Othergrounds: The IC Edition (Act 8: The Strangest Days have gone By)

Luciana "La Cordera" Rojas

Luce tittered when Lexy addressed her question to her. She'd stayed mostly quiet-unusually so, for the girl who was usually making sly comments and overt flirts with Johnny, if no one else. But when Lexy spoke o them, she seemed to open up a bit, and her eye glittered a bit with its usual possibly malicious, possibly harmless light.

"Oh darling, maybe you do things different here," she said, deciding to have a little show of force. Luce pulled the edges of her vaquero jacket back, showing her gunbelt to the girl. "But where I'm from, you don't ask a girl to drop her belt until she's been given something to eat first." Luce let go of the jacket, but regardless of its position, she could reach the guns quickly-with the kind of dizzying agility that didn't come from natural reflexes. Her gift was from the metahuman realm of things. "And I do have a gun to spare...but I see no reason to give it to someone who might be better than me." her tone made it clear Lexy wasn't getting one of the sixguns unless she pried it off of Luce's corpse, and attempting to get them before then wouldn't be treated as an idle prank. Luce was very fiercely protective of what she had, because it was nearly all she had: Luce handled a good deal of money in her line of work, but none of it was hers. What she had went to her brother, her father-and if she had to sell her soul to keep them fed, so be it. Purgatory would not judge her kindly, but she wasn't deluding herself about it.

As far as Luce was concerned, the odds were better than not that at least one person in this group was the Traitor, so there was no reason to bother arming someone. Besides, perfect aim? Luce's gift was...close to perfect but...not quite. She felt jealousy, an old emotion she hadn't felt in a while-at least not in regards to her skill with weapons, her talent at ending things messily. ...Dios Mio. I've encountered a....damnit! Luce smiled, but there was no emotion in it. Luce nodded and turned her focus away from Lexy, not wanting to speak for a moment or two. What...what was this? She wasn't used to such petty squabbles, La Cordera couldn't afford it.

And yet here she was, jealous of a girl half her age, asking for someone else's gun like a...like an inexperienced fool. There was no need to be envious: Luciana let her arrogance overpower her rather justified fear, and convinced herself Lexy was no threat. The amiability seemed to flow back into her words and actions. Yes, she was nothing to worry about-or so she'd keep telling herself.

Quietly, Luce decided if Lexy was the traitor, that would be fine with her. Until then, she kept one hand close to the right revolver, ready for whatever f*cked up surprises the Eye Factory had in store for them-or, more realistically, prepared to show off at the first opportunity, and show Lexy who was top dog here.

Luciana "La Cordera" Rojas

"Were you the traitor," Luce said softly, thinly veiled hatred emphasizing each word, "Perhaps I would want you to know exactly what I can do, darling. I am slow to anger, but I want you to understand me very clearly right now. I didn't have the luxury of high school or even middle school, so I'm not how you'd say good at dealing with little b*tches such as yourself."

Luce didn't need to put a hand on her gun or even draw it, although she greatly considered the idea, she wasn't about to make the first move. Let one of these other fools do it, and she'd get her point across rather explosively. "So listen closely. I am permanent. I am deadly. There are two things in this world I have faith in-the first is that I'm good, real good at what I do-and the second is that I've got a whole lot of faith in what Dios has waiting for me after all this. So if I was so incompetent that I needed advice from a little girl, I would've been dead a long time ago. Do me a favor. Callate la boca Unless you want to make yourself useful, light yourself on fire, and get the Traitor's attention, go away."

Luce caught herself after the last line and was vaguely aware of what she'd said-it wasn't a screaming match, it was unlikely even more than a few of them would've heard, but something about this girl, the other one, Lexy...she felt a sharp, aching pain in her eye-or, more accurately, the space where her eye was, and took a moment to steel herself against the phantom pain. It never got any easier.

Luce's fingers had curled up into bruised-knuckled fists and her muscles drawn taut. Jesus Cristo, Luce, why are you letting yourself get riled by a little girl like this? You're... she closed her eye, inhaling and exhaling slowly. She made sure to be aware of Johnny's presence, deferring slightly to him. He didn't think this girl was another one of his annoying relatives, but she wanted to be sure before she started something. Luce could try and play it off as an intentional ploy, a way of drawing the attention and providing a diversion for the group, but there was no point. She'd lost control, for the first time in a long time, and she wasn't entirely sure why.

No. No, she was. Luce realized in a rather fast, rather painful epiphany why she was off-kilter. Gabe drinking foolishly, Lexy asking for a weapon like a child for candy, this girl talking trash to absolute strangers, it...it struck her. All of that would've gotten her killed not forty-eight hours before she got here. All of them...they were children. Teenagers. They had something Luce didn't, and never could-they'd had a real f*cking life. They'd had prom and boyfriends and not...corpses and starving families.

Luce's expression softened, even if she didn't realize it. The Colombian wasn't about to apologize, because, well, if push came to shove, it was better for them to think her a heartless b*tch than anything else, but she felt a twinge of...she wasn't sure. Luce didn't like confronting her emotions very often, and the Othergrounds seemed to keep throwing them at her with no hesitation whatsoever. Beneath it all, the hypervigilant instincts stayed ready, her eye flickering around their surroundings, fingers itching to be wrapped around the comforting, safe handles of the guns. She wondered rather bitterly what she looked like to Johnny, whether he was perceiving the weak, swirling remorse and nostalgia, or the livid, almost uncontrollable anger, the side that had told her to draw her gun and make that little CENSORED pay for what she'd said-or the quiet voice, too terrified at the others to speak. Luce's emotions were a bit tumultous at the moment, to make a drastic understatement.

She...she had to get home. But Luce wasn't entirely sure she wanted to. For the first time, the idea of staying here, staying in the Othergrounds, maybe laying claim to this place...she could go back. Get her family. Escape, find her way back here...make a new life. Never...never have to kill...the vision was so sweet, so blissfully, tantalizingly sweet, it began filling her with new resolve. Yes, then. I've earned that. I've earned that. Whatever I have to do to leave this place...so be it. I'm getting home, and then getting back here. Let the Traitor try and stop me.

Johnny K. Valos.

Celo wrote:

"I meeean that I need one. You know my power is perfect aim and I haven't gotten a chance to get another weapon since earlier. That's what I mean."

This girl. I mean. This girl. Has got to be one of the dumbest people in this place. Seriously, you make Claire look like Einstein for f*ck's sake. Johnny went on and on in his head. Amazed about how idiotic Lexy is. There were so many things wrong with this sentence that he couldn't put it in words. After the awe-struct silence, Johnny collected his wits. Lexy is going to get the worst of it, "Ahhhh... So you've come to the person who held you at gunpoint, thinks you're an utter idiot, and couldn't give any f*cks about you or your problem because you're stupid? Seems legit." Johnny spoke sarcastically, and laced with insults. If this Lexy girl is going to bless them with her glorious presence, she might as well just be a dartboard for his smart-@ss comments... Wait, wait, wait. This is a distraction. Hunter's going to bolt any minute now, she's just distraction. Little does the little blood-artist shitwad know, with Sylvia above them, and Jake, he's so screwed. "And you aren't getting what I mean. I don't want anything to do with your idiotic @ss. So that means, in case you're wondering, I'm not giving you sh*t. So you can go eat some glass, and go play with the rest of the kiddos."

As Johnny expected, Luce didn't take the question so well... Not really. But, deep down, the ability to read emotions betrayed that forced smile, and her tone. There was jealousy. Which was strange, since there's  nothing to be jealous of. This girl is nothing, but an idiotic, useless airhead, who has never stared the devil in the eyes. Never knew what it felt like to kill for reasons that didn't make sense. Never knew what it felt like to watch the man in the mirror constantly argue with you... Never have, never will. Johnny didn't pay any mind to Luce's emotions, since he just wanted to get Hunter and get the f*ck out of here. Why the hell do these nobodies think there's more to it than that? They all can go die in a fire. Why can't he just do his thing unopposed? Why does he always have to be hindered by these goddamn idiots twenty-four-seven? The anger in him swelled inside of him as his right eye started glowing bright red, and got brighter by the second. Like he was almost on the verge of losing control and just killing Lexy right then and there. It didn't matter, Johnny knew that he'd be doing humanity a favor.

True Night wrote:

"That's the sign of a true meta." Then she glanced at Gabe "You're intoxicated. I doubt you could hit the broad side of a barn, let alone an opponent." She quickly moved on, directing her last statement at Luce who was foolishly showing off. "We're I the traitor, I'd now know exactly what I was up against." Her lip curled into a sneer "And you'd be best putting your faith in something more permanent, and more deadly."

Who the f*ck is talking sh*t now...? Johnny wasn't in too good of a mood to say the least. Now, this hoodrat, this scum, was throwing in her own commentary. He's dealt with several hoodrats, and poor people in the past, and while some of them were cool and all, many more pissed Johnny off. Not because of his wealth - Hell, he didn't even have this wealth before he came to Black Fall. He was just that guy that dressed up like a pimp. Johnny's had enough of these b*tches sticking their dicks in his business. He didn't care about what she had to say, "Now, thank. You. For. Your. Input. It is greatly appreciated. But here's the thing, you're not the Traitor... So you don't interest me at all, now do you?" Johnny tried his best to force sarcasm, and his usual bravado - But, right now, he really wanted to tell this girl to shove her head up her own @ss and f*ck off. "Because we definitely need advice from some street rat that should be worrying about finding her way back under the bridge, yes?"

Ugh... Don't let your anger get the best of you Johnny. These people may be pissing you off, but hey, they aren't the target here. Like you always told yourself, they mean NOTHING to you, and as long Valos wasn't stamped on their last name, they are nothing to you.

However he was caught off guard by what would happen next. Thanks to Lexy. It was his own arrogance and anger which caused him to be taken by surprise. He transformed into his Emotional-Energy form. "... Oh here we motherf*cking go..." This was the perfect opportunity, grab Hunter and run.


Drake Deltori Blackmore.


While he didn't say a single word while Nicole spoke to him, Drake did listen, and pondered it in his head. Nicole does have it worst than he does. Maybe he was just being petty. He was worrying about himself. He can go places they can't. He can live normally.... As hard as he tried that doesn't make him feel any better about what happened to Jia-li, or Jacob, or anyone else who died here. He'll have to move forward. Regardless of what happened. There are some good people in here, and he was one of them - Even better, people did... Care about him. Victoria, Charles, Lily, Dragonfly, Nicole, Lin, Crystal, Jake... He returned the feeling. Drake was ready to force that sadness away so he can just jump off this roof and fly to the factory with a jovial smile on his face.

...

Why does that seem easier said than done? He didn't feel any better inside.

Eugh, screw it. Drake'll just climb down and join his friends in the factory. He quickly transformed out of his shape-shifting form, complementary of Lin, his body appeared to have unraveled, unraveled to reveal himself, apparently. Drake's skin then turned dark green as lizard-like features spawned all over him. He then walked over to a corner and started climbing down. Drake climbed down the tower at a steady pace, slowly but surely. It's just like he's gone through before: going down is always harder than going up.

