Info: The quintessential American city, the city that never sleeps, the city of 8 million stories, and one of the very cores of the nation's culture. Everyone knows New York. Ever since the coming of The Gifted thirteen years ago, though, New York has changed. The city has become a major hub of superhuman activity; supervillains seeking to disrupt society see it as a major target, while Rogue Protectors see it as a city they can be the one to defend.

In order to maintain control over the city, the NYPD have developed an entire "Anti-Gifted" force armed with heavy weaponry, space-age technology they use to track down known threats, and armored vehicles that are practically miniature tanks. What's more, the ITSDA monitors the city closely for two reasons. Firstly, so that they can take down anyone the NYPD can't hande on their own. Secondly, so that they can scout out potential new recruits working as NYC's Rogue Protectors.

When you enter New York, now more than ever, all eyes are on you.

(OOC: As I am the GM, if this breaks down into a fight, I will ask an uninvolved player to determine the victor of the battle.)

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An enormous foot quickly and loudly kicks a metal detector against the doorway of an office building, splitting it in half. A young man with enormous legs who otherwise looks like he's starving marches through the reception area, not even bothering to look up as the receptionist picks up the phone and shouts into it.

"Security, security! Code G, Code G!"

The man sighs in disappointment as two burly men in black security uniforms run up to him, pointing pistols at his head.

"Freeze, buddy! You don't want any trouble."

"I never did," he says. "Never stopped guys like you."

His massive legs give him incredible speed as he sprints toward the guards and rubs his right forearm. The guards take aim, but just as they pull their triggers back, he rams into them with his now giant forearm. The guards' heads crack as they slam into the ground and their pistols let out a huge bang as they fall down and fire at the ceiling. The young man sprints up the building's central staircase as screaming, panicking crowds of white-collar workers run and hide.

When he reaches the top floor, a squadron of guards immediately opens fire on him.

"RRRAGRHH!" screams the man as a bullet grazes his stomach. He jumps back down the stairs. While gasping for air, he looks at the fuel tanks attached to his arms. With some effort, his mouth twists itself into a snarl.

"Surround him!" shrieks an angry guard. The man hears dozens of quiet footsteps grow louder and louder as reinforcements race up the stairs. A brief look of shock appears on his face, but he shakes it off. He then leaps ten feet up in the air, taps a device in his right palm, and waves his hand back and forth as flames pour out of the device. The guards scatter as five of them collapse and two of them roll around wildly, desperately trying to put themselves out.

The man stomps past the immolated men, firing flames at any stragglers that so much as look at him. He then elbows the ornate doors of the head office open. His elbow leaves a crater in the door. A doughy, yet regal-looking man in a business suit gets out of his chair at the head of a table and holds his arms up in surrender.

"If it's money you want, boy, you came to the right place. I am the 1%, as the kids used to say. I know you could kill me, but if you do, you'll only get what's in this building. And there's a lot more than that out there..."

The young man shakes his head. Drops of sweat appear on the businessman's forehead.

"You sold them out," says the young man.

"What?" asks the businessman. The young man pounds his fist into his right hand, causing it to explode into a muscular, claw-like appendage.

"Oh, you're one of them," says the businessman. "S-shoulda known."

The young man tackles the businessman and pins him up against the wall behind them. He then lifts the fat cat up by his neck.

"You snitched on your own men. You promised them everything, made them do your dirty work, then threw them to the ****ing wolves."

"I-I-I don't know--"

"Sammy Ford, Taylor Jane, Mack Dayton. Remember now?"

"Never heard..."

The young man tosses the businessman into a nearby bookcase. The very last thing the businessman sees as he passes out is a monster with freakish proportions effortlessly tossing the table that stands between them though a window.

Outside, the NYPD's "AGF" armored vehicles begin to surround the building.

Cimmeria surveyed the chaotic office building from a top the warehouse located a crossed the street. She was here in hopes that the ITSDA would appear. A part from recruiting and/or killing their potential initiates, the assassin had not had a direct encounter with the team as of yet. She had been trying to gather Intel the previous two weeks but to no avail.

Roars from within the office building reached her ears a crossed the still air, accompanied by gunfire and death cries. It seemed Spurt had found his target. Cimmeria could care less, she hated working with this volatile man. Her desperation for drawing out ITSDA outweighed her distaste for the muscle-headed thug though. Let him live his revenge fantasy, just as long as he gets the job done.

The street below began to clear of pedestrians and civilian vehicles when the AGF came into view. They positioned their armored cars around the buildings exits. This was a good sign, if Spurt could manage at least holding off those glorified pigs then their was a good chance of ITSDA coming to clean up the mess.
This message was last edited by the player at 20:56, Fri 01 May 2015.

Peter had been working on a server issue for the last five hours; he could have had it done in one, but the company that contracted his had been to cheap to buy backup units so they refused to shut the one in need of repair down in fear they would lose a few precious dollars. He had been assigned a watch dog, but the security guard showed no interest in him and had been sitting in a chair watching something on his phone the whole while, save for when he went to lunch and didn't bother to ask Vargus if he wanted anything.

Then, things got interesting.

It started with an automated voice over the PA system;

"ATTENTION! ATTENTION! THIS IS A CODE G ALERT! A ROGUE GIFTED HAS BEEN DETECTED IN THE BUILDING! ALL NON-SECURITY PERSONNEL ARE TO EVACTUATION IMMEDIATELY! THIS IS NOT A DRILL! ATTENTION! ATTENTION! THIS IS A-"

The message continued on a loop as the man assigned to safeguard secrets got a call on his radio; he dropped his phone forgotten on the floor as the bulky figure drew his weapon and ran out of the room without even making sure the security door was fastened to protect the databases. The tech took care of this while remaining in the room, and reached for one of the two leather satchels he had brought in with him. They both contained tools, but for different trades. No one had thought to search either since they thought a computer tech no threat and wouldn't be able to tell what was and wasn't needed for his day to day job. From this a jar of hair gel, a comb, and various bits of dated clothing was taken. When properly clad, the performer flung his cape about himself and vanished. He reappeared in a janitor's closet one floor up, peered out to see no one and nothing, then stepped back inside and tried the next above him. As soon as he saw the destruction, the magician knew he had found a trail to his foe and followed it to what had once been a luxurious office by the looks of what remained. He encountered no resistance as the guards took time to organize their force hidden in stairwells and communicate with the NYPD, but he did smile charmingly at any security camera he passed.

Before him now, the mostly unknown hero saw a human collapsed among books on the floor, unarmed and unconscious best as he could tell from this distance as some form of hulking monster tossed a heavy wooden table through a window as though it were made of foam. Them masked man called out, clear and loud over the automated message that still played;

"My dear sir, this is most assuredly NOT what is meant by the term 'captive audience'. Are you so craven of heart that you must prey only upon the weak and defenseless, or shall you pit your strength against the mystical might of Black Magic?"
This message was last edited by the player at 03:08, Sat 02 May 2015.

"Stay out of this," says the monster in a half-whisper, half-hiss as he walks between Black Magic and the businessman. "If you knew who he is, what he does, you wouldn't stop me."

A tear comes to the monster's eye. "Or maybe you would. Maybe you're a lawman. Maybe you like it when we're all caged up and you don't have to see our suffering!"

The monster again grips his right arm, turning it into an even longer, more muscular limb.

"Go ahead, lawman. Try and lock me up now," the monster says sinisterly as he taps the flamethrower on his palm to activate it.

----------------------------------------

(OOC: Looks like we have our first battle! I'll get one of the uninvolved players to decide the outcome of this conflict. All three of us (assuming Cimmeria gets involved in the battle) should post a "Non-Canon" version of the fight in the next forty-eight hours.)

Black Magic did not seem in the least bit disturbed by this reaction as though he knew it to be coming; but truly, what other outcome is there when a super villain and hero meet? With a calm demeanor, twilight eyes matched those radiating murder in the direction of the magician.

”So you hurt people who hurt people? You believe your Gift entitles you to be judge, jury, and even executioner which appears to be the task I interrupted? Do you think what you do is fair, whatever his crime might be? Perhaps he is a thief, and you wish to steal his life; maybe his hands are soaked in the blood of another directly or not, and you believe the red in his veins enough to wash the deed clean? Or did he hurt someone, and now you come to give it back in spades until he can take no more and expires?

“So you avenge this other person or yourself, but what about your victim? Would you not steal something from his family, or murder their kin, or punish them when they hear the story of what fate befell the dead? Does there not exist the chance a relative or friend will not seek the same justice as you do now, by mortal or Gifted means? Is it not true that by killing him, you are not removing evil from our world but merely rebranding it with your face in their eyes?

“You know I am right, do you not? You do not wish to fight me, denounce your anger.”

The hypnosis worked; Spurt for the first time in so long he couldn’t remember the last let go of his rage. However, that fire had burned inside him for so long that without it, there was only a hollowness that flooded with fear that what this stranger said was right; the young villain hated that sensation, which sparked the blaze within his breast once more and with a snarling scream he broke free of the trance.

He resumed his earlier action of triggering the flame throwers on the palms of his hands, but the delay between the noise and activity had been enough for Black Magic to snatch the hat from upon top of slickened hair. He had seen scorch marks on his way to the office, so when the consuming heat flew toward him he was not caught off guard. Instead, he turned the empty opening toward David and waved one had before it; a geyser of water rushed forth, meeting it's elemental rival head on. Steam belched forth into the room blinding both combatants, but the hero knew the path to his next destination by having spotted it beforehand. The young man wiped at his eyes with one hand while the other that had knocked out the businessman grabbed what might have been a chair and threw it in the direction he knew the other Gifted to have last been; the improvised projectile flew into the other room and became embedded in the far wall without hitting any other obstacle. Then, Black Magic’s voice was heard again.

”Are you done so soon? I truly thought this would be more of a challenge, but it appears your smallest muscle is kept between your ears. I have no need to lock you up my friend, that only happens to dangerous people; they are defined as dangerous because they are smart enough to pose a threat. You, I daresay, suffer trouble in the advanced art of tying your own shoes.”

As David listened to the taunts, his anger swelled past the limit it had been even when he had attacked his target. This man was verbally abusing him, making fun of him, picking on him, just like the bullies used to do before the boy had learned to stand up for himself. That didn’t happen anymore, and he refused to let it restart now. He turned in the direction the voice was coming from, tensed his large legs, held up a massive forearm before his body, bent over, and with a bellowing yell charged at full speed. The foe rushed through the steam, in seconds it cleared and he saw the well-dressed figure that was about to be a stain standing before him. Then, right before impact, Black Magic went straight up out of the thug’s path. Spurt wondered both how that was possible, and why he seemed to be going in the opposite direction with increasing speed.

When he bothered to look, he saw open space below him. It then dawned on him what had happened; using the steam as cover, Black Magic had made his way out of the floor-to-ceiling window Spurt had smashed out with the table. How the hero didn’t become road pizza the brute didn’t know, but the heckling had been meant to make David charge without thought and it had worked. Thanks to his legs, the criminal had enough momentum to not arc down and crash among the ever growing number of police, but instead smashed through the brick wall of the building on the alternate side of the street from the one he had entered; on the downside, the surprise of the situation he had found himself in caused him to partially drop his blocking arm so his head felt a bit of the impact. The hero lowered himself to the level of the new opening and ran across to it on a walkway of nothing, entering the building after his foe. He found the massive man dazed and on the floor of a hallway; wasting no time, the magician reached into a sleeve and pulled out a bright yellow scarf that was tied to a blue one, then red, green, and so forth. He fastened the end he first retrieved to the other Gifted’s huge wrist, then to his other followed by his ankles. The cloth was wrapped many times around and around to keep the limbs secured; no matter how much there always seemed to be more until the prestidigitator no longer needed it and the end slid out of his cuff.

Black Magic thought it wouldn’t be long before the police arrived for their care package, but they were beaten to the punch by a woman who looked for all the world as though she belonged in an action movie. She came out of a door near them that led to a stairwell most likely, and immediately opened fire with what looked to the hero to be a small gun of some sort. He held up a hand, and the rounds popped out of the weapon as beautiful soap bubbles. She her deadpan expression didn’t change at this, and she walked sideways quickly then down the hall slightly until the came to another door and entered it. The Hocus Pocus Hero started to make his way toward it as well, but the newcomer reemerged holding a mop bucket into which she had poured both ammonia and bleach. She hurled the container at the disguised computer tech; caught off guard and he dodged the object only to have it spill near him and smell the fumes. Twilight eyes began to water as he pulled his cape up over his nose and backed away; the stranger took no time in running up to the thug who had mostly come back to his senses and was struggling against his bindings. Instead of attempting to free him however, the silent lady touched the floor under him and the pair sank away out of sight; right before she was gone from his vision though, the female fighter tossed something toward the showman. He feared it to be a weapon of some sort, plus they might have escaped to one floor below him, so the magician ducked around a corner with no one around snd appeared suddenly in the lower hallway; there was no one there. He peered about, but found no trace of the deadly duo he had faced. It also occurred to him that there had been no explosion or anything from above, so he teleported back up and slowly approached the device; it was a burner phone. It started to ring five seconds after he walked up to it, and the masked hero answered.

”Hello?”

”Hello. May I ask whom I’m speaking with?”

The voice sounded normal enough, but there seemed to be something surreal about it as though it was manufactured or faked somehow.

”Black Magic my good sir, and you are?"

”I speak for another and represent their interests, so you may call me by their name; Namadis.”

”What is it you wish to speak to me about? I figure you did want to talk to me, and this phone was not left by accident.”

”You are most correct Sir. The matter at hand is a proposition I would like to put forth to you.”

”What sort of proposition?”

”That large fellow you so succinctly beat is counted among my number. As you have seen, he is able to manipulate his physical form as needed. To this I have added a flamethrower at his discretion. Yet, you beat him soundly using a few parlor tricks many years out of style with the modern world.”

”Do you wish an apology? If such is the case, I regret to tell you none shall be forthcoming.”

”Oh, no, not at all. This call isn’t about him, it’s about you. Let’s pretend for a moment that you found a magic lamp, and inside it there’s a genie who can grant your every wish. The phone you hold is that lamp, and I the granter of wishes. Imagine what you would be able to do with all the money you would ever need, technology to perform feats so great you will obliterate the name of ‘Houdini’ from the history books, assistants at your beck and call day or night. Anything at all is yours for the asking. New York City is a very heavily guarded place when it comes to the Gifted, and the building you’re in is surrounded by officers armed and armored against your kind. But a hack into the police database, some money in the right pockets, and what happens can be controlled. All you have to do is agree to join up with me, and I will ensure your escape just like I did with the man who alluded you. Could I have your answer please?”

”Side with you? From the example of the sort of person you are willing to accept, I am not sure if your offer is a compliment or insult. Regardless, I must decline; I do not settle for less than top billing, nor do I share it. As for my departure, do not fret over me. I shall handle such an issue on my own.””

The modified voice did not sound discouraged or despondent.

”Yes, more than one Gifted has reacted in such a way as you. But when they got tired of saving a world full of people who do not like those who were not normal like them, that’s when their minds changed. You might get away free, perhaps not. In either event, you will be contacted again to see if you still stand by your decision. You may do what you wish with the phone; it is a cheap one linked to no one and no place, the only call on it was made to you, it has no GPS so it can’t be traced to where it’s been, and this number I'm calling from has been redirected multiple times so it would take the authorities a long while to discover that this, too, is a burner phone. Good day, sir.”

There was a click, and Black Magic was once more by himself; that’s not to say he’d be lonely long from the sound of marching steps up the nearby stairwell. The magic man was gone as cleanly as the other two when officers arrived, the phone abandoned on the floor since with gloves the hero didn’t have to worry about leaving fingerprints; Peter Vargus would be found in the computer room where he was left, dressed normally and desperate to pee. There were no security cameras in the server area, for fear someone might access the system with information that could be seen by a camera and the feed hacked.
This message was last edited by the player at 06:02, Sun 03 May 2015.

(OOC: Non-Canon Battle Post)

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With a bow and a tip of his hat, Black Magic teleports away from the flames that explode out of Spurt's wrist.

"Oh, I'd hate to lock up a gentleman like yourself," says the mage. "But you leave little choice."

Spurt shouts out in frustration and instantly jumps around to face the noise's source. His hand shakes while drenches the area in all-consuming flame, leaving a hole in the floor and scorch marks on the walls. But when the flames clear, Black Magic is gone.

"There's always a choice!"

The room's wall-mounted plasma television springs to life. Black Magic appears on the screen, wearing a stern look on his face. Spurt's head cranks in its direction.

"That's right, there's always a choice," each word the magic man speaks echoes repeatedly inside Spurt's mind. "And you, my friend, have made the wrong one. Don't dare dance with the daredevil mage, don't lock your mind within a cage. A world of peace awaits you if you'd only care to look, don't keep selling yourself short as a seedy little crook."

Spurt stares, transfixed, at the face on the screen. Thoughts of surrendering and living a peaceful life roll through his mind and he shuts them down, but they just keep coming and coming and coming. The real Black Magic stands near the bookcase behind Spurt. He swirls his wand around to direct the illusion and mouths the words his televised doppelganger speaks.

The sound of a bullhorn pierces the hypnotic fog clouding Spurt's mind. He cranks his head in the direction of the noise. Noticing Black Magic, he immediately jumps into the air.

"Attention, Unidentified Gifted! Attention! You are in violation of Federal Powers Statute 12. Get on the ground and surrender immediately. "

Black Magic is launched through the hole where the office's window once was by Spurt's giant knee. The magician's neck very nearly snaps as the giant, dense knee drills into his chin. He falls toward the ground and blood pours out of his nose. Meanwhile, the AGF troops take cover just as Spurt's feet flatten one of their armored cars.

"Protect all escape routes and begin your approach!" says the AGF Commander. At this, the injured and falling Black Magic comes back to his senses. Thinking quickly, he pulls a long, rainbow-colored scarf out of his sleeve, tosses it around a nearby window ledge, and swings toward Spurt. With the momentum of the fall redirected into one swinging kick, he hurls Spurt off what remains of the AGF vehicle and into a brick wall.

The showman, of course, lands on his feet. But noxious, colored smoke quickly fills the air as the AGF tosses a handful of smoke grenades at the ground. Spurt coughs and nearly hacks up his lungs. He grabs at his chest in pain. Before too long, his chest muscles expand, like a balloon, into muscular monstrosities that threaten to crush his abdomen. He roars in pain.

"Keep on 'em!" Between coughing fits of his own, Black Magic spots the shadows of the AGF officers approaching his position.

"Flee from here, gentlemen!" shouts the Hocus Pocus Hero. "Your tricks cannot stop him!"

Black Magic turns his hat to face one of the shadows. A powerful jet of water fires out of the hat, forcing the officer to stop in his tracks. A second officer charges at the magician and blasts him with a shotgun full of rubber bullets. In an inspired moment of trickery, Black Magic holds out his hand and lets himself be hit with the rubber bullets. Amazingly, the rubber bullets harmlessly bounce off of him as if they were little rubber balls!

"And they certainly won't stop me."

Spurt presses his hand to his abdomen and keeps it there until its size matches his torso's width. A smile comes to Spurt's face as he realizes that he's breathing much easier now. Maybe he wouldn't need to grab his rebreather just yet...

The cloud immediately clears as gale-force winds toss several running officers to the ground and force Black Magic to his knees. As the smoke clears, the officers notice Spurt's now huge head and torso. One of the soldiers, almost instinctively, whips his assault rifle up into the "ready" position and takes aim at the monster.

"Dieeee! Dieee!" screams the officer as he fills the beast full of lead. Spurt shrieks, cries out, and howls in pain as the bullets tear his body to shreds. In desperation, his enormous arm reaches out and grabs Black Magic. Before the incredible sorcerer understands what's happening, Spurt's massive hand spikes him like a volleyball toward the policemen.

Spurt sprints off. As he runs, his naked, bloody abdominal muscles try to tear themselves off of his colossal legs. Black Magic, meanwhile, uses his acrobatic ballet techniques to artfully transform his fall into a roll. His roll lets him land on his feet and stop himself before he crashes into the patrolmen. Unfortunately, all the classes in the world couldn't save him from a cheap shot. The instant Black Magic stands, he is struck by a pair of AGF tasers.

The showman of the century dramatically falls and curls himself into a ball as pain slashes its way through his body.

"Hold it," says the AGF Commander. His men roughly pull their tasers out of Black Magic's skin. "Galvez, take him in for questioning. We'll find the target."

Galvez's men handcuff a half-conscious Black Magic, throw him in one of their armored vehicles, and strip him as soon as he's inside. They thoroughly examine their enemy's suit and hat for weapons as the car drives off. They shake their head in bewilderment when they fail to find anything.

"Must be an innate power," suggests one of them.

"Maybe," responds Galvez. "We'll find out soon enough."

When she sees the AGF take off after her partner, Cimmeria opens up a portal near her vantage point across the street. She then runs through it, grabs a pair of magnums from her secret dimension, and picks a portal a few blocks away from her starting position to run through. As always, she had a contingency plan in case things went belly up. In fact, she plotted out this entire borough beforehand. Thus, she knew where that coward, David, would head and what routes the officers would take to chase him.

But she wasn't going after David now. As the Anti-Gifted troops' armored cars rounded a corner, her portal opened atop a balcony. She stepped out of the portal, fired two shots, and calmly walked back to her secret world. The expertly placed shots pierced the "bulletproof" windshields of two of the AGF's armored cars and shattered their drivers' skulls. Three of the AGF's armored cars smash into each other, causing a massive pile-up and sparking a fire. Troops pour out of the flaming wreckage and look around for their enemy, but see nothing.

"Where is he?" asks the AGF Commander.

"Where is he?!"

Cimmeria reappears in front of Spurt, aims right between his eyes, and takes the wounded animal down with a tranquilizer dart. Hopefully, there would be time to save him before he returned to normal size.

Black Magic wakes up, in civilian clothes, in a dark cell. The man guarding his cell picks up his radio.

"He's awake," says the man. "We can begin."

<c>(OOC: Canon Post)</c>

Black Magic did not seem in the least bit disturbed by this reaction as though he knew it to be coming; but truly, what other outcome is there when a super villain and hero meet? With a calm demeanor, twilight eyes matched those radiating murder in the direction of the magician.

”So you hurt people who hurt people? You believe your Gift entitles you to be judge, jury, and even executioner which appears to be the task I interrupted? Do you think what you do is fair, whatever his crime might be? Perhaps he is a thief, and you wish to steal his life; maybe his hands are soaked in the blood of another directly or not, and you believe the red in his veins enough to wash the deed clean? Or did he hurt someone, and now you come to give it back in spades until he can take no more and expires?

“So you avenge this other person or yourself, but what about your victim? Would you not steal something from his family, or murder their kin, or punish them when they hear the story of what fate befell the dead? Does there not exist the chance a relative or friend will not seek the same justice as you do now, by mortal or Gifted means? Is it not true that by killing him, you are not removing evil from our world but merely rebranding it with your face in their eyes?

“You know I am right, do you not? You do not wish to fight me, denounce your anger.”

The hypnosis worked; Spurt for the first time in so long he couldn’t remember the last let go of his rage. Thoughts of surrendering and living a peaceful life roll through his mind and he shuts them down, but they just keep coming and coming and coming. However, that fire had burned inside him for so long that without it, there was only a hollowness that flooded with fear that what this stranger said was right; the young villain hated that sensation, which sparked the blaze within his breast once more and with a snarling scream he broke free of the trance.

He resumed his earlier action of triggering the flame throwers on the palms of his hands, but the delay between the noise and activity had been enough for Black Magic to snatch the hat from upon top of slickened hair. He had seen scorch marks on his way to the office, so when the consuming heat flew toward him he was not caught off guard. Instead, he turned the empty opening toward David and waved one had before it; a geyser of water rushed forth, meeting it's elemental rival head on. Steam belched forth into the room blinding both combatants, but the hero knew the path to his next destination by having spotted it beforehand. The young man wiped at his eyes with one hand while the other that had knocked out the businessman grabbed what might have been a chair and threw it in the direction he knew the other Gifted to have last been; the improvised projectile flew into the other room and became embedded in the far wall without hitting any other obstacle. Then, Black Magic’s voice was heard again.

”Are you done so soon? I truly thought this would be more of a challenge, but it appears your smallest muscle is kept between your ears. I have no need to lock you up my friend, which only happens to dangerous people; they are defined as dangerous because they are smart enough to pose a threat. You, I daresay, suffer trouble in the advanced art of tying your own shoes.”

As David listened to the taunts, his anger swelled past the limit it had been even when he had attacked his target. This man was verbally abusing him, making fun of him, picking on him, just like the bullies used to do before the boy had learned to stand up for himself. That did not’t’t happen anymore, and he refused to let it restart now. He turned in the direction the voice was coming from, tensed his large legs, held up a massive forearm before his body, bent over, and with a bellowing yell charged at full speed. The foe rushed through the steam, in seconds it cleared and he saw the well-dressed figure that was about to be a stain standing before him. Then, right before impact, Black Magic went straight up out of the thug’s path. Spurt wondered both how that was possible, and why he seemed to be going in the opposite direction with increasing speed.

The call from an outside bullhorn sounded awfully loudly:

"Attention, Unidentified Gifted! Attention! You are in violation of Federal Powers Statute 12. Get on the ground and surrender immediately." At the same moment, Cimmeria opens up a portal near her vantage point across the street. She then runs through it.

When he bothered to look, he saw open space below him. It then dawned on him what had happened; using the steam as cover, Black Magic had made his way out of the floor-to-ceiling window Spurt had smashed out with the table. How the hero didn’t’t become road pizza the brute didn’t know, but the heckling had been meant to make David charge without thought and it had worked. Thanks to his legs, the criminal had enough momentum to not arc down and crash among the ever growing number of police, but instead smashed through the brick wall of the building on the alternate side of the street from the one he had entered; on the downside, the surprise of the situation he had found himself in caused him to partially drop his blocking arm so his head felt a bit of the impact. The hero lowered himself to the level of the new opening and ran across to it on a walkway of nothing, entering the building after his foe. He found the massive man dazed and on the floor of a hallway; wasting no time, the magician reached into a sleeve and pulled out a bright yellow scarf that was tied to a blue one, then red, green, and so forth. He fastened the end he first retrieved to the other Gifted’s huge wrist, then to his other followed by his ankles. The cloth was wrapped many times around and around to keep the limbs secured; no matter how much there always seemed to be more until the prestidigitator no longer needed it and the end slid out of his cuff.

Black Magic thought it wouldn’t be long before the police arrived for their care package, but they were beaten to the punch by a woman who looked for all the world as though she belonged in an action movie. She came out of a door near them that led to a stairwell most likely, and immediately opened fire with what looked to the hero to be a small gun of some sort. He held up a hand, and the rounds popped out of the weapon as beautiful soap bubbles. Her deadpan expression didn’t change at this, and she walked sideways quickly then down the hall slightly until she came to another door and entered it. The Hocus Pocus Hero started to make his way toward it as well, but the newcomer reemerged holding a mop bucket into which she had poured both ammonia and bleach. She hurled the container at the disguised computer tech; caught off guard and he dodged the object only to have it spill near him and smell the fumes. Twilight eyes began to water as he pulled his cape up over his nose and backed away; the stranger took no time in running up to the thug who had mostly come back to his senses and was struggling against his bindings. Instead of attempting to free him however, the silent lady touched the floor under him and the pair sank away out of sight; right before she was gone from his vision though, the female fighter tossed something toward the showman. He feared it to be a weapon of some sort, plus they might have escaped to one floor below him, so the magician ducked around a corner with no one around and appeared suddenly in the lower hallway; there was no one there. He peered about, but found no trace of the deadly duo he had faced. It also occurred to him that there had been no explosion or anything from above, so he teleported back up and slowly approached the device; it was a burner phone. It started to ring five seconds after he walked up to it, and the masked hero answered.

”Hello?”

”Hello. May I ask whom I’m speaking with?”

The voice sounded normal enough, but there seemed to be something surreal about it as though it was manufactured or faked somehow.

”Black Magic my good sir, and you are?"

”I speak for another and represent their interests, so you may call me by their name; Namadis.”

”What is it you wish to speak to me about? I figure you did want to talk to me, and this phone was not left by accident.”

”You are most correct Sir. The matter at hand is a proposition I would like to put forth to you.”

”What sort of proposition?”

”That large fellow you so succinctly beat is counted among my number. As you have seen, he is able to manipulate his physical form as needed. To this I have added a flamethrower at his discretion. Yet, you beat him soundly using a few parlor tricks many years out of style with the modern world.”

”Do you wish an apology? If such is the case, I regret to tell you none shall be forthcoming.”

”Oh, no, not at all. This call isn’t about him, it’s about you. Let’s pretend for a moment that you found a magic lamp, and inside it there’s a genie who can grant your every wish. The phone you hold is that lamp, and I the granter of wishes. Imagine what you would be able to do with all the money you would ever need, technology to perform feats so great you will obliterate the name of ‘Houdini’ from the history books, assistants at your beck and call day or night. Anything at all is yours for the asking. New York City is a very heavily guarded place when it comes to the Gifted, and the building you’re in is surrounded by officers armed and armored against your kind. But a hack into the police database, some money in the right pockets, and what happens can be controlled. All you have to do is agree to join up with me, and I will ensure your escape just like I did with the man who eluded you. Could I have your answer please?”

”Side with you? From the example of the sort of person you are willing to accept, I am not sure if your offer is a compliment or insult. Regardless, I must decline; I do not settle for less than top billing, nor do I share it. As for my departure, do not fret over me. I shall handle such an issue on my own.”

The modified voice did not sound discouraged or despondent.

”Yes, more than one Gifted has reacted in such a way as you. But when they got tired of saving a world full of people who do not like those who were not normal like them, that’s when their minds changed. You might get away free, perhaps not. In either event, you will be contacted again to see if you still stand by your decision. You may do what you wish with the phone; it is a cheap one linked to no one and no place, the only call on it was made to you, it has no GPS so it can’t be traced to where it’s been, and this number I'm calling from has been redirected multiple times so it would take the authorities a long while to discover that this, too, is a burner phone. Good day, sir.”

There was a click, and Black Magic was once more by himself; that’s not to say he’d be lonely long from the sound of marching steps up the nearby stairwell. The magic man was gone as cleanly as the other two when officers arrived, the phone abandoned on the floor since with gloves the hero didn’t have to worry about leaving fingerprints; Peter Vargus would be found in the computer room where he was left, dressed normally and desperate to pee. There were no security cameras in the server area, for fear someone might access the system with information that could be seen by a camera and the feed hacked.
This message was last edited by the player at 23:38, Wed 06 May 2015.

"He looked like a someone you'd hire for a children's party..thirty or so years ago." Cimmeria commented cooly. She was not angry is the slightest, more curious about the mysterious magician. Spurt being beaten so easily did not come as a surprise to her either. In her opinion: anyone with a half a brain and a gift could defeat the enlarged freak.

From the magician's apparel she was sure he was not ITSDA, most likely he didn't even know about the anti-gifted organization. Just an ordinary guy who woke up with powers. Powers.
Plural.
How she wished she had more than one. Though she was clever enough to find multiple was to utilize her gift, Vivienne had always envied those who had an edge up on her.

"Hopefully the call goes well and he makes the right decision." Cimmeria glanced down to see that Spurt was still out cold. She nudged him lightly with the toe of her boot and said in a voice free from emotion: "Wake up."

They were now inside one of her secret rooms that her portals led to. Spurt's  great limbs sprawled out in he center with the violet eyed assassin standing over him. The room was roughly twenty square feet, small compared to the others, but it would do for a time out period. The walls and floor were bright white and must have illuminated the area because no definite source of light could be found. Their features were shadowless, allowing her to see the Asians man face clearly.

"Wake up!" The second nudge was to his head. Her voice had raised an octave but her eyes remained stone cold, like amethyst. Cimmeria needed to know if the magician had used any additional powers she didn't witness. Especially if he turned down Namidias' offer. He'd be a fool to, but she had to know his strengths, so she could use them as his weakness.
This message was last edited by the player at 09:06, Thu 07 May 2015.

Peter took the time before anyone else arrived in the server room to not only change back into his geek attire, but also to use some no rinse powder shampoo on his hair and mustache to remove the oil he'd used as part of Black Magic's look. By the time the AGF got the door code and a pair of officers entered the room for a sweep of possible gifted, all they found was a terrified tech hiding behind a bank of machines with his legs crossed. They surrounded him on either side, they both lowered their rifles at the sight of Vargus, but one pulled out a Taser just in case he was more than he seemed. One spoke to him in a loud, authoritative voice.

"You there! Who are you, and what are you doing here? This building was evacuated."

"M-my name's Peter Vargus, and I'm trying very hard not to wet myself. I was sent here to work on a malfunctioning server by my company, we're contracted with this one. There was a security guard in here with me, but some kind of warning about a Gifted in the building came over a speaker and he ran out. Yeah, the message said to evacuate, but I've seen those Gifted people on TV and they can do all sorts of crazy things. I wasn't about to run out of this room without knowing where they were, not when I could put a locked security door between me and them.

"A-are you guys cops? Please, please, please say yes and it's safe for me to get out of this nightmare already."

One of the men produced a badge while holding out his other hand.

"Anti-Gifted Force, we're part of the NYPD. You have ID? Hand any you got to me, slowly."

With a shaky nod of his head, Peter unclipped the security clearance badge he'd been given while he worked on the property, plus he pulled out his wallet so he could give over his driver's license and employee identification. The man took these and pulled out a radio.

"This is Unit Three, we found a civilian in the primary building. I need a check on a Vargus, Peter. Claims to be some kind of tech here to work on computers. Standing by."

In several minutes there was a respond, the officer listened intently before saying "Roger" and putting the device away. He handed the cards back to Peter while looking at the other AGF member present.

"He checks out. Civilian contractor, authorized to be here; no reprimands from his company and not even a speeding ticket to his name. He was last reported by security to be in this room, they sped up the feed from outside the only door, he's on camera entering but not leaving until we got here. No wonder the poor guy has to use the can."

He looks to Peter as the woman puts her Taser away.

"Sorry for the scare, guy, but you never can be too careful with these freaks running around. Yeah, some of 'em look like the monsters they are, but others, they look just like you and me and they're the ones you gotta watch out for. We're gonna take you out the main entrance, don't worry the fun's all over and you'll be good and safe. We'll turn you over to a uniform officer, give them your statement and then you can get to a restroom."

Vargus gave a nod he understood, got up and retrieved his bags, then followed the pair out of the room and building. He saw a bunch of people dressed similarly to these two hurrying about, talking into and listening to radios while someone he guessed was in charge kept shouting orders. Peter as promised was taken to a patrol cop used in these situations primarily for crowd control, told the young woman he'd been in the server room the entire time and saw nothing, then was ushered past the barricades. once shielded from the police by a wall of rubber-neckers, Peter stopped his 'pee pee' dance and calmly walked toward his car. on the way, he overheard a field reporter talking into a microphone;

"...is still searching both buildings, but so far we have no word on if either of the two combatants have been found. As you can see in our footage from earlier, there was what appeared to be a man dressed in a black suit, top hat, and cape standing in midair right before some creature charged out of the top floor of the building directly behind me, and crashed through the wall of the one just across the street. We cannot be certain at this time, but according to witness accounts it seemed the monster was attacking what was most likely another Gifted. Does this mean New York City has a empowered defender of our own? Someone to pick up the slack left behind by even the special AGF? Stay tuned for more late breaking developments..."

Peter smiled to himself; Black Magic's first appearance in front of the cameras had been at a distance and brief, but his image was being broadcast across TV screens even now and then there were any and all videos made on cell phones. Set by set, view by view, his Dream was on its way to becoming a reality. Vargus fired up his car, and drove away from the noise and confusion. As a wise man had once said, always leave them wanting more. For now...

"I'm up. I'm up! Stop kicking me!" David said in a low growl. David seethed in pain as one of his legs deflated back down to normal size. "Why didn't you help me? You coulda killed him easy!"

"Did he tell you to keep out of things? Did he say 'don't bother saving the brute?'" David laughs bitterly. "Wouldn't be the first time. 'Lemme tell you something, Cim. I'm not The Hulk; I'm an anarchist."

