NationStates Jolt Archive

It was a dark, cloudless night in New Haldria City. Well, as dark as it ever got in New Haldria. The lack of sunlight was never a problem in the city that never slept. It was also the city that never shut up, as people talked in the streets, cars blew their horns to show their annoyance at the traffic jams. There were also sporadic sirens from within the concrete jungle. The buildings were tall and imposing, the skyscrapers looked down in scorn on a world which was below them. It was an imposing place at the best of times.

However, on the island of Manha, in an area not considered industrial in the slightest, there was based a company known as Primitech Paper, a place where local people could come and get off the streets if even for a few hours. The building was small and unassuming, holding no more than a few dozen people and manufacturing little things such as printing paper and notepads. However, Primitech Paper had another purpose in this city. It was also the location of a Company known simply as the Company. It's purpose was simple, to find and watch beings of extraordinary power. It was to find them, test them, then deliver one of three verdicts. One verdict was those too dangerous to keep alive, they were killed instantly, another was to tag them like animals then let them loose into their lives to be watched like birds roosting.

The third option was to take the Individual and recruit them into the Company to serve as Agents, to work for the protection of mankind against those who saw fit to abuse their powers.

That was what Ellie Mitchell was doing now. She stood outside in the cold winter's night, watching as her breath misted in front of her, seeing the ships drift lazily out into the empty ocean. She wondered for a moment if any of them where heading to her home city of Illesia. Then she stopped, as she always did, for it was always too painful to think about it. She rubbed her hands together eagerly, thinking of what was beneath her, deep in the Company's vaults. For the moment, that threat was locked up and safe, but who knew what waited out there for them.

OOC: Basically, this is the intro to the 'Heroes' Mk2 RP, there's little to work from here I know but I can't really build a plot until all characters have regestered their presence.
For the sake of those getting Deja Vu, this was a thread set up about a fortnight ago, then closed down for not being 'NS' enough. Now there is no mention of the real world in it anywhere so it matches standards and people can move on ^^

Bodor Boross sat in the large liner as it cut through the ice cold water. He was sitting on the top deck with several others as they watched the approach of the mainland. Bodor could only shiver...mainly from the lack of a hit of, well, something. He didn't care what he got but as soon as he hit solid ground he was going to search out a nice dealer and relax in some apartment somewhere, maybe buy a girl if he could find one later. Then again, the second thing probably wasn't so good because the slightest wrong move of any part of his body and BAM!!!: tenderized hooker burger. That was what sucked about Bodor: he could barely afford a social life without burrowing a hole in somebody that ranged from the size of a small pebble up to a car tire if he wanted to do so...which he did if it brought anything between him and a relaxing fix.

Thus, when the ship finally came in to port Bodor twitchilly went down the gang-plank with nothing but the clothes on his back and the wrappings on his hand. He set out in to the freezing city, hopefully to find himself a fix.

A Short Time Later

The man's brain matter decorated the alley floor and his bat lay broke in two a few inches away. Along with that one of his friends slumped against a dumpster at the side of the alley with a hole about the size of a small stone through his lungs and the man's second person, a girl, lay with her head having a hole the size of a golf-ball through the forehead. She had been carrying a gun but Bodor had taken that and stuffed it inside his belt. In the world of drugs, you need a piece even if you had powers. Besides that, he also held a large bag of cocainne.

Unfortunately Boross knew the cops would be coming, the results of one young lady passing by seeing him. Thus Boross broke out in a run to the other end of the alley, desperate to find somewhere to rest for a while and do what he always did with drugs. He had never killed a dealer before, never in his life and given his drugged-up respect for those kind up people, he had it infixed in his mind that the cops would punish him worse for killing the dealer more than they would normally. Thus, all Boross did was run and run through every alley and small street he could find.

Micheal Andrews needed money to take a plane from San Angando to his hometown, NewRapture,so he decided to steal some. He changed into the maygor of the town and said,"We need money to find shelter and homes for the homeless,so please give the most money you can ." He was hoping to make $100,000.

Gregori sat at in his kitchen table. He stared at the food in front of him. Tonight, he was not hungry. He got up, pushing the plate aside. Forward through the door he walked, slowley, steadily, pensively. The next room was his library. Three of the wall were covered in shelves, spanning their entire length and height. These shelves, though enourmous, were packed with books. There was no order to the arangement however. Gregori remembered the exact placement of every book in his collection. In fact, he had memorized over half the volumes already.

The fourth wall of the library was a huge window. It streatched from floor to cealing, and from one wall to the other. Through the window, Gregori could see east, over the docks and out to the sea.

At this time of night, the only light that came through the window was from the boats docking at the harbor. There was one boat, docking now, that Gregori was specificly interested in. He picked up his binoculars from the table on which they sat, and surveyed the deck of the approaching vessle.

"Ah" Gregori sighed "He has come. Finally, after all this waiting, after all this planning, he has come."

Gregori watched hungrily as the man in tattered clothes stepped off the gangplank, heading into the bowels of the city.

"The hunt begins" Murmered Gregori

He turned around, placing the binoculars back on the table. Returning to the kitchen, he dropped the paper plate into the trash can. Walking out to the hall, he retrieved his coat from the hook on which it hung, and headed toward the door.

IC: Smith was enjoying himslef tonight. He had just saved 3 people in a car crash and a cat from up a tree and now he was sat ontop of a skyscraper smokeing a cigar. Well, more of a rather high office block really, but hell, this was New Haldria City, who cares.

Smith certainly didn't care, at least untill he heared another siren...
"Hasn't any one here heard of sleep? Give me Shadum any day" he muttered to himself, jumping off the rooftop and onto another one about 10ft bellow him.

Proceeding in this fashion Smith began to aproach the source of the sirens, a shoot out at a grocery store, and subsiquently the water front. He was quite lost in his own thaughts. Thaughts such as "I want cake" and "sleeeeeeeeeeep!!"

So distracted was he that he failed to notice the fairly large gap between two buildings and, in a cartoony kind of way time seemed to slow down enugh for him to turn to face an imaginery camera and say "Uh-oh" before plumiting to the ground not so far bellow by this time.

Actuly he didn't hit the ground first, he hit the edge of the roof, 3 levels of a fire escape and finaly the ground, landing with a thud next to a woman looking out at the sea.
He lay still for a moment before twitching and straightening himslef up, cracking as he tries to stand. Groaning he stands up and looks around, takeing in the sighn on the building he had just missed that identifyed it as Primitech Paper and a young, blond woman.
"Hi there. Your probably wondering why a seemingly dead man with clown makeup on is talking to you, right?"

OOC: Boy you are determined to get this conversation going aren't you :p

"Not really," Ellie shrugged, in truth she was wondering exactly that, but she was good with faces and she was not going to betray her real emotions to this 'clown' right here. Her mind was still elsewhere as she talked but she supposed this was an interesting diversion. He had just fallen from the sky after all and he was not even scratched,
"Do tell me your name" She asked politely, turning around to face the dock again, "I am actually rather curious as to how you survived a drop like that. If he didn't know that this was the company...she wasn't going to tell him.

Level Five...

The red rubber ball bounced off the wall onto the ground, bouncing back up into a delicate female hand. This sequence moved in perfect rhythmn again and again. Like a music tempo. Adding to this beat was a light and fragile humming. No recognizeable song, just something she made up as it went along. A slight smile tip toed across her face as the rythmn of the ball bouncing and her humming synced together and in her mind, made a nice little melody.

The room was very plain, white walls, a large one way mirror that took up a substansial part of the opposite wall. A spring bed with a tattered mattress and blankets. There was a plain metallic desk with a chair and an attached lamp. a toilet with a low wall for some privacy and a tiny locker. This was her world. All 12ftX12ft of it. This is what she's know for the past thirteen years. Highly regimented, meticulous, and predictable. Three meals a day, three visitations from three different people in white lab coats. Then, there was the occasional visit from a man. An ordinary looking man with short salt and pepper hair. His suits were plain, his demeanour was plain. Of course, she knew it was all a disguise. He wore masks just like she did.

Behind that blank face that occasionally contorted into a smile was something more. He had an expert poker face. But one professional to another, this didn't matter. They could read each other. He was a man she held in a love/hate status. She'd come to respect him, his talent for deception and double talk. In the same breath that's what makes her want to tear him from limb to limb, only if she could now. For thirteen years she lived in this building.

She still remembered the day he came. It was a frigid night in Jonensberg, Kulikovia; her home. She'd done something horrible and he knew it. No one else did, just this man.

"We know what really happened" he said, "You don't know me but I know you very well. You have a special gift"

She was frightened, he knew so much. Almost as if he were there when it happened. This man was skilled, very much so. There was no point in lying, she could sense his fortitude and knowledge. None of her masks could decieve this man.

Years later he'd occasionally visit for evaluations. They deamed her too dangerous, too unstable. They stole her away into the night, never to see her family or home again.

"You are going to stay here for a period of time left to be determined" He said after they ran a few tests. She couldn't resist somehow. Something was preventing her from resisting. It numbed that sense, "You will remain here for mental, physical, and psychological evaluations until it is determined you are fit to rejoin society. As of now though, in my opinion you are too dangerous. This danger will remain until we can get to your core mental state and help you control your powers."

She protested, but none of it mattered. Their minds were already set on keeping here indefinitely...

Now, all those years later, she lulled into a sense of business as usual attitude. The ball bounced, she hummed, life went on without her. suddenly, the door opened and she caught the ball. It was the man.

"Hello, Ashira; how are we doing today?" He asked, carring a manila folder tucked under his left arm, a coffee mug in the right hand.

"Dandy as ever, Mr.Hastings" Ashira smiled, "What do you have there?"

"Just some files" He replied, taking a seat in the chair, "Just had some time to kill and wanted to see how you are doing"

"Nothing much here. I made a house of cards earlier" Ashira replied, knowing full well that he didn't really care. He'd seen what she was capable of first hand. These formalities were all a game, like chess. He made his move cautiously and carefully. she bided her time, thoughtful.

"Really?" he took a sip of coffee. Hazelnut blend was his favorite, "Did you take your pill today?"

"Everyday" Ashira cocked her head to the side, smiling still. she knew he hated it when she smiled. It was a mask, he favorite one. It was blatant in its' message. Because she let him see in that smile, all her packed in anger and untapped hatred. It was an uncomfortable smile to see, forcing you to look away or clear your throat.

"That's good" Hastings said, adjusting his tie, "I have you last evaluation report, would you care to look at it?"

"Why?" Ashira asked, "There's no point in reading it. I already know what that file says" she pointed at the harmless file on the desk.

"It wouldn't hurt to-"

"It says that 'Ashira Dryden, after dueful consideration and evaluation is hereby denied based on the recommendations of her case officer early release from Company custody. The next possible evaluation report will be completed at a date yet determined. Further examination and evaluation will continue as normal'. That's what it says" Ashira red it off the top of her head, having memorized that specific blurbage word for word over the years.

Hastings rapped his fingers off the folder and looked up at her, "That's right, Ashira. That's waht this file says"

"You'll never let me out of here" She leaned forward.

Hastings leaned in as well, lowering his tone, "Not as long as I'm around". He stood up, gathered the file, and walked out of the room and the automatic lock buzzed behind him as the door closed.

She simply began bouncing the ball off the wall and continued humming.

====================

Hastings walked down the hallway and turned the file back into the Records Department. Most of the staff was gone for the night. mainly just security remained. He sighed as he tucked it away in ashira's extensive file. She was right, he'd never allow her to be free. They both knew how dangerous she still is. The medication may hinder her abilities, but not her crooked spirit.

He stepped outside to get some air. The cold shocked his senses as the door opened and that initial blast of air hit his face. There, he saw Ellie Mitchell watching the ships.

"Isn't it kinda funny?" He asked, "Watching the whole world go on ignorantly while there's more that they don't see. I just visited Ashira in Level Five. Everytime I look into those eyes, I just see something ugly. I made my recommendation to the Committee yesterday that she be denied release"

"Smith's the name, helpin's the game" he said, bowing makeing his back click into place.

New Haldria...

Detective Nathan Stohler sat in his unmarked police car. The windows began to fog up as he savored the heat blasting against his face from the vents. This was the most difficult part of working in the Winter, actually getting out of the car. He got the call about fifteen minutes ago. The call came ten minutes before his shift ended but it was still on his watch and the watch commander deemed its' his case. His other partner, Hank Krazny was already on-scene. The other uniforms who clustered around, discussing something. He could see their collective breath dangle into the air. One of them turned to him and quickly spouted off something to the others who all stopped and eyed him.

