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

Crystal's voice was strained as she replied to Drake, one hand wrapped around the pike that was stabbing Nick after finishing healing his spinal injury and had her other hand pressed against his abdomen in attempt at healing it more quickly. "It's visualization..." Crystal slowly pulled out the pike, healing the wound starting from the inside, "And concentration." her voice faded for a moment as she continued healing. She didn't even wonder why Drake asked or even noticed him copy her power. "The easiest way to visualize is to relate something with the injury," Crystal suggested as her voice started going in and out of the conversation from concentrating on Nick's wounds. "Right now... I'm thinking of toy blocks... stacking... like tissue and muscle... rebuilt..." She was no longer talking, too preoccupied after explaining her power. Nick was healing faster then normal... he must have a special ability.

Soon, Crystal had Nick's pike wound healed.

Bones, Nicole, Frillerfang, Toby, & Pedro

Bones turned to Charles and Victoria, looking like she was half-dead, covered with encrusted blood, with hardly any part of her still free of it. "I'll go, and Frillerfang can come, too, so long as she's not out of water for too long, she's fine. Nicky can stay with Pedro and Toby until they both wake up, she's free enough of injures to keep 'em out of harm's way." She then looked over at Frillerfang, still coiled up, looking guilty, and then huffed with a slight amount of frustration, turning to look at Charles, looking angry, but then sighing, as though to dismiss it, and spoke calmly, "Look, I'm not gonna pretend I don't know how to read certain things. Frillerfang bit Toby, but she didn't do it on purpose. She was asleep in the lake, and we all got tossed in, and landed right on top of her. Toby's roughly three-hundred pounds, and he landed on her tail, and when she woke up, she thought she was under attack and bit before she knew it was him. It was just a reflex. I know it probably doesn't make you feel any better, but Frillerfang wouldn't bite you intentionally unless you were a threat, she's not that kind of person." Normally, Bones would have been furious, but she didn't think speaking with anger would get the point across. Regardless, it seemed that out of the entire group, she was the only one that seemed to take real offense to things and leap to defend everyone. She was notably the only normal-looking person who spent almost all her time constantly surrounded by animal-metas. That was the main reason she could read facial expressions so well, because she had to recognize them even if they had beaks instead of lips or noses, or long or short snouts with fangs.

Bones then turned and walked over to Frillerfang, "Frilly, get your canteens, I'm going, and I want you to come with me." She said. The shark-meta looked up, and slithered over to a patch by the shore, dipping in a claw and pulling out three freshly-filled canteens on belts. These she slid over her head, and they came to dangle at the place above where her fins sprouted from. The entire time, she would visibly wince if her tail touched something, but made no sound of complaint. Neither did Bones, when both looked badly hurt in appearance. They simply endured the pain, because it was easier to do so.

Dragonfly

"Hey, watch your tone, Valoss. You have no right to adresss me like that..." Dragonfly said, anger in his voice. His body seemed to puff up with air as he walked out of the shadows this time. "Becausse you are in my territory, my home. I can dissappear in an insstant here and you'd never find me again without getting losst deep within these great catacombss of this maze... And then what? When you try to get back to the ssurface it would be a very unfortunate accident if you were to simply dissappear. I could've killed you sso eassily earlier, you would've have even known what had hit you. A ssimple bite would be all it took. Nobody would've even noticed you were gone until it wass long too late. I chosse not to make any threat on your life, in fact, I followed to make ssure you would be okay. Sso why would you do sso on mine?" Dragonfly said, circling in the group, keeping one eye on Livvy and the other on Johnny, at the same time, like a chameleon.

"Now, please, put your hands down before I regret not killing you the ssecond you entered. I have no quarrel with you, only with that monsster of a relative you have... what'ss her face? Gabe? Her hatred towardss uss animal metass, for no reasson at all... that'ss what I hate. But with you, I have nothing... not yet." Dragonfly said, before spitting a small amount of light florescent blue blue gunk to the ground a few feet away from himself. It hissed audibly, and dissolved into the concrete below it. "Why are you down here? Perhapss I could be of asssisstance." Dragonfly offered. "Of coursse, I will be following you regardlesss of what you want, sso you might asss well make the besst of me while you can. I am offering to help, after all."

Nick

As soon as the pike was removed, Nick's ability to heal kicked into full gear. While not as fast as some more well known superheros such as wolverine, his ability to heal was well worth noting. His ribs would require extra attention, but for now , his would need to focus on getting itself stabilized. He gasped, his eyes flickering open. He then winced in the sudden horrible pain that shot through his chest cavity, and grabbed Crystal by the arm. Now that the pike was out his body began to work in sync with Crystal's ability and he healed incredibly quickly. Soon however, he stopped Crystal from exerting herself any farther on him. Now that he was conscious and the worst of his wounds were taken care of, his body could continue to help him.

"Stop!" Nick said, wincing once again. "Help Faith! Broken leg! Inside the building. Have Drake help find injured! Help Faith!" Nick said, obviously short on breath and in a great deal of pain from speaking because of his ribs. "Help me up, I can move anything in the way using my powers, but I need help walking. Just... find Faith and get her out of there! I'm afraid the building might collapse." Nick said, his breathing labored. He was in a lot of pain, his body was under a lot of stress, he had just recovered from a lot of trauma, and he was very, very scared for his only loved one's life.

He attempted to roll over on his side to push himself up, but couldnt bring himself to do so due to the pain in the left side of his ribcage. He whimpered for a moment, before his powers came into play. He lighted himself using gravitational powers and began to push himself up to his knees. He shook for a moment, as if he was in a great deal of pain, which he was. "Just, get Faith out of there! Her leg is broken." he said, his voice almost a whisper. "Please."

Nobody

Nobody made no comment on the guitar, at least not yet. Choosing instead to talk about who he was. "I doesnt matter WHAT I am. What matters is who I am: you." Nobody said, he opened his mouth to speak again when Ryan spoke out against Johnny. "Oh listen to yourself you ignorant idiot!" Nobody said, for the first time in his long existence he used aggressive terms. "Johnny may or may not deserve the authority he has, but you..." Nobody said, stalking up to Ryan an jabbing him in the center of his chest with his index finger, continually advancing to force Ryan to take a few steps back.

"You are an even less suitable person to be thinking about leading a revolt against him, nor are you the type of person to be leading the community either! Listen to yourself! You nearly got yourself killed, and for what? A guitar?! I can name people who could fix a broken instrument with their POWERS. There are none who can bring others back from the dead!" Nobody stepped back from his advanced position. "And to be honest I wont stand for someone like you leading others. You've just been attacked and you're going after him because of your guitar, rather than helping heal injured. At least not right now I wont stand for you, the way you are. I'm conflicted on whether you need a hug, or a kick in the ass." Nobody said, falling silent once again. He stared hard at Ryan for a moment, and took a deep breath.

"Many people have died today. Carole, so many nameless, all because of the traitor as you have all dubbed them. There are also many who are badly injured. Claire, Nick, Faith... All are in bad ways. Nick was gravely injured and will not survive without help. Crystal is at his aid, and he will make it, but I fear for Faith's safety. Find Drake and Nick. Drake has copied Crystal's power. You should help him use it. Nick needs help moving in his injured state. Go to them and assist in any way you can. You will save many more lives that way. Stay on the roar where you concern others first, and you will learn more about leadership than one can teach. Now go." Nobody said, waving his hand in a fashion that said 'shoo'. "You have your mission. If Johnny is as bad as you say, then others will see you as a better leader and choose you over them when the time comes." Nobody said. "You CAN be a leader."

Crystal jumped when Nick had grabbed her arm. She, in all honesty, still didn't know who he was, so was wary of such actions. She continued healing, however, until Nick had her stop and he explained that Faith was inside the building with a broken leg. Faith- that was the shy tech girl, right? Crystal stood up, "I'll go find her. 'Might need someone's help, though or..." She hadn't noticed until then that Drake had copied her powers. "When did that...? Nevermind. Just be careful healing. It will start with a small headache and quickly grow. Since you aren't as experienced with it, headaches will come more quickly. Now I need someone to come with me." she began heading for the nearest entrance for the school- a recently added hole in the wall.

-
Faith
-

Faith had her hand pressed against a wall that seemed sturdy. She was standing solidly on one foot while the other was limp, hanging a few centimeters above the ground as Faith tried to keep it and her leg from feeling any movement. This was hard for her to do, as for she couldn't even move her knee. She believed her knee cap was out of joint and broken, and some of her lower leg was shattered in an area. She needed to get to Nick and see if he was okay.

