The Man Emperor

Rise of the New Heroes

@The Man Emperor I appreciate your interest in the roleplay, but I only give out our Discord link to people in the roleplay. I hope you enjoy reading the posts of our talented writers!

@Zapdos

Just looked at this now. I'll be making something... within a few days. Maybe tomorrow.

Rise of the New Heroes

Does this have discord?

Rise of the New Heroes

Hmmm, subbed.

Innocence Lost - A Science Fantasy RP [v.03]

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Doruva Il'Kays Ao'shen

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Flame then stepped up to speak, "Mr. Doruva, Mr. Gabriel, it is best we get this out of the way - We participated in the Kanarusian Worlds Campaign. We were there for the bombardment of House Salakar's homeworld. We won't make any excuses for that, not when said excuses will insult the dead. All we ask is that we are allowed to redeem ourselves in this campaign, to make things right even in some small way."

Doruva, at first, fell silent at the confession of the ginger boy. His cheerful disposition fell off, if only for but a moment, but
his mouth slowly creased into a smirk that could be interpreted in a hundred different ways. Was he silently fuming at them? Or
was he just taking it better than one might think? The latter seemed to be the case, if his expression was to be believed. Kanarusians were guileful shapeshifters, though, so they would still have a reputation of saying one thing while totally thinking of the opposite.

At least, he wasn't overtly furious.

"Such utter honesty from the get go... Doruva chuckled. "Oh, friends, no use in dwelling in the past, eh? Salakar is gone, its handful of survivors taken in by the Nine Houses. It is indeed their annihilation that spurred the rest of us to engage in that terrible, horrifying war, but as said before, it is all in the past and is a lesson to all of us. Kanarus may forgive, but we can never forget."

"Doruva and...Gabriel was it? Nice name. -Ahem- [It is with great honor that we welcome Doruva of Noble House Ao'shen, and his loyal guardian to this vessel. In honor of this occasion, we offer all of the non-ration food on this ship to you and to Ms. Vandris. We expect great things from you, and have hope that we meet what expectations you may have of us.]" Joey said, at first in English then after clearing his throat, the rest of what he said was in an alien language - Kanarusian's native tongue. In fact, it was so smooth in the tone, he almost sounded like someone completely from the sarcastic loud mouth he's been known for. He then made a cough and looked at Melinae one more time.

"Why, thank you my dear sir. I appreciate the welcome, Joey Albion. And don't worry about your Kanarusian. I would have thought that you were from House
Vulcaria if I were not gazing upon you at this very moment." Doruva nodded at Joey. Truth be told, he wasn't expecting a highly disciplined force, so one could say that his expectations were met one way or another. He had been informed that these were still children, after all. One could guess how hard it is to control teenagers with post-traumatic disorders, missing memories, and violent magic that shouldn't even be in them to begin with.

"A failure in leadership weakens the organization as a whole. To punish the subordinate for the failings of their superior only inspires a lack of trust and loyalty." Gabriel stated bluntly before walking back over to Master Doruva.

Now, now. His bodyguard may be blunt... but he was right. Doruva had only realized how difficult would this assignment be. Infiltrating high society was one thing... getting kids in line was a whole other beast. One child had been a massive drain upon him. But... ten? That is a nightmare.

"I still have my hopes... and my feedback." Doruva said once his bodyguard returned to his side. "Let's all do our best, shall we?"

The Energy Storm

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Sanzhar, Jace, and Floyd

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So much so that today he hardly received any resistance from uniformed law enforcement to his attempts to help combat this new threat. Jace forwarded Sanzhar’s message to Floyd, and sent one of his own to Sanzhar.

What time do you want to go fishing today?

"At the soonest time," came the answer from Sanzhar. "It is imperative that this be made known quickly."

Jace received the message, meaning Floyd did as well. Floyd sent a response. I'm not back in town yet, but soon as I get back I'll come fish with you all The coded message simply meant Floyd was wrapped up in something that was of a level of importance that he couldn't ditch what he was doing. However he would rendezvous with them as soon as he was done, Jace reviewed the information from Sanzhar's response and told him he'd be there shortly. He'd just finished engaging some thugs on boost in oakland, his search for Lionel, Cain, or the source of boost had bore no fruit so far. But the intel from Agent Donnovan had served him well to avoid running into or getting captured by liberty agents who were also in pursuit of boost. With no progress made & an urgent message from Sanzhar he made his way out of oakland. 30 minutes later he was pulling up to the safehouse in his black charger and got out briefly stretching his arms & legs. "Sanzhar you here already?" Jace called out as he walked towards the door.

Splayed across the center table were photocopied replications of the papers that Karma gave to Sanzhar. Sanzhar himself was poring over them, confirming what his friend's sister had told him.

"I'm here." Sanzhar waved over at Jace. "So, to top it all off, it seems that someone found evidence that president Forrester had cheated in the election using Altered abilities; technopathy to screw with the voting machines, to be precise. And he was killed for it."

Adjusting his glasses, Sanzhar bowed towards one of the documents. "Trent Coltrane. Went to the same university as I did, and like me, he was a journalist. And, according to his sister, an Altered that could see the past histories of objects . Bless his soul."

Ace entered the warehouse & saw Sanzhar had already gotten to work spreading paperwork across the main table in the dining room. Right down to business, I’m actually glad we’ve got a journalist on the team

”Wait a minute are you serious this is nuts! You mean there’s evidence that this bastard Forrester cheated in the election and using altered to do it” Jace responded astounded as he rushed over to the table to examine the photocopied information Sanzhar had spread on the table.

”My condolences for your friend Coltrane, this is a stupid question but is Forrester involved with your friend’s untimely demise? But wait the energy storm happened three months ago, the election is almost 2 years old. Are you saying… the Forresters had access to someone with powers TWO years before the storm?!” Jace remarked in shock wondering if Sanzhar had made a mistake or if he truly meant that altered humans were around months no years before the storm that supposedly gave them all powers.

"Surveying this critically, I'd say that the Storm itself is an experiment gone wrong." Sanzhar replied, tapping on the papers with a ballpen. "I mean, that would be the only explanation with the Forresters having access to Altered two years ago. They may have well kept it all secret until it blew off. That is, when the Storm blasted its way through the country and gave us abilities. Think about it. His brother is the CEO of a highly suspect corporation."

Sighing, Sanzhar took off his glasses. "This kind of discovery could effectively topple the Forrester administration if enough proof is gathered. If I somehow gain concrete evidence that the election had been tampered with and that the Forrester Corporation may as well be the culprit of the Storm and the Altered... this may end our suffering."

Jace was astounded by the intel Sanzhar had managed to gather, this was mind shattering. For the first time since getting his powers he was hugely concerned for his safety as well as his other friends and family. “I’m glad you sent a coded message, but we might need to stick to ONLY talking about this matter & anything related in person. We’re talking about undermining the President, not to mention we’re altered humans the very beings who are on the hot-seat across the country.” Jace replied still trying to take all this in.

“As for entering our suffering I hate to say it but that may just be wishful thinking, after all it just might just put a new monster or monsters in charge of dishing out our suffering.” Jace mused cynically not wanting to be too much of an optimist about this newfound discovery Sanzhar stumbled across.

“Floyd’s going to want to hear there this, he better be doing something important. Anyway do you have any evidence the Forresters are behind the actual energy storm is that all speculation? That event didn’t seem like It was a man made occurrence, and they seem adamant about passing laws to restrict & eventually imprison all of us, why the hell would they want to give out powers. Plus the Forresters are racist, so why are only minorities getting powers? Wouldn’t they give powers just to white people or themselves & others they carefully pick” Jace rebutted, questioning Sanzhar’s line of thinking.

"It is... a hypothesis." Sanzhar shrugged. "But it would cover a lot of holes and... As I said, it would have been an accident, something they did not anticipate to occur. Something like how nuclear meltdowns tend to happen."

