"Tell me, Lysander. Why are we going through these tight corners and dark alleys? The stench, the filth, I cannot bear witness to such disgusting spectacles!"
Lysander simply shrugged off the annoyed comments of the dragon that he created. They kept ringing into his mind, what with their psychic connection, and to be honest, it was getting a little distracting to him. Sometimes he would accidentally bump into another pedestrian in the sidewalk, much to the other person's consternation.
He can't focus. Not when Shenron was constantly complaining about the planet. The only time Shenron quieted down was when he was studying. Otherwise, he talked and talked and...
Lysander scowled, making a turn towards a particularly grubby alley. "Shush, Shenron, my head is getting painful from your constant complaints. It's like a metal screw is being jammed into my brain!"
Shenron's psychic bond reverberated with his echoing baritone. "But you have yet to explain unto my ignorant self why you always choose these... dangerous routes. You are aware of the nature of this city's denizens, yes?"
"Uh, yeah?" Lysander replied. "Because I'm one of the denizens of this city, as you placed it? I'm going through there because I'm... uh, I don't want anyone to know I'm Altered."
"Right, forgive me. But you know what I mean."
Lysander chuckled. His creation... pet, whatever it was, had much to learn.
He was about to take another turn when a smell entered his nostrils. Something distinct from the stench of the garbage piled up as high as towers in this alley. It was...
Was that smoke and fire?
"Fire and smoke, a sure sign that destruction has been wrought unto some segment of civilization."
"Right, we're connected. I think we should go-"
He froze. He had, in his constant mindscaping, unwittingly strolled right beside the building from which the smell of flame wafted out, and he had set his eyes upon this... man. He had just come out of the rear entrance without so much as a hurried gait, no less!
"I don't like him, he exudes... super-ill."
Ignoring Shenron, Lysander slowly backed up. "Good... afternoon, sir. I... uh, I definitely didn't see you come out of that door-"
"Damn it, you fool!"
Fool indeed. He had just confessed that he saw it.
Collab Between The Man Emperor and Chulance Setting Things Right
Jace was ready to get this over with, they had the targets the two meth dealers, and he had Sanzhar tag along for this mission it would be simple. He planned on being able to handle most of the assassination but wanted Sanzhar as back-up, plus if Adam was watching h wanted it to be known that there would be real trouble if they messed with them further. The two dealers seemed to be parked outside of a bar periodically coming outside for multiple smoke breaks indicating that they were doing that in tandem with copious drinking outside for stress. Jace had slipped on his Shade mask & gear.
After about an hour stake-out, the two somewhat drunk dealers left the bar and got in their car starting it up. "Huh well watching what they do ain't making me feel any worst about what we gotta do." Jace retorted referring to the fact they'd monitored them consuming alcohol before driving. As the meth dealers swerved out the parking lot Jace put his foot on the gas to pull out as well and start following, hoping to get them to an area that was isolated. "Alright we can't make any moves till we're on a more open road, but maybe if we get somewhere kinda empty you can metal spike there tires and I can run up and take care of them in seconds."
"Okay." Sanzhar nodded sheepishly, peering towards the car that they were following. "Never have I thought that doing something as noble as saving a life would eventually lead to me participating in the ending of two of them."
He still wasn't okay with this, but at the very least, Sanzhar wasn't going to be the one dealing the mortal blows. He'll just spike the tires and look away...
Yes. That's right.
Look away.
"Right... I can do it. Spike the tires. You go out and go in. Then it's done."
“Thanks for tagging a-long and I’m sorry about this. I mean I do “Work” like this but it don’t feel good passing this burden to others I’m just glad they fit my usual target MO.” Jace wasn’t happy about being manipulated into killing, but he’d done his research & spoke to his connects to confirm they were prolific meth dealers who’d been rising in their success with the border closures making it harder for cartels to traffic other drugs that couldn’t be made as easily in the states.
“Okay I think we’re about to get somewhere ah wait there making a friggin detour.” Jace groaned as the two inebriated men pulled into a shady motel parking lot and both hurried out the door with a briefcase in hand. Jace paused for a moment but slouched back in the car.
“It’s a fairly empty motel, but this ain’t the place, we need to get somewhere with almost nobody around, here take this.” Jace reached into the glove compartment of his newly purchased black charger and handed Sanzhar a mask.
A mask. Right. Sanzhar needed to conceal his identity as he aided in this assassination. "Thanks..." He took the mask from Jace's hand. "So... we'll wait for them in the dark, yes?"
"Yes but not in this hotel anyone could be looking from any direction." Jace pointed this out he wanted this done right in a way they couldn't be implicated. "But there taking a long time, what do you think was in that bag, maybe there in here making a dael at this shtty mote." Jace pondered.
"Drugs, maybe a million in cash." Sanzhar shrugged. "You know, I wouldn't mind if I... uh, take the drug money. Would have been from ill begotten sources, but I'd use it for... good stuff."
Sanzhar wasn't even sure what he would do with a million. Maybe leave this country and head for Russia or China. Anywhere that these laws against the Altered won't reach him.
"Well... I think they're working it out." Sanzhar continued on. "Or they're debating just how much was promised. Typical dealings in the dark, yeah."
Jace couldn’t help but crack a grin at Sanzhar’s comments, maybe this guy wasn’t all too different from him after all. “Well the way I see it taking out people like this is doing the community a service, and I’m not getting a paycheck, so I usually “Seize” the “rewards” as my “compensation”. Shit if I don’t only other person that’s gonna get it is they criminal friends when they find the bodies or th cops who can be just as dirty sometimes.” Jace said explaining his mantra and basically justification for taking drug cash from the violent dealers he killed.
“Although a million In cash your watching way too many movies or you must be planning for us to take on drug-lords instead of street dealers. You see this run down motel, the car there driving and the bar there drinking at, they don’t got no million in cash,” Jace couldn’t help but laugh at Sanzhar’s innocence not knowing the logistics about illicit dealing & the real financial figures associated with them not the ones in movies. “These guys are pushing meth which ain’t that expensive, the most money we’re running into with these boys is 10-30 thousand, maybe 40.” Jace concluded based off his past experience & knowledge of the meth dealing game.
“I can tell you haven’t been around this type of stuff or known people in it. Your a lucky man, me on the other hand I haven’t been as fortunate. I was born & raised around this type of shit, had people in my family slanging dope my whole life, I can remember times in my childhood as early as five or six being around drugs, guns & stacks of cash.” Jace said reminiscing on his damaged childhood that came from being raised impoverished around people willing to do anything to escape their conditions.
"Oh, God." Sanzhar looked at Jace with surprise. "That's awful. I mean, yeah, that's terrible. I am indeed lucky. I was like... five when my family left Kazakhstan due to religious persecution by the government. I didn't get to experience the horrible side of life. The worst thing I got are groupmates that don't pull their own weight in projects."
Reclining back against the seat, Sanzhar observed the car of the drug dealers. "Well... I think they're taking their sweet ass time."
"Hahaha yeah don't worry though the psychological damage of all. that has long since been confronted." Jace explained not wanting to delve too much into the anguish such an upbringing had on a young mind. "Everyone's different you had people who didn't pull their weight and I saw people dying, and had to lay on the floor and avoid stray bullets while doing my home-work." Jace reflected on everything he went through to be successful.
Jace noticed the door they were watching was opening the dealers coming out, then both turned around and went back inside as they were called back in. Jace groaned and rolled his eyes. “I hate drug dealers, I swear whenever there inside they take so long.” Jace sighed and slumped in the chair it seems the dealers had forgotten something.
"Maybe they got tipped off." Sanzhar shrugged in a moment of cynicism. "And we're going to get peppered with machine gun fire, which, for your information, I can't really stop since I need to see what I'm using to metal bend it..."
Nothing happened, though. Not yet, anyway. "This is getting a little banal. Maybe they just kill each other because they can't agree on who gets how much."
“Yeah that would be a miracle right about now, but.”
“Get out the fucking car motherfuckers! I’m tired of playing games! The fact that I even had to come out here is proof of that, but I want my god damn money now!!!” A woman’s voice was heard screaming from behind the car Jace & Sanzhar where in. Jace grunted in anger figuring out that something outside of the plan was about to go down.
“Okay maybe she wasn’t talking to us…when she said get out the car…” Right as Jace said that the car to the left of them caught on fire and went up in flames. Jace’s eyes widened as the woman barked out another command.
“GET OUT THE FUCKING CAR NOW OR IM GOING TO LIGHT YOU GUYS ON FIRE NOW!!!!!! FIVE, FOUR, THREEE!!!!!!!!!, TWO!!!!!!!”
"Alright, fine!" Sanzhar pushed himself out of the car, getting away from the metal coffin of a fiery death just as the countdown went down to one.
"Another Altered?" Sanzhar whispered to Jace even as the thought of going up in flames crossed his mind. "That's... unfortunate."
“Hey Hey Hey Hey STOP!” Jace said rolling out the car at the same time as Sanzhar. A column of flame surged past the vehicle nearly enveloping the car but just barely missing. A hispanic woman was standing there with literal fir gathered around her hands. “Yeah I think we can safely assume it’s another altered.” Jace retorted to Sanzhar in a hushed tone.
“What the fuck are you two whispering about?”! Rita bellowed upset, it seemed she emerged from a BMW that was parked not too far away from her with a black man sitting in the drives seat texting on his phone. Rita commanded all the attention to herself shooting a fire ball past Sanzhar lighting a car to the right of him on fire. “I’m done playing games, I’m about ready to burn all of you fuckrs to the ground over my money, give me the 50 grand now or I’ll burn you all alive! You people think this is a game passing the money back & forth between you all, Rob & Nate, you think I’m stupid huh?!”