David begins to shout. "And you better respect---" Cimmeria cuts him off with a sharp kick to the gut that leaves David whining and wincing. For now, she had more important things to worry about than his rambling nonsense.
This message was last edited by the GM at 15:23, Thu 07 May 2015.

"Look around you David, I did help. You would've been wearing a tutu getting sawed in half if I had not." Vivienne gave one of her rare, hint of a smile at this thought. Though keeping the rest of her demeanor statue like as always. "Besides, He wanted to speak with him. I'm not going to destroy a possible asset." She chose her words carefully, David could be so touchy. "I can get you some water if you would like?" With her last syllable, Cimmeria dropped through small pool of lavender light. With the disappearance of her head a ripple extended from the center outwards as if liquid. Within moments she popped back through the portal, as of she fell through it and angled her body to land feet first. She tossed the bottled water to David and the portal closed.

"Here, drink up and tell me everything."
This message was last edited by the player at 15:26, Thu 07 May 2015.

David stared at her as she emerged from the portal as if it were but a pool of water.

"This isn't gonna poison me, is it?" he says, panicking but trying to play it off as a joke. He shook his head and subtly pressed his hand to his tongue. "Nevermind. Thanks, Cim."

David stared down at the ground. "Bastard kicked my ass. He used some kind of a illusion, he could fly, and he had this... powerful voice. It made me want to listen to everything he said; made me wanna surrender. He shot water out of his hat and pulled like, scarves, out of his sleeve. As far as I can tell, he could do anything."

At this, he pressed his knuckles together, causing his left hand to grow to the size of a cannonball. He threw his fist at the wall as if it were a bomb. Luckily, the extra-dimensional house didn't fall apart just because he struck it.

"No wonder he didn't want to join us! He thinks he can do it all on his own!" A smarmy little smirk came to his face. "He didn't want to join us, right? That's why we ain't heard nothing from the Idias?"

"We will not know until we return." Cimmeria extended out her arms like a scarecrow and motioned to the room around them. "Namidias has not solved the communication problem between here and there." She didn't even know where 'here' was, not fully anyways. All Vivienne knew was that it was a secure location, possibly not even on earth, maybe not even in this dimension. Whatever the case was, telecommunication devices were useless here. All you get is white noise.

"It sounds like it will be hard to determine what was an actual gift and what was just a magic trick. Probably a strategy to make us think he's stronger than he is. At the very least he has a hypnotic ability, maybe flight, and possibly elemental summoning." Cimmeria sighed. This magician was more complicated than she had expected.

"We have to be back within the hour for Namidias' orders. You can rest here if you'd like, or I can bring you back with me." Cimmeria moved to stand beside him to brush the palm o her hand against the section of wall he had struck. It remained unscarred an smooth as before. The material felt as sturdy as stone beneath her hand, though bat it was she did not know.
This message was last edited by the player at 17:40, Thu 07 May 2015.

Generally, response was a bit faster than it had been with the whole fiasco that just occurred, but since Jump had only just gotten in, it took him a few minutes longer than usual to get prepared. After being given the location, he'd jumped to a rooftop a little under a mile away and only caught the end of the battle. From this distance, there were too many people to get any clear images on what was going on over there, but he'd been told explicitly to stay at his range limit. Using him to scout out situations was a fantastic idea, but he couldn't exactly do much when all he could see was a bunch of cops and rambling civilians. Except for that sudden disappearance of the supposed perpetrator and someone else a few minutes ago, nothing exciting had happened. "Are you seriously keeping me out this far when they're gone?"  He asked quietly through his radio. "I mean, seriously, they've obviously got a teleporter. People don't just disappear without that. And if they've got a teleporter, they're long gone. The AGF is easy enough to avoid when I can see them coming a mile away and they'd have to hit me with a tazer to keep me anyways."

Their was a long sigh on the other end before a female voice responded. "Jump, seriously? We're going through this again? Once you pass your combat training, you can get closer to these situations than a mile. Before then, you're not cleared." Jump groaned. "it's not my fault those combat trainers of yours teach me nothing but brute force. Get me a karate trainer or something." There was another sigh, and the woman came back on. "Let me call someone. We'll see."

Jump almost jumped in glee, but waited patiently for her to get back. When there was a click and she came back on, he listened in. "You've been cleared to get within 500 feet. No closer." Jump whooped. "Thank you. You will not regret this. Probably." He clapped his hands together and rubbed them before dissappearing. On the other end of his teleport, he quickly got down low and started surveying the area. Without all that intervening distance, things were far clearer. "Hey, that's weird..." He said.

"What?"

"I don't know, never felt... that before." Jump turned his face, even though eh didn't really need to, towards a spot that felt off. "There's... it's like... an imprint? An imprint of something. It just feels weird there." Jump was silent for a moment. "It's... within 450 feet. Is it alright if I go check it out...?"

"450?" There was a moment of silence. <Black>"You've got 2 minutes. We need you back here to get one of our teams out to Detroit though, so don't dilly-dally." </Black>

Jump didn't whoop this time, considering he'd just lied. It was within 450 feet. Just... not of the crime scene. Kinda within 450 feet of him. But that was besides the point. He'd never seen that kind of thing before, and it was intriguing. He appeared in a hallway, and kept careful track of the others in the building before leaning down to the floor and running his hand over it. He felt time ticking down almost physically and waited with nervousness for the radio to call him back. "What is it...?" He whispered to himself.

He prodded it with his finger, but it was just a floor, and when he removed some of the tiles with his power, the imprint started breaking, so he stopped. "Your 2 minutes is up." The radio said, practically scaring him half to death. "Shit. Give me more warning than that, Jesus." He said, his voice trembling. "Give me 1 more minute." Their was a pause, than the voice came back. "30 seconds."

"Deal." He said quickly, and before he could change his mind, gripped the portal with the edges of his mind and tried to do a jump. It was more like a hop. Or a skip. And then a really hard fall. He felt himself slam into a hard wall and then reappear in the hallway, as if the wall had shoved him out, his heart practically exploding. He put his hand to his face, and wiped, the blood sticking to his fingers making his eyes narrow in worry. He tapped the radeo in his ear and found it hanging out by a thread. "Fuck." He swore loudly, and tried to jump back to base. He felt a queasy stretching sensation before he slammed into the wall at the end of the hallway and crumpled to the ground. "God damnet." He tried again, and when he appeared 4 feet off the ground in the same place and fell down, he groaned. He picked himself off the ground quickly, wincing briefly, and scurried down the other hallway, checking doors until he came to a janitors closet and hid himself in it, sitting down on a bucket. "Gotta relax." He said, breathing hard. "And also never try moving spacial phenomena again. Ever."

Cimmeria felt something. . . odd. An almost invasive sensation, as if Spurt reached out his grotesque arm and stroked her hair. The cause of it wasn't apparent at first. No one had ever entered her domain unless she brought them herself, few even knew about them. She searched the room for the source of her unease, this strange feeling made her doubt the secret room's security. But only for a moment. She suddenly realized she had felt this before, but it didn't bother her then. When Namidias found one of her portals, her first portal in fact, it was a warm caress. A comrade in arms that had never existed before welcoming her home. Someone whose thoughts aligned with her own. Cimmeria sighed, this person was no Namidias.

"Someone has found one of my secret doors." Cimmeria's voice was calm as always, her violet eyes concentrated on the center of the floor, where her portal to the warehouse laid. Normally Cimmeria would have removed it, but she wanted to return to the warehouse to check for any evidence of the magicians powers.

Luckily, even if her portal was found or more importantly activated, the poor intruder would pop out of one of her others she used for mobility.

"I need to see what's going on out there. I think it would be wise for you to stay here. Regain your strength. It it's trouble I can't handle then I'll send the poor bastard down to you. Between the two of us we'll be fine." Cimmeria found this strategy to be highly unlikely however. In fact she needed to talk to Namidias alone, give a report of not only her findings on the magician, but of Spurt's performance as well. Vivienne was not worried about whoever was poking there nose in her doorways, more annoyed.

"Deal? We can do whatever you want afterwards."
This message was last edited by the player at 19:38, Thu 07 May 2015.

Eric was on his way to work. He was passing the building that the AGF was currently locking down. He glanced over in that direction but kept his head down. No need sticking his nose in where it didn't belong. He forced his mind to think of other thoughts. The new books he had ordered had finally come in and he was excited to get into them. He had taken a lot of time finding the correct source material he needed to study the Hindu mythos. The last three books had arrived and now he had the complete set of seven books to pour over. His mind started wandering as he started thinking about what kind of exciting new things he was going to learn. The shout of an AGF enforcer to a random passerby brought his mind back to the present. Eric realized he should not dwell on such thought with them so close at hand. Who knows what might happen. He brought his eyes back forward and concentrated on just peacefully getting to work.
This message was last edited by the player at 14:08, Fri 08 May 2015.

"Deal." Spurt moaned and rolled over like an exhausted teenager who didn't want to get out of bed. Whatever he wanted? Right now, all he wanted to do was get back at the over-dressed thug. Actually, he wanted to get back at all the overdressed thugs in the world; he wanted his hands around the necks of each and every police officer, soldier, and superhero there was. Heh, maybe he could make his hands big enough to crush the entire world and everyone who thinks they own it. But his body wouldn't let him so much as move right now. As always was the case (though no one believed him), his mind was strong, but his body was weak.

"And Cim..." the former beast said. "Be careful. He's almost as badass as you..."

how sweet o you to worry about little ol' me." A thin strand a sarcasm was laced in with the usual coolness of her voice. "I'm sure I'll be fine, it good just be that magician too eager to join." she doubted the magician to be the cause of her doorway disturbance. AGF must have the place secure by now and that man did not seem to be a part of their group.

A lavender light dilated the wall her hand touched, it's purplish glow hit the high planes of her face, making her look almost supernatural in nature. Without another word to her comrade the assassin stepped through the dimensional doorway, finding herself in the warehouse hallway from earlier. The hallway appeared empty, like the AGF hadn't reached this location for investigations. Everything seemed fine, no crack pot magician shooting water flowers up here. So why then was the closet door closed. In the haste of battle she did not do the curtesy of shutting it.

With slow steps carefully placed to be silent as possible, Cimmeria snuck to the door. She drew her small frame S&W and kept it steady and ready to fire.
"Its okay to come out, all the monsters are gone." Cimmeria dropped her shield of ice and spoke in a soft, loving way. "Maybe we can find a way out of this building together? I was here with my boyfriend but he disappeared amongst the crazy fight. I'm just really scared."   hopefully her damsel in distress a routine would draw whoever was in the closet out. If Cimmeria could, she'd like to talk to this person first. They may know something. She still had some time to take care of this and answered Namidias's call.

Jump frowned, and appeared behind Cimmeria, out of easy reach but not so far as to make it look like he was noticeable distancing himself. His face paled a bit after the jump, but he controlled his urge to puke all over the floor. "I appreciate you trying, at least." He said out loud, shaking his head. "But coming out of the floor and preparing a gun to shoot makes most attempts at... friendliness... tenuous..." He smiled wanly though. "Fantastic acting, however." He motioned his head at the floor behind him. "That's a truly interesting power though. I can't even sense through it now that it's open."

At first glance, Jump looked a little beat up. He was favoring his right leg, and his pupils were too large. With the blood streaming down the side of his face, he hoped it looked like he had a concussion. Closer examination would show that most of the blood had been placed their on purpose, and while his eyes did have a green tint to them, the irises were too pale. He'd torn off the broken radio and his shattered glasses and stuffed them into a container in the closet, and was in a pair of bloody khaki's and a torn polo. The fact that he'd managed to grab the bag he'd left on the rooftop with his extra clothes, so he wasn't in a fancy suit anymore, and move it back, was a feat he was impressed with at this point."I would rather like to avoid fighting, if at all possible. What do you want with me?"

"a teleporter? I should have guessed." Cimmeria remained facing the closet, eyeing the youth's reflection the on the door knob waiting for him to make a move. With his mention of her portal she closed it, the circle of light swale itself shut and left behind the wall it  was placed upon.

"You are very nosey I must say. I am impressed that you managed to find of my doors at all. Especially with your disability and all." Cimmeria turned to face  young man, only lowering her pistol just enough to get a good look at him. He looked like he had been plucked from a college campus with his polo shirt, ugly tan shorts, and sarcastic demeanor. It all fit, except those milky eyes in which she could see a ghostly visage of herself in them.

"What is a blind boy doing at a crime scene?" she asked this matter of factly, without malice in her voice.
This message was last edited by the player at 17:05, Fri 08 May 2015.

Jump shrugged. "I've colored myself one of the many vigilantes protecting the city." He said. "Though I usually watch more than involve myself. I thought everyone was gone. Figured that some random spacial phenomena would be interesting to investigate." He shook his head. "I was wrong, unfortunately." He rubbed off a bit more of the blood from under his nose and held his hand in front of him, as if to make a point. "I do apologize for whatever it is that I ended up doing though. You can't forgive my curiosity, but I doubt you can exactly blame me for it either." Jump turned his gaze directly to the woman, hoping that like many others, she might find a bland man staring directly at her unnerving. "If you wouldn't mind putting the gun away, I have no intention of hurting you. I doubt I even could if I wanted to." He said. "I'm the kind of vigilante that saves people from being hit by cars or falling down flights of stairs. Not the kind that fights the bad men who hide in alleys. Those ones I pop onto the roof of the police department." There was a moment of silence before Jump inclined his head. "Unfortunately, it looks like the AGF are about to comb through this section of the building. Make whatever else it is you want with me snappy. I do love to chit-chat, but we don't have the time. I doubt either of us want to be caught out."

Cimmeria met his milky eyes with her violet ones. She had faced countless horrors during her years as a world class assassin. This man using his misfortune to unnerve her was futile and a mistake. He was trying to hide something from her, maybe it was somethingshe could use. At this point the AGF did not scare her, they were measley men after all, but this boy was gifted and had a secret.

"I believe there is somethimg you're purposefully not telling me." Her words were icicles forming off a rooftop. "Something you know I would find interesting. I see much blood, yet you look unharmed to me. Well, aside from when you bumped your head on of my portals." Where most people would laugh, Cimmeria simply shrugged. They could here the heavy footfalls of AGF officers ascending the stairwell at the end of the hallway. From Cimmeria's count probably four of them. Not one in any particular rush.The probably expected David wrapped up and ready for them to tow off. Dreading all the paper work to do after.
This message was last edited by the player at 18:10, Fri 08 May 2015.

Jump shrugged, and made a gesture at the stairwell. He blanched, and his arm slumped, but the echoing sounds of footsteps disappeared. "Thought that might get this over with sooner. I don't have any training in anti... whatever it is you do." A chair appeared behind him, and he more slumped into it than sat. A moment later another chair appeared next to Cimmeria, and Jump made a gesture with his hand. "Feel free to take a seat." He stared blankly at the wall behind Cimmeria now, and was silent for a few moments. "You realize that I can leave at a moments notice, right? I doubt you haven't noticed that there's something wrong with my power right now, but I can easily survive a teleport. Even if you did engage me in combat, I would be gone before you'd even taken a step towards me, and you'd never see me again." Jump seriously hoped he wasn't under-estimating this woman's capabilities.

Color was returning to Jump's face slowly, and he was looking a little more rigid as well. He leaned forwards. Which was good, considering what ITSDA would do to him when he got back. Disobeying orders, putting himself at risk after becoming important to their operations. The list of infractions just kept piling up in his head. Jump scanned through the reports of people he'd memorized in the ITSDA databanks, and grinned widely. "You would be amazed at what one hears in the bars across the country when people assume a blind person is deaf as well." He said. Which was true. People did get surprisngly lax around blind men, but he'd never stepped foot in a bar, let alone listened into their conversations. "I can't be sure, but you've got connections. As does the man you hid wherever that portal leads. I watched the whole thing go down from a distance. Fight with magician man, who, surprisingly enough, walked out of the building with the help of AGF. I don't think they realized who or what he was." He was stretching. He knew the man had been escorted out, and was assuming it was by AGF. Distance dropped details, but enhanced the full picture. "I came here to open a door that was previously closed to me." He smiled wryly and glanced at where her portal had been. "Didn't intend for that to happen literally, but hey, that's how the universe works."

This man talked an awful lot for Cimmeria's taste. She's the type of woman who values bluntness. She knew he was nervous yet the more he spoke, the more more confident his words and demeanor became. Cimmeria did not even look at the chair before knocking over with a sharp kick. She preferred looking down on this man, he seemed unpredictable. She believed his words to am extent - he had proven he can teleport, but then why hadn't he escaped instead of playing hide and go seek with her.

With her handgun still aimed at his heart ci!media said I'm her calmest of voices: "What do you know about ITDSA? And dont give me the citizen folklore bullshit. Some one of your ability knows a bit more than you average citizen.

Jump snorted. "I doubt I know much more than you do. I've been trying to find information on them for quite a while now, but they're even better at hiding themselves than the Namidian Wave is. Not that you guys are particularly expert at being subtle. Wiping out cities and the such." He gestured at the chair she'd kicked over and it disappeared. "I was only borrowing it anyways. It's rather rude to abuse other people's furniture, you know." He laughed quietly. "I can give you what I do know, but it's gonna cost you, and I make no assurances that it's correct. And none of your 'I'll give you your life for it' crap. Information for information. That's my deal." Jump was really starting to get into his role now. He was actually enjoying it too. Playing the tough information broker guy, who knew more about his enemies than they knew about themselves. He mentally shook himself though, before he got too confident. He was only pretending. He didn't actually know anything about this woman. Nothing concrete, at least. "You want to know about ITSDA, I want to know about the Namidian Wave. I like being up to date on both of them. If you want, you can send me to someone else, and we can trade information through them."

Cimmeria was in a bind. This man was being extremely difficult despite the gun in his face and she had no time for it. Neither of her options seemed viable, if she tried to subdue him he would just vanish as before, probably. Trading information was definitely not on her agenda. But, she could use the promise of information in her favor.

Cimmeria lowered her weapon and sighed, letting her statue-like composure melt into a more relaxed stance. Her gun arm hung lazily at her side, or at least it appeared to.

"We can exchange information." The assassin passed then turned towards the stairwell, taking a few steps towards as if to leave. "Just name the spot and location, I have a very important phone -" as quick as the crack of a whip Cimmeria spun on her heel, her firearm raised and aimed for the college boy's shoulder. She prayed to catch him off guard as she let off two rounds. The pop of the bullets escaping the barrel made her ears ring in such a narrow hallways. Namidias would be calling soon for her report and to give further orders, she did not have the time to play high school gossip just because the kid could affect her portal. She had to keep the bigger picture in mind.
This message was lightly edited by the player at 20:55, Fri 08 May 2015.

Jump blinked and stared at his shoulder. The bullet wounds were glaringly red, but the pain felt distant. "Don't believe I've ever gone into shock that quickly." He said dreamily, before slumping out of his chair. On the ground he felt the dirt scrape his cheek. "Corner of Mitchell and Washington Avenue." He mumbled into the ground before he jumped. The queasy stretching sensation returned, nearly a hundredfold this time though because he was trying to jump so much farther. It felt like he was being stretched across a really large space before he snapped back into existence a couple of feet above tarmac somewhere. He tumbled gracelessly to the ground in the middle of a street not far from the building he was just at and groaned loudly. He faintly heard vehicles somewhere. he hoped someone didn't hit him. He really hoped someone didn't hit him. There was a brief moment before he realized he also wasn't wearing shoes. He didn't think he'd ever left behind something before. Or lost in transit? Who knew.

Cimmeria cursed under her breath. The boy deserved more credit than she had previously gave him. She had hoped the pain would inhibit his powers but it was to no avail. Taking one last glance at his empty chair,  Cimmeria turned and darted down the long hallway. Her heavy boots slammed hard into the steps as she ascended the stairs - questioning if she made the right decision. The teleporter confirmed he was affiliated with someone with his parting words. She assumed the intersection he meantioned was the where e wanted to meet. But that was just a plow to catch him off guard! She had to form a strategy, but first Namidias.

The air was much cooler on the roof, the breeze running over the buildings in a slow current that wiped the excess heat away from her lean form. She had only taken of few steps when the phone hidden in her vest vibrated. She flipped it opened before waiting for a second ring.

"Yes sir, David is secure in one of my rooms and only suffered minor damage. He should prepared to continue soon. What was the magician's answer?"
 "Yes sir, I'll add him to the target list immediately and send you the file I'll write on him tonight."
"You're welcome sir. I believe I finally have a lead on ITSDA, I'll report back to you as soon as I can."
"Thank you sir."

Cimmeria snapped the phone shut then dropped it on the roof before breaking it under her heel. The plastic made a satisfying crack. She knelt down and opened a portal to her side and whispered into it: "Spurt, I have some business to attend to. Nap times over."
This message was last edited by the player at 23:45, Fri 08 May 2015.

Eric was halfway across the street when someone literally dropped out of thin air in front of him. He had enough presence of mind to hit his brakes and swerve but that only served to send him flying off the bike next to the individual. He swore under his breath and rolled to his feet. A car blared its horn to try to encourage Eric to hurry up. He waved it off and reached down to grab his bike when he noticed the red on the pavement. His eyes followed it to the wounds in the mans shoulder. "Oh shi...Hey man you need some help.." he reached down to help the man to his feet.

In reply to Icon (msg # 30):

Jump scoffed. "What? Nooo." He coughed. "Just dying from blood loss, ya know. Everyday thing." He said. He had the presence of mind to jump the bullets out of his shoulder, and a couple of clinks on the pavement to his side assured him he'd succeeded. It was getting progressively more difficult to think, but the woman who'd shot him was a professional, and if she wanted him dead, he would be. He doubted he'd die from these wounds. "But no, seriously, thanks for not hitting me. You have a phone I could borrow? And would you mind getting me out of the street? We're holding up traffic here, and I don't trust myself walking at the moment." He grinned thinly. "Oh wait." He jumped both of them, and immediately noticed that it wasn't making him feel sick anymore. Must've been a reaction to being in the vicinity to the portal that he'd abused then. It took him another moment before he realised that the guys bike was still out in the road, and then it clattered noisily to the ground besides them on the sidewalk. "Shit, I'm not exactly being very subtle about this..." He said, and then they were sitting on a rooftop that didn't appear to be anywhere near where they were just at, bike and all. "But yea, mind if I borrow that phone? And if you wanna just pretend that, like, we're not teleporting, that's good too."

Jump's head fell to the ground and his already dislodged glasses fell completely off. "And you got any aspirin?" He groaned, his eyes staring blankly at the sky.

  Eric was about to say something when suddenly he and the bike he had been holding were suddenly on top of a roof. He took a few steps back from the man eyes wide. He was obviously a gifted. He had just teleported him god knows how far. They were still in the city but ...never mind that at the moment.

  Something in his head was nagging him every time he looked at the mans wounded shoulder. He had a sense that this guy was in danger. Eric did not know what the man had done but he still couldn't ignore his severe wounds.

 "Ok so your a gifted. Great...I'll make you a deal. I wont tell if you won't. Now if you will sit still for a moment I will do something about your shoulder." He closed his eyes and concentrated for a moment before speaking again.

 "APOLLO!" He announced to what looked like the sky. He was bathed in a bright light and suddenly a very handsome man with a toga and a Lyre in his hand was standing there. He kneeled down next to Jump.

 "Ahh poor mortal. Something took a good bite at you. Severed something severe by the looks of it. Also looks like your getting ready to come down with a cold. No worries, I'll have you fixed up faster than Zeus can throw a bolt!" Jump would feel a hand laid on his shoulder and a warmth spread throughout his body. The pain disappeared and he could actually feel his muscle and skin stitching back together. A few moments later he lifted his hand. Other than the blood on the clothes there was absolutely no sign that a wound had ever been present.
"There we are, Good as New!! Of course you are I'm the best at healing. Now then. Is there somewhere you need dropped off or do you just want to go on your merry way?" he said as he helped Jump to his feet.
This message was last edited by the player at 12:38, Sat 09 May 2015.

Jump blinked. Twice. He didn't even need to blink, that was really just the best expression to use to get his feelings across. Complete and utter perplexion. "I'm sorry, is that... possession?" He said, blinking again. He laughed out loud. "I appreciate the offer, but I'm easily capable of taking care of my own transportation needs." He gestured at the man's toga. "You're... not from around here?" There was a pause and then Jump shrugged. "Obviously not from around here. But I must say, an intriguing power." He walked around the man, supposedly Apollo, barely avoiding poking him. "Almost perfect." He whispered. "I've never seen a human with such fantastic skin..."

There was a moment of silence before Jump spoke up again. "So I'm gonna take that as a no on the cell-phone? Unless you're hiding it in your... underpants? If you're wearing any?"

Apollo looked confused and then laughed a heart cheery laugh. "My dear mortal man. Of course you would not find such skin on a God. As for this Cell phone I am not sure what you mean. However I will take my leave of you and return to Olympus now. A good day to you!"

Again he was bathed in golden light and Eric was standing back in front of Jump.  He was out of breath as though he had just run a marathon"Sorry about that. You said you need a phone here you go." Eric reached into his pocket and brought out a simple phone. He handed it over to Jump.

"To answer your other question. No its not really a possession. If I may ask...why did you have bullet wounds?"
This message was last edited by the player at 01:37, Sat 09 May 2015.

Jump stared at the phone in his hands for a moment before passing it back, a sheepish smile plastered on his face. "Yea, sorry, I might be a little blind. Seeing space doesn't give me the ability to see numbers that are electrical. I just see a flat surface. If you don't mind typing it in though, the number is (876)-655-4557." Jump turned to face away from Icon, and tilted his head to the side. "As to the bullets... I tried dealing with a demon and lost. She shot me. Then you almost ran me over."

Eric was slightly abashed. He should have noticed he was blind. He was surprised Apollo didnt notice, but thats what happens when you use a god that can barely see passed his own ego. He typed in tje nbers and handed the phone back. "Sounds like a pretty busy day then. Names Eric by the way. Eric Donner."
This message was last edited by the player at 05:24, Sat 09 May 2015.

Peter had been driving along one of the many streets of NYC when he slammed on his breaks at the sight of a man appearing out of nowhere right in the path of a bike. The rider kept from hitting the figure which was good; even through his windshield, Peter could see the Gifted did not look well. Before he could decide what to do if anything, however, the two males had vanished. They had not sunk into the ground like the pair of villains had done in front of him, but the similarity in the power used then and now enticed Vargus to take at least a quick look around. He traveled a bit future down the road, then pulled into a parking space after which he got out and fed some coins in the meter. He grinned to himself at taking this action, and wondered not for the first time why since he had been given powers his world couldn't be like a comic book where the hero didn't have to worry about such things as a parking ticket. He went to his trunk, and removed a large red canvas bag with a white plus sign cross on either side. He kept it in the event he got injured as Black Magic, and though he didn't have special training in medicine there was a first aid booklet included in the kit. He couldn't be sure, but he hoped if the injured guy was anywhere still around, he would get the idea Peter wanted to help him. If this stranger had some connection to the woman of before, the tech may learn something. If not, at least Vargus' good deeds for the day would increase to two instead of one. Pulling the strap up over his head so it rested on his shoulder by his neck, the man made his way back to where he'd seen the others disappear.

In reply to Icon (msg # 36):

Jump hesitated. "I'm afraid that at this point, I can't give away my name for safety reasons. Both yours and mine. But you can call me Jump for now." He said while putting the phone up to his ear and waiting while it dialed. "This is Juinto's Pizza! What can I get for you!" A cheery male voice said on the other side. Jump grimaced. "I'd like a double cheese, no sauce, with extra of those fish things and Salami. And some Pepperoni." He tilted his head. "Anchovy, that's it."

The voice took a moment before responding, sounding just as cheery. "And how much would you like to pay for that?" It asked. "14.99" Jump said. There was a click, the man said, "Let me redirect you." and the woman who had been on Jump's radio came on. She sounded distressed. "This is Dispatch, who is calling?" Jump smiled sheepishly, even though she couldn't see it. "This would be your idiot transportation specialist, checking in after doing idiot stuff." He said.

She sighed. Longer and deeper than any of the times before. "When will you be back at base? Command really wants a word with you." Jump paused. "I've gotta take care of a civilian first, but within the hour, probably." Dispatch made a click sound, and it was back to the pizza place. The man said, "Get back safe, Jump." Before he hung up.

Jump handed the phone back, and shrugged. "Well, now that that's settled, where do you wanna go?" He asked. "You've got the whole city at your fingertips while I'm here. Back to where we were on the street? There are a few alleyways near there where I can drop in unnoticed. Or maybe back home? To work? To the coffee shop on the corner? It's up to you."

Eric reached down and picked his bike back up. "Work is fine thank you. The library please." he decided to keep it ahort. Obviously this man was somef orm of agent. He decided to take the free ride to work and hopefully be able to forget about thia whole ordeal. Besides the library was only a block away from where he had amost run over Jump.
This message was last edited by the player at 22:04, Sat 09 May 2015.

Upon hearing Cimmeria's command, David, with some effort, opened his bloodied eyelids. Then he picked his pounding head up off the floor and looked around the strange house he was stashed in. How much time had passed? It can't have been long enough; it felt like his muscles were still stretched out and loosely hanging on to his bones! But Cim was Cim was Cim; she'd never understand how humans operate. Or maybe she did... and maybe this was just her way of testing him. Yeah, that was it. She was pushing him, trying to make him squeal and moan so that she'd look better by comparison. And that would convince Namidias to support her and her alone; at this rate, she'd wind up the overlord of America!

David Tsing would not be tossed to the side like that. He had to prove, here and now, that he was worthy of his position. He had to prove he was just as good a fighter as Cimmeria, if not better. But his body; oh, his body! His loosened muscles, his slashed feet, his fractured skull! That witch! She ran his body through the shredder so that she could profit of the next battle. But it wouldn't matter now. He could outwit her, he could catch the next target by surprise, and he could end this battle before it even started!

The young freak sat up, stared at the portal in front of him, and stared at the evil woman who was beckoning him. He placed his hands on the ground below him and pushed upward. He then kicked and thrust his legs in all directions until he managed to put weight on them. And just like that, the defeated supervillain returned to his feet. Though his mouth remained closed, he let out a low, frustrated growl.

"I'm coming," he said. He drunkenly stumbled through his partner's portal. "Just tell me, Little Miss Mastermind, where we're goin'."

In reply to Icon (msg # 39):

Jump raised his eyebrow. "I'm going to assume it's the closest one, and..." Jump grabbed Eric and jumped him and his bike into a nearby alley. The landing was perfect this time, since he wasn't distracted with bullet wounds and spacey-wacey stuff, but it sounded faintly like a popcorn kernel had just exploded. "Damnet, displacement. I thought I was over that." He gestured to his right. "Libraries right that way. You need an escort, or you good?" There was a moment before Jump leaned in closer. "And if you need to get in contact with me, for any reason, since I wasn't being very subtle with the whole jumping you around the street thing and I don't know who saw, just call that number I called and make an order. Be sure to request that the delivery boy who goes by the name of "John Tine" makes the delivery. I'll find you after that."
This message was last edited by the player at 20:37, Sun 10 May 2015.

Eric nodded. "Thank you very much Jump. Since you know about me now. If you need healed again or know of a bunch of people in danger you can give me a call." He gave Jump his number just in case. "That's really the only thing I use my power for. I try to stay out of the way of everything else." He hopped on his bike and rode out towards his library. As he looked to his left he saw where they had been teleported from. He just shrugged and turned around heading for his job of peace and quiet.

Cimmeria would have felt guilty for disturbing him if it had been a different day, if there wasn't this mess to clean up. First the magician had defeated Spurt and then the teleported had escaped her grasp. They were 0-2 and needed to change the score fast.

The battle with the Magician had take its toll on the male Gifted, he awkwardly leaped to his feet and she could tell he was struggling to stand. Cimmeria hadn't given him enough time to recovery, for their wasn't time.

"A teleporter attempted to breach a portal. He escaped when I apprehended him. I'm not positive, but I believe he is involved with ITSDA or a similar organization. We need to track him down for further intelligence, he should have been slowed down with the bullets I put in his shoulder." Cimmeria eyed her comrade as she spoke, he didn't look able to serve as combat support. His battered form did little to convince the assassin otherwise.

"Are you okay David?"

David rubbed his forehead as if he were suffering a major headache. Just like that, his head expanded ever so slightly. This, Cimmeria noticed, made his head wound proportionally smaller. She had never known David to use his ability to protect himself from injury before; he was really trying to get moving.

"I'm fine. Let's go," said Spurt. He slapped his legs and calves four times each without ever holding his hand on them. Each time, they grew ever slightly larger until they were sleek, well-sized running machines.

"Ready," said the monster with a hint of ferocity in his voice. He checked the flamethrowers on his hands; no damage. It wouldn't take much to take the lawmen down, not this time. He was ready for anything now; he wouldn't be taken off guard again.

Though her face remained frozen in it's expressionless stare, Cimmeria was impressed with the brute. For the first time working together in fact. She had only known him to use his gift offensively, never to heal himself. This opened up a world a possibility. She knew his fragile ego and hunger for vengeance drove him, but she had a newfound respect for him all the same.

"Excellent." said The assassin as the rest of her body emerged through the portal of purple light. They were both standing within the warm glow of her secret room now. The preternatural light allowed her to properly assess Spurt's physical state and convinced her he was able. Cimmeria reached out a gloved hand to closed the doorway she had entered through and then created another in its stead.

"This will take us to Central Park. We will have to draw them out again, but the open space should give us more of an advantage than last time." She beckoned her comrade forward and then the pair entered the portal together.

To the dozens of civilians enjoying a midday picnic it appeared the villains had melted right from the bark of a nearby tree. Many began to gather up Their belongings to leave. Others pulled out their cellphones to call the police, reporting the illegal public use of powers.

"Yes, plenty of space here, don't you think?" Cimmeria did not even glance at Spurt as she spoke. She was too busy selecting their bait. Cimmeria did not care for involving 'innocent' people in her war games, but she had become desperate. After weeks of lying low and searching for leads on ITSDA she had come up short. The teleporter was her perfect chance and she let him slip through her fingers.

"Grab her." Cimmeria pointed to a woman of slight build and a shock of blond hair frantically stuffing her blankets liked with food into a basket. A man who must have been her boyfriend looked up to see Cimmeria. His face seemed to pale when he noticed Spurt next to her, his muscular legs attached to a slim body was quite an unsettling sight. "With luck both of our friends may show up to save her pretty face.

"On it," said the misshaped monster. He bounded toward the couple and caught the woman before the man could react. The woman screamed.

"Emma!" shouted the man. Spurt leapt up over a hundred feet into the air and cradled the woman as he fell. When he hit the ground, a seismic wave tore apart the ground beneath him and knocked him to his knees.

"Come on, man. Save your girl!" Spurt taunted the man, who responded by foolishly rushing at him. Spurt carelessly slapped him aside with one of his legs.

"Ahhh!" shrieked the woman sharply. Spurt smirked, tapped the button on his palm, and set a nearby tree ablaze.

"That'll get some attention," said Spurt. In this moment, the nightmarish brute could see why people always lorded their power over others; it was fun. It made you feel good, it made you feel powerful, and, most of all, it made you feel safe.

But wait! The heroes were still coming; he needed to hide. He needed to find some way to ambush them. And he knew just the trick. He tapped his arms a couple of times each, extending them into massive "tree trunk" limbs. The woman started screaming bloody murder at this insane sight.

"What do you want? Get away! Get awaaay!" Spurt chuckled.

"It ain't you we're after, babe." Spurt jumped up to the tree tops once more, slung the woman over a branch, and jumped over to the largest tree he could find. From there, he pulled out his rebreather and placed it over his mouth and drenched the Central Park forest in flame.

A thick, ashy smoke filled the air, sending the few people left in the park (including the woman's boyfriend) into coughing spasms. Spurt simply hung off of his tree and let himself become engulfed by the smoke. Though everyone within a mile radius could now see the flames, anyone more than a few feet away would have trouble seeing their source. And that was how he would win this time. He would stab them in the back before they got the chance to do the same, like they always did!

"Hey!  Knock it off!"