Jace folded his arms as he listened to Sanzhar's theory. "I see where your going with this and I'm no fan of the President. But 10 million people died just during the storm followed by millions more getting sick from the plague & the plague itself is what's causing people to gain powers not the storm. So your saying they accidentally created a destructive storm that spawned a virus that turned the people in society they least like into superhumans? It's not impossible but it's not very probable either, this evidence suggests they know more then there letting on, and we should investigate, but we should put our focus towards the rigged election & using altered for their own benefit. Floyd just sent me a text and said he's on the way, is there anything else that's super important that you learned from Coltrane or her sister so far?" Jace asked interested in learning more.

"That's about it." Sanzhar nodded solemnly. "It was a technopath that altered the election results. Who exactly... well, no one can tell. If there's someone with the same abilities as Trent, maybe we can find out more."

Jace frowned disappointed that they didn’t have more intel, although Sanzhar had already dropped a bombshell on them. “That’s it huh, well I shouldn’t say it because this is pretty major, regardless of what we don’t know exactly, we DO know the Forrester’s are up to no good entirely.” Jace agreed as he took a seat on the couch to go through the notes.

About thirty minutes later they heard a knock on the door, Jace went to get stand up until the sound of a key being put in was heard. He briefly tensed up only to remember he’d given Floyd a key as he came in and was holding a case of corona’s in one hand. He waltzed straight to refrigerator putting in the case, albeit grabbing one bottle for himself which thanks to a little raised strength he popped the cork right off before plopping down on the couch while taking a few sips.

“Okay guys I made it. What’s the emergency?” Floyd asked the two whilst looking over the paperwork the had gathered on the table with some confusion.

Sanzhar simply laid it out as bare and concisely as possible. "Another journalist friend of mine found out that President Forrester cheated the elections by using a technopathic Altered. And he paid for it with his life."

Floyd raised a brow at Sanzhar’s comments. “Hold on what? You mean the election two years ago, before the energy storm? How the hell is that possible?” Floyd questioned as he began looking through the photo-copied documents.

"His name was Trent Coltrane, and according to his sister who came to my house to tell me all this, he had the ability to see the histories of objects he touches." Sanzhar looked towards Floyd. "That is how he initially managed to find out about the nature of the election fraud, then he started investigating on his own. Then he was murdered..."

Looking away, Sanzhar continued. "If we could find someone with that same kind of power, or perhaps a technopath, we may be able to get it. Otherwise it will have to be done in the far more dangerous old school way of going in deep."

Jace scoffed at Floyd’s remarks. ”Yeah that’s what I thought too, people with powers have been around before the storm. Sanzhar here thinks the Forrester’s might be behind powers, and the storm is just their biggest experiment gone wrong. And of course I’ve brought up the several plot-holes with that theory including the fact the Forrester’s don’t like black people."

Floyd just nodded his head as this was so much to take in. “Between this & Oakland I’ve got a full plate with Network, not to mention getting Taste of Paradise back running after that fight with Lionel I had earlier this week. What was your journalist friends name Sanzhar, how did he get this intel, and how do you prepose we get anymore” Floyd added finally, before using his metal powers to cause Jace’s open laptop on the kitchen table to fly over to them.

Opening it up he went to yahoo news and pulled up an article. It was talking about how Lori Martinez had revealed her “true” identity as Amara who claimed to be the “Mother” of Altered & demanded humans build altars in her name & worship her, as well as claiming to be behind the energy storm after her destruction of rapper Dinero Grande’s mansion in retaliation because of a diss song he released that spoke badly about her.“Get a load of this shit, that Lori chick is stirring up even MORE trouble!".

He would only scowl as the news about Amara, the mother of the Altered. "Someone needs to take her down," he said with a hint of venom in his voice. "She is a threat to us all and make everything worse for us."

Jace nodded his head in agreement with Sanzhar. ”I saw her murder spree first had while fighting a monster downtown. If we had some way to find her, I’d say we go break her neck right now. Honestly she’s worst then Reaper & Forrester combined in my opinion.” Jace replied thoughts of pity towards all the people she had mercilessly slaughtered.

Floyd frowned & let out a sad sigh.“Your right Jace but I met her earlier today & I’ve got bad news. First I had an unexpected visit from an ex cop, a woman named Paige with the power to regenerate who tried to kill me & my roommate. “Amara” broke in my house during the fight to absorb Paige’s powers as well as her life.” Floyd’s voice trailed as the memory of Adora using her powers to cruelly drain Paige to death replayed in his head.

”Oh shit, so now she can heal herself too, damn it.”Jace gasped at the realization Floyd’s story caused him to make further frustrating him about the situation. His eyes widened more as Floyd pulled up a recording of Amara’s attack at the rapper Dinero’s mansion using her powers to brutally murder his entourage along with the cops & SWAT team that showed up.

"Then perhaps she can be drowned instead-", Sanzhar trailed off, realizing that attempting to do so was suicidal when she has a thousand powers inside her. "Honestly, I have no idea how to fight someone like that. Not that I'm a fighter, anyway. If there's technology that could nullify powers, or someone that could, perhaps we can have a shot at eliminating her-"

Sanzhar coughed, and looked over at Floyd. "You're like her, right? Capable of obtaining multiple abilities? Did you just copy mine, too?"

“It would be just our luck if the bitch could breath under water wouldn’t it, but in all seriousness there’s probably still plenty of ways to stop her even if she can heal. Like you said drowning her, another option is drugs, hell her healing probably has limits just like other powers, it might be as simple as chopping off her head or destroying her whole body.” Jace backed out of the Amara article on the laptop going to google to research fictional examples of people with regenerative abilities.

Floyd gulped and cleared his throat to respond to Sanzhar. ”Can we refrain from saying I’m like her, and I wouldn’t say “just” I’ve had both of your powers since we met in the motel parking lot. I mimic powers using empathic connections to others, she can absorb & remove powers, memories, even life-force from others with physical contact. I gotta actively recall powers I’ve been exposed too, whereas she’s a full time walking database of everything she’s taken.” Floyd explained bringing up the stark differences between his abilities & Adora’s far stronger ones.

"Oh... sorry." Sanzhar looked down on the floor, a little ashamed about using incorrect terminology. "Spray her with pheromones... No, that's not right... If we're taking out the head, it should be from a distance... an anti-material rifle can do the trick, probably. As long as she's... still."

Floyd felt a tinge of regret when he saw Sanzhar look towards the ground. ”Hey hey don’t be sorry, I was saying I didn’t want to be compared to her because of how evil she is, like how nobody wants to hear they remind someone of Hitler or Stalin.” He added not wanting him to think he had any animosity towards him for something as simple as needing an explanation of how his powers worked & differed from Amara’s.

“Long as she’s still ANDstill normal sized. Also, any form of having multiple powers makes you a powerful asset against her & all our other enemies. More bad news I still haven’t gotten any leads on Boost in Oakland, nor put any serious dent in the widespread altered gang war there. In light of everything including Coltrane’s investigation, the Oakland Crisis, Boost, & super violent altered like Amara & Reaper the Network’s got a lot of work to do.” Jace concluded after thinking on everything that had been discussed in this meeting.

"Alright... I'll probably just keep on looking over these papers, dig a bit more." Sanzhar answered, nodding over at Floyd and Jace. "If I find anything more I'll tell you."

As Jace’s phone started buzzing he took it out & saw it was Brock, another Network member calling him. He got up to take the call in the kitchen whilst Floyd fetched both doctored altered ID’s for Sanzhar & Jace that were made with Amalia’s powers. Floyd handed Sanzhar his fabricated negative altered status ID, and put Jace’s on the couch where he was sitting.

”I figured you guys need these, they were actually finished yesterday but I’ve been super busy re-opening Taste of Paradise. It would be nifty if we could get more info from the research.” Floyd muttered, the mere utterance of the name caused him to wince & clasp the sides of his head in pain. The intensity rapidly rised causing him to fall out the couch to his knees. Grinding his teeth and placing a hand on the edge of the table o help himself up.