The enormous boom of what happened in the Eye Factory reached even Drake Blackmore, who was in the furthest corners of the Academy. "What the f*ck?!" Drake spoke in a deep, monstrous voice, complementary of his Lizard-form. Alright, Drake knew something must have went down. Not going to take chances and say it was an accident. Time to trade cautiousness for speed. Drake picked up the pace, he was already halfway down, so hopefully he won't die instantly from any falls and will be able to regenerate with this form.

F*ck, nothing's happening to my friends! I WON'T let what happened to Jia or Jacob, happen to anyone else! I'll die before I do, and so what? People care about me, but that doesn't make me feel any less hopeless! The thoughts raced through his head as he picked up the pace "Nicole! Pedro! What was that?!" Drake shouted at his two bird friends as they left hoping that they at least heard. If not, it appears that Drake will have to do this alone.


The Group, and...


After a bit of walking through the halls of the Factory, the group made it to an insanely large room. It was interesting as it was seemingly the biggest room in the entire factory, and had nothing inside of it. There were several different hallways, going in many different directions. Many different areas of the factory floor needed several Eyes. This was an annex for Eyes to travel through. Plenty of Eyes were causally drifting in and out of this room. Going off to different areas of the factory. The group went into this room and was unsure of where to go.

That's when she's sensed it... A large group of Metas, all powerful, above them. There was little to no clue who they are, or if they're friendly. The last group that Lily sensed may have been friendly, but who knows. She was going to cross these people off as hostile. She was certain that others could have sensed them somehow. She stopped and put her arms straight out, blocking people from going on, all while screaming "EVERYONE! THERE'S PEOPLE ABOVE US!" Her shouting voice boomed through the room as she did what she usually did when faced with these situations: flip the f*ck out. "GET BACK!" She pushed back whoever was at her sides, which so happened to be Jake and Lin.

Their new opponents that were tricked into attacking them were already put in position to ambush them. Eliza had been tracking their vibrations. A large group like that makes plenty of them, so she didn't have a hard time tracking them down. They all got a floor above them, and were in the perfect room to rain hell on them. Eliza dropped to her knees, both hands on the floor, then generated an insane amount of vibrations. Her several comrades got back.

The sawng:

The vibrations shook the entire Factory, and could be heard from throughout the Othergrounds. They destabilized the ceiling above the group, hoping to bring it down on top of them. However, given the wide range of powers available to just about anyone, that wouldn't work. The group likely would be injured by the initial attack. They had another, more fun, plan in mind.

The group below were either disoriented, stunned, on the ground, or just fine. Depending on what power they have and where they were positioned.

Now, there were massive cracks all over the ceiling. Which was all apart of the plan. The Colossus quickly ran over to the epicenter of the mini-earth quake. It stood there, and lifted it's leg up high and brought it down hard as possible. Damaging the ceiling even further. Now would be a good time for everyone to move out of the way. The ceiling got lower and lower, until it was just about to fall. Which was perfect time for the Stasis escapees grand entrance! The Colossus jumped up in the air, and with it's immense size, strength and weight, made a nice hole in the ceiling in the center of the room. Bringing down all sorts of scrap and derbies. Clouding the room with dust. Anyone who didn't get out of the way in time were probably going to be killed in the most gruesome manner. The Colossus slowly raised as his orange eyes were shining through the dust and debris as the derbies faded away...

Another Meta that was with the escapees got in position. He had fists of magma, and abilities over fire and heat, much like Gabe. He stood by the hole made by the Colossus, and blasted large fireballs down upon the group. Randomly and inaccurately. He wanted to cause widespread damage to the group. Unfortunately, Gabe's presence made the fire much, much hotter. More dangerous. Anyone hit by these would be burned.

At this point, the Colossus started charging the group through the dust. He started slow, but quickly picked up the pace. Every step he made cracked the floor beneath him. Not many could survive being trampled by the several ton beast.

The rest of the attackers made their way down. Amongst them was the Regenerator, which just jumped down, and withstanded the damage done to it, and regenerated it. A small bestial animal-type meta with abnormally long arms like an abe, but had no fur and appeared human. Albeit a freakish human. It had razor sharp teeth, and long black talon-like claws. Another Meta-human was one in a long black cloak with immensely long spider legs out of his back, with a scorpion tail. The features under his cloak weren't made clear, but was definitely inhuman. The rest of the ambushes had to find other ways down, as they won't make it down without being injured.

Jack n' Lexy (no crystal this time, may edit in later)
-

When Luce showed Lexy the guns that she owned, Lexy took a step back. "Oh- I'm sorry. I didn't know you had any, but... yep." she paused a moment. The scary girl seemed a bit angry, maybe. And she had a gun. Not good. Then Johnny was angry, too. Lexy winced before continuing, "Weeeeell, anyways, sorry if I offended you or anything. Anywhoooo, I'll go now." she walked a little bit away from Luce before calling out, "Does anyone have a weapon I could use? I kinda forgot one... again."

Jack, still walking backwards(ignoring seth), looked at Lexy before digging through his jacket pockets. Sure, she annoyed even him, but he couldn't let some girl go around defenseless. His right hand found the large screwdriver from earlier. He slowly brought it out, examining it. A flat head- could be use kind of like a weapon. "Here," he tossed it to Lexy.

She struggled to catch it, before finally getting a grip of the tool and looking at it. "What could this be for?"

"A weapon. You could easily stab someone's eye out with that," Jack smirked.

Lexy's face paled. "That's, like, morbid."

"Is there anything here not morbid? Dude, it's that or nothing."

Lexy nodded in response, still seeming unsure as she kept a tight grip on the item. It was no sooner that the attack happened and she jumped back right before the ceiling caved in where she had just been standing. That was too close. She held up the screw driver, looking really silly but ready to take the phrase "bull's eye" almost literally.

Jack did the same, looking around for someone he could place the illusion of utter-and-complete-terror on.

(I got ninja'd a ton since I kept gettin' sidetracked. Sucky reaction to just about everything- sorry It was originally just the Lexy and Jack convo, as you can tell XD)

Johnny and Gabe Valos vs...


The more Emily talked, the less Johnny listened. Because he's dealt with this type of person before. The kind of person who thinks they're tough because they have a power - But fall on their @ss when they face an opponent that's better than them. Johnny's dealt with this kind of person before, and taken all of them down a few notches. Either way, Emily was the least bit of his concern. With Hunter being here. Watch yourself little girl, you'll be in over your head in no time if you dare f*ck with me. I won't hold back until you are bloodied. If Emily really wanted a fight, then she wouldn't have ran away. These people were starting to really piss Johnny off - Then he remembered WHY he was here. They fulfill their duty, then they don't have to worry about any of these cunts. The distraction that Johnny was waiting for came.

When the Earthquake-like shaking started, Johnny's band of merry men weren't too affected, as they were hanging back, away from the group. They weren't in immediately harm's way when the ceiling collapsed either. He grabbed the top of his hat, and dramatically slid it over his eyes. Johnny changed into his Emotional-Energy form, a white light enshrouded him, as vertical lines (Of every color) pulsed across his being from left to right. He was much faster and tougher in this form. That's when the rest of the creatures made their way down, and another started raining down fire out of the hole. Hmph, this could easily be one of the most grueling fights the group has faced yet. It doubled the perfect distraction. They grab Hunter and bolt. Anyone gets in their way will die. "Luce, ignore that stupid girl, all she wants is attention. It appears that our distraction has just arrive in a rumbling package. I'll grab Hunter, then we all get the f*ck out of here. If you can, kill that f*cker shooting. It'll make it easier." With that, Johnny started make his way towards the head of the group. Johnny jumped high up into the air, against the wall, and used his limbs to push off against it. Hence, he wall "jumped" from one wall to another. Leaving behind a colorful trail of light, vaguely shaped like himself. When Johnny reached the end of the hall, he jumped off the wall and flew through the air. He tried to look at everyone fighting.

But saw no Hunter among them. He looked around to see Sylvia was fighting the Colossus and Jake was more focused on using his illusions to help the group fight. Before his feet touched the ground, he growled and focused on the hole above them that was raining fire down. No. No. You don't have to fight them. When he touched the ground, he jumped again, this time towards the Colossus and Sylvia. Figuring that he should yell at Sylvia for not sticking with the d*mn plan.

"Ayay... You f*cks are going to die now." Gabe speaks, super heating her fists to volcanic levels of heat. Easily able to give anyone in her path a nasty burn. She ran through the group, making her way to the front where fire rained down. Her ability makes her completely immune to even the hottest of heat. However, it also made fire much hotter, thus more dangerous. But, that was the least of her concerns.


Sylvia Bertoose, and Johnny Valos vs The Colossus.


Due to Sylvia's power, the vibrations did nothing to her. At all. She just floated there with a cheeky smile as it all went down. She knew something was going to pop up for her to fight, and she just couldn't resist dashing the plan out the window in favor of just fighting. When the Colossus fell through the ceiling, followed by it's friends, Sylvia reached into her pocket for her iPod. She switched to her bass-boasted Dubstep just as the Colossus began it's charge, her smirk turned into a grin as she moved towards the Colossus in a truly blinding demonstration of her speed. In the blink of an eye, she appeared right in the Colossus's face mid-charge, with her hand pointed at it, and her other hand wrapped around her wrist. She quickly fired off blast of pure sound, which made a monstrous explosion sound, that momentarily drowned all other sound. Which sent her flying back towards the group at high speed. The Colossus was knocked on it's back because few could withstand the force of Sylvia's attacks. It landed with a loud thud, nearly making a hole in the floor. "Come on b*tch!" Sylvia yells, as she makes her recovery, laughing like a maniac. She returned to the Colossus again, floating over it's chest, and before it could even get up, Sylvia fired another Dubstep bomb. The air around her was pushed away, and created another boom that drowned out any other sound. The Colossus was implanted deeper into the ground, and was nearly sent through the floor.

"Syl!" Johnny shouted as he made his approach. He made his approach with several timed jumps, and landed on the Colossus's belly area. It felt like he was standing on the hardest concrete on the planet. He promptly screamed at Sylvia, "Where the f*ck is Hunter?! What the f*ck are you doing?!"

"F*cking up f*gs. That's what, retard. Our mark ran down at hallway" Sylvia nonchalantly, and sarcastically inserts. As she floated, she pointed down the hallway Hunter ran down, having spotted him run off when the chaos started.

"STOP F*CKING AROUND AND GO...!" Johnny yelled at the top of his lungs in a demonstration of pure rage. That's when the blinding flash of light engulfed the area around him. It was obviously Jake's doing, as when the flash faded, Jake was gone. Perfect. Now the plan is in utter turmoil. Hunter's gone. Jake's gone. Gabe is drunk as hell.

The Colossus took advantage of this, and quickly jumped back to it's feet and swung it's massive fist at Sylvia. However, her speed was literally unmatched, and the second it even started to get up, she moved several meters away. "I can dodge everything! F*ggot!" She says with a impish grin.

