Black Fall - The IC (The Day a new Monster was Born)

Vicious


Smart girl. Vicious thought to himself. Anyone else would be either calling Brigit overwhelmingly stupid or oblivious of what's to come. He wasn't going to worry about that. It would appear that the girl was going to comply. He started walking towards his base. He didn't keep his eye on her. However, just in case of any sneak attacks he quickly coated his skin with Titanium. It wouldn't stop acid, but it would definitely stop her from stabbing him--- Or her ants attacking him. As he walked, every step made a loud metallic thump. "Now, girl. Let's get a few things clear here," He started off, looking back at her, "You should do your best not to resist, and be compliant as possible. If not things will get very nasty." He started laughing loudly before he suddenly stopped laughing and turned back to an apathetic face. He started walking towards his base and entered it. He lead Brigit to the nearest cell, opened it and pointed inside. "Step inside please."




Caden

TheⓍperator wrote:

"Because if you've read the news, you'd know that doing what you just did would put anyone on edge."

Caden's rather sinister vibe remained obvious even after Nick voiced his opinions. That was something that amused him more than anything. His grin widened slightly as he cooked up plans to mess with them. It was obvious that they won't give up anything useful (At least not without a painful incentive), so he decided to have some fun with them. Jet-black, metallic, liquid darkness came from the bottom of his shoe and quickly traveled towards Nick and Faith's legs in a straight thin line. He would have to do something to keep them from noticing of course. The best thing he could think of was talk in the most grandiose-style, that's keep their attention on him of course. "I've read the news quite well. Matter of fact it's the very reason why I'm here! I, have lost someone dear to me to this dastardly string of kidnappings. I want to do the best I can to search out any potential leads to rescue-" This story was 70% bullsh*t, "- My dear..."

Caden paused for a moment. The darkness had already pooled at their feet, small hands identical to human hands, spawn out of the darkness. A total of eight hands were created, four for each of them. Caden smirked, the hands quickly grabbed on to their lower legs as tightly as possible--- Immediately fading into nothing after a second. It would have hurt slightly, but it was more of the surprise. "... My dear--- Oh my, is something wrong?" Caden spoke sarcastically as he waited for their reactions.



Ray

Dragonbud wrote:

"I'm glad you found what you were looking for." Merry started, recalling with great clarity that Ray was in a rush to get somewhere to do something. "May be so bold as to ask what you were searching for? You see, I too am seeking something out."

Ray half smirked as he clutched his apple slightly tightly. He started laughing quietly under his breath, only those with the best hearing would be able to hear it. What he was about to do would be considered stupid. He didn't exactly care. He spoke in a rather smug tone, like he was extremely prideful of something, "Ha, you know. Uncovering family secrets and secret origins." As far as he was concerned Merry knew nothing of who he was--- Or who his family was. Unless she was secretly with the CIA then he would have nothing to worry about. His mother already knows he's out to find out some secrets. As long as he doesn't leak what he finds, or what his intentions are, he should be fine. Though, he needs to find the Valos children as soon as possible. That would require asking a few questions. Ray took a small bite of his apple and raised his head.

"I have really made some progress," Ray started off, hoping that Merry would be able to answer his questions, "I don't know how social you are, but I need to find a certain group of rich kids to make some progress, how well do you know the Valos family, or the Pimm family?"

Faith looked at Caden.  Lost someone? "who did you-" she jumped, suddenly forgetting about the topic.  She looked around confused.  There had been a quick pain in her legs, but then nothing.  Something just grabbed her legs, she was positive.... Wasn't she?  Faith felt chills go down her spine.  That's it, she so didn't want to hang around he park anymore.  The guy was talking like he knew something had happened and he was behind it.  As is he could control something, or....? She wasn't thinking when the words slipped out of her mouth.

"you're one too?"