None of them would dare say a word to a detective. He finally mustered up the courage and stepped out of the car, a cold frigid blast impacted his face. Dammit, I hate this. There were two uniform patrol units, medical, and the coroner present on-scene. He flipped the collar to his coat up, shoving his hands into his pockets.

"Stohler, about time you got here" Hank came from left field with two cups of coffee. He sniffled, having complained earlier in the day about an upcoming cold.

"Yeah, almost missed the party" Stohler took the coffee and brought it quickly to his mouth. The hot liquid slid down his throat, coffee was a serious addiction of his. He couldn't get up in the morning without it, "What do we have?"

They dipped under the police tape and into a back alley. Large lights were brought in and everything basked in harsh white lights and stark shadows. CSI was all over the scene, taking photos, collecting evidence, dusting every surface for prints.

"Three dead" Krazny replied, holding up three fingers as they walked. The personnel parted like the Red Sea, "It looks like a bad drug deal to me. This guy right here was holding some serious stuff, meth, heroine, the hard stuff. There's a broken bat over there"

He pointed to the dead man. Stohler stuck on his laytex gloves and knelt down, the bat broke in half.

"Here's the weird part" Krazny's voice heightens with anticipation, as if holding some deeply kept secret, "The other guy and the girl have holes in them"

"Shot?" Stohler asked

"There's no shell casings, plus CSI said there's no burns around the wounds or powder tracing. Jane Doe had a gun, there's a spare clip in her jacket pocket." Krazny replied, flipping though his notes.

Stohler knelt down, the wounds were clean holes, approximately the size of golfballs. The woman got it worse, a nice hole through her forehead. This was puzzling indeed.

"What could have made that wound?" Krazny asked

"Dunno" Stohler said as he shakily stood back up, he had a bad right knee from a few years ago when he was hit by a fleeing suspect in a car. It never felt right since. He soaks in the scene for a few moments, closing his eyes, piecing the avaliable information together into something resembling a timeline of events, "Guy wants a fix, possibly wants more. These two are either the dealer's friends or other customers. There's a scuffle and all three get killed."

"Maybe there was more than one killer?" Krazny offers

"Doubtful but can't keep it out of the spectrum of possibility. We just need to find the murder weapon" Stohler says, "Are there any witnesses?"

"A homeless guy but said he didn't see anything except he said he saw Superman" Krazny chuckled.

"Superman?" Stohler questioned, "The imagination of some people"

ooc: ooooo, mysterious, also you should meet smith lol, he'll fix that knee up in no time :)

"Isn't it kinda funny?" He asked, "Watching the whole world go on ignorantly while there's more that they don't see. I just visited Ashira in Level Five. Everytime I look into those eyes, I just see something ugly. I made my recommendation to the Committee yesterday that she be denied release"

"You did the right thing Hastings," Ellie said without turning to look at him. She was still watching the ships move in and out lazily from the port of New Haldria. There were vessels of every shape and size, every type and nationality was here in New Haldria, the hub of the east, she liked to think of it as.
Her blond hair was being gently blown about in the slightly breeze that had kicked up along the waterfront. Ellie had been in the Company nearly all of her life, helping to protect the people who couldn't protect themselves.

"She's still not ready to be released into Society yet. She would be endangering too much, then we would not be doing our job" She heard the talk about faces and laughed internally at it. If anyone was a master of faces then it was Hastings. He could hide nearly everything behind them and, though he did it less so with her, the Brit often worried that he knew more about her life than she did. She had just...wandered.

"You gonna head home?" She asked somewhat bitterly, still looking out over the smooth, black water that stretched out as far as she could see, that she could ever wish to see. She liked water. She always had, it was a part of her. The question hung in the air, for Ellie had no home apart from the Company. It was her life.

Then she remembered the Clown beside her,
"Mister Hastings," She indicated to Hastings then back at Smith, "This is Mister Smith," She used the term liberally, for she had no idea what he was, "And I think he is an interesting individual," She dropped that hint. Then allowed Hastings to take over, this was always his best part anyway. He could charm the birds from the trees while she watched for any predators. She thought of home, and Ashira, alone in the cells. Again.

ooc: you might wanna NS up that post by replacing new york withthe city we're in
IC:
"Why thank you mam and hello Mr Hastings"

Gregori stalked through the streets of Haldria City. The orange glare of the streetlights flashed against his eyes. His boots beat out a swift staccato against the dark asphault. Left and right he turned his head, watching out for cars as he walked down the middle of the street.

Three blocks to go.

He looked at his watch. 12:56. 12 minutes since Gregori has last seen him. He couldn't have gotten far.

Two blocks to go.

His pace quickened, along with his pulse. His hands clenched. His condensed breath billowed out behind him.

One block to go.

He was running now. Breathing quickly. He checked his watch again. 12:58.

He rounded the corner, almost colliding with a group of three people. Darting around them, he grazed a wall. Anger exploding out of him, he unleashed his fury. The corner of the building turned red, then white, then melted. Gregori stumbled. His energy fled from him, flowing into the wall. The molten puddle boiled. Gregori fell, hitting his head on the pavement. The puddle cooled. The building stood. Gregori slept.

Bodor sniffled and wiped the remaining specks of the white powder from the desk in the rather messy apartment room. Bodor quickly slipped the card back in to his pocket along with the bag. The T.V was on the news channel, mostly because Bodor had been wanting something to listen to while he did his 'fix' but had been eager to change the channel. So currently the person on T.V was rambling on about...something. Bodor didn't know what but he was willing to bet that his little 'incident' would be on the news within at least a day or so. Thus Bodor knew he'd have to move soon and thus he simply left. Bodor informed the person at the desk that he was done with the room and then walked out the front door in to the winter.

Bodor slowly moved down the sidewalk and at a building just across the street Bodor froze. A man was lying on the inside of a building and the sirens of police cars were wailing off in the distance. There was a puddle of only god knew what and Bodor was simply frozen watching the unconscious figure, not even registering the sirens anymore.

Micheal Andrews got the money, but he decided to go to New Haldria. He wanted to visit his girlfreind , but New Haldria was out of the country and much safer from the black suited pepole.

Gregori stirred. He rolled over. He gasped.

"YOU!" He rasped. He reached out, his hand waving in the air, grasping for the figure he had sought so long.

Light blared in his eyes. Electricity crackled around his fist. Heat eminated from his prostrate body on the concrete.

But this took a toll on his weakened body. Normally, he would have incinerated the man, irradiating his atoms and blasting them across the city, but he was disoriented. His head ached and blood obscured his vision. He collapsed on the ground again, his hand curled into a pained fist.

"F-this man!" Bodor yelled in fear.

Then Bodor tore off, back to the scene of the drug-deal gone bad. He would prefer being in prison than being with that crazy psycho. They guy had been yelling at him and Bodor didn't even know who he was. Thus Bodor went through the alley and when he saw the officers he stepped in to the blinding lights that shined off all the blood and the bodies. He slowly raised his hands, slightly dillusioned from his fix and mentally thrown out of whack, much more than normal, due to the man who had been yelling at him. Bodor looked to all the bodies and then to officers and other people in the area. He had run a long distance and felt unbelievably winded due to fear, thus he could barely hold his arms up in surrender.

"I swear -- I..." Bodor had to pant before continuing "...did it." Bodor finished, motioning with a foot to the bodies.

Liberty City, Alverisa
Servon Sepri was in the back of a small, but reputable tailors shop, of the beaten path in Alversia. He had been their for the last hour trying on different coats, jackets and robes.

“A little superficial don’t you think?”

“Bah, a leader must look his best.”

“But your not the leader yet..”

“It is only a matter of time…”

“Sir, is their anything I can help you with?”

The short tailor had interrupted the pale youth of 16. He shrank away towards the wall as Servon turned towards him. It must have been the combination of the jet black hair, the pale face, and the tired eyes. That, and the black leather trench coat gave Sevron an aura of mystique, evil and danger.

“Yes, I have chosen an item to purchase.”

“Very good sir,” the tailor replied, “but” he said, gulping worriedly, he knew he would regret what he was about to say, “The coat is very expensive. Can you pay?”

“Money,” said Servon with a smile, “is no object” with a flick of his hand, the ebony desk from across the room flew towards the aged tailor crushing him between the wall and the desk. With another flick the desk returned to its place on the opposite wall. The lower half of the tailor was reduced to nothing but smear of blood on the wall.

Servon walked out of the shop, his coat flowing behind him. He was exhilarated from his kill. Victory was in the air. Coming here was a good idea. There was at least one person here who would join him, he knew it, he just knew it.

Gregori stirred a second time. He knew that the man was gone. He knew before he looked up, before he even lifted his injured head from the pavement. His face fell. He had failed again.

Gregori stood up, limping. He dusted off his coat and wiped the blood out of his eyes. He began the walk back to his apartment.

"One of us, one of them," Don said with a smirk.

Kathy swiveled her head to look at him. There was no hint of emotion on her face. She said nothing.

Don snickered. "You're not going to get away with that around me," he said. "You may have no sense of humor that you're aware of, but..." the smirk continued unabated.

"Just concentrate on the job," Kathy replied. "We make the pick up now. You can make jokes when this is all over."

"Sure," Don replied.

The car came to a screeching halt. A tan roadster, its small, unassuming body hid a big engine, a souped up suspension and a reinforced roll frame. So much the better for picking 'em up. As Kathy and Don climbed out, the young, dark-haired man's smirk disappeared.

Heads swiveled as the shapely, blond-haired form of Kathy Stevens paraded her brown leather surcoat and knee-high boots into their midst. They didn't stay there for long, however--eyes that had once beheld the woman quickly became affixed to the man who was with her--and the long skirt that he was wearing.

Actually, it was what some would consider traditional Arabian garb--and, in the summer heat, it could be argued that it was actually appropriate.

It didn't take long for police bodies to start moving in the direction of the two newcomers.

"Hands off, boys," the woman said. "We're on the same side here."

"And just who are you?" one of the cops asked.

"Special Agent Kathy Sanders, FBI," the woman replied, holding out an ID that, though fake, would check out as valid if the police tried to run it. "This is my partner, Allah Sahol." Likewise, the Don had his own fake ID. "We're here to take this man into custody on federal charges."

Heads swiveled again.

"Use extreme caution. He is armed and extremely dangerous."

So, the case file is true, Don thought. He'll do anything for a drug fix. Hmmmmmm. Maybe I can use that to our mutual advantage.

There was a soft popping noise from within Don's gowns. Shortly afterward, a brown tendril, barely visible, seemed to snake out from under the phony arab's robes, snake along the street to where Bodor was lying and slither up his garments and right under his nose. If all worked out well, it would get him high as a kite, and, sated for the moment, he wouldn't be a danger to anyone.

BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP BEBEBEBEBEBEBE BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP BEBEBEBEBEBEBE

Over the wails of the alarm all boy of 16 years, no taller than five foot two, was inside a vault, inside were stacks and stacks of gold.

"Bingo." he muttered to himself.

Behind him was the heavy metal door to the vault. it had been ripped out of the walls. Stuffing a large amount of the gold into some bags, he left the vault. In the main area of the bank, he observed his handiwork. The body's of guards, bank tellers and patrons alike were smeared on the walls.

"Was that necessary Servon?"

"Of course" he replied "no witnesses" and with a dark chuckle, exited the bank.

"Yeah, I think I'll head home. Gloria is trying some new recipe and wants to be sure I'm home for it. She's not the greatest cook but I don't have the heart to tell her" Hastings replied, taking off his glasses and polishing a smudge away, "You?" He asked, practically already knowing the answer. SHe walked the grounds of The Company many a late night, it was sad. But, she was a vital asset to The Company.

====================

A wild man appeared, bursting through the police tape. His eyes were shaky, blood-shot. His voice quivered, frantic. He appeared out of no where, pushing his way past a uniform officer.

Stohler heard the words uttered, it was unbelieveable, what would bring him back in such a state. He instinctively reached for his sidearm and assumed a steady stance, bringing the weapon up. Krazny and the other uniforms followed suite.

"Freeze!" Stohler commanded, "Put your hands behind your head, now!"

Gregori's coat was ruined. Not only had it ripped at the elbows from his fall, but the leather had shrunk. He ripped it off his body, throwing the strips of shriveled leather into a dumpster.