Jace was utterly confused, Adam had sent them to go after two meth dealers whom he claimed he owed money too, but now this mysterious woman had showed up wielding flames asking him 7 Sanzhar for the money. He gave Sanzhar a confused look and dared to whisper to him again. “What the hell is she talking about? 50 grand, why is she targeting us?”
"Oh, come now, let's talk about this civilly. You have the wrong people, lady." Sanzhar replied, putting one of his arms to the air, his attention locked towards one of the other cars that was parked in there. If only it was closer, he'd be able to tear off a tiny bit and use it to bludgeon this fire woman's fiery temper at the face, but that just can't happen now.
He didn't get to answer Jace's question, as Sanzhar had a good guess why they were being targeted.
"I believe you're looking for those guys that went in that motel." He motioned towards the place. "They had a suitcase, suspicious, yes? I wish I had that kind of money, but alas, I have none to give."
“Civilly…….I willl BURN YOUR FUCKING BALLS OFF YOU STUPID MOTHERFUCKER!!!!!!! DONT YOU EVER RAISE YOUR VOICE TO ME ABOUT MY MONEY AGAIN!!!!” Rita screamed instantly using her powers over flame to launch a medium strength blast of fire at Sanzhar’s leg , true to her word making sure the attack was aimed close to his privates without actually touching them, a warning shot to show she was both unhinged & yet very serious about getting her hands on her money.
Fuck this ain’t going good, you can’t talk to someone that mad and tell them you don’t have shit even if you don’t have shit that’s how you get killed quick Jace winced seeing Riya’s rage, and also Sanzhar’s attempts to talk down someone who thought they stole 50 grand from them. Jace used his powers to increase his strength and stepped forward. “Look.”
“Woah Woah Woah” Rita spewed a blast of fir that singed Jace’s right foot and started a fire -infront of him. “Where are you stepping to! You need to step to that car y’all hopped out of, and give me the fucking money, the little gig is up. All of you motherfuckers work for Adam, see I beens following you PUTAS for the past few hours, and you guys been following Adam’s other guys making sure all ya little deals with MY METH by the way go good, so you tell me one more fucking lie after I been following you myself for the past three hours and I will BURN ALL THE SKIN off your bones, now where is the FUCKING MONEY!"
Jace groaned realizing that if Rita had been following them while they were following the dealers, she thought they were all together. He hoped Sanzhar would be able to figure out why Rita had bunched them all together, and wished they’d attacked the dealers earlier because it least Rita wouldn’t be trying to melt them.
"Adam, the one who blackmailed us into killing a bunch of dealers in exchange for us not being exposed as being Altered?" Sanzhar frowned, seemingly not minding that a ball of fire had been shot a little too close to him for comfort. He then whispered to Jace, "She must have thought we were a convoy. That's unfortunate."
All Jace wanted to do was get his hands on the footage Adam had of them, when it clicked in his head who they were facing. “Yo…yo…this ain’t good…I know this chick she’s Rita Salzaras, her & her brother are the head of the Salzaras Cartel, the most powerful cartel in the United States & Mexico, after the energy plague closed the border they are the only cartel whose been able to smuggle drugs into the country... rumor is by using altered…..there’s probably several hundred armed men in this area alone that’ll come after us if we make a move on her, our families will be kidnapped, and burned alive, chopped into pieces, fed to sharks or piranhas….” Jace started rambling straining to whisper about the various misdeeds & misfortune going against a super cartel would cause.
“You got something to say buddy enough I said stop talking now die.” Rita raised hr and and unleashed a massive torrent of flame towards Jace who pushed Sanzhar away using his strength to toss Sanzhar in the air over four different cars onto the back of a parked pick-up truck as Jace’s entire body was engulfed in flames.
The black guy came running out the car putting his phone in his pocket. He was wearing a regular black face-mask but other than hat had no protection. “Rita!!!!!! You just set some else on fire!!! Didn’t we talk about this in couple’s therapy, you can’t just go burning people up!!! My money, you fucked up MY money, I told you not to set people on fire over MY money unless they attack us first.” Floyd yelled towards Rita, upset about this situation. He was pissed that Rita had been convinced to loan money to meth dealers in the first place, but he didn’t want to be tied into multiple super powered murders.
“Baby I’m sorry, but I had to kill him he wouldn’t shut up. Look I didn’t burn the funny looking man over there that got thrown into the truck.” Rita pointed towards Sanzhar whom had been flung into a car, causing Floyd to rush over to the guy who’d been thrown into the bed of a pick-up, Floyd pulling out a gun and pointing it at Sanzhar.
“Hey Hey Hey! Don’t move, you crooked nose dusty clothes wearing bitch. You see my girl gotta temper, now I’m a lil more patient, all we wants to know is where the money is, really it’s MY money, just tell us where the money is and we won’t kill you.” Right as Floyd said that Rita screamed a Jace emerged from the fire blast and charged Rita tackling her and throwing her across the parking lot flinging her into door of the BMW. Jace then pulled out his own gun and opened fire on the motel room the meth dealers were in, intending to get rid of everyone so him & Sanzhar could escape alive.
"Ah, shut it, I have no idea what you're talking about..." Sanzhar shook his head. His body ached as he had been thrown with quite a bit of force towards the bed of the pickup truck, but other than that, he'd be fine.
"But, okay, I surrender." Sanzhar raised both of his hands to the air, seemingly giving up in the face of the mundane weapon.
But he didn't. Both of his hands clenched into fists, and invisible forces, for the lack of a better world, shook the pistol with such violence that its components just came apart.
"And for the record." Sanzhar stood up, patting down his clothes as the crunched up remains of the pistol merged into a sphere of metal floating on his hand. "My clothes are not dusty. I am very tidy." Any sudden move on Floyd's part would be met by the crunched up sphere of metal, which would be, without the shadow of a doubt, a painful affair. Sanzhar slowly backed away, keeping his eyes trained on the other man as Jace opened fire.
Every moment brought him closer to the brink.
“Bruh where the fuck is my money!!!!!!!” Floyd was raising his voice towards Sanzhar, and starting to see why Rita had set the other guy on fire. He hated when people lied to him, and from the intel him & Rita had received the money they were looking for was in the area and these guys had it. After all he’d been the driver following Jace & Sanzhar who were following Rob & Nate.
“Gaaah” Floyd yelped as it seemed some unseen force had crushed his weapon, or rather dismantled it causing his eyes to widen. Oh shit this little runt has powers! Floyd mentally rolled his eyes as it seemed this situation was getting more difficult by the second, just like his girl these guys seemed to have powers as well, he was up against Magneto and his girl had got flung across the parking lot by Hercules.
“You bastard, you think you can just still my money because you got fucking super powers!!!” Floyd yelled as the sound of gun-shots going off came from inside the cheap motel room followed by Nate & Rob running outside the room yelling “WE GOT IT!”
“YO!!!!! YOU GOT WHAT?!!!!!” Floyd screamed as Jace rushed over to Floyd slamming him into the ground. “Stay down motherfucker” As Rita rose up gathering flames Jace tore off part o the trunk of the SUV and flung it into Rita knocking her into the ground with a loud thud. He then raised his own gun and opened fire on Nate & Rob. The two dealers were gunned down with a quickness their bullet riddled bodies hitting the ground whilst also dropping a bag now full of money. Floyd meanwhile had tapped into Jace’s power dramatically raising his strength. & durability rising up he grabbed Jace kneed him in the guts and tossed him across the parking lot sending Jace flying through the window of a motel room causing screams to be heard from the occupants.
“That’s for Rita you stupid motherfucker!!!” Floyd yelled then turned to Sanzhar firing a blast of electricity at the metal sphere he’d summoned knocking it away, then launching a second blast of electricity Into Sanzhar’s chest before running over to the gunned down dealers to retrieve the bag of money.
"Sutka blyat." Sanzhar was now lying down on the ground, recovering from the shock of electricity that had been shot at him. It hurt quite a lot, even more than getting going towards the back of a pick up truck. "Wow, that... hurts..."
Groaning, he stood up, he watched as Floyd ran towards the gunned down dealers in a quest for stolen money. "When will these faaaaaaaaaahking idiots realize that we're not carrying any damn money?" Getting hit by all that electricity was truly a shock. It was like a taser, but amplified twice over and all over everything. This won't be the most pleasant of days.
"I hate everything, I hate my life, I hate this place, I hate this city, arrrgh! Damn it." Jace was in there, and he could not in good conscience leave him. Sanzhar could jump in the car now and drive away, but he won't. Not without the Shade. Spotting several pipes lying around, Sanzhar picked them up, bending them into metallic restraints just as he had done with the trashbin a day or so ago. With chilling precision, pipes-turned-cuffs snaked towards Floyd, intent on knocking him down unto the ground before entrapping his wrists. Capture, and then dig the metals into the concrete. Same old trick, it should work... It's supposed to!
Upon learning the truth of the financial situation with Rita and her cash plus her family this evening he’d been upset. So much so that he almost regretted saving her from the assassins coming after them at the hospital, but he still had a soft spot for her in his heart.
“LETS GOO!!!! PAYDAY! FinallyI had to go through ALL OF this SHIT to get MY MONEY back.” Floyd yelled out louder then he should have, but what everyone didn’t know except for Rita apparently was that this was his money! He wasn’t a meth dealer, he was just trying to get back his own money which had been taken from him at all costs. The fact that there was more in the bag then when he lost it was cherry & icing on top of the situation.