"O-okay," Faith whiped at her eyes and readied herself, talking to no one. "Let's go..." she kept her hand pressed against the wall and tried to hop on one foot forward. Bad idea. When she did this, whenever Faith landed there was some force exerted back at her body that caused the foot she was steadied on to almost lose balance and it made her injured leg to move some as well.

Faith yelped, trying to balance on one foot again with her hand still against the wall. She tried to move again, successful this time. She made it to the blown-out doorway from Nick's room to the hall before sliding back to the ground. Rubble was everywhere in the hallway- one with two legs could easily walk around, but one leg? She began calling for help as her last option.

Johnny K. Valos, & Sylvia L. Bertoose.

TheOperator wrote:: "Hey, watch your tone, Valoss. You have no right to adresss me like that..." Dragonfly said, anger in his voice. His body seemed to puff up with air as he walked out of the shadows this time. "Becausse you are in my territory, my home. I can dissappear in an insstant here and you'd never find me again without getting losst deep within these great catacombss of this maze... And then what? When you try to get back to the ssurface it would be a very unfortunate accident if you were to simply dissappear. I could've killed you sso eassily earlier, you would've have even known what had hit you. A ssimple bite would be all it took. Nobody would've even noticed you were gone until it wass long too late. I chosse not to make any threat on your life, in fact, I followed to make ssure you would be okay. Sso why would you do sso on mine?" Dragonfly said, circling in the group, keeping one eye on Livvy and the other on Johnny, at the same time, like a chameleon.

"Now, please, put your hands down before I regret not killing you the ssecond you entered. I have no quarrel with you, only with that monsster of a relative you have... what'ss her face? Gabe? Her hatred towardss uss animal metass, for no reasson at all... that'ss what I hate. But with you, I have nothing... not yet." Dragonfly said, before spitting a small amount of light florescent blue blue gunk to the ground a few feet away from himself. It hissed audibly, and dissolved into the concrete below it. "Why are you down here? Perhapss I could be of asssisstance." Dragonfly offered. "Of coursse, I will be following you regardlesss of what you want, sso you might asss well make the besst of me while you can. I am offering to help, after all."

There was one thing that really, really pissed Johnny off; it was Dragonfly's big old rant about how easy it would be to kill them. His right eye started glowing bright red, indicating great anger. Johnny didn't take that being spoken to him well - In fact, it made him consider just gunning him down right now. Dragonfly was either not that intelligent, or not know what he's dealing with. He'll know exactly what he's dealing with in a second. If Johnny loses restraint just for a minute then Dragonfly will get the worst of it. "Lizard-man," Johnny started off, the irritation in his voice obvious, "All you've accomplished with your 'I can easy kill you and yadda yadda yadda' speech was give me a very good reason to pull the trigger and eliminate a possible threat here and now..." He narrowed his eyes and kept his attention purely on Dragonfly. "If you want to play nice; then let's not make anymore speeches like that, kay? Because we all want to play nice." Johnny then put his arms at his sides. If he tries anything, Johnny will not hesitate to kill him. All it'd take is a few seconds and Dragonfly would have five devil kisses drilling into his skull. Johnny wasn't going to say anything though. Because unlike Dragonfly, Johnny's the kind of guy that'llshow him what'll happen if he tries anything.

So far, Dragonfly wasn't making a goodimpression on Johnny. All he wanted was for Dragonfly to leave. Nor did he want the Lizardman in his business. "Your assistance is not necessary, we found what we were looking for. We'll be leaving soon enough." He had a feeling that Luce wouldn't take Dragonfly's speech or presence too well. Since going off how she reacted when Emily was being an attention CENSORED... Well, if Luce guns Dragonfly down, then that's not exactly a bad thing. "And I find it very funny that you call Gabe a 'monster' all because she said a few mean things to you." Johnny spoke to Dragonfly, almost sarcastically. He didn't exactly like Dragonfly bringing up Gabe. "She has valid reasons for her hatred your kind, I might add." Now that she's gone, and Jake isn't here... They can properly talk about why.

Dragonfly's speech only gave Sylvia a great reason to keep her aim dead on them, however she lowered her arm. Regardless of what Dragonfly said, she only lowered her arm because Johnny did. But she remained ready to give him a sound cannon and send him through a wall with crushing force. What she was the most curious about was how Dragonfly escaped her detection... Then it came to her. Her soundwave vision only works within her field of vision. Dragonfly was likely far enough away so that the soundwaves he made didn't travel that far. Soundwaves do pass through people. Sylvia wasn't going to say anything, because Johnny's got this. All she's required to do is put Dragonfly down should he go feral... At this range, one cannon would cause some serious damage to him, and possibly blow his hearing out instantly.

Drake D. Blackmore.

"Alright... Visualize and I'll get a headache. Cool." Drake says as he put his hands on the conscious Claire, ignoring going on around him. He closed his eyes and visualized. It was hard at first, since he didn't know what to visualize that was related to Claire's numerous injuries. He wasn't the man who'd easily give up, however. He wished there was something he could do about her dead friend, but there's something he can do about Claire. After a few moments, Claire's various wounds were healed. Her red burns were replaced with smooth skin, and all of her wounds were otherwise healed. Drake had received a small headache, like Crystal said he would, but that wasn't enough to stop him. He took his hands off Claire and stood straight up. Looking at the burning building.

Now came the other thing on his mind.

Victoria, Charles, & Drake Blackmore.

Charles just nodded at Bones. He knew that she was aggravated about his treatment of her fish friend just because she made up a speech of how it was all an accident. Which was fine. There are far more important things going on here, they can discuss the Frillerfang later. "Let's go." Charles said, pushing his glasses up his nose. He quickly reached into his pocket and pulled out a silver locket, and swapped Crystal's power with Sand Manipulation. The usual happened; a green light came out of his head, and went into his glasses, while another light came out of the locket and into his head. Thus, he had power over Sand. He quickly pulled a large amount of sand from the beach around the lake, and made it into an orb. Sand is a very good element to put out fires, even better than water. Because putting enough of it on a flame will cut off it's access to oxygen, thus putting it out. Which would come in handy if the Blackmores go inside... Which he had the acute feeling that they would. The orb of sand floated around Charles. With that, they made their way to the Dorms. Leading Bones and the Frillerfang along.

It was a few minutes before they came in sight of the dorms. It took a little while for Victoria and Charles to analyze what happened and react. Victoria instead choose to turn her attention to her younger brother. "Drake, what do we have to do?" She choose to ask Drake what they needed to do since he more than likely has a better idea.

Ignoring Victoria for a second, Drake turned his attention to Nick. He spoke to the recently injured male, "Nick, I promise you, I'll have Faith out of that hell hole alive... Along with everyone who needs it." He turned his body towards Victoria, ready to speak. Before got a chance to; Charles spoke, interrupting him.

"Sh*t, Faith?! I..." Charles wasn't too happy to hear that one of his friends was trapped in that hell hole. However, that's exactly why he's here, with this sand. He's going to save Faith. And everyone else. That orb of sand turned into a stream, and Charles made it go into a snake-like motion. Nick didn't seem like he was in the best shape to go in and help. So, that responsibility falls on the Blackmores, and they were more than happy to do. "I'm going to put my @ss on the line to get her out, Nick.... You just stay safe. We can handle it." Charles spoke full of determination to save his friend, and everyone else in there.

"You know who else is in there?" Victoria asked, curious. Because they can't do an up and down search of the place with it. The best they can do is try to assist the Eyes in putting out the fires. The way Victoria saw it, it was best that they go in there. She herself can use her Telekinesis to lift even the heaviest of objects. Charles can use his sand to easily put out any fires, and if push comes to shove, use Nick's gravity powers. Drake can help... With whatever form he's currently using.

"Nope, but that's not going to stop us." Drake says, full of determination. Without even thinking Drake starting marching inside the dorms. He spoke as he did so, tone and voice cold as ice, "I'm not wasting anymore time. Anyone's who going to come, come. Someone has to stay out here and help everyone that's injured." Victoria and Charles followed behind him. Before Drake stopped for a moment and looked at Claire, pointing at her unconscious body. ".. And tell her that Drake Blackmore was the one who patched her up." Before he continued walking, he was following after Crystal. That headache he got was ignored because there was so much more important things going on than him.

So the three of them marched into the inferno. Fearless, and ready to save lives.