When he was finished, Gregori weighed his options. He could return home in defeat, or, he could buy a new coat. He chose, the coat. He would not buy it of course, that was only an expression. His true meaning masked in common vernacular. When the coat was his, the store would be no more.

There was only one place to go for good formal coats nowadays. Thus, Gregori set out toward Amerrigo's Bespoke, a little known tailor, relatively close to his currant location.

The door was ajar. That was the first sign that something was amiss. Amerrigo disliked the cold. He never allowed the door to be open longer then it had to.

Down the dark hallway Gregori walked, his hand trailing along the soft wallpaper. The air smelled of musk, with something else, something alien, mixed in.

Gregori entered the shop. At first, he saw nothing. Everything was in it's place, except for the slight tailor standing behind his desk. The desk was pushed up against the wall, a large dark stain covered the front.

He walked further in, turned, and gasped. Only the tailor's torso remained, the rest smeared along the wall.

Gregori walked toward the racks of coats, momentarily unnerved by the tailor's unfortunate demise, but driven nonetheless.

Immediately, he saw what he wanted. The coat was green, with wide sleeves. It stretched nearly to his ankles, and it fit perfectly.

He left the shop. As he walked down the street, he paused, then continued on. A rumble, then a roar emanated from the innards of the low building that housed the tailor's shop.

The door was blown off of it's hinges, the power of a thousand suns behind it. Everything inside the shop was incinerated, reduced to bare carbon. The building collapsed. The structural iron that used to hold it up was molton. It bubbled, and boiled from the center of the mound of debris. It cooled, the fire behind it gone.

Gregori smiled.

Servon reached his hand down in his pocket. He felt the money in his hand. He reached his other hand into his pocket in there he felt a variate of credit and debit cards. After selling the gold he "liberated", as he chose to call it, he became a very rich man. His next step was to buy some property.

He walked in to Stooke And Cramer, a very respected real estate business.

"How may I help you today sir." the receptionist on the left had piped up.

"I would like to buy some property." Servon replied, without looking her in the eye.

"But, you are a minor, are you not."

Servon graced this comment with naught but a glare.

"Ah, you would like to see Cramer then," the receptionist replied shakily

Cramer was respected for less legal transaction.

"Yes" said Servon

"Go right in to the door on your left."

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

In the suburbs of Liberty City, in a small town called Littleton there is a building that has just been built. It is a new, corporate building. The for sale sign had just been taken down.

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

In liberty city there is a small building on the main drag. This building has 5 offices and also had a for sale sign until recently.

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

Liberty City Times
Personal Ads

"Have you noticed anything different about yourself? Are you shunned from others? Do you have a special ability(s)? If so call 555-2999-088 or come to our to locations. 5677 Scranton Ave, Liberty City, Alversia and 12 Stony Way, Littleton Alversia*
*Please call ahead if you would like to meet at the Littleton Location.

"That sounds nice," Ellie replied with any real heart behind the statment. She'd met both Gloria and the Hastings Kids and she thought they were alright. She hadn't seen them in months now, she could never really bear to see Hastings with his family, it brought out such a jealous streak in her that she had to turn away before she did something she would regret. Ellie couldn't even remember what her parents had looked like. She couldn't remember the life she had had before...no...she couldn't think that like. She had to be strong. For their memory if nothing else.

Ellie still hadn't turned around, preferring to look out over the water rather than face her Comrade. She had partnered him many times on his assignments, acting as his back-up and Guardian when things got too intense for even Hastings to handle. She had done well, an early discovery of her powers had allowed her to develop them to extraordinary levels. She liked to think of herself as the Guardian of the Company. She watched and dared anyone to try and break from it, or try to break into it. However. she knew it was just a fantasy. There were some things out there that she could not face. That was why she carried a gun with her at all times as well.

She glanced at the railing on which she was leaning saw that it was wet, mist beginning to condense on the even colder metal. She lazily put a hand over it and watched as the water drops formed themselves into a small twisting slide of water, it was only a few centremeters tall, but she enjoyed it none the less.

She was still concentrating on it when Hastings asked her a question,
"I dunno," was her careless reply, "I might just look over some old files, reaquint myself with some old friends."

"Yeah, I think I'll head home. Gloria is trying some new recipe and wants to be sure I'm home for it. She's not the greatest cook but I don't have the heart to tell her" Hastings replied, taking off his glasses and polishing a smudge away, "You?" He asked, practically already knowing the answer. SHe walked the grounds of The Company many a late night, it was sad. But, she was a vital asset to The Company.

====================

A wild man appeared, bursting through the police tape. His eyes were shaky, blood-shot. His voice quivered, frantic. He appeared out of no where, pushing his way past a uniform officer.

Stohler heard the words uttered, it was unbelieveable, what would bring him back in such a state. He instinctively reached for his sidearm and assumed a steady stance, bringing the weapon up. Krazny and the other uniforms followed suite.

"Freeze!" Stohler commanded, "Put your hands behind your head, now!"



"I can't do that man, something bad might happen." Bodor tried to plead as he stood there.

Then all the guns pointed at him made Bodor reconsider his options of what could happen.If he didn't do it, they would probably shoot himbut if he did what they said, Bodor might twitch and that could have bad consequences. Still Bodor slowly moved his arms to rest behind his head, squeezing his eyes shut as he did so and clasping his palms togethor while he did so. When they went to hand-cuff him, Bodor could only hope they didn't pull his hands too fast or things could happen...that might get him shot. Thus Bodor held his hands tightly behind his head, eyes squeezed shut while he waited.

Max looked up at the large building. He slipped a small card out of his pocket. It had the address of this building in Liberty City on the back. He flipped it over, revealing a logo with the words Primatech Paper printed on the back. He slipped it back into his pocket and headed into the building.

OOC: Basically, a change of course for my character in comparison to the original thread. I had discussed having him join The Company with Alversia before the thread was shut down.

ooc: kuli, alv why do you both persit in ignoring me?
Also if Hastings has any noticeable injurys mention them to me before he leave, then i can make it better and be all nice :)
IC: "Well thats loverly. Delayed congratulations on your marage and births Mr... Hastings was it? Well, i can't stand around chatting all day, places to see, people to heal." and Smith turned to walk away, slightly down cast at how these people seemed to care little about his extrodinarity, althoe he suposed it was for the best.

Micheal arrived in Liberty City.

OOC: Wow, nice post Fanrai.

Max walked into the lobby of the building. It was busy there, and he looked around for some sign of where to go. He spotted a help desk, and headed over

"Hi" he said to the desk attendant, brandishing the card "I was given this card by one of your employees, he said to come here and see him?"

"Don't work too hard, alright?" Hastings asked. He knew what she was going to do. Ellie would steal away to Level Five, comb the cell block, watching the inmates as they either slept or did other limited activities. One prisoner in particular got the most attention down there, Ashira. The two of them were inmates at the same time for a few years, Ashira having already been there for a few years when Hastings brought Ellie in, she was so scared and he did his best to reassure her that everything would be just fine.

Those were many years ago, he watched her transform from the scared little girl, unable to control her abilities to a finely tuned agent. Despite her achivements, there were consequences too, that was the sad part. A young woman who lost so much and regained just a little, still lost more in the end. He said goodnight to her and departed the compound.

====================

Stohler's heart raced, he hadn't drawn his weapon in over two years but it still felt so natural, an extension of his arm. This strange man had said something that didn't make sense.

"Just put your hands behind your back and remain silent!" Stohler ordered. A uniformed patrolman uneasily made his way behind the man, a set of cuffs ready. Something didn't seem right but now was not the time for second guesses.

The patrolman grabbed onto one of his wrists and latched the cuff on, tightening it down. He then manuevered with the other cuff and it clicked on...

"I won't," Ellie gave a smile as she watched Hastings get into his car and leave. She was jealous of him alright, downright envious. He had a family to go home to, he had a life outside this damned Primatech. She did not. Her life was destroyed when she was just a little girl, living with her family in Illesia. Then he had come and ruined everything. She's gotten her revenge in the end though, only when she was at the bottom of the barrel did she find a way to get her revenge. She still wouldn't look at him though, he was off limits to her.

She turned and headed back into the Company's lounge, watching as a man presented himself at the door. She was not interested. She was the duty officer for the night, the Senior Agent if an emergency cropped up. She didn't think it would though. She offered him a nod and looked at the Receptionist,
"I'll be down in Level Five if I'm needed Sally." She instructed, then walked through one of the many doors in a unique building.

Ellie walked through the empty corridors of the Company's vaults alone. Above ground was a normal building, a place filled with paper of all shapes and colours, more paper than she could ever find to do with, even if she was planning to just shred it. Security cameras were watching this entire area, and the cameras were being watched by men in secret rooms. The idea being to monitor everyone who entered Primatech Paper. It was not this part of the building that she was interested in.

The part that she was interested in were the five levels beneath ground. Prisons. Designed to hold the kind of scum that could not be released back into society without trying to destroy it, the kind of people that she was here to protect the world against. She hated them with a passion. She'd hated them all her life.
She came to the bottom of the facility. The fifth floor, the worst of the worst. She came to a halt in front of Ashira's cell and looked in at the girl, younger than herself. She pushed a strand of her blond hair out of her way as she watched.
There were others on the floor that she supposed she should watch but there was no way she was going further down the hallway. Even her courage failed her there. She wouldn't go near that cell.

Reception

The Girl who had nodded and waved to Ellie as she came in now looked at Max and looked at his card. Her eye's widened slightly at the card, which had a name for Hastings on it, he was not here,
"I'm afraid you have just missed him, Sir, he is away home for the night. I can give you a number if you wish to contact him?" She offered, looking down at the sheets of paper in front of her, too much work for one woman.

OOC:*hits alv an kuli on head* meanies
IC: Smith wandered arond the allys for a while, there was always someone somewhere in an allyway that needed healing and most of them deserve it. Stopping to heal a man with a large gash on his leg he stood stock still as the cold mettle of a gun pressed agains the back of his head.

"Now that's neither nice, nore useful. Hence I wont let it continue" Smith said in a cheery voice, spining around and whacking the gunman n the pace with his fist astamping on his face with his boot "Thats better" his voice had stayed the same the entire time and, giving a wink to the formaly wounded man he ran off as he heard sirens near by.

Reception

The Girl who had nodded and waved to Ellie as she came in now looked at Max and looked at his card. Her eye's widened slightly at the card, which had a name for Hastings on it, he was not here,
"I'm afraid you have just missed him, Sir, he is away home for the night. I can give you a number if you wish to contact him?" She offered, looking down at the sheets of paper in front of her, too much work for one woman.

He smiled at her

"No, thank you" he said "I'll call back tomorrow"

He put the card back into his pocket and stepped back outside the building. He stared back up at the building, before stepping into the dull silver sports car (http://pictures.topspeed.com/IMG/crop/200808/aston-martin-one-77-_460x0w.jpg) sat outside the Primatech building and beginning the drive back to his apartment.

OOC: Just saw Quantum Of Solace :D

Gregori sat in his kitchen, reading the newspaper. There was, of course, mention of the building that he had desroyed. No mention of the inhabitents, for they were nothing now, but mention of the structure itself. There was also mention of a bank robbery. Grisley photos of the scene showed corpses smashed against the wall.

That was the first thing Gregori saw. He remembered, vividly, the scene inside the tailor's shop. He saw again, the tailor's corpse laying against the wall, a long stain of blood above him.

"Could this be?" He asked himself. "Could it be the same person?"

It was then that he saw the add in the newspaper.

"Have you noticed anything different about yourself? Are you shunned from others? Do you have a special ability(s)? If so call 555-2999-088 or come to our to locations. 5677 Scranton Ave, Liberty City, Alversia and 12 Stony Way, Littleton Alversia*
*Please call ahead if you would like to meet at the Littleton Location.

"Who would be so naive. Did this murderer know nothing of the Company?"

"Impossible." Gregori concluded. "It must be a trap. Yes, thats it. A trap. But for us? Surely not."

And so it was that Gregori set his plans in motion.

He fetched his new coat from it's hook on the wall. He took his hat from the hook above the coat. He set out, into the cold winter.

To the Company he walked.

He always tried to make a pattern to relieve the repetive boredom of his routine. Walking to and from the great grey office where he worked, writing out four-and-a-half million random, pointless forms a day before shredding them, he'd play little games in his head. Whether it was step on/avoid all cracks or tapping out a song with his steps (today it was Never Gonna Give You Up), it always helped.