As he made contact with the table his eyes took on a bright white color, internally his mind was flooded with images, surface memories of the table’s history in the safehouse as well as a short vision of the table being sold to Jace in a furniture store. As soon as the vision ended his eyes turned from bright white to their regular brown color but he was drenched in sweat. “Saying Coltrane’s name triggered some kind of killer head-ache followed by me seeing a vision of when Jace bought this table after my fingers brushed against the table?!” Floyd retorted to Sanzhar I both disbelief & eagerness to converse to forget the searing head-pain he’d just underwent.

"Oh, now you got Coltrane's power of seeing object histories. How... convenient." Sanzhar had expected a far more dramatic inclusion of such, but... this it is what it is. "It appears that by uttering my dead friend's name, you gained his ability... ah, the plot is now as thick as the pile of furballs that my cats vomited."

“Huh that's the power I've got, oh shit we were just talking about that.” Floyd retorted in shock. However he wasn’t able to accept Sanzhar’s supposed explanation for how he had manifested this power, as he had to meet others in person to acquire their powers with empathy. “I could have gone my whole life without the mental picture you just gave me with that cat story, but condolences aside speaking of the dead wouldn’t be the catalyst to allow me to obtain their powers.” Floyd mused as pain once again reverberated throughout his body with another mention of Coltrane’s name, causing him to see a series of rapid visions that made him wince in pain this time without his fingers brushing against an object. Damn it what’s going on

"You... you alright?" Sanzhar asked Floyd with a tint of concern in his voice. "As for your requirements on gaining abilities, well, it would appear that it just isn't limited with face to face meetings. These powers, after all, defy the laws of physics, and I believe it would be presumptuous to think that we completely understand how one would work, such as your ability to imprint others-"

A sordid realization dawned upon. Sanzhar was familiar with abilities similar to that of his friend Trent in some parts of science fiction, and if this works the same way those do, it may as well answer the looming question in the room.

"I have a theory... Trent's ability is to see the histories of objects through touching them. I think that when doing so, he imprints his own... let's just say 'quantum energy', because that word is a catch-all. So when you touched these papers, you probably got in contact with whatever he had left behind. One could say... that he left a portion of his being there. Do you get it, or...?"

”I’ve certainly had better days, good news though is that Amara still feels pain that’s one less thing we have to worry about right?” Floyd muttered between gritted teeth & the swelling pain in his skull. He cast that aside as he listened to more theories from Sanzhar about the possibility of how he supposedly acquired the imprint to Trent’s abilities.

Jace had stepped back in the room now off the phone with Brock. [Color=purple]”I couldn’t help but overhear the tail end of your conversation and the answer to how Floyd has this power dawned on me, at least I think. You mentioned getting into a scuffle with her earlier today, and how your power is triggered with empathic connections. My theory is Amara killed your friend Sanzhar, to take his power, and Floyd picked it up from her. Our discussing it as well as her & him may have provided some sort of catalyst to trigger your manifestation of the ability.”[color] Jace finished putting out his likely theory for how Floyd came across Coltrane’s ability.

Sanzhar placed his hand over his right eye, shaking his head. "That she-demon did it? Now, I thought that the Forresters had killed him because he got too close to their secrets, and that I can understand even a little bit. But her? This... power hungry stripper goddess? That I cannot fathom."

Amara, the Forresters... These people had taken one or two facets of his life away from him. His friend, and his place in this world.

Barely contained rage bubbled up within his mind, but somehow, he kept it contained, and spoke in his calm, somber voice once more. "I've never been so livid, so in want of killing something. Ugh. Floyd... If that's the case... part of my friend now lives on in you..."

Floyd frowned and couldn’t restrain the immense sadness he felt for Sanzhar. They’d only known each other for a short while, but he had a knack for sympathizing with others perhaps that’s why he was an empath. Aside from that Jace’s explanation set off a metaphorical light bulb above Floyd’ head allowing him to make sense of how he had this new power.

”I’m so sorry man, I wish things didn’t happen this way. I promise I’ll treasure whatever part of your friend remains with me, and use it to get him justice. She murdered a friend & employee of mine for his powers, plus based off your story the Forrester’s DID send someone to take Trent’s life but this evil bitch got to him first.” Floyd remembered the story they’d told him earlier including how paranoid Coltrane was towards the end of his life.

Jace walked over to Sanzhar and put a hand on his shoulder. [Color=purple]”That rage you feel now is the same as what drives me to be Shade. My advice is to channel it into our mission, but don’t let it consume your thoughts. In conclusion I think Floyd should focus on learning Trent’s power for now, while us & the others focus on everything else aside from hunting Amara.” Jace suggested a course of action he felt was the best considering the circumstances, but wanted input from the others before it was finalized.

"Yes... Jace..." Sanzhar sobbed. He clutched the hand that Jace had placed on his shoulder, and finally, his voice cracked. "I'm sorry, I'm not usually this... Ergh, emotional. Anyway, um... yeah, we can... do that."

Floyd groaned and gritted his teeth before yelling out in pain as he fell to the ground. Once again he was assaulted by a precognitive vision occurring whilst he was awake. Images swarmed through his mind of an event that was taking place a little less than two weeks from now. Jace rushed over to Floyd wondering what was wrong only for Floyd to wave him off. Sweating profusely as the vision ended Floyd massaged his temples and helped himself up onto the couch.

[Color=green] "I just had another vision I don't know if this is good news, bad news, or both. California's Governor Stark is proposing a bill called the Separation Act. The bill in question will make it the law that altered people can't be or live in the same place as normal people, aka legal segregation. The catch is he's making it so the citizens of California will be voting for or against the passing of this bill. Well I just saw a vision of Nathan putting his hand on a black woman's shoulder & whispering in her ear “Listen “King” use your power to make it a landslide victory not a close win like you did for the election". Then I saw her entering a voting both and putting her hand on the machine, then finally I saw an announcement that the Separation Bill had been passed in California & other states were going to follow California's example & let it's citizens vote on this bill. " Floyd finished explaining huffing & puffing from the intense vision he experienced.

Jace jaw dropped at hearing the horrifying news and pulled up info about the bill on his laptop. “Governor Stark went on the Benny Stein show this morning to announce the bill, there gonna make it look like this bill is the will of the people. Sounds like the Forrester’s are gonna use the same techno woman who rigged the election for them unless we find & stop her”

"That is bad news." Sanzhar scowled at the revelation that the same woman who tipped the elections to the favour of the Forresters was going to do it again, this time to separate Altered from the rest of the population. "Segregation is the perfect tool to corral all the Altered in one place. It's no different to apartheid..."

Sanzhar fidgeted, his mind all but scattered between the grief of losing Trent and the pressure of the world bearing down upon them. "Can you... sketch her out? Any way so that we can put her on facial recognition and eventually find a match?"

Floyd was in agreement with the rest of them with everything that was said. ”To be honest I can’t draw but I have a friend whose really good at it. Maybe she can help, as for facial recognition I mean maybe I think my best bet is using Trent's powers on any stuff related to the investigation maybe even going to the same places he went using his powers. No matter what we've got our work cut out for us for sur now"Floyd affirmed knowing they all had to get to work, this is not how he expected the day to go after his drunken adventures with Agent Donnovan.

The Energy Storm

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The Reaper and the Silver Flame
Seeds of Revolution

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Reaper was furious, the past few days had aggravated him. Not to mention there was talk of more restrictive measures potentially being passed such as the separation act & the Zayas Properties spawning a domino effect of companies refusing to rent to altered. Reading between the lines he saw they were passing laws to wash several altered into the criminal system & then "legally" arrest & detain them. He felt that it was only a thinly veiled layer before they went full force trying to round up all the altered & place them in concentration camps for society's "safety". It was time to go on the offensive, while he'd obtained Olivia he still needed to determine the quickest & best way to get to D.C to obtain Jack's information. For now it was time to start making things shake, for that he'd come to Vegas with Karagoz and a few others. One of the biggest Forrester Corporation Facilities in the country was in Vegas, not to mention the CEO himself Nathan Forrester & his wife Ruby Forrester were both in town right now. "Alright let's begin, it's time for us to draw blood." Reaper spoke to Karagoz and the others gathered inside a cheap motel room which he'd used his telepathy to gain access to and have a random from the street book the room to avoid any ties to him or the others real identites, he'd left Malina, & some controlled guards behind to keep Olivia secured at the mansion.

