(Collab between Lucius & Misu's characters, Dark Matter and Aria. Bold talking in paragraphs are all Dark Matter others are mine.)
Dark Matter turned his attention onto the girl who arrived. She was a rather pretty chick, doesn't seem to use any sort of disguise or costume though. Dark Matter wasn't sure if he was angry at her or not; he certainly did not think highly of her, but most don't. She wanted him to put the rockets away, but right now they were his only leverage. So that wasn't going to happen. "No. And I don't really plan too, seeing that you just tried to kill me. Mind explaining why?" Dark Matter was mostly unaware that the girl only wanted to destroy the launchers. He could understand, in a way, why she'd target them first. Still, if she planned to blow them up, she should have took into consideration that Dark Matter was going to get caught in the blast, should she have succeeded. "And she says no one has to get hurt."
She put her hands down slightly, but not all the way. "well.. I wasn't trying to kill you, But your aura is dark and your actions showed hostility." she took another step closer now, looking at him with a softer gaze. "I didn't want you to hurt anyone. My aim was off. I didn't mean to hit you in the blast, I was trying to get my orb into the barrel to explode it." she spoke in a soft tone, something like a mother would use, but little did he know she was pretty much faking it. She had seen him around once before, heard some stuff, she knew he was bad news.
"Oi, stay where you're at." Dark Matter said as he revealed he had one of the primed rockets in his grasp. Not to mention the other gun barrels poking out of his body, and the claws in the event this becomes a melee. "Another tautological Templar, huh? A vigilante who's sense of justice is so alien even the local law is below you. Well, I guess that only makes sense. Have to fight monsters with monsters, right?" Dark Matter tried to remember if he ever saw this girl before. She must be new to the scene. "And I'm not hurting anyone. I'm guess you know about my business? Yeah, sure, I'll agree, what I sell hurts people. But the same could be said for anyone who sells something that hurts people. Cars and alcohol has killed more people than my guns do, but I guess you wouldn't be attacking bars and dealerships, huh?" Dark Matter slowly began to back away from the crates of explosives while keeping a lock on the girl. "I don't put a gun to anybody's head and make them shoot. I admit, the shooting war is better for business, but I prefer people to fire my guns and miss, just as long as they keep firing. Who are you to get in the way of my business?"
'Don't you play that game with me, I know what you're trying to do. You're trying to use a sick form of thinking to justify yourself." She put her hands up again though as he started to show a violent state of mind with his yelling. She watched his guns now, making sure to keep herself protected from them. "We all know what you are doing and those of us who know more about it know exactly what you are up to. You enjoy Mayhem, don't you?" She scoffed a bit, now moving her eyes back to his face to see what he might be thinking,But it didn't help much since he had his identity concealed by a mask, one much larger than her own, since she only had one of a black color over her eyes. "You don't have to be the bad guy, you can make money other ways, if that truly is what the problem is."
Dark Matter would roll his eyes if he had any. Though she had a point. "I suppose in a way you're right. I find that people who use my weapons are some of the more interesting type, even if they only last for a short while. I mean, who doesn't enjoy a good gunfight, eh? Yeah, I like doing what I do. Money's nice too. It's business and pleasure all rolled into one. Why wouldn't I want to keep doing it? Even if I wasn't... What I am now... I'd just find a different way to do it. More mundane, but ultimately the same." It seemed like they were at an impasse now. The girl wanted to save him, Dark Matter didn't want it. He relished in the gun business; he didn't really care if he was successful. People were using his guns, and sometimes he gets to shoot them too. Sometimes he gets to kill people, which he found a certain sick pleasure in. It was like a game to him; it was just a matter of finding the right people to fight. Or killing enough of them. He even had some twisted joy when he discovers just how many lives he destroyed, even if he didn't shoot them. Killing parents and making orphans, who'd grow up bitter and wanting vengeance. And what better way to get it than to buy one of his guns and be a "hero" themselves? It's a system that fed itself.