"Help! Someone!" Faith screamed before coughing. She was trying to get around the rubble, but couldn't, no matter how hard she tried. The smoke was beginning to bother her lungs a bit and she knew what the fire was going to do: the fire was only going to grow more, engulfing the building and probably her, if her luck has run out if the chaotic element wasn't put out by someone. Faith let out another plea for help. She stopped abruptedly. She wasn't going to live, was she? Even if she survived this, alk that will happen is that the traitor will pick them off, one by one, and everyone will die. Faith quikly shook her head at the thought. No- she was going to live. She had to. "Help me!" she screamed again.

-
Crystal
-

Crystal nodded at the Blackmores as they chose to go in and she stepped into the building. She immediately strengthened her hearing, trying to ignore the fact that with its sound enhance, fire sounded just like a mixture of a rattle snake and a roaring lion. How welcoming. She focused on sounds that weren't that- foot steps, breathing, and... someone screaming for help. The person sounded like Faith.

"That way!" Crystal pointed in the direction of the voice and headed that way, turning off her sense increase. Her head was beginning to hurt, but Crystal told herself she would stop using her powers before anything bad happened. For now her powers were needed, so she would still use them.

Bones & Frillerfang

Frillerfang tried to slither towards the flames, but almost immediately flinched back, hissing. "I can't go in there, or I'll never come out, I'll dry out too fast." She said, swiveling to look at Bones, "Neither of us have powers that give us any sort of resistance to fire, but we can do what Drake suggested, and assist all the injured parties." She said. Although she sounded a bit silly, complaining about drying out, it was actually more severe than it sounded. If her skin got dry, it started to go brittle, it would start to crack and bleed as if it were made of glass, and she would feel so ill that she wouldn't have the strength to move. To rush into flames that would very well do such a thing would be signing her own death warrant. She was no good to anyone, in that case. She slithered over and prepared herself, before spraying a huge torrent of scalding-hot water at the flames. Although the temperature wasn't preferable, water was still going to put out the flames, regardless if it was hot enough to produce steam. Although she wasn't like Charles in the sense that sand manipulation would more effectively smother flames, her spray would cover more area.

Bones huffed, "Suit yourself, someone's gotta make sure these people are safe, they're not exactly in a position to protect themselves." She said. She then walked over to Nick, "Alright, they're going after everyone still in the dorms, so now we're going to make sure everyone out here's okay. Any broken bones that need to be back in place?"

Jehovah's Thickness Posts : 582 Join date : 2012-12-02

All my characters I'm tired of writing their names out

The Nightingale listened with unwavering attention to Johnny's story, breaking her concentration only to "say" one thing, which she scribbled quickly across the paper:

The headmaster. Allowed the mercenaries in. Shut me off down here. Plan on crucifying him like that one over there if I find him.

The Nightingale, after giving the note back to Johnny, whipped out her pistol and drew a beam on Dragonfly's head-she promptly, however, lowered the handgun after seeing who it was. She gave the reptile a subtle nod of respect, holstering her pistol once again: both the Nightingale and Dragonfly frequented the catacombs of the school. While Dragonfly may have been there longer, they were both aware of the others' presence, and the Nightingale saw no reason for hostilities with him up until this point.

Luce was ahead of both Johnny and The Nightingale, however, one revolver pointed into the darkness and the other hand on Livvy's shoulder. Livvy mouthed something Luce couldn't see and the Colombian girl cursed, drawing Livvy up against her, burying her face against her shirt. "Do not open your eyes, Starlight," Luce instructed, before remembering the girl couldn't hear her. "Aw, sh*t. Nothing is ever straightforward in this place." Luce neither cared for the beast's accusations nor the constant standoffs they seemed to be encountering-however, unsure of Dragonfly's capabilities, she didn't lower her gun when the other two did. "Sorry, darling, but I'm not a fan of-" lizards.

The last word came out silently. Luce moved her lips once again, to no effect. The Nightingale had raised a hand, gloved and small, and pointed at Livvy, the pointed to the interior of the armory. Luce raised an appraising eyebrow at the Nightingale, not wanting to take her focus off of Dragonfly. The Nightingale, having a bit of experience with breaking up fights between students, hobbled to the darkness between Dragonfly and the group, placing one hand firmly on her pistol, subtly readying a needle in the other. She nodded her head towards the door and Luce slowly began to move Livvy, nudging Johnny and Sylvia to follow. The enforced silence irritated her, but if it kept a fight from breaking out, so be it.

Greatly irritated at this point, Livvy began flickering with silver light, albeit it wasn't as painfully hot as it was before. After the group (presumably) entered the armory, the Nightingale dropped the field of silence and waved a hand at Dragonfly, indicating for him to come towards the armory.

She was willing to take such risks because, with the paranoia that defending a school of superhumans requires, she'd primed the charges with armory. If they attempted to kill her, she'd merely have to set off the trigger to seal the armory doors and fill it with chemical fire. It'd be a shame for the little girl to die, but it might be even worse for her to live in such a scenario.

The Nightingale blinked. Dear God, that was morbid.

Johnny K. Valos, & Sylvia L. Bertoose.

Johnny had grabbed the note from the Nightingale. He kept one eye on Dragonfly, and the other on the note; half-reading it. He hadn't much to worry about because he's quite, and Dragonfly's outnumbered by a good three lightning-fast Metas. There was no point in them fighting anyway. It's all pointless... And he's already showed Miss Luce what the Valos are capable in the Eye Factory. Johnny then read the entire note and his eyes widened. His full attention was devoted to the note, letting his guard down. Johnny quickly turned his attention to the Nightingale, then back to the note. "Are you f*cking saying..." He spoke, but the silence encompassed the hallway. Thus, not a word came out when his mouth moved. Which pissed him off a little bit, but he saw Nightingale and Luce notion to get into the armory-room.

Taking quick steps, Johnny walked into the armory. It was originally his plan to just slam the door shut before Dragonfly could get in. But he'd still be out there when he left. "Sylvia, can the little-bit still hear?" Were the first words that came out of Johnny's mouth.

"Nope." Sylvia quickly says, before taking a quick look at Livvy. Like the shield's intended to do; all sound was being completely silenced once it hit the field. She might whine a little bit, or get scared, but that's the cost of not having her get scared of the things they speak of. As long as she concentrated, it'd stay that way.

"Alright..." Johnny says, leaning up against the closer locker and crossing his arms. His full attention on the Nightingale. He was very interested about the notes the Nightingale gave him. Especially since she claims that the headmaster let the soldiers in. Though, he was unsure of if she was going to hand them weapons or not. He was going to take this slow. Speaking of things one at a time, "Now, I'm going to take a good guess and say that you have some sort of deterrent, since you're letting us in here, and outnumbered..." Johnny nodded his head. The lights off his transformed body shining brightly. He was staying in his Emotional-Energy form should Dragonfly or the Nightingale attack. Though both are highly unlikely. "Now, I'm going to take this as a subtle way of you saying 'yes, you can have weapons.' Because, otherwise, you could have just slipped away while we all were distracted by the lizard-man and blew the place to hell... We would have never known it until it was too late." Johnny pulled out a cigar out of his long-coat and slid it in between his lips. He kept it clenched tightly in his teeth, but didn't light it... He quickly realized that the smoke might attract something, or irritate someone.

Sylvia was surprisingly quiet. She just floated on top of a locker and sat on top of it. Looking down everyone else like she was a queen. Her main concern was keeping the sound-wave shield around Livvy. But the Nightingale's silence powers intrigued Sylvia a bit too. Since the powers of the pair were closely related. Though, Sylvia knew that her powers were better since she has absolute control over sound. For once, Sylvia inserted something, "But it's nice that we got the chance and talk about this... Nicely." She spoke in a jovial tone. Holding back her questions about the Nightingale's power.

"... Yes." Johnny says, surprised about Sylvia's actual lady-like statement instead of swearing incessantly. "However, there's more pressing matters here..." The more Johnny thought about the Nightingale's note, the less he could wrap his head around the idea of the headmaster betraying the school like this... While he's adept when it comes to the wicked and fighting Meta-humans; this was something he just couldn't find a reason to explain. It pissed him off... Actually, no. It could all be a lie by this woman. Johnny kept his attention on the Nightingale, reading her emotional-aura to detect any lies (By reading the subtle changes in an Aura). "I want to know details about your note..."

Johnny peered at Sylvia, then Luce, for a few moments. "Let me get this straight... You're trying to tell me that the headmaster himself, the creator of this school for underprivileged teenaged CENSORED-ups, let the soldiers - Who stole everyone they got their f*cking hands on, leaving us in here to fend for ourselves..." Johnny faded away for a split second. All for dramatic effect. "... Inside the school to attack...?"