A short, sturdy woman could be seen stomping across the park towards the fire and noise.  She did not seem to have any trouble walking across broken earth from the seismic jolts; as a matterground itself seemed to straighten and smooth out before her bare feet.  She waved her arms over her head, and a brisk wind blew up to carry away the smoke.  She snapped her fingers at the flames which then became ashamed of themselves and died away.  With her fists on her abundant hips, she stared up at the trouble maker.

"Let the nice lady down wouldja please?  This is not what they mean when they say 'pick up a date'.  I am not even going to have to tell you that no means no, am I?  I saw you stirring up trouble from that hill younder young man.  I most certainly do NOT approve."

Looking closely at the strangely sculpted fellow, she added,

"So I can see how you made it all the way to the top of the ugly tree before you fell out, but why did you jump in the first place?"
This message was last edited by the player at 11:49, Tue 12 May 2015.

Peter could find no sign of the man who had looked injured, so he took the kit back to his car and placed it once more in his trunk. Compared to a Gifted appearing and vanishing out of and back into thin air, a guy with a first aid bag was easily overlooked. Vargus climbed behind the wheel, turned on the engine, and worked his way back into the main flow of traffic on the street. He would have liked to see if the mystery man had held a connection to the woman from earlier that seemed to have a like power, but if there had been a chance of it occurring it had clearly been missed. The tech figured since he had the rest of the day off due to the building he was working in earlier being attacked and now locked down by police, he might as well get a bite to eat...

...Until a fire engine went screaming past him. Peter looked in his rearview mirror, and he thought he saw a tiny dark spot in it's surface where should have been sky. It seemed trouble once more visited the City, and although it might well be something the civil servants could handle on their own, there was always the chance a certain up and coming hero could step in to assist. Peter searched either side of the street as he drove, looking for someplace that would work well for a dressing room. In a City such as this one, it didn't take him overly long to find just what he needed; a motel that rented its services buy the hour. A place like this had no security cameras, didn't require a credit card or driver's license, and didn't care in the least that 90% of the men who rented a room was named Smith. Vargus parked his car in front of a room that seemed vacant, went into what passed for a lobby that hadn't been cleaned since probably sometime in the nineteen seventies, handed over some cash for several hours in said room, got the key, and returned to his car for a certain bag he carried inside. A check to make sure the door was locked and curtains fully drawn, and the computer geek laid his satchel down on what seemed to be the most sanitary area he could find then began his transformation.

Minutes later, Black Magic vanished from the room and reappeared on the roof of a building a block away. No one was around, and he disappeared again to pop up another block distant. In this fashion, he managed to walk out of a porta-john located in Central Park a bit later. He had seen smoke when he got closer, but now that he was here it was gone; the scorched greenery however told him something had occurred here. He drew nearer the site of the devastation, and the first thing he noticed was a little plump woman who for all the world seemed to be talking to a tree. At least, he guessed it was a woman since he only saw the figure from the back. Then, his eyes looked up to the top branches, and he saw a familiar form; the creature he had fought just this very day. From the tone of her voice and the placement of her hips, the female did not seem pleased with the creature. The conjurer wondered for a moment if she were another on the side of the heroes for the City, but he decided it didn't matter; if she were friend grand, if not he had beaten the thing in the tree before and he would handle her somehow too. If the lady dressed like a combat movie extra showed up too, well life was meant to be interesting. He stopped just a bit short of the stranger, and waved up at Spurt.

"I say my good fellow, if you are this eager for an encore performance I shall be happy to oblige you. Two free front row seats in the same twenty-four hours, how lucky you must feel!"

A frie engine comes screaming past Eric. He stops his bike and turns his head around. He saw a dark patch of smoke in the distance. It looked like something was happening there. He would have just turned around and continued his way to work but there was a tingling in the back of his mind that told him someone was in danger. He grunted and started making his way to the park.

He called the library to let them know the fire was going to make him run late. His boss told him to be careful since the fire showed up up out of nowhere. Eric winded his way through traffic it would take him a few minutes to reach the park. He hoped nothing drastic happened till then. Today is just going to be a long day. HE could change again but he would be extraordinarily tired afterwards.
This message was last edited by the player at 13:48, Tue 12 May 2015.

Jump leaned against the wall in the alley after Eric left and sighed. He was starting to get tired, and Apollo had just healed his wounds, not restored any of his lost blood, so he was feeling a bit woozy as well. He deliberated for a moment, and then Jumped up to the rooftop he'd left his bag of stuff on, quickly changing back into his fancy black suit. His glasses were cracked, both pairs, but the one in the bags were less so, so he switched over to them. There was a phone in the bag as well, which he smacked himself in the forehead for not remembering, and quickly slipped that into his pants pocket. As he stood up, he noticed a distinctive flow of traffic. Usually it had order to it, but it was order spread out among hundreds of thousands of people, and as such, came across as chaotic. This time, there were far too many people heading in a single direction. Away from Central Park. He temporarily turned his attention back to base, but shrugged and jumped, landing in a secluded corner of the park. Everything looked burnt and smelled smoky, so Jump quickly spread his senses out.

His senses didn't do very good at identifying details. The number keys on a phone or things like facial expressions were still hard to see for him, unless he focused almost all of his attention on that one thing. But after just having faced down Cimmeria, there were noticeable features he could identify her with. The warp in space near her, the strange tint she herself took on. Normally he didn't see colors with his senses, but she was definitely... not the normal blob of space. His senses were good, but the edges of the park were blurring out, and the stream of traffic around it and people out there was distracting, so he conformed his vision only to the park itself. Still, the edges were fuzzy, but without so many people flowing across it, it was much easier to focus on things. There were still a few stragglers in the park, so he took care of them first, quickly jumping in next to them and pulling them to the very outskirts. He felt himself tiring, but pushed on. He'd been doing this a lot more than he usually did in a day, and he figured that from this point on, he'd need to practice a lot more.

It took him a few minutes, but after everyone except the people who seemed to be confronting the strange man and the woman he seemed to be holding onto, as well as Cimmeria, were gone, he turned his attention to the woman herself. He got the feeling of some measure of power from the other two, so he hoped that he could leave rescuing the kidnapped woman to them. He'd take care of Cimmeria. He jumped in behind her, and barely brushed his fingertips against her shoulder before jumping to a corner of the park where he couldn't sense any of her portals. He hopped away and fell into a ready stance. "My dear woman, you really must refrain from shooting perfectly friendly strangers in the shoulder in the future..." He said, his voice icy.

"And assaulting parks?" He tsked. "All those poor people, enjoying their nice lunches. Or whatever meal it is they're eating. I don't know what time it is." He leaned nonchalantly against a pole by his side, staring right at the woman. "I can see violence is the only language you speak fluently. Let me make this clear. You would win in any fight you started against me. But your options are running out. No portals in the area for a quick escape, and your friend is being assaulted as we speak. Your kidnappee will get away fine. With some cool stories to tell too." He suddenly appeared several feet behind her, still speaking. "I've taken on the job of keeping you out of that fight. Even if you capture me, I've been well trained. My mental acuity makes it especially hard for telepaths to get anything of value out of me. Torture is easy enough to handle. Had a whole course on that, in fact. Locked in a room for 3 months. Beat, cut, had a few fingers cut off. The works. And believe me, even if you locked me in whatever that place your portals lead to is, I'll find a way out." He bowed and made a gesture with his hand that looked faintly vulgar. "You can have the first move."

He had definitely not been torture trained. At all. But the story sounded cool. The mental acuity thing was true though. Both for handling pain and intrusive mind-readers.

Crap! They got the jump on him again. He couldn't win, not like this. And this time, with Cim dealing with the crazy teleporting man, Spurt wouldn't get away.

Sweat poured down Spurt's face. His head darted in every direction, looking for a way out. His eyes lit up when he looked up at the woman in distress. As she squirms, the monster climbs up to the branch she was on, grabs her, and uses his massive limbs to toss her clear across the park like a giant lawn dart.

"Catch!" As soon as the words leave his lips, he sprints across the treetops away from the heroes, kicking down the trees as he runs across them. Before a minute has passed, his legs have carried him far out of sight. Figuring he has enough time with the teleporter distracted, he lights every tree around him on fire. Finally, he runs around the flame and back in the direction of the fight on all fours.

His breathing was heavier than it had ever been before, he could barely think between gasps. Thinking quickly, he places his hands over his chest and his lungs triple in size. Alright, that gave him some of his mind back. He now knew what he was going to do; if he could just circle around the fight, he could sneak up on those patsies from behind!

Eric felt something in him pull at his body. Damn here it comes. He was bathed in light and suddenly a tall, muscular red haired and bearded man wielding a large hammer was standing in his place. He knew where he was needed and flew off towards the park in a streak of lightning. A few cars skidded to a halt as he took off.

Thor flew through the air and caught the screaming woman before she could hit the ground. He took her to the edge of the park where the firefighters were and set her gently on her feet. "Take heed my lady these are dangerous parts. You should seek refuge." she tore off towards her boyfriend who was over by the firefighters.

Thor then flies over to where Ma Nature is standing. He can tell there is something special about her. He inclines his head towards her "The mighty Thor, at your service. How may I be of assistance milady?"

Non-canon Battle Post

Cimmeria drew her gun and fired, hoping to catch Jump off guard again, but before she'd even pulled the trigger he was gone. There was a laugh from behind her, and she spun, then stepped back quickly, barely avoiding a few quick punches aimed at her stomach before he disappeared again. Jump appeared at the top of a pole near her, balancing precariously as he leaned down and laughed again. "A little slow, are we?" He asked. Cimmeria shot again, but he was gone before the bullets even got close. There was a small pop and a vending machine appeared besides her, and then another one on her other side and another behind her. She started moving forwards, realising Jump was trying to box her in, but he'd grabbed and moved the last machine by the time she'd even taken a step. He appeared on top of one of them and stared down, grinning madly.

She threw her gun at him as soon as he appeared over the corner, and she heard a satisfying thump and a cry of pain before he disappeared again and the gun clattered onto the top of the machine. He appeared on a nearby bench, holding his eye and trying to stimmy a great deal of blood. He was frowning, but when Cimmeria nimbly hopped out of the box he'd put around her and grabbed the gun, flipping it and shooting him before he thought a person should even be able to react, let alone see him after just escaping a box where she shouldn't have been able to see him. He narrowly avoided the bullets, and they tore into the back of the bench behind him, blowing holes through it. He appeared in a tree, gripping a thin knife, which he threw, aiming for Cimmeria's legs. It hit, but didn't puncture, and her gaze immediately focused on him.

He dissappeared again, and appeared right behind her on the machine, carrying a large metal pipe. He swung, and she blocked, but she lost her balance and tumbled off, her gun flying into a bush on the side of the path. She landed and rolled, getting back on her feet just in time to block another swing from Jump and grab his pipe, wrenching it out of his hands and retaliating with it. He disappeared again, and re-appeared in yet another tree, barely not collapsing. He took the bandage he'd grabbed and quickly wound it around his head, hoping to stop the blood flow, and Jumped when a knife slammed into the bark by his feet, appearing behind CImmeria again. He punched, but she flipped around and gripped his wrists, wrenching it around into a painful position that made him cry out loudly, and when he jumped again, she went with him.

The tree he appeared in didn't have room for the both of them to stand, and she appeared in mid-air without a branch in sight. The fall was short, but she didn't let go of Jump and he fell on top of her. She regained her breath before him and flipped him over, taking her other hand and slamming it into his forehead hard. His glasses shattered and there was a sharp sting in her knuckles, but he looked dazed. She reached to grab a nearby stick that looked of decent size, but he heaved and they both appeared back in a path, farther into the interior of the park. He somehow wrenched his hand out of her grasp, but the sharp crack told her he hadn't gotten out unscathed. He quickly jumped away, and a voice could be heard from the grass behind her. "N-n... not cool..." He said, gripping the gun she'd dropped and pointing it at her with his other hand. "Down on the ground..." He muttered out, his hand shaking. She complied, setting her hands on the ground and he relaxed a little, but when she started sinking into a portal she'd just summoned, he fired the gun. The shot went wide, clanging off a metal pole to her right, and she disappeared from sight.

Jump stared at the spot she'd disappeared for a few moments when a small object flew out and landed near his feet, promptly exploding with a great deal of smoke that had him choking almost immediately. He Jumped, showing up farther down the path, and watched as Cimmeria rolled out of the portal into the smoke cloud and disappeared from sight. He was having difficulty ignoring his pain and focusing on his environment at the same time, so when she stepped out of the cloud and fired another gun, it easily reached and passed through his shoulder. He screamed, and Jumped again, appearing directly in front of her with another heavy metal pipe. She seemed moderately surprised, but when he swung the pipe at her one handed she easily grabbed and started pulling it out of his grip when she felt a stinging sensation in her leg that quickly developed into a feeling like a hot poker being shoved through the core of it. She dropped the pipe and he jumped away as she stared at her leg and saw a twig the thickness of her pinky stuck in it. The leather wasn't torn or punctured, there was just a twig sticking out of it.

Jump cradled his right arm several feet away as he stared at her tiredly. She saw no enjoyment of the pain he caused there. She narrowed her gaze and drew her gun again, pulling the trigger and watching as he jumped away. He reappeared in the same spot a few moments later, holding the pipe limply. He tossed it to the ground and jumped right in front of her. She punched his stomach, but he grabber her shoulder and they were standing on top of a building overlooking the park. "Don't worry, I'd call this a win on your part. You hurt me a lot more than I hurt you." He jumped to the ledge on the edge of the building and grinned at her. "Don't worry, I avoided the bone. That'll leave a nasty scar, but hey, it suits the ones on your face." He stepped back off the ledge and disappeared.
This message was last edited by the player at 20:03, Tue 12 May 2015.

((OCC NON-CANNON BATTLE POST))


The fires were springing up in every direction now, eating at the tree tops with an insatiable hunger. Branches cracked and fell from the heat of the flames landing in bright explosions of orange and yellows. It was times like this that Cimmeria would usually be angry with Spurt, setting the park's forest aflame was not included in her strategy. He was always reckless and made things more complicated than they needed to be. This time was different though. Cimmeria winelike eyes were alight with ecstasy, her full lips parted in a smile. This is what she dreamed of every night.

Cimmeria lost track of Spurt and the hostage in among the thick columns of smoke rising like towers towards the sky. Many of the picnickers where gone as well, hidden among the fire and ash, the remaining few gasped for air they could not find, clawing ate earth as if a well of oxygen could be reached beneath the forest floor.

Cimmeria knelt down and opened a portal on the ground, dipping her face in the pool of violet to draw air from her secret room. Her lungs expanded gratefully, refreshing her blood for the coming battle. As she raised her head and allowed the doorway to close she felt a sensation of someone begin her, as if someone popped into existence. Before she could turn and look the person tapped her and disappeared just as quickly.

The teleporter.

Cimmeria would have sighed if there was air to spare, instead she darted in the direction she felt Jump 'pop' back into existence. As she made her way towards her target she brushed her fingers along trees she passed and a dozen of spots on the ground. At each touch violet discs would dilate open then close just as fast as if they ha never been there. This time she would be prepared, this time she would not underestimate this thorn in her side.

Within moments she reached the outer rim of the fire, the leather I her body suit covered in a thick film of soot. Cimmeria spotted her foe leaning lazily against the pole of a path sign, his shoulder healed despite the hole left in his shirt. His mouth was moving, God was it moving. Cimmeria could not hear his voice above the roar of the Flames directly behind her. He must have prepared a speech for her it for . Before he could finish Cim drew her revolver and fired. The teleporter vanished before her bullet could pierce him and reappeared behind her aiming a right hook for the back of her head. His form was solid but the assassin had him on experience, this tactic was predictable.
Cimmeria turned in a flash, blocking his attack with her free arm and firing with the one holding the revolver.
Again he 'popped' out of existence as easily as he 'popped' in, reappearing at her right.

"Is that all ya got?" The teleporter laughed as his fist connected with Cimmeria's jaw. She allowed her body to go with the momentum of his punch, spinning her  in a full circle before catchig him in the stomach with a sharp kick.

He gasped as the air was forced out him. With both feet firmly on the ground Cimmeria fired off two more bullets. Again he vanished.

This time she wasn't even aiming at him, Cimmeria just needed a second of preparation. Quickly she knelt down while spinning on her heels, opening a portal beneath her feet. Right as she began to sink into her secret room the teleporter appeared to her left as she had expected. Her hands lashed out like a pair of vipers, catching his ankles as soon as he was tangible. Using her full strength she pulled his feet out from under him. His body fell back, landing straight like a wooden board against the ground. Cimmeria gave a second tug and the teleporter through the portal with her.

They fell through the ceiling of one of Cimmeria's secret rooms, the walls a blinding flash before the traveled through a second portal that opened on the floor. Their sense of direction suddenly changed, their were flying up now, the clear air replaced by clouds of smoke and ash. Cimmeria had taken him back to the center of the forest. Instead of above her he was below. Their heads pointing toward the ground instead of the sky. The teleporter jackknifed his body and kicked his legs down toward the ground in an attempt to dislodge the assassin. Her grip tightened, shackles of bone and flesh. Once again she used his momentum against him and threw his body towards the ground while still holding on. She would not let him pop away again, she couldn't. If he tried to leave Cim would go right along with him.

They landed into a heap on the ground, where the wrestled in a tangle of arms and legs. Without an opportunity to flit about it seemed her  opponent was reduced to less elegant forms of combat. He used his weight to his advantage, and rolled Cimmeria onto her back, pinning her arms to her sides with his legs.

"Can't we just talk? I like my women fiesty but this is a bit much." Though she could not see his face through the smoke a smile was on his lips. This was much more fun then training exercises.

"Sure, let's." Cimmeria smiled back, the ground beneath her now a glowing pool of purple they were sinking through.

"No, no, no!"   Jump released his hold on her, throwing all his weight over to solid ground. He landed in a roll and sprung to his feet.

Jump felt dizzy, the fire sucked all oxygen from the air, leaving little for him. He vanished only to reappear a few feet later, falling to his knees. A puff of ash clouded around him when he landed, coating his already black smeared clothes with a fine white dust. His vision was growing fuzzy now. The sound of men could be heard in the distance. The sharp beams of their headlamps cut through the darkness as their powerful turrets of water cut through a section of the fire. Jump tried to call out to them, but he could feel that at least two of his ribs had been broken, the pain piercing his already starving lungs. As the fire fighters drew closer his hope grew. Somehow he knew that woman would come back for him and soon. Whatever portal she drew him through had oxygen during transit. Maybe somehow she was lying in wait, replenishing her own air supply to finish him off?

Just as Jump attempted to teleport just one more time a hand flew out of an adjacent tree and pulled him right in.
This message was last edited by the player at 02:30, Thu 14 May 2015.

As the rude thing threw the woman, Ma Nature's hand went up and she started backing up and turning as if a softball had been hit  high over her head.  She saw the woman saved and turned to take up the matter of inappropriate behavior with Mr. Butt-Ugly ... who was just disappearing in the distance leaving the unspoken pain of the trees in his wake.  Her anger flared faster than the burning trees, and a wind started lashing around her as if she were the center of the storm.  Her dangling toes were five feet off the ground, but she did not notice.  As she was about to bid the wind to take her in the direction of the fleeing monster, a voice caught  her attentionh.  Normally she would have taken note of the politeness of the fellow as courtesy is something that was noticeably missing this far north.  He asked her a question, and as she was so angry that she did not even think to misdoubt his stated identity, she immediately responded.  With a finger quaking with fury, she pointed off to the direction of the now unseen foe.


"You can fetch me that misbegotten son of Ugly.  You will know him as he will make ya wanna claw yer eyes out.  Bring him here ta me that thar filthy thang an' I'll have the barrel o' Whup-Ass opened by the time you fetch him back!"

The new fires sent up smoke signals that forced a screech of absolute rage from the woman's mouth.  Her arms flew up to the lowering clouds that had obeyed her call and suddenly there was a deluge of rain all across the park, pouring hard and drenching everything.  The silent screams of the trees would lessen as the devouring fires were quenched.  The time of the reckoning was coming.  And she planned on doing the dealing herself.

Thor smiled brightly. "Ahh a fight eh? Surely today shall be grand. I will return shortly milady."the rain seemed to not touch him as he raised himself into the sky and flew off in the direction that the woman had indicated. After a few moments he noticed the large man and landed in front of him about 15 feet. He was quite taken aback by his appearance but nonetheless had a job to do. He smiled at Spurt. "Greetings umm my good man. I have been dispatched to request your presence by a most beautiful lady. I strongly urge you to accept this." Thor kept his hammer held down so as to not appear too threatening. However his skills as a great warrior would assuredly help him against this thing. After all he had fought bigger.

The woman and the newcomer seemed not to notice him, but before the magician could properly introduce himself he, for a brief moment, saw a figure running in an area of the park still ruled by smoke and flame. It looked like the one who had helped the monster escape before, of course at this distance and the glimpse he caught the conjurer couldn't be sure; still if it wasn't her it was someone trapped in the blaze. The lady and bearded man now with him seemed to have good intentions especially since the latter had saved a civilian in midair, so Black Magic run behind the remains of a tree nearby and was suddenly surrounded by floating cinders and choking clouds of ash. He had the foresight to hold his breath, and looked where he thought the figure he was trying to track had last been. He saw another brief peek of the person, and vanished to reappear by them again.

This time, he was sure it was the same Gifted that had helped the muscled villain from earlier; she wasn't moving this time, but facing off with a man who seemed to resemble the stranger who had popped out onto a sidewalk by Peter's car, then grabbed a guy and poofed away again. It seemed the woman and man were not friends as they squared off with each other;

Jump grinned at his opponent.

"You looked busy, so I hope you don't mind that I jumped in..."

Cimmeria's face lacked any emotion as did her voice;
"You're in the big leagues now, let's see what you got."

Jump vanished from in front of the villain and reappeared behind her, but his body displaced smoke that she noticed out of the corner of her eye and twisted quickly to lash out with a sharp side kick that doubled the hero over and sent him stumbling back several feet as the air rushed out of his lungs. She followed this up with a crescent kick to the right side of the young man's head that sent him sprawling to the ground. She tried to follow through with a stomp to her opponent's windpipe, but suddenly he wasn't there and her heel dug into grass not yet consumed by the growing flames; Jump rematerialized ten feet above the woman and slammed down on top of her in a body tackle, but as she was knocked to the ground Cimmeria's hand opened a portal to her own dimension and the momentum of the man's attack carried them both through. They flew across one of the rooms and to the far wall into another portal, flying upward with the hero now on the bottom. The assassin put her left hand on her right fist, and pile drove an elbow into the agent's gut that was still sore from the kick moments before. He grunted as he was shoved away from her, and the killer struck out with a foot catching Jump in the chest and forcing him back toward Earth. The fem fatale turned her body in a series of backflips and landed without difficultly on her own legs, but the spot her target was supposed to be prone on was bare; he'd teleported right before impact.

Jump reappeared behind her this time already in the process of delivering a blow, and the sucker punch caught the villain off guard causing her to stumble a single step before she regained her balance without thought. She turned as she pulled her gun, a very slight look of annoyance managing to work its way into her stone features;

"I'm growing tired of your tricks, kid."

She brought the gun to bare on the man's heart as she spoke and was about to pull the trigger, when she felt something wrap around her neck and pull tight causing her arm to jerk and sending a shot harmlessly into a tree.

"Did someone mention tricks? Then, by all means, allow me to be of assistance..."

Jump saw a man come out of thin air behind his foe with what seemed to be a multicolored rope of some sort, and toss it over her head before pulling tight. The agent wasn't feeling too well after the beating he'd been getting, but he had enough presence of mind to kick the gun out of Cimmeria's hand as she struggled to free herself from the binding and once more draw breath. She tried to pull at what felt like silk, but the stranger behind her wasn't weak; she instead tried for another elbow move, but the figure attacking her bent his middle back away from the blow as though he knew it would be coming. The lethal lady did take the opportunity however to turn her head to the side, allowing her lungs to once more draw air; that was getting thin though as the blaze claimed move and more of the park around the trio. She tried a new idea, and put both hands on the restraint as she pushed with her neck. Her assailant was pulled toward her, and the killer wasted no time in placing a leg behind one of theirs and shoving her whole body back. The pair toppled together, and she was able to get one hand on the ground to open a portal through which they disappeared.

The villain opened a way out of the room the two found themselves, and thought to use the same reverse position idea she had with Jump; however, when she came back out into the park, the restriction was still against her skin but no one was there to pull it. She yanked the cloth free, did another backflip landing without difficulty, and looked at what she held in her hand; it was a bunch of colorful scarves tied together. At once she knew where she had seen the like before, and whom it was that had waded in on her fight with the other teleporter; the magician who had beaten Spurt and turned down the offer to join their cause. She immediately opened another gateway and sunk from sight, only to reemerge seconds later with two heavy caliber pistols in her hands. He wasn't going to find her an easy win like her partner was...

Then, she heard a voice behind her;

"Are you sure you would not feel more comfortable with a mop bucket instead?"

Cimmeria swiveled on her heel and saw her foe behind her, dressed in all his outdated glory. Without a word she fired both barrels at the same time; nothing happened. The man remained smiling at her as the guns worked perfectly, but there was no blood nor holes in his clothing; then he faded away as if he were but smoke.

"My my, we are a bit jumpy today, are we not?"

Again, the words came from behind her and she turned immediately and fired; once more the figure before her kept smiling without damage before a repeat performance of fading away.

"What is this, amateur hour? Is the reason you wear the mask because you're too ashamed to let anyone know you've got no guts? Is the only thing you're good for challenging a fool who relies solely on his muscles? Afraid of a real challenge?"

"Afraid? Not hardly."

The magic man stepped out from behind a tree, and Cimmeria immediately let loose with two more rounds; these did her some good it seemed, as the would be hero clutched at his chest and fell to his knees. She held one gun on him as she walked quickly in his direction for a kill shot, but before the assassin could get right on top of him her mark smiled weakly and vanished, reappearing from behind a different tree fifty feet away while standing under his own power; his steps were fumbling and staggered, however.

"You know, you're no different from so many others. They want to know how a trick is done, cut the wires, find the trap door within the cage, in other words kill the magic. Now here you are, trying to do the same thing only with bullets instead of logic. Do you think you can, when in spite of all other attempts past and present it still lives on in hearts and minds alike?"

The only answer was another shot which clipped the wood of the tree as the magician ducked behind it again. The killer approached carefully, but when she checked there was no sign of a body or blood trail. The reason for this was given moments later when the still moving dead man showed up from cover again fifty feet away. Once more the woman fired and this time seemed to hit him in the shoulder, the conjurer's face twisted in shock and pain before once more hiding from sight and leaving but an empty spot for Cimmeria to check. The next time the caster made himself known, his features were drawn and he needed to place a hand against a trunk to keep himself up.

"Is this really how you think my end will come, here, with you? My body weakens, yet my spirit remains stro-"

Not willing to hear the rest of it, Cimmeria held up both guns and kept firing as she walked quickly forward trying to finish him off before she had to play yet another annoying round of cat and mouse. The figure tried to get behind the wood he used for support, but he was not swift in his action and shot after shot tore into and through his body to the point it seemed only the impact of the bullets was holding him up. Both chambers clicked empty as she stood over his broken form, the blood pooling under him signifying she'd won. He took a shuttering breath, looked her in the eye, and said,

"Never forget, 'cough' my dear. This was 'cough' the day you were cough beaten by Black Magic."

She wondered what he meant by beating her, but when she went to speak she noticed her lungs were burning; the magic man had led her into a part of the park heavily consumed by fire. It didn't worry her much though, she could always teleport out and she'd taken a name off of her ever growing list.

She looked back with satisfaction at the corpse at her feet...

...only to find it gone, completely. No body, no blood, no trace of fabric, nothing. Then it dawned on her; she hadn't been fighting the real man, just another image of himself that had appeared to take damage from her. Cimmeria felt light headed and dizzy; she'd been so focused on the kill she had failed to realize she couldn't get enough clean air to breath. That was the point of all of this, for her to pass out and either be left to the flames or carried off to the authorities. She tried to kneel down and more half fell, but managed to get one hand on the hot ground covered with cinders and opened a portal despite the burning sensation on her skin. The assassin sank from view, drew in fresh air until her chest stopped hurting, then with a look of grim determination returned to the park. She didn't take any weapons this time; no, this conjurer had missed his chance to die such a quick death.

Meanwhile, Jump had recovered enough to wonder where the other two had gotten to, and began popping up here and there in the park looking for them in the event they were still around. He found the prestidigitator, standing closer than one should to a flaming section of greenery but not so much so he was in immediate danger. The agent appeared several feet away, wanting to be able to call out to the stranger he thought might be a fellow hero so as not to surprise him and get attacked out of reflex.

"Hey there! Um, I wanted to say thanks for helping back there, that's one seriously bad lady! I'm Jump by the way, a bonified super hero. I got a decoder ring and everything, but I left it in my other not shot up outfit."

He grinned as he new acquaintance turned to smile at him, and gave a deep bow with one arm across his chest.

"Pleased to know you, my good sir. I am known as Black Magic, and it was my pleasure to be able to assist you in a matter so-"

He didn't get to finish, for Cimmeria ran out of the burning brush straight at the caster and dove to the ground just before him to put her non-blistered hand upon the Earth. She had been swift and silent, almost too much so for Jump to react, but not quite. The moment she opened a portal to take her and her prey to a room then through to Spurt so the two villains could get payback in spades, the agent fell back to his training about getting backup and tried to teleport the little group to where some AGF officers were. Not the best solution, but any port in a storm was his thought on the matter. The caster felt his feet just start to sink into the ground, and thought to vanish away from the area.

Three telepoters using their powers at the same time proved to be, not the best of ideas. A pain unlike any of them had ever known coursed through their bodies, knocking each one out cold;

Cimmeria appeared five feet above a street just outside the park in the middle of AGV troops waiting the OK to advance from the fire department and collapsed before them; Jump sprung from nowhere, and lay at Spurt's massive feet; Black Magic was thrown against one wall of an extra-dimensional room where he slumped and didn't move.
This message was last edited by the player at 08:17, Thu 14 May 2015.

(OOC: Canon Battle Post)

--------------------------

The fires were springing up in every direction now, eating at the tree tops with an insatiable hunger. Branches cracked and fell from the heat of the flames landing in bright explosions of orange and yellows. It was times like this that Cimmeria would usually be angry with Spurt, setting the park's forest aflame was not included in her strategy. He was always reckless and made things more complicated than they needed to be. This time was different though. Cimmeria winelike eyes were alight with ecstasy, her full lips parted in a smile. This is what she dreamed of every night.

Cimmeria lost track of Spurt and the hostage in among the thick columns of smoke rising like towers towards the sky. Many of the picnickers where gone as well, hidden among the fire and ash, the remaining few gasped for air they could not find, clawing at earth as if a well of oxygen could be reached beneath the forest floor.

Cimmeria knelt down and opened a portal on the ground, dipping her face in the pool of violet to draw air from her secret room. Her lungs expanded gratefully, refreshing her blood for the coming battle. As she raised her head and allowed the doorway to close, she felt a sensation of someone appearing, as if the person had magically popped into existence. Before she could turn and look, the person tapped her and disappeared just as quickly.

The teleporter.

Cimmeria would have sighed if there was air to spare, instead she darted in the direction she felt Jump "pop" back into existence. As she made her way towards her target, she brushed her fingers along the trees she passed and a dozen spots on the ground. At each touch, violet discs would quickly open, then close just as fast. This time she would be prepared, this time she would not underestimate this thorn in her side.

Within moments she reached the outer rim of the fire, the leather in her body suit covered in a thick film of soot. Cimmeria spotted her foe leaning lazily against the pole of a path sign, his shoulder healed despite the hole left in his shirt. His mouth was moving, God was it moving. Cimmeria could not hear his voice above the roar of the flames directly behind her. He must have prepared a speech for her. Before he could finish, Cim drew her revolver and fired.

The Queen of Assassins heard a laugh from behind her; in the span of a second, she spun around 180 degrees and fired at the noise's source. Her speed and senses were unmatched. And that fact had saved her skin many a time.

"Aaaah!" A bullet slid past Jump's hip, slicing off a piece of his side as cleanly as any knife would. He fell off of the lamp post he stood on. Horrible images of dying in Central Park and being torn apart by birds like a simple piece of roadkill ran through his head. No. Not now. He remembered his training. Keep calm, form a logical plan of attack.

"Shit," thought Cimmeria. The boy flinched at exactly the right second. That would give him an entire two seconds to get away. And get away he did. Jump disappeared, leaving behind a gap in the cloud of smoke where he once stood. Cimmeria looked around; there were no irregularities in her field of vision. She drew her weapon and listened for her opponent.

She didn't hear who she was hoping for... but a slightly older man with a more familiar voice. The faintest hint of a smile appeared on her stone cold face. She relished the chance to get her victory back. All of a sudden, the man ran out from behind the tree, hoping to surprise her. She effortlessly took aim filled him full of lead. Thirty-two bullet holes later, the magician lay dead at her feet and blood pooled around the corpse's stomach. Cimmeria glanced at the carcass. Something wasn't right. That was too easy, and she didn't smell blood.

A vending machine appeared to the immediate left of her. Then there was on her immediate right. A third showed up behind her, a fourth in front of her. The teleporter was trying to box her in. Cimmeria nimbly leapt up onto one of the vending machines. A fifth machine appeared in front of the femme fatale.

With an aggressive shout Jump kicked down the large box, knocking it down on top of Cimmeria. He knew that wouldn't catch her, so he "jumped" back to the box behind her as she side-stepped the steel container. He charged at her with a flying fist aimed right at the back of her head. Without making a peep, Cimmeria hopped up to his level and drilled her elbow into his stomach!

"UNGGH!" Jump wasn't reeling from the attack for more than instant. Cim flipped up into the air and landed behind her target. He felt her grip on his neck, then heard a loud bang and felt his head being carved in two. He felt it again, again, and again. Though his vision was blurry, he saw that the vending machine's edge was dented and covered with red. He teleported away just as his attacker was about to land the killing blow.

Out in the parking lot, firetrucks and AGF armored cars were arriving on the scene just in time to witness a torrential downpour carving up the fire into manageable chunks. Jump noticed the firemen and officers as he appeared across the lot. If he failed now, all these people would die. He needed to act now! He grabbed a loose muffler off of a nearby car, jumped back to his vending machine circle, and took a huge swing at her.

Cim heard him coming; she grabbed at the weapon in his hand. She was off by what seemed like one millisecond. The boy appeared in front of her.

THUNK! the pipe hit her straight in the stomach. Jump couldn't believe it worked! He actually got a hit in on her! He would have to follow up; he'd have to finish this. He threw a wild uppercut at the hit-woman, cracking her in the chin. She responded with a knee to his bullet wound. With that, the young teleporter fell off the machines and on to the ground.

"Good shot, kid. But I'm getting tired of your tricks."

Cimmeria brought the gun to bare on the man's heart as she spoke and was about to pull the trigger, when she felt something wrap around her neck and pull tight causing her arm to jerk and sending a shot harmlessly into a tree.

"Did someone mention tricks? Then, by all means, allow me to be of assistance..."

Jump saw a man come out of thin air behind his foe with what seemed to be a multicolored rope of some sort, and toss it over her head before pulling tight. The agent wasn't feeling too well after the beating he'd been getting, but he had enough presence of mind to kick the gun out of Cimmeria's hand as she struggled to free herself from the binding and once more draw breath. She tried to pull at what felt like silk, but the stranger behind her wasn't weak; she instead tried to elbow her attacker, but the figure bent his middle back away from the blow as though he knew it would be coming. The lethal lady did take the opportunity, however, to turn her head to the side, allowing her lungs to once more draw air. She tried a new idea, and put both hands on the restraint as she pushed with her neck. Her assailant was pulled toward her, and the killer woman wasted no time in placing a leg behind one of his and shoving her whole body back. The pair toppled together, and she was able to get one hand on the ground to open a portal through which they disappeared.

The villain opened a second portal on the floor in the room they found themselves careening through the ceiling of. And as they fell toward the floor, Cim wrestled the magician into position; he would crash through the portal first! However, when she emerged from the portal, the cloth was still around her neck, but no one was there to pull it. She yanked the cloth free, did another backflip, landed without difficulty, and looked at what she held in her hand; it was a bunch of colorful scarves tied together. At once she knew where she had seen that before, and whom it was that had walked in on her fight with the other teleporter; the magician who had beaten Spurt and turned down the offer to join their cause. She immediately opened another gateway and sunk from sight, only to reemerge seconds later with two heavy caliber pistols in her hands. He wasn't going to find her an easy win like her partner was...