Right as he was getting ready to leave he was hit from behind. “Umph” Floyd was furious at the metallic attack from behind, moving metal struck him from behind planting his face into the ground causing him to loose his grip on the bag. The same metal that had been used to whack him from behind had formed into cuffs around his wrists which had dug into the ground. “Oh my fucking god… enough of this!!!!!”
Floyd screamed summoning microwave energy which caused the metallic cuffs to melt right when Jace had emerged from the motel room having to knock the two people inside of out to avoid them calling the cops, but by now the sounds of sirens were approaching. He’d came out just in time to see Floyd melting the cuffs. “What fucking power…does this guy have.”
“The power to get my damn money.” Floyd yelled as he caused a motorcycle to zoom forward and ram into Jace’s back locking him to the ground while also flying into the air then flying back down slamming into Jace’s back causing an audible crack to be heard from the super strong body slam. “Get your own damn money you fucking thieves.” Floyd yelled out as he flew over to the bag of money grabbing it, then flew over to Rita, and the BMW. He slung his unconscious girl over his shoulder, picked up the BMW with his other hand before turning invisible and flying away with the cash, car, and girl.
Jace winced and groaned in pain getting up from being kneed in the back by Floyd coming from the sky, grabbing onto the front of a car to help himself up to his feet. He heard a big sonic boom in the sky that was Floyd’s flight breaking the sound barrier. Seeing the two dead dealers, and money gone he yelled out for Sanzhar and jumped in the car, getting on the passenger side and placing the in the middle. “Come on we gotta go, I can’t drive, my back is killing me, fuck…we gotta go!!!”
"Okay, okay!" Sanzhar rushed towards the driver's seat and placed his hands on the wheel. He breathed deeply as he hadn't drove in a while, but he'll manage. He pressed down on the accelerator and hightailed out of the place, leaving the carnage and chaos behind. "That looks terrible." Sanzhar said, glancing towards Jace. "Are you gonna be alright? If not I'll have to get you to the hospital... or anywhere else with medical professionals."
Pausing for but a moment, Sanzhar picked up on the conversation, going towards a different topic. "That guy from earlier? He had multiple powers. Electric generation, superstrength, invisibility, and flight. At least those are what he showed off. And... who else got more than one power? Lorizilla."
Jace fumbled through his pocket for a packet and pulled it out. Inside were some over the counter pain meds, nothing too serious or narcotic. He popped them out of the plastic coating container and downed three of them.
He diverted the focus of his strength powers to increasing the potency of these OTC medications to make their pain nullifying aspect far stronger then usual, whilst releasing the hold on his amplified strength & durability. “Yeah but I don’t think it’s wise we go to the hospital now, also what we just did is risky but we won’t get caught. Don’t make a habit of doing what I just did, in case you ever wanna tag-along on more Shade missions. The gun I used to kill those dealers is a “Ghost” gun meaning it’s un-registered, so the police can’t trace the shell casings. “ Jace explained and the pain in his voice had lessoned from him using his powers to raise the potency of the medication to combat the pain in his back from the attack Floyd used against him.
“Oh yeah your damn right, I mean I noticed it that guy was damn powerful, no wonder the Salzaras sister is hooking up with him. Anyway what do you think, could that guy be Lorizilla, if he can shape-shift then he could be. Then Lorizilla killed thousands of people, I doubt she’d let us live two strangers nor would she care about a bag of drug money someone as strong as her could probably rob the Federal Reserve. Let’s go back to the safehouse & finish this business with Adam. I..I…think maybe we should try to find that guy, the one who said Rita Salzaras was his girlfriend. It’s the only lead on altered with multiple powers, plus right now the Salzaras Cartel is responsible for all the drugs entering the United States If we were able to stop them…then until the border re-opened we’d stop all the drugs from entering the country.”
"I would like to some more backup in that case..." Sanzhar said, turning around a corner. "There are just two of us, after all. But yeah, let's go back..."
"There are many movements that started with but one person, hell I've been Shade all by myself since my powers emerged." Jace retorted but the pain his back indicated that Sanzhar had a noteworthy point about needing back up. Before long they were back at the safe-house, and Jace had reached out to Adam in the manner requested.
"Hello yes the deed is done, I'd like you to hold to your end of the bargain to avoid further conflict between us...but...that won't be necessary if you are a man of your word... mhmmm... okay... what..." The tone in Jace's voice completely flipped as if he was hearing some unwelcome news and before long the phone was slammed shut, luckily his strength levels were regular when he did so. He stormed into the living room where Sanzhar was and gasped. "It looks as if our worst fears have come to life, Adam is refusing to part with the youtube account & footage acquired, he claims there is one more job for us to "complete", the murder of a detective, the one in charge of his prosecution for money laundering & insider trading to the tune of 48 million." Jace didn't even bother bringing up how the slimey rascal offered financial compensation on top of the footage for this "last" request because murdering meth dealers was one thing, but he wasn't going to kill a detective for simply doing his job going after crooks like him.
Sanzhar visibly scowled at the news. "By every rusted iron screw that has been jammed into my brain..." The metal bender sat down, tapping the table with his index finger as the realization that he would sooner or later be prosecuted by the government for using powers in public. Never had he wanted to wake up from a nightmare. But this was real.
"I don't... I don't know how to answer this." Sanzhar let out a heavy sigh. "Detectives are something else. I've got detective friends too. This is... I can't."
Sanzhar took another pause. "If only there's a way to trace the slimy bastard's call so that we can hit him in the face... or something. Otherwise we are boned."
Jace could only shake his head, that’s what he got for trusting a crook to keep his word. Then again he knew some shady characters that were still honorable, after all he had to dip and dab on the dark side sometimes with the work he was doing. “I’ve got a connection the one that was able to relay the intel that no official agency had managed to get any footage of our real identities using our powers.” Jace murmured bringing up Anya, but he wasn’t sure he wanted to go to the Russians with this.
He’d brought up the blackmail to Anya, but he was sure she figured he wouldn’t trade his life for the lives of strangers. Of course in the initial instance the targets Adam had sent him where people he had no hang-ups with killing. “I don’t got no detective friends, and I can’t say I’m a fan of the cops either, but I’m not killing a detective either. There’s people who support Shade, and resonate with what he stands for, no mercy towards bastards who resort to violence towards innocents to peddle dope on the streets, unfortunately or rather fortunately I’m right there with you on not killing any detectives.” Jace sighed.
He figured Sanzhar was facing similar thoughts as him, how life would be upon getting their identities revealed and facing prosecution for using their powers. “You know we’re not just gonna get in trouble for using our powers in public, we fled the police & the national guard after we killed the monster, and we didn’t kill any of them but I’m sure we put a few of them in the hospital with our escape tactics, then again your not half as screwed as me if or rather when I get charged with the murders of all those dirtbags I killed wearing this shade mask.”
Suddenly the front door swung open and Adam’s body came flying through and landed on the oval table next to them with a loud thud. “Ah fuck…oh no…Shade?! The metal guy! Hey Hey Hey! Look we can work something out please!!!”
Adam hurriedly tried to get up only for a jolt of electricity to fly into his abdomen causing his body to tense up while he yelled out in pain. None other then Floyd Banker flew into the safe house still wearing the same clothes he had during their encounter at the motel. “Delivery for Shade & the dusty metal man who fucked up one of my favorite glocks.” Floyd retorted as he landed on the carpet, Jace jumped up at the sight of the multi powered man they traded blows with while Floyd raised his arms defensively.
“Hold your horses Superman, I brought you a present, the guy I just tossed in here and tasered is a mutual problem for all of us, Adam Levely, the one whose blackmailing you guys, and tried to steal my money among other things like get us all to kill each other at that motel , AND was in the process of trying to strike a deal with the cops in exchange for turning in the footage of you & metal man, how about it can you guys here me out and see if we can all come to terms once the all the facts are out in the open regarding what this bastard did?” Floyd questioned trying to see if he could get Jace & Sanzhar to listen to him despite his damaging entry into the warehouse. "Oh..." Sanzhar nodded slowly, his gaze towards Adam quiet and true. He then looked back at Floyd, a tired expression on his face. "I am not dusty... Ehem. Anyway, about this... thing."
The 'dusty metal man' leaned back on his seat, stretching his rather tired spine. "So you're uh... someone with multiple powers, just like the Lorizilla, and... your girlfriend is the heiress of the Salzaras Cartel? Ah, what a surprise. A pleasant one, nonetheless. I'm all ears. Not so sure about... Shade."
Floyd just shook his head at Sanzhar running his mouth describing things about him in-front of someone that excelled at blackmailing people including altered. "Yeah why don't you just tell Adam here my date of birth, addrss & social security too damn it “ He responded somewhat irate with the metal man, mentioning that he had multiple powers & had relations with Rita Salzaras.
“I don’t know jack shit about Lorizilla god damn it, I’ve never met her and I don’t want to unless it’s to send her to hell.” Floyd snapped back at Sanzhar more aggressive then he intended, causing Jace to get up shoving Floyd into a counter with force.
“Hey listen motherfucker, you better watch your god damn tone I don’t give a fuck how many powers you have, don’t talk to my friend like that, you broke into my damn house, with some guy you claim is the Adam I’m looking for & you conventinely know I’m shade huh.”
