the discussion was done and all parties left. Following Sebastian out the back door, she paused as she felt her spirit tug back to her body. Seemed like she'd reached the end of her range. Fear thrumming threw her at all she had witnessed, Aya snapped back to her body. With shaking hands she fumbled through her bag for her cell phone.

"Hi, police? I'd like to report a double murder and a kidnapping." Her voice came out in short spurts between pants (or was she hyperventilating?). Rattling off the address of her building, she continued on, "The murderer, he's… I don't know, he's some kind of monster. Red hair, twenties, tall… he's a Meta, really dangerous. Does… I don't know he cuts people with his blood or something. Tell whoever you send he's dangerous." Now she was hiccuping, fresh tears streaming down her face. Taking a deep breath in an attempt to steady herself, she ran a hand down her face.

Giving the operator the address of where she'd seen Sebastian exiting the… hideout? she almost added on her thoughts that it was where the Undergroun Movement met, but kept her mouth shut for reasons she didn't know. This was all too messed up. Why was she involved in this at all? Hanging up the phone, Aya rested her head against the hard brick of her building. Really, where had she gone wrong in her life that had lead her to this day?

Tl;Dr

Meet our newest character, Aya. She sees Sebastian massacre a family at her apartment building, reacts appropriately, and uses her powers to follow him, watching his interactions with Isabella, Isaac, and Camille. Then she calls the police on his ass.

[Raijinslayer]

Sebastian

Sebastian, after exiting the base, made his way back to the house to see if Cassandra, or Cassie as he was going to call her, was ready to go when he noticed a young woman crying near while leaning against the building. Oh my, those are real tears you can tell by the look on her face, she's been having a bad day. . . Lets see if I can't make it worse. With that pleasant thought in his head he aporoached the woman, adopting a face of genuine concern as he approached her.

"Hello, ma'am, are you alright?"

[c3p-0h]

Aya was fairly certain she felt her heart stop in her chest when she heard that same voice. The voice that had laughed as a man and woman were massacred. The voice that had manipulated and maneuvered around a deadly deal. With wide eyes, she snapped her head over to look at the monster who would be sure to haunt her dreams. To all the world he looked like just a concerned passerby, but Aya couldn't forget the sickening grin he'd wore as he murdered her landlord and his wife.

Trembling, she opened her mouth to say something only to find her voice caught in her throat. Her thoughts ran like a bullet train through her mind as she stared at him. He knew. He knew what she'd seen and he'd come back to kill her. He'd torture her just like he'd done to the others, and leave her body in the alley, and the last thing she'd hear echoing in her ears would be his laugh.

"I–"

She was brought back to reality though when she heard the sound of sirens ringing down the street. The police. They'd come, they would arrest this monster, and Aya would be ok. Maybe he didn't know what she'd done. All Aya really had to do was keep him here, right? And it wasn't like she was completely defenseless. This man had blood on his hands… but now she did too.

These thoughts all rushed through her head in a moment, and Aya clamped her mouth shut, taking a swallow. Closing her eyes, she ran a hand down her face and took a deep, shaking breath.

"My uh…" her voice was a quivering thing as she tried to get her thoughts in order. "My dad died," she said with a wet smile as she held up her phone. "I'm sorry, I'm fine, you don't have to deal with this." Fresh tears spilled down her face and she leaned back against the wall. The sirens grew louder in the distance. An idea occurred to her then. Looking at him out of the corner of her blurry eye, she gave another half smile. "Lynn," she said, holding out a hand to him. "Nice to meet you."

[Lord Santa]

"I spent a lot of time on those." Isaac sighed.
Unfortunately for him, his three dragons were dealt with. They'd basically been torn apart, and reconstruction was an unlikely event. Not impossible, but it would take time. A rather annoying amount of time. He would have to retrieve what he could, despite the danger. The dragons were still semi-salvageable. If that was the goal, then he knew what he needed.

Isaac pushed some buttons on the console in front of him and gates opened below, in the depths of the sewer. It would be a good time to test a few things. Some monstrous roars could be heard but were abruptly cut off as his man-beasts did his will. He adjusted his glasses and continued pressing more buttons. A few more cages opened below and the beasts inside were teleported away. Isaac sat back and watched.