Faith was scolding herself like she always did now.  This creeper probably thought she was a creep- great!  But then, she was talking quietly.  Maybe he didn't hear her.  Oh man, he's investigating the kidnappings, right?  That's what he had said.  What if he now thought she was playing a part in it... But she wasn't!  Faith felt fear quickly swallow her mind as she took a hesitant step back.  Oh please no... Nononononono.  Wait, probably not, right?  She tried to calm her mind as she regained her previous casual stance.

Merry listened with great interest, even able to pick up the slight sound of him laughing. Doctors had always told her she had abnormally good eyesight and hearing, so it can't really be called eavesdropping. What he said did worry Merry a bit though, or maybe it was the tone of voice he used. It seemed that whatever he might be doing could be dangerous or illegal, so it was best for Merry to stop asking questions about Rays quest. The way he worded it sounded like he wasn't going to tell her more anyway.

Mr Allen J wrote:

"I don't know how social you are, but I need to find a certain group of rich kids to make some progress, how well do you know the Valos family, or the Pimm family?"

"Heh...about them." Merry said with a nervous chuckle. "Yeah...sorry I can't be much help there, I tend to avoid the powerful families." She rubbed the back of her head. "My father owes them some money, which he can't pay back, so I tend to keep out of their way." She frowned slightly and looked up at Ray. "Sorry. But I do hope you find them soon. For whatever reasons you might have."

Vicious


Vicious immediately closed the door behind Brigit and her swarm of ants after they entered the door. This was surprising how she willing she was to sacrifice her own freedom. He stood there for a moment, feeling as if she should be rewarded. While this could be a ruse to get him to let his guard down--- It's not like he's dumb enough to fall for such tricks. He looked through the little window that put in place for him to properly observe his patients. Every cell was a very small and confined area, nearly identical to prison cells. They only had a bed, a sink, and a toilet. The metal door that keeps them in was extremely durable and could easily withstand even the heaviest of direct attacks. It was weak to attacks like acid and those with Metal-manipulation. Each cell had a small window, and directly under the window was a speaker, and a button that activated the speaker. Vicious had leaned up against the door (Out of sight of the window) and pressed the button. Before he spoke, "Now aren't you a happy camper... What is your name?" Vicious smirked, "Since you have been cooperative; is there anything you need? Food? Water? I'll be happy to get it for you as long as it isn't too... unreasonable."



Caden


Nick's gravity powers had been used on Caden. This was a very interesting turn of events. He was brought to the ground, except instead of falling back on his behind. He partially turned into darkness, his form had liquid darkness appearing all over him and dripping down to the ground. His body now appeared to be much more liquid-like. This weight was surprising. This meant one thing and one thing only, one of them were Meta-humans. He had assumed that it was Nick. "Oh my, one of you must be a monster." Caden spoke to both of them. Hoping to single out the single Meta-human responsible. He decided not to attack them or bare his fangs like he'd normally do. That'd be way to dangerous given that he wants a low profile. He reverted back to his full human state, the darkness faded away and he appeared much more solid--- Like a human.

Celo wrote:

"you're one too?"

Caden raised an eyebrow. "You're one too, you say? That depends on what 'you' means. If it means what I think it means; then it's the Black Fall effect at it's finest...." Caden looked directly at Faith, "People like us are drawn to each other, you know." Caden started laughing loudly before looking around. He could get up and murder the two of them, but that'd be no fun. He was a fan of speeches and exposition, regardless of who was holding the role of the listener. He wanted to be someone private. "Would you mind lifting this? I'd love to divulge you both with more information... But, I'm carrying a lot of weight here, and I would like one of you monsters to release me."

Faith turned to Nick. Him too? She wasn't sure if she could feel relief that There was someone she knew with abilities or worried that he looked like he was on complete panic mo- oh, wait, of course she should help him! Idiot girl! She turned to Nick, calm down, please.... Um...." she had no clue what to do, considering first aid wasn't her forté. He asked what was going on, so maybe she should answer wih what little information she knew?

"well I don't know... About him," she gestured toward Caden, "but I can control electronics, if that's what you're wondering."