"I don't need to be what I am right now. I just want to. Is that so hard to understand? Some people fight for justice. Some people fight just to fight. I'm something of the latter. What about you? Are you still going to stop me, chasing me like a hound hoping to see justice be done? I'll entertain your challenge, but I can't promise that it'll be fun. I think it would be better if you... Simply learn to enjoy what we do, instead of feel like some sort of work that needs to be done. Our lives are too short to debate right from wrong. Why not just play a part and enjoy what you can do while you can?" Dark Matter did something he normally doesn't. He began to put his weapons away. He still had a few hidden in the event the girl tries to attack him (He's actually banking on it, because he just figured out a cool counter he wanted to use) and instead created one skeletal hand, offering it to the girl.
"If I don't need to be a bad guy, than we don't need to be enemies. Why not just... Come to an understanding? Talk a bit? No weapons, no powers, just our masks and our thoughts."
"Ah screw this.." she was annoyed with this ball of darkness now. "You are a bad guy, weather you like to think it or not." she stated. At that moment a ball of energy came up from behind him, something that she had created through all the talking they had partaken in. The ball exploded and if Dark Matter didn't see it incoming, he would get caught in the 5 by 5 foot blast. "You know... I don't see the point in all your bad guys trying to pull yourself off as good. I don't know if it is just a new kind of stupid or if you genuinely believe you are not bad in what you do, just another dealer." She was done talking now. After the blast, whether he was hit or not, she levitated up into the air and sent three more orbs of light at him while now, she was conjuring up a force field to protect herself.
Ah, a violent one. Well, Dark Matter should have really expected this. But at least he has a grasp of what sort of game they'd be playing now. The girl launched some sort of sneak attack on him which he did manage to avoid, and continued to do so as she sent more of her energy balls at him. She noticed that she created some sort of flashy force field over her. Given his last experience with the Titan's, he's going to guess that it'll be pretty useless trying to attack her now. So he focused on dodging and seeing how long the girl could keep this up.
"So judgmental! At least I'm willing hear people out. World's not as black and white as you think it is, you know? Good or bad is just something people use for publicity. In the end, the only ones who matter is who is left to say something about it. The winners. And they could be good or bad."
Dark Matter dashed to his crates and absorbed them into his body, taking in a large amount of matter to convert. He converted these directly into Tear Gas seeping from his body, eventually covering the entire area is a thick grey smog, not only blocking visual but also filling the air with toxic chemicals. Even Dark Matter wasn't entirely immune, at least on the visual aspect. He's learned that he doesn't need to breath, or at least that the Tear Gas won't hurt him too much. Dark Matter continued to move around in the cover of the thick clouds, setting up the stage for his advantage.
She ignored his words, not paying a mind to the lies he was telling himself. The force field blocks out many different physical attacks but she did not think of air contamination as an attack he would use. Coughing slightly, she scoffed. "Pathetic... You cant even fight, you have to hide in the shadows!" she exclaimed. She wasn't too effected by the tear gas though, not needing human breathing like most humans did to live. Instead of breathing, her body took in natural lighting as a source of living, hence why her powers were mostly of the energy area.
"Fight me like a real fighter! Stop hiding!" She yelled to him, making sure to move around in the air so he couldn't get a great lock on her. her plan was to draw him out so she could destroy the weapons he had consumed, or at least try. if she couldn't do it, then she would need to back away and find another time to attack him.
"That's funny. A real fighter. I guess a real fighter stays out of the way of punches and puts up barriers around them too, eh?" The Tear Gas continued to spew, but now it seemed like that Dark Matter had placed various contraptions around the area to spew it independently without him. There was also a different fume in the air now, like gasoline. "You know, if this was a fair fight, I might consider it. But it never is, you know? It's one of the reason why I sell weapons, aside from the fact that I like to. Turns out there are a lot of people who don't get into a fair fight. What happen if you get angry, and decide to fight someone? Hmm? And I don't mean someone like me. Just normal joe off the block who has a difference in opinion than you. Would you try to "Fight him fairly" too? Because frankly, it's not a fair fight. You're some super who can fly, shoot energy, and has the power to put down anyone who thinks differently. A lot of people want what you have, but they can't because they didn't have the fortune to be born with your life. So I make things fair. Equal. Or at least give them a fighting chance. But than there are people like you... And the Titan's... Who think they should be the only ones with power. Who can do anything they want, because they have the power to."