"What the f*ck?!" Sylvia jolted with rage, upon the revelation. Surprisingly, she kept the field up around Livvy. So the little one will be kept in the dark about what's happening. She was getting very riled up, "That mother..." Only to quickly calm herself because she has no details. She'll wait until she actually learns a bit more before she starts getting p*ssed off and swearing eternal vengeance on the headmaster.

Drake, Charles, & Victoria Blackmore.

The screams for help only made the Blackmore family go much faster. It wasn't long until the wounded Faith came into sight. Her leg was pretty messed up, fortunately, she's still alive. With their help, she'll stay that way. Drake was the first to approach her. They approached fast, since there wasn't time to lose and hopefully they won't surprise her too much. "Your leg is f*cked up." Drake stated the obvious. "However, I can fix it, you just gotta stay still..." He got down on his knee, and was close to putting his hands on Faith's broken leg. Only to be stopped by Victoria.

Victoria, who was more concerned about the fire closing in, put her hand on Drake's shoulder. "There's no time!" She pointed at the fire closing in. "We have to get her out, now!" She feared that there wouldn't be enough time to heal Faith and all that'd happen is they'd have to run. She was just about to use her Telekinesis to lift Faith up, when Charles stepped up to the task.

"I'll handle that!" Charles said, full of determination, in response to Victoria's statements about the fire. There was a raging fire not too far away. Producing both smoke and searing heat - Both of which are bad for just about everyone. There was not a single Eye in the area. This means this is a job for Charles. That sand snake he had circling him quickly whipped, and spread out. Floating a few feet in the air. He quickly sent all of it flying on to the flame. With a hissing sound, the fire was out. However, there was plenty more fire to go around. It'll take more than Charles to possibly put it all out. For a minute, he was wondering why this place doesn't have a sprinkler system. "Alright... It's a start..." Charles said to his two siblings. He said that he was going to get Faith out, for Nick, and that's exactly what he's going to do.

"That'll work, Charles." Drake says. It was a short-term solution, yes. One that Drake was going to take advantage of. He put his hands around Faith's broken leg and tried to heal. He was getting (slightly) better, at healing. Shortly, all the broken bone, skin and muscle tissue was being fixed up. Soon enough, Faith's leg was fixed. That headache got worse. His head started pounding. But he'll endure. There's still plenty more work to get done. "You're..." Drake tried to speak, but ended up fading off because of that headache. ".. Welcome. Aurgh"

After Faith was healed, Charles grabbed on to Faith's shoulder. "Thank god you're okay..." Charles was glad that they found her when they did. Otherwise she'd probably would have been killed. "Look, you have to get out of here, now! Nick is out the front door all patched up, and worried sick about you..."

"I sense more people... Deep inside." Victoria stated. Having temporarily switched to her Telepathy ability to sense anyone. She quickly switched back to Telekinesis.

"Crystal, walk her outside. Neither of you stop for anything. The three of us? We'll be fine. Our work here just isn't over." Drake said to Faith, his voice full of his usual confidence and determination.

"Stay safe girls." Charles bids Crystal and Faith goodbye.

With that, the Blackmores deeper into the burning dormitory building. Their next destination is Tom and Marie.

Faith and Crystal
----

When the four rescuers arrived, Faith let out a sigh of relief and smiled despite her leg pain. "Thank goodness," she sighed, filled with so much relief that she didn't know what else to say. Until Drake began healing her. "Wait- I thought Crystal..."

Crystal shrugged, "Like an apprentice, I guess." she wasn't sure if the Blackmores wanted Faith to know that all of them copied powers, like Charles had explained, so she stayed quiet on that part. She didn't know Faith already knew Charles' power. She turned to Drake, knowing his headache had worsened. "Don't heal any more. You do and the most sudden huge headache wil happen that carries the weight of everything you've healed. You won't die, but you might want to. Just carry all who need healing outside and I'll heal them, understand?"

Faith slowly stood up, testing her leg. A bit numb, but... nevermind. Now it feels fine. She smiled at Drake, "Th-thank you." Her smile grew when she heard Nick was okay, Now that she was no longer having to call for help, she was back to her normal demeanor. It disappeared again when she heard Nick was okay, "Really?! That's great-You guys are awesome!" she smiled even brighter and couldn't stop smiling. Now she and Crystal needed to go, and she wanted to see Nick. She quietly waved before heading for the exit with Crystal.

They arrived outside, soot covered but OK, and the first thing Faith did was search for Nick. He seemed in pain but okay. She ran up to him, almost pulling him in for a hug but stopping herself, afraid of harming him. She was so happy she felt almost like crying. "N-Nick, you're okay! I-I was scared you had..." She didn't want to even mention the last part. "Th-thank you, Nick. You got them to come get me, didn't you and..." she just sighed, overwhelmed with happiness. "Y-you're the best, most amazing boyfriend ever, y'know that?"

Crystal walked over with Faith, examining Nick carefully. "You still ned your ribs healed, then?"

Marie & Tom

Tom was still out cold, and fires were starting to spread all over the place. The Eyes that had been tending them flew off into the library, and the only reason the two of them hadn't died from smoke inhalation yet was because there was a big hole in the roof where they were currently located. They were lucky that the areas closest to the bombs had nothing covering them, but were also at a disadvantage, seeing as how Tom was out cold, and flames would kill them if they didn't get out quickly. Tom's efforts to save Marie had clearly caused him to undergo an Omicron burst, that strange, drifting glow hadn't left him, and his hair hadn't darkened back to its original color. It didn't do anyone any good for him to be unconscious. Tom had become an extremely powerful meta, but at the same time, neither of the two were aware of it, and Tom was highly unlikely to have any control over it, it was so different from his previous skill set.

Marie was about to launch into a fit of despair again, when she saw Charles, Drake, and Victoria arrive. Her eyes lit up with a pink light, a color nobody had ever seen before. It was the color of hope, because with help, they might not die, in the end. She stood up from where she was sitting, and glanced worriedly at Tom. "He's unconscious, he shielded me from the bomb, he even underwent an Omicron Burst, but he hasn't woken up, yet." She had begun to lose the monotone she had once spoken with, and the concern was evident in her voice. What if they couldn't wake him up? What if he was too heavy for anyone to carry out of the building? He was still as big as he had been before the burst." She frantically came to a conclusion. If she had to, she would be brave, and if she could turn into Courage, she could easily get him through the hole in the ceiling.

Seth

Sleep was hell for Seth. Not even the strongest pain medication could end his torment, nor any sleep medication put him to rest. The entire night was filled with splitting headaches, and painful spasms. Then it just stopped and he collapsed into a deep sleep. The teacher was so exhausted that he slept through his morning alarms and into the day. Normally he was up bright and early, but today he needed his rest. Every disturbance failed to so much as nudge him towards consciousness, until the shockwave hit his dorm. Nobody was going to sleep through a bomb.

Yesterday he didn't the strength to change out of his clothes, and now it was fortunate that he hadn't. First his hands went to his face to feel the efforts of his agony. He grinned before reverting to his original state, he'd have time to experiment later. Right now he needed to help the students. His form faded and he went through the walls and floor oblivious to the debris and flame. Below him he could hear victoria and Charles, he decided to drop on in. Seth descended through the roof and in front of the group. The fire's in the general vicinity were immediately extinguished as they lost their oxygen.

No time was wasted on formalities. "Who else is in here, and where are they're rooms?" This was also the perfect time to test a new talent of his, the only problem being that if he suddenly took off they'd get suspicious. So he waited for their response. "I would be best suited to grab anyone on the top floor or inside the fire."

Jehovah's Thickness Posts : 582 Join date : 2012-12-02

Once inside the armory, Luce removed the hat from Livvy's face, revealing a rather indignant little girl. Livvy frowned, crossing her arms and asking why they kept her waiting so long, but of course none of them heard them. Luce shook her head "no" and pointed to her ears, but Livvy didn't seem to get the message. Thankfully, however, the girl settled to her old standby of sitting down, legs-crossed, and accessorizing her teddy bear, now into a get-up that was straight from an old film noir movie, complete with a pipe. Lord knows how it stayed in the bear's mouth.

Luce split her attention between the Nightingale and Livvy, making sure Livvy didn't blow herself up with a grenade while simultaneously listening in to the conversation Johnny and the Nightingale were having. Unless she revealed any information that would make leaving this place easier, she wasn't interested-and she doubted the conventional weaponry held in here could break the glass barrier of the Othergrounds.

The Nightingale picked up on Johnny's doubt and began scribbling frantically once more.