Today, however, was a good day. He didn't have to Work today. His alarm still rang at 12 (he worked the night shift), yes, and he still got up, fed his chinchilla and did his normal morning routine, but after leaving his house at exactly 6pm, he just wandered around.

In Ashira's Cell...

Ashira set down the rubber ball and cracked her neck. It was getting late and she knew their routines by heart. At exactly 6:00pm, one of the nurses will come in with her evening meal. Janet was the usual woman's name. A pleasant demeanoured woman, probably in her forties. They'd chat for a few minutes and then she wouldn't see her again until tomorrow.

Just like clockwork, the door buzzed and slowly cracked open. Janet had medium red hair and homely blue eyes, "Hello Ashira, how are we doing today?"

"Peachy as usual, Janet" Ashira smiled, sitting up in her cot. Janet set down the tray on the table. Tonight it wa salisbury steak, mash potatoes, fuit cup, and a delicious pill.

"Here you go" Janet smiled and clapped her hands together, "You know the routine, come on"

Ashira stood up and grasped the small cup that had two blue pills. She brought it up to her mouth and swallowed the pills. The Company produced these themselves. They were inhibitors, made from a combination of compounds that are used to suppress her abilities. They affect a part of her brain and her adrenal glands that stunt the powers. When they first brought her in, they had to put her in a comma for a certain amount of time and pump the drug in a liquid for in her IV. If not, then she would've killed them all and escaped. Now, there's such a high concentration that she doubted if her powers could work anymore. These pills are mandatory and failre results in punishment, very unpleasant punishment.

"That's my girl" Janet replied.

"How's the kids?" Ashira inquired, setting down the cup and settling in for a delicious meal of soggy mush and card board.

"Oh, Ben was accepted to NHU" janet brightened up, "And Claire is about to finish her Junior year, they're both doing so well. I'm ver proud of them"

"That's nice to hear, and Bill?"

Janet looked down, "Oh, he's alright-I guess. The Doctor said they still need to run some tests but he's frisky as ever" her face softened up.

Ashira leaned in and placed a hand on janet's, another one of her masks slid on, "I'll hope for the best, that's all any of us can do"

"That is so nice of you, thanks Ashira" Janet replied, "Oh, I have to get going. See you tomorrow, good night" she stood up and left the room. Ashira waved slowly goodbye and waited for the door to lock.

Ashira stood up and walked over to the sink, looking at her reflection in the mirror. Suddenly, she began dry heaving. Contracting her stomach muscles, gagging. Finally, she cocked her head into the sink and regurgitated the two pills and washed them down the drain with water. She exhaled ehavily and looked back up in the mirror. That's two weeks drug free.

Later...

Ashira had finished her meal the best she could. The food was horrible, had been for years and will continue to be horrible. She often wondered it all the prisoners got the ame bad food or Adam Hastings asked to have only hers be made like that. She stood up and took the tray to a little slot, just big enough for the tray to fit through. Good riddance. Now, there wans't much left to do. Doodling, reading, loathing, and sleeping was about it. Hastings won't let her have a tv and even the books are limited. Of course, she could have all the paper she wanted, a nice little joke on his part. Even she had to laugh at that occasionally.

As the tray slid through the slot, she could see a patch of color that was different from the color of the opposite wall, someone was watching her through the window. There was only one person who roamed these halls, this late at night.

"No hot date tonight, Ellie?" Ashira asked, standing back up, just a few inches from the window

The silver AM One-77 sat in the street, the bright moonlight reflecting off the car. Max sat upstairs in his apartement, watching the days news. He lit a cigarrette with a click of his fingers, and blew a long stream of smoke into the air.

He got up from his chair, turning off the TV as he did. He stood at the window, watching the traffic go by below him.

"Had to turn it down," Ellie replied, staring into Ashira's eyes with a kind of deep loathing that was matched only by that of Ashira herself, "Told him I was looking after some Pests."
The Alversian Girl turned on the light so she could take in every detail of the girl. She didn't look that threatening true, but appearances could be decieving, look at Ellie herself for example. There were those out there who would try to take advantage of her and end up dead as a result. There were some on this floor that she truly despised and there were some that she had grown quite attached to, Ashira was one of those, though she would never let her know about it.
"You were turned down for parole again." It was not a question but a statement. However, there was no malice in this, for Ellie remembered what it was like to be trapped in the small box, waiting day after day to hear about parole, your only chance of freedom lying in the hands of the man on the other side of the wall, feeling so helpless and trapped.

"Neither of us have much of a social life" Ashira laughed slightly. She knew exactly that Ellie didn't get out much, even if she wasn't behind bars anymore. She was a workaholic to the truest form, "All work and no play makes Ellie a dull girl" she mused.

Ashira remembered, being transported once after her first incident at The Company. She severly injured her interviewer who made a comment that didn't benefit her in the least. It was Ashira's first chance at release. She wore the right mask but the lady's comment ruined that all and cooler heads did not prevail, instead, she broke free and attacked the woman with a pen sitting carelessly on the table. It took three guards to pry her from this woman. That pretty much secured her stay at The Company. Upon being transfered from Level Two to level Five, the highest level of confinement, she remembered seeing Ellie for the first time, a scared girl being led to an interview room by none other than Hastings.

"I wasn't turned down. Being turned down means that there was a slither of chance that I'd be released. I never had a shot. We both know I'll never leave here. You're one of the few people to be released." Ashira replied, "Hastings knows that if I got out that I'd kill his whole family" her tone was casual, as if talking about the weather or what's on the tv tomorrow.

"I'm sure you think I am a monster for saying something like that. Of course, I'm not going to lie to you. We've been in the same boat"

"We have been in the same boat," Ellie emphasised the past tense of the word, "We have. I managed to move on, Ashira, I managed to get over it. You can't," the blond shook her head, "We did help each other once we were inside, but I adapted, I can see what I did and I can live with it,"
'Well, I can try' She thought to herself.
She looked sadly back in at the girl detained,
"If you're going to be honest, then I am too," Ellie sighed, "I'm glad you're in here, rather than out there. As you rightly said, you can't be trusted in society. Not yet anyway."

"Hastings saw what I did, what I was capable of" Ashira said, keeping a cool face, "That's why I'll never leave, because of Hastings. He's done everything in his power to make sure my stay here is Hell."

She sat Indian style on the cot, adjusting herself, "I can see what I did and live with it too. I am what I am-a killer" Some said that the first step to recovery was admitting you ahve a problem. She didn't see it as a problem, she had killed and destroyed. This is what she was. After years of contemplation, denial, self-loathing; finally came acceptance. There was no hiding the truth. Complete honestly is that she felt an overwhelming sense of relief when she finally accepted herself. Now, there was no lying to herself, just lying to others. Hastings matched her in every way. Checked her time and again. There was no leaving.

She nodded at Ellie's last statement, respecting the honesty, "We're in two different prisons. I'm just behind thick concrete and steel. Your prison is your rules and code. An obedient little attack dog for the Company. Hastings has you on a tight leash. You are trapped in this world that they built just for you. In fact, you're more of a prisoner than me. At least when I look in the mirror, I can actually do it without regrets and I don't have to lie to myself"

As Gregori turned the corner onto the seafront, he saw the side of the building. He saw the side of that old building, which he had passed so many times before. He knew what secrets it held. Forward he walked, untill he was infront of the door. With one final glance back, he threw fortune to the winds, and entered. The lobby was sparsely furnished for an organisation as powerfull as the Company.

Straight ahead he walked, forcefully, purposefully. His coat played out around his heels. Gregori stopped at what appeared to be the front desk. A woman sat at it, and when she saw Gregori, she started to speak. He gave her no such chance.

"I don't know if you know me," Gregori said, swiftly, coldly, "but I certainly know you. I know what happens in this building, what you hold in your vaults. I've watched you for years, as you veinly attempted to control the incontrollable. Normally, I wouldn't have come here. I could have done this just as well without your interference, but, there is something that I cannot do alone, that you can. I need access to your records... and your patients. Believe me, it is in your best interests to comply."

"That's what I used to say as well," Ellie sighed. She didn't expect Ashira to understand what it was that she did, what she had lost and what she had to do to keep the anger down. It was true that she was lying to herself. If she didn't, then she would kill everyone in this room, including Ashira. She would do with a dark sense of enjoyment, the thrill of the kill. But she restrained. Her conscience told her that she was doing the right thing by being with the Company,
"I am here by choice, Ashira. I keep people like you from harming innocent people out there in the world. It's just one of those things"

Things were like they were for a reason. Hastings had done this a thousand times, to a thousand different people. Ashira felt she had been singled out and Ellie supposed she had been. According to Hastings, her powers were too powerful to be unleashed on the world, though the Illesian girl was unsure. She hated to see an Friend cooped up like so,
She smiled gently at the statement from Ashira,
"I'm glad I'm out," She laughed, "Food still as wonderful as ever?" She asked gently.

Meanwhile, further down the block, something in the shadows stirred.

Reception

"I'm...sorry, Sir but I don't know what you mean" The Receptionist replied dutifully, "We only make and store paper here. If you wish to see records of patients, perhaps you could go to the hospital?" She offered helpfully

Max returned to the building some time later. He had had trouble sleeping, as ever. Now, he leant against the car outside the Primatech building. He twirled the card in his fingers, looking at the logo intently. It was still dark, but he stood there anyway, confident that no-one would bother him here. He stowed the card once more, and fixed his eyes on a man having a conversation with the receptionist of the Primatech building.

Something caught his eye. Well, caught his mind, to be precise. Something about this building didn't seem quite right to him. And, being himself, he walked straight over to it. He looked at the logo of the place as he passed a man leaning againt a silver car. Primatech... It rang a bell, but not one in his town. He stopped as he got to the door, hearing the man's tone. He paused, debating what to do, before turning back to the man at the car.
"Sorry mate, do you know whats about?"

Stohler's heart raced, he hadn't drawn his weapon in over two years but it still felt so natural, an extension of his arm. This strange man had said something that didn't make sense.

"Just put your hands behind your back and remain silent!" Stohler ordered. A uniformed patrolman uneasily made his way behind the man, a set of cuffs ready. Something didn't seem right but now was not the time for second guesses.

The patrolman grabbed onto one of his wrists and latched the cuff on, tightening it down. He then manuevered with the other cuff and it clicked on...


The moment the officer moved the second hand Bodor felt his arm vibrate for a few brief seconds. That's all it took and several links of the cuff's chain. Besides that, the base of a nearby alley wall and some of the ground by it cracked from the remarcably (compared to what else he could do). Bodor froze, waiting for the bullets to tear in to him at any moment with his eyes squeezed tightly shut. Then, as he stood there; not turned in to swiss cheese; he finally manage to squeak out a few words through tightly clamped lips.

"See?" He asked the cops.

"It never fails to satisfy my palate" Ashira replied. These visits were infrequent but nonetheless interesting. They shared an unusual relationship. They were friends but at the same time, there was a tension, a near simultaneous hatred. Ellie had become a Golden Girl for The Company, a loyal dog to Hastings and the others. The Company was not what it seemed. Its' layers of deception were numerous, like an onion. There was Primatech Paper, the front for The Compay. The Company even lied to its' own people. They lock away dangerous people and help others control their powers. But at the same time they kidnap, examine, and tag others. They monitor them like lab rats. Their labs work to find a permenant "cure" as if what Ashira and Ellie had ws a sickness. It was a gift in her eyes. She embraced her ability and missed it dearly. Of course, unbeknownst to anyone else, she stopped taking her medicine. Just a few more weeks, possibly days, and she'll have it back and what she's been living for will be fullfilled.

"Maybe you should check to see if our friend down the hall has had his delicious meal yet" Ashira grinned, "Tell me, Ellie; why don't you ever go down there. I'm sure our friend is lonely and would like to talk"

Meanwhile...

The officers looked around, feeling the vibration. STohler's eyes went off of the suspect and wandered to the wall, watching it crack upwards, particles of brick falling to the ground. They looked at each other. Krazny's face drained of blood.

"W-What was that?" An officer asked.