Johnny just jumped off the beast, landing several feet away. Skidding and bent over slightly, with his hand on the ground to help his stop. "Alright, you're pissing me off even more now!" His voice roared monstrously, matching the beast's horrible roar. His right eye glowed bright eye to be seen all around the room.  

The Colossus turned it's attention to Johnny, charging him and slamming both fists on to the ground, hoping to crush Johnny. However, he wasn't expecting Johnny's speed. Who ran around the colossal creature before it even got close and jumped high up into the air. Johnny delivered a powerful kick to the back of it's head, swinging it across, connecting... To find out that it did less than nothing. The Colossus's durability far out-classed Johnny's. The Colossus quickly swung around and swiped Johnny with his hand. Sending Johnny flying across the room towards the other side. It wasn't too damaging for the resistant Johnny, but now he knows two things. This creature is tough and strong. Likely strong enough to pierce Johnny's armor if it wanted to. Then he remembered that he didn't need to fight it. As he rose to his feet, he muttered to himself "Okay, I'm getting side-tracked here..." Find Hunter. It was the only damn thing he kept telling himself. He quickly broke off into a lightning-fast sprint. "Sylvia! Let's regroup." He shouted at it.

However, the Colossus charged him in his attempts of escaping. It wanted to kill him, and Sylvia specifically. It wasn't going to stop until either they, or it, die.

Johnny had no choice but to jump over it as it ran by. Landing gracefully on the other side of it. The Colossus ran into the wall, putting a massive dent in it. Before it quickly recovered and charged at Johnny again, swinging it's fist at him for a truly powerful punch. Johnny just stood there as it got closer, making his hands into finger guns and pointing them at the creature's eye. "Não há futuro para você, apenas o final." Johnny spoke in Portuguese at the monster, as he fired two shots of his devil kiss at it's eyes. Gabe's presence made them much hotter, combined with his increased strength. Johnny managed to shoot out both of the Colossus's eyes at the same time. Then he jumped in the air to dodge the punch.

The Colossus had a regenerative factor, much like the Regenerator. It would take a few minutes for it to recover it's eyes. The Colossus dropped down to it's knees, and hunkered down. It's exposed joints were covered when bent. The Colossus covered it's eyes to stop them from further damage. It had their scent... After it gets it's eyesight back, it would go track them.

With that Johnny and Sylvia left the battle, to go after Hunter. Hunter mark may have a head start, but he had the speed of a human. Both of the siblings had speed that horribly outclassed humans. They'll be on him in a second.


Jake, Lin and Lily.

True Night wrote:

"Someone should protect the others, everyone else stand back."

If there was anyone capable of protecting the others, it would be Jake. With his group of himself, Lily and Lin, he would be more than capable of defending the group at large. "On it!" Jake shouted as he assumed a dramatic pose, swinging his right arm, snapping his fingers. Crafting several illusions. The first illusion was a wall of boron carbide between themselves and the maniac shooting fire. He basically blocked the pryomaner's targets from it. Making it impossible for their ambushers to shoot fireballs upon them. However, the illusion would be destroyed once it reached a sufficient heat. Jake crafted another illusion, a transparent dome of titanium, which could be seen through, but still stop attacks. He was more than capable of defending the group from here. Screw the plan that Johnny made up, he was going to do what really mattered. That was keeping people safe, which the master Illusion is a master at.

During the first stages of the attack, Lily was awestruck again, and was on the verge of a breakdown. In her excited state, she didn't notice the fireball flying towards her. The fireball hit her shoulder, and burned through her clothing. It wasn't too bad of a burn, but it was still a bit painful. She screamed out in pain. "Oh my god! That hurts!" She dropped to the ground, clenching her shoulder. Crying out in pain. All right before the illusion went up.

Okay, okay... Things are getting ugly. Lin thought to herself, as she watched the chaos. She nervously bit her lip, as her facial expression changed to one of fear. When Lily went down before the illusion was completed. Lin didn't waste any time in helping Lily up. "Lily, I'm here to help you, get up!" She said as she pulled Lily up to her feet. Lin used her telepathy to send Lily a few thoughts, Your arm is burnt, but you have to get up. You're OUR leader, you can't fall now!

"Carmen, you okay?" Jake asks Lily and Lin, using Lily's actual name, which he acquired a little while ago. "Get back up! We need you." There was little Lily could do to help them, as he didn't know what Lily can really do, but the last thing he wanted to do was demoralize her. Because she was his moral support. So was Lin.

Oh god... Why... This... I... Too much. It's all too much! Dear god! Lily clenched her burnt shoulder, her skin was red. The pain was being ignored in favor of Lily's deteriorating mental state. She was never the best in these situations. But, it's starting to get to be too much for her again. With no Drake here to pick her back up, and help her survive. She dropped to her behind and clenched her head as she watched Jake and Lin attempt to fight off the bad guys. The thoughts of escaping became all the more enticing. You got to go... Run. You know you aren't a warrior. You would die - No, you WILL die. The voice in her head spoke softly. Like it was the only thing worth listening to, leadership loyalty or anything didn't matter. Lily rose to her feet. Then Lily ran off towards the first hallway that entered her gaze, completely forgotten where the exit was, but she was going to find it. Tears ran down her face with every step she took.

"Lily! Come back!" Lin shouted at the top of her lungs. Concerned about her friend's emotional state right now. Lin herself wasn't in the best mental shape herself. She looked down and saw her form unraveling, fading away, revealing her natural body. What happened in times of emotional stress. She had no choice but to pull herself together. Her body reshaped back to what it should look like. Lin really wanted to find Lily before she gets hurt and.... As cold as it sounded, Lin needed to keep the master key safe, it prioritizes Lily's own life. "We need to get Lily, she'll... Be injured!" It was hard not mentioning the key, but it was of uttermost importance.

"On it." Jake says, full of determination. It was in his best interest not to let Lily get killed. Several buzzing orbs of white light surrounded both Jake and Lin. In a few moments, they exploded in a truly blinding flash of light. The light engulfed half the room, and everyone inside would notice it. When the light faded away, both the young Brazilian illusionist and the Chinese Shape-Shifter were gone. Off to go track Lily down before she gets killed in her panicked state. Little did they know, they were tracked, the small animal-type Meta, who didn't need eyesight, perused them at an even pace the moment they tried to leave. This Meta was known as The Scheusal.

All illusions that Jake conjured on the battlefield disappeared. Then the rain of fireballs resumed.


Victoria and Charles Blackmore vs. The Regenerator.


Derbies from the ceiling collapsing were enshrouded in a dark-blue aura and they were lifted up off the ground. Coming towards the two Blackmores that were pushed up against the wall. Victoria was using her copied ability of Telekinesis to grab rocks off the ground, and make a shield for the ground. Barrier absorbed some of the fire that the escapees were firing at them, and blocked the two groups from. Which was the best that Victoria could do here. She occasionally sent rocks flying at opponents, but focused on defending the ground.

Defending them, was Charles Blackmore, who created a truly terrifying "glass-storm" He used the glass he brought with him, and burrowed some glass from the Eyes. He creating a cyclone of glass around himself and Victoria. Anyone who got too close would get a nasty cut, friend or foe. It didn't matter. Charles kept the glass storm going strong, hoping to cover himself.

However, there was something that neither of their shields would stop. A black, inhuman but feminine-like, creature known as the Regenerator approached slyly. Taking slow steps around Victoria's shield, and about to walk into Charles like it was nothing. Almost like it was mocking them. Charles wasn't having any of that. He sent the cloud of glass shards in a terrifying blast, that sliced and diced the Regenerator. After the attack, it was covered in slashes and wound, and was bleeding black blood all over the place. But, they quickly regenerated in a cloud of black steam. The wounds closed and it was still walking towards them. That attack would have killed any other human. Charles brought the glass back, cutting up the monster again. Once again, it was sliced to pieces but healed, in other words. Neither of Charles's attacks made a difference.

After those attempts failed, Victoria knew that it's regenerating powers would make it difficult to beat using brute force. However, she was a bit smarter, she came up with a plan to keep it at bay. She used the rocks that she was lifting with telekinesis to pile up on the Regenerator. If they can't injure it: trap it. It was the best idea she could come with. With a splat sound, the Regenerator was effectively trapped. The only problem was that Victoria used all of her materials, and had nothing to defend the group with.


Hunter.


This was the perfect time to spring. Hunter knew that the Valos were after him from the very moment they approached. When the shaking started, he ran down another hallway before the escapees could make her dramatic entrance. He made his way there seemingly unnoticed, which was thankful. Towards the factory floor. He had no interest in fighting these people. Because he knew that he'd get stabbed in the back by a Valos.

Luciana "La Cordera" Rojas

Luce was in the middle of-well, she wasn't entirely sure what she was going to do to this upstart b*tch when her instincts screamed at her and she promptly shut up. Pivoting on one foot and pushing off the ground as hard as she could, Luce did a rather bizarre yet nonetheless effective pirouette that glided her about halfway across the hallway and behind cover as the ambush broke out, bracing against a corner as the earth shook beneath her.

As soon as the vibrations stopped, Luce started. While she may not have had Gabe's touch with fire or Johnny's invulnerability, Sylvia was probably the only one besting her in terms of reflexes: she hit the ground running.

The first two shots were blind, even by her, they were simply to disorient her enemies with the thunderous sound of two .45 Long Colts firing indoors. And yet not a moment later, Sylvia proved her worth with a sonic blast louder than Luce could hope to match; she'd leave the psychological warfare to Johnny's half-sister, then. Or full-sister. Whatever.

The others-not all of them, but some of them-felt stirrings of panic or fear or catatonic fear. Luce felt a vague, detached sort of fear, but it was alarmingly cold, some emotion that was a mere distraction rather than a real concern. The guns in her hand felt too real, felt too strong, her hyperactive heart beating a rhythm too quick to be stopped. Luce was going to show these kids, show these ambushers-show f*cking everyone why she was La Cordera.

The girl quickly surveyed her surroundings and within a second or two took inventory of the situation. Ambushers, scattered around them, likely laying in wait. This probably meant they were in cahoots with the Traitor, which didn't help her at all, but wouldn't make her feel guilty about gunning these Stasis escapees down like mad dogs. Furthermore, the group was disoriented, panicked, and full of children. They were easily startled, and the fight would likely end before it began. Sylvia and Johnny seemed to be focusing on the large...thing...which was fine by her-it would draw everyone's attention, opening them up to attacks from the others. Dios Mio, there are a lot of them. Beyond that, fire. Luce felt the searing heat of the flames from a distance, and made her first order of business to put a bullet through the head of whoever the f*ck, aside from Gabe, was hurling it around-even she couldn't fight a lack of oxygen or third degree burns.

Luce let out a bloodcurdling scream, one she wasn't even entirely aware of, and her face lit up with a kind of manic joy. This, this sick adrenaline high, this is what she f*cking lived for. It was the only damned thing Luce ever found ease with, ever accomplished naturally, and as many sleepless nights as she'd spent lamenting the fact, it didn't change the fact she liked killing. She quickly ceased the battle cry, keeping her emotions in check, but under her breath, she spoke a rhythmic prayer. Someone more romantic than herself might've looked at her, side-stepping and twirling with both effeminate grace and lethal efficiency, and noted that she almost moved and fought like she was dancing, curling bullets precisely at their targets and taking in everything; Luce never stayed put long enough for someone to get a clear shot, weaving in and out of the kids around her for cover and ducking back behind the pillars attached to the wall at every opportunity.

