The light shined in through massive stained windows, dancing off the countless metallic surfaces that covered the room. The floor was a wide expanse of intricately carved metal, with footprints of gold, copper, and silver tracing paths from the bed to the television and bathroom. Curtains of gold and silver hung in thick sheets from above, brilliantly reflecting sparkling light across the room, and moving slightly in the breeze from the broken nearby window. Shattered quartz and glass shards lay strewn around the ground, the sound of the window breaking causing the young girl to look up from her screen. It was far more muffled than she would have expected, though Tamba Tantri had almost certainly felt the disturbance and called for the guards.
A man stood in front of her. Young, barely in his 20s, his exposed upper body rippling with thick muscles. Grusome hooks and barbed blades hung from his forearms, dangling on almost imperceptible metal wires. He looked familiar - a cousin that she had been kept sequestered from, only seeing his photos? An old family friend that she hadn't met since she was a baby? Some random intruder? If he was one of theirs, he was probably Ankush Rekha - though if that was the case, he had much fewer scars than the girl had expected.
The girl was barely half his age and less than half his weight, but she didn't seem disturbed by his presence. He walked forwards, his Hindi slurred under his breath as he did his best to sound disarming.
"C'mon Rue Rue, I don't wanna hurt ya. Just need enough to buy ourselves a ticket to France - I'll get ya some Ice Cream and take ya to the movies after, how's that sound?"The girl's expression didn't change, the man quickly growing impatient as seconds dragged on. He probably knew how intense security was - few who entered her chamber without an invitation left with their body intact.
"Alright seriously, hurry the hell up kid! Come with me if ya want to live."Despite his scowl and the aggressive baritone in his voice, the girl smiled at the words. The hooks dangling from the man's arms seemed to shift in the air somewhat, and the man snapped his head towards the corner of the room looking straight at the wall. His long legs and swift step allowed him to close the distance almost instantly, and he reached a muscular hooked arm out towards the girl.
"Times up. C'mon ya little shi-"She darted forwards, moving in and past his arm. A jab to the chest, followed almost immediately by another to the throat. She darted back out within the same breath, though didn't run as far as one would expect a young girl to do in such a situation. The punches themselves were nothing against the man - even in a delicate point like the throat, a child wasn't going to hurt a grown man with a light jab.
Regardless, the man had collapsed to the ground, clutching at the points where their skin had made contact. A thick gurgling noise could be heard emanating from him, like air being pushed out of a whistle that was dropped in syrup.
"Auuuugggaa... Auuuugggaa..."The hooks dangling from his arms dug into the flesh that remained intact - but in the center of his chest, where there was once thick and rippling muscle, was now an almost transparent sheet of metal. His heart could be seen pumping wildly, blood pooling in a partially transmuted lung.
"Transparent Spinel. MgAl2O4. I thought about using Aluminium oxynitride, but I haven't gotten the hang of that one yet... If you keep thrashing around you'll bleed out, and if you stop you'll suffocate from the lung damage. Expected time of expiration: 48 seconds."A hook seemed to shoot forwards - too high to be a hit on the girl, and aimed to the right. His aim must have been ruined by the shock to his system. Despite that, he managed to land a clean shot on a woman in robes, thick metal armor underneath barely blocking the hook from sinking into her torso. Several more guards raced into the room, all wearing identical uniforms. Two stationed themselves between the man and the girl, while the rest surrounded the man, restraining him and dragging him from the room just as quickly as they first arrived. Several barbs and hooks latched onto the floor as he was dragged away, breaking apart under the force of the guards pulling him.
The girl didn't know why they bothered. They wouldn't be able to interrogate him before he died. She gazed idly at the blood trail that followed the man's body, leaking from a crack that formed in his chest from the force of his restraint. It covered the small golden footprints that she had left in the floor. She frowned slightly. One of the guards that had stayed in the room, an older man, noticed her displeasure and extended a hand, the blood seeming to be drawn up as thick red cuboids into the air.
She didn't bother to thank him, or even paid mind to the attempted kidnapping. If the girl was bothered by murdering her assailant, she certainly didn't show it. She just grumbled under her breath, thinking about how annoying the increased security for the next few weeks will be. She made her way back to the massive television set in the corner of the room, resuming the movie that the intruder had so rudely interrupted.
The guards in the room cleaned the mess that had been left from the brief interaction, anxious as the girl watched some science fiction movie in fascination, viscera spraying across the screen as some alien creature exploded out of a man's torso.
Rupa collapsed out of her bed, falling onto the hardwood floor as she clawed at her throat and gasped for air. Her pajamas, a full-body onesie with a bunny hood, was rapidly shifting between aluminum, zinc, and silver. She writhed on the floor and did her best to calm down, slowing her breathing as much as she could and trying to keep herself from crying out.
"Fuck fuck fuck I killed my cousin as a kid, oh shit oh god, I'm a fucking psycho dude, holy SHIT!"The panic attack and stream of profanity continued for a few more minutes before she eventually reigned her power in, transmuting her onesie into silver before slowly crawling to her feet. She breathed a sigh of relief as she took a brief inventory of her apartment - a small studio apartment in the East Flank that was a far cry from her previous luxury. Her bed was still lumpy and kinda smelled musty, the floor was still hardwood with that one sticky spot in the corner that she hoped was soda, and the wall was still drywall that probably had lead paint or asbestos or something. The onesie was hot as hell during the summer, but thankfully it does its job of keeping her rented home (and security deposit) safe from her power.