"Good... good." Karagoz nodded, putting on the gas mask he always carried around with him. The congress of ghosts in his mind erupted in celebration, or in uproar; there were two sides, one that wanted this purge to happen, and another that was appalled.

It was needless to say which one prevailed. Karagoz and the other revolutionaries, terrorists, or whatever kind of name they may give themselves, proceeded towards the facility that they intended to purify from this earth.

"Our targets are as following all check-points, other blood testing centers, a local juvenile detention center they've repurposed to be a temporary holding center for imprisoned altered, the Forrester Corporation facility & makeshift national guard bases. Those locations were selected for a few key reasons, like altered being trapped there, tools to work against us being created there or locations where our enemy forces are gathered." He explained to the others and used telekinesis to turn on a projector connected to a laptop, which he also started up with an invisible force. The screen that was projected showed a map of Vegas with their current location highlighted as well as the location of the places they were targetting. "I can have this map sent to everyone's phones via google docs, so everyone can also have live access to which destinations have already been visited & dealt with." He concluded

Karagoz looked at the screen of his phone with a blank expression, seemingly contemplating what kind of fiery madness he would visitate upon these... people. "Then let's be on our way."

Karagoz motioned towards the door, as he wanted to get this done as soon as possible. His hands were itchy; they wish to make something burn.

"Let's split up into groups and each go to a specific destination, Karagoz your with me, Clayton as well let;s go, we'll strike the biggest blood testing center next to the national guard makeshift camp, then wipe out Forrester Facility." He decided looking over the map & giving others instructions on what destination to go too first. As soon as they were out the door Reaper used his powers to lift them into the air teleknetically and after a short flight the landed in a ally near the blood testing center where there was a line of people, several parked cars, and armed soldiers overseeing scientists as they adminstered tests. "Let's begin."

"Remember that I have standards." Karagoz begun, taking off the mask in preparation bfor his napalm vomit. "We could end up killing our own kindred if we fire blindly."

Karagoz, of course, for all his insanity, recognized which targets were guilty and worthy of being annihilated, and which ones were not. Random bystanders would be better keeping around, in fact. Let them all bear witness!

Calmly walking towards the testing station, Karagoz would come in pretense of getting tested, just like everyone else... until white flames blasted out of his mouth, immolating the first of several soldiers. The fire would take on the shape of a gaping maw, travelling from one target to another like a snake having a field day.

"Who said anything about firing blindly?" Reaper said with a smirk as he used his mental powers to search the surface thoughts of those in the area, followed by relaying said thoughts to Karagoz & Clayton allowing them to be able to indicate which people in the crowd where altered humans. As two snipers on the roof fired at Karagoz Reaper used his powers to cover Karagoz in a telekinetic barrier causing the bullets to mash up against an unseen wall of force inches away from Karagoz's skin. I'll do my best to shield you, but if you see something about to hit you and the shield's not up, just project your thoughts to me as loud as possible, that shouldn't be hard for you since you have SO many thoughts Reaper slightly teased his new partners insanity as he used his powers to lift up a truck full of blood tests raising it in the air and using it as a bulldozer smashing through the testing facility, whilst Clayton entered his solar form skin blackening and surrounded by solar power as he surged forward heading towards the makeshift detainment center for captured altered at the check-point center.

As the mayhem ensued, the travelling silver flames turned one man after another into wet ashes, the firestorm enveloping every inch of their bodies. Their screams fell in deaf ears, as Karagoz had chosen not to acknowledge them. They died, and they died painfully.

Prepared tests burned and exploded, scientists ran away with panicked screams, and the onlookers either bolted off from the action, or caught it through phones. It won't be long before they're trending.

Karagoz lowly muttered a single phrase as he burned another guardsman and stomped upon his cracked bones. "None shall find us wanting."

Oh this was a wonderful idea to bring him in, he’s better then I could have ever expected Reaper thought to himself, as he assailed the various soldiers with illusions of a demon telling them they’d chosen the wrong side in life and were on their way to the pits of hell to burn for eternity.

He felt it was a creative & horrific touch added with his powers to victims that were already being burned alive by Kargoz’s flames that snaked around. “You people are fucking monsters! We need to step in and help our soldiers!!!! Whose with me” The bystander said pulling out a Glock.

“Silence” Reaper yelled out audibly before causing the gun to fly out his hand then used his powers to snap his neck, his body hitting the ground with a thud. This only served to incite more fear in the crowd, whilst a couple explosions accompanied by the sight of visible solar energy were seen in the near distance. Shortly after freed altered humans were seen shuffling out of the facility they were detained in as Clayton flew over to Reaper & Karagoz.

“I’ve liberated our altered brothers & sisters from captivity, I even exchanged numbers with a couple of them, I’m sure many will call to join us.” Clayton added.

"I am sure that many will come." Karagoz nodded. The flames had died down now, with any stragglers either fleeing in the terror of the Altered revolutionaries, or had been killed.

"This is where the revolution begins, then." Karagoz said, touching the flames that still flickered on the concrete with his bare hands. "This is... war."

“Agreed it’s time for us the other side to fight back, I’ve had quite enough of there antics with no sight of organized retaliation in sight, where to next Reaper?” Clayton asked feeling energized by freeing the altered. In other parts of Vegas, the other teams of Reaper’s altered were similarly taking out check-points & blood testing centers.

“Straight to the motherland, we’re going to the Forrester Corporation, come on.” Reaper announced as he used his powers to once more levitate himself, Karagoz & Clayton into the air.

Seven minutes later Reaper lowered them to the ground near the front entrance of the facility, only to see it was a literal war zone. Forrester Corporation security guards, national guard, & police were duking it out with 9 foot giant mutant monsters, the exact same type of beast that had been spotted fighting Shade downtown during the Lorizilla rampage. “What the hell.” Clayton muttered, as Reaper peered through the minds of some of the lawmen, soldiers & guards fighting.

“It appears these monsters launched their attack on the facility within the past half hour, a few have made their way inside.” Reaper levitated the trio up to the roof of the facility near a stairwell entrance. “The mission remains the same, I do not know the origin of these monsters so I can’t label them friend or foe, nor do I know if they are the result of powers or some inhumane experiment conducted by the Forrester’s themselves run afoul, what do you think Silver Flame? Irregardless I think we should bring this facility to the ground.”

"We will have to go without attracting attention." Karagoz said, remembering the times when he had infiltration missions in Afghanistan and Iraq. "Between the guards and the monsters, we cannot afford to take fire from both of them."

"Agreed" Clayton said with a nod as Reaper used his telekinetic powers to pry the steel door open leading to the stairwell, beckoning the two to follow him as he moved down the stairwell reaching the top floor where they were greeted by armed soldiers with guns raised.

“Intruders!”One of the soldiers yelled out, while another gritted his teeth and glared at the three altered. “Monsters outside, mutants inside, there’s nothing to talk about, we will not allow these genetic mishaps to infiltrate Forrester’s facility.” The seeming leader of the squadron said as he pulled the trigger opening fire.

Reaper formed a telekinetic shield around the three to block incoming volley of bullets, while Clayton returned fire with a blast of solar energy, taking on his solar form again, while Reaper cast an illusion with his powers causing the soldiers to view each other as him, Clayton & Karagoz leading to them shooting at each other, so the trio could take them out at their leisure without worry of being fired upon. Using his power he began launching the metallic containers at the soldiers.

Just like before, napalm was brought forth as a horrendous flaming vomit, coating several of the guards with deathly liquid. They burned, and they howled in pain, but Karagoz would simply walk past their tortured, immolated bodies, not paying their suffering any heed. The flames danced around his hand, striking like an orange serpent against anyone that tried to attack him. In quick succession, those foolish humans, they who needed the most powerful of weapons to mimic even a fraction of the power of the Altered, have fallen.