The smoke began to attract the attention of the dock workers, who stayed out of the smoke cloud but where nearby. They were wondering what was going on, and could only hear Dark Matter's voice. "The word for today is tautological. For example, you think you're the good guy because you say you are. That's tautological. The evidence support the theory because the evidence is the theory. See how messed up that is? So let's see how this relates to our current predicament." The smoke began to clear, but that only revealed vapors in the air. Dark Matter had released another gas, but this one didn't seem to have any specific origins. Only that it had a strong scent and made everything inside of it look misty. "You call me a bad guy? Why? Because you say I am. What evidence do you have that I'm bad? I help people feel stronger about themselves. Sure, with guns, but come on; try raising an army using nothing but good feelings and intentions, see how far that gets you. Even right now, you attacked me first. First you tried to destroy my property, than you refused to listen to me trying to end this peacefully and just strait up tried to sucker punch me. And I'm the coward? Come on, talk to me. That's all I really wanted from you, not a fight. Though I wouldn't mind it, it's not what I came here for." Onlookers were very confused as to what was going on, and some people took out their phones to record what was happening.
/The titans/ All she heard about was the titans. Why did everyone care about them so much? "NO! You have it all wrong, you see. I would not fight an innocent human, I would talk to them, see why they do the things they do. You want to know why I protect myself with a barrier and attack you with my power? because you are a blob of a freak who was going to shoot me with his guns when he had the chance. That's not a fair fight. I don't have any guns, If I fought you with just my hands, I would get taken down in minutes by your rocket launches." she was angry now. How could this creature compare her to a bad person who attacks people off the street. She would never! No real super would attack an innocent person with their powers for no reason, and those who do are scum!" her eyes were starting to glow now, a red color.
She looked at the droplets in the air with worry put the forcefield down, seeing no use for it right now, no need to trap gas in it and hurt herself. "See, that's the difference, you think you are making it even, you think we /think/ we are the good guys. But no, we actually are. Those people you sell guns too, they go and hurt those innocent humans you claim I would go and hurt if they did something wrong. No, I wouldn't. Only you think that because you are psychotic.You didn't want to talk, you didn't want peace, if you did you would try to help those who are hurt another way besides letting them hurt other, innocent human beings. Those girls you sold guns to, they are probably off robbing a bank and killing off a few dozen harmless people for being in the wrong place at the wrong time."
She could feel her anger rising, looking over at the humans who were recording. "crap... I cant just stand here anymore using my powers." she whispered as she let herself slid down to the ground and stood there, like a normal human. "You are pathetic... You think what you do it justice, but in reality, you are selling angry people a way to hurt those who did nothing because you want money. I'm trying to stop you from selling to them so no more innocent humans can get killed by your guns help by idiotic teens."
"Justice? I do what I want. Sometimes I want the right thing to be done... Sometimes I want to watch the world burn. Those with the power to do so get's to do whatever they want. Isn't that why you're trying to fight me right now?" Dark Matter's voice was still near, but his form wasn't. It seemed that the girl stopped fighting, or at least got to the ground, now that there was other people around. "Come on now. Be honest with yourself. No need to hide your true self just because there are others around. I whole heartily admit I have some sort of problem... I'm trying to fix it, really, but also I'm embracing who I am. You're trying so hard to... Hide yourself... It's almost painful to watch. You call me a freak. Other would call you a freak too. And me, I mean, it does hurt me emotionally. At first. But than... I learned to like it. I mean, why hate it? Is it just because people think I look creepy? Some people are born creepy, and they get by. They find happiness in their lives. So do I." Now that an audience has formed, Dark Matter revealed himself, causing gasps at the crowd who saw his true appearance.
"Maybe I got a problem and maybe you're not much better. Yeah, I'm a pretty selfish bastard alright. I do what I want. What I want is to talk to you, maybe help you through whatever problem you have right now. I'm not the best help, sure, but you can't say that I didn't offer. You're the one who's pushing me away. Who knows, maybe if we hang out sometimes, I might clean up my act. Or... Or do you just want to fight? I mean... I guess I'll do that too, in my own way of course. But that's not what I want right now. I just want to know you. Is that wrong?" Dark Matter's form was still hazy from all the fumes, and some people started shouting at the two of them. Some of them think that Dark Matter is trying to confess to her, other's want the girl to kill him. It was all very mixed.