Stohler searched for a reasonable explination, "Probably just something else. like an earthquake or something" His voice faltered, "Alright, get him into the truck and take him to the Precinct"

"I'm thought it would be as satisying as ever." Ellie stated drily.
She liked Ashira but at the same time she hated her. It was a complicated relationship. She didn't know what it was but there was something about her that the girl that she had just grown attached to. She would be a great asset to the Company, and to society, if she just put her petty hatred out of the way and tried to get on with her life.
As for their relationship, Ellie had once been in Ashira's position, afraid and angry at the world around her, angry at being cooped up like an animal, prodded like a rat. She hated it and, for a long time, she dreamt of ripping Hastings limb from limb, drowning him and his family like a rat. But she had adapted, she had, finally, understood that she had to work with Hastings to get at those who had really hurt her, those who had ruined her life. Ashira just needed time.
"Why don't I go down there?" She asked, caught off-guard by the question, then shuddered, "If you knew who was down there..."

She was cut off as, down the corridor, she spotted a man emerging from the shadows. She stared in shock for a moment, watching the figure head for the cell at the end of the corridor, unwilling to speak, in case he came and tried to hurt her. Yet she forced herself to be brave and pulled her pistol from it's belt. She raised it at the man and called down to him,
"Hey!" She shouted, taking a step forward. However, before she could move again, he had leapt into the shadows and vanished.

Ellie's breath was now sharp, pricks of sweat were starting to appear on her forehead. She was scared. Scared of the man she hadn't seen and hadn't caught. She turned to look at Ashira, as if pleading for help.

Then she felt someone grab the back of her head, a strong hand pulling and crushing it into an easy handle. Before she could cry out though, he threw her head forward and it hit the glass of Ashira's cell with a sickening thud. The blonde Agent slid to the floor, unconcious while the man, a skin-headed, tattoed, scarred thug, spat on her, gave her a kick on the side and, without even looking into Ashira's cell, moved back towards the end of the corridor.

Ashira shot up from the cot and ran to the glass window. It happened so quick, a sudden erruption of action taking her by suprise. Before Ellie could get a round off, this mysterious man knocked her out, throwing her hard against the glass. Due to its' strength the glass was unphased. The man didn't even look at her. She saw her opportunity walking casually away. She looked down and saw Ellie, out cold. There was a feeling of satisfaction seeing that, she smiled.

"Hey!!" Ashira shouted, smacking her hands against the glass, desperate to get his attention, "Hey, can I get a hand?!"

This was very unexpected but one mustn't look a gifted horse in the mouth. He was her only way out, there was no point waiting for her powers to regain. So, she desperately tried to get his attention, hoping he'd stop.

Micheal relaized he could probabaly turn into one of the black suited men and walk around with out being chased. He changed form and called a cab to the nearest hotel.

He wondered if anyone else had powers. Maybe the black suited men were trying to kill all the pepole with powers , like in the X-men he thougt.

He decided to go outside and see if anyone ran away from him , maybe then he could see if there are any other pepole with powers.

ooc: Fanrai, your confusing me :S lol
IC: Smith was still wandering around the dark allys of the city. He was rather pleased with him self but graduly getting too tired to walk. He decided to get a cab home so, stoping in the middle of a particulaly dark and deserted ally he removed a hankerchief from his pocket, removed his makeup and turned his suit inside out, revealing its black interior, before donning black specticles and stepping into the street.

Hailing a cab he climbed in and said "63rd street my good man, fast as you like"
"Right y'ar gov'na" the cabby said in a cockney acent and sped off up the street, running a red light and almost hitting a group of school children.

Hey!

The man turned to face her, a hardened criminal with a long scar across his cheek and a total lack of hair. He looked at her and, with a casual movement that signified that he didn't really care one way or the other, he aimed the gun at the door to her cell and fired. One blast blew away the lock to the door and it swung open. He threw the gun at Ashira, then pointed at the prone Ellie, who was groaning slightly,
"Get her," He growled, then drew a finger across his throat to signal what he wanted her to do.
He then moved down the block of cells to the one at the very end. The one that meant to be empty. The cell that was totally silent.

Ashira fumbled with the gun awkwardly, having never held one before. The cold steel was foreign in her hands. The man made it very clear his intentions for Ellie's fate...poor helpless Ellie. There was a difficult crossroad. On one hand she held the tool of revenge, the notion of killing Ellie brought a certain sense of gratification. A lone desired need to end this woman once and for all. She held Ellie with contempt but on the other hand, the world was a lesser place without her. There needs to be a balance in the world and without Ellie, how could that balance be maintained?

So, Ashira dragged Ellie into her cell, watching her lie near motionless, groaning in pain. She cocked back the hammer and raised it. Her hand was still and calm. Ellie's eyes opened hazily, staring back up at her.

The gun fired

The bullet hit the ground next to Ellie's head, sending up shards of concrete. It echoed thgroughout the cell and the hallway, "I'm a villain, not a monster" Ashira said, winking. She backed up and closed the door behind her.

"It's done" Ashira said to the man.

====================

"What the Hell is going on?!" One of the guards in the control room exclaimed, shooting up from his chair. He hadn't really been paying attention to the monitors until he heard the gunshot from Monitor 4. He scanned the monitors and saw a mysterious man at outside the last cell and Ashira out of her own. He slammed a hand on the alarm button and suddenly red lights flashed, sirens wailed, and the inplace security measures were activated. The main doors to Level 5 sealed shut, with manual and electronic locks. They were reinforced steel doors, inpenetrable.

"Recall all agents in the area, we have a major situation here!" The Watch Commander demanded.

"We'll see about that" Murmered Gregori. He pushed past the woman at the desk, heading to the elevator hehind her. The woman stood up, trying to stop him, saying something about rules.

"Obviously you do not know how important it is that I see your records." Gregori said, raising his hand and continuing past her. She started to protest. Gregori furowed his brow. The woman fell. Deep inside her chest, the sino-atrial and atrio-ventricular nodes of her heart were no longer producing electricity. The muscle died, taking the woman along with it.

It was at that moment that the alarm went off. Gregori looked up at the video camera in the lobby, winking at it before turning shorting out the wires that connected it to the control room.

He continued on to the elevator. Unsurprisingly, it failed to respond. With a sweep if his hand, the metal door of the elevator flew back into the shaft, floating, waiting. Gregori stepped forward, onto the door. Swiftly, he lowered himself down. On the fifth level he stopped. Again, he blasted the door out, into the corridor. He stepped through the threshhold, letting the platform in the shaft fall behind him.

The man did not even pause to check Ashira's work, only stopping at the sound of the gunshot before continuing with his task. He went to the end of the hallway, the hallway that Ellie had been too afraid to enter and opened it casually. Out stepped man, not an imposing man, average height and build with brown hair and blue eyes. He took one look at Ashira, then one look at his Rescuer. Before he could say anything though, Gregori burst through the door.
"Time to go," He said happily as the Thug grabbed both the man and Ashira and leapt into the shadows. With that, they were gone.

They emerged less than a heartbeat later in a cooler part of New Havalia, further down the dock. The man turned to face Ashira,
"And who, may I ask, are you?" He looked at her, half-interested, half amused.

Gregori stood still, surveying the scene before him. He walked forward, to the spot where the three figures had dissapeared. He turned, looking into an open cell. On the floor, lay a woman. She stirred. Gregori stood above her.

"Well well, what do we have here?" He said, glaring down at the figure prostrate on the floor "I assume you are an employee of this Company, yes? Well then, that'll make this much easier. Stand up, there is much to discuss."

Before Ashira knew what happened, they were no longer in Level 5 or any other place she could easily recognize. Cool fresh air filled her lungs, not recycled vented air that she inhaled for thirteen years straight. She actually started coughing but quickly embraced this new sensation. Freedom. The day finally came, though not the way she planned, this was much cleaner. Her plan was to wait till her abilities came back and tear through the company, then escape. This was more professional and skilled. The thug was a scary looking individual but there was an uneasy feeling towards the man he rescued. He looked...normal, not the beast she'd expected, knowing Ellie's fear of the last cell. She was actually disappointed truth be told.

"I'm Prisoner 0012, Ashira Dryden" Ashira replied, her eyes wandered all around here, taking in this new found freedom, "Who are you?"

====================

Hastings had nearly dropped some dishes when he received the disturbing phone call. There was a situation in Level 5, a serious situation. As he sped down the empty streets, still on the phone with the Wacth Commander, he kept him up to dat on what happened. The entire level was locked down tight. Hastings arrived, bursting through the lobby, meeting with a man in a plain suit.

"Status?" Hastings asked, not bothering to even slow down for an instant. Several armed guards fell in behind them.

"It was a debacle, sir" The man said, "Some man just appeared in Level Five, neutralized Ellie Mitchell and released two prisoners"

"Who were the prisoners?" Hastings knew who one of them was but held out hope it wasn't true. They entered an elevator as the man spoke the two names.

They exited the elevator and the blood had drained from his face. The two worst inmates in Level Five had escaped, one of them would not rest until Hastings family was dead. Both were destructive forces, both extremely powerful. Luckily, Ashira knew nothing about his family. Now, these two were somewhere out there, unleashed upon an unsuspecting society.

"What do we do now, sir?"

"Inform local PD that there are two escaped convicts from the New Havalia Asylum. Get a hold of our contacts in the Asylum to arrange everything from their end. We need to keep this under wraps but at the same time use every avaliable resource to track them down. The less that they know, the better." Hastings replied.

They opened the locked steel doors and entered the passageway. The armed guards swept and cleared, accounting for the other prisoners that they were still there. Hastings rounded the corner and saw another man standing over Ellie.

"Put your hands in the air!" Hastings demanded, drawing his sidearm, "Step away from the woman!"

"For the moment, Ashira, all you need to know is that my name is John. Now," He stopped for a moment to think, "It'll take a while for those delightful company pills to wear off and for me to regain my powers so until then, I think I shall lay low until that happy, happy time." John was walking down the streets now, heading in no particular direction, only stopping once to turn to Ashira,
"What happened to that Company Girl? The one who spent her whole life watching us in our cells? Where is she?"


Company

Ellie looked up to see the hazy figure of someone standing over her. He spoke to her, voice echoey and strange and she could not comply with his simple command. She turned onto her side, while on the ground, groaning and feeling the warm blood run down her face. Ashira...she had let Ashira escape. Good god, she'd held a gun to Ellie's head! That thought shook her as she realised just how close to death she had come. But she had not fired. Ashira had not fired. She had spared Ellie. For what reason?

At the moment, Ellie was in too much pain to care.

Somewhere by the docks...

"Who? Ellie?" Ashira asked, "Oh, I took care of her. I'd been waiting for that moment for such a long time." she smiled.

Truth be told she always wanted to kill Ellie. Seeing her become a Company lap dog enraged the young woman. Though she'd savor the opportunity to kill her, there was a pang of respect for her as well. Their time to settle this dispute would come. But all good things come to those who wait. The opportunity was there but not like that. Killing Ellie while she was barely awake and unable to defend herself was no fun. This newfound freedom offered unparalleled chances. Once her powers were back...Hastings and the Company be damned. They'll have their hands full.

Level Five...

"Don't worry, Ellie" Hastings reassured her, "You're going to be just fine. What happened here?" He knelt down by Ellie, helping her to sit up. A medic was on his way. The guards were dealing with the other mysterious man in the corridor while Hastinsg took care of his partner.

"Ah you have dealt with the little Dear already? Shame." The man shrugged, over the noise of the alarms, "I would have liked to see her one last time before I tore her pretty little head from her body. Anyway, Ashira," The man was looking at the street signs, "Won't be long now before I regain my powers and I can start again. Right from the beginning."

Primatech Paper

"I...I dunno," Ellie shook her head, shivering from the shock of what had happened. She was holding an ice pack to the side of her head, where a dribble of blood ran gently down through her blonde hair,
"I was talking to Ashira about...nothing really, then I saw someone out of the corner of my eye. I tried to stop him but he just materialised behind me and knocked me out. When I came to, Ashira was holding a gun to my head," She shivered at that part, realising just how close she had come to death. If it had been her holding the gun with a Company Agent beneath her, then Ellie probably would have shot the Agent. There was a new respect for Ashira now.

"She didn't shoot me though, she just hid me in one of the cells and left with John." She shook her head, "I'm sorry Hastings," She sighed, "I let them escape."
Her tone was bitter. She had been the Senior Agent on watch, the one supposed to stop this. With her taken out in the opening moments, there was no one to stop them running.

"It was long overdue in my opinion" ashira commented on Ellie's 'dimise'. This man seemed rather ordinary but there was some reason that he was in Level Five. Not just any yahoo is put in that place. The worst of the worst are put here. He must fall in that category. But there's nothing to show him to be dangerous. Of course, she looked innocent enough as well. Looks were always deceiving.