If you don't believe me, I could show you the wound on my leg that matches the Headmaster's little droid- she stopped writing and pointed to the corner of the room, where one of the Headmaster's personal, weaponized Eyes was crushed up in a partially disassembled heap. His personal logo was visible on it, however, despite the bullet holes and needles sticking out of it like a metallic pincushion. ...but my job might be on the line if I start dropping my pants around the students. I am still on the fence with the weapons. Not enough to gauge you character yet, and Lord knows none of you are properly trained- The Nightinagle stopped writing again for a second, eyes flickering up to Luce's gunbelt well, she looks trained, but a century and a half out of date. Regardless, if what you tell me is true-and it seems to fit with my own intelligence-then perhaps my hand is forced. Know this-if you turn upon other students with what's in here, I do not care what you think you are capable of. It will not be enough. However, if you have any remaining doubts of the Headmaster's involvement with my little predicament, I'd suggest you check his mansion for schematics for that Eye-it's not like the others. I disassemble them in my free time, it's a one-of-a-kind model. If I hadn't been outnumber thirty to one, I would've liked to reverse-engineer it, helped clear the school. For now, take what you need from the armory. I will know, however, there were only three suspects for who used them.

The Nightingale tossed the notepad to Johnny and then limped to the back of the room, where a reloading bench had been cleared off to serve as a worktable for fixing her armor. She began slipping on gear better suited for heavy combat, exchanging her scoped rifle for a more versatile PTR-91. She slipped it across her shoulders and began loading down her person with various grenades, an extra knife, and a few other toys. Meanwhile, Luce armed herself appropriately-should she encounter Emily, or any other meta her bullets didn't seem to work too well on, she was going to be a bit more well-rounded. It pained her to vary from the old gear that had served her for so long, but getting hurt, dying here in the States rather than back home, where she belonged-that hurt worse. Livvy, naively unaware, kept dressing up Officer Teddy.

"Johnny, what did she say?" Luce asked, using the guise of grabbing gear as an excuse for not coming over and reading it. Somehow, she felt her illiteracy wouldn't be taken too well by the other two members of their posse-and she didn't much care for Sylvia, even if she had shown a surprising amount of respect talking to the Night-ah. The silence. It wasn't Sylvia, then. It was this little woman in black, a tiny thing. But she carried the guns like she knew what she was doing, and the shadows seemed to dance around her...best watch out, Luciana. Another gunslinger in town.

The Nightingale took the pad back from Johnny and wrote again, leaning on her good leg. What's the current situation of the school? I will need to reach the Headmaster's Mansion, flip on the cameras, and then take a more suitable position for taking out whatever threats the Headmaster let loose/stray mercs. You are welcome to stay here and relay information to me if needed; in particular, the little girl. Lord knows she can't be in here alone.

Johnny K. Valos, & Sylvia L. Bertoose.

Shade wrote:: If you don't believe me, I could show you the wound on my leg that matches the Headmaster's little droid- she stopped writing and pointed to the corner of the room, where one of the Headmaster's personal, weaponized Eyes was crushed up in a partially disassembled heap. His personal logo was visible on it, however, despite the bullet holes and needles sticking out of it like a metallic pincushion. ...but my job might be on the line if I start dropping my pants around the students. I am still on the fence with the weapons. Not enough to gauge you character yet, and Lord knows none of you are properly trained- The Nightinagle stopped writing again for a second, eyes flickering up to Luce's gunbelt well, she looks trained, but a century and a half out of date. Regardless, if what you tell me is true-and it seems to fit with my own intelligence-then perhaps my hand is forced. Know this-if you turn upon other students with what's in here, I do not care what you think you are capable of. It will not be enough. However, if you have any remaining doubts of the Headmaster's involvement with my little predicament, I'd suggest you check his mansion for schematics for that Eye-it's not like the others. I disassemble them in my free time, it's a one-of-a-kind model. If I hadn't been outnumber thirty to one, I would've liked to reverse-engineer it, helped clear the school. For now, take what you need from the armory. I will know, however, there were only three suspects for who used them.

Catching the notepad quickly; Johnny didn't waste any time in scanning it. He shifted out of his Emotional-Energy form, since he didn't need it, at the moment, and all he's doing wasting energy. The lights around him faded away, dimming, and it quickly revealed his scarred flesh. His eyes were focused on the note, reading every last word. The more he read, the more he was convinced of the notion that the headmaster was behind the attack. While he would normally call it naivete (or stupidity) just believing her like this - But the more he analyzed it, it made more and more sense. There was not a single alarm, and by the time anyone could do anything; the mercenaries were dug deep inside the school and already shooting at everyone. The only logical conclusion was that this was an inside job. And who else would be high-enough to let them in without anyone knowing? Now he was able to swallow this properly. So the headmaster left the entire school to be captured - While he runs off. The headmaster's reasons didn't matter, whether it was money, blackmail, or anything. There was one thing Johnny was certain of:

He just shot up to the top of Johnny's shitlist. Being the first person Johnny will go after once this place has been left behind.

In Johnny's eyes; the headmaster was the one now responsible Gabriela's death (Behind the Traitor, and well, the thing that killed her). Which means there'll be nothing stopping Johnny - Except for a fitting death. I promise you, oh, dear bastardous, headmaster... You've made a grave mistake on that day. I'm gunning for you the moment I get out of here. It'll be hard to find you, but oh boy... It WILL pay off once I blow apart your skull. If you hide, I'll smoke you out. And if I don't have the resources; I'll get them. People like you breed the need for people like me. It was safe to say that he didn't take this new revelation too well. However, he saved these dark thoughts for when he actually left the school. He knew that thinking that far ahead would be a detrimental trapping. For now, he would focus on taking the Traitor, and anyone who dare stand again him, out of the picture.

"I assure you; we will only turn these weapons against the bad-guys..." With 'bad guys' defined as everyone who attacks us... Johnny turns his head towards Dragonfly. Giving him an annoyed glare before turning back towards the Nightingale. Just like you would. Don't lie. Going off the way you sling your guns around, you're going to put two in between the eyes of the first wannabe who wants to challenge you. Other than that, Johnny had a feeling that the Nightingale could become a problem. Going off her notes; she's still seems to be dedicated to her job - Even after the place got torn to pieces. Defending the students would mean taking out someone like Johnny... Who's aggressive and has no problem with killing anyone here, should they over-step their boundaries. And her lack of talking creeped him the hell out. All he hoped if they clash is that she isn't too clever, or that his posse could catch her off guard.

The Real Shade wrote:: "Johnny, what did she say?"

"She's basically saying that the headmaster...." Johnny said, blankly as he walked through the aisles of the armory. Normally, he would be slightly annoyed by having to state this - Except, he was so p*ssed off that this minor irritation was nothing. "... That b*stard let the soldiers behind this inside the school to tear the place up... I don't know why. Money perhaps?" His voice was a calm fury. Having to old in all of his anger at the Headmaster - Lest he wants to break down into belligerent swearing. "Regardless of why he did it... He's responsible for all this going on. He's responsible the death of Gabe. He's made a powerful enemy this day... I will hunt him down the moment I get out of here..."

"And there's no way I'm not joining in." Sylvia says, voice booming in a new-found determination to kill the Headmaster - With the same blood-lust that Johnny had.

"That's the spirit. All the more reason to work even harder on getting out of here." Johnny stated, looking around. He quickly realized that they were wasting time here - And in a place like the Othergrounds, they need to make every second count. "Now, I wish to conclude our business in here soon as possible. Let's go Sylvia." With that he walked away. Examining much as he could. Johnny stuffed as many grenades (Tear gas and flash bang, with a few explosives) that could fit into the pockets of his longcoat. Johnny also managed to grab a tactical belt. With several pouches and holsters for weapons. Johnny, finally, grabbed a few serrated tactical knifes, keeping them on his belt. With one placed in a holster over his shoulder, he made sure it's concealed by his trench coat. Johnny has experience with knives - Mixed with his lightning fast speed, they were a dangerous combination. They were at least 8in and weighed a pound, but Johnny was more than effective with them. "Sylvia, I'm going to trust you a bit here. Don't make me regret it. And grab some for Jake and Taylor."

On the other hand, Sylvia lacked the expertise of pretty much everyone-else here. She didn't know. She grabbed a Kevlar body-armor. She quickly threw off her hoodie, and put on the armor, quickly putting her hoodie back on. It stuck out through her hoodie, and was pretty blatant that she was wearing armor - But hey, subtly is so last year. She also stuffed her outfit with as many grenades as she could fit on her being.