After one such opportunity, Luce spun out, and when Luce spun from cover, it was like she blurred out from the wall, revolver glinting in the firelight, the scars on her face deepened in the shadows. "Dios te salve, Maria...

She pulled the hammer back, pulled the trigger, and with a bit of focus, made the bullet tumble a few hundred miles per hour faster than it normally would, pulling itself forward faster and faster. It hit Magma-boy square in center-mass, and she followed it up with another round before ducking back behind the wall. "...llena eres de gracia..."

Empty. Both guns. She could feel it. Luce closed her eye and began to twirl the guns around her fingers, both keeping them from flying free of her hands and making them spiral unnaturally fast. Somewhere in this rapid show of dexterity, her fingers pumping the shells free of the cylinders and, with a twitch of her hips, the extra rounds spun upwards, twisting and coming back down in slow motion. They found their way into the rotating cylinders one at a time, and with practiced, as if on reflex, grace, Luce flipped the covers shut and cocked both hammers back. The whole process had taken maybe three seconds. "el Senor es contigo..."

Luce raised the sixguns, preparing to perhaps render the spider-boy's head a bloody mess, when she noticed Johnny and Sylvia cutting and running. In that case...I have no stake in this fight. Good luck, children. Take out that arrogant CENSORED if you get the chance, she silently bid the Colossus, and with a few rounds of covering fire, she turned and ran from the building, slowing only to slide one revolver down into its sheath; her spare hand hurled a few stones behind her with enough speed and force to shatter concrete. "Bendita tu eres entre todas las mujeres..."

Luciana burst from the Eye Factory, wisely enjoying her decision to leave the fight. As much as she loved a balls-out firefight, she was feeling a little drained from using her powers already, and one of the magma blasts had come dangerously close to making her entire face one big, nasty scar. Best to take them on one at a time rather than wait and risk death...Luce had pride, but she was no fool. There was nothing to gain by standing and fighting other than the respect of people she had no use for. "y bendito es el frute de tu vientre, Jesus..."

Luce caught Johnny and Sylvia chasing after Hunter and-Jesus Cristo, those two can really haul ass.-took off after them, guns gripped tightly in each hand, ready to blast Hunter, any Stasis Escapees who followed after her, or whatever else this eldritch school had to offer. "Santa Maria, Madre de Dios..."

((I just skimmed through the posts, so please tell me if i got anything wrong ^_^'))
---------
Faith
------

Faith jumped when she heard a large sound, the first thing coming to her mind was the eye factory. Not that it had left her mind- in fact, she had been wondering about it for a while. She slipped on her shoes, forgetting about feeling uncomfortable about her current attire and rushed out of the room and towards the eye factory, her own pet eye right behind her.

------------
Crystal and Jack
---------

When the ceiling caved in and fire began shooting in all directions, Crystal counted herself lucky that she had avoided getting hit without any defensive power. She had ducked down to the ground, covering her head like one would in a school’s tornado drill. She only did this for a second, though, realizing the stupidity in such an action and stood up to go near Jake, who seemed like the most reasonable person to go to for protection. He had already formed an illusion around him, Lily, and Lin. Lily seemed to be injured and walking off, which Crystal had no idea why she was doing such an action. Either way- this was her chance to help!

“Jake, wait I can heal he-“ too late. Jake and Lin were gone with a flash of light after Lily, and the fire from the strange magma kid from earlier continued. Crystal wasn’t paying attention, though, as a fireball came flying towards her. She was too confused and too busy wondering about Lin, Lily, and Jake.

Jack, on the other hand, had his complete attention on the fire around him. He kept a smirk on his face as he dodged fireballs. His mind compared it to dodge ball, only with higher consequences for getting hit out, as in this case if you’re hit, you’re most likely out as in death-out. Jack smirked, about to place an illusion on someone when he realized the horrifying thing that everyone but him knew up until that point- he couldn’t do anything besides play with people’s emotions, leaving him completely vulnerable. This wasn’t good- not good at all. He froze, looking around frantically.

Everyone was fighting except him and…. Crystal. Yes, she was just standing there, seemingly in her own world with a confused expression. He also noticed the fireball falling towards her. He ran towards her, considering by the time he said anything it would be too late. He dove towards her, both of them falling to the ground.

Crystal blinked, looking at where she had just been standing to see flaming ruins. Her mouth fell open as she looked at Jack, who was lying beside her. “Th-thanks,” was all she managed to get out of her mouth before hoping to her feet. This Jack fellow, while he had been extremely annoying, just redeemed himself, in her standards. Crystal sunk to the back, trying to avoid getting hit and making sure she kept her attention on the matters at hand. She noticed a guy off to the side- Tom, wasn’t it?- injured in the arm. She ran towards him. “Please let me heal you, I’m gonna go nuts without doing something to help."

Jack got up to his feet, his hair singed. “Yeah, no problem,” he smirked. He was going to have to try to do something…. He looked at a random guy who he didn’t know- just a no name among the many attackers. The guy had ice around his hands, which surprisingly wasn't melting despite the flames. And the guy was also coming towards Jack. A devious grin appeared as he placed an illusion on himself of intense terror, directed at the random Meta-human. The person froze in the middle of running, staring in horror at Jack- who knows what he saw, no one knows but the kid- and as the person remained frozen in horror, Jack picked up a large piece of debris and neared closer to the kid, who remained frozen in terror, though his fingers were now twitching as some sort of reaction. Jack was only about 10 feet away from the kid when he threw the large piece of rubble at the boy’s head, the kid quickly crumpling to the ground. Jack’s grin returned to a smirk. He was just lucky the kid reacted by freezing when scared- several others probably react by attacking their fears.

--------
Lexy
----------

Lexy could only watch as chaos was wreaked on everyone. She looked at the screw driver… the insignificant little weapon that she was left with for this fight. Johnny was right- she was an idiot. Lexy held in a sob as she saw different people die around her. She didn’t want to kill anyone- she didn’t! But then others would die if she didn’t and…. “I’m sorry!” was all she could scream as she threw the screwdriver at a no-name’s face, aiming for the eye. The screwdriver worked surprisingly well, as soon the no-name had both hands on his right eye, writhing in pain from his damaged eye. Lexy then saw Jack kill someone with a rock. She winced, looking around her before slowly picking up a rock, thinking over and over in her head, I’m sorry…. I’m sorry…. I’m sorry…. as she searched for attackers.

Drake Deltori Blackmore.

Spoiler:

ViperaUnion wrote:

"Ambush, Drake! There's a fight going on over there! Other metas, come on! We need to help them!"

Alright... I know what I have to do... Can't sit up here and wallow... Drake closed his eyes as he picked up the pace with climbing down. Once he was a safe height, he just pushed off the wall and landed harmlessly on his feet. He didn't waste any time in breaking into an all out sprint. Nicole and Pedro were much faster than him, and would probably be there long before he could. He just kept up with his current pace, occasionally. With his lizard-form, he was quite faster. Run around 30 Mph at most. The very moment he made it to the factory, he noticed that the door was locked... He banged his fists on it hard as he could, hoping to get someone's attention and they'd open it. With no success - A door wouldn't stop him at all anyway. When you reach an obstacle, go around it. Without a second thought, Drake jumped up on the wall and quickly climbed up. Hoping to find an air-vent or - Anything. He was desperate to get inside and help his friends, he was willing to do anything to get inside. Drake reached the top and noticed the massive cracks on the roof, and saw parts of it were crumbling. He knew that it wasn't stable at all. All he needed was something heavy enough to break through it. He looked around, and saw an air conditioning unit close to him. Which works just fine. Drake pulled it off the roof and lifted it, he threw it at the cracks in the roof - Which was just all the shattered roof was going to take. A hole in the roof formed as it rained down more derbies upon both his friends and enemies. But, this also works as a good distraction. He has the element of surprise. Drake walked over to the edge of the hole, and eyeballed a man, who was surprised and was by the hole that the Ambushers made when they first arrived. He was getting ready to snipe the group with super-heated plasma. Perfect.

With one leaping motion, Drake jumped into the hole, and pointed his foot at his target in mid-air. The guy didn't see it coming. Drake's foot connected with his target's face, putting down all of his weight on it. He brought the guy to the ground by his head, foot-first. Knocking him out in the process. Drake stood on top of his defeated opponent and looked around. At the corner of his eye he noticed a girl with a long metal blade charging him. He sidestepped the attack, which would have surely killed him, the girl was putting too much strength behind the, and not enough technique. Which allowed Drake to use that against her. He grabbed her by the shoulder and tossed her down into the hole that they made. When she hit the ground, she was killed in a bloody splat.

"Alright, who's... F*ck." Drake says as he turned his head to everyone else in the room, ready to kick more @ss. Only to realize that there are six other people in the room with him. Which weren't good numbers if he expected to come out victorious. Their de-facto ringleader, Eliza pointed both of her hands at Drake. She then unleashed a shock-wave of vibrations. Which sent Drake flying, he went over the hole in the floor. She also launched her unconscious ally. He touched down on the other side of the room with skid as he stopped on his back. However, he wasn't too injured and wasn't. One thing was for sure, he can't win this fight without a heavy hitting form. Unfortunately, his electrical form was discarded at the mansion. Drake's eyes went towards the plasma manipulation, with a devious idea. He quickly reverted back to his human state, which is the only way he can copy new powers. Drake touched the unconscious Meta skin to skin, and both of their blood streams on their hands were illuminated through their skin with a green, electricity-like, light. Drake took a tiny amount of his Meta-human energy, enough for him to trigger a transformation.

It started with his skin starting to turn a bright greenish-blue color. Then super-heated plasma energy, which resembled electricity, enshrouded his entire being. His hair flowing lightly, as it was now plasma. His body was completely engulfed in a cloud of super-heated plasma. Now, this form functions almost exactly like his electrical form - As in, he can use it exactly like that form. Shoot streams of plasma, fly, etc - Exactly like his electrical form, except with plasma. However, like every other form, he'll have to figure this stuff out - And the owner seems to be out. He rose to his feet. "Alright..." Drake started off, as he looked at his new form. Drake spoke to them softly, in a low tone, "I have no idea what this stuff is... But I'm going to use it to kill you all. Come and get it!" He took a combat stance with his fists balled and ready to tear them limb from limb.


The Colossus.


A few minutes had finally passed, and the Colossus released it's grip over it's eyes. It took it's eyes off, and revealed it's shining orange eyes. Shining through the bloodshed that they've been tricked into starting. The Colossus had no intentions of stopping now. It knew where it's prey was, and . It stood straight up, and pointed it's body towards where the Valos were heading. It took a position not too different from one that a runner would do before they would start. It promptly "pushed" itself, cracking the floor under it with it's first terrifying step. It cracked the floor under it as it began it's charge. For something so large and armored, it was surprisingly fast. But, not fast enough to catch up to the Valos, as they were faster and had a head-start. A burst of boiling hot stream shot out of it's nose like fire out of a jet.


