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

[NarcissisticPotato]

The Not So Glorious Revolution

What was expected to be a quick in and out job turned into a complete and utter disaster. They hadn't really anticipated just how many Metas would be present and needless to say, it was more than enough to deal with Acacia's attacks easily enough. Acacia was still distracted, trying to find chinks in the wall of ice that had surrounded the Mayor, keeping him safe. As she worked, Alex quickly realised that they had no hope of killing the Mayor - another Meta was already guiding him away by that point. They couldn't go back to Edge with a result like this; they needed to make a big enough stir. It was time for a little slice of chaos.

Reaching to his belt, Alex drew a grenade before popping the pin and rolling it towards one of the larger crowds of people. He planned to fire another before multiple opponents suddenly made themselves known. The first and foremost was a girl who looked like a walking LGBT parade and the others were strange beings that looked oddly familiar to the duo. Some of them were heading straight for Alex but the larger one was bearing down on Acacia.

Frowning, Alex took in a deep breath as his world seemingly slowed around him. Acacia was in trouble but he was as well. He had to somehow deal with the enemies approaching him while providing substantial cover for Acacia. His grip on his blade tightened as frightened screams reached his ears. What scared them so much? The fact that Death danced ever-so-close to them or the fact that they thought themselves safe and secure? That was the origin of true chaos and Alex was quite a fan of chaos. Looking around, he watched his enemies flying closer, intending to crush. If he wished to defeat these people then he had to show them true fear, he had to make sure that they thought their attacks were meaningless. But a sacrifice was required. As his world seemingly sped up against, he shared a quick glance with Acacia who had lost her concentration on the blades. Almost immediately, the blue of her eyes faded into a translucent green as she activated Fates' Design. She was lowered to the ground but odd symbols etched themselves into the air around her before dipping down onto her skin.

When the two Ghosts collided with Alex in the centre, it wasn't the swordman who responded but his sister instead. Feeling the pain of about a dozen bones in her body being broken was no walk in the park so naturally, her lungs lit up with a horrid scream of pain. Falling to the ground, she clutched at her sides and Alex, who was weary but still on his feet, felt the blood in his veins ignite to a fiery heat - no one fucked with his little sister. Taking advantage of the Ghost's surprise, he ducked backwards before firing his entire body into a cruel slash downwards which cleaved one of the Ghosts in two with its deadly edge. It made an odd sound as it exploded into wisps of light. Grunting, Alex turned and buried his blade in the other before ripping it free. The thing didn't die but it was halted so Alex turned his attention to the one converging on his sister.

It seemed momentarily surprised when its previously powerful prey suddenly turned into a writhing mess on the ground but it continued nonetheless which made it a problem. Acacia herself was slipping in and out of consciousness, idly gulping down ragged breaths of air as she tried to make sense of the scene around her. She was aware of the hulking object closing in on her and although her mind screamed at her to make flight, her energy had already waned.

"Acacia!" A voice called, dragging her attention to the source which turned out to be her brother. Blinking, her stare met the shifting of his mask. "End It!" Something clicked with her and she instantly deactivated Fates' Design, causing the symbols on her body to fade. Alex began to feel some weariness in his bones but that didn't stop him from sheathing his blade and practically launching himself at the yellow creature. Although it was big, Alex assumed it hadn't expected the attack as it rolled to the side and off its course. Picking himself back up, Alex moved quickly to his sister's side and quickly threw her arm around his shoulder before collecting her up. Reaching to his back, he drew a handgun and fired a few shots off towards rainbow girl. She seemed the most obvious to chase them considering the door was much too small for the weird creatures.

They kept backing until they were out of the room and Alex chose to turn then, dragging his practically unconscious sister down the hallway. "Y'know, it always seems to be me picking up the burdens in this family." He joked which fell on deft ears. Just as they rounded the corner, their progress was instantly halted by a small brunette who clearly didn't have any regard for safety. All three were sent sprawling with Alex's gun flying from his hand.

[Letter Bee]

Pixel's arrival messed things up for Lizzie; for one thing, the presence of more 'friendlies' in the commotion made her bit of thundercloud too dangerous to use, so she picked up a long round table instead, planning to smack the woman with it, but again, the Ghosts got in her way.

"Just smack them anyway!" shouted Lucas, "friendly or not, they're not sapient!" Lizzie shook her head; it seemed as if the woman was writhing down on the floor, using some sort of weird power. As the two enemy Metas ran away, the swordsman shot some bullets at Lizzie, who just used the table as a shield; thankfully, the mayor invested in expensive hardwoods.