The Real Shade wrote:: What's the current situation of the school? I will need to reach the Headmaster's Mansion, flip on the cameras, and then take a more suitable position for taking out whatever threats the Headmaster let loose/stray mercs. You are welcome to stay here and relay information to me if needed; in particular, the little girl. Lord knows she can't be in here alone.

This girl must be hard at hearing... Johnny thinks to himself as he looked at the note, then up at the Nightingale. He already described a good amount of everything going on. However, he spoke a lot. He was going to be concise this time, however. "The school is still in one piece. The mercenaries are long gone, since they got what they came for-" Though, they'll be back "-Leaving behind a sizable group of around... thirty, kids. They're all nice, if you can earn their trust... Which could be easy if some of them are aware of the enigmatic head-of-security." Johnny peered that the Nightingale's injured leg. "... I would find a girl named Crystal... She's the healer."

With a nod of Johnny's head, he walked towards the exit, seeing that their business is over. "I believe we're done here, I have everything I need and... Miss Nightingale, we'll help you up to the surface, should you need it." He was genuine, since she would be quite vulnerable down here, and she was kind enough to let them in and grab some weaponry. Without violence (Though, Johnny felt threatened by Dragonfly, who fell flat).

Sylvia dropped the shield that was allowed Livvy. Thus allowing her to hear and be heard.

Drake, Victoria, & Charles Blackmore.

The trio quickly came in view of Marie and the unconscious Tom.

The latter was obviously injured in the blast, and the former was heavily distraught about him. Fortunately, for them, the Blackmores are here, and fully capable of saving them. Actually, it would be a great idea to get both of them out of here. Because there isn't too much time to heal, and Drake had a pounding head-ache. Something that should definitely be handled outside. Victoria was first to address the situation; since Marie was concerned about getting Tom out of here. With her telekinesis, Tom wouldn't be too difficult to move. Hell, Victoria lifted up far heavier with little strain. Tom was enshrouded with a thick, wavy, blue aura, and he carelessly lifted up a few feet in the air. "No problem, but it's best that we get him out of here, Drake can heal him...." Victoria paused for a moment, to look at the flames that were raging and the smoke filling up the room. "... This place isn't too safe."

Immediately, Charles focused on trying to get rid of the flames. There were too many flames for him to smother with his sand. All he did was put out a little bit of flames. Suddenly, all the flames were put out, and a familiar face lowered from the ceiling. "... Got rif of the fire."

True Night wrote:: "Who else is in here, and where are they're rooms?" This was also the perfect time to test a new talent of his, the only problem being that if he suddenly took off they'd get suspicious. So he waited for their response. "I would be best suited to grab anyone on the top floor or inside the fire."

Seth seemed to be someone who was caught in the blast too. Due to his actions last night, and before, he was held in high-regards, and he had earned a bit of their trust. However, they knew that they shouldn't put too much faith into him. Drake was the first to step up and speak to Seth, "Dunno if there's anyone else, we got Faith out of here..." Drake looked around. Feeling absolutely useless just standing here. There was Tom who needed healing. Drake walked over to the floating Tom, and grabbed on to him. All the wouds on Tom were quickly healed and he was good as new. On Drake's end: that headache got worse, as it felt like someone was pounding on his head. He stood straight up, and clenched on to his head tightly as he lost focus in the scene. "F*ck, f*ck, f*ck..." Drake muttered to himself over and over again.

"You okay?" Victoria asked Drake, Tom and Marie. They needed to hurry up and get anyone else. Victoria spoke to Tom and Marie, "You two need to head outside, there's a group out there helping people."

"I'll live..." Drake answered.

"I hate to put it like this, but we don't know how many people are in here, Seth. Or where they would be. We were just going off what Victoria told us..." Charles properly answered Seth's question. "... I think we saved everyone we could... Should we..."

"We should try to find a way to put out the flames, a good amount of the place is lost but we can't lose all of it." Victoria spoke, like the leader of her band of siblings. "That'll help anyone else in here - If they're in here..."

Marie & Tom

Marie glanced up at the nearby hole that was in the roof, with the closest of the fires gone, it was now a straight shot from where she was out of the hole and away from the damaged building. "I can get Tom out." She said, her eyes lighting up bright blue, as she started to glow with an aura of the same color. She was going to be brave, and if she concentrated on that fact alone, that feeling, hard enough, she could pick what she wanted to turn into. Not everything was always left up to chance, Marie typically just wound up accidentally becoming something dangerous, against her own will. Courage, the form that was summoned when bravery was called upon, was big, and strong enough to carry Tom out of the area. The aura expanded, and she stepped a distance away as the energy completely obscured her, and grew to a cloud about the size of an elephant. When it was over, the energy dissipated to reveal a glowing creature.

Courage resembled a gigantic eagle, mixed with other bird species. Its neck was longer and more graceful, and a light crest like that of an egret adorned its head and neck. It had three long feathers that passed the other plumes on its tail, and these were tipped with teardrop-like shapes, crystalline in appearance. The entire form sparkled like a jewel, and it glowed from within. The bird turned and picked up Tom, shifting him onto its back, and then opened its wings, flying out through the hole in the roof.

Seth

They were telling the truth, not that there was any reason to lie. Seth agreed that without knowledge of who exactly was in the dorms and where they are that the fire was number one priority. "On it." He replied before phasing through the wall. The teacher floated through the building lowing the oxygen content in timed intervals as not to suffocate any survivors. Fire needed constant air, where as people could survive for a few minutes. Not that anyone would have to, the most that could happen is they'd briefly hyperventilate until Seth returned the air to being breathable. Anyways if somebody was in his sphere of influence he'd detect them beforehand.

Drake, Lily, Victoria, & Charles.

Spoiler:

1:36 PM

After some time, everyone who went into the dorms had contributed all they could to put out the fires; they were successful. They saved everyone they could, and put out the fires - With the school still standing. However, while they saved everyone they could; there were plenty they couldn't.

The three Blackmores emerged from the Dormitory building. While it may have been a relieving sight for some, seeing that they're alright and well, but they came out with bodies... All being telekinetically lifted out, and covered in bloody sheets by Victoria. It was only the proper thing to do. It was quite... Disturbing. Even with the sheets on, it was disconcerting. Victoria laid all the bodies side by side, away from the path. With Drake standing over the bodies with his arms crossed, giving them a disconnected stare. Victoria standing by his side, and Charles at his other side.

The first person to approach them was Lily, who was concerned as hell about the state of- Not the dorms - But her friends. "Drake... Are you guys alright."

Lily had snapped Drake back into reality again. "Sorry... I'm not." Drake muttered, shaking a bit. He shifted out of his Psionist form that was provided by Crystal. The white glow faded from around Drake, and his body underneath was revealed. "I've had it to here with this f*cking Traitor... He's just been pulling so many hits on us and we've never been close to catching him for a change... It just pisses me off."

Not a word came out of Lily's mouth. She could tell that the situation was especially hopeless for Drake - Hell, it was for her too. She just tried to appear confident. Which was hard since her face was well contorted into a frown. "Who are the...." There was quite a bit of reluctance in Lily's voice, more than ever. It's never been so hard asking who the fallen were.

"Them...?" Victoria says. She knew a few of them in fact, barely though. "We don't know who one of them is.... But... Three of them are among of some of them who first arrived with us... Ceyx, Arloste, and Torre... Then the bigger, older one is Damon." She spoke with a bit of hesitancy in her voice.

For a moment, Lily was relieved knowing... Actually, she wasn't. She knew a few of them too, as she was one of the people who arrived. It deeply shook her knowing that more people have fallen to the Traitor. "I see..." She muttered through her teeth. "We..." Lily looked up at the Dorms. "Can't sleep here anymore, can we?"

"I'll give it to you like this..." Charles said, voice without faith or hope. Now it was cold and logical. "No. The place is utterly f*cked."

"God damn it..." Lily says to herself. Hopeless as ever... At least she's glad that a majority of the group weren't in the dorms, and those that were; were saved.. Most of which.

Johnny K. Valos, Sylvia L. Bertoose.

With one glorious leap, Johnny K. Valos was out of the entrance to the sub-basement, already in his emotional energy form. The second his feet were on the ground, he shifted out of his emotional-energy form, the lights around him faded away and his skin reverted. He's hopeful that this will be the last time that they'll enter the sub-basement. Because that place was sh*tty - Even sh*ttier with Dragonfly parading around the halls, acting like a bad@ss. Let me tell you something, Lizard-man; we aren't just some scared teenagers that you can use to make your own little horror movie. Some of us had to fight monsters worse than you'll ever be... Because we are this generation's worst. You'll find that, soon. However, Johnny had no intent on clashing with Dragonfly. He was just heavily annoyed by his speech. Though, he was more than happy with setting him straight, should he attempt to attack them.