Then, she heard a voice behind her;

"Are you sure you would not feel more comfortable with a mop bucket instead?"

Cimmeria swiveled on her heel and saw her foe behind her, dressed in all his outdated glory. Without a word, she fired both barrels at the same time; nothing happened. The man remained smiling at her as the guns worked perfectly, but there was no blood nor holes in his clothing. The trickster faded away as if he were but smoke.

"My my, we are a bit jumpy today, are we not?"

Again, the words came from behind her. Yet another illusion, she knew. But maybe she could get some information out of the show-stopper.

"What is this, amateur hour? Is the reason you wear the mask because you're too ashamed to let anyone know you've got no guts? Is the only thing you're good for challenging a fool who relies solely on his muscles? Afraid of a real challenge?"

"Afraid? Hardly."

The magic man stepped out from behind a tree, and Cimmeria immediately let loose with two more rounds; these did her some good it seemed, as the would-be hero clutched at his chest and fell to his knees. She held one gun on him as she walked quickly in his direction, but before the assassin could get right on top of him her mark smiled weakly and vanished, reappearing from behind a different tree fifty feet away while standing under his own power; his steps were fumbling and staggered, however.

"You know, you're no different from so many others. They want to know how a trick is done, cut the wires, find the trap door within the cage, in other words kill the magic. Now here you are, trying to do the same thing only with bullets instead of logic. Do you think you can, when in spite of all other attempts past and present it still lives on in hearts and minds alike?"

Jump, ever true to his name, popped back into existence on top of a tree branch. With a yelp, he tackled a distracted Cimmeria to the ground.

"Can't we just talk?" asked Jump. "I mean, I like my women feisty, but this is a bit much."

The young agent smirked a nervous little smirk, trying to downplay his fear and intimidate her even as blood kept dripping from his head.

"Sure, let's." Cimmeria smiled back, the ground beneath her now a glowing pool of purple they were sinking through. She rolled her opponent onto his back.

"No, no, no!" Jump and Cimmeria appeared behind a tree nearby. Cim wrapped the punk's arms behind him, spun him around, grabbed his neck, and pressed her gun to his temple.

"You teleport, and you die," said Cimmeria coldly. She tightened her grip on the youngster's neck. "Understand?"

Jump nodded. Sweat didn't pour so much as ooze out of his pores. He had to find a way out of this. Maybe that magician...

"Come out, now!" screamed Cimmeria. "Any tricks, the boy dies."

Black Magic came out from behind a tree with his hands up. He saw the woman moving her gun in his direction. The gun was off Jump; now was his chance. With a snap of his fingers and a puff of smoke, he appeared on Cimmeria's side. He just had to grab Jump now; with another snap of his fingers, the heroes could escape the assassin's trap!

Unfortunately, the lethal lady had anticipated Black Magic's trick. Just as Black Magic appeared beside her, she began to pull her hostage through a portal in a nearby tree.

Meanwhile, Jump, remembering his training, teleported to the nearest backup he could get the instant he felt the gun barrel leaving his temple. While he didn't fully trust them, he knew the AGF would have the firepower to take down Cimmeria. Black Magic's hand gripped Jump's shoulder as he was teleported away.

The three teleporters all felt as though they were being torn in several different directions. A pain unlike any of them had ever known coursed through their bodies, knocking each one out cold.

Cimmeria appeared five feet above a street just outside the park in the middle of AGF troops and collapsed before them. Jump sprung from nowhere and wound up at Spurt's massive feet. Black Magic was thrown against one wall of an extra-dimensional room where he slumped and didn't move.

The AGF took aim just as Spurt picked up Jump...

Violet eyes fluttered open to reveal a squad of surprised AGF officers. They quickly moved to circle Cimmeria and pointed their weapons at her in unison. This was not good, not good at all. Her plan of capturing the teleported had been foiled by that damn magician. The surrounding AGF officers greatly limited her options. Retreat seemed to be her only viable option. Cimmeria was a skilled combatant, but she could not take nine men with rifles on in her current state.

"Stay down and put your hands behind your head!" barked what appeared to be the squadron leader. The look on his face said that he hoped shed try to get up. "Twice in one day with you freaks! You'd think that- FIRE!" Dozens of rubber bullets punched her back, cracking ribs her ribs and driving the air from her lungs.    Cimmeria had opened a portal beneath herself, the purple light consuming her form as the bullets ricocheted offf her back and pushed her deeper through the doorway.

Cimmeria dropped from the ceiling of her secret room and landed hard on her side, sending more pain throughout her chest. She grunted and closed the portal she fell through.  Only noticing that the magician was trapped in here with her before she passed out.

(OOC Non-canon battle post first attempt in the game wish me luck!!)


Thor saw the lad appear out of nowhere and Spurt reaching down to pick him up. He simply grunted in annoyance and threw his hammer at the ground between the two. The shockwave was enough to push Sourt away and launch Jump at Thor. He caught him effortlessly and decided to hold onto him for the moment for his own safety.

"Now I ask one last time. Are you goign to come along nicely?"

Spurt spat out something rather rude and rubbed his arms to make them bigger. He ran up and reached down to lift the hammer only to discover he could not. Thor could not help but laugh at this sight. "Apologies friend but you are unworthy of the right to life the mighty Mjolnir."

This incensed Spurt to greater anger and he charged forward spraying at Thor with his flamethrowers.

Thor's eye shut for a moment as he turned so his body would shield Jump from the flames. They did no more than irritate his skin however he could not see Spurt charging at him until he was hit. Thor went flying through the air and landed in a heap underneath Jump.

Thor got up in an annoyed daze for a moment and looked over at Spurt. "Some form of Fire Giant eh? I know just how to deal with you." Thor and Spurt both charged at each other bellowing warcries. Their fists met with a bone crunching slam and the battle was joined. Spurt with his enhanced speed and strength was actually giving Thor a very hearty battle as they traded blows. Spurt seemed to get the upper hand as he grabbed Thor and threw him over his shoulder as hard as he could. Thor flew through the air and landed in a heap, right next to his hammer!

Thor laughed and gingerly got up lifting his hammer with him. "You are a challenge giant, but I am afraid I must put our little spar to an end. I made a promise to a fair maiden and I intend to keep it." With that he lifted his hammer and a bolt of lightning slammed down into it and seemed to be absorbed by Thor. Spurt charged again letting his flames fly. Thor waited until the last second and then brought his hammer crashing against Spurt's skull. Not enough force to kill but more than enough to knock him cold.

"You wont be needing those." he said ripping off the flamethrowers and tossing them aside. He grunted and lifted Spurt over his shoulder before returning to where he had dropped Jump and picked him up as well. He clipped his hammer to him belt and flew off towards the location he had left Ma Nature. Landing in front of her he deposited Spurt at her feet

"I believe this is the one you seek milady." he said with a bow.

(OOC: Non-Canon Battle Post)

----------------

Spurt picked Jump off of the ground by his hair. His titanic hands could tear him apart as easily as they could a piece of bread if they wanted to. It was tempting, but he wasn't going to be that monster today. He wasn't a monster, he was a revolutionary. That was why Namidias hired him, that was why he was part of the Wave; he and his friends were out to change the world.

A redheaded, muscle-bound Nord with an ugly, untamed beard stood in front of him.

"I dare challenge thee, beast," said Thor. The Nordic Deity lifted his hammer above his head. A crack of thunder threatened to rupture the sky apart. "For possession of that young lad."

Spurt stared up at the sky. As he did so, lighting spread outward from a cloud above Mjolnir in a spider-web pattern. The sky was alight with lighting, rain, and wind. His enemies could control the weather; they could strike him down where he stood! He wasn't gonna stick around for this; he'd rather live to fight another day.

"What say thee, giant?" asked Thor. Spurt turned tail and ran off toward the city, still holding his prey in his one hand. At this, Thor hurls his hammer at the ground in front of Spurt. The impact stopped Spurt in his tracks.

"Art thou that cowardly?" said Thor. There was a stern quality to his voice, as if he was a father lecturing a young child.

"No. J-just practical!" he responded. At that, the beast leapt up into the air, only to be thrown to the ground by what seemed like hurricane winds. As he pushed himself up with his arms, he saw Thor carefully placing the innocent young agent on the ground.

Spurt was losing, and losing quickly. He needed an opening now! Where was Cimmeria when you needed her? Where was anyone?!

His break finally came when he heard the whine of a fire engine's siren off in the distance. That's it; if he could just reach the civilians, he could distract the maniacal wildman!

Spurt stood and roared with the ferocity of a bear as Thor approached him.

"Finally, the warrior emerges!" Spurt slaps his hands against his head until it becomes almost too huge for his body to bear, then charges at Thor at an incredible speed. Thor laughs and simply swings his hammer at the demon. But before the hammer reaches him, Spurt leans back. The hammer swings past him, giving Spurt just enough time to leap over Thor's head.

"Clever. I admit, I've never beheld a beast like you before. " While Thor speaks, Spurt frantically makes his limbs, neck, and chest grow until his body is properly proportioned. He then rockets up into the air, jumps off of a tree branch, and throws his fist into a fire engine. Dozens of firemen flee the scene while, deep in the shadows, an AGF officer radios for backup.

Thor flies out to the parking lot and creates a huge wall of wind around Spurt and himself. Spurt is frozen with fright as Thor approaches him, but he manages to activate his flamethrowers before Thor's hammer punches him into the side of the firetruck.

The unstoppable Thor smirks as he awaits his opponents' next move.

"Valhalla does not await one who fights so poorly," says the Nordic Lord of Thunder. Spurt, in desperation, grabs the truck up off the ground and prepares to use it as a shield. He sees, however, a glimmer of delight in Thor's eye as he picks up the truck.

The beast whimpers at his enemy's incredible resolve. Was he really that pathetic? No! He was strong, he was powerful, he was smart! He could beat Thor! And he knew exactly how to do it. Instead of shielding himself from Thor, his mighty hands spun the truck around into the wall of wind. In less than a second, Spurt swung the truck into Thor's face with all the strength and speed Mjolnir's tornado could provide. Needless to say, the truck shattered like glass against Thor's skin.

Yet, as the truck fell to pieces, Spurt saw a great bruise around Thor's eye. That was it. This creature, this being of pure might, was beatable! Encouraged, Spurt stomped the ground , making the parking lot look like the aftermath of an earthquake. He then threw a huge piece of loose concrete up into the air, jumped up into the sky, and slashed it at Thor on his way down. The great warrior, however, blocked the brunt of the attack with his hammer.

The two Gifted men locked eyes as Spurt's weapon crumbled to pieces. Out of options, Spurt simply tried to tackle his opponent, who threw him up into the air with one hand. Thor then held his hammer up to the sky and shouted to the sky.

"Fear the wrath of Thor. For he alone commands the storm's rage!"

Spurt saw nothing but white light as an endless chain of lighting bolts flowed through his body on their way to Mjolnir. He then saw nothing as his motionless, burnt ragdoll of an unconscious body fell to the ground.

Thinking the battle was won, Thor twirled his hammer and the tornado's winds dispersed.

"All fall before Thor's might." Suddenly, a huge spike tore its way through his stomach. Thor grunted. The great weapon burned with a heat comparable to the sun's light! As Thor turned to face his opponent, he noticed that "he" was a huge crowd of fully armored AGF officers.

"Attention, unidentified Gifted! Attention! You are in violation of Federal Powers Statute 12. Get on the ground and surrender immediately. We have more of those needle launchers, and we are prepared to use them.

Thor was unsure of how to proceed. These soldiers were but men; he shan't kill them! He couldn't!

(OOC: Canon Battle Post)

----------------

Spurt picked Jump off of the ground by his hair. His titanic hands could tear him apart as easily as they could a piece of bread if they wanted to. It was tempting, but he wasn't going to be that monster today. He wasn't a monster, he was a revolutionary. That was why Namidias hired him, that was why he was part of the Wave; he and his friends were out to change the world.

A redheaded, muscle-bound Nord with an ugly, untamed beard stood in front of him.

"I dare challenge thee, beast," said Thor. The Nordic Deity lifted his hammer above his head. A crack of thunder threatened to rupture the sky apart. "For possession of that young lad."

Spurt stared up at the sky. As he did so, lighting spread outward from a cloud above Mjolnir in a spider-web pattern. The sky was alight with lighting, rain, and wind. His enemies could control the weather; they could strike him down where he stood! He wasn't gonna stick around for this; he'd rather live to fight another day.

"What say thee, fire giant?" asked Thor. Spurt turned tail and ran off toward the city, still holding his prey in his one hand. At this, Thor hurls his hammer at the ground in front of Spurt. The impact stopped Spurt in his tracks. Spurt turned to catch a glimpse of the Thunder God before he hurled head long into the beast. Thor and Spurt both charged at each other bellowing warcries. Their fists met with a bone crunching slam and the battle was joined. Spurt with his enhanced speed and strength was actually giving Thor a very hearty battle as they traded blows. Spurt seemed to get the upper hand as he grabbed Thor and threw him over his shoulder as hard as he could  Thor flew through the air and landed in a heap, right next to his hammer!

Thor laughed and gingerly got up lifting his hammer with him. "You are a challenge giant, but I am afraid I must put our little spar to an end. I made a promise to a fair maiden and I intend to keep it." Spurt sighed at the sight of Thor being reunited with his hammer and looked desperately around for a way to escape once more.

"Art thou that cowardly?" said Thor. There was a stern quality to his voice, as if he was a father lecturing a young child.

"No. J-just practical!" he responded. At that, the beast leapt up into the air, only to be thrown to the ground by what seemed like hurricane winds. As he pushed himself up with his arms, he saw Thor carefully placing the innocent young agent on the ground.

Spurt was losing, and losing quickly. He needed an opening now! Where was Cimmeria when you needed her? Where was anyone?!

His break finally came when he heard the whine of a fire engine's siren off in the distance. That's it; if he could just reach the civilians, he could distract the maniacal wildman!

Spurt stood and roared with the ferocity of a bear as Thor approached him.

"Finally, the warrior emerges!" Spurt slaps his hands against his head until it becomes almost too huge for his body to bear, then charges at Thor at an incredible speed. Thor laughs and simply swings his hammer at the demon. But before the hammer reaches him, Spurt leans back. The hammer swings past him, giving Spurt just enough time to leap over Thor's head.

"Clever. I admit, I've never beheld a beast like you before. " While Thor speaks, Spurt frantically makes his limbs, neck, and chest grow until his body is properly proportioned. He then rockets up into the air, jumps off of a tree branch, and throws his fist into a fire engine. Dozens of firemen flee the scene while, deep in the shadows, an AGF officer radios for backup.

Thor flies out to the parking lot and creates a huge wall of wind around Spurt and himself. Spurt is frozen with fright as Thor approaches him, but he manages to activate his flamethrowers before Thor's hammer punches him into the side of the firetruck.

The unstoppable Thor smirks as he awaits his opponents' next move.

"Valhalla does not await one who fights so poorly," says the Nordic Lord of Thunder. Spurt, in desperation, grabs the truck up off the ground and prepares to use it as a shield. He sees, however, a glimmer of delight in Thor's eye as he picks up the truck.

The beast whimpers at his enemy's incredible resolve. Was he really that pathetic? No! He was strong, he was powerful, he was smart! He could beat Thor! And he knew exactly how to do it. Instead of shielding himself from Thor, his mighty hands spun the truck around into the wall of wind. In less than a second, Spurt swung the truck into Thor's face with all the strength and speed Mjolnir's tornado could provide. Needless to say, the truck shattered like glass against Thor's skin.

Yet, as the truck fell to pieces, Spurt saw a great bruise around Thor's eye. That was it. This creature, this being of pure might, was beatable! Encouraged, Spurt stomped the ground , making the parking lot look like the aftermath of an earthquake. He then threw a huge piece of loose concrete up into the air, jumped up into the sky, and slashed it at Thor on his way down. The great warrior, however, blocked the brunt of the attack with his hammer.

The two Gifted men locked eyes as Spurt's weapon crumbled to pieces. Out of options, Spurt simply tried to tackle his opponent, who threw him up into the air with one hand. Thor then held his hammer up to the sky and shouted to the sky.

"Fear the wrath of Thor. For he alone commands the storm's rage!"

Spurt saw nothing but white light as an endless chain of lighting bolts flowed through his body on their way to Mjolnir. He then saw nothing as his motionless, burnt ragdoll of an unconscious body fell to the ground.

Thinking the battle was won, Thor twirled his hammer and the tornado's winds dispersed.

"All fall before Thor's might." Suddenly, a huge spike tore its way through his stomach. Thor grunted. The great weapon burned with a heat comparable to the sun's light! As Thor turned to face his opponent, he noticed that "he" was a huge crowd of fully armored AGF officers.

"Attention, unidentified Gifted! Attention! You are in violation of Federal Powers Statute 12. Get on the ground and surrender immediately. We have more of those needle launchers, and we are prepared to use them.

Thor was unsure of how to proceed. These soldiers were but men; he shan't kill them! He couldn't!
</quote>

Thor took a few moments. He was dumbfounded that these mere mortals were trying to stop him, nay, HARM him while he did all he could to protect them. He glared at the surrounding AGF members and gently sat his hammer on the ground. As he did he slammed his hands into the ground causing it to shake. In that moment when they stumbled to get their feet underneath them a powerful gust of wind knocked them all 20 feet away from Thor. They were not injured just disoriented. In that moment of respite Thor grabbed Mjolnir and took to the sky long gone before any of the could react.

He landed back in the park near where Jump had been dropped and scooped him into his arm. Again he took to the sky and a minute or so later was well outside of the city. He plucked the long needle from his stomach and allowed his body to start mending itself. He looked down at Jump and gently prodded him with a small spark. Just enough to cause him to come back to consciousness. "There mortal. You shall be safe. Valhalla is not for you this day. Thou might want to get those wounds healed." with that a golden light illuminated him and Eric was standing next to Jump.

At least for the moment. The wound had not fully healed over and Eric hit his knees. He wasn't sure what state of mind Jump was in but he knew that they both needed help. He dug out his cell phone and dialed the number Jump had used earlier.

A moment later the phone picked up. "This is Juinto's Pizza! What can I get for you!" A cheery male voice said on the other side. Eric spoke quickly. "I'd like a double cheese, no sauce, with extra Anchovy and Salami. And some Pepperoni."

 The voice took a moment before responding, sounding not as cheery but still continued. "And how much would you like to pay for that?" It asked. "14.99" Eric replied. There was a click, the man said, "Let me redirect you." suddenly a woman came on the line. She sounded a bit upset. "This is Dispatch, who is calling?" Eric smiled gratefully, help. They were going to get help. "Look you dont know me but my name is Eric Donner and I am a friend. I am standing here next to Jump outside of the city after saving both of our lives. We are wounded and need immediate medical attention. Please, help." He waited with bated breath hoping that the woman would believe him and send some help....

Jump blinked, and it took him a few moments to approach anything nearing a coherent state of mind. The pain was a lot worse than he'd expected, and he'd overestimated his ability to ignore it. He refrained from groaning, but the pinched expression on his face was proof enough that he was hiding a great deal of pain as he sat up, clutching his side. "He's good." He said loudly, hoping the phone would hear him, and burst into a great deal of coughing as his throat disagreed with being used. The woman on the other side sighed (her motif seemed to be loud sighs). "Where are you at? I'm assuming Jump is out of commission, so I'll send a squad to grab you two. And ask Jump if we need to bring Ivy."

Jump seemed to hear from where he was at, and through the coughing fit spoke up quickly. "No, no Ivy. We don't need Ivy."

Eric looked back towards the city. "We are about two miles to the west of the city. And Jump says We don't need Ivy. E isn't completely out of commission, but we both aren't going anywhere on our own." He was starting to feel a bit lightheaded, but he refused to let it rule him.

It was around 10 or so minutes before 4 people literally dropped out of the sky, landing with soft puffs of dirt around Eric and Jump. He'd stopped coughing, but was lying on the ground again, and appeared to be deeply asleep. A woman stepped forwards, her helmet and faceplate hid any distinctive facial features, but her height acted as a distinctive feature on its own. The other 3 appeared to be men, and they all stood facing outwards, appearing to be on the lookout for others. The woman crouched and lifted her faceplate, brushing her hand over Jump's face, looking worried. "I'm awake, Sherry. Not gonna fall asleep with this kind of shit going on." He said, and she pulled her hand away like a snake had bitten it. Her skin was tan, and her eyes were a deep green, but her hair was hidden in the helmet and her race appeared to be indeterminate. "Tank and High, keep watch. Lair, you can come see what you can do about Jump's wounds."

She stood up, and looked over Eric while one of the men broke their watch and took her place at Jump's side. He pulled out a small kit and began checking Jump over, wrapping a few bandages and giving him an inhaler. The woman continued staring at Eric for several moments before speaking. "We appreciate your assistance. Jump is an integral part to our operations here in New York. But we expect full non-disclosure about everything you've seen, heard, or participated in. We're going to take you back to base so we can get everything we can out of you about what went on, and we'll have our doctors treat you, free of charge. We have a healer, but she's on duty in Denver right now. There was a series of attacks on our base there and she was needed." She flipped her face-plate down. "We're going to fly back, unless Jump feels up to moving us." She cast a gaze in his direction, and he tilted his head towards her. He didn't make any motion for a few moments, and then he disappeared. She nodded her head. "He'll be taking us back in a few moments."

True to her word, just a few moments later, everyone was moved to a large white room, with a  few people running around on the outer edges and a large red J printed on the floor beneath them. He was still lying on the floor, but with the bandages he was looking a lot more... less-dead. A gurny and a wheelchair were pulled out into the center of the floor. Jump was loaded onto the gurny, and the chair was offered to Eric.

Eric took the chair with a soft "Thank you." and allowed himself to be wheeled wherever they were going to take him. He knew who he was dealing with now. The ITSDA. It had been a while since the last time he had any dealings with them. He appreciated what they stood for but was still not sure if he would ever be alright joining them. He glanced over at Jump. Hell this kid does it and he seems like he is hapy to do it. Maybe I should give it a second thought. He decided to wait until pain was not going to cloud his head as his side gave another throb.

In reply to Icon (msg # 67):

A man in another suit of armor, though this one had the medical symbol stuck onto the front of it, came to push Eric. A couple of others moved Jump, but after they found that he was in no danger of death, just in a great deal of pain, they shot him full of some drugs and moved him to a wheelchair as well. The hallways of the building were concrete and pipes, with lights spaced out along evenly. Most of the doors were closed, and there were a few hallways. One intersection had an elevator, but the small group of armored men and women and Jump and Eric didn't go anywhere near it. The two were wheeled into a large room with a table with 8 sides placed at it. Currently, only 4 of the sides were in use. Three men, two of them in armor and the third in a nice suit. The man in the suit looked elderly, but his narrowed and alert blue eyes were sign enough that he was capable of handling any situation. The fourth, a woman, was in street clothes and had her feet on the table. Everyone seemed to be ignoring her.

The man stood up, stepping around the table and stretching his hand out to shake Eric's. He cast a glance in Jump's direction, but didn't approach. "My name is Commander Gurny. We've heard good things about you, Icon, but we've respected your wishes and kept our distance. It looks like you went and approached us this time." He smiled thinly, but there was no true humor in it, and he appeared to only be making small talk. "Now, I'm sure you're in some pain, but we need to hold off on the drugs until we've gotten a report of what happened up there from someone who witnessed some of it first-hand."

Jump spoke up. "It was Cimmeria, sir. I don't have access to her full file, but I've seen a picture and a very verbose warning not to engage her directly or solo." He said, his words just barely slurred. "Now I understand why..." He shook his head. "I didn't recognize whoever was with her, but his abilities were... unique. I'm sure we've got information on him somewhere."

The man frowned and motioned at one of the men in armor. The man nodded and quickly left the room, closing the door behind him silently. He returned to his seat, and the men pushing Eric and Jump pushed them up to the table and left too. The woman finally twisted her legs off the table and appeared to get interested in what was going on, but didn't mention anything directly. Commander Gurny gestured at her. "This is Ivy. She's our resident telepath, and we've given her explicit directions to stay out of your heads, but monitor your surface thoughts. If you lie to us, you'd either be a damned good liar, or she'll catch it, and she'll tear your memories up like wet tissue paper."

Gurny leaned forwards and placed his elbows on the table, with his hands in a folded position in front of him. "Please, tell us what happened."

Eric smiled despite the pain. He shook the mans hand for the sake of pleasantries and listened to his little talk. He looked over to Ivy. She was pretty easy on the eyes and Eric could feel himself slightly blush. Then he heard the word "Telepath" and froze for a moment. The only reaction she gave was to slightly raise an eyebrow and then the moment passed.

Eric nodded and started his story starting from when he first met Jump. The first change to Apollo to help him and then their parting. He then started on the fire that started. How he made his way as fast as he could after he could sense someone might be in danger and then his forced change when he knew someone was in danger. After rescuing the civilian he met a woman who seemed to want to "deal" with the other man.

Oh yea that guy. The one who could massage or slap his body and make it change to his whim. It was interesting to fight him. /his strength, speed and such were well above average as he changed his body and it took one hell of a lightning bolt to knock him out finally.

Eric ended with the needle being shot into his stomach. That was a new experience to him since he had never seen a weapon like that. He described the intense heat he felt when it hit him. Thor's might and all the gods ability to slightly regenerate was the only thing that saved him. Then he got to Jump and got him out of there before the AGF could surround him. He hoped the other woman made it out safely. Especially if she was a gifted, which Eric assumed he was if she was wanting to take on the meathead.

One thought that kept flitting through his head that he could not suppress was his new curiosity about the ITSDA. HE wanted to speak to Jump about his view of the organization and why he joined.

After everything was said and done, everyone at the table seemed to brush off Jump and Eric. There were some more mumbled platitudes and some more gratitude given, and the two were wheeled off to the infirmary. They were placed in beds next to each other, and Jump was silent for a bit before speaking up. "The ITSDA isn't all flowerbeds and fountains." He said, turning his head towards Eric slightly. "Ivy said you were curious what I thought." He laughed. "They have their ulterior motives, and they use people the same as Namidian Wave. They just use all of us for different reasons. All of us Gifted are just tools on a chessboard to all of our 'superiors'. Hell, not even gonna lie, the Gifted get treated better in Namidian Wave. Here, we're taught how to conform. The ITSDA is about balance and safety in society. In the Namidian Wave, everyone can be who they really are." Jump turned his head more and stared right at Eric. "Because deep down, every person has a desire for violence. Whether it be torturing small cats or ripping a persons head off, we all have irressistable urges to hurt things or break things." Jump laughed. "And Believe it or not, Eric, I've read your file. I'm 5 years older than you are. I've had my powers for 7 years and I've barely even broken the surface of what I can do. My abilities stretch far beyond just teleporting. Everything else is just so hard it may as well be impossible." Jump shrugged. "And when those people out there look at me, all they can see is some naive, stubborn kid. I am Naive, and stubborn, but that's besides the point."

"The ITSDA has it's motives just like anyone else. I'm just with them because unlike the Namidian Wave, the ITSDA is about rising above ones humanity. Above the violence and the chaos and the crude emotions, and it's about balance and peace. It's a stupid thing to want. Peace. Humans have fought among themselves for millenia, and they'll be doing it for millenia more. Just, now-adays, the spears we're throwing across that big river to kill that other tribe are people who do amazing things." Jump shook his head. "Join or not, I just ask that you rise above the base standards that come with being human. Stay rogue. I don't care. Ivy told me to try and convince you to join us. But honestly, this place is terrible for individuality. You see all those grunts in their armor? This place is their life. This place is my life. If you join us, you're giving up your claims to anything personal. Everyone's life matters. Not just the people you love and care about. My parents? They were murdered by a Gifted while I was being a pack mule for ITSDA. The people I moved? They saved hundreds of lives. At the cost of my parents. Two for hundreds is the kind of sacrifice you end up making on a daily basis."

Jump turned around. "And it kills you. Slowly, but it kills you." He was silent for a few moments. "So think what you will, and do what you will, but remember. This place isn't about saving the world. It's about conquering it in a different name for different reasons. Their reasons just happen to have more of a chance for less death than the Namidian Wave."

Eric smiled and almost laughed at the end. "Trade one type on tyrant for the other. just support the more benevolent one and hope for the best. He looked over at Jump. "Thank you Jump. I didn't know the truth about how they are." Eric grimaced. "You read my file. So you know I do enjoy my individuality. Are the ITSDA good? I hope so. I think they at least want to try to preserve the world for everyone unlike the Wave."

He got quiet and thought for a moment. "Im sorry about your parents. I can understand how hard that would be." He sat up for a moment and looked back over at Jump. "You are different that the rest of them. Thats obvious. If another tragedy anywhere goes down and you ever need my help. You have my number just call...or pop in and grab me." He chuckled.

"Join the ITSDA. Yea its not for me. Helping out those that need it, especially if they are good people doing a good causem now that is something I could use what I have to try to make the world a bit etter and safer." He laid back down and just stared at the ceiling thinking about the gifted he had met..the monster man.

Jump sat up, his head inclined to the side slightly. He sighed. "I'm not waiting. I'll be back in 15 minutes. Or, you know what, you can come with." And then he disappeared. There was a faint feeling of displacement in the entire room, like ones depth vision was just slightly off, which continued for several minutes and got progressively worse until it disappeared just as soon as it had when Jump had disappeared. He and Eric appeared almost 2,000 miles away, in Denver, on a small platform with a J on it again. He stood up shakily, but quickly gatheres his wits and scanned through the entire complex. "They built these platforms for me everywhere I go." He said, chuckling. "Like to make sure I don't pop into a person. We're going to go see that healer. I don't want to sit around in the infirmary for a few days." He cocked his head, and they both appeared in a large room with a great many beds. Most were empty, but a few had men and women, and a few children, haevily wrapped in bandaged. There was a woman standing over one of the occupied beds, a couple of guards standing beside her. They looked over at Jump and made to raise their weapons, but he rolled his eyes and moved the weapons onto a nearby bed. "No need to shoot me." He said, and strolled over to the woman. She was fairly short, latino, with long black hair and a pair of glasses that made her look nerdy. "Sherry." He said, smiling. "Me and my friend don't like waiting for our bodies to do the work." He said, pointing at Eric.

Sherry frowned. "Jump, I'm in the middle of something..." She said, glancing pointedly at the patients around her. Jump shrugged. "That one's dead, the other 3 aren't dying, and the one you're over has a punctured lung. Fix him, but I've got better things to do than sit in the Infirmary for a couple of days." He said, casting points at the people as he spoke. Sherry glanced at the dead one and shook her head, but placed her hands on the one beneath her. There was a sense of pressure, which quickly faded, and then she took her hands off and motioned towards a bed. "Sit. I don't like healing people when they're standing. Especially not gifted. You know how my powers interact with you especially."

Jump sat, and she placed her hands on him. The circles under his eyes faded almost immediately, and there was an almost imperceptable sense of pressure which didn't fade for a few moments after she took her hands off. Jump smiled. "Thank you, Sherry. Now, this is Eric. He's going home after this." Sherry glanced at Jump, and shooed him onto a bed before placing her hands on him.

Eric smiled and waved as he moved to a bed of his own so Sherry could heal him. When she did he felt the pressure and his eyes glowed golden for a few moments and he smelled ozone. Other than that he didn't notice anything and was soon fully healed. "Thank you very much." He said to her when she had finished.

Jump grinned and stood up, quickly heading over. His pace was far more comfortable than before, and his smile didn't look nearly as strained. He gave a small bow to Sherry before tapping Eric on the arm, and they both disappeared. They were back in the infirmary they'd just left within moments, and Jump laughed. "I love getting healed by Sherry." He said, turning and heading for the door. "She does different things to everyone. I get extra senses, and it's so much easier to create a connection between two different points in space." He opened the door and motioned out. "I.e. teleport larger distances."

In the hallway outside, he waved at a few of the people hustling by, but they largely ignored him and Eric. "Sherry also heals fatigue, but you get tired a lot quicker. I'd say you probably have the rest of the day before you'll need to go to bed and sleep. Be careful you're not doing anything like... operating heavy machinery or something. You'll crash when it wears off, and considering the fight you just went through, that crash is going to be pretty hard." It took a few minutes to wind through the hallways back to the large room they'd entered this complex through, and Jump navigated the both of them onto the large pad. "Technically not allowed to jump around outside of this room. They rely a little on my transportation capabilities, and having me die from ending up in the middle of something is less than desired."

The two appeared on top of a large building while Jump was speaking, and he waved his hand at the surrounding city. "Where ya wanna go? I'm supposed to be in the infirmary recovering, and it'll take them maybe... 5 or so minutes to realize where I went and what I did before they try getting me back. New York is huge though, and I removed the tracker they gave me ages ago, so we've got plenty of time."

Eric was barely keeping up with Jymp. He seemed to be rattling off at 100 mph. "I am thankful for everythingyou did, but I need to get my bike and get back to work I am already pretty late."
This message was last edited by the player at 19:10, Sat 23 May 2015.

In reply to Icon (msg # 75):

Jump frowned. "Yes, of course." He grabbed Eric and they were sitting at the head of an alleyway, several blocks from Central Park. Jump tilted his head, and stuck it out, staring down the street and back, even if it was a useless motion, before they jumped again, and they were on the other side of Central park, a few blocks closer. "There's a lot of chaos..." He said to Eric. "Having trouble finding your bike. You did ride it here, didn't you?" Jump shook his head. It took several more jumps, but after the two of them appeared in yet another alleyway and Jump smiled widely, it was apparent he'd found it. It had been dragged into an another alleyway and was leaning precariously on the wall. It didn't look massively damaged, or like anything had been stolen (probably because of the giant fire in Central Park and all the AGF and firefighters), but it was scuffed and obviously in worse condition than it had been that morning.

Jump shrugged. "You might be a little late, but judging from what just happened, you're not the only one who's going to be late to work today." He said, gesturing at the still empty street. For New York, empty streets were uncommon. Unless massive Gifted fights were going on, of course. Then it was a given. Jump sat down on the ground and leaned against the wall. "Gimme a minute to chill, and then I'll get you back to the library." He said. "Jumping is like doing mental gymnastics."

Eric nodded and smiled. "Thank you. What do you do when you are not jumping around for the ITSDA?"

Meanwhile, Ma Nature was back in the park, helping out any of the few folks not being serviced by the EMT's.  She had just put a poltice of aloe vera on one burned arm and pulled a sliver of wood from a  child's finger when a police officer walked up to her, pushed back his cap and scratched his head,

"Now whattaya think ye're doin' an' who might you be?"

he asked with a sour look on his face.  He really did like pushing people around if they did not seem dangerous -- today at any rate.

"ie have trained medicos for that sort o' thing lady!"

Raising an eyebrow, the older woman looked up at the taller fellow and responded,

"I am doing a bit of first aid if you really need to know, and I might be the queen of England, but don't bet on it!  I am not touching anyone with real serious injuries officer, and I am certified in first aid.  Anyone with worse damage I been headin' towards the ambulances.  Now do you want something for your upset stomach or no?  I kin tell that it's botherin' ya by the way you were walking over here."

So saying, she took out a sugarfree peppermint and handed it to him.

"Suck on this slow like an' it'll sweeten yer stomach and yer dispostition!"

The fellow took the sweet and unwrapped it and popped it into his mouth while wondering the whole time if she could really see that he had acid stomach by the way he walked.  His stomach began immediately to ease up.  Tipping his hat to her, he bowed,
"Beggin' pardon yer majesty!  Jus' doin' me job and thank ye fer the relief!"

He stood and winked at her.  Ma chuckled and nodded.  She trurned to walk away to find more to aid, but looked back over her shoulder and called,

"Yer most welcome!  An' if I were thuh queen, I'd give North Ireland back to the Irish!"

She walked away smiling to the sound of the officer's roaring laugh.

It had been sharp, The sensation. Not smooth and fluid like most sensations that came to him through his sixth sense. It was a quick stab in the air. Small but noticeable due to its contrast.