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On the battlefield, with the dragons down and the heroes causing pandemonium, it looked like another turn for the worse for the underground movement. It seemed that the reformists were winning, and they very well may take the day soon. Suddenly, another monstrous roar sounded from the depths of the underground. The reformist footsoldiers looked around nervously as they wondered what would come next. But things grew oddly quiet for a few seconds, and they were confused as to what it was. Suddenly, a reptilian head burst out of an intact part of the ground, behind the reformists, snapping up one of the footsoldiers. The others turned to face the new threat but it disappeared back underground. They rushed to the hole to try and catch another glimpse of the beast, only for the reptilian head to appear at their newly turned backs and swallow another hapless victim. It quickly disappeared from view again, and the footsoldiers were wary. Where would it come from this time? They made a circle around themselves, weapons drawn.

Suddenly, 3 heads burst out from under the ground and ate the soldiers whole, forcing them down their throat and disappearing again. Several more heads appeared from the ground and consumed the remains of the other dragons, swallowing them down faster than the reformists could react. They disappeared once again, and everything was still once more. The reformist foot soldiers stood nervously, not able to anticipate where it would go next. Suddenly, 9 heads burst out of the ground followed by a massive reptilian body which covered a third of the square. 3 of its heads roared while its other heads snapped up some mutant soldiers (Ophanim, vampires, elves).

The reformists opened fire but the bullets bounced off of the Hydra's thick scales. In response, 3 of its heads spit fire, ice and acid out of their mouth, wreaking havoc on enemy forces. The other heads opened fire with lasers characteristic of the Ophanim and snapped up anyone unfortunate enough to get in its path.

But while the reformists were distracted with the Hydra, a glowing green spectral shape drifted out of the ground, right behind an unsuspecting reformist. It silently drew back its arm and dashed forward, slashing several of the soldiers within a second. As other reformists noticed its presence, they opened fire only to find their bullets passing through it. Instead of paying attention to them, it made a beeline to Light, claws ready to engage.

Meanwhile, Insomnium was decimating the underground movement's forces. A man-beast appeared behind him and grabbed him in both arms, pinning him. Insomnium's shadow armour was clearly doing damage to it, but it quickly teleported and appeared somewhere else in Los angeles, at the height of a skyscraper. The man-beast held tight even as Insomnium hurt him, clearly intent on keeping him out of the fight.

3 more man-beasts appeared in flashes of blue light, swinging their claws at the soldiers. Some discharged electric blasts, stunning the soldiers, and then swiftly ending their lives. They disappeared once again in a flash of blue light before the other soldiers could react.

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In Isaac's monitoring room, he adjusted his glasses as he watched the battle.
Good. He thought.
The 3 man-beasts reappeared behind him.
"Stand by for more orders." Isaac said to them.
He stood in the chair, watching the fight. He had control of the hydra, and he could tell it what to do to a point. The 2 other man-beasts were on standby for further orders, but he didn't need them right now. All he had to do now was watch.

[Subject Zero]

At the realisation that he was now practically naked, Nate did little more than sigh and take another sip of his "coffee". Like Cedric, he knew exactly who was to blame. He was disappointed that this was the maturity level of his new student. Was this really the best thing he could think to do with his powers? Hell, he could at least have put them in some compromising positions. If Nate had found himself suddenly in Eli's arms, he would have been annoyed rather than disappointed. This kid was such an amateur.

He had to admit that the penises on Eli's face were at least slightly entertaining. He decided not to mention anything to the other man. Maybe he'd go out in public without realizing there was a giant schlong on his forehead.

Nate placed his cup gently on the table in front of him before rising and heading off to collect his clothes from nearby. He didn't bother to put them on, instead just slinging the pile under his arm. As he returned to the table, he addressed Eva Adams with a smile and said "Sorry about that ma'am. I generally like to buy a lady dinner before she sees me naked". He turned to Cedric and asked "Still don't want me going all spartan on his ass?". Mirroring his past meeting with Cer, he then wrapped his free arm around Eli's shoulder and and began to lead him out the door. "Come on, Opie" he began "I'll buy you some fried chicken and tell you all about a little boy I'd like you to set on fire."

Of course he'd never actually let Eli torch the kid but he knew that Jackson or, more likely, Kuro would be hiding nearby. Knowing that he would likely be unable to find the kid. Instead he decided to let him know that there was going to be hell to pay, all while acting unsettlingly nonchalant about the whole thing. He was emulating his old drill sergeant. That man had a temper like an angry bull and could yell with the best of them. But what was really scary was when he got quiet. Then everyone knew he was plotting their future humiliation. Nate planned to let Jackson/Kuro know that he wasn't in charge and that shit like this wouldn't be as funny as he had hoped...Well the penis on Eli's face was pretty funny.

@Raijinslayer
@AcerRo
@Letter Bee