DERAILING CAREFULLY LAID PLANS
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Location: Few blocks from Sherman’s Square.
Time: Late Afternoon
Racheli’s feet snapped off the elevator, alerted by its soft ding, then made her way for the door. It surprised her she hadn’t gotten lost while navigating through the twisting hallways. Casually her thumbs hooked into her jeans when she walked by the doorman, his eyes turned to scrutinize her presence. Her head whipped instinctively in his direction and warned him off with a hard glare. Today had been rough enough for her, the last thing Racheli wanted was some big ass bully staring her into submission. Too bad it was harder to rein in her natural fear about the fact he was armed.
She shrugged off once she stepped outside. The woman made a sharp right toward to the LHPD’s station, her feet barely slowed in her pace.
It was a bad idea. Through it had been months since her disappearance, Racheli was still a wanted individual and she knew the moment she fucked up she would have Gene Corporation coming knocking. They wanted their property back pretty badly. Bad enough to frame her for a crime she was actually victim of. Her blood boiled at the fact is just to get at the virus she was currently saddled with. She wasn’t going to become someone else’s guinea pig. Especially after she figured out a way out of Midas’ slimy grasp.
Quietly thinking over her dilemma, Racheli’s path took her past a tv store and her ears caught something dreadful. She gradually grinded to a stop as her eyes looked beyond the collecting crowds. A news announcer stood, suit crisp and clean, in subtle distress over recent events. His eyes flipped between the notecards and the camera he was speaking to.
“Again, Nautican Island, Massachusetts and Paris, Texas have been completely destroyed. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania was also devastated in the attack which government officials have confirmed originated from the satellite weapon that destroyed the home of billionaire industrialist Christopher Arthur. Please stay tuned, we’ll provide more information as it becomes available. But as of now, thousands have been confirmed dea…..”
He was cut off abruptly by static before a new voice replaced it. Slowly a single man shrouded in shadow appeared, unfazed by the disaster that had happened. They faced the camera, his voice digitally altered, when he uttered his simple message.
“We warned you. We told you that compliance was non negotiable. Yet you chose not to listen.”
“The time for talk has past. From this moment on, you are either with us or you are against us.”
“We are coming, and you will either stand with us, or you will burn with them.”
The Hounds of Humanity had gotten Racheli’s attention now.
“Shit.” Allison Sparks said to herself as she navigated her SUV down the narrow side streets near Racheli’s apartment. She had figured that with the developing crisis that it would be easier to get to the safehouse that Midas had stashed his new toy, however, she was sorely mistaken. In light of the recent attacks on American cities by the terrorist group the Hounds of Humanity, the police in Lost Haven had begun cordoning off certain parts of the city. She had expected as much, however, the LHPD had become quite efficient in handling emergency situations.
BEEP! PING!
Ms Sparks’ eyes were suddenly drawn to the large display next to the dashboard. To most people, the display was nothing more than the entertainment hub for the vehicle, which might be where one would find the radio controls or maybe even a GPS, and in a way that was true. However, this GPS was not finding your way around the city, instead, it was a tracking system, and this tracking system was calibrated specifically to the homing beacon that Midas had implanted in Racheli.
“Where are you going?” Ms Sparks asked as she watched Racheli’s homing beacon move. Once news broke of the attacks, Midas had sent Ms Sparks to retrieve Racheli and bring her back to Midas Industries, as the labs beneath the Power Plant were specifically built to survive a nuclear blast, which should make it more than capable of withstanding a sudden bombardment from the Hounds’ secret weapon. However, Racheli wasn’t at the apartment when Ms Sparks went there to retrieve her, so she had been forced to track her down.
It didn’t take Ms Sparks long to find her. Once she got back onto the main roads, Racheli’s homing signal began to grow stronger. After several minutes, she had tracked Rach down to an electronics store not far from the safehouse apartment. As Ms Sparks approached the location of the homing signal, a wave of relief quickly washed over her as she saw Racheli.
She was standing in front of the electronics store with a crowd of people who were all transfixed on the televisions in the windows. The televisions were playing a news broadcast which was covering the recent attacks that had left several cities either in ruins or completely erased from the face of the earth.
Paris, Texas was gone, as well as Nautican Island, Massachusetts. Ms Sparks suppressed a shudder as she thought about the fate of Philadelphia, and she pulled the SUV up next to the crowd in front of the store and rolled down the window.
“Racheli!” She shouted, probably louder than she had to. The crowd had been standing in silence as they watched the news reports on the attacks, and the sudden outburst caused several of the people to jump. Ms Sparks waited for Racheli to look in her direction.
“Get in. We’ve got to get out of here. Now.”