Gabriela Mya Valos.


The way Gabriela handled fights from the very moment she could walk and talk, was that she punched her enemy in the face until they die.

When she got her powers. Things changed slightly.

Now she punches them in the face with magma until they either get forth degree burns, or die.

She was currently engaged with a male Meta-human around her age. Who had super senses. Which made it all the more easier for Gabe to cut down. She delivered a quick succession of super-heated punches to her opponents face. He couldn't take it. A devilish grin crept up on her face, as she delivered the kill blow. She grabbed on to his face with the tightest grip possible. With Gabe's hand super-heated, it quickly gave him some nasty hand-shaped burns on his face. His skin sizzled as he screamed in utter agony. Then he felt nothing. Because Gabe damaged his nerve endings to the point where he was numb. She had a grin of delight on her face, like this is something that she enjoys. When she was finished, she let go and pushed him off, he dropped to the ground, limb. She looked around.

When she saw Johnny and Sylvia leave, she quickly abandoned her opponent. He won't be alive for too long anyway. Because she's certain that she boiled his blood, or cooked his brain. Something horribly bad. When the Colossus rose back up to it's feet and chased after them, she picked up the pace.


Johnny, Sylvia vs. Hunter vs. Stasis Escapees.


Unaware that they're being pursued by Gabe, Emily, Luce, or the Colossus, Sylvia and Johnny kept going at an ungodly pace. They were going fast as they could, because they wanted to get the hell out of here soon as possible. Sylvia blinked her eyes, and activated her Sound-wave vision. Which allowed her to see soundwaves, also allowing her to comprehend them at a greater level. She saw soundwaves of... Metal clashing, and the voice of... Hunter. "Follow me, f*ckface." Sylvia picked up the pace and Johnny followed. She turned into a large room. This was one of the many rooms of the factory made to produce Eyes. Some rooms mold their shells, others put together. This room is made to put both together. Most of the room was a factory belt that hauls the glass frames of eyes to other machines, where the process is progressively completed step by step. At the end of the process, Eyes are hauled off for storage. The room was metallic and futuristic looking.

Then there was the Valos's target Hunter, covered in his own blood, and being attacked by two Metas. One was a freakish male in his late sixties that had seven extra arms out of his back, and held knives in all of them. Making him more than a match for Hunter's swordsmanship. The other was a boy in his late-teens, wearing a fancy suit and a bowl-hat. He stood behind Hunter and watched with a snicker, since his multiple-armed friend was tearing the blood artist limb from limb. He didn't even need to.

Doing what she enjoyed doing; Sylvia ruined their fun. She quickly darted in between all of them, and fired off her dubstep bomb. A pure blast of sound that had equal force to an explosion launched all three of them away. The sound overwhelmed all other sounds in the area, and could be heard throughout the entire building (But was ignored). Their hearing was permanently damaged and they were all generally pretty beaten.

Taking slow steps towards Hunter, Johnny spoke to them, "Okay, motherf*ckers, if you can still hear; this is how sh*t's gonna go down..." Johnny started off, as he made both of his hands into finger guns and leveled it at the two escapees that weren't Hunter. His eye started glowing bright red with anger. Hunter probably knows what they want to kill him, so why not throw subtly out of the window? He's no where near their level, and he's injured. "He's coming with us. You two kind gentlemen will stand aside. And you all continue your lovely bloodbath as scheduled, while we leave. Am I clear?" A grin crept up on his face. "... Because I honestly would hate to have to get some more blood on my hands. It gets pretty hard to wash off after you hit the hundredth mark, you know?"

Both of them got up to their feet, just as quickly as they were knocked down. They angered at Johnny. The one in the suit had started to secrete a black gas.

"Ah... I guess this place will be your grave, yes?" Johnny spoke with a sadistic grin on his face. He focused on the one secreting the gas. Since arm-boy will be taken down in less than a second, he just knows it. He charged the suited boy, and before the guy could even react, Johnny smashed the guy's throat with his elbow. Johnny laughed as the boy struggled to breath. Just as fast, Johnny roundhouse kicked the boy in the side of the head, knocking him down. At this moment, Johnny pointed a finger gun at him, and fired off several painful devil kisses at his head. Just to make sure that he stays down. "Stay down, then perhaps you'll survive."

Sylvia handled the other one. She floated high up in the air, out of the range with the man with multiple arms, and pointed both hands at him. There was another technique that came with her Sound Manipulation, sound generation. She unleashed a horrible blast of super-loud soundwaves. Causing the area around him to rumble with such tremendous force. The sound she was creating was a painful screeching sound, that was worse than someone scratching chalkboard.

In all of this, Hunter tried to drag himself off. His ears were ringing like hell, and there was no way he could win.

The Group vs. Stasis Escapees


With some members of the group splitting up and breaking off from the fight for their own reasons. It left many, among them were Charles and Victoria, to fight off the hordes of Stasis escapees.

Luce managed to kill the flaming sniper, sparring the group from his flaming rain. However, more aggressors were ready to join the fight. Several more dropped down from the hole in the ceiling. One floated down in an aura of smoke, and has smoke manipulation powers. Smoker. He had several eldritch holes in his skin, and generally looked like a zombie. He directed his gaze towards the lone bat animal meta, Sandy. Remaining floating up into the air, he pointed both hands at her and released two streams of  smoke. Clouding the area around her with noxious smoke.

Another one was a woman Meta-human of obvious Indian descents. She teleported down in a flash of a bright pink light. She picked her targets well, she saw a small group of Metas (Bones, Toby and Frillerfang) just standing still. Like they were ready to fight, but just quite weren't ready to jump in. The moment she was ready, she smiled. The women teleported over to the three, and launched an attack - And just as quickly teleported to another position and hit one of them again. It was either a punch or a swipe of her leg.  Her goal was overwhelming them with her teleportation.

The last one to jump down was a Meta appeared to be a humanoid male in his late forties, made out of a black ink. When it hit the ground, it splattered all over the place. Then quickly reformed into it's usual shape. It wore no clothes. It slowly stepped towards the group, near invulnerable because of it's state of matter. It targeted Jack, it charged him, outstretching it's inky hands in an attempt to drown him in ink.

Luciana "La Cordera" Rojas

Luce may not have had the supernatural speed of Sylvia and Johnny, but they were chasing Hunter: a human without the kind of 40 times that made Usain Bolt look like a paraplegic turtle. Luce did, however, have a strong physique and a willingness to haul ass when necessary: revolvers primed and ready to fire in each hand, she sacrificed a bit of caution for speed, trusting that she could handle any surprises that waited for her around the corners of the Eye Factory.

Thankfully, none came. She chased after the sounds of violence and the vague glimpses of Sylvia, the light-show that Johnny gave off dancing across the darkened walls of the factory. She slowed down only as she neared her target, hearing the sound of voices-multiple ones-and lifted her guns, giving her heart a minute to slow back down. She'd been running fast, bumping into corners and nearly slipping as she rounded a few of the more treacherous ones. The vaquera knelt down, close to the ground, and spun into the room.

A wry smile curled up her rather sultry pink lips. Johnny, darling, you do know how to bring a man to his knees, don't you? Sylvia and Johnny handled the two fighters while Hunter tried desperately to escape. Luce felt no pity: he was a stepping stone between herself and the way back home. Vaya con Dios, Hunter. Well, she assumed it was Hunter-no other reason for Johnny and Sylvia to be chasing him like they were. Luce moved quickly and as quietly as she could manage, relying on the distraction her two comrades were causing to avoid being targeted. She could probably take them out, but she didn't know if Johnny had any particular use for them being alive-if not, she'd end them all here, in the admittedly eerie halls of the Eye Factory.

Luce's boot came down hard on Hunter's back, followed by her knee hitting him square between the shoulderblades. She knelt down, using her weight (which wasn't considerable, but to a wounded man, even a hundred and twenty pounds feels like the world bearing down on Atlas' back) and leverage to impede his progress. The .45 she pressed to the back of his skull probably helped-Luce didn't think that he had some regenerative factor or means of being impervious to damage, but she was confident a bullet to the base of the skull probably wouldn't help him regardless.

"Pare. Stop moving and I'll let you live a while longer."

Luce drew her other gun and leveled it at Sylvia and Johnny's enemies, still fighting. She frequently glanced back at her captive, making sure he didn't try anything suspicious-Johnny had mentioned his affinity for blades. One twitch and she'd be cleaning his brains off her jacket-not for the first time. Luce's expression, even in the heat of battle, conveyed a simple question-Need help, or can I save a bullet?

Johnny, Sylvia, and Gabe vs. The Colossus.


In one seemingly coordinated attack, both Johnny and Sylvia incapacitated their foes at the same time. Johnny pointed his finger gun in the eye of his opponent and fired. A devil kiss pierced his eyeball and burned a hole into his brain like a bullet. Killing him, he dropped to the ground dead. Johnny didn't have any problem with ending a life, as he has done it before, and such an act no longer carries no emotional weight. Sylvia, on the other hand, disabled her opponent non-lethally. But still in the way that made them wish it was. She got in close and fired off another dubstep bomb. Completely destroying her opponent's hearing, launching him several feet and knocking him out.

With that out of the way, Johnny turned to Hunter, to see that Luce had him pinned down. A grin crept up on his face, as he took slow steps towards Luce and Hunter. Such a useful ally you are, Miss Luce. Perhaps we will escape from here. When he was close, Johnny kicked Hunter in the side of his head, hard as he could. While squatting down to speak with him, "I would stay down if I were you. You surviving is optional, you know..." He grinned, "Your days of being the Traitor are long gone, son...." That was enough gloating for now. They need to get out of here fast as possible. Jake is more than capable of handling himself, and Gabe shouldn't be too far behind. "Alright let's go..." He turned around only to see a sight that... Was aggravating.

True Night wrote:

"What makes you so interested in this runt? He just looks like another scared student to me."

When Emily spoke, Johnny gave her the douche-smile. Easily the most cheeky, arrogant and downright douche-y he could force. This girl must be really desperate for attention. This girl was the least of Johnny's concerns, the only thing he wanted to do was get out of here. This girl, and everyone in the school, can f*ck off. His business, is his business. Any full of sh*t do-gooder who says otherwise is on a long road to dying. "... I honestly don't see how it's any of your business." He speaks smugly as possible, "We're just about done here, little girly girl, so there's no need for u-" His sentence was interrupted when he finally heard the massive footsteps of the Colossus.

It made it's approach, and since it was far too large for the door, it made a bigger one. It punched through the wall and brought the rest of it's body through the wall. Making a massive hole in the wall, as well as destroying the door. It stood straight up and looked at Johnny, it's glowing orange eyes shining through the dust and rubble. It balled it's fists, as it's eyes started getting even brighter.

The scene was strangely calm and quiet... Calm before the storm.