"I see you a bunch of are having a bit of fun, but that all ends here, the boss needs this place up and running" A hispanic woman spoke dressed in combat gear, and with sleak white hair. Clayton fired a blast of solar energy at her, only for her to walk right through the blast unharmed. Reaper sought to peer into her mind only to be met by feedback that triggered pain causing him an audible grunt as he fell backwards.

“Don’t tell me your mojo didn’t work on her, you couldn’t get into her head.” Clayton yelled back to Reaper.

“Only got one thing her name Misaka Minisocho.” Reaper replied back as Dawn laughed clapping her hands.

“Congratulations, a name, that’s soooo helpful, if this was a video game I’d be the boss battle.” Misaka said with a smirk, she kicked a piece of rubble on the ground and it soared forward at superhuman speed slamming into Clayton slamming him into the roof, then took out a bottle cap from her pocket and tossed it, again moving at superhuman speeds bursting through the last two containers Reaper was behind and slamming into him sending him reeling, lastly she took out a small piece of hard candy from her pocket and flung it at Karagoz, the candy hurtling towards his chest at vast superhuman speed.

A candy was the last thing Karagoz had expected to be the weapon of an Altered, but they could all do mysterious things, and nothing should be underestimated. He rolled over, avoiding the candy bullet and drawing more fire from the pool of napalm that was still pulsating with raging white flames.

Putting on his gas mask, the mad veteran put his ploy into action.

Vast swathes of flame were sent out to surround the woman like the unloving arms of a hell borne demon. Karagoz intended to snuff out the oxygen, asphyxiating her. If brute force did not work, then biology will.

Misaka smirked and with a simple twirl the flames Karagoz surrounded her with dissipated. "Do you know why I've been assigned to protect this faciliy, because of my specific ability I was chosen. A rather strange and versatile ability, one which has served me well over the years, the power to manipulate vectors."

Reaper’s eyes widened under the mask upon hearing Misaka’s power. Damn no wonder they stationed her at this facility Clayton flew forward at Misaka charging her to punch her with his super strength. As he threw the punch towards her an unseen force sent Clayton hurtling back into the wall.

Misaka then did a spin kick, using her vector control to cause the force of not one but 20 different kicks to slam into Karagvoz’s chest even though she hadn’t moved from her one spot. “With my power just by punching or kicking in mid air, not only can I amplify my power I can strike anything within my line of sight within 200 yards, as well as amplify my kinetic vectors to do he same to my.” Before Misaka finished she was infront of Reaper kicking him so hard he flew up slamming into the roof. “Physical body, so Ifyou think solar energy, white flames or mental gymnastics can stop me your wrong, any attack that produces kinetic movement of any sort is pointless against a master of vectors. Eve your flames wont help when I can vectorize the air itself” Misaka then punched the ground, performing a quick calculation, and causing a shockwave to emit from the ground right beneath Karagoz’s feet the very same instance she struck the ground. Don’t worry Mr. Forrester, your facility is safe in my hands, first I’ll handle these monsters inside then the ones outside,

"Vectors..." Karagoz muttered as he stood up, a dull pain beating through his whole form. He remembered faintly about that concept in physics classes. He was a good student back in those days, even when he was looked down upon as a Turk migrant.

Vector. A straight movement with one given direction...

Karagoz gathered up another torrent of flames on his right, firing a tongue of fire raging towards the woman yet again. This time, though, it moved in an erratic pattern; a movement dictated by his own chaotic thinking. Up, down, straight, in circles; it served to confuse and distract as another surge of fire came in from Karagoz's left. Leaving the previous fire blast to move towards her, Karagoz's focus went towards the leftward fireblast, intending to crash it down and melt the flooring beneath her.

"Oh you simple minded fools won't be able to understand so it matters not let's continue." Clayon charged again firing a solar blast only for her to redirect the blast knocking him into the ceiling while Reaper peered into Karagoz's mind since he couldn't peer into the woman hoping to uncover some possible insight into this woman's powers and how to bring her down in combat.

I’m not a good student either but what the hell do physics have to do with resisting mental infiltration unless…oh shitReaper seemed to have his own light bulb moment regarding this powered opponent, but simply issued a warning to Clayton that physical attacks wouldn’t work or help in defeating her.

“You still try foolish antics.” Misaka yelled out as Clayton charged again but instead used his powers to produce a solar flare blinding her causing her to activate her power sightless, falling prey to Karagoz’s attack the floor erupting into flames melting also dousing her in fire, at that moment Reaper moved forward to strike as well launching a telepathic blast to disrupt her mental faculties & disorient her mind.

A resulting crash and scream from her was heard as Reaper rose up and walked near to Karagoz. “Is it over did we win? How the hell did you know what to do about her powers? I admit my plan was simple, there’s no way her power defended her against mental powers, she must have had some type of resistance training, and if anything you did work then I’d try my hand again, but you got the ball rolling, the question is how?” Reaper asked inquisitive to how Karagoz knew how to stop such a troublesome power against them.

"She literally just told us what she could do." Karagoz shook his head. "Vectors can only go one direction. Suddenly changing trajectory midnflight messes with something like that."

And that is what he did. The fire blast that he used to attack the floor had first gone in a more or less straight line, and then plummeted to douse the floor in flames, and with that, her.

“Well I’m glad we have a smart guy on her team, vectors mean the same thing to me abracadabra, I barely finished high school, then went to work at the family’s mechanic shop.” Clayton retorted walking back over to the others.

“I wouldn’t call you an idiot, once I explained physical moves wouldn’t work I’m sure blinding her made it easier for Silver Flame to finish her off.” As Reaper said that they heard shooting elsewhere, and an explosion then the roar of a monster. “Looks like we have company”

“Yes indeed, and if you think you’ll stop us from destroying this building your wrong” One of the monsters SPOKE, as it came around the hallway holding the decpacitated body of a soldier before dropping it. “This building will fall and you three will not stop us from fulfilling our masters request” The beast spot again then roared and beat its chest with both hands.

"Too bad we are going to burn this place, not you." Karagoz replied with a shrug. "I'm sorry, but who are you anyway?"

The monster growled and drew out it's claws, while Clayton gathered solar energy in his hand and Reaper focused beneath his mask to try to read the monster's thoughts and analyze it's intentions. "We were here first, this is OUR facility to destroy!" Reaper couldn't help but chuckle as he projected a mental message to Clayton & Karagoz. if only we'd left that girl Misaka in this hallway, she'd make short work of these creatures with her vector. She survived your attack Silver Flame, but she fled. Probably not use to taking damage with her ability.

“Enough time for talk, no matter how many altered work for Forrester we’ll kill them all”The monster roared and lunged forward, Reaper used his power to rip part of the wall open & flung the creature out the opening catapulting him through a few nearby buildings. Reaper projected another message to Clayton & Karagoz. I browsed the surface thoughts of soldiers & security in the area, there about to deploy jets, tanks & military choppers here & other places our team hit. Let’s go, without Misaka these monsters should demolish this facility. But before we leave Karagoz start a fire on every floor, Clayton do the honors.

Reaper fired a telekinetic shockwave to blast a hole through the ceiling to expose Clayton to direct sunlight. Channeling the direct power of the sun Clayton launched a blast of solar energy through every floor beneath them all the way to the lobby. Now all that was left was for Karagoz to initiate the same move he used to defeat Misaka, and summon his flames and have them slither to every floor to start a fire on each of them simultaneously.

"With pleasure." Karagoz spat out another torrent of napalm, and wove the resultant flames into a series of coruscating orbs, sending them up to each of the floors.

The facility burned. Documents, tests, trapped personnel, and furniture cracked and crumbled under the pyrokinetic onslaught. The flames would get stronger and stronger with every second, consuming more and more fuel. It won't be long before this place has become a pillar of flame, a testament to the annihilation the Altered could do if only they united.

As the flames spread through the facility, a gleam was in Reaper's eye one his team-mates couldn't see through his mask. Using his power he encased himself, Karagoz & Clayton in a telekentic barrier after Karagoz finished his attack on the facility, then carried them high into the air to avoid any nearby shoppers. From there he guided them to the hotel and landed in a nearby ally before Reaper released his hold on them & dispelled the barrier. Reaper removed his mask, whilst Clayton returning to his non solar form was enough so that he was indistinguishable from how he appeared while working with the group. "I hear thoughts of four of the others who've already made it back, hopefully the others will be joining as soon, then I'll summon a ride to pick us up. For now I say we enjoy some television, I'm interested to see what's said of us."