"Right from the beginning? What do you mean?" She pondered the question.

====================

"Everything's going to be just fine, Ellie" Hatsings said, "We're going to find the two of them and bring them back in. You just need to get to medical and rest. Don't worry" He wished his words could work on himself. They all knew what was instake for the future. These two individuals were loose out on the streets. Of course, informing the public about two superpowered criminals on the loose would go over just great. Not to mention the fact that a Paper Company was tracking and in some instances, incarcerating international citizens without going through courts and legal processes. This was a disaster. The Committee was already notified of this breakout. They were in an uproar and panuc spread. The possibilities were endless. They could go on a killing spree or they could simply reveal themselves to the world and bring The Company down that way. No one could say for certain.

"Not important at the moment," The man known as John waved the question away with one movement of his hand,
"Doubtless you are more powerful than you look, hence the Level 5 status," he was looking at her now, blue eyes meeting hers, looking as though he could pierce into her very soul with a simple stare.

Primatech

"It was my fault," She said bitterly again, "I could have stopped them and now their both out again in an unsuspecting world. I could have stopped them," Ellie's was feeling nothing less than a heavy guilt, every thought added weight to her shoulders. It was her fault that they had escaped. She could have stopped them and didn't. She had failed.

It took a few moments to think of a reply. Her mind was interrupted by those blue shards that pierced through hers. He had the eyes of a predator, long caged up but now free to roam the jungle. That's something the two of them had in common, "I've done some bad things before, that's why Hastings put me in Level Five. And that's why I'm going to find his family and kill them"

There were tall towers of cargo boxes. In the distance, a ship's horn bellowed, interrupting the night's silence. while they stood there, basking in this new found freedom, an individual approached silently.

Bill Taylor, the night watchman for the piers crept up quietly. He'd been working for a local shipping company. For the past six years he'd work as a watchman. It was a descent enough job, lonely at times, especially during the night. Everything was quiet, which is how he liked it, until he spotted three individuals on a security camera. Probably a couple drugees, that was the usual occurrance.

He unholstered his gun and flicked on the flashlight. His heart raced, "Let me see your hands!"

Ashira spun around and raised her hands. Taylor stepped cautiously forward, sweeping his gun from one person to the next.

"What are you all doing here?!" He demanded, "Just keep your hands up"

"We were just passing through" Ashira replied calmly, smiling.

Taylor turned his attention to her, 'Trespassing is illegal here, The cops are on their way"

"The cops?" Ashira questioned, "That's simply unacceptable"

"Tough, deal with it" Taylor turned to the others, "Who are you guys?"

Ashira tried to concentrate her mind on the security guard. She couldn't afford to go back, giving up was out of the question. Her eyes fixated like a predator on the guard who was pointing a weapon at her. This was the chance needed, hopefully her powers were regained. Suddenly, she pointed her finger at the gun and made a sweeping motion.

The gun flew out of Taylor's hands and twirled into the night. He froze, blood draining from his face completely, "W-What the Hell?!"

"Exactly" a smile crept across her face, mischeviously. Taylor flew against the side of a cargo container, slamming hard against it, "Now, we can't go around pointing guns at people, can we?"

She stepped closer, Taylor was horriffied, his mind could not contemplate what was going on, nor process it. Ashira patted him on the head. He slid up higher on the cargo container. She held her hands closed and then began to spred them apart. As her hand did this, a shrieking gutteral scream sliced through the night's air. Blood sprayed over the place. Specks hit Ashira in the face. Two bloodied pieces fell to the ground.

Ashira turned around to face John and the other man, "Well, I think we should probably get going" she said nonchalantly.

====================

"It's strange that Ashira didn't kill you" Hastings admitted, "I suppose if it was me, that would be a different matter"

Meanwhile, The guards swept down the corridor and deamed that there was no sabotage, "How did they get in?" One commented, pondering what happened.

Smith sadly had chosen perhapse the worst cab driver in the city. Not only did he have no driving qualifications atall but he had ben drinking heavily and was smokinh a spliff.

fter a few minuits the inevitable hapened and he crashed, suprisingly not into a car or people but a wall with a lot of cargo containers near the wate front. Rolling his eyes Smith decided that it was probably not worth healing the drivers neck and steping out of the wreckage, his head resealing itself, and steped onto the side walk intime to hear a scream and sickening squelching/ ripping noise "never a quiet day" he mutterd walking off to investigate.

John watched the killing with mild amusement,
"That was not very nice," He rebuked, still with a smile on his face, "I wonder if the Company will hear about the man torn in two just down from their facility on the night that two Level five Occupants escaped hm?" He asked her, knowing that Ashira had just given the Company their first lead. Now they knew where they were going,
"We shall have to rethink our route," He announced, turning and leaving the yard.

Primatech

"I guess so," A sad smile from the young Woman, then she looked at the two Guards and shook her head,
"He came from the shadows," She explained, "Whatever he did, he came from the shadows and vanished into them, I had no chance.

Ashira could care less that The Company may have their first lead. None of it mattered, with her powers back, no single agent that they send her way could possibly stand a chance. Hastings had seen what her capabilities could do. That Winter night back in Jonensberg when he came to take her away. The scared sisteen year old version of herself was petrified of the possibility of being taken away. Hastings witnessed one of his agents being torn from pieces and another's legs crushed by a car. Since then Hastings made sure that her dose of inhibators was more concentrated, looks like it didn't work out too well.

"Oops" Ashira smiled, "I guess I got a little...out of control there"

====================

"We're going to have to move fast on this. The first few hours are the most crucial. They couldn't have gotten far" Hatsings said to one of the agents who was recalled.

His attention turned back to Ellie, "Came from the shadows, huh?" It was an unusual description. Perhaps another person with abilities, some sort of teleportation but through shadows?

"I guess you did," John smiled and looked along the road, "I think it is time we retreated for the night. With any luck, I shall have regained my full abilities by tomorrow," He nodded to his Thug assistant and indicated to a run down series of appartments, "One of those would do nicely."

Primatech

"That's what I think it is," Ellie nodded and stood up quickly, taking the sponge from her head, "I think it's time to move no?" She bent over and picked up her gun, the gun that should have killed her, she slipped it back in the holster and looked to Hastings,
"Let's go"

"No, no, no, you don't understand. It is imperative that I see your records! There is a man with unimaginable power loose in this city! I've seen what he can do! He has no remorse. He makes that Ashira character look like a child!" Yelleg Gregori in frustration

"We know sir, now if you would please follow us this way" Replied the guard, with the air of one talking to an overimanigative toddler.

"NO! You don't know because if you did know you would have done something, and had you done something, like attempt to capture him, your corpses would have been on the news! Now, I will ask one more time. Show me your records, or he will be the least of your worries."

Something caught his eye. Well, caught his mind, to be precise. Something about this building didn't seem quite right to him. And, being himself, he walked straight over to it. He looked at the logo of the place as he passed a man leaning againt a silver car. Primatech... It rang a bell, but not one in his town. He stopped as he got to the door, hearing the man's tone. He paused, debating what to do, before turning back to the man at the car.
"Sorry mate, do you know whats about?"

"What, that?" Max answered, nodding in the direction of the building lobby "Nope, but i'm going to find out"

He strode forward to the doors of the Primatech building

"Excuse me, is there a problem here?" he said

"Sahol!" Kathy said. "We've got a situation back at headquarters. We need to go."

"What about--?" Don replied.

"Leave him to the police. We've got to go now."

"Roger that, memsahib." He just couldn't resist using the Arabic word.

They climbed directly back into the car and were en route in a matter of seconds.

"Now, do you happen to have any idea what we're driving into?"

"There's been an escape from Level 5."

"Oh. And we're just sitting ducks."

"Let's just get back there and get a briefing."

"If there's any there to get back to, and anyone left to brief us."

In a few minutes, they were back in the building, looking for Hastings.

"It beats the Hell out of being in that damn cell" Ashira nodded as they made their way down the road towards the apartment buildings. She looked down at her garments, it would simply not do out in public. Their slothes were loose fitting white clothes, like psych ward patients, maybe she was a little crazy. Of course, shopping will come later. Now it was best to lie low and wait till morning. Splitting that guard open might not be considered a wise move but it was too late to take it back, not that the escapee cared much anyways.

"What are you going to do once you have your powers back?" Ashira asked as they slipt in between a cut in the chain link fence and exited the dockyard. It would probably take a few hours till the oncoming shift noticed that the night watchman was missing.

====================

"I want this man put into holding, we'll deal with him later" Hastings pointed to the mysterious man.

The guards nodded and prepared to take care of this intruder. He had no time to adhere to the ramblings of some intruder who wants to look at their records. The fact that he got all the way down to Level Five made him suspicious indeed. But, that will have to wait, there are more pressing matters to attend to.

Hastings and Ellie left Level Five and entered the Situation Room. It was a large conference room with a side room full of desks and computers. A large screen displayed a map of the city. People were already at work trying to track down the escapees. Luckily, it was standard protocol to inject isotopes into each person they examine so that they could be tracked. The readers were hand held though, a major drawback. They would have to find a broad area then go in and search in teams to get a fix on their exact locations. This was very dangerous process.

"We have Local PD aware of two psych ward inmates who are on the loose and we passed a number to call if they are spotted and strict instructions not to approach" Hastings said. They had a lot of work ahead, so, they technicians and other agents strapped themselves down.

"What's out status?" Hastings asked.

"So far sir we're dead in the water. An ID match for that man who appeared in the cell came up negative across the board" A female technician replied, typing away at a keyboard.

"Interpol database?"

"Negative on that too"

There was a knock at the door of the Primatech situation room.

"I will do what I have to do," John replied lazily, not intent in sharing his plans with Ashira, as she was unwilling to share her plans with him. His plan revolved around the Company and, having spent the time getting to know his enemy, John was ready for what he had to do. The only thing that stood in his way as Primatech Paper.

--

Ellie watched silently, still tired after her attack,
"We need a lead quickly," She said, "John's powers will be back soon, then no one can stop him"

They moved through the waining night. It was obvious that the sun would crack over the horizon within the hour. Though she wanted to see the Sun, to bask in its' glow. Of course, getting off the streets was far more important. The group made it to the apartment building and obscured themselves from the streets, just as a random car passed by. The lights crossed across her face.

"As soon as I get myself settled, I'm going to find Hastings family and kill them, while he watches" Ashira mused, greedily savoring the mental picture.

====================

"I know full well what we're up against. The problem is the rest of the city has no idea and sadly we can't let them know more than what's already been passed down. There's a manhunt for two asylum escapees and that's all we can tell them. We have three teams already out there searching for them but so far, nothing" His tone exaspirated.

Hastings faced a daunting task. Tracking down these two individuals quickly. Ellie was in no shape to hit the field yet, she needed rest.

"Hastings.." John looked as though he was thinking, "ah yes, Ellie's Master. Well, I wish you the joy of the chase then, it should be quite interesting I think to watch such an event occur. However, I have more important things to be doing with my time." He sat on one of the grimy beds and sighed,
"Ah well, best sleep and see how much of my powers return in the morning." He rolled over and went to sleep.
The Thug was looking at Ashira now, cleaning a knife with a dirty rag as he did so.

Primatech

"I'll come with you," Ellie declared, watching the screens, "You need everyone you can get and I'm one of those people. I can help. I put John away once before and I can do it again." There was no confidence in her voice, she had beaten John once before because he had underestimated her. She would not get that second chance.

Deciding that he'd waited long enough after knocking on the door, Max opened it

"Excuse me, the receptionist sent me up here to see someone called Hastings?" he asked

"I'm going to enjoy every moment of it" Ashira said, "I want him to learn about loss and sorrow. He'll watch as I tear them apart"

Cracks of light shone through the boards that were nailed over the window frames. It was harsh to the eyes but soon her eyes adjusted, natural light. That the impersonal flourescent lighting that flickered nonstop. This was beautiful. She didn't know what to do with this newfound freedom. Revenge was on her mind. There was nothing planned beyond that.

"What are you going to do?" She inquired.

====================

"Yes, we need everyone we can get but you are injured right now" Hastings added, "You were crucial in putting John away the last time. I was almost killed but you aren't up to full strength. After you've rested, you can join. But until then I want you to get some rest"

"I will do what I do. For now though, I think it's time for rest now and revenge later. For both of us" John rolled over in the bed and slept.

Primatech

"I'll be okay, I promise. I need something to do. Keep my mind occupied" Ellie protested, keeping her eyes on the ground.