Faith looked hesitantly at Caden and listened nervously to what he was saying. Drawn to each other? Faith felt like throwing up. Like she'ld ever like him- oh, he ment socially. That's better. She looked at Caden curiously. Then at Nick. "uhm.... Maybe you should stop, Nick, if it's hurting you..." she then looked back at Caden. Then again, the creepy dude didn't seem the most reliable.

"that is, if it's causing pain. If ts normal, then you don't have to if you don't want to.". She laughe nervously. But then she wanted to know what the guy was talking about.... But why if he just wanted to kill them? But then....

Faith looked hesitantly at Caden. Wait, Nick wanted her to decide? She could barely make up her mind on anything, and this was a literal life-or-death situation, here. The thought made her mor nervous. The creepy guy sounded like he knew something about powers, and she was really curious about what he knew. She had a feeling he might not tell them weighed down, though. But them Nick could be right and it could all be an act. Then he might tell them. He migh not. He might just kill them. Then might not. Why are there so many possibilities?!


"I'm really curious about what he's saying, Nick. He knows something, and...yeah." Faith really disliked the creepy guy and she in all honesty wanted to run as far as she could from him. Her curiosity had her nailed into the present situation, though, and had a tendency to overpower every logical thought in her body. Wait, she didn't even know the guy's name. She turned to him, feeling stupid as soon as she asked. "name?" she managed to say. Maybe he had a cell phone on him, that way if he didn't answer her she could somehow find out by going through texts or call history or something. With her luck it was not likely. But then it could tell them if he's the kidnapper or not, and that would help them to decide whether to run or ask questions or whatever else they could do. Then again maybe it would be best to run. She couldn't do many athletic things but running was the thing she was okay at. Faith nervously touched her necklace, which was something that she had gotten to do half consiously, being such a strange habit. No, they were gonna stay since she wanted to know more. Save regretting the decision for later.

9:14 AM


Caden

Caden's Theme Song:

TheⓍperator wrote:

"You can talk from where you are, or we can walk away until I can't keep you down any longer. Trust me, that's a long, head start."

Caden smirked a mile wide. Both of them could leave, but no matter how far they go, Caden will always sense their darkness. For now he'll just have to play along with their game. He decided to keep his ability to sense them a secret. All they have to know is that he wields darkness at his fingertips. The power of the Soul Frost will be another one of his secrets. "I can talk down here... But, I prefer if we talk..." Caden spoke in a near sarcastic tone while on the ground. He knew that he could easily escape from this trap he's been placed in. However, if his captors feel like they're in control--- The idea of them being in control amused Caden. He digressed, they may be in a better mood to negotiate if they were the ones in control here. "... Face to face. It makes me seem like a victim here, just pinned to the ground like a deer that's just been shot down. Helplessly waiting for it's finish." There were people watching, Caden didn't have to look, he sensed them watching. He smirked, "People are watching, you know that? Using your gifts like this is bound to attract... Let's say unwanted attention, to yourself."

TheⓍperator wrote:

"Stop calling us monsters, freakalope. I don't know what you're sick mind considers socially acceptable, but what you just did was not it!"

"Hmph." Caden didn't say anything. "I have a 'sick mind' now? You're quite observant, I have to say. I am the least bit concerned about the 'social rules' that you follow--- Merely because they have been set by external influences, and not yourself. But, if you think it'll help this become a healthy conversation; I'll stop calling you a monster." Caden states grandiosely before adding on another line, "However, you have to understand what makes a monster in this world. The most common definition is something that frightens people...." Caden smirked, "... Meta-humans frighten people. I believe you can do the math here."

TheⓍperator wrote:

"Faith," he began, looking away momentarily before putting his attention back to Caden, not letting up. "If you're read the news, someone's been abducting people around town lately." he continued, flicking between her and Caden once again. "I am starting to think that this might be him. Because from what I know about stranger danger, saying that you lost someone if probably one of the oldest tricks in the book."