“Wh…haat your Shade, you look so different In person, golly I’m so damn drunk I won’t even remember this tomorrow, look about what I said with the agent earlier I was just pulling ya leg, then you slammed the phone on me I tried to call ya back and tell you the truth but you were pissed, then this nutcase snatched me from my house saying he followed me from the Red Roof Inn where you gunned those two fuckers down, I’m sorry I had to get yer help like I did, but wow Jace Williams you are exactly what this city needs, I-“
“You spineless lying fuck!!!” Jace grabbed Adam and slammed him into the table breaking the table, instantly using his powers to raise his strength. In the corner of his eye he’d noticed something and ripped Adam’s shirt off revealing a police informant wire. Blood in his eyes Jace lifted Adam up from the smashed table before smashing him into the floor then stepping on his right arm breaking it. As he raised his foot to step on Adam’s neck surely killing him in a fit of rage Floyd sprung into action raising his own strength to around Jace’s and tackling the irate vigilante into a counter top, the two of them going straight through it.
“I’ going to kill him, he is wearing a wire, fuck Im gonna kill you too you brought him to my house!!!!!!!!” Thanks to Jace’s strength raising power Floyd formed flames that where bright blue with a white-is hue and unleashed the super hot flames on Jace point blank In conjunction with a blast of electricity causing Jace enough pain to both scream out In agony & stop his mindless rage-out.
“God damn it you done now Hulk, I told you he was trying to tell on you when I got here but you were all like ooh ooh don’t raise your voice at my friends, how can I trust you blah blah. Before I picked him up I used my electricity to disable the wire, and I planted a hidden camera on him when I first noticed him at the motel.” Floyd took out one of his cell-phones, and went to an app that connected to the hidden camera. The footage was crystal clear & allowed him, Jace & Sanzhar to hear Adam speaking to a CIA Agent named Flint Walker claiming he had the secret identity of Shade & an accomplice. Adam claimed that Shade & his accomplice had forced him to launder money & insider trade it or be murdered by him & the Salzaras Cartel. He even claimed that the two dealers he’d blackmailed them to kill were his close friends who agreed to accompany him to testify against Shade, his accomplice & the Salzaras Cartel In the morning.
“So now were all on the same page, Adam is a slimy bastard who tried to get as many of us to kill each other at the motel earlier & tell on the survivors preferably Shade & your metal-bender friend. Lucky for you guys I got rid of the footage he had of you, and the only back-up is on his spare phone which I have right here unlocked, consider it a gift so you can perform the final deletion yourself, I see your temper and don’t want you to think I’m trying to pull an Adam on you.” Floyd finished, reaching in his pocket and pulling out the spare phone Adam had the footage on, the same one he’d been using to manage the whole blackmail operation towards Jace & Sanzhar.
"That cheeky bastard..." Sanzhar crossed his arms. He had just watched as Jace... uh... smashed Adam into the floor. He seemed to not mind this moment of cruelty. One could even say that he liked to see their blackmailer be dunked on repeatedly.
"Hm, you delete it." Sanzhar motioned at Jace. "You're the... more important one here."
Jace proceeded as planned and destroyed the final copy of the blackmail footage Adam had of his & Sanzhar’s true identities. Then searched the device & logged in youtube account to confirm that all other traces of It were removed. “IT’s done we’re in the clear.” Jace said to his new friend Sanzhar explaining the blackmail footage was gone. “Now the only thing that remains is Adam himself, who while he does know our true identities doesn’t have any proof.”
“Right but he’s tried to make it out that Shade’s trying to wipe out him & his cohorts trying to expose you, even though the truth is the two people you killed today were vicious meth dealers & thieves, they were used as pawns in Adam’s disgusting tactics to secure his own freedom from his current criminal charges he’s facing. Even without proof this Agent Walker is a real CIA agent, and just by passing along your real identities he might not be able to gain much leverage or any at all, but the CIA will still investigate you two, and I get your whole gig killing murdering drug dealers, but your black & altered, so the CIA will want you gone. The most logical thing to do in this instance would be kill Adam & thus completely solve the problem, but I’m not much of a killer myself. Not to say I’ve never taken a life, but only when I really have to I don’t have it in me to just kill that.” Floyd admitted not having it in him to kill Adam, whom he had no real malice to but brought up what he thought was the best & safest course of action to Jace & Sanzhar to avoid any negative consequences from sparing Adam even after deleting the footage.
"Fortunately... someone does what needs to be done." Sanzhar nodded. He clearly wasn't referring to himself, but to his newfound comrade.
"Still. Congratulations for conveniently having these charges on you right when you saw us." He prodded at Adam with a metal rod. "I'd prefer to have you castrated, though."
Adam had come to towards the end of the conversation and was whimpering. “Please I just didn’t want to go to prison, you kept your end of the bargain, we can still both go our separate ways, the footage is gone, please spare me!”
“Enough.” Jace muttered and walked over to Adam with a gem look on his face. Albeit weak adrenaline coursed through Adam who stumbled to get up only for Jace to raise his strength and deliver a fatal jab through his neck, causing blood to spurt. Adam’s eyes were wide in shock as blood relentlessly flowed from his body and he fell to the ground seconds later just a corpse. “I won’t let this slimy bastard running his mouth be the thing that ruins me & Sanzhar’s lives not after going through all of this, and even being forced to take the lives of others for our freedom’s sake, even if those others were selling poison to others for profit.” Jace finished clearly not happy with having to kill Adam who although was a nasty man didn’t fit his MO as a violent criminal, still he was evil and had indirectly caused the deaths of others using Jace and probably many others.
“Shit yeah I knew I was making the right choice not to get on your bad side, anyway Shade and you too Sanzhar who’s not dusty, I came here bringing gifts not just out the kinds of my heart, but I have a proposition to offer. I want you two to join the Network. It’s an organization I’ve started in the past week made of altered with different abilities & roles in life from pilots to private investigators. My or well our immediate goal is to both keep altered from being ensured in the government’s invasive blood testing registration system & seize control of the black market primarily from the Salzaras Cartel, which makes me dating Rita Salzaras, the sister of Hector Salzaras the actual leader of the Salzaras very resourceful & important. The President & his administration have very horrible plans for altered in the near future, the first ability I copied is the power to see glimpses of the future mainly in my dreams, & the current future for our kind & what the President intends to do with us is why I’ve started the network. Join me please, if we can control the black market, we can eliminate certain crimes from not only being profitable but their existence entirely like kidnapping, human trafficking, murder for hire & even remove the most deadly of illegal drugs from our communities, plus we’ll be able to provide revenue for the innocent altered who are stripped off their jobs and any means to generate money, I support your mission Shade, but the truth is crime will always exist, but together we can erase the worst crime & take control of crime in this country all together at least preventing innocent lives from being lost in the crossfire of vicious immoral criminals in pursuit of the almighty dollar, what do you guys say?” Floyd said finishing his proposition about the Network to Jace & Sanzhar.
"So... we now have an underground resistance? Interesting." Sanzhar pondered, seemingly not taking notice of the warm corpse in the room. He had seen worse.
Sanzhar was now interested though. There was now organized resistance against the terrible laws that the federal government cooked up, one that is probably isn't affiliated with the infamous Reaper. "So, how many people are in this network? Colour me interested, but I'm mostly concerned if I'll have to consort with the likes of Reaper. You know who."
Jace pondered Floyd’s question, he’d only met him today and it had resulted in his back being injured. But he’d since learned that Adam had orchestrated things behind the scenes to set up the fight & the money he was attempting to confiscate from the meth dealers was in-fact Floyd’s legitimate money stolen by Adam himself. “In light of everything you’ve said & the nature of this Network I am comfortable with joining. As you know and stand Shade’s mission is the elimination of violent criminals, but truthfully I only planned and figure I had the means to even do this in the state of California at most, but with what your suggesting could actually make my vision a reality in the whole country of America.”
“Well In a way I guess we’re on the same side as Reaper by technicality in that the Network is an organized underground resistance to the Forrester Administration, but we are not partnered with his resistance nor do I co-sign the harming & murdering of innocent people, I didn’t even have it in me to kill Adam..Levely.” Floyd admitted but wasn’t proud, he felt as a leader he should have the guts to murder somone who wanted to blackmail not only innocent people, but innocent Altered turning them into his own personal killing machine, one of the very principles the Network stood against. "As for our numbers that are not many but are growing, with you two included we have between ten to 20 members but I’ve only started this movement in the past week.” “This lifestyle we are being forced into living by virtue of just being altered in a world where we are feared, and rightly so with the likes of Lorizilla & other murderous altered like her will harden your heart, I admit your reluctance to kill incessantly is one of the main reasons I’m agreeing to join you and your operation to seize control of the black market.
"Well, I honestly got nothing to do, so I'm also in." Sanzhar shrugged in turn. "I'm also a journalist, so... There's that. But... short of leaving this country, there is going to be no escape from this deep crapshow we're all in. So that's my piece. Consider us members now."
“Perfect! Oh, by the way one of the things I’m doing is selling fake Altered ID’s.” Floyd pulled out his wallet and took out his driver license which showed his altered status as negative. “Thanks to me having a graphic design company and one of the members of the Network’s ability we’ve been able to create fake scannable Altered ID’s that pass government checks, so if your caught at a checkpoint and provide this it’ll provide proof that your not altered. The going price for these is anywhere from $2500 to $7000 depending on how bad you need to hide that your altered, but for members I can help you get them for $1500 each.”