Ashira couldn't bring herself to sleep, not now, not ever again. Hate fueled her mind and body. The world beyond that boarded up window put her away. The world shunned her. Everyone shunned her. The classmates when she was in school. Their constant barrage of insults because she was different. The teasing, the pranks, the harsh words. All of it swirled around her, a suffocating force that warped her view of the world. That is when it all happened. They pushed and pushed, so finally she pushed back. It's a cruel world and it takes a cruel person to make it.

"I'm not much for sleeping" Ashira mused to herself, sitting on the window seal. For a brief moment, she wondered how Ellie was. It brought up the notion that she may need to depart sooner than intended. If either of them see her face, they'll know that her death was a lie. Ellie was the closest thing she had to a friend, though they hated each other with incredible fury. Ashira dreamt of the day she could finally kill her, but when that moment came, she faltered. Where would the fun be? No, she wanted to face Ellie on an even field. They each knew their abilities and their histories. Ellie's was just as mared as hers. Of course, Ashira was a different caliber, she had the advantage of acceptance of the darkness.

=====================

"I know you're tough but I'm ordering you to go lie down somewhere, at least for a few hours" Hastings pleaded, "We need you at your strongest"

"No! NO! I will not! I must see those records!" Gregori was furious. These idiots did not see what he saw. They did not see how important this was.

He resited the guards attempting to draw him away.

"Sir, please. Come with us." One of the guards said sternly. Then, Gregori could handle it no more. His anger boiled over. He unleashed his fury, incinerating the guard and blasting a tunnel of destruction down the corridor. It was then that he realized that he had made a mistake. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw a guard behind him swing a nightstick. He flinched, and went limp, his world dissolving into blackness.

Smith rounded the corner of the cargo container to see the bloody remains of what was the dock guard. Shuddering he looked around and then started to examine the body, noteing how his flesh hadn't been cut and even his spine had been ripped in half. Coming to the conclusion taht SOMEONE must come by soon he steped into thew shadows and began putting on his clown makeup again.

Don and Kathy walked, at last, into the Situation Room.

"What took you so long?" someone asked.

"Collection duty," Kathy replied. "So what's so important that we had to abandon a collection right in the middle?"

There was a pause.

"Out with it," Kathy said.

There was a small hiss from Don's direction.

"Not you, THEM!"

Dominic recoiled at the sound of the blast. "What the hell was that?!" He stood up and ran into the building then stopped when he saw the burnt out corridor. "Holy shit, did he do that?"

"No! NO! I will not! I must see those records!" Gregori was furious. These idiots did not see what he saw. They did not see how important this was.

He resited the guards attempting to draw him away.

"Sir, please. Come with us." One of the guards said sternly. Then, Gregori could handle it no more. His anger boiled over. He unleashed his fury, incinerating the guard and blasting a tunnel of destruction down the corridor. It was then that he realized that he had made a mistake. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw a guard behind him swing a nightstick. He flinched, and went limp, his world dissolving into blackness.

Ellie stood over the man lying prone on the ground,
"Take him to Level 5" She ordered the two Guards, looking at the ash that had been one of the Company's guards, he had been killed for no reason, now she had been shown why she did this. The Guard had done nothing. This man had killed him in cold blood.

Ellie stood over the man lying prone on the ground,
"Take him to Level 5" She ordered the two Guards, looking at the ash that had been one of the Company's guards, he had been killed for no reason, now she had been shown why she did this. The Guard had done nothing. This man had killed him in cold blood.

"Where you taking that man? What are you going to do with him?" His eyes began to slowly change colors, scanning for Aura's to feed off. He saw that the fire-man had one. He didn't need this special eyes to see that, after the blackened wallpaper, but wasn't yet sure about this womans. And he hadn't fed in oh so long.

OOC: Looking for another hero so here goes

James wandered the Streets of Liberty City, he knew the city quite well, having lived in it for 3 months in order to avoid company re-capture squads. In his brown t-shirt, and faded blue jeans, he could have passed for any down on his luck college student, after all he was still quite young. As he walked through the city he heard conversations in all sorts of languages, and amazingly he understood all of them, he could even decipher the basic meaning of the pidgeon cooing, and later that night he came to the conclusion that pigeons were actually malevolent creatures whose sole purpose on this planet was to annoy poor humans by dropping their feces on them. But that wasn't the point. The point was that james had been drawn back to the city because of rumors of people with amazing abilities, abilities like his own and some totally unlike his own. So in order to draw another evolved out of hiding, one simply states the fact that they themselves are evolved, which is exactly what James did. He spoke to many different people at the same time, in different languages, he preformed amazing feats, due to his adoptive muscle memory, and he even saved a few kittens from a tree. After an hour of amazing feats he decided to take a quick break and chill out on a bench, and maybe wait for something amazing to happen....

ooc: wasn't you going to edit so you ran into me? love the pigeon idea btw

OOC: Too much like H. P. "Info Dump" Lovecraft for my tastes.

Luke was running down the street, running for his life, someone was behind him, chasing him. He didn't know who, but he had an idea. What had happened in the thearte it was all like a bad dream, this all was a bad dream and he wanted to wake up from it all.

The man was coming down the street after him fast he knew that he's have to do something amazing to get away but he was just an ordinary kid, he ran down a nearby alley hoping to find a way out but he just led himself into a trap.

That was it, he was done for the only hope was a fire escape that he had no hope of reaching, though he did see the hero in the movie do something similiar to get away.

He tried and failed to jump up a number of times and failed, the man was now suddenly at the entrance to the alley way, exactly the way it was in the movie and instincts kicked in. He leaped like he had never been able to before he clambered up there at breakneck speed sometimes using the stairs and sometimes jumping up and diving around from the platform below, the man fired shots well, what Luke thought were shots. but with his extreme dextrous movements he made it to the top of the roof, there he ran into the middle stopped, turn around and pelted for the edge of building. Using the lift of the raised edge as a capault he seemed to fly over the roof duplicating the next stage of the escape. From the next rooftop he could see a truck coming down the next street. If he was going to die it should be on his terms he made his suicidal leap trying to leap onto the roof of the truck and escape his attacker.

This was just the start of another bad week for Luke.

OOC: Shadow, I was acting funny to get a hero's attention, and Dastardly, why must you be such a critic, I'm just trying to add my own personal bit of flair to the RP

IC:
After waiting on the bench for about twenty minutes James stood up and said, "Fuck it all." and went on in his search for other beings. His search took him through the shipyard, where he passed a cargo container and bumped into a man with clown make-up on. "Sorry." Said James as he bumped into the man.

"AHA!!! THE KILLER RETURNS EH!?!?!" Smith said, turning around (http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=jHjFxJVeCQs&feature=related)to reveal a monical over his right eye, a smokeing pipe in his mouth and a sleuth hat at a jaunty angle on his head "So tell me good heart, where is the bannan with the yellow paint? or perhapse you know where the chocolate is holding the iceing?" he said in a prim British acent, not disimilar from sherlock holmes while squinting thrug the monicle at James

On The Streets...

Stohler watched as the uniforms escorted the individual into the transport truck. The doors slammed shut, leaving the criminal to contemplate in a dark steel box, his crime. It was a gruesome scene, he doubted if the man had any regrets, having done what he did to those people. But, it didn't explain the returning and giving himself up angle. There was something more to it, more layers that needed to be peeled back. He recalled a few moments when the criminal's eyes telegraphed fear. Not of the police, but of something else. Of course, the time will come to question him. Now; however, this was not the time. also pinging at the back of his head was how the walls of the alley cracked and the ground vibrated.

"Man, that was weird, wasn't it?" Krazny asked as it dumped a wallet into an evidence bag, sealing it up tight.

Stohler paused, "Yeah, pretty weird" his voice was distant. Something egged at him, having seen that brought other demons to the surface, ones he felt would need facing soon enough...

The Apartment Building...

Ashira's head bounced slightly off the wall, in rythmn. This was not what she imagined her first gasps of freedom would resemble. Killing that guard resurfaced a long, locked away dark nerve. The blood spattering against her clothes, the noise, the gasp of air. That last gasp of air stays with a person. Not to mention that face frozen at the instance of death. she pondered her next moves. Hastings was out there, blind and dumb. She scratched at the back of her left shoulder, there were two vertical cuts, scarred over. That's where the isotopes were injected. Deep down inside, she knew they'd find her. Of course, they didn't stand a chance.

The Company...

hastings paced around the conference room. There were three teams, each with two agents apiece. They were highly trained in dealing with these threats. But, the best course of action was suprise. That was their most effective tool. They rarely these days had confrontations with these posthumans, a term used by Company scientists. This was a different case. a crucial element is time, the longer the wait, the less chance that the readers will pick up on their signals. He trusted most of the people under his supervision. The Committee, that was a different story.

"Anything?" Hastings asked. The radio crackled with negative results. He became visibly annoyed by the lack of progress.

"AHA!!! THE KILLER RETURNS EH!?!?!" Smith said, turning around (http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=jHjFxJVeCQs&feature=related)to reveal a monical over his right eye, a smokeing pipe in his mouth and a sleuth hat at a jaunty angle on his head "So tell me good heart, where is the bannan with the yellow paint? or perhapse you know where the chocolate is holding the iceing?" he said in a prim British acent, not disimilar from sherlock holmes while squinting thrug the monicle at James

"Wanna Run that one by me again?" Asked a confused James. In his mind he ran through all the moves he had learned, just in case this guy turned out to be a serial killer, wack job kind of person.

"Where is the orange with the falcons spoon?" Smith said, the eye behind the monicle now twitching "Or in English DID YOU KILL THIS MAN!!!?!?!?!" his tone changed instantly to very angry... "Or are you just an inocent ikul bystander?" .. to laced with honey

"Sir, I have killed no man in this country, and have only killed one man ever, and this is not the man, nor does he look anything like the man I did kill. Let me ask you this? Why does it matter who killed this man... You don't look like a detective to me..."

"Hmm, that was rather the point of all this" Smith said a little downcast "A it matters because from my centurys worth of experiance I've never seen something like this." Smityh started to point at random parts of the body "Like the totaly halved what-ya-ma-do or the very clear ripping apart of this thing" smith finished by pointing at the mans unspeakbles by acident before recoiling after he realized what he was pointing at "It was nay a man tha' killed 'im. Nor were it a wee beasti. Twas a special person, like me but much more insane" he said in a scotish acent, straightening up and returning to his normal acent, twitching slightly as he mentioned sanity.

"What do you mean by "Special"? You telling me your one of those evolved people?"

"Hm? I don't know. I personaly belive that Kal bestows these gifts on us. I am his healer, I heal those who both need and or deserve it. Can't heal him sadly" smith nods towards the corpse "But perhapse it is an result of evolution. Let every man see it as he will. Who ever this was clearly is a little bit loco, coocoo, CRAZAY, WAKKO, A NUT JOB. *glaven*"

"Indeed, whoever did do this must have been truly demented." Said James, but in his mind he was celebrating, he had found another evolved human, however he had to be cautious, if this one worked for the company, and found out that James was an escapee, he would surely be brought back to the company.

"So, your a healer.... What then might I call you?"

"Smith. And you my young friend?"

"Well my name is James, James Newman, most people just call me the Wanderer though."

Luke made his way home hidden, covered, he was nervous he could explain not to his family, friends, who would believe him he did it by instinctive reaction after watching it at the movie.

He had to flee, had to get out of here. He was at home stuffing as many clothes as he could into his sports bag. The room was a mess, I mean messier than it normally was. He took what he could including some track sporting medallions and that was it, he was gone from his house forever.

-- 3 weeks later ---

Luke had fled over international borders using his abilities to evade the necessary border patrols, It didn't matter he was moving without any sense of purpose drifting trying so hard to stay alive but, why? What did he have to live for?

He had been so busy fleeing for the past 3 weeks that he was able to put what he had done out of his mind, but now that he had stopped everything came back flooding, he needed help, he needed a friend that he could talk to, he had no one, he couldn't talk to his friends from his old life, he had no new friends and was in a weird nation, place called Liberty City.

It was three hours later. Nobody had said anything to Don and/or Kathy, and their shift had ended. Don was in a bar now, The Alligator, knocking back a brewski. He was dressed in dark shirt and pants, with a long, dark trench coat obscuring a hole in a strategic part of the pants that hadn't been there when Don had bought them. Hazard of the territory.