His curiosity getting the better of him, Current stood up from his perch stretching his lanky frame before diving off of the 50 story building. He let the air catch and then carry him forward as he glided towards his destination . Strong winds whirled around him passing over his frosted skin and gray rain coat. Despite this current did not fill as much as a chill. Being cold, or warm for that matter, was not something he had to worry about in a few months.

As he approached his sixth sense alerted him to two people on top of the building in the exact same location he had felt the stabbing sensation.

Interesting. Was it a coincidence or had they caused it.

Current slowed himself as he approached finally coming to land on the opposite the two men.

"Hi. Uh, you two haven't noticed anything odd have you?"

Jump felt the person approaching them long before he was there, and shushed Eric in response, motioning his head in the direction they were being approached from. Obviously a gifted, because he was flying, but of what order he wasn't aware. Jump reached into one of his pockets and pulled out a relatively thick white baton, which after some finicking turned into an apparent guide-cane. He already had his glasses on, and took on the appearance of a truly blind man, appearing startled when the approaching man landed and spoke. His response was slow. "Minus the strange blackness, nope." He said, turning his head towards the man as he tried studying him. "Sorry, blind joke. It's a coping mechanism, according to my therapist." He laughed awkwardly. "But no. There's no traffic, for some reason, and it smells like smoke, but nothing strange. Eric here, my friend," he said with a wave at Eric, "just found me and started dragging me around, saying something about fire in the park and rampant gifted." He really hoped Eric played along with the lies.

OOC: Not a huge issue Current, but me and Eric we're actually in an alley, and not on top of any buildings. Just go along and act like nothing happened. It's alright and you don't need to go out of your way to fix anything. ^^

Eric took a second and caught on to where Jump was going. "Yea there was this huge firestorm and a gigantic looking Gifted that went on a rampage. He was fighting some other guy last I saw. I got us out of there as soon as I could." He then looked over at current. "Well and then you just dropping out of the sky like that. Other than that I haven't seen anything weird."

Current blinked in surprise. A blind man. That was unexpected. Something seemed off. one unusual thing was normal, two was curious.

"Yea, sorry about dropping in so suddenly. I just wanted to make sure everything was OK. I noticed something off here. Could be nothing or could be related to what happened earlier. Might not be a bad idea to move encase something happens though.

Eric's eyes widened. "Oh I hope nothing else goes wrong. I'm already late for work. Ill get us out of here. Thanks man." He started to lead Jump away from the area.

Jump sighed, and pushed Eric away. "My curiosity is going to get me killed someday." He said, tilting his head back at Current. "Go on without me. I'll keep my distance from him and figure out what he's doing here." He said. "Other than what he's told us. I don't get a bad vibe from him, really." He glanced at Eric's bike and raised an eyebrow. "And I'll give you a headstart and get you out of these streets quicker. If you need me, here." Jump reached into a pocket inside his coat and pulled out a card, passing it over. All that was on it was a phone-number. "That's my personal number, so you won't have to go through the ITSDA to reach me." He gripped the bike and Eric and Jumped, landing in the first alleyway they'd ended up in together this morning, just a few blocks from the Library. "And now," He said with a clap and a faint grin, "I get to go say hi to more Gifted. Don't think I've ever run into so many in one day! I mean, this guy makes, what, the... seventh..." He shook his head. "I feel like New York is gonna get busy. Be careful out there. Oh, and... my name. My real one. It's Erin. Just figured you should know." And with that, he Jumped back to where Current was, his guide-cane still in hand but obviously not being used for anything. "Something off would be me." He said, smiling. "Generally, the average person avoids anything off from normal. You approached it instead, so you roused my interest. Granted, you flew in, so you're hardly normal, but I'm sure you get the point."

Current jumped as Jump reappeared.
"Woe, Your a teleporter. That's really neat.. and marketable. Oh yea, why am I hear. lets see, where to begin. I awoke a few months ago. Been practicing using my power ever sense.

Now that i've reached a certain level of competency with them I want to use them to help people and fulfill my goal. Easier said then done. So I thought they must be other gifted who were in this same situation before. Why not ask them? Unfortunately we not always that easy to find and there not a lot of us; Only about 10,000 by most estimates.

I saw the trouble here on the news. It was Gifted related so, I deiced to check it out. See if I could find other gifted and, if not, see if I could help. Flew up to New York. Felt you teleporting and decided to see what it was. Then I found you and that's about it."           

Eric smiled and thanked Erin for his help before making his way to work. He apologized to his boss again when he got there, but she said she understood. HE clocked in and sat down at the desk to keep watch. He also pulled out his newest book and started reading. Hindu gods He thought to himself. They are going to be a very interesting read. I wonder just how much I can learn before I go home.
This message was last edited by the player at 06:52, Fri 29 May 2015.

In reply to Current (msg # 85):

"Flew up here from where...?" Jump asked, glancing at the city. He wanted to get an estimate of how fast Current could move. "And I'm afraid you're a little late. Most of the Gifted have left. It's just me here now, as far as I can tell. The other guys left when the AGF showed up." Jump tilted his head. "But that's besides the point. A little bit of advice, though. You got lucky, approaching me." He shook his head. "But not all the gifted are as nice as I am. Be careful. Survey them before you get anywhere near. Never just drop in and say hello, or they will assume the worst and attempt to either capture you, or go right past that and decide that killing is the easiest way to deal with you."

Current let a smile cross across his face. He was worried that the he would not be able to find another gifted. This wasn't nearly as hard as he thought it would be.
"Thanks, I'll keep that in mind. See this why I needed to find another gifted I'm flying blind, uh no pun intended. So what happened earlier today with all the gifted? what were you doing here?"

Jump shrugged. "I was the one who initiated it, actually." He said, shaking his head. "I don't believe there were any fatalities, fortunately, but the destruction I caused with my foolishness..." He smiled grimly. "You're new to the whole Gifted thing, so I'll give you a few more tips if you stick around with me." He said, and approached carefully, extending his hand. "Do you mind?" He asked. "It's safer on the rooftops, and if I'm going to help, I need to know what you do."

Current hesitated. "This isn't going make me vomit or give me cancer or anything?" Current sighed and stuck out a hand anyway.
"Ok, but fair warning if you really want to see what I can do we need to go somewhere more remote. without so many, living people. Not a desert. A deserted island would be good."

Ma Nature brushed off her skirt as she rose from kneeling in front of an elderly gentleman who had needed a bit of assistance with a burn.  She had eased his pain as best she could and made sure that he knew the locations of several homeless shelters.  A church group had set up an aid station with coffee and sandwiches which provided them both with a free meal.  She helped him to stand and pointed him in the right direction for a decent flop house.  She looked around and did not see anything or anyone else that needed tending to, so she took off in the direction of the libraru.  She wanted to look up the name of that fancy pants flying fellow who had spoken so nicely to her earlier, andd she also wanted to see if the new magazines were in yet.  She loved reading the articles on herbal healing and folk medicine as well as any updates that she could discover in midwifery.  The more that she knew, the more that she could help the helpless.  Plus the library would be cooled which was a pleasant change.

After some walk, she approached the steps of the library.  She took a seat close to one of the lions and took a pair of house shoes out of one of her packs.  The shoes folded easily and were sufficinetly shoe-like to satisfy the rule about wearing shoes in public buildings.  Wiggling her toes in the soft cloth covering, she climbed the stairs to the door and let herself in.  She would check out the magazines first in case she were here long enough to get kicked out at closing.

Eric's head raised as it always did when someone walked in. This time however his eyes widened ever so slightly. It was the woman that wanted to give the large brute a thrashing. He composed himself quickly and welcomed her to the library. "Hello ma'am. Welcome to the Library. Is there anything I can help you find?"

In reply to Current (msg # 90):

Jump blinked and sighed. "You think I actually know the location of any deserted islands? And even if I did, I've never been before. Teleporting to a new place, outside of my normal range, takes hours. Even days or weeks. It took me almost a week to get to Japan. No joke. I can get there in a few minutes now, but that's because I like visiting and I've gone quite often. But Japan definitely isn't deserted" He shrugged. "I'll tell you what though, I know a place across the border in Canada. I don't go often, but I've been there enough to kick the time it takes to get there to about 2 or so minutes, instead of several hours."

He reached out and grabbed Current's hand, and both of them disappeared. Where they'd left had a similar sensation as the place he and Eric had teleported from earlier, as if anybody who walked into it had their depth perception thrown off, but it faded after a couple of minutes and the two of them were in the middle of a small glade of trees. It was chilly, and there was snow on the ground, so they were obviously quite a ways North, but there didn't appear to be any living people. "And no, I don't give people cancer. My teleports, according to the scientists, at least, are completely health friendly. Depending on if we end up in open air, at least. There shouldn't be any sense of motion sickness either, so unless you're allergic to teleporting, you shouldn't vomit either." Jump stepped back and stood there patiently, staring at Current.

"I'll tell you what I do first, to make you a little more comfortable." He said, and gestured at his surroundings. "For starters, I'm blind. Honestly, trying to describe the way I see is like, pardon the irony, trying to describe to a blind man what colors look like. To keep it simple and short, I sense where things are supposed to be. That tree over there, the deer about 700 feet that way, or the bird, almost a mile and a half up. I just know they're there. I see them as... gravitational centers, I suppose. Not that that makes any sense." He was suddenly standing farther away, behind a tree. "As to my teleporting, the way it works at least, the scientists who've studied me say it's a kind of... mental hoop-jumping. My power gave me the ability to believe, with all my heart, that I'm not where I'm at and I'm where I want to be, and I get to actually be there." He laughed. "But, no, seriously, they say I basically fold space over until I exist in both place at once, and then I just slip into one of the spaces instead of both. Under careful examination, it's noticeable that when I teleport, for the barest of a millisecond, I'm in both places at the same time. For short range, at least. Long range, I Jump, and then the scientists think that my Mind takes time to stretch out to where I want to be, and then deposits me there."

He stopped talking and took a deep breath. "Your turn."

Current took a few steps back and raised his arms. The air around them quieted and then warmed to a comfortable temperature.
  "In short I form a metal bond with all the air and water around me. It allows me to feel and control it, almost as if it was a part of my body."

Current raised a hand and pulled moister from the surrounding area to form a small cloud hovering above his hand.

"I can be more precise the closer the matter is to my body." said Current as the cloud above his hand darkened. In a few seconds the cloud had transformed into a small  globe of crystal clear water.
"I can control the temperature as well as the psychical properties." the globe of water split into to two smaller globes. One of the globes began to pop and bubble as heated to boiling . The other globe let out a sharp squeal and froze solid.

"and I can even control the electrical charge"

The two Spheres evaporated back into clouds. Current concentrated on the clouds. After a few seconds a small spark flit between the two clouds followed by a soft pop.

Current turned around and gestured to the sky, then  he checked to make sure no one was in the surrounding area.

"over a larger area however, while I can't be as precise, I have a lot more to work with."

The winds began to pick up and rushed through trees causing them shake and shed powdered snow. The clouds overhead darkened and swelled to bursting. Thunder and lighting sounded from above and sleet began to fall. A few minuets later the two gifted stood in a bubble of calm sounded by howling blizzard. Wind and ice flew around them clouding everything outside the bubble.
"It's Impressive but not very useful" Current shouted over the tempest.

A minute later the wind had died down and the clouds had cleared. Current turned back around to Jump.
"Yea that's about it. I can by fly by controlling the air around me, that took a wile to get down, and there are a few other things but all of them are just different application my base ability.".

In reply to Icon (msg # 92):

Smiling at the young fellow who seemed to be so friendly that she suspected that he was not from around here, Ma walked over to the desk.

"I would like to look at yer magazines please.  I am most innersted in herbs an' sich ... folk medicines an' alternative healin'.  An' iffn I git through them articles, I need ta read up some on mythology.  Do ye think that would be ok?  I aint got no card, but then agin, aint plannin' on takin' nothin' outta the buildin' neither.  By thuh way, what time do y'all close?"

She waited for his responses and wondered if he would react favorably or not to her accent. Most folks up thisaway had a tendency to gawk when she opened her mouth.

Eric smiled. " OF course ma'am I will show you where they are. He sat down his book which the cover was easily read. The Legends of the Hindu Gods HE took her to the magazine aisle and showed her the ones on herbs. "Here you go ma'am. Oh and we close at 9pm. Please come to me if you need any assisstance." He gave her a friendly warm smile as he walked back to his desk and began to read again.
This message was last edited by the player at 04:24, Sun 31 May 2015.

In reply to Current (msg # 94):

Jump nodded. "Impressive," he said with a gesture at the now calm skies, "hardly covers that." He shook his head. "Never underestimate your gifts. In a fight with other gifted, that will likely be your downfall." There was a tiny beep from Jump's pocket and he frowned, but ignored it for the moment. "And try to think outside the box. If you fight like a Normal, you'll die like a Normal. I made that mistake just earlier today, in fact."

After he finished speaking he pulled out a slim black phone and put it to his ear, waiting for a few moments. His face grew progressively more drawn before he pulled the phone away and put it back, sighing. He stepped forwards and grabbed Current, both of them appearing almost immediately back in New York. He stepped away and made a small bow. "I apologize for cutting this short, but something's come up with work." He said. He hesitated, but reached into his pocket and pulled out a card. "This is the number of someone I work for. Call them when you feel like Using your gifts for the betterment of others." He paused. "But be sure you're willing to do that. I can't outright tell you who I work for without sending you through a slew of processes used to determine whether or not you're applicable, but at the very least, they can tell you what, and who to avoid to keep them from coming after you."

He took a few more steps back. "And my number is on the back as well. I'm not a recruiter, but hey, not like I'm going outside of necessities. I've done all of this to the book so far. First contact, personality profiling..." He shook his head. "Anyways, I'll see you around." And with that, and a faint popping sound, he disappeared.

And reappeared in the small complex that had been set up as a transportation hub, not directly connected to main HQ, but still a part of it nonetheless. Main mode of transport: Jump the Pack-mule. He liked to joke around, but sometimes, he really did feel like that. They never let him do anything exciting. He had to go and do that on his own, like earlier today, and look where that had gotten him. He came in on the platform and a small squadron was already prepared. The one that had come to retrieve him earlier, after the fight in Central Park. They hustled onto the pad next to him and without a single word, he grabbed all of them, and Jumped to Chicago. He didn't get to stay and enjoy the scenery, instead returning to grab a few more squads from the hub, and then heading right over to HQ.

In reply to Icon (msg # 96):

Ma followed the young fellow to the section of thelibrary she had asked for.  Looking around, she saw a seat that promised to be comfortable near a light source.  She started picking up magazines and flipping to the contents pages as he spoke.  She nodded as he spoke,

"Shore thang hon.  Iffn I do not finish afore qiittin' time, holler at me to move on!  You kin call me Ma iffn ya want.  I am stayin' in a flop hou-- er, shelter near by so it won't be a problem gittin' back in thuh dark.  By thuh way, what's yer name iffn ya doan mind me askin'.  Yer thuh mos' friendly 'un I met in town."

She waited to see what he answered and also to see how busy the fellow was.  She knew that he had been reading, but he might have been a student.  She had been a loner most of her life, but this whole city was so foreign to her that she missed conversation with a friendly stranger.

Eric smiled. "Nice to meet you Ma. My names Eric." He looked around to make sure that no one else was near. He considered his options and thought to approach this with some form of care. His voice dropped to a whisper. "I must apologize for not being able to bring you that umm as you put it, The misbegotten son of ugly. If it helps at all I did put a pretty good beat down on him before the AGF decided to shoot some large spikes into me." He smiled apologetically. He did recall her calling down rain to quench the flames. "I would hazard a guess that you were there to protect the trees?"

Ma's eyes opened  wide, indicating her surprise.  This youngster looked nothing at all like the flying man she had met earlier that day.  Apparently he was one of what the news called a Gifted.  So was she for that matter, but she did not go around telling everybody everything that she knew.  She imagined that this kid did not either.  Well, well!  He must be trusting her with his secret which was a mighty fine thing for a stranger to do.  She would keep it safe for him in that case.  Carefully she spoke,

"Nice ta meetcha Eric.  I was thar anyhow an' all I care fer all thangs that live.  When thet hot head started hurtin' people an' trees, it got my dander up.  An' I am glad ta hear thet ya give him what-fer cuz he shore needed it!"

She glanced around and saw no one close by that could eavesdrop.  Someone with gifted hearing might overhear, but that could not be helped.  So she added:

"Until I kin find work an' git my own place, I'm stayin' at thuh Haven o' Mercy Shelter; iffn ya ever need help, feel free ta give me a holler"

It was an odd feeling, this almost instant trust of a stranger, but she was glad of it.  She felt somehow better connected than she had before.  Funny how one never realized lonliness until it was lessened.  And she reassured herself that if this kid ever tried to do her dirt, she could always take him out to the wood shed.

Eric was slightly taken aback. He always hated hearing of others suffering. And this woman here was a gifted just like him and all she wanted to do was to protect the earth, just like he did. He thought for a moment before speaking again. "I can understand how you felt about him. I hate seeing people hurt or downtrodden especially by people like us who should be doing what we can to help them. Also I live in a small two bedroom flat and currently my roommate just moved out. If you ever need a place to stay you are more than welcome. Hell if you even need a job I could probably talk to my boss about you working here. Heaven knows we need another hand around here since that teenager just stopped showing up." Eric also added. "And likewise if you ever need help, you can contact me. If you have a phone I can give you my number."

In reply to Icon (msg # 101):

Now Ma Nature could feel maternal instincts kicking in.  This was either the slyest con artist who should be acting on Broadway or he was entirely too innocent for his own good.  Maybe he had amazing powers, but one of these days, someone he was nice to was going to ever more clean his clock for him.       She smiled and took his number,

"Many thanks Eric, and I would not mind a job, but do not git yerself in dutch on my account.  An' I couldn't pay rent or take charity.  So ye best oughta save that spare room for someone who kin help ye pay thuh bills!  You dona know me from Adam's off ox!  Better check up on folks afore ye go invitin' 'em in ta where ya live son."

She stopped a moment and thought before adding,

"It aint that I am ungrateful.  I do want ta get outta that flop house, but not iffn I have to take a body's charity.  I do not mind takin' the Church's charity on accounta that is what they;re supposed ta do, givin' shelter an' all, but a person lookin' fer a roomate needs one ta pay rent.  Mayhap if I do get me a job soon and save a bit, I'll call ya up!"

She was starting to really feel her age now.  She was forty-something going on a hundred.  And now she was trying to mother a kid who was probably in his mid- twenties if that.  Maybe older, but then she had never been good at telling ages.  Plus she was a bit flustered at having been offered so much in such a short time.  Didn't this kid know that he was supposed to be not only more careful, but also surly?  She grinned at her own cynicism.  She picked up a magazine and started flipping through it

He nodded and smiled. "I can understand where your coming from. If you need anything let me know." He made his way back to his desk and picked his book back up.

In reply to Icon (msg # 103):

Ma smiled at him while wondering if he understood that she was warning him about being so open and friendly that he would get himself hurt.  Young men usually did not care to be mothered even by their own, but she was afraid of insulting him if she pushed the matter any further.  She grabbed two or three more magazines and went to settle herself at the chair and tabke that she had seen earlier and began reading an article on further uses for Aloe Vera.  She wondered at the idea of drinking the stuff and wondered if it tasted like crap or not. Hmmm.

Robbing drunks and junkies was easy, robbing ones with guns wasn't to bright though, robbing one OF there gun was just plain retarded. So when Lee got into town, he chose to drop in on one of the local pawn shops, the kind that seamed to just 'forget' to turn it's cameras on during business hours...every single day...He pawned some stolen goods and used stolen money and pawn money to grab a cheep 9mm, two spare clips, and a box of ammo. He stored it all in his back pack and headed out after buying a few small tools.

He spent most of his first day dumpster diving around back wall-marts and the like, and electronic stores for things he needed. He wanted to get some cash, and he wanted to figure out what was going on.

After digging through a few electronic waist bens he had all he really nedded, the hard part was the right plastic part for the ATM he was scouting out. (Just assuming there not using mag strips at all by then) His RFID reader had to go overtop the atm's and look like it belonged there. That was the hardest part. Hiding some small cameras was easier but hiding something like that right in plane sight took a lot of searching. Once it was found the rest was easy, all he had to do was wait and hope some one didn't come along that would. It ice the tiny cameras or the slightly off scanner, that and the battery life dying out on any of them.

Thank goodness for hot and ready pizza, all the leftovers at the end of the night get thrown out, a stack of free pizza just waitting for the first person to come along. He sat on a nearby roof looking at the city lights and watching faces and PIN numbers, he was looking for that particular mix of signals that said this person wasn't easy on this end of town, was doing ilegal things, and was very uneasy about it... Could usaly tell by there shoes how much money they had, everyone forgets to get shoes she they dress down odd that, but he could take some money from some one like that and they would almost always sweep the charges under covers if it was a one time thing. Why risk some one finding out what they where doing down there over what could have just been a charge they forgot they made.

Ma tried to concentrate on the    articles, but she was havingan inner argument with herself that kept her mind off the  material that she had read and reread several times. Finally she  gave up and sat in   deep study.Snapping her fingers, which startled a nearby reader, she got up and went back to the  desk.  Hopefully Eric would be there still.  She looked around hopefully for the  young   man.

Eric was sitting at his desk reading his book on the hindu gods very carefuly. He had already covered a few and was interested to see how they would work if he needed them. He heard someone approach him and saw the woman from before. HE flashed her a smile. "Hello again Ma. What can I do for you."

She smiled in gratitude,

"I got a degree, just two years, but still a degree -- though one might be hard pressed ta tell from the way I talk.  And I am a right smart cook and know how ta keep outta the way.  If ya need me, I'll be back trying' ta focus on muh reading some more ... and thank you.  I will make sure that you do not regret the help"

Maybe now she could actually focus on that article about the benefits of kudzu.
This message was last edited by the player at 21:46, Mon 15 June 2015.

Eric chuckled warmly. "Of course the offer is still good. I will send an email to my boss right now and talk to her about hiring you on here. If thats what you want." he always had a good heart. His mother had told him it would get him into trouble and with his gift boy was she right. Still, he had to do the right thing.

A Day in the life

“Rhythm is a dancer, it’s a source companion, you can feel it every wear.. "

The music was her cue.

Janice took to the stage, pasted on a smile and tried not to think about how her deeply catholic mother would feel if she knew what she did for a living. She let the music wash over her and put her body in motion.. After quitting the booze and the junk the only escape she had left was music and movement… and of course the emotions…

Janice let her perception swell as it picked up the simple alcohol addled lust of the male clientele.  She reveled in it’s sweet simplicity. Once she had worked in a cleaner place, the kind of strip club that couples would frequent. She hated it, the complex of emotions that couples gave off when they watched an external erotic act, the guilt the envy the love and jealousy, too hard to drink in, too complex to amplify back. She much preferred a seeder places where men went alone to ogle and fantasise and drink.  Janice soaked in their simple lust, amplified it and gave it back to them. In return she took a tiny fraction of life force from everyone in the room; making the men a tad more sedate, a bit more comfortable in their beer induced stupor. Like a sleepy wet dream she went through her act, showing far more acumen as a dancer than any of the other girls, using stolen life force to infuse her body and lift her performance to levels not seen outside of the Bolshoi. Not that the customers cared, she was a young woman with a firm round ass and nice large tits and they were going to see her naked , that was the limit of their appreciation.

Always afterward there were suitors, men who wanted a private dance, who offered her vast sums to take her home with them. She refused them all, if one became too insistent she could cool his adore and suddenly his lust would turn to shame and guilt and he would slink back home to his wife. Still the money was good, she always made more in tips than any of the other girls and the owner knew better than to squeeze her.

2am and time to knock off for the night, a quick drive home,  a long hot shower then sleep. 10 o’clock time for breakfast and a workout, palates class and a Danish.  The rest of the day spent doing chores, laundry, dishes, a daytime soap opera, trying not to think about going out to buy a bottle or score a hit. 6pm time for her AA meeting, 3 times a week, nearly 3 months clean now, the mood is always heavy and tinged with regret there. She refrains from adjusting anyone’s emotions, everyone has to feel their own feelings if they are going to recover. though sometimes she has to flee lest she drown in the pain and sorrow so many bring.  7:30 time for a microwaved dinner, a show on netflix and then off to work…

Well Janice was in for an odd sight on the walk to work, some one appeared to be at the local ATM quite a bit before the strip joints, bars, and other less than reputable places in the area, on top of that he was a kid. He looked like he belonged in middle, maybe high, school and was wearing clothing that looked like it came from goodwill. He had some broken smart phones wired up to each other and some odd thing he was holding in front of the RFID reader. He put it away quickly and messed with the phones before punching in a PIN number.

This kid was obviously tampering with the device, but his emotions where not what one might expect. There was no sense of greed, nor was there as much desperation as one would think... This clearly wasn't a last resort, he even felt little guilty, but there was a smug sense that the guy had it coming ... Rich bastard yah know?  Then there was the fact most worried about getting caught doing stuff like this, but he was more worried he would brake it, and worried about some one(s) else finding him that he was a lot more scared of than the cops.

He got the device duck taping it over the reader this time and had the machine spit out a nice crisp 100 bill while he tapped away at the phone screen butting at his lower lip. Anticipation, a bit of stress, and then a moment of relief before being followed by a swell of guilt and conflicting emotions. He bit at his lower lip and looked between the two screens while he pulled the tape away.

Would you like another transaction?

Yes...

Janice stood there a few seconds regarding the child. Her curiosity peaked...

"Hey Kid, what are you up too?"

She asked ready to sooth his emotions if he reacted with fear or anger...

Fear? Not to much... Anger? Not in the least bit what so ever. Concern what she might do, quite a bit and as he remembered a lot of his mothers advice a good bit of distrust. Pretty girls use there looks to get what they want, near all of them are raised spoiled cold hatred cunts, that's what his mom would say... His mum just didn't talk much about it and said to watch out. He hit some keys in as he decided to go bold, it was working so far... "Hey, just keep quite, I'll give you 850$ ok?" He said while the thing just started spitting out money with no real sign of stoping.

"I don't need money, but I think you might need me. I could have been a cop or worse a gang banger who'd shoot you for your shoes never mind a couple grand."

Lee finds his feelings of concern start to lessen a bit and he has a sort of warm feeling about this pretty girl.

"Look, I have to get to work now but I'll make you a deal. Instead of the 850 you owe me why don't you buy me a coffee and a danish instead? I'll meet you at that donut shop over there, I get off work around 2am."

Janice flashes the young man a coy smile and turns to walk away.

"You be careful, I'll see you later tonight, after work..."

As she sashays out down the street she leaves behind a subtle fluctuation of intrigue and anticipation that the young man inhales like a waft of expensive perfume.

"Um.....yah, ok?"  He's less worried, but there so so many worries buying for attention... Meeting up with some one is the last thing he wants to do, the eased worry just let's a sense of urgency and (if the the profile is anything) what would be a bit overwhelming, due to a bit of feedback, of a need to make sense of things ... He didn't know what was happening to him or what was happening period for that matter, that sense of being lost was to much of a drive for him to want to 'waist time with a prity face'. He quickly started shoving the money and his phone parts into his backpack careful not to let her see inside it ass he opened it.

In reply to Lee McDouglas (msg # 116):

[OOC]Have we written each other out of the scene?[/OOC]

Janice finishes her set. Unsure what it was about the little thief that intrigued her so much. Perhaps it was his fearlessness...

She returns to the street they meet on and goes to the donut shop she indicated and waits.

(Well was trying to give you a hook with the felling lost about his powers and stuff)

In reply to Lee McDouglas (msg # 118):

[OOC] She can only feel emotions. she does not know anything about powers. She meet a kid hacking an ATM who was feeling kinda lost so she tried to arrange a time to meet him and find out more about him. Not sure what else she was supposed to do. [OOC]

Janice waits at the donut shop, hoping the strange boy decides to show up. IF not she shrugs and goes on home.
This message was last edited by the player at 16:28, Tue 16 June 2015.

( I just figured she would recognize that same emotion of feeling lost she had when she was figuring her power out.)

Only slightly dejected by the boys failure to show up Janice returned to her small apartment. Stepping over garbage and dodging the drug dealers on the corner she entered her building. She Takes the stairs because the elevator hasn’t worked in months. Once inside the peeling paint, the chipped floors and the constant wail of police sirens greeted her as usual.

She thought to herself.
“This place is a dump! Why am I doing this? I could be making millions with what I have. I don’t need this Sh#t! “

A shorter than usual sleep, a quick internet search for cheap flights and some inexpensive luggage later and she was on her way to the airport.

“A One way ticket for Las Vegas please.”

What ever had happened before had felt like some sort of altered state almost and he had been fighting it, but now he was allowing it and tiring to let it happen... Though trying wasn't the best choice of words. It was quickly evident that trying to hard just caused problems at this point. He could feel the phone like it was a part of his hand as he held it but the sensations he was getting from it didn't make much sense to him. He found he could control the phone some through whatever bond he had with it but his control was clumsy at best, like a baby trying to walk, this new 'limb' made little sense to him. He tried to establish some sort of interface but the phone shorted out from the attempt and was burnt up rather bad.

He tossed it in a nearby dumpster and pulled out one of the less damaged phones trying again taking it step by step finding something he had no idea how to take. His gift didn't seam to be a normal gift of any kind, there was computers of some sort in him, he didn't know the nature but it seamed he was some sorts cyborge? But what he could have worked out faster than the fact what ever computer was inside him, it was running on some sorta alien computer code or something based of some dead language.... There wasn't even the slightest similarity to any language pattern or computer code he knew. God, he was going to need a quantum computer to make complete sense of this, a powerful trinary supercomputer to start at least.

He couldn't quietly get anything like that together........ He had to think of another way.

"It is better than I am likely to come across anywhere else my dear.  Though you might want to see if they have anything where I am not in public so much.  My wardrobe is somewhat wantin'"

Ma shook her head in sad admission that her lot in life had gone through quite an earthquake.  Still ...

"You give me a call in the reference section when y"ou get ready to go, and I  will be most happy to fix youa decent meal if you ain't busy tonight that is.

Eric chuckled. "Well unless something else happens today that I have to jump into, which I am against at the moment, We should have smooth sailign for the rest of the day."

In reply to Icon (msg # 124):Ma smiled back.

"If it is sumethin' like that punk in the park today, I might just hump too!  lsewise, I'll see what ya got in the fridgedare and make us some vittles -- an' that might be another adventure fer ya!"

Eric smiled. Well im here for the next three hours. Then i can show you to the apartmen."

"I'll be in Reference!  If I have enough sense to check the clock, I will start up this way at that time".

Ma headed off to see of Thor was who in thunder she thought he was.

I took the better part of the day but Lee had used his ill gotten gain to buy a server and a fairly good computer with no sound and next to no graphics. He had got them to the lowest part of the library basement and was setting them up with very little attention drawn to him. Many old buildings like the old library with underground structures in New York had street access lifts, generally they were quite safe as they had to be opened from bellow and now a days often magnetically locked. Having one rise up and some one load it up with stuff was not a totally uncommon thing, the only problem was it took him a few tries to get the lift to unlock and rise with his power. He didn't understand it much at all and it was not easy to do, so it looked rather odd for him to be fiddling around by the hatch, but it lifted up on it's own with out him doing anything to apparently force so he couldn't have attracted to much attention could he?

Once the lift raised, he could operate it properly, and no one knew that some one wasn't down there to send it up to him. Setting the server and computer up some where out of the way was easy enough, the problems came with his plans......

He did not have enough money for a quantum computer, let alone a supercomputer. But a lot of computers could be used to create a mock up super computer. The university's library had the little visited older sections he was setting up in, yes, but it also had newer additions where there was hundreds of computers set up for students to use. Sending information out to them for them to process and send back would create a network of computers with the power of a supercomputer.

The problem came at the fact of creating a second network that wouldn't show up, and making the computers ether connect to both networks or appear like they are still connected by the original network even when they are not. Also there was a problem with the possessing usage, he could mask it making it only use computers no one is logged into, but even then if he didn't do some fenangaling of the network any admin would notice.

No.....  he had to set up a fake network for the network that was identical to the old network. Building a fake network inside another network, and making it so people couldn't see the network around the one they where in wasn't easy.  Particularly if you wanted to make sure some one who knew what they were doing would miss clear signs of it. It would be a bit before he was ready to switch the server over to his, and he would have to do it while the place was closed.

After some time, Ma came back from her research and approached Eric and spoke softly:

"When you can take a break, I would not mind pickin' yer brain a bit about the first time we met in the park.  Can you do that soon and go somewhere private?"

Ma had read some of the more basic mythologies of Thor, but even Edith Hamilton left much to be desired.

Eric looked around. "Well there is not much of anything going on right now. We can talk in the back if you want?". He said standing and placing a bookmark in his book before closing it.

Ma smiled at her young friend,

"Good!  I do not fancy bein' overheard.  My grandma was once on a party line -- telephone line shared by several folks back in the day -- and she lived on that durn thing, keeping her hand over the mouth piece and listening to all the neighbors' business.  Guess it made me a bit antsy about privacy""

She waited for him to dead on'; her curiosity was about to get her goat.

Eric chuckled as he led her to the back in the private reading areas. It was completely deserted at this time. "My mother told me that was exactly why my grandmother never had a phone in her house." he pulled out a chair for her to sit on then took his own after she had been seated. "Alright." he said opening his arms and setting them on the table with a smile on his face. "Grill away."

In reply to Icon (msg # 132):

Ma entered the room and was surprised when he pulled the chair out for her; apparently his mother had raised him right after all.  She waited until he was seated and acknowledged that he was ready for her to question.  She thought for a minute, trying to decide what the best way to start was.  Nodding, she made up her mind and spoke,


" I am in yer debt for helpin' me out, an' iffn ye want ta ask anything of me, I reckin I doan have much ta hide nohow.  But I am all-fired curious.  Are you really Thor when ya change?  Kin ye do that whenever it pleases ya or is it somethin' that jest comes over ya?"

She curbed her questions, knowing that it would behoove her not to overwhelm him with questions.  There was so much she wanted to know, but hopefully there would be time.

Eric kept his smile. Noone had ever been really interested in him and his abilities before. "Well yes and no. When I change I have the powers and mindset of Thor. However my one drive to protect those in need will take precendence in those moments. I can change at will but the process drains me of energy and I get very exhausted. Also if there is a great amount of danger threatening innocent people, such as the park, the change will happen automatically. When that happens I dont get to pick who I change into. Which brings me to the last two parts of my power. While I do assume the form of a god I am not immortal. I can take one hell of a beating before i really get injured but im notnindestructible, and the AGF has weapons that can hurt me just as effevtively as if I were human. Also I am not limited to Thor. I can become any god and myth of legend tjat I have studied intently to the point I know just about everything about them. I already have a handful of pantheons under my belt. I have recently started on  the Hindu lore. I currently csn access the Norse, Greek, Chinese, Egyptian, Myan, and Japanese Eric finished and sat there waiting for more questions. He was excited and was ready to talk all nght about Ma's and his powers.

In reply to Icon (msg # 134):

Ma was fascinated with what this kid could do.  But something else  had caught her attention.

"The AGF?  Who is that?  You run into them often?"

Ma had spent much of her Awakening on back roads and in the hills and hollers of her home state.  Maybe meeting this young man was even more of a clessing than she had thought.

Eric's smile faded a bit. "The Anti Gifted Force. They hate all of us gifted." Eric looked back across the table. "So what all can you do?"
This message was last edited by the player at 03:52, Fri 10 July 2015.

In reply to Icon (msg # 136):

Ma's mood altered when she heard the boy's answer; she should have known that no matter what happened, someone somewhere was going to hate it and protest against it.  Hate was apparently universal, just like rednecks.

His question brought her out of her brown study however, and gave her a positive focus upon which to think.

"I can command the forces of Nature, especially if I am pissed off enough.  And nothing pisses me off more than bullies pushing folks around, especially them what cannot push back.  And not just elements like wind and water; I can call animals and plants to help too.  Like that punk kid in the park?  Nothing would have pleased me better than to put a lightening bolt right up his ass.  I tend to focus on people, but everything lives in its own way, though I am not sure about concrete.  But it  really rattles my cage to see animals and trees and such abused.