This made Caden laugh loudly. He was far from being the abductor, and it was his intent of finding this person. Just in the off chance that this abductor is taking Meta-humans hostage. "Me? The abductor? That is non-sense my good child. I do not seek to capture anyone." Before he started laughing some more. He stopped and started being much, much more serious. "However, I do wish to seek out this kidnapper just in case he's kidnapping other Meta-humans... It will help everyone if he's taken out of the picture."

Celo wrote:

"I'm really curious about what he's saying, Nick.  He knows something, and...yeah."

Caden told the truth here again, from the bottom of his heart. "I know quite a lot of things. How much of it that would interest you varies. I know how you have your gifts and this little effect that made this conversation possible!" Caden smirked again, "I know I can't get you to talk about it in private--- It would be silly on everyone's end if I even tried! But, release me from this lock and I will tell you everything."

Celo wrote:

"Name?"

"Caden Zorich. You will be seeing my name plenty of times in the coming years." Caden says in a egotistical tone.





Ray

Dragonbud wrote:

"Heh...about them." Merry said with a nervous chuckle. "Yeah...sorry I can't be much help there, I tend to avoid the powerful families." She rubbed the back of her head. "My father owes them some money, which he can't pay back, so I tend to keep out of their way." She frowned slightly and looked up at Ray. "Sorry. But I do hope you find them soon. For whatever reasons you might have."

"Not very surprised you avoid the rich and powerful." Ray inserts, followed by a short laugh. He sort of had the feeling that she wouldn't have any interactions them. Nor was he really riding on the idea that she would. He took a bite out of his apple and looked around. People were filling up the park, hopefully one of the people he was looking for would be among them. While he did feel the need to leave and go look for them (Being a more business than social person). He wanted to stay for a moment in talk. Try and build up a friendship between them--- Even though that was even more unlikely... Ray wasn't lying to himself when he at least thought that Merry was at least slightly attractive. He made up even more small talks, "I think that these rich kids are @ssholes myself. I got into one major situation because of them..." Ray remembered that one war he got into because of the Valos family. That was not a nice situation. He continued, "Between you and me: I don't want to find them. But, I need to."


((Hm... Is there a way to reveal Ray's Meta-human status to Merry [or vice-versa] ?))




Sage


Sage eventually got tired of waiting at this bench. It shrugged and stood straight up, letting it's blond hair flow as it walked way. It walked, taking very light steps. Colin would be here eventually if he decided to wake up. Hopefully May won't be around to harass them any further. Sage wanted to go somewhere with water, it remembered that the All-Fathers park has a river somewhere. It just needed to remember where. By the statue of Bill Clinton or the statue of George Bush...? It shrugged as it kept moving. Rivers aren't exactly quiet. It just started heading in the direction where it believed the River was. Soon it heard the rushing waters of the river. Sage hastened it's pace, until it saw the large river. It was very wide and the water was rushing fast. It was one of the many rivers that ran into the big river that separated both ends of Black Fall. The river was fresh water for the most part. Around the river were two solid concrete pathways, they were slightly eroded. Major chunks of the path were falling into the river. That would be fixed sooner or later.  Sage walked along the first path it saw, and walked slowly along the paths. There were a small amount of people here. Thankfully, it wasn't the type of person who'd like being around people like that. Especially with the state it's own family was in. It kept moving, it wanted to find a nice secluded spot where it could really enjoy the river.

There must be some inlet shrouded by the forest. It shrugged and started walking towards the river through the first mass of bushes it saw. It moved quickly and quietly, hoping to find some seclusion from the park. Sage had indeed found a small patch of land. Dirt formed a (near) beach slightly above the rushing currents of the river. The soil was wet in certain places and soggy but Sage was able to stand on it perfectly. It sat down on the highest point of it's new little enshrouded place and watched the river flow by fast.




Charles


Coming soon...