The revolution has begun.

Innocence Lost - A Science Fantasy RP [v.03]

---

Doruva Il'Kays Ao'shen

---

The shuttle from the Blackfang soon came into view of the Xuangzang. Just like the Blackfang itself, the shuttle was painted with shifting blue hues, with the symbol of the House of Aoshen straddled on the either side of the hull. The cockpit had dark filtering combined with a psychedelic shimmer pattern, making it difficult to look at the pilot's seat without getting feeling a little woozy after a little while. The shuttle quickly hailed the Xuangzang, with the deceptively human voice of Doruva himself requesting boarding clearance.

The locking mechanisms of the airlock clicked, indicating that the humble little vessel had docked with the freighter. White smoke hissed like a hundred serpents, heralding the arrival of the liaison within the freighter's hallowed corridors.

Thus he stepped in, taking on the form of a humanoid lizardman. He wore a black outfit with the seal of the House on his chest, and had a clean and professional look on him. Weirdly enough, Doruva had a shock of raven black hair on his head, though this was probably just by choice. He was flanked by a human bodyguard, which might come to a shock to some if they are not knowledgeable about those humans that the Aoshen Kanarusii had been so graceful to rescue from the hands of filthy pirates.

"Ah, right." Doruva gazed upon whoever was the first to greet him. "I am Doruva Il'Kays Aoshen, liaison representative of the Federation for this merry hand of rebels."

Flexing his gauntleted hands, Doruva shrugged. "You might feel the temptation to be very formal, but no need! I think we should all be friends. Right, Gabriel?"

Doruva, a scion of House Aoshen, addressed his bodyguard by the first name. It was quite obvious that this liaison is going to be a bubbly presence in the ship...

The Energy Storm

Lysander Shen

"You didn't see me?" Kandahar's expression crinkled at the asian, Smoke was beginning to slowly trickle out of the exit behind him, the noxious taste of burning liquor close behind it. For his part, he tugged at the dufflebag slung over his shoulderand moved to pace off, the fingers of his gloved hand idly curling inwards and almost threatening to form a fist.

"Then walk away."

"Uh... did you... do that?" Lysander asked, pointing at the burning building. Every instinct told him to simply turn and walk away but he just... couldn't. Whether it was a misbegotten sense of justice, or some kind of psychic change brought in by his newfound bond with his mind forged drake, he could not tell. It was just that he would not walk from this...

"Oh, he definitely did it." Shenron's disembodied voice rang into his mind. "Perhaps I can deal with it-"

"What-"

"I'm itching to punch something in the face, damn it!"

Sparks began flying from the small stuffed dragon hanging from Lysander's backpack. It wanted out.

Kandahar's hand edged closer to their waistline, their gaze expressively shifting at the sight of the compartmentalised fireworks display. "This isn't your business," he insisted.

"Let me at it!" Shenron raged against the psychic restraints that stopped him from simply bursting into existence. "This man, he has committed murder!"

"Sh.. shut up!" Lysander hissed, only to realize that he didn't just think that. He said it. "No, I wasn't talking to-

Too late. Only the slightest lapse of control was needed for Shenron to break free, and he burst forth, a seven foot tall draconian being wreathed in holy flame. Lysander cursed at himself as his own inexperience with his powers had allowed this to happen.

He wanted to run, but he couldn't. Not when his psychic creation had revealed itself.

"Arsonist, you shall not pass!" The dragon hissed at Kandahar. "Not until justice is given!"

Lysander couldn't think, or move. Shenron was indeed a fully sentient being, and though it would take only a direct command for him to bow and withdraw, Lysander was in no state of mind to do so.

Something indiscernible slipped from Kandahar's lips, a curse in a language neither of them were liable to understand. Backpedalling, the Pashtun tugged a pistol loose and blindly squeezed off a few rounds as they forced their way back into the smoking building, blindly making for a flight of stairs.

"What the-" Lysander's voice dropped into a silent gawk as he watched the man run, not away from the burning building, but into it. Was he just scared of crossing the seven feet tall dragon bathed in fire? Or was he Altered as well, and he was... fireproof or something?

That did nothing to deter the drake, which quickly rushed after Kandahar, its sleek and slender draconic form slipping inside.

Lysander knew not of most of his abilities, and to be frank, he was more inclined to call for the fire brigade. And he did. Oddly enough, there was this strange sensation of righteous fury coursing through his mind... as if he was feeling was his creation was feeling. Is this what psychic bonding entailed?

Inside, though, Kandahar found himself chased by the flaming and possessed creature, whose growls emanated through the stairways. Fire did not even since its supposedly flammable form, as it too was perpetually ablaze.

Vaulting over the limp body of one of the bar's patrons, the 'arsonist' made a beeline for the office upstairs, ignoring the flames licking at his back. He burst through the window, scrabbling up the fire exit - one of his arms still smouldering where the growing inferno had charred it.

Yet the dragon roared after him, unrelenting in its pursuit. "Why do you run? Do you fear justice?"

"Th-" A hoarse, rasping cough erupted from Kandahar's blackened face as he reached the rooftop level, tumbling to the floor. The dufflebag spilled out on the floor beside him, and would've been alight if not for him fervently beating out the flames that had threatened to devour its and its contents. Persistent he was though, forcing himself bsck to his feet even as his pursuer closed in.

[man emperor - giving you a window to put some more dialogue from the dragon here if you want]

"That was justice." Kandahar insisted, steering the sight of his pistol towards the mythical entity's serpentine form and squeezing off five more rounds in rapid succession, only stopping when the slide had locked backwards, the magazine emptied. He was backed to the wall, metaphorically speaking - to the edge, literally speaking.

The bullets didn't do anything but lodge themselves into flaming stuffing. Shenron was not a being made from mortal flesh, but a strange, possessed stuffed toy, enlarged and strengthened by whatever mad power bound him with his creator.

"Just say why." The dragon reiterated, his voice almost pleading. "Why did you do it?"

"Because.." Kandahar started, almost hesitant - his features creased firm. For a moment, he glanced towards the edge of the rooftop, peering into the alleyway below, conscious of the approaching sirens as smoke billowed out from the ground level below them. "Because I can. Because it's my right." A sliver of malice emerged for just a moment, the shadow of a bitter, joyless grin. "Because I enjoyed it." Without another word, he took a step off the ledge, careening down into the alleyway below.

"Enjoyed...?" Shenron hissed angrily, and was about to lunge towards Kandahar with a thousand pound bite. He would be disappointed, though, as the man jumped down the ledge and unto the cold concrete below.

"Suicidal bastard..." The dragon grumbled. He moved to check it out, but an irresistible force pulled unto his mind and body. His master calls for him to return. Shenron found himself drawn through the fabric of space, into a realm beyond the material, and back into the measly form he usually had. A small stuffed toy bound to the back of bag.

There, Lysander would sooner turn away from the commotion, as crowds of curious onlookers and teams of firefighters converged around the burning building. Lysander spoke to the authorities and relayed that someone had come out of the building as it burned. Who this was, he probably won't know...

The Energy Storm

Zeke Salazar
And
Anya Andreyev

Zeke sat alone on the couch, staring up towards the unlit chandelier. It's been a few days since the deadline for the mandatory blood registration passed, and just like any other law abiding citizen, he had gotten himself tested. There wasn't any point in trying to hide it anymore; while the manager that had showed him the incriminating video of his starforging powers had been crushed beneath the rubble, the higher ups had already seen it. And there was also the thing with being charged with crimes for not registering... That would be very inconvenient for someone like him. Zeke basically had no money aside from his savings, anyway.

Bored, Zeke conjured a star on his palm. "I wish something interesting happens today...", he thought.

Something was gonna happen indeed.