Now I have another question for ya, are there other groups growing around the Gifted?  like comic book stuff like Good Guys ve.  Bad Guys?"

Well, he was ready, and all over the building, and anyone that might be stealing wifi, there internet connection went down as the network died out. It was only for a moment though before it came right back, no obvious signs that anything had happened other than perhaps some one tripping over a wire.

Eric actually chuckled for a moment. "Ahhh. So you are very much like the Titan Gaia. I love it." He had to think for a moment before answering her next questions. "There are two main groups as far as I know. The ITSDA who work with gifted to establish some form of control but they are looking out for themselves foremost. And the Namedians. Gifted and others who are using their powers for their own personal gain no matter who gets in the way. I guess I fall into a third category. I am an independent. I just want to do what I can to help people. I don't want anything for it I just want them to be safe." He raised his eyebrow. "I know that sounds all comic booky and Supermany but its just how I was raised. If you have the ability to help people do it. Just be a nice person and good will come of it."

Ma did not fully understand the reference to Gaia, but  she also suspected that it did not really matter in the long run.  All that mattered is that it meant something to him.  She made careful note of the groups that he outlined.  Shaking her head, dhe replied,

"I reckin that you ain't alone there hon.  I don't cotton to joinin' either group myself.  But the first is definitely better than the second.  Kinda reminds me of politics: ya know that beneath the surface, they're all the same, but ya vote for the ons who put on a purty siot that comes closer to what ye believe yerself.  And ain't no shame soundin' like a comic book hero; what we need is more heroes like that."

Eric smiled "That may be true but there aren't many independents as far as I know. Hell until today I had not met another gifted that wasn't part of the two main groups."

Lee now had the problem of finding some way to get something for the computer to prosses. For now it feed it the information he had gained from the phones and let it try and make sense of it.

He figured a hospital might have something but how to get into one.

Ma Nature grinned,

"I've come across a few Gifted, mostly assholes and rednecks.  And I hadda teach 'em a bit o' manners.   Apparently they were backwoods ignernt and independent to boot because I cannot imagine ANYBODY wantin' them on their team.  I guess I am purty backwoods myself, but at least I seem to be getting taught a thing or two.  I am not so much of a joiner either, so comin; ta town is going to be mighty interestin'"

Eric laughed silently. "Yea the city is a bit different from the country thats to be sure. However I dont mind showing you areound at all."

"It ain't like I never been ta town before, but Nashvegas and Hotlanta just do not compare to The Big Apple"

she nods.

"And I am so verry glad that I met ya Eric"

Eric smiled "Likewise Ma. Any other questions I can answer for you?"

Ma thought for a moment and then said, shyly,

"One more an'please pardon me fer the personal nature of the question.  When ye change to one o' these other Gods, do Their togs come with 'em?  An' when ye change back, do you still have yer pants?"

So it was two questions, but inquiring minds...

Eric blinked for a full two seconds before laughing a bit. "The clothes change to fit the god. Afterwards they change back."

Ma chuckled,

"Saves on the laundry bill I reckin!  But I think that you have answered all that I can think of to ask right now hon.  Is there anythang that I can do for ya while we wait for quittin' time?"

As woman and Icon chatted, a light a distance away from the pair but within line of sight flickered for a few seconds before returning to normal. A minute later there was a soft thud of something hitting the rather dated carpet of the library, a book once seated firmly on a shelf now rested on the floor of an aisle that was void of anyone who could have caused it. This was followed shortly after by the squeak of wheels; a book cart rolled slowly into view before coming to a complete stop.

Ma Nature thought she had left Central Park alone; she was mistaken...

Ma had turned in her seat to watch the cart roll after the book  hit the floor.  Glancing at Eric, she replied,

"Well that is somethin' that ya see everyday.  Got another question for ya dear: How long has the library been haunted?"
This message was last edited by the player at 21:08, Thu 16 July 2015.

Etic looked over towards the noise and immediately stood. "Yes I think. Try and find out what that was with me." he cautiously started forward towards the cart.

As they had spoken at the same time, Ma chose to stand and join Eric since she had not really expected an answer to her question anyway.  But she was antsy.  The State of Denmark was smelly again.

Eric cautiously makes his way forward. He knows the library isn't haunted. However an invisible gifted would not be a stretch.

The cart acts like its normal self and remains where it came to rest, yet a noise up at the front desk might well catch the Gifted pair's attention. To be fair, it was actually coming from the workroom in back of Icon's seat; the printer used to create barcodes for scanning was somehow turned on, and strips of paper were overflowing the tray and coming to rest in an ever growing pile in the floor. Instead of numbers and lines however, on each were the words 'PLAY WITH ME'.

Eric just stood there for a moment reading the pages. "Ok...I was pretty sure this place wasnt haunted...this is new."

Hearing some noises upstairs he curses some having hoped no one was here, he goes and tries to get under the room they are coming from so maybe he can hear there voices through an air vent, he wanted to make sure the internet blackout didn't attract any attention from them.

In reply to Lee McDouglas (msg # 157):

Ma noticed the sound and headed to the front desk.  Without asking, she went into the back room searching for the source of the noise.  Squatting by the pile of papers, she looks up at Eric,

"Who do ya reckin wants ta play?"

Eric shrugged. "Either an invisible gifted playing tricks or the Library really is haunted."

Kilroy knew that he needed to act, but there were so many things to act upon.  That was the problem really, if he cared about any one thing he'd be near unstoppable and one of the most powerful gifted on Earth.  No, strike that, he was one of the most powerful gifted on Earth...he just didn't let other people know that, and for good reason.

When he had had his first dream, it had offered him a series of choices as to what his gift had been.  He had actually negotiated with the dream, which had amused the dream to no end.  Through that given and take, Kilroy had received a remarkable skill set, but contrary to what one might thing, his most deadly ability wasn't tracking money.

It was detecting a price.

All jokes of the Priceline negotiator aside, Kilroy could answer someone what they needed for their dream job or how much a pair of fish would cost, but he could also answer questions himself. He had investigated the gifted enough to know that these vague prophetic powers based on magic or prophesy or pattern were never absolute and had limits...but his had never been wrong yet; but it helped in part that he treated the price of each with absolute certainty and seriousness.

Which is why he wasn't going after the Namidian Wave, despite the threat they represented.

He had seen a lot of things in his dream, mishmashes and compilations and details of things that were and were not and things to come and things which had not been and likely wouldn't be.  He saw a world of different gifted and terribly powerful magicians an other kinds of people went back and forth reshaping the world to their whims…

So when he had asked,”What is the price of undoing the damage done with the destruction of the Orb?” The answer had been,”Learn all you can.  Act on what you know.  Do not directly go after the Namidian Wave.”  To be sure, if they got in his way, he could crush them, but he could never join the ITDSA or actively dedicate himself to stopping the super criminals unless they threatened massive amounts of life or the global economy.

But sometimes that really sucked, like when he sat in a bar in the Bronx, waiting for an intelligence source to talk to him about a rather interesting gadgeteer called the Electrician.  The source, who called himself Grey Matter looked around and smiled,”Hello there John Smith.”

Kilroy nodded,”John Smith,” and handed him the brown envelope full of 100 newly made but entirely real $1000 bills.

Grey Matter smiled,”So it goes like this...”

(more posted soon, GM may intervene elsewise I'll keep posting on this thread for a while….)

As the two Gifted mused about the possible source of their current vexation, a storage door clicked open and swung slowly in without any visible assistance. From within the darkened recess, a figure emerged; it was a knight riding a white horse with lance at the ready, his crest of an open book displayed proudly on the chest plate.

This was Sir Reads-A-Lot, one of the tactics used to try to entice children of a digital age to find comfort in one of print and paper. The outfit was a costume made out of silver elastic material so it could be worn by either male or female employees within a certain range, a stuffed white (if a touch dingy) horse with floppy legs and tail went around the waist and allowed the wearer's feet to stick out of the middle. The lance was cheap, hollow plastic and the visored helm was of no better quality; whomever was in the old getup, they stamped one foot as though pawing the ground then galloped in a very exaggerated and not overly fast way toward the man and woman.

Ma looked up and blinked rapidly several times.  Without moving her eyes from the approaching figure, she remarks to Icon,

"Well that's somethin' ya see ever' day of the week ...at a Ren Fair matbe".

She stands up and moves toward the approaching figure with a welcoming smile and avoids anything that might appear threatening.  The hair non the nape of her neck, however, is standing at attention.

Eric stsrts to move forward. Not doing anything threatening but ready to jump out of the way of the approaching knight. "Umm can we help you?"

Grey Matter looked at Kilroy and said,"Your obsession with the occult may have finally paid off."

"Oh?"

"There is a Gifted by the name of Alberich who claimed to be able to gain great insight into any item brought to him.  Some believe that he can even alter or enhance the items in his possession but if he can't, it isn't in his ITDSA file..."

"You have access to ITDSA files?"

"For the right price."

Kilroy considered a moment,"And my own file?"

"Which one would that be? The Economy, the Invisible Hand or your own? I cannot...since you have been moved to classification 5.  Congratulations, you are a major threat to society comrade."

Ignoring the faux Russian communism, he nodded.  He had known he was on their radar, just not how much and why he wasn't being hunted by Interpol,"And what classification DO you have access to?"

"Anything two or below.  MAYBE the occasional three, but it is costly, and my source will only take so many risks.   I know cost for you is no object but-"

"It isn't.  I'll purchase a copy of all data you have now and any you come across in the future.  Usual prices."

Grey Matter inclined his head amicably,"Usual prices, with extras included."

One lovely perk of working with Kilroy was that he could hide money with supernatural regularity.  But he had certain rules, which was why anyone working with him didn't cross certain lines.  Grey Matter considered the restrictions quite worth it.  "So.  Albrect.  What about him?"

"There is a rumor...a rather solid rumor that an artifact owned by Ort, the original briefcase that the Artifact was stored in...is being sold as a matter of nostalgia in a VERY select dark market auction in London in two weeks.  There is some interest in the item, but I do not believe the powers that be have considered the potentials of a high level psychometric with an item so close to the incident...or, more likely they have but have hidden the knowledge so much that-"

"I am aware of the risks.  That is why you charge so much and I pay you so well.  Thank you.  Anything else?"

"There are unusual patterns among minor precognatives.  I always pay attention to their chatter but in this case it implies that there is a major Namidian operation pending in New York soon."

Sighing, Kilroy wanted to act, but he wasn't on that kind of crusade.  "Does it...?"

"It might.  It is vague enough that it could indeed disrupt the global economy.  Chicago is a major metropolitan area but is not the heartbeat of said economy.  A major disruption here could whether or not ..."

"Right."  That meant mitigating the circumstances but not necessarily stopping it...though if he COULD stop it...how close could you get to a live wire without crossing the forbiddance of his power...."I have two weeks you say?"

"Yes, but I know you like time to plan...." Grey Matter grinned.

"It means minor risk management, setting up a team to act as a contingency without direct confrontation.  Direct involvement risks too many proscribed dangers..."

Laughing and steepling his fingers, Grey Matter leaned back in his plush leather chair,"What an interesting life you lead Mr. Conneticut.  What do you require?"

Partitioning and need to know.  Operatives on this kind of thing never went through Grey Matter.  Kilroy's own network went through McFabisham.  Kilroy shook his head and grinned. Grey Matter knew what the answer would be.  But he was quite the salesman.  Closing his eyes a moment, Kilroy moved the funds into Matter's account.
"Please move the files to the usual drop spot."

Grey Matter nodded his head.  Kilroy rose and they shook hands.

Time to put together a team before moving to London.

Kilroy sat meeting with Limrick McFabisham.  The little man was a reformed con artist who had only come out of retirement because Kilroy had saved his grandson from a life of crime.  Since then, he'd been one of Kilroy's most trusted assets.  When he needed a human to talk to another human, he didn't trust anyone more than Limerick.

He turned to Limerick,"So any leads?"

"We have one from someone in the middle of the rust belt but...its unlikely..."

"What about?"

"That he might have part of the original artifact..."

Kilroy sat up at full attention,"Wait...there are PARTS of it left?"

"Rumors..but....this...."

Kilroy swore. He couldn't go to London and solve the New York problem AND chase this down..but there were almost no agents he could trus....wait a second. "Is Glitz still in Chicago?"

"...Yes but didn't you say tha-"

"Ignore that.  This is more important.  Get as much info as you can to him and see if you can get him to meet me..."

Kilroy stood at the building entrance.  He contemplated armoring up. It took time and while it only lasted a few minutes it made him closer to invulnerable, but that was a poor idea right now.  He needed his energy and all of his wits about him.

The sunlight in the sky flickered through the skyscrapers.  It wasn't quite MahnattenHenge, but it felt like it for just a moment.  He could sense the presence and name of nearly everyone in the building, but didn't know who was causing the problems or the anomalies...but there...

That guy in the ventilation shaft might be the best place to start...

He began to "watch" closer.

Ghosts?

He didn't have time for this shit...

He headed back to his hidden server and set down going to work to make sure it was cooled properly, and then started to construct a fame to in case it and trap the cool air in and pump the hot air out, and hold a shape and weight to allow it to be hidden and things to be stacked on it.

It was some what frustrating work, it took a lot of work and a lot of it plumming work too, to get this place set up right and only had freon from an old fridge and cold tap water to work with in a rather hot basement.

In reply to Lee McDouglas (msg # 167):

About 10 minutes into his work, near Lee in pennies no less on the table near him, there was a slight shimmer as pennies appeared one by one on the table and spelled,"We might be able to help each other.  I don't know who you are but am not hostile.  We have a common interest.  Is now a good time to talk?""  The pennies then all winked out of bbn edistance and said,"Pick up the quarter for yes.  Do nothing for no. "

Kilroy seemed perfectly innocent outside by the brick wall as he did this but his senses were quite alert and he had part of his power automatically disintegrating bullets near him within a hundred feet in case a sniper hit him at that moment.  There were gifted who could detect the use of power after all.

He was to absorbed in his work to notice the quite movements of lose change compared to the racket they where making upstairs with the ghost. It wasn't till he was looking g around for some tools he had placed on the take. He blinked a few times in confusion not sure exactly what was going on and got up looking around some. "Hello?"
This message was last edited by the player at 00:47, Sun 16 Aug 2015.

It was hard, because he couldn't know what was being said, or how it was being said, only proximity, but with a bit of concentration, he could combine his knowledge of the proximity of the wallet and the clothing, with the price of the thing around it, slowly expanding the awareness of the price of things and what they were and then carefully revisualizing it in his mind.  Note, of course, the price of a thing or the tracking of currency was easy and available in vast numbers, sometimes thousands or tens of thousands of variables going on in Kilroy's mind, in part helped by his power...he didn't really think The Economy was an AI, but to call it a spirit was a bit supersticious...it clearly wasn't but it was real...it was part of his power and himself and was there and allowed his power to work in some of the ways it did.

But to combine his powers and reuse them like this took doubling and redoubling and folding his power in a way that he didn't, but it did tell him that the table that was worth $24.69 was approximately six feet to the left of Lee, and it did tell him that Lee was moving around relative to the table and the faint vibration on the coins told him that someone was speaking but with all his distractions he could guess.

There was a part of him that considered recreating a face of himself with currency inside of the library and speaking but he couldn't easily HEAR then without Quipu and that was always a pain.  He saved his concentration and energy Economically, by simply adjusting the coins to say, "Very well.  Call me when you are ready" since he hadn't picked up the quarter.   The coins then shifted to say, "555-5555 and display the number of a burner phone that he had obtained.

Kilroy didn't leave quite yet, because even if Lee wasn't ready to talk, he was curious what might be going on, and if Lee had attracted his attention, he had to wonder who else it might have as well.

And he dropped his power effects and moved to another street corner cafe where he simply listened passively with his senses for now.

When he noticed this again he raised a brow, he shrugs some and scattered the coins and finished his work before hiding the server away and grabbing his backpack. He left using the same street lift he used to get in, after installing a remote device in it of course ( ^.^ ), he found a secluded ally to sit in and dig out one of the phones to tap into a phone service to give the number a call.

The Federal Hall National Museum was established on May 26, 1842 at 26 Wall Street in Manhattan, New York in what was the first capital building of the United States under the Constitution. The building was old, cultural, and important to the peoples of the United States. Today, it also erupted into massive ball of chaos, destruction, and death. At exatly 3:15, a bag which had been turned in at the lost and found egN to ring loudly. Security, it being an important historical location filled with precious artifacts, leaped into action to secure the bag. Inside, amongsf a bunch of straw that smelled used, sat a Samsung Galaxy tablet of the newest make and model. It had no wireless or blue tooth signals eminating from it and was password encrypted. The password was 8 characters long. The phone had two counters below the passkey: one at 3 hours and counting up while the other was at 150 hours and not running yet.

Since the building targeted was a federal building, the FBI were cAlled in by the Secret Sevice and NYPD offices. No one yet suspected a Gifted; it was assumed to be run of the mill terrorism and the only question were whether it was fkreign or domestic. The CIA and ITSDA were monitoring closely but not too concerned yet. An investigation was launched and pursued vigorously. A 120 hour clock was assumed, allowing time to implement solutions when one was found.

Security video was slow in arriving to FBI headquarters and on e reviewed caused the ant's nest to burst. Ten hours had passed since the package was discovered since the video had been dayed by heavy, rush-hour traffic. No one had thought to hhave it airlifted and sending it digitally was a security risk itself. Two hours into the video, a gaunt, tall man in a purple suit and having a mane of snow white hair sauntered into the buding whistling a song. He strolled arlund the museum looking at things and whistling the same song over and over. Wdll, not the same song but bits and pieces of it or occasionally singing lyrics or mumbling the. Like he had forgotten the words, "Here's a little song I wrote. Might wanna sing it note. For. Note." Every tiem he uttered yhe signature line though he looked directly into a camera. At the end of his stroll, he pulled out the tablet under investigation so it was plain to see the passkey and timers. He tapped the screen and the first timer started then he dropped the bag by the exit on his way out. A small boy saw it and tood his dad who brought it to lost and found.

The man was identified as the Mad Immortal, Cheshire, and the race was now truly on to stop whatever he had planned. ITSDA, Interpol, and CIA resources were contactsd. A secret alert was put out seeking help from certain individuals, but the manor news was kept secret so that people would not panic.

Also, somewhere in Central Park a grey squirrel ate a freshly dropped acorn: SQUIRREL!

The knight in question leaned back as though the pseudo horse was rearing, an action that caused the helmet to fall off. It was then that a very clear explanation why no response had been heard aloud from the figure was presented; there was not a living soul in the costume. There existed simply an open hole meant to be filled by a neck, yet this truth did not appear to hamper Reads-A-Lot as he continued to do a hopping gallop around the work room in slow motion.

The encrypted call began.  "Hello.  There is only one person in the world who has been given this number, so I am assuming you got it.  I think we can help each other.  I think we're both looking for the same thing...hopefully for the same reasons.  Name the place and I will meet you there.  If you don't have a place, I know several neutral locations.  The subject in question should only be talked about face to face, as should things like names.  Nice to meet you by the way."

The cellular signal was unstable at first, as like a hand running through hair, Lee's senses briefly caressed the inscription. An odd sensation for him, the phone in his hand, the sound in his ears and bones, they where things he was use to. Now he felt a passing moment of far more, something that reminded him of an unsettling fact and likely revealed it to the man if he was being watched. He didn't have gifted abilities before he was kidnapped and now he seemed to. For the other he only could see the lack of control of some one with out experience and the fact he looked to young to be born before the event. That slip of this power did not indicate some one who was born with powers or was a child when they got them ether.

"I hardly think you and I want the same thing, you have no way of knowing what I want unless your in my mind in which case this conversation is over because you already know how I fell about people like that."

In reply to Lee McDouglas (msg # 175):

"I don't know why you want what you want, but I know we share a similar interest in the same thing. I am not in your mind.  I have many tools in my arsenal but not that and presume to know nothing about you.  What I do know is that this thing is so important I won't talk about it over the phone.  I don't know why you want it, but you are the first independent I've run into who isn't insane who is also looking for this.  We might be able to help each other.  Maybe. Maybe not.  Talking hurts nothing."

"You might know a thing I'm interested in I'm not sure, where would you have us meet?"

In reply to Lee McDouglas (msg # 177):

"We can do public or private.  I contacted you so its your choice. Public means easy escape but ease of notice from people I suspect we are both trying to avoid.  Private is secure but....well....up to you."

If he chooses public then the address of a nearby cafe appears, quite outdoors and in view of hundreds.

If he chooses private then a nearby safe house in an apartment address is shown.

The pennies show themselves shimmering as an address at his feet for about 30 seconds and then vanish.

"How about the subway"

He gives a train and a time to see if that is agreeable.. it is public, and and the time would have plenty of people around but far way enough from a rush that they could sit near each other and no one would hear them over the train cars when they where moving.
This message was last edited by the player at 00:47, Sun 16 Aug 2015.

"I'll be there.  You'll know me because I'll show you my right hand and make a quarter literally vanish into thin air."

Kilroy goes in person and alone.  This time its too important.  He does have his anti bullet field up though.

Goes and waits on the subway sitting near a door with his backpack in his lap, a hand in it. When he gets there it's clear enough it's mostly junk parts, broken phones, tools, and in the front pouch some cash... but there are bullets too, and the way they are arranged indicates he's holding a 9mm. Not to much a suprize, he is a kid alone in new york.

In reply to Lee McDouglas (msg # 181):

Kilroy senses the bullets a mile away but deliberately doesn't destroy them.  He keeps it tight by himself waiting in the station, and isn't happy being on the cameras in the station, but what is what is.

For THIS he is willing to risk a lot.

He is wearing a simple t-shirt and jeans.  Except for the high powered cell phone with him, he seems rather non descript.

He waits for kilroy to sit near by and then the train to start, and get up to speed before speaking. "So what is it you want to talk about?"

In reply to Lee McDouglas (msg # 183):

"I apologize for the spy stuff.  Pleased to meet you.  My name is Kilroy.  I'm a gifted.  My gift is the ability to create, control, destroy or transform any form of currency.  I've had a quest ever since I had my dream to restore the artifact that gave the Gifted their powers, hunting down clues wherever I could find them.  I have detected that you might be looking.  I have powerful senses but I don't know all the details.  I keep a very low profile.  Are you looking for the artifact or clues about it? If not, I'll walk away and not bother you again...if you are.....why? If I might ask."

Considering he's got nanites in him that have been altered by the fragment and the fragment itself.... It would likely stand out quite a bit ... how many people have what with the altered data probably equates to several billion dollars worth of things in there blood, and something inside there brain which has a value so high it has no value because it's gone beyond the point a value can be assigned. The up close in personal meting is likely enough to confirm the potability he's got a fragment of the artifact... after all what else so infinitesimally small could be so valuable?

Lee seamed confused though by the statement, if he knew what he had then he was the best lier kilroy knew. "I don't think I ever put much into that, I think I did a long time ago when my moms poked around with it.... my mom though it might be posable to isolate the alchemical properties of the device and track it that way but never got enough data together. I don't think it would be a popular task to undertake though, it would put a rather big target on your head, and I am trying to lay low at the moment."

In reply to Lee McDouglas (msg # 185):

"It has put a rather large target on mi..."  As Kilroy's senses slowly detect what Lee has IN him, he ponders,"You can find them? Sense them? Maybe we can help each other.  Obviously you have some kind of an agenda given the computer power you were generating back there. As I said, my resources are considerable...and I'm low key myself....what is it you do want?"

At about the same time the FBI was watching the video for the fifth time, the NYPD's bomb squad was examining the phone. No one had yet touched the device, for fear that it would explode. They were surrounding the bag, awaiting the order. Although they had been waiting for hours, each and every one of them was alert and ready to move within a nanosecond of the word coming through their communicators.

The FBI detective, a rugged, bug-eyed man with an open button-up shirt, studied one two-second section of the video carefully. This was too easy; the man had given away the password to his phone. Could he be so stupid? Could he be like all those other criminals? No, something was different about him. He wasn't just cocky, he was insanely certain of his success. He might be one of those New York freaks that the AGF handled... but how would that affect his plan? Unless his Gift had something to do with bombs, he couldn't make a weird bomb that would kill everyone with no warning. He picked up his own phone in his quaking hands, but then allowed it to slip out of them before dialing anything. He couldn't do it; he couldn't give the "do or die" order when he didn't no which one he was ordering them to do.

Thinking quickly, the shaken detective called up the AGF. Upon hearing the situation, the AGF called up the ITSDA and demanded access to their file on this Gifted. After reviewing the file and blanking out any "private" information, the ITSDA turned over their dossier. This whole process cost everyone 30 precious minutes when there was no time to waste. However, it did bring about a few results.

Knowing that this man could turn himself into anything, but had a tendency to turn himself into animals, the AGF cut a path through New York City, searching for any animals in places where they shouldn't be. A single agent found himself cursing the pigeons of New York.

"Shit! He could be any one of 'em in the city!"

"No, he can't," responded his Commander shortly. "If's he's trying to hide, there's only one place he'd go. Head for Central Park!"

With that, the AGF double-timed it to the biggest nature preserve in NYC. Once they arrived, they tried to evacuate the area of any civilians. That wasn't hard; what with the dangerous battle that had taken place there about a week or so ago, the park had seen a marked decrease in attendance. As soon as the AGF considered the coast clear, they began a "Scorched Earth" attack, firing at (but not hitting) all the wildlife they came across. As the terrified vermin fled their guns, they knew that the man, through his unusual behavior, would reveal himself before too long. It was now only a matter of time and bullets.

The FBI detective tapped on his desk and alternatively stared at his cell phone and computer screen. As much as he knew how important it was, he despised relying on other people when there were lives on the line. When an hour had finally passed, he punched his desk hard enough to leave a dent in it.

With his bleeding hand, he picked up the phone and slowly read the passkey the terrorist had given them to the bomb squad's commanding officer. One of the squad's soldiers picked up the phone and began slowly, one-by-one, inputting the passkey. The air was pregnant with anticipation as he input the final number and the screen began to change...

"My mom thought she could find a way, but it required a lot of data from a large pool of gifted. Her methods required blood samples and the like as well so it was not anything that would have gotten much of anywhere. Its rather simple science though find what gifted have in common and go from there, here method was just more metaphysical. But the data I am working on is not something I'm sure I'm willing to share, I have fail safes in place should some one manage to get a hold of it."
This message was last edited by the player at 00:47, Sun 16 Aug 2015.

In reply to Lee McDouglas (msg # 188):

"The singular purpose of my life is the restoration of the ring.  I do not care about the method or the enactor so long as they are ethical.  There are at least six large reprepositories of blood of gifted that I know of that will match your needs.  The ITSDA will have it in their prison and in their prime medical care unit.  The Namidian wave has several vaults at least one of which will be biomedical.  But honestly, Harvard Medical, MiIT and The Chinese National Medical research facilities all have large amounts and that is off the top of my head.   If that is what you are doing,  I am happy to help you.  If you are doing something else, I will help you do that so you can finish your mother's work. "

"One thing I would have to know is why would you want to do such a thing, the other is what kind of computing power is at your disposal. As for my mothers methods, alchemy could be nothing but an abstract manifestation of her gift and serten aspects of it may be some as yet understood form of chemistry, it is likely the rest only works in her presence. The general method though could work with the same sort of computer system I require, so our goals could require similar resources."

A squirrel watched with interest from atop a tree as government agents flooded into the park and started to scare, chase, and shoot at every critter they saw. FOr a second, it considered acting like a squirrel, but then it realized that it was too late. Hesitation was the mark of a thinking mind not an instinctive mind. Still, it was wondering as it watched idly just whether or not the agents realized how entertaining it was watching serious, trained, important men chase squirrels around central park.

A second later, it ducked down and into a burrow within the tree. It rummaged around shoving some nuts and various bits of trash and paper out of the way before it came to a smart phone tucked into the deepest part. It used a paw to activate it then swiped left and held its paw against the button until the phone activated. Few people would look to the "fingerprint" ID to be a squirrel's paw, but the squirrel it changed into was always the same and had a unique "fingerprint" as well. It moved its paws quickly to a custom app it has designed itself which brought up two buttons, one green and one purple. It considered them carefully.

The green one read "fun" and the purple one read "bored." After a second, it tittered happily and then pressed the "fun" button.

Across town, the detective had just entered the last digit and pressed the "OK." For a long time, a loading icon spun like the phone was thinking or had bad reception. Anticipation and trepidation slowly morphed into the very familiar feeling of annoyance at poorly performing digital devices when suddenly and image appeared of a squirrel riding little skis around behind a toy boat. It was a classic viral video. Except, at the very end of the video the boat suddenly exploded and the squirrel laughed maniacally. Even as the disturbing image played, the switchboards lit up and calls came in of explosions all over New York.

Various animals had flown directly into the face of various people and officers or climbed up their clothing. Squirrels, pigeons, rats, and even a cat or two. There were 26 explosions in all and several fatalities and injuries.

On the tablet, another video played of the white man grinning, "Very good, you have guts officer. It takes a lot of faith to enter a passkey given to you by a madman... but, you should have trusted me earlier. One bomb for every hour you waited after the tenth to enter the key. Tsktsk. As for the future... You'll need to ask a god for the answer, or a goddess. Which of those who dwell on Yggdrasil travels high to low, talks to eagles and snakes? His teeth are drills, his task to talk." The video blanked and the locked screen loaded again. The first time had paused the second the key was entered. The 8-digit passkey location was blank again and the second timer was now running.

In central park, the squirrel climbed out of its burrow and watched the chaos ensue. This was becoming a truly entertaining day.

In reply to Lee McDouglas (msg # 190):

"I believe the gift was benevolent and I have seen first hand the corruption of the old order before the gifted undid a lot of the world as it was.  The people responsible for the destruction of the ring originally did it for selfish reasons.  If it is for something bad, we can examine the ring and chose not to but what if it solves every climate problem we'd ever had?

So...as far as computing power...I can get you a considerable amount.  My existing computer has a thousand teraflops which is significantly faster than the machine you were working with.  Having said that, I can arrange teams to temporarily gain access or obtain another or have another one built.  When I was in school and first got my gift, the lead computer was 33000 Teraflops.  But in a world with hyperintelligent gifted, I'd be shocked if we couldn't do better than that.  I can do some research and get back to you?"

"A petaflop will do for now I think, but I think I'll need a quantum computer in the end.... though I think the computer you have will do for your needs, it will just take a longer time."

In reply to Lee McDouglas (msg # 193):

"I am prepared to grant you full access to it right now, though I would require better and more secure conditions than this...I can arrange for resources for you to access it somewhere else as well with a few hours notice if you want to set things up.  I know people who can construct a quantum computer..."

His look sours a little. "You have some one capable making a quantum computer and no one you know has come up with a similar solution? If you can get some one to make you one of those it seams clear you must have some one working on such data mining..... so what is it then that interests you in me?"

In reply to Lee McDouglas (msg # 195):

"Data extraction with out data is pointless.  It sounds like you started out with reams more than I did.  Moreover, you have a piece of it.  I know someone that can tell quite a bit about..well..know 'of' someone who can tell quite a bit about something just by touching it..I did not know pieces still existed...I was prepared to pay millions for just the CASE."

Raises a brow and laughs. "If I had a piece of it all the other data would be kinda pointless, we could just collect data from it, but I don't. What data I can get is ok, but we would need more.... to hack into the kinda places that have such I would need something from a place in Boston, and that's where the data mom collected is too. But the place is being watched... likely by both the Namidian's and the ITSDA, I would need one hell of a distraction to get in and out of there with out being noticed. But there is some valuable data, and something that.... if my hunch is right... will... well... it could make hacking into the Namidian and ITSDA data stores child's play."

In reply to Lee McDouglas (msg # 197):

"I have been preparing for various contingencies like this for years.  I can have someone build you a quantum computer in three days that would out perform anything but the Namidian and ITSD computers. I also have some of the most powerful mercinaries on the planet on my rolodex, though the Namidians and ITDSA use many of them too...but my credit with them is perfect and some are on retainer...money is literally no object....your mother is in Boston? The only reason I haven't hit the Namidians like a ton of bricks is because my gift told me not to...if I had hit them...they might have defeated me....now they dont even know we're coming...I think there might be a greater power that wants me to help you Lee...if you will let me...let me make phone calls....put together a team."

"If you want me to use it and this device I think it would be best to build it in a cargo ship. If we had a dive team and the right tools we wouldn't even need to come into port, we could splice into the international cables."

In reply to Lee McDouglas (msg # 199):

"I own a submarine in the Canary Islands.  If you come with me right now we can get on a private jet I have at a nearby airport long before anyone is even remotely aware of what is going on.  I can make more calls from the plane.  Note, when we are seen together on the footage here there might be..alarm bells...I have contigencies but why tempt fate?"

Is not entirely sure why he trusts the guy but he was usually good at reading people. He sighs "I need whats in Boston regardless, and I have to get whats on the library computer, I suppose I can do so remotely but there would be an awful lot of questions should anyone ever find the server, even if I shut it down."

In reply to Lee McDouglas (msg # 201):

"Wait you still have data where I found you that you need to get? In New York? And which do you need first, Boston or the Supercomputer with the sub? Either is doable."

"I dought much is done but the raw data is there, I would like to get it before leaving town rather than frying the thing remotely. Besides its in a library and if it could start a fire if I do that and thats the last thing I want then I can head to Boston."

In reply to Lee McDouglas (msg # 203):

"So what you need in order then is Library, Boston, Submarine? If that's right then that works well because it will give me some time to have a computer customized to your needs.  I get the impression you have technical abilities of a high level either as a Gift or generic skill...if I put you in touch with someone who makes this kind of thing, can you give him specific technical specifications you would ideally require? As for Boston, the more you can tell me about the facility, the more I can arrange to help you.

Now as for the library...I'm very reluctant to return there but if you must you must, but would you permit me a few precautions to satisfy my paranoia? Specifically to arrange for some minor backup, to screen the area with my senses for Namidians and ITSDA agents and finally to provide as rapid an exit as possible?"

"If you wish but I already rigged the street lift and not many people go into the basement levels. I am not sure though how you expect to fit a computer like that into a sub though...how can you afford this sort of thing?"

The FBI agent had screamed and wept, knocking lamps and glasses off of nearby tables before finally cracking a whole in the wall with one huge punch. His rashness had cost 26 people their lives; this needed to stop, now! For almost half an hour, he considered surrendering. Better give him what he wants, rather than risk having more blood on his hands. But he remembered the psychological training he underwent at the FBI academy. Lives would be on the line in many of his missions, death was a natural result of even the most successful operations. An agent was to minimize harm, for it could not be stopped completely.

In order to minimize harm, he'd have to avoid playing the terrorist's game. Or, at least, he'd have to avoid playing it by his rules. He paged the building's central office and demanded the riddle solved "ten minutes ago." And as soon as they got to work on that, he got to work on identifying the method of transmission. He'd unlock the mad bomber's secret; he'd find the "wire" that connected the phone to the next trap it was set up to trip. While he worked, he contacted his building's hackers and put them to work on remotely unlocking the elaborate security systems that protected its secrets.

Back in New York, the AGF began an emergency procedure after the animals began fighting back and one of their own got blown up by an eagle. They began a campaign of widespread animal slaughter throughout Central Park, escalating the already tense situation into all-out insanity. The AGF Commander radioed in, trying to bring his posse under control, but he didn't break through their terror-deadened senses until piles of vermin corpses littered Central Park.

Finally, back at the FBI HQ, the agent received word that his hackers believed they had discovered the locations of the next series of bombs. Not wanting to wait for a solution to the riddle so he could repeat his previous failure, he radioed the AGF and sent them after the bombs. As soon as he did, the one of his agents entered the room and informed him that they had decoded what the line "you'll need to ask a god or goddess" meant. The terrorist wanted them to contact an unusual Gifted who had reportedly taken on the form of Thor during a recent battle in Central Park. The agent sent two of his best men after him. Though the battle had taken place some time ago, there was always evidence to follow. So long as the "Trackers" had a starting point, they would get their mark. And though he didn't really care much about what the answer to his riddle was, it could be helpful to look like he was playing the maniac's game. It could distract him long enough so that the FBI could defang the threat he was dangling over New York. Then again, that could have been his plan all along!