“Consider it done we need them, it’s not a matter of choice.” Jace reached in his pocket taking out a wad of cash, and counted out 30 hundred dollar bills handing them too Floyd. “Like I said were in, that’s for me and my journalist friend. How soon can we get those?” Jace wasn’t one to spend money quickly, but this was basically a get out of jail free ticket from the harsh anti altered laws, and after everything him & Sanzhar went through with Adam’s blackmail tactics he was eager to get it.
“I can get them to you in 24 hours so by tomorrow latest, just send me a picture of your license’s to this burner phone.” Floyd took out a business card for a random coffee shop that had the burner phone number scribbled on the bottom and handed it to Jace. “As for Adam I’m sure you have ways to get rid of the body, but you killed him so I don’t mind flying him away from here, Rita…has plenty of ways to get rid of bodies.” Floyd said the last part while shuddering a bit, showing that while he claimed her as his girlfriend he disapproved of her more violent & ultra criminalistic tendencies.
“I’m sure she has better traits that led to your union.” Sanzhar shrugged at Floyd. “Alright. I’ll... have to go home. The Adam situation has been dealt with so I don’t have a reason to be hiding...”
"So, onions, eh? Dis for the guy that's coming on board, or can anyone try?"
Anyone working the kitchen would remember that while Nero wasn't an accomplished chef or anything, his cutting skills in any context were wizard, and he still could cook for himself. Finbarr was just better at it. So, at the very least, he had a competent assistant to work with, if he needed it.
"Oh, these?" Finbarr wiped some of the grease off his hands with a paper towel, glancing back at Nero with his same reactive set of eyes. The crackle of the frying onions filled the air, and the aroma of well cooked food wafted throughout the kitchen, what with at least six of those placed neatly on a plate. "Well, you heard what was said earlier by the Joey person back on the meeting. Kanarusians have a huge appetite because they're shapeshifters, are magical, and are about twice as big as a fully grown man. So yeah, I'm getting onto these before the whole shabang with the liaison comes down. Besides, this brings back some memories of home..."
Finbarr fell silent. He remembered that many of them have little to no memory of their old lives because of the trauma of the experiments. He was one of the lucky ones. Would that even be a blessing to begin with, anyway?
"Anyway, you can help me by cutting up those..." Finbarr pointed towards a bunch of uncut onions lying in a tray on the counter. "You're good at cutting stuff up, yeah?" He added with a slight chuckle.
Nero remembered his past properly - apart from the parts that Dr. Vallance sealed up, though they were released now - though they were all basicallu unpleasant memories. So, his response to Finn's cooking was more-or-less a shrug with the respons of "You musta' had a better one than me.", noticing that this was the other Marine basically in nostalgia mode. It wasn't something that he himself had because of his orphan-hood. Technically, these post-war times were the best he's ever had in his life. It was why was willing to participate in other people's stuff, getting involved or even giving a damn about others. They were alright, so he looked after 'em. Besides, it's not like anyone else had ever been comfortable around 'im. So, when Finbarr offered him the job of cutting, he smiled.
"Fuck the hell yes."
Yeah, look at Mr. Yan Can Cut up here in this place! It was some rapid-fire work that you'd see only happening in those advertisements for really sharp knives, and he barely had to even look. He did return to a bit more serious after a bit, though.
"This punishment's bullshit, though. I'm not giving up my snacks. Most of us didn't even DO anything. In fact, if I read it right, everything but the stock trading was a setup, and we did everything in our power to get the hell out, safe and sound. Hell, I didn't even spend much money, really. If Jonny Asshole wants to treat me like it's still the Ascendancy here, he can suck it."
In a quick and flashy manner, he produced one of the knives as akin to a middle finger, handle lodged between his other fingers, for emphasis. Nero didn't think much of people giving him hell for things he neither had anything to do with nor had any means to even prevent.
"Good, good." Finbarr nodded at Nero as the latter took out one of his knives. Had it been anyone else not included in their merry little troupe of magic children, he would have locked them into a space time bubble while asking a thousand questions, but this was Nero. The guy who slices and dices.
"I know, it's ridiculous." Finbarr shook his head, remembering the punishment thing. "It's not like you and I were the ones that went on to gamble in the stock market. It was our two love birds."
Then he remembered that he and Narvia are a thing now... But he'd call their pairing something else. Something that doesn't have 'bird' on it.
"Good for you that you got to spend some of it." Finbarr shrugged. "I haven't even touched it. I would have put it all in a box or something, for future use. Now that dream is all gone..."
It was actually kinda' funny, calling those two lovebirds, and not because of the irony involved. Those two were just generally chill about it publically., as far as Nero knew, or cared. He didn't actually care, either. Still, the two of them flubbing this shit up WAS something to get on their case about, and only their case. The dumb idea of punishing everybody for shit was all on Jonny Fuckwit and his ability to make poor decisions. In any case, Nero picked up on the nature of Finn's lament.
"I get it. You had some big plans, or at least wanted it secure for something big later. Those two actually thought I should go into farming. Me! I just bought some shit because I didn't have any big ideas. I know you just had yours dashed, and...well...dreams like that are just dreams to guys like me."
He stopped, not only because it was Real Talk, but because the onions were done.
"I got into this for the revenge, to get the satisfaction of putting an end to the fuckers that started this mess, and all the ones that caused me hell. That's what we wanted to do, that's what I got on board for. Everything else is extra. Being treated nice, having spending money, eating decent food - that's gravy. Thing is, though, I like the gravy. I just don't think it's always gonna be there, so I shouldn't plan on it.
Now, a smirk came to his face, before a shadow would briefly envelope them both. This was an extension of his Shadow-Step that prevented sound from leaving his shadowy form, which was currently encompassing the two boys. Nero just wanted to be sure they weren't monitered.
"That said, I'm not giving over anything I bought, snack or otherwise. I'm hiding my shit. I've explored every nook and cranny of this spaceship. Anyone else who wants to get in on the action, you lemme know. I think this is a proper use of our powers."
"Same, really." Finbarr took out one of the finished fried onions and placed it onto a plate covered by paper towels, letting it soak up the excess oil. "I'll be keeping my stuff as well... luckily for me, I don't really have a lot of anything here. So hiding it wouldn't be too hard..."
He noticed that the Nero was projecting a Shadow-Step around the two of them, eliciting a little chuckle from him. "Ah, good job with the silencing thing, by the way." He reached out and patted Nero at the shoulder. "So, uh, after we bring down the government. That is, if we do succeed... what are you going to do after that?"
That shadow was just to their plans to rebel against the so-called first mate private. It was gone once they were talking normally again, meaning if anyone WAS listening, it would be as though it stopped after Nero was talking about the problem of big plans, and then there'd be an awkward pause until the next thing heard was Finn asking about the bringing down of government and what comes after. To that, Nero shrugged and sighed.
"I dunno. The twosome figured I should settle down, but I don't think it's in my nature to. Fighting and sneaking around are what I'm good at. I'm probably a merc for life. I mean...realistically...if we take down government, and anyone looking to take charge has to work real hard to re-organize things, do you think they'd really leave us alone? Yeah, sure, we might disappear, but the best way not to be found has got to be to keep moving."
"Or to be somewhere far away and isolated." Finbarr shrugged in response as he placed the last of the fried onions on the plate. "That is what I was planning, anyway. Get my family off Titan and then go to... Somewhere quiet. We've always wanted that. Oh, and I'll be with Navi too."
Sniffing, Finbarr turned towards Nero. He took off the apron that he had been using and placed it back on the counter. "But, if we are to do some extra work to stabilize things and get paid for it... why not. Its not like it all ends when the head of the snake is cut off, anyway. There will always be those groups that would try to make a counter-coup, or something like that."
There was kind of a fiendish 'Oh...heh heh heh' kind of a look when Finn mentioned Narvia, even a chuckle from the knife-wielder. Not that it was much of a secret anymore, but rather that though Navi kind of blurted stuff out, it was funny to hear it from the horse's mouth, so to speak. Still, he nodded at what Finbarr had to say.
"Least it won't be bored. Now, do we do anything special with this stuff, or is that the end of it? I got some things to do, and some cake to eat. Jonny Appleguts isn't getting any."
Yup, the naming convention he'd started with the crystal lemon bar maker had found a new target.
"Maybe some mayonnaise and dressing." Finbarr shrugged in respond to Nero's question. "And yes. John Appleguts will not lay a single finger upon these. Because I'll be taking it all."
Then and there did Finbarr just pop one of the fried onions in his mouth. His face contorted a little bit as it was still hot, but he downed it nonetheless. "Mmm, good and simple. Anyway, you're free to get some, but if your cake just happens to be better... Well, nothing's stopping you."
Since Nero's face soured when Finn mentioned mayo and dressing for the onions, we can safely conclude that - apart from the onion piece he slipped into his mouth when his hands were working the magic - he would not be partaking.
"You kidding? It's a fucking great cake. Almost made me forget that one of the people after us is another shadow user. So hey, if you see a shadow-thing and you think it's me, better double-check it!"
Oh, oka- Wait, WHAT?!
Nero saw something, but Finbarr didn't seem to comprehend just what the other boy was detecting. He would just shrug in disbelief as Nero walked away, seemingly in a hurry.
"Breakfast," Rafael repeated. It was a good idea, especially after a night of drinking. He also noted mention of a hospital. "Alright, Z-Man, since you insist, I'm happy to let you treat me to some grub," he announced, choosing his words carefully. "And then, maybe after, we can-" Rafael was shoulder was checked by a passerby going in the opposite direction on the sidewalk. "Ow, bro! Watch where you're going," he shouted back at the pedestrian who appeared to ignore him entirely as he continued on his aggressive stroll.