Taking a look at her phone, Rupa quickly swore under her breath and raced to get changed. If she didn't hurry, she'd be late for the orientation, and might be forced to sit through it again. She threw a top on and pulled on the nearest pair of pants, stumbling through the door to her apartment as she was pulling on sneakers, dragging a massive duffel bag behind her with deceptive ease.
"Shit shit shit- OW!" As she raced down the stairwell, an older woman tossed an apple at Rupa's head while calling after her angrily in a mix of rapid-fire Thai and heavily-accented English.
"Sorry for swearing Mrs. Yuvaves!!! Thanks for the apple, I promise I'll get you rent tonight! ...Crap crap crap."Rupa ran out of the rundown apartment block before skidding to a halt as she saw that traffic in most of the city had been backed up thanks to the festivities. She groaned loudly, causing a few nearby pedestrians to stare at the scruffy girl, before pulling a weathered MP3 player out of her pocket and sliding earpieces into place.
A familiar beat began as she started running, weaving between pedestrians and darting through alleys as she made her way towards Savior Island.
Thankfully, her apartment was fairly close to the HERO-owned landmass, and she could see the towering skyscraper of HERO One within a a few minutes of leaving her apartment complex. She had kept up her training regimen ever since coming to the States, so her stamina was decent enough. She wasn't even winded, despite the intense pace she was keeping. As she got closer, she thought back to her previous visits to the building - not the best, in all honesty. She destroyed several training dummies while they were testing her powers, as well as a wall or eight. That, combined with the tantrum she threw when they even brought up the idea of locking her up in the Junior Academy, was enough to put her on the bad side of most personnel who had the displeasure of meeting with her. No way in hell that place was like the Breakfast Club.
'Could be worse - least I'm not gonna get stabbed in my sleep or get facehuggered by boiling mercury.'Hopefully.
By the time she had made it to the coast of the island, she could already see, several people congregating together. Or rather, several people congregating together, and a fucking GIANT. Seriously, was she 10 meters tall or something? Or whatever that is in freedom units.
Rupa skidded to a halt as she reached the others, coughing and groping for the water bottle in her oversized duffel bag. Probably shouldn't have sprinted near the end if she was trying to make a good impression.
"*cough* s-sup'... sorry I... *cough* I need a bike... Sorry I'm late Ms. Duff. Won't happen again probably I think!"She choked down a few gulps of water before looking at the other people who had congregated thus far. The easiest to spot from a distance was the giant girl, who even after lowering herself to speak with the other heroes, was still taller than some suburban houses. Her power was pretty obvious and hopefully could be turned off - if not, that shit was even more inconvenient than Rupa's power, which she didn't think was possible to be honest. Imagine getting clothes that fit - ugh...
There was also a freaky mushroom... thing? Let's roll with it. Nah, They, it is kinda dehumanizing- can you dehumanize something that might not be human?
WHATEVER! They were super fucky looking, like a special effects department in the 80's got most of the movie budget. Which, of course, meant they were the coolest-looking thing here. Rupa definitely had to get to know them and ask how they feel about Little Shop of Horrors. Unless that's like a porno for this thing, which it might be.
The others were much less notable at a glance. Ms. Duff was an Omega-class hotty, and her friendly demeanor was a stark contrast to the authoritarian bullshit that Rupa was used to - both with her family, and at the few jobs she tried to hold down in the States. Her outfit was also pretty swanky - Rupa could never pull off heels, and the suit definitely gave off 'I'm the co-leader of a massive superhero organization' vibes.
One girl wore a white trench coat and pants alongside a black turtleneck, with dark hair and deep green eyes. Maybe not a hero and just in R&D or something? She felt like a scientist. Hot, but in a scary way - Ms. Duff is better. Rupa narrowed her eyes a bit as she looked at the woman. She felt familiar in some way, but not enough that Rupa could narrow it down.
The last one was another girl, younger, with long white hair. She seemed kind of cold at first glance, and was a bit off to the side compared to the others. Shy maybe? Dunno. She'd probably be the final girl in a horror flick, or the hacker girl in an action movie if Rupa had to nail her down to a specific niche. No clue what her power is, or the green-eyed girl for that matter. Hopefully flight or fireballs, that'd be pretty badass.
They probably already did introductions, huh? Everyone was looking at her after she sprinted up here, even the Swamp Thing cosplayer. Gotta get back in the swing of things, let's do this shit, Sterling!
Rupa shined an apple against her coat as she looked at the others, her voice a bit too loud for how close everyone was.
"Shining like a shooting star, the Rocky 4 of Superheros! Rupa Sterling - AKA Alchemist, I'm gonna roll with just Alchemsit when I'm saying this in costume - makes any problem golden! EAT SHIT, CRIME!!!"The girl struck a dynamic pose as she pointed at the sky and yelled her practiced introduction (which Assistant Director Duff had probably been forced to sit through more than once), thankful that she kept the swear word in since it made her sound more mature and serious. Rupa promptly dropped the duffel bag she was carrying, which slammed into the ground with the force of a hundred or two pounds of metal that was shoved in there. She then sat on the bag, and took a massive bite out of the apple she had been holding this entire time.
"Nice to meet you guys. Let me know if you wanna borrow any movies, I got a few hard drives with, like, everything good after 197- oh fuck, should I be eating this in front of that guy?"She points at Mire with the hand holding the half-eaten apple, her face flush with embarrassment for the first time this entire interaction.
"I don't want to be, like, rude or something."
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