There was no avoiding it. They have to fight this thing. There's easily just no other way. One thing that people rarely expect Johnny to be is: tactical. It'll be impossible for them to fight the Colossus, and haul Hunter out of here. And he knew that Emily would only get in the way. Killing him works just as well as keeping him alive. "Luce! Put one in his skull!" Johnny roared loudly as possible.

At this moment, Gabe arrived behind the Colossus, as Johnny and Sylvia entered attack position. From the way Johnny sees it, only he and Sylvia need to fight this thing evenly. Their speed alone will give them the advantage over this creature. The only problem is that their can't penetrate it's armor - Going by the lack of cracks from Sylvia's offensive... Perhaps Gabe can melt this thing's armor - Or, maybe they can find a spot that isn't armored. This thing would be like a statue if it had armor all over it.


Drake vs. Eliza.

Drake vs. Eliza Song song:

Above the chaos, Drake Blackmore raged his one man battle against the Stasis Escapees.

The odds weren't too good. He was outnumbered. Nicole nor Pedro were no where to be seen. Probably got scared and backed out... But he made up for a lack of allies by using this new, powerful, form he just jacked from that unconscious loser. However, Drake actually had the advantage here. His plasma form gave him a big of an edge. Some his opponents couldn't touch him without getting burnt, and others couldn't take what he was dishing out. Drake was charging through the room, quick on his feet, pointing his
hands at just about anyone and firing blasts of Plasma. While he was strong, standing there and taking attacks would prove to be a bad idea. With one quick step, he leaped a few feet away and fired off two blasts of Plasma at two different opponents. They were burned, and electrocuted. The moment both of his feet touched the ground, he put both of his hands together and fired off a thick stream of Plasma at the nearest opponent. It was a bright and powerful attack, which burned anything in his way. Which his enemy couldn't take. His skin was burnt to a brown crisp and he dropped to his knees. Drake didn't have time to think about the moral implications, all he did was drown out everything and focused on fighting. Alone, he effectively kept the hole plugged, for reasons other than him punching everyone. Who's next?

However, they all were pulling back, out of the room. There was one opponent that stood there while the rest left: Eliza. She had one plan: bring down the rest of the floor under them, with Drake with them. She quickly dropped to her knees and transferred intense vibrations to the floor. Everyone in the room under them would feel it, and would have a hard time fighting and focusing for a moment. The floor further destabilized and even more cracks formed. What she didn't expect was that Drake wasn't the type to just stand there and let her do it. While it was hard for him to stand up, let alone aim, but shooting in her general was good enough for him. He fired a thick stream of plasma at her, which grazed her, but burned her quite badly. It nonetheless halted her attack. At this point, however, were massive cracks formed on the floor. All it would take is a little push for the rest of the floor is collapse.

"Looks like you're the strongest and toughest one out of all of them..." Drake hissed, as he quickly regained his composure. The plasma that his being was comprised of glowed brighter. "It'd only really be appropriate if I'm the one to kick your @ss." He charged Eliza, hands in the air to deliver super heated plasma blasts.

She responded by firing a powerful shock-wave, sending Drake off again. Which destroyed the floor underneath them. The floor caved in, raining more debris down on to the battle. Anyone who didn't get out of the way in time would be crushed or gravely injured. The scrap formed a pile in the room. An unexpected side-effect of this plan caused the floor that she was under to collapse, causing her to fall too. However, Eliza had ways to survive such a fall. She pointed her hands at the floor, palms out, and created vibrations. Firing vibrations on to the ground below her, slowing down her fall. Eliza's feet touched the ground safely, without a single scratch or broken bone. Her body was much tougher, to withstand her own vibrations.

Having been launched across the room, again, Drake quickly recovers and gets back up to his feet. He was fortunately launched to safely. He quickly ran over to the gaping hole that Eliza had created. "... Oh no you don't!" Drake roars. He was going to finish this. You pick a fight, you finish a fight. That was the Blackmore way. The only problem was that he was high up here, and she was way down there. Just jumping would result in death. That hopelessness, anger, and depression deep inside of him didn't exactly help his decision making. He came up with a stupid idea on how to get down. One that hopefully won't result in his death. Putting as much of his strength in it as possible, Drake jumped down the hole. He made his body into a stiff, standing up, position. He fired strong, thick streams of plasma downward, like a jet. Frying anyone unfortunate enough. Drake got the idea from Eliza, after seeing how she slowed stopped her fall. It was a successful endeavor, he gracefully landed on a large piece of the floor above them. Drake roared at Eliza, his voice barely piercing the chaos of the factory, "... No running away... Come. Here. And. Finish. What you've started, you cowardly b*tch!" The way he spoke, his emotions, and his determination for fight Eliza gave away that he was dead serious about this fight. There was too much on the line here. He was fighting only for the lives of everyone here. He was more than willing to die if it meant everyone else here survived.

Now it was becoming more and more apparent, Eliza would have to kill Drake if it meant she had to survive. She clenched her fist and an orb of vibrations surrounded her fists. She let out a blood-curdling scream as he punched the ground hard as she could. She sent out a shock-wave through the floor beneath her. Causing massive cracking in the ground. Knocking anyone nearby off their feet.

Drake responded by jumping up in the air, using his plasma powers to fire off streams of plasma. Which enhanced his jump by sending him upwards several feet. He didn't waste a second in counter-attacking. Mid air, he fired off several small, orb-like, blasts of Plasma energy. Eliza responded by dodging by strafing left to right, but got hit in the chest by one and felt the painful effects of plasma.  

To stop himself from injuring himself, he did the same trick as before. He fired a gust of plasma at the floor to break his fall. However, the very moment he touched the ground, someone came in and attempted to punch him. Which, considering his current form, wasn't the best idea. The punch did connect, but it burnt his opponent's fist. Drake took this opportunity and fired off a thick stream of plasma at this fellow's face. He dropped to the ground, dead. "That's gonna be you next!" He shouted at Eliza as he swung his hand around to her. Intent on stopping when Eliza is dead. However, she had different plans. She intensified the vibrations around Drake. The air, and the ground beneath him, started vibrating heavily. Disorienting him, and bringing him right to his knees. Shortly, he couldn't even stay on his knees, he was brought to the ground. She couldn't keep this up for long. The vibrations stopped.

"Nice trick... I'll show you..." Drake muttered to himself, stunned and bruised, trying his best to get back on to his feet. Once he got up, he faced Eliza, and gave her an aggressive look. His fists were enshrouded in a orb of Plasma-Energy. The fight was far from over. However, Drake heard a familiar voice speak to him.

"Drake?! We could use your hand over here!" Victoria shouted as she launched rocks at the recently liberated Regenerator. As a result of Eliza's vibration attack, Victoria's focus was broken enough for the Regenerator to get free. Now it's going after Victoria and Charles with the intention of killing them.

This brought up a bit of a conflict in Drake. Whether he should stop fighting Eliza , or continue this... Well, he does fight to protect those weaker than him. If he isn't there to help, then they could be hurt.... Not giving it anymore thought, Drake came to a decision. He stopped his fight with Eliza to go help Victoria and Charles. He ran towards them at high speed.


Jake, Lin and Lily vs. Stasis Escapees.


They took a little while, but after some running, Jake and Lin have managed to track Lily.

They cut the corner really fast. Only to see a less than uplifting sight. Lily had been cornered by a large Meta-human with long metal drills, for arms. She was on her behind sobbing, seemingly injured again, with her aggressor ready to finish her off. Jake didn't waste any time here. He snapped his fingers, and quickly crafted an illusion. A titanium wall blocked Lily from the Driller mid-stab. The drill stopped on the wall with a ping sound. The Driller turned around, and gave Jake and Lin a hostile stare. Which a short silence followed. Before the Driller charged them. Which was going to end as well as one thought. Both Jake and Lin went into action. While Lin may not have any truly offensive telepathic abilities, she did have one somewhat offensive usage for sending thoughts to people. She bombarded the Driller's head with random thoughts, anything really, distracting him and throwing him off guard. The human mind can barely handle their own thoughts, yet alone other thoughts. Jake snapped his fingers and created a metal pole in front of the Driller's legs, which caused the distracted man to trip over and fall on his face.

With that out of the way, they had to tend to Lily at once. The pair stepped over the fallen Driller. Jake snapped his fingers and trapped the driller in a small, tight, titanium cage. Which would be difficult to escape from without room to move. The Driller started screaming profanities and incoherent threats, which were ignored. Jake ran over to Lily and saw that she was just blabbering to herself about how she's given up, and how weak she really is for caving in so easily. It was in the pair's best interest to get her to safety, with those burns... Perhaps they'll find Crystal. Jake grabbed on to Lily's shoulder and picked her up to her feet, with Lin grabbing her by her other shoulder. In the process, Lin sneakily grabbed the master-key out of her pocket, and put it in her pants pocket. Lily didn't respond, she just spouted out more incoherent blabbering. They didn't have time to try and snap her out of this. They tried to lead Lily away...

Their plan hit a wall when the Driller's wailing attracting more Escapees. They came from where Lin and Jake came from. The monster that was perusing them from earlier caught up, followed by a strange male with freakishly long limbs. Including a long neck. The one with the long neck spit glowing green acid on to the illusion that was trapping the Driller, causing enough damage to it to cause it to be destroyed.

There was no other way to get out of this. Jake, Lily and Lin would have to run deeper into the depths of the school and hope to outrun them. Jake snapped his fingers, lowly saying, "Cover your nose..." He crafted two illusions. One was a blanket of the darkest darkness out there. Which flooded the hallway. He also added two senses to the illusion, smell and sound. He created an overwhelmingly strong disgusting odor, and a loud sound of people talking, footsteps, heartbeats. Both sound and smell flooded the hallway. They'll overwhelm all other senses, and allow them a stealthy getaway. Then he created an illusion of a brick wall under the darkness, to block them from chasing after them.

All three of them hauled @ss out of there. They would have to lose them before returning to the fight.


Stasis Escapees.


With the hole bigger, more and more escapees began pouring out of the hole in the ceiling. Ready to fight and kill. Their numbers were going down, because of the combined efforts of Drake, Luce, Seth, and others.

It became apparent that Seth had to be taken out. He was, so far, doing the most damage, and appeared to be the most dangerous out of all of them. Three Metas put their sights on him. They figured that if they overwhelm him, they can kill one. One charged him, a long, thick, string-like whip coming out of the palms of his hands. Another fired several tiny needles at him. The last one hung back for when they injure Seth, then he'll step in and finish the job.

Sandy's pheromones had successfully sickened the Smoker. He vomited as he felt weak... Very weak. He slowly descended to the ground. But, he wasn't going to give up. With what little strength he had left, he produced as much smoke as possible. Clouding the area in a thick sheathe of smoke.

This battle's so intense that it's starting to explode on it's own.