Zeke chuckled a little bit as the pedestrian just bumped Rafael without so much as a word of apology. Ah, well. This wasn't Canada where people apologize all the time. This was America. They either smile at you even if they're strangers, or ignore you completely. It depends, really. "Come on, now, we have to eat something for our famished stomachs." He remembered that Rafael said that being hit by a car didn't hurt him at all, but this morning, bumping into a pedestrian apparently elicited his pain receptors. Huh. Either he was drunk or his strength powers only work at night. Or... ugh, never mind. Neither of them know.
Zeke sighed. He still had a lot of savings left over from the past five years, and it wasn't like his siblings and parents were just going to let him starve. They'd have to give him an ample weekly allowance while he looked for a job to replace the one that literally got smashed into pieces when a titanic woman knocked over the building where it was happening. He was pretty frugal, too, and wouldn't spare more than a dollar for the average meal. He had his ways of compressing his budget, like avoiding picking up vices and taking the cheapest options, even if it were a little bit inconvenient. He'll manage.
Since he was the one leading the way, Zeke eventually got them to the nearest restaurant. It was just your average dining place, with options for steakd, fries... basically fast food. Though they also had salads and mashed potatoes.
Zeke quickly ordered the two of them the same thing; steaks with fries, with a side of mashed potatoes. They were soon seated across from each other, knives and forks at the ready. Zeke whispered a quick prayer before beginning to eat, though his phone rang, and interrupted his breakfast.
"Yes...? Oh, Mrs. Kontis?" He recognized the voice of Leon Kontis' mother. She had a thick Greek accent, and was very, very loud. He had to turn down the volume just not to get deafened.
"Uhm... yes, yes, I'll pay him a visit today. No, as far as I know we're the only ones... yeah. Okay. Bye."
Hanging up, Zeke dug into the food again. "So, you said that being hit by a car didn't hurt at all, yeah?" He asked Rafael. "But when you got bumped by that random pedestrian, you looked like you were hurt and irritated. Does that... shed any light on what you can do?"
Huh, shed light. Right when his powers can make the darkest place shine as bright as morning.
Lysander Shen
"Hello, Father."
"For the last time, I'm not-"
"Forgive my choice of words, I have yet to be accustomed to the circumstances upon we have been placed..."
Lysander shook his head, sighing softly. He looked up towards the seven foot tall fire dragon, whom he had neglected to give a name to just yet. He hadn't even named it when it was still a little stuffed toy hanging on one of the zipper handles of his backpack. He hesitated to name it... him. Did gender even apply to it? It was a being made from woven cloth, stuffing, and magic flame. It did have a rather deep baritone voice, though. And it definitely identified as male.
Lysander did, after all, almost have a son. Almost.
"Alright. What I was trying to say was... you shouldn't come out every time someone is threatening me. I mean, if it's just school bully, you shouldn't show yourself! I'd get... very bad things. Very bad things will happen if a lot of people see that I'm an Altered. What with what is happening in the last few days..."
Instinctively, he held his hand pretty close to the dragon's snout, feeling the warmth of the eldritch flames that encompassed the beast of war.
"Fa-, Lysander, err, Yongzheng." The dragon said, lying down on the stone floor of the warehouse. "I have no knowledge of the events that had come to pass in the outside world. All I have known was that your dreams forged my souls from the deep, sending me into this vessel. And then I knew when you needed aid..."
"A giant Altered woman killed tens of thousands of people yesterday." Lysander replied. "And now... I think I have to be extra careful. And you too."
"Who is this woman that you speak of?" The dragon demanded. "I must seek her out, purge her from this world, so that her evil may no longer stain your kind. What do you say?"
"Don't even get me started." Lysander frowned. "I don't want to do anything big, you know? I just want to finish college and get a job..."
"You do not treasure our companionship?" The woven fire dragon pouted. "That wounds my heart."
"No, no, no! That's not what I meant at all..." Lysander shook his head. "You're... very kind. And will do anything to protect me, yes?"
"If my annihilation ensures your safety, then that will be how it goes." The drake answered wholeheartedly. "You are my maker. My directive is to protect Shen Yongzheng, or as the others call you, Lysander Shen. Though it saddens me that I have yet to be given a moniker to go by."
"Ehhh..." Lysander look away. "I just don't know what to name you... You can pick your own, I guess?"
"My own?" The dragon nodded. It remembered something faintly. A memory of the long last, a figment left over from Lysander's own mind. It had been his dreams that forged its soul and consciousness, after all.
"Then I'll go by Shenron."
Lysander blinked. "Shenron? As in the dragon in Dragon Ball?"
"I know not what is this Dragon Ball you speak of, but Shenron sounds like a mighty name, doesn't it?"
Lysander shrugged. "Shenron it is. Now, Shenron. You gotta turn back into a plushy. I have to study soon..."
Sure enough, he'll soon be out, walking towards his morning classes in San Francisco State College. As he strode the streets, he prayed that there won't be another titan woman, or else...
Name: Lysander Shen Age: 19 Gender: A Man Height: 5'4" Weight: 54 kilograms Ethnicity: Asian-American (Chinese descent) Sexual Orientation: Hetero Religion: Methodist Occupation: Undergraduate College Student (Sophomore)
Ability:
Object Imbuement: Nothing can say for sure what the limits of this are, but Lysander is psychically bonded with his stuffed dragon, which he has carried with him since childhood. When he is threatened, the little plaything is roused into life as a seven feet tall beast of fire and war that follows his every command to the letter. He could, in theory, turn any statue, mannequins or stuffed toy into a transformed weapon, but he can only have one at a time, and the sentimental value of the dragon ensures that he is sticking to it. He would also prefer something he could carry around without trouble.
A common trait of everything that Lysander transforms is that they are always on fire once active. Orange flames cover their every being, defying the laws of physics as they themselves do not burn even if their source material is flammable. Each one of them possesses the strength of five men and with the virtue of being non-biological beings, need no rest nor sleep. They can cross through space to return to Lysander's side, and if their source object is being harmed (ex, someone tries to rip the stuffed dragon apart), they will transform as a self protective measure.
If one is destroyed while transformed, Lysander will be free to imbue another object with his powers to make that one his pawn, but it takes several minutes to fully take control of it. Should it be roused into transformation too quickly, it will not follow his orders, and instead attack any living beings nearby until it has no more targets in sight or if it is destroyed.
Curiously enough, the objects he transforms turn out to be highly intelligent and speak to him on a regular basis, going as far as to call him Father. Whatever mind resides in there seems to retain all memories on previous vessels. What this means exactly, one cannot tell.
Background: Lysander Shen, youngest of three children, was born in Hong Kong as Shen Yongzheng to Shen Liwei and Shen Lanying. In the first five years of his life, Yongzheng would live under the thumb of enterprising parents that tried every business under the sky. And yet, despite their every effort, they ended up losing more than they gained at each turn. Times came when they had to skip a meal a day. Those were terrible days for the Shen family, their luck failing them at every turn.
Of course, not everything was terrible, really. When Yongzheng was three, their more affluent relatives from the mother's side supported their finances. Liwei, after all, graduated top of his class as a major in business. This was his thing, right? It was just that the competitors were being pesky and did everything to tear them down… Well, maybe there was a better life elsewhere.
And so it was decided. A few months after his fifth birthday, Yongzheng came to a whole new country, America. Though the locals were often not too receptive, they quickly found a community of their own people living there and integrated. The Shens then picked up Anglo names to better fit in. Since his mother was a fan of Greek history, she suggested Lysander to be his name, after the Spartan admiral of old. With a simple nod, Shen Yongzheng would then be known henceforth as Lysander Shen by anyone who wasn't his own kin.
From them on, he lived a normal life. Aside from the spates of racism, Lysander had it well. He wasn't buried under student loans like a lot of others, and made the parents proud with his academics. He always did his best.
And then… something happened at college. He had fallen for this girl from his class (and the feeling was mutual), and after a particularly drunken party, they spent the night in a less than ideal way for people of their age. It was just fun, they said. But she called a few weeks later, saying she was vomiting way too much.
He was now going to be a dad at 19.
What could he do, then? The foolishness of youth has jeopardized his future.
Before he could decide, the Energy Storm and Plague came. Both he and the girl were afflicted by the plague, and while he lived, she and the one within her perished. She had decided to keep it. He was the one that couldn't decide. To make matters worse, his mother had died from the Storm itself, crushed by a falling pillar when the beams of light coruscated from the skies.
Such was the pain, and yet, he told no one of his secret. Lysander feared that since he had been known as this flawless genius child, such a thing would be seen as a disgrace. And so he hides it to this day.
That wasn't all, though. The plague had given him something else other than pain and suffering. He found out that he was an Altered when he had wandered into an alleyway out of sheer numbness. A group of street thugs confronted him, and as he stared at them as they yelled obscenities, the stuffed dragon that hung from his backpack burst into unnatural life. It was reborn as a beast of fire, and its roar scared the group away, leaving an awe-stricken Lysander.
It was at this moment, when the fiery beast wrought from woven cloth and hellfire spoke to him, calling him Father as he had created it from his own dreams. Though he refuses to call the seven feet tall fire dragon his child, there was no doubt that he was its creator.
The hologram then turned to Ashton and Flame, the former which had frozen in shock at the consequences of his attempt to be 'clever, while the latter clenched his fists, "...And also gave the OIS a pretext to put hundreds of thousands more people under surveillance. But that's beside the point - Most of the money your crew acquired due to speculation has been stolen from your accounts, let it be a lesson for not coordinating with us."