As he sat there, minding his own business, a rather large man clad in jeans and a white t-shirt, with a short, scruffy little beard and round-lensed glasses, started growling at the table behind him.

"Well I say that they're $&#*ING MUTANTS, and I say that they're HERE, and I say that we gotta DO something about it!" And he bashed his fist against the table.

"Calm down, Jerry," the other guy at the table, clean shaven, a bit smaller, but also wearing glasses, said. "I'm not saying that you're wrong, but.."

"But NOTHIN'!" He raised his hand like he was going to try to bash the table down.

This was an obvious set-up, but Don just couldn't help himself. This would be quiet and clandestine.

Pffffffrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrttttt!!!

Suddenly, the images from the security cameras all went to a brownish shade of gray.

Pffffffhtfhtfhtfhtfhtrrrrrtttt!

Suddenly, the surfaces of the lenses on the two gentlemen's glasses went to a rather un-see-through shade of brown.

"What the--," the big guy started.

"You know," the bar tender cut in, "if there were people like you just said, you'd have their attention by now...and if there were people like you just said, I'm not sure I'd want to mess with 'em if I was you. I mean, I'm a normal guy like everyone else--I'm just a bar tender...but I don't like it when somebody goes and tries to wreck the place. If there were people like you just said, I'd be friends with 'em, and they would work for me. Understand?"

Eyeing the bartender suspiciously, as the bouncers closed in, the two men left.

Pffffffffffhtfhtfhtfhtfht!

The cameras went back to normal.

The bartender looked at Don. "I don't want to know how you did that," he said, "but thank you. Those guys were a couple a jerks."

Don feigned surprise. "I didn't do anything," he started to protest.

The bartender smiled sarcastically. "OK. No problem," he said. "But you might want to stick around for a little while."

Feeling slightly dejected and embarassed at not being answered, Dom muttered something and walked away glumly, hands in pockets, wandering the streets again.

Eventually, he came to the docks, and chanced upon a man dressed up like a clown. The first thought that came to mind- "Do a trick!"

"Well then nice to meet you, wonderer, whats your gift?" Smith said before noticing the new arival and repeting his previous routine

Don thought about it, but decided that he didn't want to stay. He needed some air.

He waited a little while, though--long enough, he hoped, for the two guys with the attitude problem to clear out--and then walked out.

It was a clear evening. It wasn't easy to see the stars in the sky, with the way that the lights of Liberty City lit the atmosphere above it, but the ones that were visible sparkled just fine, thank you. As the crescent of the half-moon broke over the roof of a nearby home, Don decided that the best place for some air would be, ironically, down by the water. It was thus that he found himself driving to the docks.

Exiting the little green car that he liked to drive in, he started to make his way over to the water. As he did, he noticed a few people gathered in the distance--and something else. In the light of a lamp, he could plainly make out the remains of what had once been a man. It was pretty ugly. He'd been torn up like nothing that Don had ever seen.

This one needed more than just the police. Normal humans didn't do this kind of thing.

Pulling his cell phone from the breast pocket of his trench coat, Don dialed the company.

"This is Agent Whoulis. We might have a situation here. I've got a dead body, and, by the looks of it, there may be a meta involved. I'm at the docks. Get a team out here if you can."

He pocketed the cell phone and continued--slowly--to the body. There were several others there, but, from the looks of things, they were just gawking at the body. They weren't involved in the actual murder.

"Relax Hastings," Ellie stated with more calm than she felt, "I'm sure that everything will turn out alright. Someone will find something..." Then, as if to prove her point, the radio call from Don came in and the room suddenly buzzed with activity,
Ellie turned and grinned at Hastings,
"Our first lead?" She asked aloud, knowing that she was right. She also knew who had done the murder. John's powers would not yet have returned. That left just one person...Ashira.
Even as she said it, Ellie was back on the phone,
"Don, it's Ellie. Try and keep the Cops away from it until we can get there. This is the work of an escaped Level 5 Occupant. Make sure the Police don't see it"

"Well then nice to meet you, wonderer, whats your gift?" Smith said before noticing the new arival and repeting his previous routine

"An unaccountable impertuantness. I don't particularly have one to be honest. Least, not one I'm telling you about." He grinned childishly. "And you? Scarring small children for life I'm guessing?"

"Why no, more like stabbing people who do things like this" smityh said pointing at the corps, looking u sudenly and saying "My smith senses are tingling..." he turned to look out over the water front and waved in Dons general direction.

"Roger that, Ellie," Don said into his phone just before pocketing it. "Just tell the guys not to come through the front door."

Pfffffffffffrhtrhtfhthtfhttttttttrht!

A wall of impenetrable stench rose up by the main entrance. No cops coming through that way--or anybody else, for that matter.

Don walked into the group.

"Any of you know how this happened?" he asked. He did not ask if anybody had SEEN it--it was quite obvious that only the killer had, and that any other direct witnesses would have been dealt with similarly. That would mean that the people here were third parties--people who, like Don, had stumbled on the body after the event.

Man, it was ugly. The body itself had been torn apart with unimaginable force--sometimes exerted at points where only an amazing telekinetic could have applied it. That would be level five, alright.

Don looked around. Past the body, he could make out a faint blood trail that led off back into the city. The people on the scene had tracked some of the blood, but no other tracks led away. Don decided that, alone, he had no chance against whoever--whatever--had done this. The smartest thing that he could do was stay at the scene, interview the existing witnesses (who would need to be retrieved to keep the information controlled) and wait for backup.

Insects were starting to show up for their share of the take. That would mean the body had been dead about an hour.

"By the way, I'm Don."

"Charmed old bean" smith said dofing his hat and extending his hand "And no, i just got here from a rather nasty automobilic crash and these two haven't been here very long, have you chums?"

"Well then nice to meet you, wonderer, whats your gift?" Smith said before noticing the new arival and repeting his previous routine

"It's Wanderer, and I have two gifts, I can do anything I see with my muscles, it's rather handy when you get in a scrap and have to fight your way out, and my other ability is to mimic any sort of language known to man or beast, the muscle thing kind of helps me make the right sounds for the language as well, they call me wanderer because I wander the globe looking for a place to fit in, it seems that Alversia has others who wish the same." After he finished speaking to smith he turned around to Don and said, "My name's James Newman, you can call me Wanderer if you prefer. I all honesty I have no idea what happened to this old chap," said James referring to the body, "I just showed up and started talking with smith here moments before you arrived."

Bump

"Glad to meet you," Don said.

The insects, scavengers looking to infest the dead body, were starting to get a little thick.

Pffffffffffffffffffffffffft!!

All the insects died.

James gaged a little and said, "I assume that your potent flatulence is your ability, phew, quite the stink."

"Sorry," Don replied. "Usually, I can control where it ends up. Too much of a breeze coming off the water."

OOC: you have two profiles?

IC: "Well, it would sure make a good way to clear the room... Now if your not going to ask me anymore questions, i'm going to find a place to stay for the night."

"I can help with that if you'd like," Don said. "Pardon me if I ask, but what's your ability?"

Come on, team! This guy's talking about abilities, and he wants to get away. I think he's a meta, and that means he needs to be registered.

OOC:

Only one profile. Power: Extreme Flatulance with Dexterity. He can control what it smells like, where it goes and a few other things--but, obviously, it has its limits. The breeze off the river is probably starting to take its toll on the Wall of Impenetrable Stench. I recommend that the guys from The Company show up soon or there may be no barrier to the police.

"Well as I was saying before, I have adoptive muscle memory and I can speak any language, human, animal, body language, or languages not even spoken anymore, and my name is James Newman."

OOC: James escaped from the company three years ago so he's probably already registered... he hates the company for doing experiments on him.

Bumpage

ooc: yea come on VT, Mari/ Dastardly.... lazy bums *shakes fist*

OOC: I'm blocked, dudes. Somebody else has gotta show up before Rear End can do anything but make funny talking noises.

ooc; right-y ho, ill pester VT tonight on msn about it!!

At the abandoned apartment...

As Ashira prepared to slip away to sleep, she fought it. Despite wanting nothing more than rest after a very exciting and troubling day, it was important to remain aware of her surroundings. With the moon light shining down and the rest of the city asleep, she rested her head against the seal of the window and gazed out one last time just in time to catch shadows casting around the alley.

Ashira shot up and turned, "John!" she hissed, "I think we have company!"

Max was stood outside Ashira's apartment. He leant against the car, using a spark to light the cigarette in his hand. He waited patiently for the others to turn up.

It was not long before Hastings and Ellie turned up at the scene of the accident. The Alversian gave a brief nod to Max and looked down at the body,
"Charming," She shook her head, and looked at Hastings, "It has to be Ashira. John can't have got his powers back yet?" She said the word more with hopefulness than certainty. Nothing was certain when John was involved.

Appartment

John stirred and looked at the car outside. He sighed and looked into the corner of the room. He stretched his hand out towards a can of beans and closed his eyes. With lightning quick speed, the can shot into his hand, accompanied with a boom as it did so, a sonic boom. That was how fast the can had travelled,
John gave a malicious grin,
"I'm back," He said, half to himself, then turned to Ashira, "I think we shall retire for the moment. I am not ready to inflict revenge on the Company yet."

"Charming," She shook her head, and looked at Hastings, "It has to be Ashira. John can't have got his powers back yet?" She said the word more with hopefulness than certainty. Nothing was certain when John was involved.

"Yeah, Ashira's in there" Max said to her "I've seen her come to the window a few times. There's also someone else in there, as she's talking to someone. I can't make out who though - they won't come to the window"

He stubbed the cigarette on the curb

"What's the plan?" he asked Hastings

"If I may be so bold," Don said, "I think it would be a good idea to establish a security perimeter. The fewer people come into contact with these...asylum escapees...the better."

Kathy stumbled out of the parking lot. She grimaced when she saw that Don was already there, but soon she had screwed on her professional face and walked in to join the crowd.

OK, James thought to himself, Everybody here reeks The Company, I need to get out of here before they figure out who I am.

James strecthed his arms then said, "Well i'd love to stick around and play detective all night, but I really have to get to my appartment, I have a class to teach in the morning" With that james began to walk out of the harbour and back home, taking caution to watch for any agents that might have decided to follow him.

"Excuse me, sir," Don said as James turned to go. "Could you provide us with some contact information in case we need to get in touch with you regarding this incident?"

A pen and notebook came out of the pockets of Don's trench coat.

Shit! thought james as Don asked him, "Ok my number is 378-265-4223, I live in the hillside apartments in the downtown districts, Block C, Room number 407, however if you can't find me there, look for the rising sun dojo, i'm teaching there for a month or so." After James had told him all the relevant information, he walked home. Downtown wasn't far from the harbour so he got home in 15 minutes. He walked into complex C, climbed four flights of stairs, and once he got to his apartment, he slid the key into the door, and stepped inside. Hurriedly he closed the door, and locked every lock he had on it. James casually walked towards his balcony to check his escape rope, it was still tight and would hold him if he had to make a quick escape. Satisfied, he entered his modest bedroom, and ploped down, onto the bed. He sat for a few minutes and thought to himself:

It would seem, i'm in the right city, from what I could tell that body was the result of an evolved human attack, and it seems the company is all over it... Shit, if they find out who I am, my cover will be blown and everything I've worked for will be undone. What I don't understand is that Smith fellow, perhaps he just like me, trying to find his place in the world... I have to get to the bottom of this, before the company starts pointing fingers and sending super soldiers after me, I wonder.... I wonder if I could perhaps learn to be super strong or fast... If only I had seen someone with that power before, then I could know for sure... After that thought, james slowly drifted into a state of deep sleep.

Don took down the information and returned to the body. There was movement in the apartment complex nearby, and it was starting to unnerve the man a little.

He walked over until he found Kathy speaking with Ellie, Max and Hastings.

"What have we got here?" he asked.

"A level-five named Alversia," Kathy said, slipping into Pro Mode, "a superior telekinetic with a deep-seated urge for revenge. Maybe another level-five along for the ride."

"Any point in bringing in some snipers with tranquilizer guns?"

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

OOC: Ohhhh, Alversia, Ohhhh, Ustia North--this would be a good time to put in a little post where someone finally starts to interact with my characters...

Dastardly Stench;14261073']

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

OOC: Ohhhh, Alversia, Ohhhh, Ustia North--this would be a good time to put in a little post where someone finally starts to interact with my characters...

OOC: I'm still waiting for a response from Alversia & Kulikovia, so we're all in the same boat here.

bump-