"Doing what you want is why I attacked you. You have no right to accuse me of being a bad person while you give no cares about what is right or wrong as long as you can sleep without a worry in your brain." She didn't stop because she was worried about the humans calling her a freak, but she didn't want to scare them. She didn't want them to feel threatened by her. "Humans, you should get out of here before you get hurt, go to call the police." She spoke out loud before being interrupted by him appearing, causing her to step back.
"I do not hide because I am ashamed or scared, I stopped fighting because I do not want them to feel threatened or to get hurt by our fighting. Unlike you, I care about who gets hurt in my wrath. I am much better than you will ever be, because I protect those who are innocent from people who you bring forth to kill. You can think I am bad, but we will really see, in due time, who is actually bad. I do not hurt those who good aura, or those who are innocent, but your aura, it is ugly, it is wrong, and you need to be stopped."
His words just pissed her off more. "You? Talk? ha, talk enough just to try and get into my head, make me believe your games are good, right? You wont change, you do what you want, remember? Why would some girl you don't know change that. People like you, they just want to manipulate, I bet that's all it really is. a game of manipulation. it wont work on me." She stepped back again and looked over at the humans who were yelling. "You hear that? They know the true hero, they know that I am the true good person, not that it matters. I sleep at the end of the day, knowing I helped them and did good in the world, trying to make it a better place." She was going to leave now, but something stopped her. /talk to him/ she thought to herself, then she could bring him down from the inside. She smiled a bit. "Fine, you really want to talk? Then destroy the weapons you had here on the dock, and I will talk to you, only offer I will give."
Dark Matter give the girl a snort. "Is that what you wanted? The weapons? Heh... Alright. Here." Dark Matter's form began to heave, and soon he more-or-less vomited all the rockets and the launchers from before. They where thrown out of his body and went all the way to the girl's feet. "Though should inform you, I don't destroy. I convert. Destorying things is much more than what I'm capable of I'm afraid. But if you want to do the honors, you can go ahead. Though I suppose I should be fair to tell you that even if you do destory these, it makes very little impact to my supply as a whole. I'm selling these off simply because I want to get rid of them. Not the way I had planned, but it fulfills the original purpose." Than Dark Matter turned towards the others gathered. "However... If you really insist that I destroy these myself, mind convincing the peanut gallery to leave? I'm not going to promise that they won't be hurt if they stick around. These are explosives after all. I can't exactly just not make them explode." Some of the crowd were smart enough to leave, a few even ran away calling the cops, but most were still sticking around wanting to see what happens.
She wasted no time to wait for him to destroy them. She put a field around the weapons and then sent a ball of explosive energy at them, the explosion staying inside the field itself. "We should leave now, the cops will come soon." she said, ignoring what he had said to her previously. She Headed her way down the alley that he had come up before and pulled her hood back over her head, and if he was smart, he would follow behind her. "We can talk under the bridge, no one will disturb us there." she said to him. As the cops started to arrive, She had already left the area (Hopefully him too) and was down the street some, heading to the bridge about three blocks away.
Upon arriving, she used one of the bars under the bridge and swung on it, jumping to the sand dune that was next to the river. "What did you want to talk about?" she asked, him, sitting on an old broken car tire.
Dark Matter flinched seeing her use her powers to demolish his weapons. He wondered what would have happened if he was in there, and hoped that it won't ever come to that. Soon the girl left and he followed. She decided to take the alley route and to talk under a bridge where no one would bother them. "Or hear my screams." He mused to himself. He followed in her shadow (Literally) and followed her under the bridge. The city river flowed by them. Although it was used to filter sewage out of the city, there was still fish in it. Ones that no one should eat, but something lives in there. The girl asked what he wanted to talk about. "Well... Let's start with introductions, eh? You can call me Dark Matter. What would you like me to call you?"
'Aria." she said simply, looking over at him. "My name is Aria." she continued, she didn't take her eye mask off but she did take the hood off to show her long thick white locks with natural highlights of blue, red and purple hues. She crossed her legs, rubbing her head. Using so much of her powers on a planet not her own was tiring for her, it made her body ache, but she couldn't help it. "Surely...Dark Matt is not your...Birth name. right?" she asked. She knew the answer would probably be covered, but it was worth a shot.