Luciana "La Cordera" Rojas

"One? Johnny, my friend, you're an underach...underache...f*ck it!" she hissed, standing up and drawing the other gun with her usual hands-blurring speed. While Luce hadn't played any video games to know that a creature's eyes are always its weak point, she was blessed with considerable common sense and a rather personal lesson in how sensitive the eyes were. The old steel sights were raised up and Luce began to sense the bullets, not yet turning but soon, how soon they would be, and while she may not have sat through a high school class to know what she was picking up on was called potential energy, for Luce the bullets moved in slow motion once they left the gun. As soon as the gunpowder ignited, she felt the rounds begin to turn a thousand times a second, and if she nudged it one way or another, she could make all sorts of fun things happen. Fun for her, at least-not so much for the Colossus.

"Johnny, Sylvia! Make sure he doesn't get away!" Luce said, keeping one boot on Hunter, but not knowing when she'd have to cut and run-not to mention she wanted somebody keeping an eye on the boy. Now would be the ideal time for him to try something, and she couldn't keep her focus up on the Colossus and the Traitor all at once.

The guns began to go off, one deafening .45 blast after another, and someone with incredibly keen vision would notice the scorching hot lead seemed to curve off of its trajectory, the spinning bullets being guided straight towards the beast's eyes. Luce's thumbs worked back the hammers with practiced speed and her trigger fingers kept the barrage going at a steady, constant pace, putting six bullets into each of the Colossus' eyes within the course of about five seconds. The guns were steaming out of both ends, the muzzle oozing smoke as thickly as the cylinders, and Luce closed her eye, murmuring the prayer under her breath as she reloaded the guns. Twenty four bullets in all of ten minutes-Luce normally wasn't one for firing so liberally, but most of her opponents only needed one shot to go down. These people, even though they were mostly children, had God or genetics or whatever you claimed as the cause of their gifts keeping them alive, and it meant she'd be heading back to the armory for more bullets before too long. The gunbelt already felt lighter on the right side, and she'd worked her way through maybe a fifth of it.

The guns clicked shut as she snapped the cylinder covers back in place, cocked the hammers back, and grinned wildly: her adrenaline was pumping, there were screams and shouts, and she had a man pinned beneath her: just like a normal Friday night, eh? Luce held off on firing again, not wanting to waste more bullets with the next barrage. Ignoring the dull ringing in her ears-she was used to it by now, and would likely have some major issues with ear damage provided she lived long enough for it to matter, Luce glanced over to Johnny.

"I can keep putting its eyes out, unless you have a better idea-they grew back from earlier, I suppose they'll heal over again." Luce vaguely wondered if the Colossus could understand them, but supposed it wouldn't matter one way or another if it could. As soon as it broke free of the wall, she was going to get the basic strategy against any larger opponent going-hit and run. A few shots, then roll out of the way and use its cumbersome size against it. With her speed being significantly less than her two allies, Luce would be a bit of an easy target, but Hunter was easier still-and if they coordinated their attacks and struck quickly, they might bring the Colossus down before it could take him out. Luce very much wanted him alive-without him, she had no leads as to how one escaped the Othergrounds.

Johnny, Gabe & Sylvia vs. The Colossus.


The Colossus roared out in pain after having it's eyes shot out a second time. It covered it's eyes with it's stone, statue-like hands. It did the usual, it kept it's eyes covered until it healed, then it would return to slaughtering them.

"Why didn't you kill Hunter?! I wanted him dead!" Johnny shouted after the sound of the gunshot subsided. His right eye glowing bright red. Ah, f*ck it. It's like that old d*mn cliche phrase... What was it... Ah. Want something done; you'll have to do it yourself. Johnny thought to himself as he quickly ran over to Hunter while Luce was distracted by the Colossus. The way Johnny sees it, they don't need Hunter alive. Regardless of what Luce may think she'll get out of him, it was in his interest to see to it that the Traitor gets taken out of the picture fast as possible. With the Colossus attacking them, it'll be hard to keep an eye on Hunter. One slip up, and Hunter'll be hiding god-knows-where. Because this is their only chance to take him out of the picture, and Johnny isn't the type to make such stupid risks. In the span of a few seconds, Johnny was standing over Hunter, with a finger gun pointed right at his face. Johnny has generally good aim with his finger-gun. With Gabe being nearby, his Devil Kisses are ten times more dangerous. Being hotter and all.

He paused for a second to watch the hopelessness in Hunter's eyes - Yeah, a second. "Your story is over. Blood-artist...." Johnny muttered to himself as he delivered the kill-blow to Hunter. A thick, blood-red fire engulfed Johnny's hand as he fired a Devil off into Hunter. It went into his head through his eyeball and burned/pierced it's way through his brain all the way to the other side of his skull. Making a nice clean hole in his head, with some bits and pieces of his head here and there. Blood gushed out of his head, forming a nice, neat pool at his head. Hmph. Even in death you are a still a pathetic little cockroach. Johnny knew that Luce wouldn't approve of this action, and he couldn't give any less f*cks. His goal was taking the Traitor out of the picture, and he's just done so. If Luce really wants to leave, then she'll find a way out. He didn't know how or why Luce was so convinced that Hunter has a magical way out. Nor did he really care. Because as of now; their alliance is officially over. The Valos are going to get out of here, regardless of if Hunter has some easy bullsh*t way out. Johnny lifted his head towards Luce, and put both hands at his sides.

On the front against the Colossus, Gabe and Sylvia decided to take advantage of this window of opportunity they were given. Gabe making the first attack. Her super-heated arms would allow her to burn anyone badly in less than a few moments. But, she has one chance, and one chance only - She was going to try this theory that she had about the armored beast. It had this armor all over it's heavy body... Except for these blatant fleshy red exposed areas. Which were big screaming targets that called "hit me". Gabe was behind the Colossus, and straightened, and outstretched, both her hands and fingers. Then she "stabbed" the Colossus's left leg. More accurately would be burned. Her fingers plunged deep into the monster's flesh, until her hands were in. She caused massive tissue damage, burning it's flesh. The Colossus roared out in pain, and reacted. It bucked it's leg back, launching Gabe back through the door it utterly destroyed moments ago. Gabe landed on her side with a thud. Not too injured, but it hurt like hell. She quickly brought her self back up to her feet. "... Comin' and git it like a b*tch you is." Gabe says to the monster.

The Colossus was just about done regenerating it's eyes. It's leg was badly burned from Gabe's attack, and it can't heal burns as well as other wounds. It'll take awhile for it to heal. Because of that, it's mobility was halved. Making the two speedsters even more effective against it. Sylvia decided to take advantage of this. She sped in close, to give Gabe a loud warning to dodge, "Move f*ckface!" Sylvia pointed her right hand at the Colossus's injured leg, and fired off her Sound Cannon. A loud boom engulfed the room as the floor beneath them cracked. This caused a bit of damage to the Colossus's leg, and caused the monster to fall over with a monstrous boom once it hit the ground. It's leg was even more bent and mangled after this. As she usually is Sylvia was launched off, but quickly recovered mid-air.

Before Sylvia even fired, Gabe lunged out of the way and quickly got back up. Ready to continue her attack. If they just take out it's legs, then they'll have the perfect window of opportunity to leave this abominable place.

Jake looked at the ink meta, smirk remaining on his face as he dropped the rock in his hand. He knew such an item would be pointless to throw at a being made of ink. "Are you a coward?" Jack asked the rhetorical question before placing an illusion for the ink meta on himself- what ever the meta would see while attacking him should make him feel the need to suddenly run away in cowardice, like a mouse would from a cat. Jack, sickeningly, was actually finding using his illusions enjoyable, as he was getting a chance to see so many different reactions- oh, they were hillarious!

------
Faith
-------

Faith ran into the eye factory, frantically sending out signals for any eye in the area to surround her for protection. She ran down the hallway, stopping right in front of the frantic scene that was going on between various meta-humans. She looked around frantically for someone she knew, all the while still sending signals to the Eyes to gather around her. She saw Jack fighting some ink guy. Charles and some girl surrounded by glass... An so much chaos. She really should have thought things through before runnin into battle.

Faith examine the ink creature nervously. Ink and things like that can be thinned with water, right? So maybe... She checked the system for the eyes real quickly. Bingo! They can put out fires. He sent her own pet eye out to have water be sprayed all over the ink meta, as Celo decided that MrAllenJ should decide how many-if any- eyes Faith gets to have surrounding her in the Eye factory.

-----
Lexy
-----

Lexy was holding back sobs as she threw another rock at someone, it landing right in the meta's left eye. The eyes are always the weakest spots, as she had discovered. "I'm sorry," she said to this meta, as well, holding back tears. She, unlike others, thought that the Stasis escapees were not suppose to be killed- or at least, she thought there was a reason behind their attacking. She picked up a larger rock, throwing it at the other eye of the injured meta, apologizing again.

((Another crappy post by yours truly XD))

Luciana "La Cordera" Rojas

Luce, turning her focus from the Colossus to Johnny, had to exercise a great deal of self-control to keep from blowing Johnny's head off, then and there.

"You fool!" Luce screamed, the grace of her previous fighting quickly deteriorating into a raw, primal way of fighting. Her hands, holding both of the sixguns, began to tremble with sheer anger, but Luce refrained from doing anything rash. "You idiot!" She had to exercise yet more caution to avoid saying something along the lines of "He wasn't the traitor!" just to f*ck with Johnny, but decided it wouldn't help the situation much.

Luce simply holstered the guns, reaching her hand into her pocket. Her scarred fingers found the sling and a rock, bringing her total down to four, but she wasn't concerned-if she ran out of stones, she'd hurl bullets. She slipped the rock into the sling and began to whirl it, an act that was far more menacing than one may imagine. The sling begin to whip around at, easily, several hundred miles per hour, the air whistling as the centripetal force was magnified by Luce's presence. She grunted and sent the stone rocketing straight at the Colossus, knocking a solid dent into his armor upon impact. Luce reached for another stone: she'd hit the next level of anger, Johnny's betrayal taking her a notch up from the stupid comments the teenagers had made earlier.

She placed the next stone into the sling and closed her eye.

The sun's glare was sharp, sharp as hell, and it send a stinging pain into Luce's eyes as she stepped out of the truck. It was a beat-up old thing, with no air conditioning and headlights that relied mostly on the grace of God to function. Luce tapped the crucifix hanging from the rearview mirror (which was just a base-the mirror itself was gone, as was the backseat floorboard) as she slid out of the truck. Her boots were caked with dust as soon as they made contact with the ground, and she lifted her gaze up to her...business partners.

Three men. Black suits. In stark contrast to the rag-tag get up she had-and it showed on their faces. The Mexican men grinned, sunglassed eyes eyeing her with obvious amusement. "Mire a la jerga, Antonio..." one murmured, a comment Luce picked up on. She didn't bother giving them the satisfaction of visible anger or a threat in response-these kinds of men would only need an excuse. Luciana did the best to keep her fear in check, reserved, her face impassive and cold. Sweat trickled down her smooth, tattooed back, and ignited pain along a few recent cuts (courtesy of a f*cker with a butterfly knife the week before) along her forearm. Luce opened the back door of the truck, pulling out a briefcase. The case itself was small, but incredibly heavy, weighing to about fifteen pounds of cocaine. Luce gripped it tightly with her right hand, leaving her dominant left to draw and fire if need be-she heard another comment, this one about her unusual choice of weaponry, and let it slide as well. The sons of b*tches would-

Luce opened her eye: dark, weary, and cold, and hurled the next stone. Her mind was a thousand places at once, some of them dealing with Johnny's treachery, some with the unbearable Colombian sun on a young girl's face, and some with the Colossus directly in front of them. None of those places were ones that people would want to see.