"Oh, great. Just great." Finbarr shook his head, not bothering to look up as he inspected the unignited hilt of his trusty plasma blade. He had added a few decoration to it, with a pair of intertwined silver snakes being etched unto the surface. He glanced towards Narvia, silently lamenting the kind of misfortune that their future together had just suffered. He was this close, this close towards achieving his goal, and now, it was all gone, just like that. Not only that, but a lot of people have been turned into collateral damage by the reckless actions of someone, no, some-two. "I was planning to invest my portion into worthy causes..." Finbarr trailed off, his tone betraying a lie. ""Welp, life is life, and life sucks."
Fortunately enough, they were going to have a visitor soon, one going by the moniker of Doruva Aoshen, scion of the House of Aoshen. Finbarr remembered the Kanarusians from their previous field operations while fighting their fractured houses; shapeshifting reptilian beasts gifted with elemental magicks that made it difficult for regular forces to deal with them. They were as capricious as they were cunning, the propagandists said. And now they'll have one as a friend!
As the conference continued, Finbarr's mind wandered to whole other dimension. His imagination filled with fried onions dripped in oil, just like the ones that were his favorite back on Titan. The lyrics of the French onion song that was used for marching rang within his head. Oh, and burgers. One can never go wrong with burgers...
Finbarr continued to fly around the tenth dimension until the end of the meeting, wherein he quickly zoomed towards the mess. He was an itty bit famished after running around the Galactic Bazaar and fighting Goblin monsters, and since they were just waiting around for the Kanarusian liaison to arrive, he figured that he'd make use of his time in a way that didn't involve turning into a cat and going to a ten hour nap. They weren't particularly short on money, or ingredients, and as such, he did what he daydreamed about: make fried onions. The smell of frying would filter in from the mess hall of the Xuanzhang, and there he was, perhaps waiting for Narvia to ask him about their future finances. Or anyone, really. He would truly appreciate if someone were to volunteer to taste test.
Jace had a nice buzz from the vodka he got offered by Anya back at the safehouse. Plus he picked up a nifty key which meant he now had three locations to go including his main residence. After reverting his alcohol tolerance back to normal he'd hopped in the charger and headed back to the safehouse he dropped Sanzhar at. They were in the clear with the police, but now the only problem was Adam who wanted to blackmail them into murder. Now I need to figure out whether i tell Magneto Kent about the blackmail murder for hire or just go handle these bozos myself Jace pondered when an idea ran through his head, one that might be a solution to the problem and still get Adam off his back. "oh Jace you sly bastard." He said to himself with a grin as he pulled up to the safehouse and parked his charger. A plan was flowing through his brain, a way to get revenge on Adam without having to turned into his extorted killer for hire. He'd consult Sanzhar on the logistics of the plan, after all this was the last thing they needed to deal with in order to be free. He put the key in the door and opened it stepping into the safehouse. "Yo I'm back, I got good news, and bad news about the footage, I spoke to my friend." Jace said referring to Anya.
"Okay, tell me the good news first." Sanzhar turned around from his seat, eyeing Jace. He still had his metallic ballpoint pen scribbling on the notebook on the table, while the breakfast that Jace left behind was completely annihilated. Sanzhar even went as far as wash the dishes.
Jace noticed the pen in his hand & notebook he was writing in. He knew he was a journalist but didn't want him writing about his hidden identity as Shade. "Aye you not writing about me like my vigilante shit right? I ain't trying to get locked up or have reporters banging at my door." He added with some aggressiveness in his tone not threatening his friend but giving him a warning. "The good news is you ripped up your phone for no reason, the footage didn't catch your face, no cops or government agents managed to snag a look at you during the monster fight or the chase." Jace finished telling him the "Good" news.
"Don't worry, Jace." Sanzhar winked. "I know not to spill secrets. I'm only cataloguing how the law chased me down for saving people."
Then Jace continued on. Apparently he was safe. There was no footage of his face, and thus, nothing to worry about when he got home. "Ah... that is indeed good." Sanzhar nodded, his writing pausing for but a moment. "Thank you for confirming it... heh, now I have to get a new sim card... so, what's the bad news then?"
Jace noticed Sanzhar’s wink & shuddered in response as it made him a bit uncomfortable. So your gonna publish a story about getting chased AND escaping the authorities, oh brother
Jace had no time to really ponder on Sanzhar’s self incriminating writing. “Yeah you do, probably shouldn’t a ripped it to shreds but I can’t blame you for being cautious. Hell the bad news is Half the reason I don’ blame you look at this” He took out his phone and went to the second private youtube video Adam had sent him. It showed Sanzhar without his mask briefly using his powers. “Some dude named Adam got footage of you & me using our powers without masks and unless we kill two people he owes money to he’ll show the world.” Jace remarked informing Sanzhar of the bad news.
"Kill people?" Sanzhar shook his head. "No way! No, no, no! I can't even crack a rat's spine, much less a person!"
Sanzhar frowned. Just as he thought he was free, some idiot made this thing... because he had a debt or something. Oh, bother!
"Killing... you can do it, but I can't. Best I can do is lockdown..."
Jace sighed it seemed Sanzhar wasn't taking the news well which is pretty much what he'd expected. "It ain't a good situation trust me I know, but you see the video. That leaves you well us with two options kill these people and keep our freedom or let them live, become wanted fugitives, risk our family getting killed by anti-altered extremists or arrested for being related to us oh and us ending up in prison ourselves if we get caught." Jace concluded pointing out the series of negative events that would follow if Adam exposed the footage of them using their powers to the public. "And hey! I ain't no heartless killer, I only target violent criminals not innocent people, he didn't tell me who the people he owes are but if there innocent." Jace paused morally conflicted about their choices "I don't know if I'll be able to spill their blood either." Jace added pointing out that he didn't want to spill innocent blood.
"Maybe we should hope that these people he owes money are the big fat cat drug lords here in the city." Sanzhar chuckled, attempting a bit of a joke to soften the situation. It probably didn't work.
"Maybe I should ask my IT brother to pull a DOS attack on that guy's internet..." Sanzhar mused. "If we can trace his IP address... Bah, he'll just switch or do a more direct approach."
On that subject, he had an idea. A big maybe. "You know any Altered with technological powers? Digital manipulation, hacking, anything that could delete files remotely...?"
Jace shook his head and looked down to the ground. “No I don’t, Your the FIRST other altered I’ve spoken to since getting my powers. It’s not like I joined a Facebook group for Altered.” Jace frowned thinking about how few altered people he actually knew.
“What the hell is a DOS attack? I ain’t no tech guru, outside of uploading videos to youtube & teaching courses on zoom.” Jace pondered on what exactly Sanzhar was suggesting his “IT Brother” do to help them & an explanation for what he was recommending they do.
“I get that your trying to lighten the mood, so if the people he wants us to kill are scumbags then what we kill them? I can live with that, my only concern for going down that road, is what if it don’t end there, how can we guarantee he’ll get rid of the footage after that instead of trying to get us get rid of “one more person” Jace mused on the potential that this Adam figure might go back on his word and use the evidence hanging over them to force them into offing more people afterwards.
"A DOS attack pretty much stops someone in the afflicted internet address or device from accessing the internet." Sanzhar responded sheepishly. "Say, someone trying to get into a YouTube while being afflicted by such an attack will just have an error page in front of them..."
People are creative. Adam would just use emails.
"Then maybe we cut the head of the snake." Sanzhar nodded as Jace was concerned that he'd be used an improvised attack dog. "If that happens, we'll have to deal with Adam himself... whatever that means."
Can he kill anyone? No! Not yet.
"Hmm I see where you going with that but I can still see some potential problems. "Jace admitted not exactly having the same line of thought that originated from sanzhar. He stil had some idea of how a DOS attack or anything of that nature similarly might not get them entirely out of the water with Adam's extortion scheme. "I'll go ahead & make contact with Adam then, I don't like sitting around waiting. In the event that the targets are real innocents I rather have time on our hands to take alternative measures pre-emptively." Jace took out his phone and went to his recent calls to examine the mysterious number Adam had called him from. "As for cutting the problem off at the head that's something I wish we could do now, but honestly wouldn't mind if we could just get rid of some scumbags in exchange for learning a lesson about being more careful using our powers in the open." Jace concluded
"... Okay." Sanzhar sat back on the chair, rubbing his forehead, a sure sign of stress. "I... ugh. I don't know anymore. Everything sucks."
Jace let out a laugh at that response. "Shit man, not everything but a lot of it does. Alright well at least we gotta plan now, I'm going to get in touch with Adam & let's get this show on the road." Jace wasn't entirely satisfied with the arrangement of the outcome they reached, but at least it was something. A chance to salvage & maintain the secret of their abilities without comprising on morality. "I need a damn drink." Jace muttered to himself going to the fridge to retrieve a beer and going to take a seat whipping out his phone to make contact with Adam to inform him of being ready to proceed & comply with his demands in return for the footage.
The Blackfang floated lazily within the Crab Nebula, awaiting the arrival of the freighter that it was supposed to meet right here in these clouds of stardust. This ship was deceptively small, being no more than 40 meters long, but it was still a state of the art vessel made by the shipwrights of the House of Aoshen, the second most powerful faction with the Kanarusian Federation. The symbol of the House, a sun surrounded by a pair of circling dragons within a roiling lightning storm, was painted on both sides of the frigate, showing just who owned the thing, and that to mess with it was to invite the wrath of the creatures that the Ascendancy spoke great ill of in its propaganda campaigns.