"Pfft, of course not. When I discovered what my power was, I wanted to make up a cool name for myself. Dark Matter seemed like an appropriate name; it talks about how I have access to untapped resources that can both destroy and create regardless of conventional physics. At least that's what I want people to think. Even I don't know what I'm capable of. Nice hair by the way. Is that natural?" Dark Matter rested his mask on a hand he produced on his body, imitating a sitting stance while looking at Aria. "Also, I don't plan to tell you my real name. Sorry."
"Why did you choose to be how you are then? Darkness doesn't have to be on the bad side of things." she stated to him. she picked up a small handful of dirty and spun circles in it with her fore finger. "Natural? Yeah. Where I come from... it's normal to have this hair actually." she replied to him, watching him sit now. "I figured you wouldn't, but it was worth a shot. If you figured out your powers, then you must have a human form too.. Because I don't think you would get born as a blob of darkness and not know you had powers from the get-go." she stated. She was very logical in her thinking, and her accent was definitely one that was not normal to hear.
Dark Matter pondered for a moment how it all got started. Was it before or after he was given his powers? He couldn't say for certain... While he tried to think of what to say he addressed some of the other things Aria spoke about. "Yeah, I'm human. Well, originally human. Or rather, I still am, just... Usually. I'm not showing you my human form either. Sorry. But yeah, this form, it's a recent development. I'm still working out how it operates." Dark Matter let out a breath and aimed his mask skywards. He supposed that would be as good of a start as any. "I guess that's where it all started. My... Fall to darkness." Dark Matter said with a dramatic flair. The bathos behind it was to make it seem like it was just a joke to him, because he certainly did not want to take it seriously; he'd be a wreck if he did. "It's a long story though. And I didn't come here to talk about me anyways. Now... I'm guessing that, despite your appearances, you're not human either, are you? Something about you just screams... Alien. I've seen my fair share of mutants and super humans, but you, you're not from this world. Not that it's new, I've met a few aliens. Nice enough people. So where do you call home?"
"You know... You could get help to master your new found powers... I'm sure you show great power and totally show true potential." she started, also looking skyward for a moment.
"You're right, I am not human... But I am not sure if i should tell you where I was born.. There's complications right now and i rather not threaten my life by telling another evil soul.." /Another/ She said. Who was the other she had told? Why was she so against people be evil anyways? Now these question could come into play for him. Did she have a problem with another guy turning evil on her? She couldn't just tell this stranger that she was on the run from her father who wanted her head since she couldn't kill for her rightful place as princess of her world.
"Everything is just.. complicated, maybe in due time, I will tell you." she said to him, pulling her hood down and fixing her hair.
"You know, I've been wondering..." Dark Matter silently debated if he really wanted to get into this conversation. All arrows points towards yes. "Your powers, to discern good from evil... Just who's morality are you basing that off of? I find that powers that rely on a certain perception to be... Faulty. I mean, imagine this: I have powers based on who is good or evil. Does it matter what I think is good or evil, or is there some sort of universal law that we all prescribe to, regardless if we're aware of it or not? I just want to know who's supposedly already judging who's already damned or not. I mean, why should I have to appeal to someone's sense of morality, when I never even met them up til I'm getting judged for it? It's not like I had any reason to kiss up to this higher power for any moral grounds. They're not my god, or gods, or whatever." Dark Matter remembered another person who's powers affected those who "Sin" or not. But so many of her own teammates were strong sinners too, and yet she didn't persecute them. She claimed it's because she knows and understand them. He wondered if she knew and understand the criminals she simply pulls off the streets and brands. She supposedly did, which either made her more callous than him, or she was a liar.
Oh the Moral Myopia.
"Why do you bring this up? There is a voice inside everyone head that shows what is right and wrong, people who break laws or people who kill innocent are ignoring that voice and need to be punished. This is why I don't work with people, I work alone. Sure, everyone can do things wrong, but it's if you accept that you did it wrong or if you just don't care that matters. You seem to not care, right? You would let any innocent die from your guns, just because any other person would shoot it." She sighed a bit. he seemed to not understand at all what she meant. Maybe it was because he was born on this planet, he didn't go through what she went through. Watching her family kill dozens of people because it was there culture. She took pride in each and every living life, she didn't wanna watch another person get killed.