Having just received orders to seek out a specific Altered, Anya couldn't help but sigh. She was doing the job regardless because otherwise there would be hell to pay, but the fact that they were getting greedy meant her life was in greater danger now. They had enough Altered to work with, didn't they? Of course as luck would have it, she just happened to be one of the few field operatives on the west coast. She had attempted to explain her side of things, how coming into contact with so many Altered left her in a rather vulnerable spot, but they weren't having it. One icy glare in her direction was the signal for her to shut the hell up and refrain from bringing up the subject again, and she had to obey.

Arriving at the Altered's home a little while later, Anya walked up to the door and knocked hard three times. Jennifer Donovan was not having a good day today.

Zeke, as soon as he heard the trio of knocks echo into the house, quickly got up from the couch. He was, after all, never one to keep a guest waiting, as he is well taught and good mannered. Mostly.

Walking up towards the door, the solar powered Altered opened the doorway I to his home, and lo and behold, out there was a lady. A woman he never met before. Was this one of his brother's disgruntled exes? Probably.

"Ah... how may I help you? I don't... think we've met before..."

"You're right, we haven't... Mr. Salazar, I'm here with a simple proposition," she continued matter-of-factly as she'd already looked over his file and knew who he was despite him not knowing her. "My employer has taken an interest in you and I'm here as the middle man. If you're interested in working with our organization, you will be offered a number of benefits which may or may not," Anya shrugged her shoulders, indicating that Zeke had an option, "result in your continued loyalty. My name is Jennifer Donovan. And don't worry, I'm not with the American government. May I come in?"

"Uh... okay." Zeke nodded at the strange woman and stepped away from the entrance. So she wasn't an ex of his brother, after all, bur an agent of some kind. She wasn't affiliated with the government... that might be a good thing.

Either way, Zeke was a little scared at the moment. What if this was an elaborate ruse?... No, it's not. It can't be...

With a half smile, Anya stepped into his home, allowing a moment for Zeke to close the door behind her. She took that time to quickly look around the living room, noting it was indescribably plain. "I understand your hesitation, Mr. Salazar, but I can assure you no danger will come to you as the result of my actions or those of my superiors. They've looked into your file and asked me to come here to recruit you as your ability piqued their interest. If and only if you agree to work for us, you will be tasked with completing missions varying in complexity. Some easy ones, and some that are not so easy..."

"I see..." Zeke nodded slowly at the woman. His ability was interesting? Well, the ability to produce solar power on a whim was certainly useful for a lot of things, so there's that.

"I can imagine what kind of stuff I will have to do with these stars." Zeke shrugged. "And to be honest, I have nowhere to go into, since my Altered status makes employers... hesitant, despite my skills."

Zeke sighed. This could be a once in a lifetime opportunity, one that made use of his power. "Assuming I go in... what manner of... things will I be doing? You have a signed contract or...?"

"Yes, you will sign a non-disclosure agreement prior to engaging in any work with us. Once that's been taken care of, you will be briefed and debriefed before and at the conclusion of every mission. As far as the actual work, that could vary. Something as simple as taking a classified file or something more advanced like befriending a specific individual and getting information out of them." She hesitated for a moment, thinking back to her meeting. "I'm not quite sure what my superiors have in plan for you given your ability, but once I find out, so will you."

"I was thinking of supercharging a solar panel or something." Zeke chuckled in response. "Ah, well... classified files... now that's something a little dangerous. I'm good with making friends, yeah."

Zeke couldn't help but wonder at the phrasing on how 'simple' consisted of taking a classified file from the authorities. That thing is rather dangerous to tread with.

"But... all things considered... I think I'll accept, probably." Zeke shrugged. "But, uh, who are we going to work for, exactly?"

Anya smirked. It had taken him long enough. “I work for the Russian government, and you will be too since you have agreed to work for us. Do you have any concerns at this moment? Or perhaps any questions I can answer for you?"

Zeke gawked a little bit at the revelation that he'd be working for a foreign power. Still better than this country that was going to put him to prison if he so much lets out in public. "The Russ- I see. I assume that my financial situation will be remedied by this... deal, and I shouldn't have to put myself in too much danger, yes?"

It was terribly predictable how money, of course, was always one of the first topics to be discussed without missing beat. Anya simply nodded before providing a response. "Yes, you will be compensated accordingly, though I must warn that some of these missions may get dangerous, especially with everything going on these days out there on the streets. With that said, we won't ask for something from you that's out of your range. Trust me, my superiors understand there are limits.

"Okay." Zeke nodded. To be honest, he was still a little bit hesitant, scared even, but this was the best thing he got. "I understand. When is the first thing?"

"Do you mind if we sit?" Anya motioned towards the couch, sitting on the far right side as she watched Zeke go around. "First things first, you sign the NDA," she went on, reaching into her bag to pull out a file with the blank documentation. "Make sure you read it thoroughly so that we're all on the same page." Anya then handed the documents to Zeke.

"Alright." Zeke was used to reading documents, given that he once did office work. He would read through the contents, nodding as he went. It won't be long before he had signed, and the deal sealed...

"Perfect."

Anya reached for the documents and glanced at them momentarily before putting them away. She then stood up, walking towards the door. "It's been a pleasure, Mr. Salazar. From this moment forward I'll be the point of contact between you and our agency. If you have any questions or concerns, here's how you can contact me," Anya held out a card with her information on it. "Otherwise, I'll be reaching out to you whenever we need your assistance. Do you have anything for me at this time?"

Zeke could only shrug in response. "None at the moment." Taking the card and pushing it into his pockets, he nodded and bid her farewell; for now.

"I'll be waiting."

The Energy Storm

---

Sanzhar Kravchenko and Karma Coltrane

Collab Between The Man Emperor and Chulance
Revelations
Interactions/Relations: Everyone

---

Karma Coltrane sighed as she looked around at her surroundings. Staring out the window of the Uber she was in, she always thought if she’d come to California she’d be more happy. But the reason for this visit was hardly social, especially considering she was in San Francisco days after the infamous Lorzilla event had taken place. There was a fear in the atmosphere among the citizens, as if any moment that monster would return stomping through the streets slaughtering innocents. That of course had a rebound effect of causing an uptick in dislike & discrimination towards altered humans, but considering what happened in this city even she could hardly blame them.

Still this was important to her, perhaps the most important thing to ever happen to her. At least that’s how her brother had felt, and while she’d been mostly dismissive of him, the fact that he was dead added validity to the things he was saying. A single tear rolled down her eye as she remembered her brother’s infectious smile, but she quickly brushed her eyelids dry. The despair & sadness gnawing at the very depth of her soul literally eating it apart had to be quelled. There was only one thing that would be able to satiate this emptiness in her being, and time wasn’t it. She had just flown in to San Francisco this morning, on an flight that was mostly empty. The energy plague had caused all international flights out of the country to be temporarily ceased, but she hadn’t expected domestic flight to be as empty as it was.

Then again considering she was heading to somewhere that just experienced the most horrific mass murder in modern American history it made sense. To say that the event was damaging to the tourism industry would be an under-statement. She only had a small suitcase, and a backpack with her, having packed very light for this spur of the moment trip. Before long she reached her destination, tipped her driver a $20 bill and hopped out the car taking her belongings with her. “Well here goes nothing, I wonder if Sanzhie remembers me.” Karma spoke aloud to herself as she rolled her suitcase along the ground walking over to the front door of his house and then rung the door bell. I hope he’s here, I probably should have said something before I just came here, but if everything Trent said was true then I can’t even risk talking about this on the phone

The door swung open, showing a sleepy eyed Sanzhar still on his bed robes. He had his glasses on, and got a cup of steaming coffee on his hand.
"Hello... Uh...
Wait, give me a moment... You're... Karma, yeah? What... what are you doing in these parts?"

Really, what was the sister of his friend doing in this cesspool of a city? She knew better than to come here... unless if she was in here for something crucial.

Karma allowed a slight smile to come across her face upon being greeted by Sanzhar. Although she’d never spoken about it or even confessed it to anyone including her brother she’d always had a crush on him. She was surprised that this repressed feelings came flooding back upon being face to face with him. More so because of the dire pertinent nature of this visit, which was hardly of a primarily social nature.