Racheli flinched as her name was called. Her eyes -ice cold and hardened- twisted about to lock onto Ms. Sparks, her lips pressed tightly together. Without another word, her feet shot out toward to the SUV then pulled the door open. As she ducked inside, her words sliced through the air.
“Do you really think that will do any good?” The door slammed behind her, not bothered at all.
Ms Sparks studied Racheli for a moment as the young woman climbed into the SUV. From the moment she had met the young woman, Racheli had a certain air of resentment about her. And truth be told, Ms Sparks could understand exactly why she was the way she was. She could even relate a bit. However, on this day, there was something different about her. There was something else there, yet, Ms Sparks couldn’t quite put her finger on it.
“I don’t know.” Ms Sparks honestly replied to Racheli’s question. “Maybe, maybe not. It doesn’t really matter. The boss wants us back at the Power Plant.”
“Good, I have a question or two to ask him. Starting with why,” Racheli replied.
Her hand curled under her chin, propping her head up against the car window. She stared into the street as she barely blinked.
“He wants us to be there because it’s probably the safest place in the entire country right now. If those assholes decide to vaporize Lost Haven, the facility under the Power Plant would probably be the only place to survive. It was built to contain Icon himself, and it can take a direct hit from a nuke. It’s where he’ll be, it’s where he wants us.” Sparks told her.
“What about afterwards? I won’t hide because I doubt hiding will solve this problem. They won’t stop until all metas are dead, or worse. They already proven they will kill anyone to ensure their goals,” Racheli countered, her mind shifted to what she had been taught most her life.
Expectations about doing the right thing, no matter how hard or impossible it might’ve been. That’s what was expected of her. Besides, it got in the way of finding him.
“You’re right. They won’t stop. But they’ll be dealt with. We just need to get to the Power Plant and figure out our next move. At least we’ll be safe for the time being.”
“I haven’t felt safe since this morning,” Racheli mumbled, still staring out the window.
“You and the rest of the world. Those pricks really changed the game today. None of us are safe, not anymore.” Sparks said ruefully as she drove on.
“No, but I didn’t really care until now. They aren’t the ones that rattled me this morning and if my gut feeling is right, things just got much worse for me. At least I can do something about the Hounds,” Racheli replied.
Sparks listened to Racheli as she drove. And as she listened, the things that Racheli was saying made sense. Sparks thought about what had happened today, she thought about how the Hounds had managed to change the world with the press of a button.
She thought about the thousands that had been killed in Paris and Nautican Island. And she thought about her mother. Her mother who still lived on Benjamin Franklin Drive in Philadelphia.
Marissa.She also thought of the one person that she had ever truly loved. As she drove through the streets of Lost Haven toward the Power Plant, images from her past played in her mind. She thought about the first time she met her first love. She was sitting alone in the dining hall during dinner at Philadelphia University. Her friends had abandoned her for the evening for a night of drinking and debauchery. Of course they had invited her along, however do to a big Philosophy exam the next morning, she had declined.
So alone she sat at the table that she and her friends regularly occupied eating what passed for a slice of pizza (though she couldn’t say for sure if actual cheese or pepperoni had actually been used in the creation of the alleged “pizza”), when a raven haired beauty sat down beside her and began chatting her up.
Then memories of trips to Eastern State Penitentiary during Halloween for the famous haunted house that the former prison put on every year, and how Marissa would jump into her arms when a “monster” would jump out at them from the darkness.
Memories of nights spent in together, just the two of them. Memories of holidays, Valentine’s Day.
And then the memory of the day that she left Philadelphia, and Marissa behind to pursue opportunities elsewhere.
She had always wanted to reach out and see how she was doing, but she never found the time. And now, now it was too late. Philadelphia was in ruins, and Marissa was more than likely dead. And now she would always regret that she was never able to find the time, or possibly courage to simply pick up the phone.
Suddenly much to Racheli’s surprise, Ms Sparks stopped the car.
“Go.” She said simply, never taking her eyes off the road.
Racheli’s figure was nearly tossed from her seat as she caught herself, her hands slammed hard on the dashboard. Her head snapped to the woman’s direction. Her jawline was clenched tightly while she tried to find words through the haze of anger gripping her. She didn’t like to nearly be sent through the windshield, her voice filled with frustration and fury at the last statement.
“What the hell? Are you trying to test my fucking regeneration ability?” Rach growled, refusing to move.
“If you want to do something about those bastards, now’s your chance.” Sparks told her. “I had...friends in Philadelphia. If you can make those sons of bitches pay for what they did, do it.”