She found them having bumped into a brunette, a civilian. Great, more complications. Letting go of the table, Lizzie faced them with her foam pistol and pepper spray, foam pistol towards the swordsman, pepper spray towards the telekinetic.

------

Now that the mayor was safe, Lucas began reassuring the civilians.

"As you can see," he said, "everything is safe; Light has saved the Mayor, and everything is under control." He then went off to go after Lizzie; conjuring six more globes of water; two for mist, two for attack, and two for defense, all at different times so as not to overtax himself.

[Nytefall]

Cain - Cain Enters the Fray!

"You know buddy you're just making this harder on yourself. I don't normally hurt other metas but you are awfully stubborn. How much pain do you think you can really endure?" The man in question was a meta George was his name he was able to control air currents and influence the weather. He was tied to a chair with a broken left hand and dislocated jaw.

Cain was smoking as he paced in front of George. "Now buddy, George wasn't it. I just want you to tell me where your wife is. All I'm going to do is go there and kill her, nice and quick no pain at all." Tipping the chair backwards onto the floor he looked at George in the eyes. "Oh sorry I forgot you're probably going to have trouble talking what with the whole mouth thing. But look here is a map of the city, you point to the place and I'll go there kill your wife and then come back set you free. If it turns out you were wrong I'll back here and see if I can't jog your memory with the same techniques that I've been using these past four hours."

To address his point he ground his foot on George's left hand. George's reply was a groan in pain, he had lost the energy to scream after Cain had infected him with his own blood. His ability was eating away at George's cells, a broken hand and a dislocated jaw were the least of his worries as his body was being destroyed from the inside.

Cain lifted the chair back upright placing the map in George's lap and untying his right hand. George looked at the map then back up at Cain a defiant look in his eyes. "So still gunna play that game? No matter I'm sure my gift to you will finish you off in a day. But until then we can enjoy ourselves. Right?"

Cain had walked away from George to the table he had set up, on it were a selection of tool you might find in a tool kit. Picking up the pliers he turned round to George. "Let's see if we can't clip away that stubbornness of yours." As he walked over to Cain the wall where he had placed his tool blew inwards, standing there was his George's wife Hollie a meta blessed with super strength. "Well hello there Hollie just the woman i was looki-" Cain didn't finish what he was saying as Hollie had pounced onto him and clothes-lined him into the wall behind him. The wall cracked from the force. Cain struggle to stand several of his ribs were broken and his lungs were punctured.

His ability quickly began to heal him but Hollie gave him no time to catch his breath uppercutting him and then side kicking him in the kidneys. Coughing up blood he staggered up. Hollie looked at Cain anger in her eyes. "You're a monster Cain, preying on people like me and my husband you make me sick!" Hollie Grabbed Cain's head and pounded it into the ground, the concrete that made up the floor cracking with the force. Hollie released Cain's head. Cain hadn't planned to fight this woman on even grounds and now he was paying for it. Hollie left Cain on the floor untying her husband.

Cain's body quickly stitched itself back together faster then Hollie thought was possible for him. She was holding George in her arms giving Cain the advantage as he stood up. "Bad move sister, you have a choice; Drop your husband and I kill him or run away with your husband and I kill you both." Hollie jolted through the hole she had made and began to run away from him. Cain shook his head sadly, his feet became elongated and cheetah like allowing him to move faster then even an Olympic athlete. Chasing after Hollie and George, super strength is good but she wasn't super fast. He easily caught up to her his right arm became elongated and blade like bending backwards he zoomed past her his arm snapping forwards with enough force to crush concrete. He skidded to a halt in front of her. Turning around his body returned to normal as Hollies head fell at her feet. George fell with her he had missed Cain's blade by inches.

Looking down at Hollie and George he smiled. "Sorry George buddy it's nothing personal, your wife has caused problems for my employer and now well. She wont be causing problems for anyone. I'll do you a solid though." Cain grabbed George's broken hand and removed Cain's cells from George's body. "Now you should survive and live to fight another day. I do like it when people are out to get me, keeps me on my toes." Cain called the hospital telling them George's location. Tipping his imaginary hat to George who had fallen unconscious from shock he turned and left.