Johnny, Gabe & Sylvia, vs. The Colossus.

Spoiler:

Your anger will betray you, Miss Luce. Johnny thinks to himself with a devilish smirk. The advantage of constantly pissing off people is that he'll get stronger. He noticed Luce's anger, among other negative emotions. Which granted him with immense strength and power. It's like what happened when he fought Claire, she got pissed off and he got strongest enough to take even the strongest of hits and not flinch. He theorized that nothing Luce could throw at him would do anything but bounce off. However, the only problem he'd have is if she targeted Gabe or Sylvia. He wished to not face her here. They'll argue about who was right or wrong after they kill this Colossus and are miles away from this hellish factory. With one step, Johnny leap across the room at high speed, his speed much, much higher than demonstrated before. He kicked the Colossus square in the cheek, before pushing himself off it's head. Doing a mid-air flip before he gracefully landed on his feet. The monster responded by charging Johnny, it's speed was halved but it could still do some damage. Which wasn't going to be too effective regardless of if hit him or not. Johnny dashed to the side.

The Colossus ran into the wall, causing immense damage to the wall, nearly going through it into the next room. But, it stopped. However, Sylvia had other ideas. In the blink of an eye, she was up on the Colossus with her hand pointed. She delivered one of her Sound Cannon's, which fully sent the Colossus barreling through the wall into the next room. Like she usually is, Sylvia was launched backwards. The boom echoed through the halls of the factory, so did the crash of the Colossus. At this point, it's armor was getting  cracked, dented and mangled by Sylvia and Luce. If it breaks then they could easily kill it. It takes ages for it's armor to fully regenerate, at least a few weeks. The creature stood straight up and started charging again. It burst through the wall, making the hole even bigger in the process.

Gabriela hid behind the wall while it charged through, hoping to get behind it and do more damage to it's leg. All they need to do is take out one leg, then it'll be tumbling over faster than a one-legged dog. Johnny decided to take advantage, and he charged it with a leap again. Ready to kick him. That's where things went horribly wrong. He was unsure what happened. Whether it was the Colossus getting lucky, or he slipped up. The Colossus stretched it's arm out and somehow grabbed Johnny by the leg he was going to use to kick him. The creature used the tightest grip possible.

"... Oh f*ck." Were the only words that left Johnny Valos's mouth. He knew what was going to come. Thankfully, he's pretty damn tough. Unfortunately, this will hurt his ego more than.

The Colossus, using every last ounce of it's strength, swung Johnny towards the wall, and he hit the wall, nearly going through it. Then he Colossus used it's hand to pin Johnny to the wall, by his waist. While Johnny was pinned to the wall, the Colossus punched him repeatedly. Hard as possible. With every punch the wall was nearly knocked down more and more, cracking the wall more and more. Johnny could take it.

Both Sylvia and Gabe went into action. Their actions will end badly for one of them.

While the Colossus pounded Johnny, Gabe rushed in, and tried to to burn her way through the monster's legs. However, she wasn't in the least bit prepared for the impulsive Sylvia's actions. Sylvia pulled in quickly and fired off a Dubstep bomb. The floor beneath them cracked even further. It hit the Colossus as much as it hit Gabe (Who was knocked to the ground, clenching her ears in pain). The Colossus managed to put as much force as it could behind more one punch. Which was enough to send Johnny into the next room flying across the floor like a rock skipping across water. It swung it's arm out towards Sylvia, and managed to whack her, sending her across the room, stunned. When she landed, she hit her shoulder and caused a massive bruise to form. It would take a few minutes for her to regain her wits and return to the fight.

It'd be too late though.

There was one person who lacked the speed of either of them, nor invulnerability.

The massive Colossus looked down to see a stunned Gabriela. It knelt over and grabbed her by the neck and used it's grip to choke her with one hand, and arced one hand back like it was going to punch her. It stretched it's fingers out and it's eyes started glowing a bright. She resisted by violently kicking her legs back and forth, and grabbed on to the Colossus with her super heated hands. Melting it's armor slightly, but otherwise doing nothing.

"F*ck! Gabe!" Johnny screamed. Before he got up and shot off towards the Colossus like a bullet. No, no, no, no no. I am NOT LETTING THIS HAPPEN! The thoughts raced through his head as he took large steps.

"Gabe!" Sylvia shouted as she darted off towards the scene.

Spoiler:

But, regardless of their speed, both Johnny and Sylvia were too late to stop what was going to occur. In a bloody and horrifying spectacle; The Colossus completely rammed it's hand through Gabriela's chest. Piercing her heart, lungs, and anything in the way. Sizzling hot blood was splattered all over the place. It's hand went entirely through her, it balled it's fist on the other side. It's hand was burnt badly because of Gabe's insanely hot body, but still appeared to be in one piece. Her fresh wound was just oozing blood. Gabriela screamed in agony as this went on... Then she went limp. Quiet. She was killed. Dead. Her story was ended here and now... But never forgotten.

Johnny stopped in his tracks, several feet away from the Colossus. Not even sure what to say. All that came out of his mouth was a strange frenzied breathing sound and random incoherent muttering. His right eye started glowing bright blue as tears came running down his face. It's been ages since he felt lost. Sadness. That familiar and long repressed feeling. I... failed. God dammit... F*ck this school, and f*ck everything that made it... I... F*ck... I'm feeling it all over again... It's been ages since I felt it. Now... One of the only f*cking people here I actually f*ck about is... Dead. I can't f*cking believe it! I will not believe it... I... The thoughts rushed through Johnny's head. "Gabriela!" Johnny cried at the top of his lungs as he dropped to his knees.

"Gabe!" Sylvia had a similar reaction. She floated in midair as she stopped in her tracks out of sheer shock. Tears started running down her face too. While Gabe wasn't her blood relative, Sylvia regarded her as such.

This was when a reaction occurred within Gabe. Specifically, her Fire Heart self-destructing. You see, the Fire Heart is basically a tiny star that generates infinite amounts of heat. The only thing keeping that heat contained was Gabe's body. With the body dead, the Fire Heart would expand. Fortunately her body was also the only thing keeping it alive. After the heat ran out of fuel, the Fire Heart would die too. The hand that the Colossus had pierced through her dead body was burnt. Badly. The creature's hand was burnt off, and dropped off, sizzling. It roared in agony. Gabe's dead body got hotter and hotter. Her body started to glow an extremely bright orange, burning off her clothes and anything nearby (At first). A searing heat that quickly spread throughout the room. The heat was initially hot enough to cause anyone some bad burns. Then an orange light, started traveling from Gabriela throughout the area around them in an orb. This light completely disintegrate everything it touched into a black ash. Metal, the concrete beneath them, flesh, were all destroyed. Everything that was too close was set ablaze. This light traveled twenty feet in all directions, destroying everything, until only ash was left.

No Gabriela, only a crater of ash. Her body was ashed too.

Escaping the wall of fire should be easy for Johnny and Sylvia, the others would have a problem. Both of them got back on their feet, and ran out the gaping hole that was made when the Colossus was launched through the wall. Never stopping for anything.

The Colossus roared as it was engulfed in the miniature sun that it had inadvertently set free..

Luciana "La Cordera" Rojas

Luce felt a bit of guilt: watching Gabriela get eviscerated by the Colossus evoked next to no sympathy in her. Rather a bit of annoyance-Perhaps if you hadn't been drinking so damn much when there's a murderer going around, this wouldn't have happened, love, and a touch of relief-One less suspect for the Traitor. Only way we'll know for sure now is if I gun down everyone here...and that might be difficult.

Luce did, however, not need to run far from Gabe's rather pyrotechnic death-she was already a considerable distance from the Colossus, not needing to be particularly close to use her powers to their full extent. She backtracked a few steps when the air around her began to boil, moving until the intensity of the heat was manageable. As Gabe started to erupt, she walked backwards more quickly, not wanting to risk the bullets in her guns or along her waist to ignite. Thankfully, they didn't, and the jacketed arm that Luce threw over her face helped to lessen the scorching heat, but she did feel a rather uncomfortable warmth across her hand for a split second or two before managing to escape Gabe's fireball. Had she been slower, it might've ruined one of her shooting hands, which would've been very, very bad. Luce was secretly a little glad that Gabe was dead-not only did this rule out a potential suspect for the Traitor, but Gabe was the person who could kill her the easiest. A single bout of flame in her direction would've set off the bullets and then...boom.

The cowgirl refrained from voicing these opinions-and upon recalling Johnny's abilities, even though she knew he was likely too grief-stricken to care at the moment, she made herself think about a few incidents from her younger days that were particularly...grief-worthy...and hopefully masked her emotions. However, it didn't matter too much: she was on a combat high right now, and trying to cover that up was senseless. The Colossus lay dead, Johnny had betrayed her, and Gabe-potential Traitor (Luce hadn't forgotten that they walked in to find Gabe alone, meaning she had no alibi) and serious threat-was nothing more than a few fluttering pieces of ash, falling to the charred floor.

Not a bad haul.

"Sorry for your loss," Luce said softly, deciding now would not be the best time to provoke Johnny. If he moved towards her, she planned on gunning Sylvia down then and there-Johnny's powers might've granted him invulnerability to her bullets, but he couldn't extend the same protection to Sylvia. She may die, perhaps, but Johnny would suffer far worse than she. Luciana Rojas, however, had no intentions of dying in an abandoned school on American soil. She was making it back home.

Luce hesitated for a moment, and decided that perhaps the next course of action was the right thing to do. Wrapping her bandana around her face to help ward off the intense heat that was lingering in the air around Gabe (and the Colossus') remains, she walked forward, cowboy boots echoing in response to JOhnny and Gabe's hysteria. She knelt down over the scorch mark and reached a hand into her shirt, pulling out her rosary. She lifted it up off over her head and murmured a few prayers in Spanish. Luce wasn't a particularly good Catholic, mostly due to the murdering and the drug trafficking, but she tried. It's just she didn't succeed all that often.

Feeling rather awkward, she slipped the rosary back over her neck and whispered one last request in Spanish."God, you've already taken one sibling from another today. If you're feeling merciful, let me get back home." Saying it made her feel...guilty. Unworthy. She winced, the words sounding superficial, even to her, and turned back to Johnny and Sylvia, feeling a mix of sympathy and outright hatred.

Perhaps it was best if they parted ways. Perhaps not. She'd trusted Johnny too much, and it had proved a costly mistake. Luce walked to Hunter's corpse and knelt down, (she felt a flash of phantom pain, seeing the way Johnny had ended his life), digging through his clothes and belongings for any tell-tale signs of his being Traitor-perhaps a log or a clue or a key out of here. She didn't expect to find one.