On its prow, a single railgun was mounted, capable of dishing out devastating damage with each shot. Two pairs of point defense cannons were emplaced on four hardpoints in even intervals across the vessel's sides, while rocket pods provided most of its long range offensive firepower. The signature azure paintjob of all of the ships marked as belonging to the House of Aoshen covered much of it, though bands of matte black would distinguish it as a warship, and another symbol, a sword hanging over the galaxy's heart, showed that it was, in fact, property of the intelligence agency of the Federation, which was a united effort by the seven houses.
"Can you feel it, Mizrahir?" Doruva whispered to the captain of the Blackfang, whom he had known for some time. "They're coming."
"I don't even know why you volunteered for this thing." Mizrahir grumbled as the shipboard radar told them that the Xuanzhang was here. "Those children, they turned quite a few of your comrades into dust..."
"Exactly, Mizrahir!" Doruva smirked. "Think, Mizrahir. They were most certainly kidnapped from their homes to serve the twisted institution of the Ascendancy. They're powerful. And I see that with their aid and desire for vengeance, we might be able to topple the existing structure, and hopefully someone that has more positive views towards us gets in charge. If the House were to give me more help, maybe even end up making a puppet-"
"Curb your bubbling optimism before I vomit." Mizrahir waved him away. "Get the hell out already. We just hailed them and the shuttle is prepped."
"Why, yes, if you say so." Doruva skipped away. "You're missing out."
Mizrahir grumbled and sighed deeply as Doruva eventually got on board the shuttle. Why must he suffer like this?!
It won't be long now. The shuttle had departed from the Blackfang, and a message for a docking procedure had been sent well in advance, and was well received. What form will the scion of Aoshen take form, then? A great serpent of yore? A walking lizard? Or merely a man?
He moved quickly through the apartment and out the front door. There was plenty he needed to get done today but, at the forefront of his mind, was to get an understanding of his new abilities. He also needed to at least attempt to make amends with Dave. And it seemed like there was something else he was forgetting. What all did he even do last night? He paused for a moment to consider, but all he could recall was going out for drinks, getting wasted, and then something to do with a Zebra...
Speaking of zebras...
Zeke's head was spinning. Not literally, of course, as that would be fatal. He had an annoying hangover, his first one, in fact. Zeke had never drunk anything alcoholic for his whole twenty seven years of existence, being the 'good boy' of the neighborhood. But now, the stress, the explosions, and the thing about being apparently betrayed and fired from position... too much was happening in these few last days. Thousands dead, the laws of the government turning against people like himself...
Still, Zeke wasn't completely out of his head. He had woken up much earlier than Rafael did, after all, and slept about a few hours sooner, too. He didn't bother getting out yet, though. He was too busy doing absolutely nothing at all, lying on the sofa while swiping through his Facebook newsfeed. There, he found that... well, many of those he knew had lost people when the giant woman crushed her way through the downtown area where he worked.
That's a lot more funerals for him to attend than he initially thought.
He barely noticed Rafael come out of the apartment, his form barely registering in his peripheral vision. If anything, he was still blasted by last night, after all. His mind slowly took it in... and he jumped out of the sofa, briskly walking after Rafael.
"Good morning, Raff..?" He chased after him, quickly catching up. "You good? I was planning to pay a certain hospitalized friend today. After breakfast, anyway."
The voices of the deceased whispered evil thoughts to Karagoz, tormenting him in every minute and second as he walked through a alleyway in outer San Francisco. Where exactly? He couldn't remember. Karagoz can't even recall what he did yesterday, not without a bout of narcotics.
"Shush." Karagoz hissed at his demons, kicking a bag of trash out of the way. "Shut up! I did... what was right."
He had no direction. No purpose. But it seemed that someone will give both of those things soon enough...
His videos were stirring up controversy & sowing discord in different communities. Which was fine to him, he’d always liked Malcolm X’s message more than MLK.
It resonated with him more, after all what would peaceful protesting accomplish. Nothing except making them open targets and target practice for vicious biased officers.His primary mission now was to grow his reinforcements and further add to his team. Only by working together as one single unit, co-ordinating their unique abilities & background skills could the hope to emerge vicious against the vast modern empire that the United Stats had evolved into.
Expansion, that’s exactly what he was up to now. Thanks to his unique blessing from the energy plague he could find other altered who sympathized with and supported his cause just by being near them.
That was exactly what he was doing now. His day was already off to a good start with the woman he’d ran into & asked out to dinner that very same evening/night. He’d uncovered some very pertinent information about her with his own innate talents that made him eager to reunite with her later this evening. But now he had other matters to attend to, as he’d unearthed the thoughts of another altered who not only thought like him but was in full support of his righteous cause.
Oh I like this one Reaper thought to himself, he’d been walking around without his mask on. But now it was time to don his infamous head-gear that had taken the internet like a storm. Entering the same ally s Karagoz he decided to make his precise known.
“Hello Mr. Karagoz, it’s a pleasure to meet you, I could’t help but overhear the interesting inner-workings of your tortured soul & mind.” Reaper spoke calmly, before using his power to speak to Karagoz’s mind directly. How would you like to strike up an alliance, my name is Reaper
"Oh, you're that guy." Karagoz crossed his arms, the voices ceasing, if only for this single moment. He eyed the masked man, looking at him from head to toe.
Judging from how he heard Reaper's voice in his head rather than through his ears, it seemed that he was telepath, a mind reader. Hopefully he didn't control minds as a puppet master, but that didn't seem to be the case.
"An alliance...?" Karagoz' brows raised at the proposition. He had nothing to lose, either way. He had no one now. "Colour me interested."
Karagoz nodded. "I've always found... inspiration in your speeches. On how we should strike back..."
One of the voices roared in protest, but he silenced it. "What assurance do I have that I am not a tool, but a partner?"
Reaper found it most interesting that he heard more then one voice rattling around in his head, truly the sign of a fragmented psyche, many would be wary but all that mattered to him was that the dominant mind was in agreement with his mission.
“I heard” Reaper said with an amused tone when Karagoz mentioned finding inspiration in his speeches, having peered into the scorned veteran’s mind before approaching him.
“What assurance, truth be told there is no assurance I can give you. If I said otherwise that would be a lie, how many people assured you of things in your past that never came to pasy? The military for example what they assured you your life would be like after serving versus what actually happened? Assurence’s are issued by men who lie to there allies as a quick fix to the cold hard truth that trust must be built through action and not thinly veiled words pr promises.” Reaper finished most eloquently and paused.
“However I advise or rather request you to take a chance on what I’m saying. Help me help you, myself, and all of us. As minorities we’ve always been ostracized in this country, always seen as second best and sometimes worst then that. But now that we’ve been given these powers, if there is a God It’s clear who he’s truly deemed as the superior race is it not?” Reaper poised the question to Karagoz leaving the ball in his court for a response. He preferred to lay out the facts to people rather then try to entice them with promises he couldn’t fulfill and lies that sounded too good to be true.
"Superior race..." Karagoz nodded slowly. The council in his head convened, screaming at each other. It was clear, however, that his own mind was the one that dominated the congress of voices in his head. No matter how much evil or protest the others might raise, his own voice was still the one in charge. Barely. "Indeed. I see. I concur. We concur."
Karagoz nodded again, and extended a hand. "If you're the Reaper, then I'll be the Dragon that burns all that stand in our path."
Reaper extended his own hand to meet and grasp Karagov's. He was happy to accept the soldier as an ally of his, the more the merrier and he found his powers quite deadly. "I must say the name is quite fitting of your capabilities, and will surely strike fear into the hearts and minds of our enemies."
Reaper had smile stretch across his face that the veteran couldn't see under-neath his grim reaper mask.
"You couldn't have come at a better time, there are things going on which the president does not dare speak about, but will happily announce in time. For every thing he announces to the public, it is several leagues behind what is already being done in the dark. There is an organization known as Liberty, that is tasked with tracking, monitoring, detaining & killing us at there discretion and there's alone. As we speak those of us that are deemed too dangerous for society are being rounded up and placed into underground prisons known as Tartarus Compounds, and that was before the giant one stomped through the city yesterday, can you imagine what there plans are now?"
Reaper reflected in an inquisitive tone granting Karagoz access to the information he knew about what was being done to altered in secret and what more might follow after Lori's attack yesterday
"They would burn the skies to see us all annihilated." Karagoz replied succinctly. "I fought as a soldier once. I know that this government has no issue with killing whoever gets in the way of their interests. And to combat that..."
Karagoz took out a lighter, and ignited a little flame, one that he could turn into a massive blast if he willed it. "To defeat evil, one has to take in evil as well."
"That is very well true, but in this scenario we are the victims not the aggressors." Reaper spoke softly pointing out they had been mistreated and targeted by the government first.
"Then everything that we will do is justified." Karagoz replied. "So, where do we begin?"
"Exactly, that's the mindset we must have not only to keep us going but because it is the truth." Reaper responded firmly, the ex soldier was someone he could get use to working with. The views they shared were similar in almost every way, and thus he held his words in high regard. Nothing suited the radical better then being around other altered who shared his exact views on their situation & status. "I believe the first step should be to gather the others, the ones who are the most oppressed among us currently, as they will readily join us having already experienced the pinnacle of America's hatred toward us." Reaper responded ecstatically, the first phase was simple free any altered already captured in the Tartarus Compound and elsewhere to add them to their ranks as they'd be burning with a desire to get revenge on their captors.
"Then it shall be done." Karagoz replied. "When do we start on our quest?"
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