Following behind Johnny out of the hole was Sylvia. She floated up the hole and floated a feet inchs above Johnny. With her feet a few inches above his shoulder. She looked up around her, to see the damaged dorms and the smoke coming out of them. "Johnny, look!" She pointed at the dorms.

His head darted towards the dorm. "How quaint..." To see that it had, indeed, been destroyed. However, it didn't bother Johnny in the slightest. Since all personal he had there were long past the point of meaninglessness, now. There were plenty of other places to sleep, like the Headmaster's mansion, detention center, etc. Or if they improvised, they could sleep anywhere. However, Johnny started caring when he thought that Jake could be there. "Sh*t... We have to find out if Jake's there or not." While he spoke, he broke off into a sprint.

With that both Johnny and Sylvia hauled ass to the Dorms.

Crystal
-
While the Blackmores were inside the dormitory, Crystal was wandering around the burning building, healing no-names as Celo wanted an excuse for her headache to worsen. She soon made it back to the front of the building, but not in the best condition mentally. The Blackmores had already returned and she paid no attention to the dead bodies as she collapsed on the ground, shaking. Crystal now had a major psionic headache that prevented her from healing and left her in major pain for a while. To her it felt as if bricks were being thrown at her head, a nail was being hammered into her skull, and other head pains were taking place. She should've stopped healing when the headache first appeared, but her carelessness led to this.

Crystal let out a shriek before clutching her head, eyes shut and tears falling. Some would say she looked pathetic in thoughts of what she said next.

"Won't heal...Please... just knock me out," she mumbled, crying.

-
Faith
-

Faith smiled as the Blackmores returned, but quickly turned away when she saw the dead bodies and only listened to the conversation. When Lily brought up that the dorms were, of course, unusable, Faith realized another things- their clothes. She was stuck with her pajamas- a grey tank top and blue shorts- her jacket, purse, and some tennis shoes. No more clothes. And Nick... he hadn't changed, either, and was... "Nick, um... you are stuck without a shirt for a while, I, um, think..." Faith looked at Nick's chest before quickly turning away, feeling awkward in bringing up the situation.

Then Crystal screamed, making Faith jump. She turned to the healer, wincing. She looked fine, but then was somehow suffering a huge headache, it seemed. "W-what's wrong with her?" Faith asked, a look of fear on her face. Crystal was someone that she knew, and if another person she could relate to in some way died... Faith's wavering depression would worsen. "C-can someone help her?"

Sandy & Reginald

Sandy had been walking with Reginald back to the school from the woods to find that they had missed most of the situation at the dorms. However, when she recognized Crystal screaming, and begging for someone to knock her out, she decided to do it in a way that wouldn't cause her to have a concussion or some other head-related injury. She ran past Reginald, who wasn't able to properly walk, and up to Crystal. She put a hand over her face, and released the most concentrated sleep pheromone she possibly could without spitting. It would knock her out almost immediately, and soon, it did. Sandy caught her and set her down, while Reginald hobbled up beside her, looking surprisingly clear-minded as he looked with apparent horror at the surrounding scene. "Sleep pheromones, it's the least I can do, it won't do her any good if someone punches her and gives her brain damage. She's earned it, if she's used her powers that much." Sandy said, standing back up. She always had to explain these things, because what she did didn't always make sense.

Reginald looked around, until he noticed Faith, a faint form of recognition in his eyes, "Do I know you...?" He said, wondering aloud in his barely-audible voice.

Sandy flicked an ear, "I dunno, you were messed up for a long time, weren't you?" She didn't wait for an answer, and looked over at Faith, "I found 'em in the woods, he was in some sort of a daze, and then all of a sudden he snapped out of it. If he wasn't quite in tune with reality back then, he is now, if not a little confused about everything that's going on around here. I get the feeling people didn't really ever bother to speak to him. Of course, I brought him back here, but I guess the traitor struck while I was gone, that would explain the shock wave, at least. I guess Reginald isn't a suspect, he was with me the whole time."

Faith
-

Faith sighed as Sandy appeared with a wounded dragon-like meta, helping Crystal to pass out in the safest way possible. "Thank you." Then the newcomer spoke up, asking if he knew her. "I-I, um... no, but..." Reginald... where had she heard the name before? Faith was quiet a few moments before suddenly shouting with excitement, "Lexy!" An Eye that was passing by temporarily short-circuited, falling to the ground before turning itself back on and continuing with whatever job it had.

"Um... sorry," Faith blushed. "L-Lexy, she, um.. mentioned a Reginald that survived ashing. W-Where i-is she, anyways?"

"I'm here, now," a happy voice said.

-
Lexy
-

Lexy had been walking around the area, searching for survivors of the explosion. She still had the right side of her body completely scraped up, but all of the scratches were scabbed over, now, so that the only pain felt was a burning sensation. She had heard Crystal's scream and quickly ran in that direction in fear of what happened to her friend. She slowed down near the scene of the destroyed dormitory, noticing Crystal knocked out, but okay. She also noticed a familiar face that wasn't showing a disconnection from reality- Reginald. A light appeared in the girl's personality as she continued nearing the group. Faith asked about her.

"I'm here, now," Lexy beamed despite the pain on her right side. She paid no attention to anyone else but quickly turned to Reginald, a smile on her face. "So you're okay, now? I mean, last time I saw you, you were taken by some Eyes to the hospital and were al in pain and thought I was dead when I tried to talk to you..." she sighed, still smiling. "But you're better now, right?"

Sandy, Reginald, Frillerfang, & Bones

Reginald looked blank for a moment, as though scrambling to put together the disconnected memories in his head. After a moment, he gave up, "I guess, but I really don't remember, I get a few catches of things, but they aren't making any sense." He then looked between Faith and Lexy, as though trying to make sense of something, and then came to a conclusion, "You don't look that much alike, not really. I guess your height was confusing me, but one of you is about an inch taller than the other. I'm probably still a bit out of it." He said it casually enough, but the fact was that height didn't normally make someone confuse two individuals. Faith and Lexy had very little in common when it came to appearances, and it was very strange for him to think an inch difference would make him get the two mixed up. He acted as though there was nothing wrong, though, despite this obvious fact.

Sandy frowned, "Uh, Reginald, those two look nothing alike, how does similar height make you confuse them?"

Reginald turned to her, "Well, I don't get it, either, I mean, they have different skin tones and voices, you're pretty easy to remember, too, you're covered in red fur." The entire time, he never said anything about faces, and acted as though remembering people based on skin tone, voices, and whether or not they had a pelt wasn't strange.

By this point, Bones and Frillerfang came up to the group, noting Reginald's presence, "You sure you don't need a hospital, stranger?" Bones asked, raising one eyebrow.

Sandy ignored the comment, and grabbed Bones and forcibly moved her next to Lexy and Faith, before turning to Reginald, "Okay, right now, tell me what's different about their faces from one another." She asked.

Reginald looked between the three girls, he could tell them apart, now, but when he looked at their faces for a difference, he couldn't find anything. "I can't, their faces all look the same, I mean, I can tell them apart, but not by their faces."

Sandy hissed a bit through her fangs, "No, they don't look the same. Reginald, this is serious, not being able to distinguish faces is bad, especially in a place like this." Nigel, detecting her distress, growled from where he was perched on her shoulder.

Bones scowled, "Okay, I don't know what's going on here, but that sounds like face-blindness." At Sandy's questioning stare, her frown deepened, and she continued, "It means he can't recognize individual faces, it's usually associated with Walking Corpse Syndrome, and that's a rare thing where people think they're dead."

Sandy scowled, "You do realize that's what Lexy just said he had a minute ago?"

As Lexy heard the four discuss Reginald's problem, her happy personality faded for a moment to sadness before being replaced by a fake smile, as was a common action for her, now.

"Nooo, Reggie- can I call you Reggie?- you're not dead and you aren't acting like earlier so you must know you're not dead- see?" She placed a hand on his shoulder as she did before, ignoring the wounds just like last time. "Flesh and blood! Warm, solid, skin!" The girl seemed to be trying to mostly convince herself that Reginald wasn't sick, anymore, more then trying to convince the victim of the syndrome.