"A voice huh? Only voice in my head it my own. And while I don't trust the slimy bastard, he doesn't seem to know when to let up. Don't know about you, but us humans, we work off a different mentality. Hell, a lot of humans work on a mentality different from other human's too. It's part of the problem, I guess. We're not so cut-and-paste as a lot of new species. Planet of hats, that." Dark Matter laughed off his trail of thought. It was funny, seeing how people like to generalize so much and dislike people like him. The one's who don't act in their place. Or maybe they just don't like that he's a villain. But that's the norm, right? "Though you're wrong on one point. I won't let all innocent people die. I mean, I have love ones too, you know. I know you think I'm a heartless monster, and I would agree with you. But I'm a heartless monster who has things that he really likes and would much rather see safe, even if I have to slaughter the city to make sure that happens. For some that makes me a monsters. I like to think of it as me doing my duty as a brother and a son." Dark Matter froze. He regretted saying that and quickly moved onto a different subject.
"So, how long have you been in the city? See all the sights? You've already seen the docks."
She smirked as he said it 'as a brother and a son.' perfect. "Oh, so say the people you sold the guns to went and killed your sister or brother and your parent and it was on accident, at a bank. Wouldn't you regret to give them those guns? Knowing that any person you sell a gun to could turn the corner and kill them, doesn't that bother you? You're allowing more people in this town to have weapons that could kill your own family, or their family. You don't want that, right?" she asked, looking at him. She was sure to hit a nerve now.
Suddenly, the area got very dark. "I'm going to ignore that comment Aria, for this very simple reason. I do what I want. I'm still going to do what I do now. And if anyone tries to stop me... They'll die. And if anyone tries to harm my family, I kill them, and their family, and anyone who would try to get vengeance on me. Even heroes like you. So yeah, I always know that somehow, what I do could come back and bite me. It's part of the job." Dark Matter's form was blurry now, but it wouldn't be too hard for Aria to see him. He was moving around her, pacing. "What, you think what you do, this hero business, that it's all guilt-free? It isn't, I know. I tried being a hero once. Swoop in, save the day, beat the bad guys. Turns out life's more complicated than that. The people you fight aren't just criminals who only exist to bolster you ego. They're people doing something bad because they have to. Or worse, because it's all they can do. People start pitying them, call you the monster. Suddenly the line between heroes and villains is gone. To think that they're just monsters for us to kill helps us desensitize that they're people. Isn't that how you think of me?"
"I NEVER said that they were bad because they are bad, I know they have purpose. But I have purpose too. I have reason to stop them from doing bad, because you don't have to do bad things to get what you need. Asking for help could work. If you tried to be good, and it didn't work, then why be bad? Why not just be neutral?" she asked. She didn't bother to look at his blurred form, she just closed her eyes and leaned back against the wall of the under bridge. "Everything is not as complicated as you may think and for you to assume what is going on in my head is not making me very happy. But you will still do what you wish, and I bet you would even if I tried to help you, right?"
"Help... How would you help? Stop me from selling weapons? Try to bring peace to this city? Better people than you have tried. I pick up the pieces. I wouldn't deny your help, but I know that it's ultimately pointless. The only way you'd help me would be putting me out of my misery. Would you be willing to go so far?"
"That's never the solution, but I can help you try to better yourself. Tell me, what is the real reason you sell? You never did tell me. Is it because of money?" she asked, looking at him. She stood up now, seeing that she was maybe actually making an impact on him.
Dark Matter looked at Aria, wondering if he should just kill her now, leave, or maybe actually talk. He did come here to talk. But he didn't feel like doing that anymore since she brought up his family. "Another time perhaps. I have to... Go back to work." The area got lighter, but Dark Matter threw himself into the river. His black form melded into the water, dispersing like oil.
"Hey! Come back here! You don't just come to talk to me and then vanish. If you leave now, you are forever a monster!" she yelled. She didn't like that he was so easy to leave when she offered, after he tried so hard to make a point not to judge him. She sighed when he didn't answer. "Pathetic.." she leaned back now on the tire, looking up at the sky.