Above all else, the agent hated the uncertainty of this situation. Most of his targets, including some of the world's worst terrorists, were utterly predictable (if not dangerous) men. This man, however, was not. His psychology was unclear, his motivations elusive. No, no, enough! He may have caught New York off guard, but he was not some impossible mystery man. He was dangerous, but he was mortal. And he could be beaten. Actually, "could" was the wrong word. He would be beaten; a city of millions was depending on it!

-----

Back in New York, as soon as the FBI Trackers arrived in town, they sent an e-mail to the ITSDA and AGF, demanding files on the Gifted individual involved in the previous Central Park incident. While the AGF didn't respond, the ITSDA had a more... interesting response. They claimed not to know much about the man's identity and only stated that they knew he could take on several different forms. The ITSDA was usually more specific than that. The Trackers knew they were protecting him... but why? There was no time for delay, New York was on the line here!

The Trackers, via email, demanded the ITSDA disclose their complete file on the Gifted individual immediately. Otherwise, they would be licensed to raid the ITSDA HQ. The pair dearly hoped the ITSDA wouldn't call them on that; though the FBI had the legal authority to raid the ITSDA HQ (provided they obtained a top-level order to do so), they had neither the manpower or the time to carry out such a mission at this time.

An email flashed up on the screen of one of the ITSDA's most public leaders.
This message was last edited by the GM at 16:16, Tue 25 Aug 2015.

Ma put her hands on her hips and laughed aloud.  She could not help it.  Damnedest thing she had seen in a month of Sundays.  Elbowing Eric gently, she called to the figure,




"Ya caint have a horse in thuh libary!  Take that thang outside and keep on goin'!  Yer disruptin' order!"

In reply to Lee McDouglas (msg # 205):

Kilroy grins, "Let me worry about that.  Let me make two calls."  He calls the first number and says, "McFabisham? I need The Professor in Atlantis in three days.  Can you make it happen? Yes? Good.  Tell him I'll be sending him some specs.  Right.  Thanks."  Then he makes another call, "Do you still believe in Daydream Believers? Yes? Great.  I'm texting an address just in case."

He then says, "Let's take a different train."

All along the way he watches the money around the computer area, seeing if any of it has recently been owned by a three letter government agency, Namidians or the ITDSA.

"Let's get that computer.  When we have it, I'll tell you the real reason I didn't join the ITDSA.."

Lee watches "Just who are you?"

In reply to Lee McDouglas (msg # 209):

"My name is Kilroy Capital Conneticut.  Some call me the Economy, and some call me the Invisible Hand...I have many names.  As far as how I can afford it, I come from a long line of economists tied in with the world economy...we used to make the world a better place...until my father.  Everyone answers to someone, even the ITSDA. And my father...sits on a lot of boards of a lot of international organizations.  I was born rich, but I have done what I can to help others...but...my gift has many facets..." Making sure no one can see he places his hand in front of him so only Lee is able to view as he makes a solid gold appear and disappear in thin air,"Among them the creation of any form of currency that exists or has existed..."

"So what... your trying to say your a black sheep of one of the big 13 families?" He gave him an odd look.
This message was last edited by the player at 02:30, Tue 25 Aug 2015.

In reply to Lee McDouglas (msg # 211):

"What I want is for everyone to have wjat they would have had if a private mercinary for a government that pretends it works for its people hadn't destroyed before we got a chance to know what that gift was.  I wamt every one who wamts to work hard to have a fair shake at a happy life and a happy home.  I don't believe in the American dream.   I believe in the World dream.  And I believe in making people able to have a chance.   I have already paid a priceby standing by and watching tyrants tear the world apart for their petty whims, most particularly tje Namidian wave because I believe in what that ring can do and what is possible for people.   I believe George Bailey had the right idea and I don't care how corny it sounds.  I don't care if you disrespect me or look down on me or regard me as a trustfund loser.  I believe in what you can do and am now convinced you are the best person to do it.  Now do you want me help or not? Because I can leave any  time you like. "

"I don't see how any kinda dream like that is possible with out the world going trough a bit of hell again to get to it. They went and let the banks and your dad and his chums wipe there asses with the constitution and re-instituted the very things we formed this nation to stop, and now there 'spreading the love' to other countries. I think it will take more than an economist, a hacker, and a 'magic ring' to fix all that with out everything going to hell in the possess... I think that would come down to short the time it takes to restore order could be widdled down to, or getting a lot more help and seeing that there is nothing anyone can do about it to fight them losing control." He bites his lower lip some and shook his head. "There might be another way but I think you would lose your human state doing so."

In reply to Lee McDouglas (msg # 213):

"The price of utopia in my life time is too high for me to pay.  I should know.  Part of my gift is knowing the price of something.  I can't be that inhuman.  I mean I know how to do it.  I won't, which makes me a monster of sorts but a monster who won't do evil to make good.  And yes, they do wipe their asses with pieces of paper.  That is all they are now.  Powerful pieces of paper.  The ring won't fox everything but it might put us on a better path....regardless...I would be willing to help you help your mother regardless."

"The device i made with her, its ment for a cyberpath but it might be possible to adapt it. It puts you inside the internet so to say and projects a .... you know what its easier to just say think like Tron, it makes the internet Tron....not realy but you get the drift. Thing is i don't think I could immerse you deeply enough to use you abilities and still get you back out..... on one hand though i dought you would be alone too long."
This message was last edited by the player at 23:52, Wed 26 Aug 2015.

Eric couldnt help but chuckle. "Yea man front doors are that way." he said pointing to the entrance.

In reply to Lee McDouglas (msg # 215):

"I...don't know what to say to that.  I trust your judgment that the device would work for me but that it is dangerous for me to use. Having said that, I am capable of already detecting wealth in computer networks, just no other kind of data generally.  I think your use of the device will be sufficient unless you want me to accompany you?  Shall we head for the library?"

"I can take care of that and meet you some where. The device though, if I could find some means of full immersion, could let you use your powers across vast sections of the net as you could in real life. You could also bypass a lot of security, all in all it might be enough to control the global economy on a level to brake down the 13 and there hold on things, brake monopolies that should have been broken long ago, and build a strong and powerful middle class again."

The headless knight turned toward Ma Nature, lowered its hollow plastic lance, and did a forward skip which was apparently supposed to be the figure charging on horseback. It was not moving overly fast though; in fact it would take at least a few minutes to reach her. Icon, for the moment, seemed fully ignored.

In reply to Poltergeist (msg # 219):

Ma smiled at the headless fellow "charging" at her,

"Just plain  rude!  Some knight you are, attacking a lady!"

She swirled her right hand a couple of times, sending a breeze just strong enough to slow the fellow down even more.

"Are ye gonna hand over the weapon like a good fella or shall I take it away from ya?"

In reply to Lee McDouglas (msg # 218):

"Mr Wizard, the gifted who will be building your computer in the Azores, can almost assuredly build such a machine for you.  The question is whether or not I'd trust myself with such power.  And meet me at the top of the Drexler building six blocks away, there will be a helicopter waiting that will take us both...."

He gets a phone call.  He listens a moment and then says, "There is a serious bomb threat.  One of the two of us has to get that computer.  Apparently the person involved in this is a red level threat, and thousands of lives are at stake.  It crosses the threshold of 'the greater good' by an order of magnitude, but nothing is worth your risk of capture, so we MUST leave soon.  If you don't mind, I'd prefer to be the one to deal with the bombs but will get the computer from the library if this is something you want to deal with."

"I don't remember who said it but it was something like 'Those who want power are usually the ones least suited to have it.'  Don't worry I'll take care of the server."

In reply to Lee McDouglas (msg # 222):

The Economy smiles and salutes.  He then leaves at the next stop.

There Cheshire? I have some questions that we can do by PM if you want?

Was easily able to head back and get into the library... rather than take the server down though he made sure to wipe down everything so there was no prints, take all his data out, and then bring the other sever up and run the two in tandem.... let the library enjoy two servers, and the mystery of trying to find out where the other one came from. hehe

After that he removed the the device from the lift and left for the dock.

ric was about to laugh at the knight when he heard the bombs go off. He immediately turned to the door and started to make his way outside. "Ma. We may have a problem."

Guess he shows up at the docks looking around for signs of a sub?

In reply to Icon (msg # 225):

Ma squinted at her new friend,

"Wondermous!  What might that be then?"

Eric starts to walk outside. "Explosions. Big ones and lots of them"

In reply to Lee McDouglas (msg # 226):

Technically speaking, the instructions Kilroy left were to the roof a building.

(Assuming he does so)

He'll find a helicopter waiting there, with an Irish (actual Irish not American Irish) gentleman in his 80's waiting there that looks Lee up and down,"Pleased to meet you.  My name is Limrick McFabisham.  I'm sort of an ....I help Kilroy do things because he helped out my son and I think he's a nice enough fellow.  Plus its fun, its mostly legal, and it pays the bills quite nicely.  I get the impression he's willing to move heaven and earth for you.  The sub is actually in the Azores, though if your plans for Boston somehow involve that we can certainly meet it at sea.  He's given you quite a bit of latitude regarding my services, essentially unlimited so where to? The Atlantis, Boston or the Azores? He'll be catching up...supposedly."

He eyes the chopper a little uneasy about it. "I am not it's the best idea for me to get on an aircraft right now.... but I need to get to Boston." he bites at his lower lip some looking the craft over. "Whats it do in the case of computer/electrical frailer?"

In reply to Lee McDouglas (msg # 230):

"Well, Kilroy buys milspec stuff, so if there's an computer failure, we have this old fashioned thing called a pilot," He points to guy with sunglasses and a smile in his forties,"Meet Goggles.  Kilroy is a bit....paranoid...so while he can't get the toys the big boy's get, when he has the option of 'Would you also like it if we included' X...he gets it..."

McFabisham looked troubled at the idea of electrical failure, "Goggles?"

Goggles gave a thumbs up, and nodded to Lee,"After the Lightning Bug downed Governor Richards in Montana 7 years ago, the FAA requires at least SOME degree of autonomous EMP shielding and an autonomous gyroscope in all but the most basic of helicopters.  This is 2036, not the insane old days of 2015.  But this is not a basic helicopter.  In fact, despite my NUMEROUS pleas to the contrary, while this baby has only some completely rediculous (in my opinion) non lethal weaponry on it, it has top of the line defensive systems including VIP plating, armor and that also includes EMP shielding.  Bottom line..if someone hits us with lightning, we've got between 15-30 minutes to find a good enough spot to land.  Anything heavy enough to bypass the shielding on this baby would just make us explode.  Now, a lot of the neater toys won't work.  But I can get you from point A to point B just fine."

McFabisham, who is a lot better at reading people than Kilroy or Goggles catches a little bit of what Lee is hinting at.

"We're not to be crossing the Atlantic in a helicopter lad, its just to get us to the Patango.  Kilroy rarely likes to bring her in the international nautical limit because of some of the ...things...he has on board and always likes a fast getaway.  Boston is a 60 minute trip and the Patango is 40.  But I'm to empower you, not direct you.  You want us to take a ship to the sub, a train to boston or any which way you please, just name it and I'll pull a lever or Kilroy will...assuming he's not doing some damn fool thing."

"I'm more worried about lightning inside the cab than out..." He leaves it at that not knowing how much they where told.... but he shakes his head getting in. "Long as you can drop me off in Boston for a bit, and maybe know some way of distracting people."

In reply to Icon (msg # 228):

"Crap!  I was watching our buddy here!"

Motioning to the headless knight, Ma says,

"C'mon bud; let's see what's going on!"

In reply to Icon (msg # 228):

"Crap!  I was watching our buddy here!"

Motioning to the headless knight, Ma says,

"C'mon bud; let's see what's going on!"

In reply to Lee McDouglas (msg # 232):

"Both are quite doable.  Climb aboard and we'll get you there forthwith.  Kilroy has informed me he will be joining us along the way."

Taking a seat "This is a rather large problem, the data we want is in an area under heavy observation by two parties. While the main pice of gear I need is well hiden I will need to ether get in there with a list of gear i need supplied with and a good ten minutes or so, or we need to take out a chunk of the buildings support structure and relocate it..... both are rather undesirable options."

He went on as he tried to relax. "My mom had a drive of sorts built into the super structure of the building and it's not accessible by any direct or wireless connection. It is not even what you would call a computer system in any sense of the word as most people understand it. The information exists in a .... well I'm not even sure how to describe it, but it dose not physically exist. It requires some one with cyberpathy in full immersion through a device like the one I'm getting accessing a closed system...... and.... stepping 'outside' that system." bites his lower lip some. "Yah, I don't quite understand it completely but think of it like space, the internet is like this vast vast vast system of connected modules in like this supper massive space station just adrift in the void of space. Other stuff are like ships or modules docking with it, or just with no way to dock and adrift in the void by themselves. Now imagine if some how you where able to crawl outside of one of these modules, and build something onto it from the outside.  Now you got something that the only way to get to it is to go outside and mess with it there as you cant get to it from inside the module. I really do not want to be put in a situation where I have little time, I am not even sure I am a cyber-path and doing this kinda thing IS like doing a space walk with no tether and flinging yourself at a distant ship/module and if your aim is bad ..... well just hope you hit something else before you starve/suffocate. "
This message was last edited by the player at 08:30, Fri 18 Sept 2015.

In reply to Lee McDouglas (msg # 235):

"We have been given the name of a rather expensive mercinary team.  They rarely work for the same client twice amd take 48 hours to assemble.  Kilroy clearly thinks this is worth whatever it takes so if you can wait three days we can drastically improve your odds.  If we take about just the boyos I can put togetjer in a few hours? Boston is my old stomping ground so we can do alright, better with Kilroy but the more time you can give me, the more time I can give you. "

"The information is secure, so we can take our time and the more time I have with it the better. I would rather just extract it but other people live in the building who have no where else to go."

In reply to Lee McDouglas (msg # 237):

"Then let's do this right.  Kilroy tells me he's figured out a secure way to let the law enforcement officials tracing Cheshire know in order to stay anonymous...."  He gets in the chopper.  "We will head out to see and get on the ship.  We will meet Kilroy and the Sub in 24 hours.  Our mercenaries should be available with 72."

"Ok, can you get a trinary computer so I can write up some programs to use encase they got a cyberpath"

In reply to Lee McDouglas (msg # 239):

"When the sub arrives, it will have someone who has been instructed to put a computer together to your specifications.  If 'trinary' is all you require then that can be done yes..."

The copter begins to head out to sea once he boards.

He nods and just waits quitly though the ride thinking.

A dozen eyes scanned New York Cities famous skyline. As the most famous city in the world NYC was well-used to sightseers, but unlike the usual gawking tourists this group of eyes were unattached to any kind of body- and were currently weaving between the cities buildings at a breakneck hover. Like a swarm of insects the group moved as though a single entity; turning tightly around the corner of an apartment block building, accelerating up a rusted fire-escape, ducking low over a flat-topped roof... as the swarm of spies rushed to their destination they took a number of sharp detours and course changes in an effort to stay concealed.

As the swarm toured the city their glowing red pupils twitched from sight to sight as the swarm tried to drink in every detail; A trashcan had spontaneously detonated outside a small family restaurant in hells kitchen. A vagrant was being arrested for public indecency. Policemen were discharging their weapons at city fauna outside Federal Hall National Museum. A familiar face was recognised in a crowd of people. The ITSDA headquarters flashed briefly into view between two buildings. Someone had just missed their bus...
In some of these cases individual 'Sentrys' detached from the swarm to take an interest, but the vast majority continued towards their objective with singleminded determination. With a final jolt of speed and a tight turn the swarm blazed out from their backstreet concealment, up the mirrored glass side of a major office building and into the open air between central Manhattan's monolithic skyscrapers. All around the overdeveloped island yet more squads of the strange metallic eyes broke from their cover and flew into the air- in total the flying metallic spheres numbered in the hundreds- and all were converging on the same building...

---

"Goddamn it! Useless piece of SHI-"

A gust of high altitude wind cut off the end of Lynne's sentence, and forced her to press tight against the skyscraper she was trying to break into. She was tethered to the outside 45th floor of the supertall structure by four magnetic drones attached to her waist with cord, a few idle bodyguard drones hovered uncertainly behind her, and the laser glass-cutter in her hands fizzled and died with a sad splutter of sparks. With a disdainful sneer uglued herself from the building to examine her handiwork with two burning red eyes.

She was trying to break into a series of offices under ownership of a firm named 'Vitatech Limited'- In exchange for her being here, hanging 180 meters above the pavement, a fellow informant had tipped Lynne that the company were a front for a more influential organisation. 'Vitatech's laboratories were supposedly in the business of developing cutting edge medical equipment, buy several years of work and billions of dollars in traced revenue hadn't resulted in even one patent under the companies name. The informant had been certain that it was a cover for a larger enterprise that wanted to keep their hand concealed- Namidian maybe, or perhaps this was the work of some other party, Lynne personally hung her bets on an involvement with the ITSDA and AGF.
Like any self-respecting burglar she'd decided to use the least obvious route as her entrance, and had grappled herself down from the roof to cut through the buildings window- With the office abandoned and the rest of the city distracted by recent events her plan had went flawlessly, right up until her handheld glasscutting laser had fizzled and died in her hands before she'd even cut her entrance halfway.

With a frustrated sigh she leaned back into nothingness, braced herself against her magnetic harness of Sentrys, and run a hand through her styled hair.
"We do this the hard way. Then..."
Still pouting at the window Lynne didn't flinch as a metal sphere blazed past her ear with a whizz of displaced air and shattered itself against the window she was braced against. A few hairline cracks appeared. A second sphere blasted into the crater the first had left, then a third, and a fourth. Ten minutes and several dozen familiars later the window finally buckled inward and shattered with a cacophony of glass shards, the thief known as 'Oculus' entered the building.

Eric had walked outside to find out what he could about the explosions. What he did not intend to see was a swarm of things flying through the city. They were moving with a purpose and made their way towards some of the giant skyscrapers.

"Alright. Your new. What is all this?"

Ma stood silently beside him, watching  the swarm.  When she reached out to it with her mind, it  ... simply was not there; at least her contact with the natural world could feel nothing.  She spoke to Eric,

"I can see it, but t'ain't natural if that is what ya mean.  It is wrong somehow.  Other than that, yer guess is as good as mine."

As she'd known, the office was abandoned. Oculuses intel was rarely wrong, although she didn't typically have to use it herself. Although the buildings entire floor was hired by the suspicious 'Vitatech' research organisation it was obvious from the administration cubical, glass walled meeting rooms and banks of mundane filing cabinets that this office only served as an administration and management centre- doubtless the actual research was handled elsewhere, whatever that involved.

She strolled towards the corner of the room, towards what appeared to be the largest of the floors offices. The air around her was thick with her strange spherical familiars, which buzzed around her head distractedly and in their usual way attempted to examine their entire surroundings at once. Telepathically they fed her mind junk information as they gathered it which her gift helped reduce down to relevant and useful information; before she'd completed her short walk she knew as a fact that the office contained 63 individual computer terminals, that all four skyscraper elevators were currently on the ground floor, and that her messy entrance into the building had been observed by onlookers on the street. She hurried her pace.

The door to Vitatechs head office was locked, but a flash of lockpicks and a mere moment of intense concentration later was all it took for Lynne to force her entry, and seconds after that she'd started hacking herself into the offices network whilst her drones tore trough the rest of the office and dismantled every filing cabinet in sight in an attempt to read through any physical documentation. As a burglar Lynne knew how to cover her tracks, but today she didn't have the time to spare.

OK. No. Mary thought to herself. I know -I KNOW!- ain't no way in this WORLD this mothafucka about to mess with people's shit in my city. Heill Naw!

The short, almost cutesy girl stood atop the roof of a much smaller building a few blocks off from Oculus' target, wearing track pants and a tank top, clearly able to see the drones swirling around. Most people would be having dinner around now. But Maria was about to record one of her podcasts, always done while running across the city on the most dangerous path possible.

But now this. Well, there's nothing for it. She thought, setting up her camera and zooming it to watch the building. Hitting record, she stepped aside and began to morph.

Maria's limbs became spindly but remained strong, her hands and feet became clawed and able to grip any object or surface. Her body coated itself in a rubbery skin that would take some time to saw through. Each limb grew a razor-edge along the second section. Her head elongated, like a wolf with a sharp horn pointing forward from her scalp like a bayonet. Her spine was longer too, making her nearly 6 feet tall.

Raptor Form: complete.

Heh. Metamorphing is awesome.

Sprinting across the roof, it was remarkable how fast she could move in this form. Gifted runners couldn't match her gait (That's "gifted", not "Gifted"). Every time her hand or leg struck a surface, it found purchase and she swung from it, like a monkey with a death wish, flinging herself from streetlamps, banners, railings, you name it.

She was coming to serve up some justice.

Icon was making his way towards the skyscraper that he had seen all the spheres make their way to. He was on his bike so as to not jump into anything too early. He was making good time but he could swear at one point he saw some creature thing come off a building a few blocks ahead headed in the same direction he was. He decided to figure out what was going on there later and focus on his goal. He was quickly running through the list of what might help him in this situation. The location was near the very top of the building so that was one problem. However all the things did appear to be metal in nature. A slight plan started to form in his mind and he smiled. "Alright then. Might as well get ready for a show." He turned down an empty alley behind some buildings and pulled out his phone. He sent off a quick text message and then just waited for a response.

The iris of one of Oculus's many spy eyeballs (sic: spyball) twisted and focused it's burning pupil into a narrow stare as it watched the deformed and lanky form of Bloody Mary as she swung and pounced her way toward the offices she'd broken into.

The eye detached itself from it's hiding place beneath an apartment block rain gutter. The family of pigeons that it'd been hiding among startled and flapped angrily away as the metal sphere shot past them and after the gifted figure. As it dived out of the alley it'd been observing it buzzed past the ear of a young man who'd stopped cycling his bike to send an urgent text; in his librarian guise the sentry didn't recognize Icon and paid him no further attention, almost arrogantly not even bothering to conceal itself from him as it sharply cornered and blazed away.

Eric noticed the ball shoot past his head headed toward the creature thing he had seen. So whatever it is it may not be on the same side as those little devices. Could be a potential ally but I should still be careful.

Mary's Raptor Form got her to the building fast. When she landed, dropping off a fire escape, her body began reverting to normal.

Assuming the robots could hear as well as see, she started speaking aloud."I don't know who you are or why you're doing this..." the young Gifted pauses. "And usually that's a massive plot hole for most superheroes..." she shakes her head to clear the thought. "But you're going down hard."

First, her  limbs' muscle swelled to nearly twice their size, turning cherry red and practically glowing through her skin, the tips of her fingers becoming black claws. Next, her skin took on a thick, black, leathery look, becoming a stiffer sort of scales that would treat AK rounds like airsoft pellets against a coat. This sacrificed some mobility, but for the sake of safety. Next, the same armor grew over her spine, into a jagged tail that could break bones with a flick on one end. Then, more muscle formed, but spreading from under the spinal armor, like a new layer on top of her upper half, the swelling strands tearing her jogger clothes as their limits were pushed and broken. The layer over her suddenly sprouted a new head with tiny but powerful eyes and a mouth full of bestial teeth. The mouth, of course, led nowhere, just a pocket above Maria's ACTUAL head. The spinal armor extended to cover the top half of the head. Similar armor formed over the pectoral and abdominal muscles, protecting the girl inside even more.

"Behemoth Form Complete." Her mutated body worked as a mouthpiece, making her voice deeper. "God, I love saying that."

Ma had no choice but to hoof it.  She was not in horrible shape, but then neither was she as young as she used to be.

"Gotta get me some transportation one ah' these days!"

She whuffed out as she lit out after Icon who was so much faster on his bike.  She could call up a wind to aid her, but that would leave quite  a bit of damage.  Which was not needed yet.  She was well behind Icon, and as long as she could keep a line of site on him, she was content, but when he turned a corner , she had to speed up.  She could not help but grin at herself as the crowded sidewalks cleared for her as she moved.  There was nothing like waving one's arms over one's head while reciting nursery rhymes at the top of one's voice as if it were Shakespeare to move people out of the way.

Eric had been waiting for a response to his text but never did get one. He swore silently to himself and heard Ma coming up behind him. He smiled and turned to her. "Im terribly sorry for taking off like that. Got a bit ahead of myself. So it looks like we need to get to the top floor of that building over there. I can get us there, but...well...You may have to tell me in a moment that you are not Gaia and you are friendly and here to help." He could start to see confusion cross her face. "Just trust me. He is reasonable in a good mind and he should be."

Ma finally caught up to Eric and bent over, huffing and puffing as she braced her hands on her thighs.  Finally she caught her breath and looked up,

"Shank's marte is not the easiest way to get anywhere fast!"

She listened to him and nodded at his instructions.  She was not sure exactly what was about to happen, but it would be different!

Eric concentrated for a few moments and his body started to glow softly with a golden hue. He had a particular person in mind who could not only fly and control the winds but also use lightning. Also someone who was more cunning and level headed than Thor from earlier. His body glowed brighter and grew a bit taller till he was about 7 feet tall. When the glow subsided there stood a regal man in white robes. Long black hair and beard, his eyes were dark grey like storm clouds  but sparked as if lightning were surging through them. He had a belt of gold with a deep blue gem embedded in the middle. He looked down on Ma Nature and his eyes narrowed. "Who are you that you do not bow before the mighty Zeus? his voice seemed to thunder from him.

Inside the Vitateck office Occulus looked up from her desk with a start and a shocked gasp; she'd seen something.
Not wither her own eyes of course, or at least her original two eyes, but several of her sentry's reported two facts that grabbed her attention by the short and curlies.

First of all, as the target she'd been following morphed into a hulking tank of a creature she recognised 'Parkour Madness Girl' for who she was. That was bad. Oculus was one of Mary's many subscribers if for no other reason than it was a free and effortless source of intel, but had't expected to feature in any of her videos- bully for her.
Mentally she made a note to 'dislike' any video she appeared in, and to leave 'Bloody Mary' with a variety of injuries. Oculus wasn't quite ready for her fifteen minutes of fame.

Her second start was when the image of 'Ma Nature' superimposed itself on her conciousness. This person she recognised as one of the trio to help down the two Namidian aggressors in Central Park earlier that day. She'd played a part in taking down two of the regions leading Namidians, Spurt and Cimmeria. The young man she was conversing with sent red flags through her conciousness as well, although she couldn't give a definite reason why.
Seconds later the boy transformed into the altogether different figure of Zeus. The Greek god of thunder, and very 'old testament'.
Suddenly she realised what'd put her orbs on edge, and decided to give the incoming vigilantes the respectful caution they were due.

---

With her many eyes hovering around her she was able to multitask freely- and she raised a hand off the keyboard of the the computer terminal she was attempting to hack into. Whilst the other clacked commands away into the machine the other raised and began summoning more 'spyballs' with eerie flashes of red light. Soon the rooms air would be thick with her familiars, all of which she anticipated she'd need for the threats arrayed against her.
This message was last edited by the player at 01:27, Sat 21 Nov 2015.

This here was a big 'un alright!  The name sounded somewhat familiar, but for the life of her, she had no idea from where.  Maybe some class way back in the day; maybe not.  But he was impressive.  Best to stay on his good side though.

"You can call me Ma, and I don;t bow cuz curtsies are more traditional where I come from."

Here she dropped a curtsey that was far from elegant and nearly had her ass over teakettle.  That would teach him to expect formality!

"Anyhow, we need to get up yonder and see what is goin' on, 'cepyin; I can't fly.  Wanna help out?"

The Behemoth roared with the volume of a T-Rex and began to climb the wall of the building, getting handfuls of brick and steel and glass as it pulled its way up to where the commander of these robots was.

"RAAAAAAAGH!"
This message was last edited by the player at 01:11, Sun 22 Nov 2015.

Zeus looked Ma over with a piercing gaze. "I can sense a power about you Ma. If indeed you are my ally then I shall gratefully accept your help."

His eyes roamed up as he felt something else. Nothing tied to Ma or himself. A small floating orb, metallic in nature, that seemed to be watching him. "I do not like the look of that creature. AWAY WITH YOU!" he pointed at it and a bolt of lightning came from his finger and struck the little ball frying it. After it had dropped he turned back to Ma.

"Well MA shall we?" Without waiting for an answer he placed his hand on her shoulder and transformed them both into the wind. They sped up and away from the alley and towards the building that all the orbs were coming from.

Ma suddenly felt ... undone? no, more like redone.  It was similar to the feeling that flooded her when she called the wind, but with an unusual discomfort as more than her mind was suddenly riding, being the wind.  Yet despite the pain, she she gloried in the freedom of it all and the wonder.

With her fingers furiously typing Lynne finally broke through the offices thin layer of  digital security, and was given unrestrained access to Terrabytes of confidential data. There wasn't time to look it over now, but she told herself that she'd have the opportunity after she'd dealt with the three gifted charging her position.

She placed her palms together and started summoning another one of her drones. Whereas her previous efforts instantly created a sentry with a single flash of red light, this attempt required several seconds of concentration and visible effort on her part. With a burst of light she manufactured a new orb in her hands; identical to the others, save that instead of a pupil it had a usb connector on it's front face. It plugged itself into her terminal and began the process of siphoning raw data into it's own simple mind.

Oculus stood up and strolled to the gap in the window she'd left shattered open in her wake. As her squadron of bodygaurd familiars took formation behind her in anticipation for the coming battle, her consciousness spread to look through the eyes of her servants. There were only a handful of exits to the building, and it seemed unlikely that she'd be able to escape on foot- not without a distraction at least. For the time being it appeared as though she would have to hold her ground, and she made every preparation to do so.

---

The eye watching Icon and Ma'Nature observed the pair with interest, but it's feed of information came to an abrupt and unexpected end. The last thing the eye saw was the figure of Zeus raising his finger to the drone, a searing flash of light, and feeling the closest thing to pain that the sentry's limited mind could register- then there was darkness, and she lost sight of the pair.

'Rude.' She thought. 'New Yorkers, right?'

Seconds later she mentally directed a fresh drone to their position, but by that time they had already left. Now with no idea where the God(s) and the Avatar of Nature currently were, a slight sense of worried anticipation stabbed into Lynne's chest.

---

Her second target was far easier to keep track of. Like a strange mixture of Gojira and King Kong Bloody Mary's armored and muscular form was climbing by tearing great chunks of masonry out of the building to make handholds, by all accounts she was making good time and Oculus already fancied that she could feel the office floor under her feet begin to shake in time with her advance. She had certainly heard the primal roar that had announced her accent.

Oculus clenched her hands and summoned another group of familiars, and seconds later three new points of view shot from the office and leveled out at Mary's altitude- now worryingly close to the compromised office window.

One of the new eyes had a grilled face encircling it's iris which acted as a simple speaker, the second had an enlarged and dilated pupil that covered it's entire front hemisphere and the third was a featureless metal orb- with no obvious alterations to give away it's purpose.
Oculus's voice run out in a tinny mechanical tone from the 'speaker' drone, whilst a beam of light shot from the wide-eyed one and projected her face onto the glass surface that Mary was attempting to climb in a red and black two-tone display.

"Parcour Madness girl- I presume. I'm a big fan of your work." The voice from the speaker drone talked in time to the projection, giving every indication that Oculus was speaking to her 'live'. Although it was hard to tell whether the Gifted thief was pleased or irritated at Mary's presence; as the high altitude and imperfect speakers of her drone reduced her voice to sound less 'Human' and more 'Dalek' that it otherwise might have been.
"I know that casual vigilantism is the 'in thing', as you kids say, but if you get in my way I will have to hurt you. Consider this your one and only courtesy warning."

Maria's voice rumbled up from her form in a deeper, guttural version of her normal voice. "I'm flattered. But unfortunately, I'm more focused on the fac that you are, pardon my french, fuckin' around in my goddamn city.

He tail flicks upward and punches the speaker drone into the window.

"Sorry not-sorry." She teases, flinging herself up  with her arms and landing in the opening Oculus had made.
This message was last edited by the player at 19:00, Wed 25 Nov 2015.

Right after Mary had made her entrance into the opening a gust of wind that seemed to be carrying dust blew in past her. A few moments later to the side of both of them Ma and Zeus rematerialized. "Now then." He said in quite an annoying grandiose tone "You are deliberately destroying property that the mortals have built and must be some villain. I, Zeus, Father of the Heavens, and Lord of Olympus shall not stand for it! Surrender yourself for judgement or prepare to meet Hades."

Maria nodded to the god and elderly lady next to her respectfully. "Ah, Ma Nature and... Zeus. OK then." She shrugs, a gesture that looks like it could shatter concrete in her current form.

The helicopter ride to the waiting submarine is, remarkably, without event.  It takes about an hour and there is a medium sized yaught/research vessel there with another helicopter just taking off upon arrival.  A man in his fourties with a bulging case full of equipment awaits.

The helicopter lands and McFabisham gets out.  He walks to the middle age man and shakes his hand,"I'm not sure what you used to move the boat here so fast, but I'm not sure I want to know.  Thanks for coming.  We need you to build Mr McDouglas a computer.  Kilroy believes Mr McDouglas may be the most important person on the planet right now and is prepared to provide whatever resources are necessary to help him out.  WHATEVER resources.  Are we understood?"

Mr Wizard's eyebrows go up and he looks suprised.  "Whatever?"  He nods and offers his hand to Lee.  "Well, I've been given some technical specifications, but if there are any...perks...you would like built in in the meantime, please let me know."

-= BATTLE POST =-

The four Gifted faced off against one another. Lynne was not insignificantly outnumbered, and certainly outgunned; she made it her business to know the goings on of her fellow Gifted, and as such she knew that 'Titan', 'Ma' and 'Parkour Madness Girl' had an absurdly dangerous and versatile natures- moreover, an open brawl in the heart of the ITSDA's chosen city would continue to draw more heat.

On all accounts, her immediate future looked worryingly bleak. What was meant to have been a simple breaking and entry had instead turned into a fighting retreat. No amount of stolen intelligence was worth this risk, but she resolved not to quit the city empty handed.

The three heroes were conversing- apparently resolving their introductions and paying Oculus a disrespectful lack of concern.

"In neither Olympus nor Earth have I seen a creature such as yourself." Zeus greeted Mary. "Despite this- I can plainly see your noble bearing."
Zeus leaned into her personal space and flashed a lecherous smile. Despite being a God there seemed to at least be a grain of truth to a number of his fables, particularly those involving golden rain and geese.
"Zeus -God of Gods-. Thee mayhaps have heard of me. How may I know thee, enchanting girl?"

"Y' shan't mind him! dear!" Ma Nature interjected. The short but stout woman guided the handsy god away by the shoulder. How 'Ma and Zeus recognised the hulking behemoth as Female Oculus couldn't explain, but she evidently did. "'e dosn't know his own mind oftentimes, please don't judge 'im by it!"
Ma' had a folksy and good natured manner that instantly appealed to Oculus, although she couldn't quite place why. Even so the woman had faced off against the infamous 'Spurt' and had come out the better of it, and was underestimated at others peril.

"Uh. Yeah..." Mary's deformed snout pointed in turn towards Zeus, 'Ma, and their quarry. She hadn't expected others to join her hunt but she wasn't unappreciative. A four-way beatdown on her home turf would be gratifying to both her subscriber-count as well as to her own hotheaded nature. Mary's only regret was that her camera was placed outside the building where it wouldn't get a great view of the melee; and she mentally committed herself to buying a 'Go-Pro' for her next vigilante stint.
"I can handle a gawker..." her eyes flashed angrily to Oculus, who was still watching them in irate silence. "...or two! Lets get the lead out on this bloodshot bitch, then we can trade lifestories. 'Kay?"
Bloody Mary slammed one oversized fist into the other and swished her tail around menacingly. Zeus laughed. Ma' stretched her arms above her head and groaned in satisfaction as her muscles settled.

"Quite finished?" Oculus snapped, as the heroes finally diverted their attention away from one another. "Because if not I can wait a while longer. It's not as though you're interrupting anything."
Mary met sarcasm with snark.
"Nah- we're free to kick your ass now. Bend over."
With that said, the featureless silver sphere that'd been following Mary's accent with it's speaker and projector companions came into view in the circle of smashed glass that'd been all their entrances- and plunged the Vitateck Office into chaos.