“There’s a few issues with your plan,” Rach began as she twisted in her seat, facing the woman. Her temper already tugged at its leash, trying to make her lash out at Sparks, before she swallowed it down for the moment,
“First off, I have a damn leash.” As if to emphasise her point, she turned her head then tap lightly the location of her ‘explosive’ reminder. Her rage fueled her irritation, refusing Sparks a chance to interrupt her points.
“Second, I have no idea how to help. And finally, just because the Golden Dick can tell me what to do… doesn’t mean you can. So chill out.” Sparks waited for Racheli to finish before she responded. In the short time that she had known the hotheaded woman, she had learned that Racheli could be a bit like a Nor’Easter, a wild storm that you just had to allow to rage on until the storm had passed. So she allowed Racheli to vent until the young woman’s annoyed glare told her that she was ready to listen to a response.
“First of all, don’t worry about the explosive. I’ll tell you a secret, you’re too valuable to Midas. He wouldn’t actually activate that thing unless he thought his life was in danger. He’s an asshole, not an idiot.” She said looking into Rach’s eyes to see if she understood.
“Secondly, you can help. I’ve seen you in action. You just have to do what you do. And rumor has it that there are a group of heroes gathering over in Sherman Square. If you go now, you can catch them.”
“Lovely, teamwork…,” Racheli couldn’t help but groan, knowing it wasn’t something she was the best at.
In fact, she barely knew how to use her abilities or not make a natural disaster in the city. Gradually any metal on her person shifted then liquified. The silver trails rose across her skin to form the deformed-skull like mask across her features, ensuring her identity was hidden. She popped open the car door before she paused mid way out.
“Two things before you go. You might want to consider a change in wardrobe. There’s a bag in the back of the car, you might find it useful.” Sparks told her.
“And I need you to hit me.” Sparks said with a grin. “I can handle Midas, but I need to make it look good.”
A devilish smirk crossed Rach’s lips making the mask come off as more sinister,
“I got a better idea and I don’t need to touch you at all. Let me get the bag out of the back first, then you might want to exit the SUV.” Racheli finished exiting while she stepped toward the back, retrieving the bag and slammed the door. Her hand didn’t leave the surface. When she spotted Spark step out, she focused on the vehicle.
Nothing happened for several moments.
Suddenly metal screamed and crunched, the SUV’s outside gradually compacting into a large version of a crushed can. Not wasting anymore time, Racheli reached into her back pocket for Midas’ cellphone.
She tightened her hand into fist causing it to crack, then tossed it to Sparks.
“Tell him that you found me here, but when you went inside to retreive me…you didn’t find me. Instead my cell was in the bathroom and when you came back out, the SUV was crushed. You can’t take me back without a ride, right?” “I can do that.” Sparks said.
“You know something, you’re not half bad after all. I have a favor to ask. Can you have the handwriting analyzed on this card?” Racheli reached into her jacket, pulling the card in the envelope out and giving it to Sparks. Without another word, the woman bolted for Sherman’s Square a few blocks away.
Sparks took the card that Racheli had given her and put it in her pocket. As soon as she got back to Midas Industries, she’d do as Rach had asked and have the handwriting analyzed. Though she didn’t know why Racheli had made such a request, she knew that the young woman had her reasons. She watched Racheli as she bounded away from the crumpled SUV toward Sherman Square and a fight with the Hounds of Humanity.
“Give ‘em hell, kid.” she said as Racheli vanished from sight.
~~|Half an Hour later|~~
After making a brief stop to change her outfit, Racheli edged into Sherman Square.
It occurred to her that Sparks’ direction was too vague. She had no idea where this group of ‘heroes’ were meeting exactly or how not to make her introduction anything but awkward. Most of all, Rach wasn’t even sure if she could manage working in a team. Pushing the negative aside, her eyes caught a blue and silver form flying overhead. Her eyes followed it to the tallest structure within the area.
Seeing him land on the street, she started to edge out from the building’s alley across the street. Racheli hesitated when she spotted others arrive shortly afterwards. Through she wasn’t a coward, she couldn’t be sure how they would react to a random and unestablished individual approaching the group. It didn’t help her insecurities were stirred by the growing numbers.
This was going to be a nightmare.
Rach’s steps gradually began to stop. Her arms crossed over her chest while she leaned against the wall, her ears tuned in to the conversation they were having. She watched the Alchemyst arrive, her metal already shifted and ready to protect herself from any potential attack. Upon learning she wanted to join, Racheli felt herself relax then resume her eavesdropping. Farther conversation was interrupted when another hero arrived on a bike wanting in.
“How many more are going to show up?” Racheli said under her breath, not pleased with the growing number.
Member
BlackRoseSiren
Force and Fury
Konan375
Echotech71
Lucius Cypher
Sep
BCTheEntity
LiverisGood
Heat
Fetzen