Faith just stood beside Nick, looking shocked. She reminded herself over and over not to overuse powers- she might end up like the Reginald fellow if she did. Minus the dragon-ish features. She would end up being either dead or wanting to be dead- neither option was good. Faith quietly cleared her throat to get everyone's attention. "W-well, um.. maybe we should, um... try to figure out w-where to stay now. M-maybe the Mansion?"

Sandy, Reginald, Frillerfang, & Bones

When he had been suffering from the delusions, Reginald had ignored pain, but this time, he winced and tugged his shoulder away from Lexy, as when she touched his shoulder she irritated some of the healing sores that covered it. "Hey, careful, maybe I didn't react earlier, but being alive also means reacting to pain. Please don't touch, I really don't want to get an infection and wind up in the hospital again." He involuntarily flinched at the memory, "Okay, the hospital and the Eyes, I remember, I really, really don't want to have to go back there. I still have a slight healing factor left, so I can heal properly without using medication or stitches, but it can't keep me from getting sick if my cuts get infected. Most of my powers are burned out, they just don't work anymore. What I have left is stuff that probably won't kill me, but won't be of much use, either." He explained. Ashing hadn't completely eliminated his powers, because he had recovered, rather than dying, though it had been a pretty awful experience, and had sent him into a horrible mental state. He was almost glad he couldn't remember most of it, but the flashes of images flying into his mind suggested he might wind up remembering, anyway.

Bones walked up to the two, looking at Lexy, "I said that face-blindness and Walking Corpse Syndrome were associated, I didn't say that just because he had one he had the other. He probably developed it at some point. There ain't no cure for it, it's usually trauma to certain areas of the brain. You don't have to worry too much about it, though, as long as you got some sort of distinguishing feature that stands out, he'll recognize you."

Sandy turned to Faith, "I don't know where we'll stay, but that's probably a worse concern for metas that retained human form. I personally could sleep outdoors and be fine, and I should probably get used to it, anyway. I'm not going to go back to society after we get out of this place, and Frillerfang was an urban legend in the area where she lived before she came here, kind of like Nessie, or Bigfoot. If she lived out in lakes ever since she mutated, then I can sure as well live in the woods."

Frillerfang looked at Sandy, "I suppose you could, but you'd have to give up soap to do that, if you bathe with soap even once, it'll wash the waterproof oils off of your fur, and you'll get wet when it rains."

Sandy looked at Frillerfang, "Not many animal-metas use soap, Frilly, we've developed an instinctive dislike of it. We like being clean, but we don't need soap to keep our fur free of mud and dirt."

Lexy winced, shrinking back. "I'm sorry. Are you okay? I mean you're hurt, but..." she sighed, "Sorry." When Bones further explained the situation, Lexy grinned again, "That's great! Not the trauma part, but yeah." She turned back to Reginald. "So maybe in a couple days Crys-" she paused, stopping herself from suggesting Crystal heal him. She loked back at the healer.

Crystal was asleep, but seemed to have a continuous wince on her face. Maybe having a nightmare, as those were probably becomming common for several. Her glasses had fallen off and were laying on the ground in front of her face, unharmed. Maybe volunteering Crystal to heal after her headache wasn't a very good idea.

"Nevermind," Lexy smiled before changing the subject. "So I guess that I need to, like, properly introduce myself, riiiiight? M'kay. You already know my name's Lexy, but I have perfect aim for my power!" She pointed at herself with her thumb. "Though it hasn't helped much," Lexy laughed a bit at her own situation. "Anyways, nice to re-meet you!"

Johnny K. Valos, Jake V. Valos, & Sylvia L. Bertoose.

Taking slow steps towards the group, Johnny assessed the situation. He didn't want to rush in when anything could have happened, or be going on. The group looks pretty beat up right now... Not that he cared. It gave him an advantage in fact. However, he planned on starting no fights. All he wanted was to find Jake. Johnny continued observing the group, scanning for Jake - Bingo. He saw a near invisible Jake by Taylor and some dead b*tch. He didn't care about anyone else really. Because if they want to start a fight, he'll give them one. Johnny walked over to Jake, hands in the pockets of his pants. His longcoat well concealed the weaponry that he had grabbed from the armory. He looked up at the Dorms as he walked. The place definitely is trashed. However, he was going to take a stab at claiming the detention center. It's well armored, small, and easy to defend.

The second he got to Jake, Johnny stood there for a second looking at him. Before he sat down on his behind, next to Jake, and folded his legs. "Hey there..." Johnny spoke in a low-tone. Before he looked down at the body he was sobbing over... Carole. The girl's body was ruined... Likely by - An explosion? It reminded him of some past trauma momentarily. However, seeing a dead ally never provoked any emotional reaction in him - At least not anymore. Johnny is cold as anyone his age will get on the inside. Carole was only useful for her power - Otherwise, Johnny would have had absolutely no reason to keep her @ss around. On the plus side, one more suspect -Oh little girl, isn't it one big coincidence that you so happen to disappear right when the Traitor pops up?- is in the grave now. Though, he's going to keep these sentiments to himself. "I just hope it was quick and painless... That's the best you can hope for in here..." Johnny spoke in a soft, low tone.

Sylvia sat down too, right next to Johnny. She was unfazed by Carole's body. Merely because she was cold inside as well - Nor did she really care about Carole to begin with.

"Yeah..." Jake muttered, face still wet with tears. His body slowly started becoming more visible. "... I honestly just can't wrap my head around why all of this is happening... Gabriela's dead... Carole's dead... The dorms are trashed... I want to know why..."

"I can't honestly answer that. All I can say is that, in the end of all of this; you'll become a stronger person in the end." Johnny spoke slanting his head downwards, his hat covering his eyes. He didn't know why exactly everyone was so sh*t. But it won't be after they put this place behind him. "But look. We're getting out of here. I can't promise you everyone here will leave... But we will." He talked in a different tone than ever seen before... Mostly because he was trying his damn near hardest to be sympathetic and lift Jake's spirits. Johnny understood full and well Jake's exacts emotions.

"I hope you're right... Because I had the Traitor in my grasp... We could have been finished with that b*stard here. I just f*cked it up..." Jake sobs. Realizing that he could have stopped the Traitor. If only he was better. He could have stopped the Traitor from pulling the detonator. Carole and everyone else could have survived.

"What exactly happened, Jake?" Johnny asked Jake. Curious about what he was talking about.

"Look... Me and Lin were heading back to the dorms, and I saw the Traitor run out. I trapped him in a dome... And he had a detonator, I think... He pulled the trigger and blew the entire place to hell... Then shot Lin... If everyone else hadn't showed up... Then I wouldn't have known what happened." Jake explained what happened in a somber tone.

It's too late to go after the Traitor now. The Traitor probably is on the other side of the school by now. Probably also dumped the armor and is now blending in. "You'll have another chance."

Their conversation went on and on.

Drake D. Blackmore, & Lily.

I'm going to keep my eye on him... Drake thought to himself as he watched the scene with Reginald, and the others. This Reginald fellow was certainly someone he knew that shouldn't trust. Thus, he was going to keep his eye on him at all times. Drake thought their conversation was absolutely pointless... He wasn't going to say anything though. Then Johnny pops up, then walked over to Jake to talk to him... Drake was still weary of him. He likely killed Hunter. However, he wasn't in the mood for confronting him about it right now. This agonizing headache was quite the disadvantage. There were more relevant things at hand. Perfect. He now has two people he has to keep an eye on.

Lily knew there was more pressing matters than Reginald not being able to tell faces apart. She was just as suspicious of him as Drake was... However, she was going to focus on the subject that matters here. Where they're going to sleep. Lily was putting together options in her head... And the best one was the headmaster's mansion. That place was made to be lived in, and while it was stripped clean - It was in well enough shape. They would have to keep a very good eye on it. Lily spoke, to the entire group, "Look... Our best bet is to head to the Headmaster's mansion... But, we'll have to keep a very close eye on it this time. We got careless here... And look what happened.... We need to... Brrr." Lily stopped mid-speech to wrap her arms around herself. Everything got very cold - And she was pretty cold too. "Ayo, this is serious. Stop messing around." Lily spoke to no one in particular. She thought that this was the work of someone. Since something similar happened earlier.

Suddenly, the air started getting very, very cold. Like the group was just put into a refrigerator. Everything around them started to ice over.

» Cast of the Othergrounds
» The Pride Days (IC): Hurt
» The Othergrounds - Superpower OOC (Always Open)
» Pride Days II [OOC]
» And Whatever Days May Come: "I love zombies. If any monster could river dance, it would be Zombies."