---

"reeEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!-"

With an earsplitting shriek the blank sentry revealed it's purpose; which was apparently to burst the eardrums of everyone present. The shrill noise reached such a crescendo that the tempered glass surrounding it began to wobble in a sympathetic frequency and spiderweb into a network of cracks.
The sonic assault took the three heroes by surprise, and both 'Ma and Mary dropped to the ground with their hands clamped protectively around their lobes, only the Godly Zeus seemed unaffected.

"Lyre of Apollo!" Zeus swore. "Begone with thee, irritant siren!"
The mighty Zeus drew back his hand and gathered a rod of fizzing white lightning, which with a sharp turn hurled behind the group to destroy the threat. In an instant the bloodcurdling tone was mercifully silenced, and the God turned back to face his enemy with a satisfied grin. His face caved in before he could complete the expression, as a Sentry slung him between the eyes with self-destructive force.
The office behind Oculus blossomed into a disco of burning red pupils as her familiars surged forward to swarm Icon. The first sucker punch took him by surprise and staggered him, but it wasn't until twenty of them lanced past 'Ma and Mary that he was thrown bodily off his ensandeled feet and out the skyscraper window.

Oculus darted backwards deeper into the office, with a furious snarl Mary tore after her. The bestial e-celeb threw office chairs, filing cabinets and cubical dividers from her path as though they were cardboard cutouts. She was briefly aware of Oculuses drones battering and pelting her leathered back as they tried to keep up and defend their master, which she was instants away from seizing in her claws.
With a surge of powerful leg muscles she closed the distance and grabbed the informant by the throat, which was easily accomplished in a single handbredth. Lifting the thief high into the air Mary felt Lynne lash out at her face with a studded climbing-boot, which stung but ultimately accomplished little.
"Don't forget to Like! Comment! Favourite! and SUBSCRIBE!" She taunted, before driving her force downwards in a vicious slam. She bitterly lamented that she hadn't managed to tape the thing.
As Oculus kissed the carpet hard enough to dislodge ceiling-panels from the floor below her glasses shattered, and her ember-red eyes stared back at her with unmitigated fury- and not a little injury.
Mary raised her for another strike; the shapeshifter didn't intend to kill her quarry, but at the same time she couldn't leave her in any shape to resist arrest once the law finally caught up to her.
Another flash of red light.
Oculus had crafted yet another ally, this one was also unique in that it's pupil had been replaced with a conical drillbit, and with a slap she forced it into the thick hide of Mary's biceps where it bit deep and made a blender of her flesh.
"Sucks, doesn't it!" Oculus's voice sharpened as she slurred back from her beating. "Sorry. Not Sorry!"
Mary unleashed another furious snarl, brought on by the debilitating pain of her ruined limb. Before she could scream her defiance to completion a sentry darted into her vision and bulleted for her eye. Releasing her grip on Oculus Bloody Mary caught the attack on her still-stable forearm, another orb came into her view and lunched towards it, she swiped at it but with a nimble duck it blew past her defences and snapped her jaw shut with an uppercut. More orbs came into view and tried their level best to break every bone in the young Gifted's face.

While Parkour Madness Girl swatted ineffectually at the swarm of threats with her arms and tail, roaring in anger and mounting degrees of pain all the while, Oculus rolled out from under her stomping feet and ducked back inside the Vitateck CEO's office. She knew that Mary's healing factor and offensive output would quickly outpace her reserve of Sentry's, which now only numbered in the hundreds instead of the thousands. Diving over an offensively opulent desk she snatched her 'USB Drone' from the CEO's terminal. She reversed her direction to charge back out again, where she all but ran into the squat figure of Ma' Nature who was shaking her head with clear disapproval.

"Y'h shouldn't take thing's tha' don't belong t' ye'. One day y'll come t' regret it."
Ma's straightforward and honest tone shifted subtly. Clearly threatening that 'One Day' could be arranged to be very soon.
"If you're stalling for your pet Greek to show up, it won't work. I've read up on you:"
Oculus disregarded her, and started strolling to jostle past her. A busy woman, Lynne talked as she walked.
"You have power over nature- wind, water, air, etcetera... but if you hadn't noticed we're in a skyscraper." Lynee's shoulder barged past Ma's. The height of rudeness! "-unless you can move metal and glass you're batting above your league."
For her part Ma' took this barrage of verbal abuse in surprisingly good graces, simply nodding her head to each of the statements.
"That's is as may be..." She conceded, before suddenly dropping her polite mask, snatching the hood of Oculus's coat and pulling her face to her own level to deliver a sharp fist into Lynnes jaw.
Ma' was gentle and good by nature, who had never prided herself on her finesse or ability with violence, but that didn't imply that she was a dainty wilting flower- rather, Ma' was a robust woman who's temper was easily roused and who wasn't above laying on a firm and just hand.
"Let tha' be a lesson t' ye! There's more t' come besides!"
Even with an army of eye's Oculus hadn't seen that coming. Analysing abilities and data was one thing, but who could anticipate a personality as driven as Francine Underwood?
The punch staggered Oculus back out the office, and maintaining her grip Ma' endeavoured to ride her to the ground to continue laying on a thrashing that the villain wouldn't soon forget. As Lynne's footing was threatened she twisted around and managed to deliver a few blows of her own, but it just seemed to firm Ma's resolve and solidify her fists. One of the few dozen drones that remained of Mary's distraction peeled off and separated the struggling pair with a concussive strike to Ma's stomach that drove the wind from her lungs.

It took a moment for Ma' to find her feet again and for Mary to crush the rest of the spherical insects that continued to pester her, with a twist of her wrist Bloody Mary destroyed the drill-drone in her arm and shook the shell from her wound which had already begun to shift itself back together. The pair pursued after their villain, who they found attaching herself to the outside of the building by her magnetic drones. She paused momentarily to regard the pair with a look of red hot fury.
"What the hell is wrong with you people?! You see someone going about their business and your first impulse is to get involved for a fistfight?!"
"You..! You..!" Oculus seemed to be struggling how to classify the three vigilantes. "...New Yorkers! You've r-"
Her voice caught in her throat, and the laser points of her metal eyes drifted past Ma' and Mary to focus on a distant point. The look of shock and fear on her face was real, and the others turned to look at her point of view.
Across the office, through the centre of the skyscraper, and out the other side the furious figure of Zeus was visible. Redfaced and thunderous his fury was enough to literally put the fear of God into all who beheld it.
"YOU DARE TO STRIKE ZEUS -GOD OF GODS- WITH, AS YOU MORTALS CALL IT, A SUCKER PUNCH?!"
The god drew back his arm and gathered a rod of fizzing energy, this one was red. Mary and Ma' made the sensible decision not to stand in the way of a smiting.
"THE ONLY SUCKER HERE IS THINESELF!"
Throwing his arm forward in a broad javelin sweep Zeus fired a bolt of lightning through the building and into Oculus's tethered form. The electricity was almost solid in it's intensity, held by her grappling lines Lynne writhed in electronic convulsions for a long moment before she finally fell away with a limp fall and disturbing smell of charred flesh.

---

"TO HADES WITH THEE!"
Icon continued to bellow, getting angrier in victory rather than calmer. Zeus wasn't like the modern gods of forgiveness and moderation, he was of a generation where gods were casually violent, base, and certifiably insane. He was the god of thunder and sky, and he let those around him know it.
Dark clouds rumbled over a small patch of New York skyline. Minutes ago it'd been sunny.
The lightening bolt had melted a floor-wide hole in the skyscrapers far glass wall, and he currently stamped through the tunnel of destruction it'd left in it's wake to glare down at his victim, and if necessary administer further smitings.

"Hells bells!" Ma' swore, as she detached herself from her cover.

"Woah." Bloody Mary gave her best Keanu Reeves impression, as she did the same. Mary'd returned to her normal form.

"Hah! Another foe vanquished!" Icons mood turned like the weather, and he beamed at his two companions.
"What say we celebrate like champions? Thou mayest accompany me to Olympus so-"
Ma' gave him an open handed slap.
"Turn back, right now!"
Zeus looked momentarily stunned by shock, and then gathered himself for an outraged exclamation.
"HOW DARE TH-"
Another slap.
"Don't make me tell you again, young man!" Ma' scolded.
The god looked emotionally hurt, and with a final thunderclap and a dramatic billow of wind the Deity was gone. Eric stood in his place, with a raising bruise on his cheek and the same expression of shock, but only a foggy recollection of events.

He looked around at the totalled office. "Woah." Another Keanu Reeves impression.
An expression of concern clouded his features. "I didn't hurt anyone... did I?"
Ma' and Mary looked out of the window where they'd seen their foe zapped like a bug.
"Welll-l-l..." Mary drew out the word, for once unsure whether now was the time for a witticism or not.

---

On her wire Oculus convulsed, and every move she made bristled her skin with static electricity.
She was only concious by the barest of margins, but her drones had provided a point of view to fill in the gaps, which resulted in her recollection of events becoming odd and unsorted:

First, she'd taken several billion volts to the chest. That was an important part of the memory, and from their on her recollection of events was... second hand. Her Grapple Drones had kept her pinned to receive the full brunt of the gods attack, and had only been moderately successful in siphoning the energy overflowing from her back into the building. The moment the barrage had ended all but one of her hooks had expired, and Oculus was left to the cruel care of gravity as she dandled limply and upside down from the floor bellow.

When she'd regained her senses she was moderately surprised to still be alive. She could still hear her aggressors talking on the floor above her, though;

"Woah" "I didn't hurt anyone... did I?"
"Welll-l-l..."

'Bastards.' She thought.

The singular magnetic orb still tying her to the building was performing above and beyond the call of duty. Not only had it endured a beating, but even now it was acting as a conduit to drain Lynne of electricity in a, if not painless, safe, way. Oculus reached out a hand to touch the building and steady herself, but even from a foot away static was arcing off her fingers- physics wasn't her forte but she imagined that those with conductive bodyparts shouldn't try to tough out a near-electrocution.

She let herself hang for a minute longer, occasionally convulsing as she directed her grapple line to ground itself for a few short moments. During this time she fished her 'USB Drone' from her pocket and glanced it over. Fried. Damn.
She had no idea what the information might have contained, but it certainly wasn't worth the degree of trouble that it'd put her through.

The ITSDA would be here soon. Or the AGF. Or some other vigilante; Occlus knew for a fact that Frank Jackson, Phoenix Crimson, Meta and Syndie had all called the Big Apple their home at one point or another, and she didn't feel the need to test her mettle any further for the day.
She directed her grapple line to cut itself, and fell a few meters into a cloud of her assembled familiars. With enough drones it was feasible enough that she'd be able to fly, but at her remaining strength she opted to simply put enough hovering bodies between herself and the ground to slow her decent.

She already had a extraction plan; a car with a fresh licence plate, a change of clothes and a new pair of sunglasses.
Even though she left with a beating and failed in her objective Oculus felt as though she had gained something from the encounter. A few crumbs of knowledge, and a little practical experience in her craft were surprisingly valuable assets.
Chief among these new pieces of information; 'Do not attempt a robbery in broad daylight, especially in a densely packed city of Superheroes.'
This message was last edited by the GM at 06:29, Tue 01 Dec 2015.

Maria reaches up to scratch her head nervously as she finishes reversing her transformation.

"So!" She says in her normal, cheery voice. Her limbs shrink back to the appropriate size for a 5-foot teenager and her extra head retracts into her back. She combs some of the grime out of her hair with her fingers, consisting mostly of Sheetrock dust and blood. "That was fun. Sorta... Except for all the property damage, but EH, they're rich enough." She shrugs. "Maria Sanchez, aka Parkour Madness Girl, aka Bloody Mary, aka empress of Ohgodstoppunchingme-land. Nice meeting you."
This message was last edited by the player at 20:12, Tue 01 Dec 2015.

Eric was a bit flustered. "Umm Im Eric. Ive been called Icon or Titan by the news and other people."

Maria holds a hand out to shake. "Nice to meet 'cha. What's got you so ruffled? You kicked ass back there!" She tilts her head at him, clearly confused.

Ooh, I hope the camera got most of the action. Maria wondered. If not... ehh, the security cam footage'll make it to YouTube eventually.

Eric shook her hand a bit shyly. "Thanks umm..I dont know I just...well...Im just not...used to this. Working with people. Im normally just alone and used to dealing with thinks myself."

Maria nodded. "Yeah, that makes sense." She scratches her head. "Huh, I feel like I've forgotten something..."

Eric looked around then out the window. "Shouldn't we make sure that she is...you know...taken care of?"

Maria raises a hand in a "Stop" gesture. "I make a point of not killing people unless they're willing to kill. She's learned her lesson. 'Don't fuck with the C of NY.' Pretty sure she won't pull a stunt like that again, no matter how approving of cool stunts I am."
This message was last edited by the player at 00:40, Thu 03 Dec 2015.

"What we ought do is put 'er in a garbage bag and dump her off on a cop car!"

Ma exclaims.

"And iffn she ain't dead, I can put my boot up her butt so far that we both have ta go ta theuh ER"

Looking down at her house shoes, badly used by the rush after Eric, she adds

"Mebbe not,  Nice ta meetcha Mary; you kin call me Ma"

Maria squinted suddenly. "Still... There's something I'm forgetting... Oh, that's it!" She snaps her fingers, looking thoroughly embarrassed. "My clothes. Jeezus. I'mma go mutate a skin-suit real quick, brb!" She walks off behind a pile of wrecked computers.

`Ma clapped her hands and started laughing.

"Sorry 'bout that!  I's a-thinkin' that you were one o' them naturalists!"

she lightly elbowed Eric.

"Oh, I don't have a problem with being naked. The internet's seen me do this kind of thing before. The cops, on the other hand...!" Maria laughs, recalling the first time she'd consciously grown wings. She was ALMOST arrested for indecent exposure, but her followers rioted across the country and the court dubbed the scandal an "unfortunate side-effect of today's society." Good times.
This message had punctuation tweaked by the player at 17:19, Sat 12 Dec 2015.

Eric chuckled "Must make for a very interesting story." He thought about the cops then. "We may want to get out of here. Cops will probably be here soon. I can get us away pretty fast if you want."
This message was last edited by the player at 21:18, Wed 09 Dec 2015.

Maria stepped out from behind the rubble, her skin from neck to ankle covered by a layer of black, leathery skin.

"I can handle myself." She assures Eric, strutting over to the shattered window and turning on her heel to face them.

"See you around, God of gods." She winks, and you get the feeling she's not referencing the Olympian you transformed into. The thought is cut short by her trust-falling off the building.

After a moment of shock, a winged, night-black figure comes up, gliding gracefully around the edge of a building and out of sight.

Ma Nature is impressed.

"That's one way ta handle it!  Flashy .  I ain;t young enough ta go fer flashy right now Eric, so I will gratefully accept yer offer!"

Eric nodded and concentrated. A moment of light and a very handsome and hot man was standing there in a greek style toga. "Ahh my dear you need a ride down yes? Well who is the great Apollo to refuse such a young beauty." he said with a quick wink. He turned to the open air and gave a shrill whistle. A few moments later, as if the sun had come down to earth, a great chariot pulled by fiery horses appeared. Apollo climed in and extended his hand to Ma. "Right this way! First class transport."

Feigning a sneeze,Ma turned away for a moment while she rolled her eyes so far up into her head that she could see her hair growing up and out of her scalp.*   Wiping her nose with a handkerchief
m'f across her nose after the faux sneeze, she said,

"Thankee sir!  It's mighty appreciated!   By thuh way, reckin Eric knows anyone what actually weart pants?"

She took his arm to be led to the chariot.



*  Thanks to Janet Evanovich for the eye rolling routine!

Apollo laughed a cheery laugh. "Ahh you young mortals. All caught up with your pants and such. I believe the chinese and japanese used those things as well as the norse. But what is wrong with letting your body breathe a bit?" as he spoke the chariot thundered down until it found the same allyway they had started in. Apollo gave a final.bow and dissappeared. Eric then looked over to her exhaustion clearly showing through. "Phew. Alright so its been a day."

"Ain't it just!  Show me where ya live and I'll cook ya somethin' ta eat"

Ma was a wee bit on the tired side herself, but she had not given her abilities the workout that Eric had.

Eric nodded and walked with her to his apartment. "Its only a few blocks from the library. So that is good for work."

In reply to Icon (msg # 284):

Ma chatted with Eric as they walked, trying to keep him distracted from his weariness.

"I'll make ya some grub when we git thar that'll help ya refuel, an' then we kin relax.  You show me thuh kitchen an; then go put yer feet up in front of thuh boob tube".

Eric chuckled. "Alright then. Should be fun. Heard they are having an Egyptian special on the history channel tonight.

An alarm siren pierced the streets of New York. It was immediately followed by shouting, a startled scream of terror, breaking glass and a gunshot...

After the city's onslaught of recent Gifted terrorism the sounds were almost a relief. Days ago Namidians had torn Central Park to shreds, Gifted Psychopaths had threatened to bomb the inner city, and a very public burglary gone wrong had shot a bolt of lightning through the city's iconic skyline.

The sounds of breaking glass and gunshots were worrying, to be sure, but at least they were to sounds of mundane un-Gifted crime. That was at least something that New Yorkers knew how to respond to.

A squad of four police interceptors sped down Malcolm X Boulevard and screeched to a halt outside one of the city's many financial buildings. They disembarked, took cover behind their bulletproofed vehicles, and shouted out orders through their PA system to bring the situation back under heel...

---

"You're surrounded! Turn over your hostages immediately, leave with your hands raised, and you won't have full charges brought against you!"

From outside the banks windows four masked figures, and almost a dozen of their hostages, could see the city's law enforcers make their manoeuvres. They were following textbook procedure; The police had prioritised evacuating non-combatants from the area and surrounding buildings, sealing off all escape routes, and trying not to take any actions that could provoke the failed robbers into doing something stupid to one of their hostages.

The leader of the four figures knew that if they continued to follow protocol that they'd either have called a police negotiator, or would have called one of the AGF's or ITSDA's Gifted specialists who could guarantee a clean end to the situation.

"Get bent, Pigs!"

The criminal boss spat out a coarse retort, and swept a threatening glare over the room. His three crew-members glared back confidently.

Normally getting caught in this kind of situation would be enough to stop a career Criminal in their tracks.
It was the leaders opinion that the best kind of bank robbery was one where the cops wouldn't be called until his crew had already crossed-state and transferred their theft into a secure hiding place. Hell, nowadays It was hardly even worth robbing banks the conventional way anyway... not with the world running on digital currency, and filled with vigilante Gifted!

It was a good thing that he wasn't actually trying to rob the bank, then. No, the group had another objective to accomplish today...

"Mister Fahrenheit!"
The groups leader called out to one of his comrades, who was using an obvious pseudoname. The man he gestured to had a balaclava covering his face, and was currently herding four hostages from behind the cashiers desk to join the others in the centre of the room. He was not physically intimidating but something in the way that he spoke very little, and always held his weapons trigger tight against it's firing-point, stopped any of his victims from resisting his orders.
'Fahrenheit' looked up from his task to question his boss.
"Yes, Bohemian?"
"Finish up with them, and get to solid cover! On my signal I want you to put that dandy new rifle of yours to good use, and atomize one of those cars out there! I want to draw some attention!"

"Killer Queen!"
The next to be barked orders at seemed to be the eldest but most professional of the group. Even as the police surrounded them her fingers danced over the keys of a portable computer she'd jacked into one of the banks registers. Her eyes were covered by some kind of transparent visor, and holographic information swam past her vision at dizzying speed. Despite being obviously occupied she somehow answered 'Bohemian' without the slightest hint of hesitation or distraction.
"What do you want?"
"Finish transferring those e-credits, then chip into the law enforcement channels- I want to be forewarned when they start taking us seriously!"
'Queen' continued tapping at her keys, and her visor flooded with yet more information.
"I'm already on it. We'll know soon enough."

"Flash, are you set up?!"
'Bohemian' called out to the last member of his squad, who nodded the affirmative. 'Flash' was outfitted in the skeleton of some kind of external-mobility-suit, and every small movement he made produced a subtle whine of servos from his armoured joints. He seemed to be placing a series of ominous metal disks around the room, and with some difficulty had taped a set to several of the hostages sharing the room with him.
"Yeah! I've got the smart-mines set up!"
'Flash' Slammed a fist into his palm aggressively. The miniature motors in his body armour protested as the enhanced strength they gave him exaggerated the gesture ridiculously.
"When they try to storm us we'll teach them a lesson in firepower all right!"

'Bohemian' nodded his agreement, although he didn't seem to share the same kind of aggressive and unbridled excitement of his comrade. The leader himself didn't seem to carry any of the exotic equipment that his allies did- and in fact didn't seem to carry any weapons whatsoever. Instead, the man was slabbed in dense muscle and stood a good foot taller than anyone else in the room. Most disconcertingly, however, was that he hadn't even bothered to wear a disguise or a bulletproof vest to his mission- he was certanly hiding something.
The leader fished a cheap cellphone from his pocket, and dialled the one number in it's contacts list...

"We're about to cut loose. You'd better be comfortable for the show, Control."

---

"Roger that, ground team."

The call was answered from just a few meters away. Across the street, four floors higher and through a curtained apartment window- to be precise.

A team of technicians were monetizing a number of computerised readouts, cameras, and sensors that had been trained directly onto the victimized bank opposite. There was a sense of anxious anticipation throughout the room as the engineers waited to gather field data.

The contents of a bank in the heart of one of the best-defended cities in America would be a prize worth fighting for, to be sure, but Commander had dispatched his research team into the field for something far more practical than cash.
Information.
The ground team had posed as a standard team of civilian criminals, but had been specially outfitted with the Next-Generation of Namidian Technology. The black market supplier who had contacted Commanders organisation had assured him that the various weapons, armour, tools and pharmaceutical modifications that had been granted to the Ground Team would allow them to compete evenly with even highly-Gifted ITSDA agents- and now Commanders Research division intended to put that claim to the test.

Ma woke the next morning and took a shower, put the coffee on and made a quick breakfast for herself and Eric.

She then went out to walk the streets and see what was going on, where it was or was not and how she would spend her day.  She had left a note for Eric to let him know that she would meet him back at the apartment that evening.

Once outside, she started wandering until she heard the sirens and decided to follow them.

An unnoticed observer casually watched the unfolding crisis from above. He reclined on a gargoyle and flipped a coin, forcing it to land on heads every time. He considered using his abilities to obscure himself but decided against it as most would be enthralled by the crisis at hand. Khaos slid off the gargoyle and to his feet, catching the coin one last time, and conjuring his top hat. Placing the hat on his head and adjusting it he glanced down at the police and over to the motley crew of robbers. The show was apart to begin. "Raise the curtain. It's showtime!"

Mister Khaos lay stretched out across one of the bank lobby's, using one elbow to keep himself propped up. "Mind if I get a front row seat? I have my backstage pass right here."

NON-CANNON BATTLE POST

Francine Underwood followed the sirens, and came to a stop outside a large police cordon surrounded by a crowd of gawping spectators. Elbowing her way impolitely to the front she got her first real look at the scene:

Police cars had formed a rough semi-circle around one of NYC's many financial buildings. The air was thick with tension, and Ma' wisely decided to watch the situation play out rather than break whatever stalemate had formed between the buildings robbers and the responding officers.
Seconds later New York's finest make their move, and she saw a squad of swat officers make their way around the buildings corner and take cover in the robbers blind spots beneath the banks storefront. The observing crowd silenced and a few faces turned to face away as they anticipated what would come next- Francine stared onwards with steely determination as she saw the SWAT members spring from their cover and place careful single shots into the building as they attempted to take out the criminals without harming the hostages within. A handful of rounds were fired, but were instantly rebuked by a concentrated lance of searing red energy that sent them screaming to the ground with blistering skin.

The door to the bank kicked outwards, and the criminal who'd done so risked taking several bullets to shout out a challenge.

"I thought that we said not to use any tricks! -What happens next is on you!"

Saying that, the gunman let loose with his weapon. Compared to the law-enforcements automatic rifles his weapon was practically space-aged, and resembled a large scientific rifle with an ominously glowing barrel. Where his last shot had only sent a squad of armed men to the ground with superficial injuries, his second barrage was more concentrated, and vaporized the front of a police cruiser under a punishing barrage of infrared laser fire!

Police scattered, and their returning fire back towards the unbelievably well-armed robber fell short of a solid hit. As they regrouped the crowd around Ma' surged as a mixture of spectators tried to flee the scene or draw closer for a better look. A particularly heavy shove almost sent her sprawling to the ground, but she fought to keep her feet and watched on as the battle escalated...

By now the burglar with the advanced microwave rifle had been joined by a second man, who wore some kind of mechanical battle suit. He leapt thirty feet through one of the banks windows, and slammed two fists into a police cruiser as he fell. The attackers armoured joints whined and sparked as bullets bounced off him, but it didn't seem to cause him any harm and he simply strode forwards to throw a policeman violently to the ground- before striding over to finish him off with a second attack

"Do we look like we're here to fight salarymen?! Hurry up and call in the experts, you bastards!"

For a criminal the demand was outrageous- but at this point it was already clear that the bank robbers were anything but conventional. The exo-suited criminal raised a fist and drove it down into a savage piledrive that could have reduced one of the policemen to paste if a violent and sudden gust of wind hadn't interfered between the two, and thrown the criminals aim off target! The policeman was thrown across the street, and the criminals mechanical fist pounded into the road with enough force to leave a smoking crater where the man's shoulder had been.

"Hey! Iffenn' yer lookin' tae pick ah' fight yeh've come t' th'righ' place!"
Ma nature had pushed past the police cordon and directly into the middle of the firefight. A swirling wind surrounding her kept anyone from interfering. Her patience for watching on the sidelines hadn't lasted much longer than it'd took for her to see that the police were clearly outmatched.
"How about y'h drop tha' kid gloves an' fight someone yer' own speed!"

Her two opponents attacked in perfect unison. The exo-suited soldier sprang forwards in a powerful leap that Francine had to backstep away from, only for her to feel her face blister in heat as the second mercenary turned his laser-like rife on her. She reached out with her Gifts and made the earth under the rifelman's feet tremble with shifting earth to disrupt his aim and keep her from being flash-fried! The armoured solider took the opportunity to strike at her again, and this punch found it's mark on the side of her head- and hit with enough force to send her sailing through the air and crashing heavily onto the road a good ten feet away!

Ma' got to her feet shakily, and spat out a gob of blood that'd begun to pool in her mouth. She'd never been hit THAT hard before, but her robust constitution had kept her from passing out so easily. She locked eyes with her two attackers furiously.
"So ye' think yh've got stones' do ye'? Ah'll have ye' know it'll take ah' lot more'n that t' keep me DOWN!"
With the last word she uttered, a streak of lighting lanced across the city's skyline and grounded itself into a nearby skyscraper. A buffeting wall of wind surged itself down the street and sent the nearby bystanders wailing to the ground and herself almost off her feet! The rifleman sunk to his knees and strained every muscle in his body to keep himself from being thrown back under the full force of Ma' Natures might, whilst the powersuited man had to anchor himself against her onslaught by driving his fist into the ground.
The rifleman sent another lance of energy at her, and Ma' hissed in pain as her side was seared with first degree burns, she suffered through the wound and in response sent him flying with a gesture that blew him screaming off his feet with a storm of ice-cold wind. The thug crashed through one of the banks reinforced windows with concussive force.

Francine's anger was unabated and she threw another typhoon down the street to knock out the second criminal, but far above the battlefield a spectator interfered...

"Ah... poor thugs. Your little toys just can't compete against Gifted powers, can they?"
Khaos would have enjoyed watching the criminals be tossed helplessly around some more, but he'd thought of a way to make the fight even more interesting... he narrowed his burning green eyes onto Francine and used his own Gift. What would happen if he introduced an unexpected twist, he wondered?

Francine's attack surged forwards, and even as the woman threw it she realised that she'd gotten too carried away! A fist of intense wind scoured the ground and sent the armoured Namidian off his feet- crashing into a ruined police car- and then sent the man and the vehicle both spinning violently through the air on a collision course with one of the unconscious SWAT members littering their battlefield. The villain flailed helplessly mid-air, Francine tried desperately but too-late to undo her strike, and Khaos's vicious smile widened as he was about to sow the seeds of his namesake.

**Ca-Krunch!**

A scream of crushed bodywork, shattering asphalt, and screaming bystanders pierced the air. Ma' had instinctively covered her eyes in a psychological reflex not to let herself see her mistake turn into a murder, but when she carefully lowered them she saw something unexpected:
A seven and a half foot tall Goliath of pure muscle had joined the criminals, and interposed himself to defect the thrown vehicle with a brave grapple. Francine's residual wind whipped around him as he strained to throw the ton of metal aside where it wouldn't do any harm. After kneeling briefly to check the vitals of the now-unconscious armoured henchman who had crashed at his feet, he turned an iron-hard glare onto the woman herself.

"What the hell was that?!"

The man roared furiously at the superhuman vigilante. Francine didn't know how to answer that- for one thing it was generally her job to shout people down, but for another thing she didn't know why her attack had veered so wildly off her goal... Whether or not she was a 'skilled' vigilante was an open question, but she'd never intended to put anyone else in danger through her actions. When she'd thrown her attack she hadn't even expected her true target to suffer anything more than a few bruised ribs!

"You could have gotten someone killed! You fucking IDIOT!"

"I-i... I didn't mean..."

She didn't finish the sentence, as her justification sounded weak before she'd even finished. Getting berated by a criminal for incompetence was an uncomfortable situation for poor Francine, and more than a little humbling.

Even so, something about the mistake felt odd to her- the forces of nature were unruly and temperamental, but they generally followed her instructions all the same. For her Gift to have lash out the way it had was extremely unusual.

By now the wind had literally and figuratively been taken out of her sails, and without the barrage of weather there was nothing from stopping the giant from striding within arms reach of her. He raised an arm threateningly to strike her, but stopped short before he could take advantage of Ma' Natures rare indecision.

"I wasn't going to..."

Francine managed a few more words, but the giant shushed her hurriedly. The man's bald head was twitching around quickly, and he'd suddenly lost interest in Ma'. Something had apparently grabbed his attention, and was enough to make him pause even in the middle of a battle. This was a surprising fight for the woman, but rather than object she decided to see where this new development would lead.

"...Do you hear someone chuckling?"

The giant asked bizarrely as his eyes flitted around. Ma didn't respond. The giants head suddenly snapped to face the roof of a nearby building before he shouted out in unbelievable fury.
"YOU THERE!"
Across the street, and fifteen floors higher, Khaos shifted on his perch as one of his puppets suddenly locked merciless eyes and addressed him directly.
"Oh! Now this is unexpected!"
Khaos was surprised, which was a rare thing indeed. His puppets weren't meant to be aware of his interference! He began to question whether he was as well-prepared as he'd first thought after all... He saw the giant abandon his first target, and start sprinting towards his own building with heavy purposeful bounds. Khaos slipped off his vantage point and began to escape by foot as he tried to find an area that'd let his Gift phase him away without the enhanced-humans enhanced senses reducing his odds of success to impossibility.

On the ground Ma' was dumbstruck. After her foe had shouted out some kind of challenge she'd briefly seen a masked figure on a nearby rooftop, and somehow her fight on the ground had come to a rude end. She was left angry and unsatisfied, but the worried thrill of panic that she'd felt at having almost killed an innocent police officer had kept her from chasing after the pair- in fact a small traitorous part of her was even considering fleeing the scene so as not to become an accessory to the crime herself!
A shatter of glass brought her back to her senses, and she raised her fists instinctively as she saw a fourth felon approach her. This one was wearing some kind of holographic headpiece, and had a variety of strange gadgets on her person- yet another unexpectedly over-equipped criminal.

"One step closer an' ah'll fry yer' like ah' fish!"

Thunder crackled ominously overhead as Ma' punctuated her words. She didn't have the hot-blooded stubborn streak that she'd started the fight with, but she was still committed to trying to do the right thing...

"Peace. I have an offer for you."
The fourth criminal called out, and extended something in her palm. It looked like some kind of remote control.
"The hostages inside are wired with explosives. I will trade you the detonator for my two comrades here, and your non-interference for the rest of my mission."
The cyber-criminal indicated the rifleman and armoured thug with two nods. Ma' looked at her sceptically.
"Ahn' why should ah' trust yer? Y' don't exactle' seem the type t' play by tha' rules."
The criminal tilted her head as she considered Ma's words. With a resigned sigh she threw the detonator underhanded to skitter along the road and come to Ma's feet.
"Don't be stubborn. Neither of us have anything to gain by blowing up innocents, and this fight proves nothing- I'm afraid that something else has been manipulating us."
The criminal left Ma' and knelt to drag her two comrades away and out of sight. Distant wailing sirens began to draw closer from a few blocks away.
"The mission has already gone out of control. Extending it only increases the chances of civilian casualties."
Ma' looked down at the detonator with a scowl and picked it up with infinite care- she didn't know how it was wired, so she took special care not to touch anything on it at all.
"Righ'! Fine! We'll call this one ah' tie, then! Jus' cause yer' don't seem t' be takin' it seriously!"
Ma could, of course, Zap the criminals in the back with a bolt of lightning- but it somehow didn't feel heroic to beat down routing enemies, or for her to risk exercising her gifts while holding the remote to a group of hostage-bombs. She had to admit that letting them go was definitely the closest compromise she could get to a heroic end to the battle, but it didn't improve her mood to know it- and after she'd heard a screech of rubber as the heist crews getaway vehicle sped away she let loose with a frustrated string of colourful curses and a savage kick that sent a chunk of rubble clattering down the street.

---

Up above the last criminal, Bohemian, was in hot pursuit of his target. Unlike his three peers he hadn't brought any of Commanders prototype gadgets into this mission, but he wasn't Gifted either- his advantage lay in the numerous pharmaceutical alterations he had endured. Taking so many experimental drugs had it's price, to be sure- but Namidian science had rendered his skin next-to bulletproof, his senses frighteningly acute, and his muscles as dense as a silverback gorillas. His memory had also become eidetic, and instead of relying on his mission handlers to pass him information he remembered the glowing green eyes of Khaos that he'd read in one of Commanders obscure information files long ago...
Currently he could only see the silver back-of-the-head of Khaos, as the manipulator sprinted across the rooftops in an effort to escape. Bohemian shot ahead with a powerful heave of leg muscles, but his target somehow ducked and twisted away before he could fit his oversized grip around the enigmatic man's neck.

"Ha, HAH!"
Khaos laughed as he dodged, although something in his voice suggested that he was short of breath. The man might be a dangerous manipulator, but he clearly wasn't interested in a direct fight.
"You're an interesting one! But even an amusing puppet can't cut it's strings!"
Khaos dived across a rooftop, landed onto a far fire-escape rail, and parkoured himself to safety.
"Keep talking, dandy!"
Bohemian taunted back.
"You're only a rumour on the Namidian files, you know? -I don't know what you can do, but I'm willing to bet you can't run forever!"
'Close.' Khaos thought. The truth was that because of the ab-humans modified senses that he'd have to put some significant distance between himself and the criminal before his 'odds of being elsewhere' were reasonable enough for him to make the jump. Once he'd lost line of sight with the Namidian, though, he could disappear almost instantly.

The giant leapt clear across the gap and landed onto the fire escape platform easily. The structure squealed under the stress of his heavy form, and he'd left two dented footprints where he'd landed.
"My fame precedes me, then! It's a shame for you that you don't know more- otherwise you wouldn't have bothered trying to stop me."
Khaos taunted. Bohemian ignored the banter.
"-but I really can't spend any more time here. We should meet again sometime, in fact, I know we will."
Khaos smirked in a patronising way that pissed Bohemian off more than it probably should have, and he shouted madly as he made to charge forwards and silence his enemy once and for all- but at his first footfall the metal struts of the fire-escape beneath him gave way, and the entire structure fell away to send him falling into a heap of scrap iron and 15 floors worth of brutal gravity.
Khaos peered over the edge of his building and winced.
"Heh... bad luck, my friend."
Then he was gone.
This message was last edited by the player at 12:40, Tue 31 May 2016.