Leaving the area he phoned his employer who told him where the dead drop for the money was. Smiling he found the dead drop and collected his money. Turning around he heard the sound of a rifle bolt clicking. He reacted to late as his body was peppered with bullets from the fully automatic Assault Rifle. Looking at his chest he saw blood pouring from the holes made by the bullets. Falling to the floor he looked up, seeing the determined look on his assailants face he memorized it as he fell unconscious.

[Weird Tales]

Pixel

The ghost gave cries of frustration when Alex avoided them and went through a door that was too small for them to pass through and Pac-man had been knocked off course and wasn't able to devour Acacia before her brother rescued her. Sam cursed in frustration and made both the ghosts and Pac-man disappear. He then created a man-size version of Mario from the Donkey Kong arcade game that was wielding the hammer power-up.

"Go get those scumbags and give them a taste of old-school gaming!" he commanded the pixel plumber and Mario chased after the two metas with great speed swinging his hammer up and down continuously just like in the arcade game. Sam then created a pixel sword and followed after his creation. He wasn't going to let them get away, he had something to prove to himself and the others. He was going to be a real hero and save lives. Sam decided to stay close by Lizzie and Lucas in case the two enemy metas had something up their sleeves.

Mario was gaining on Alex and Acacia and unless they took evasive actions or defended themselves then otherwise they would get horribly whacked by the old arcade game character's hammer.

@Letter Bee@NarcissisticPotato

[c3p-0h]

Aya

The force of the collision sent Aya tumbling a few feet back, falling to the ground. She heard a grunt and a clatter, no doubt coming from whomever she'd run into. Catching herself on her hand before her head could hit the ground, she was instead treated to a flash of pain shooting from her thumb and up to her shoulder that threatened to bring tears to her eyes. She opened her eyes to inspect the damage, but before she could look down, bright red captured her attention. A man, one of the tallest she'd ever seen, and wearing a bizarre glowing mask was sprawled in front of her. A woman looking worse for wear was next to him. Both had crimson hair, the brightest she'd ever seen. Aya and the man looked at each other for a moment, as though still trying to process that they'd just knocked each other to the floor.

It was then the sound of footsteps crashing down the hallway that made them finally break eye-contact. Aya looked up to see a very colorful and irritated girl – one of the Reformists she remembered standing beside the mayor – come charging towards them. Right behind her was… Mario? Aya looked back at the red headed man in confusion when realization slammed into her: he was part of the Underground. He and this woman were the ones causing havoc. She remembered a flash of red on the corner of the screen before the smoke bomb went off. Then a glint of silver lying on the floor caught her attention, and her eyes fell on a gun. A gun, two Undergrounders, an anthropomorphic rainbow, and Mario the plumber. It was then that Aya began seriously questioning the choices in her life that had lead her to this moment.

But then reality snapped her back she saw everyone prepared for a brawl in the middle of the hallway. Aya's body reacted without her telling it to, and in the next instant she'd scrambled forward, ignoring her throbbing hand, and grabbed the two redheads by the naked skin of their wrists. There was a flash of instinct coiled inside her, some unknown reflex that snapped at her just before she pulled the two with her to the astral plane.

Don't.

When she opened her eyes to see the constellations that made up her world, she understood.

Aya had only brought other people to the astral plane twice before: her father, and the knight from the massacre. Both times, the men had more or less retained their physical appearances, though her dad's soul had looked healthier than his body. She supposed the Undergrounders looked roughly the same too, but there was something fundamentally wrong with how their souls had manifested.

The man was darker, more sinister, as though he was merely the shadow his body cast. The lines of his body were hazy, plumes of thick smoke – or floating, moving clouds of sand – flowing to make his form, like some sort of solid cloud. His image rippled, multiple currents fighting for domination. They ebbed and flowed back and forth, almost completely consuming each other, but in the next moment, the currents would push back the other way. Tendrils of mist floated away from his body, escaping the battle only to dissolve the moment the connection broke.

The woman was completely drained of color. She ranged from a pearly grey to a deep smoke color, and seemed fragile as rice paper, as though a single touch could shatter her image, revealing it for the illusion it was. The only color on her body was a series of crimson runes seared into the skin of her wrists, ankles, and neck, like chains shackling a prisoner.

Something between a gasp and a scream escaped her as she tried to scramble back from the two. There was something dark and tainted about them, and if Aya's instincts had snapped at her before, they were all but screaming at her now. This was wrong. She needed to get away from them. She needed to scrub her skin raw and red if it meant getting clean of them.

"What," Aya whispered, almost to herself, "did you do…"