Still she’d been wallowing in hennesey & crown filled depression the past six weeks, so any positive feelings she experienced right now we’re strong. “Yeah it’s me, I was wondering if you’d even remember me Sanzhie.” She said finding herself speaking with a much more positive tone then she’d thought possible considering the circumstances. “Sorry to just pop in on you like this I promise I wouldn’t show if it wasn’t for well…everything going on.” Her voice trailed off finally matching the reality of everything she was going through. “Look it’s Trent, my brother…he’s….he’s…” A brief pause as a painful lump formed in her throat before clearing her throat. “He’s dead…..and…..and your the only person I feel safe talking too about it.” She finally finished her voice heavy and full of pain from having to speak of her brother’s demise.

Sanzhar's eyes flickered. The taint of shock and grief crept into his features, but he still kept his composure, somehow.

"I'm... sorry. You should come in... tell me more." Sanzhar stepped off from the entrance and motioned with his hand towards the living room.

Sanzhar knew that being a herald of truth was a dangerous task. Every journalist like himself knew the risks of trying to unearth conspiracies and lies. Many have priced the ultimate price in their efforts to broadcast what is true and fair to the world.

Karma noticed that Sanzhar didn’t broke into tears or anything of the sort. He handled the news far better then she had, but then again that was to be expected as Trent had been her blood brother.

“Thank you so much Sanzhie.” At this point using the nickname she had for him was a habit, one she didn’t even think about it as she stepped into Sanzhar’s home bringing along her suitcase as well.

Karma followed him into the living room & took a seat. Finally able to pull her somewhat heavy backpack off and set it down. Pulling the zipper to the side she unearthed Trent’s laptop as well as some printed files that she’d sorted through & organized.

“Again I’m so sorry to bring this to you, I just didn’t know where else to go. But if at any point you….you want me to leave just tell me please.” Karma spoke practically pleading, honesty was something she was craving. “I….didn’t take him serious.” A few sniffles interrupted her before she resumed. “I wish I believed him, maybe if I did he wouldn’t be gone. He…was investigating…the election Sanzhie, he said the Forrester’s cheated, he said they know more then there letting on about everything going on with altered humans.”

"Election fraud?" Sanzhar took some of the papers that Karma had with her, skimming over their contents. They were filled with notes and evidence, pointers towards the notion that the Forrester Administration had cheated in order to get into position.

"One Forrester is the president and the other is the CEO of a giant corporation... it would make sense in hindsight..." Sanzhar frowned as he kept reading. "I... see. Trent had always wanted to uncover the truth. And when he got too close, the bastards had him killed. Damn it."

Running his hand over his hair, Sanzhar continued. "As for the Altered Humans... When the mere public usage of powers can get you arrested, that's already pointing towards something more sinister."

At this point, he was speaking from experience. "I'll have to tell some friends about this... Thanks, Karma."

“I…I…don’t know if you should, but I know you’re not a dumb man. But please be careful this is still the president we’re talking about.” Karma replied pleading with Sanzhar whilst looking into his eyes. His mention of “telling friends” had elicited feelings of worry from Karma, as her brother had told few people yet still ended up dead.

“That’s not all Sanzhie my brother…just like me he got turned into an altered by the plague.” Karma went on not even paying attention to the fact that she herself had not very subtly admitted to being an altered human. “His power allowed him to “see” the history of objects he touched, for him that was the perfect power.”

Karma briefly paused & winced still finding it painful to bring up Trent. “He saw a vision of a woman touch a voting machine inside a booth, and then votes started rapidly pouring in for Forrester. He also heard a voice in the background telling her to hurry up & do her thing but make it look good.” Karma started to get quiet before speaking again. “Lots of the stuff Trent was saying about this story just didn’t make any sense to me, to be honest I thought he was so obsessive he was loosing his mind. That means two years ago the Forrester’s used an altered human to hijack the election, which means the plague that started 3 months ago isn’t the source of all the powers. This is bigger then election fraud Sanzhie, I spoke to him on fictive a few hours before he was found dead. He sounded distressed and said they were coming for him, that it’s all about the storm & that it wasn’t supposed to happen like this.” She looked down and pouted.

“He hadn’t slept in days, and had been talking my head off about all of this. I got mad at him, told him to stop being crazy and get some rest.” A few tears formed in her eye which she quickly brushed followed by another sniffle. “The next morning I got a call that he was found dead with no injuries not even a single scratch, like someone just snapped their fingers and took his life away.”

"You too?" Sanzhar nodded. "So, there are more of us in this club, then." He went on to take an earth ball from the jar placed in the center of the table and etched the globe on it with just his metal bending abilities.

Sanzhar listened on, hearing about how Trent had clairvoyant abilities. "Being able to see the past and future isn't the craziest thing I've heard of, considering... what has happened in the last few weeks. I suspect that they also used an Altered in killing him. It's the only explanation..."

There was still the matter of the storm, being the supposed source of abilities, having not yet passed by the time this supposed technosorceress fudged up the voting machines. "Surveying this critically... I believe that the Storm itself was, in fact, probably the power experiment that went haywire and spread across the nation. That explains how Trent saw someone with abilities before it even happened..."
Sanzhar trailed off. The Network would have to learn about this new development. And, eventually, the world.

Karma’s eyes widened when she saw Sanzhar using his power. It made that background crush she’d had on him all these years sprout up even further in attraction. That wasn’t even including the fact that when it came to her brother’s situation which was so dear to her, he was the only one she trusted.

Hell Sanzhar was the only person besides her that Trent trusted to have the details of this investigation passed along to after death. “Wow sometimes seeing other people’s makes me feel like mine is less fun, but I’m basically able to control bodies, people’s biology.” Karma addd pointing at Sanzhar causing a small pimple to appear then start growing before vanishing completely.

She giggled a little bit about her demonstration of power but the humor in her mood fell away as quickly as it came. “So now we don’t know what to believe really, we’ve been made to believe this plague was the source of all this altered occurrences. But if my brother’s late vision is true about an altered playing a hand in fixing the election then that’s not the case. Ya know no telling what events in history have been tampered with due to powers. Or perhaps this storm has caused a massive bloom in the altered populace to such an extent that it couldn’t help but be uncovered not to mention everyone having a camera on their cell phones nowadays. “ I can’t lie Sanzhie dosen’t this scare you? I mean I’ve started to feel bad about unloading all of this on you, whether Trent wanted or not, and whether or not I felt alone with this burden. My brother’s gone, if we meddle in these waters isn’t it possible the same thing might happen to us.” Karma questioned Sanzhar intently with a hint of fear in her voice.

"Oh, no, it's fine." Sanzhar replied, crossing his arms. "I have... gone through some things too. Can't say I am shocked."

He continued to fidget, albeit awkwardly. "I think I know what to do with this. We have to dig deeper... and then show it not just to the American public, but to the world."

Karma almost wanted to roll her eyes it was if Sanzhar didn't really understand what she was saying, either that or he'd been through things that she couldn't imagine since becoming altered. "Well I wouldn't use the word fine, I wouldn't forgive myself if you wound up in a ditch over this and I brought it to your doorstep literally." Karma retorted as the whole scenario started to feel more overwhelming by the minute. "With the plague most of my classes are online now but I rented an airbnb out here because it was hard to wake up everyday in the apartment I shared with Trent now that he's not there plus as scared as I am I...I...want to avenge my brother...bring his killer or killers to justice." Karma concluded noting that despite her immense fear she wanted nothing more then whoever murdered her brother to have to face justice. Show it to the whole world huh, Sanzhie you're something...

---

As soon as Karma had left, Sanzhar proceeded towards the phone to contact Jace, and in extension, Floyd. He used codewords that would, at the surface, seem to be simply an innocent message, but in reality, they were an important call for something, something that couldn't be discussed in the airwaves.

Father wishes to take us fishing.*

We need to meet.+

The fish will be good.*

It is urgent.+

* The code words
+ Meaning of the code words