Faith became aware of all the staring eyes when Caden mentioned them. She would have normally shrugged it off, considering she didn't mind as long as they weren't talking to her, but he had a point- it's not good to show off powers in public. As he began to reply to each statement, Faith began to think more and more that he should be "freed," if thats the word you would like to use for it. if that was the only way to find out more, that is, considering that along with every statement Caden replied to her curiosity grew. And grew. That's it, she so had to talk to the creepy dude- er... Caden, he had said his name was, about this hole power thing. She really wanted to know just what e was talking about. The "drawn to each other" statement he had said earlier still creeped her out, though, even if he hadn't ment it in "that" sort of way.

Faih turned to Nick, "I.... Um.... Maybe you Should let him go. I think hes being truthfull, people are staring and I'm still really curious about it." she paused before adding in, "that is, if you think it's okay. If not, then...." she shrugged, "it's fine with me." Faith figured that if he said no she could just somehow ask later or something... Right? Wait... How could she ask him if they were to un from him or something and he just left? Then how would she find him, even? She went back to scolding her stupidity in her mind, again. Like scolding herself ever even worked... Though she had probably scolded herself more times today then she had her whole life. In her defense, however, it had been a very unusual day.

The two vehicle caravan stopped a half mile out from Black Falls. It consisted of a motorcycle-not a loud, testosterone oozing Harley, but rather a smaller, sleeker thing that whirred along-and a beat up old Mustang, worn and weathered. The woman riding the motorcycle lifted her right hand and waved twice to the right before returning to the handlebars. A few seconds later, she began to slow down, turning the motorcycle (which was running absolutely silently) and running off the road quite intentionally. The Mustang turned off its headlights and followed the woman on the motorcycle a few hundred yards, down a slight hill, and out of sight from the road. The woman disembarked from the road and, likewise, the two within the car stepped out.

It was certainly an odd meetup. A woman, dressed too nicely to be a motorcycle-riding type, took off the helmet and showed a horribly scarred face. A girl, barely legal and slamming the car door shut (this, too, clicked shut without any noise) and storming to the scarred woman. And finally, moving casually and calmly, the driver of the Mustang, who slipped out and gently eased his own door shut. The sound of cicadas and crickets echoed all around them, and the dew-kissed grass dampened Chloe's exposed legs as she walked by. Mosquitoes parted around her, continuing to fly after swerving off-course to avoid her.

"This is it, then." Chloe muttered, eyeing the scarred woman with a mixture of skepticism and hesitancy. Nineteen hours earlier, halfway across the country, they'd watched her do the sickest thing that either of them had seen in their lives. And Chloe and Riley were both killers. Child soldiers in a war that nobody wanted much to talk about, nobody wanted much to know about. Americans were spared, for the most part, but in the other places of the world? Outside first world countries, things were getting real bad, real fast. There were sick excuses for men that already used child soldiers-and having a child soldier that could call down lightning or turn invisible was all the more valuable. Everywhere from Brazilian favelas to Somalian shantytowns enjoyed a fresh surge of violence. And it was creeping into the good ol' US of A, too. Chloe and Riley, they were living proof. The status quo was changing, and metahumans were the catalyst.

Anastasia, the scarred woman on the motorcycle, nodded, and drew a small metallic device, which she tossed to Chloe. She caught it at the last second, her hand darting up and seizing it expertly. It was a cell phone, one of the cheap, prepaid kinds. She locked eyes with Anastasia, who pointed to another one in her own hand. Chloe flipped open the phone and saw one number already programmed in, which was undoubtedly Anastasia Krol's. She tucked it into her athletic bra for safekeeping, her gym shorts being devoid of any pockets. Riley eyed this with a mixture of immature interest and mature disdain.

"You want your guns?" Chloe asked, and Anastasia nodded. The three of them walked to the trunk, which Riley flipped up. Inside was a small arsenal, concealed inside various means. Cardboard boxes with books on tops and pistols in the bottom. Teddy bears with knives inside. Et. Cetera. The Nightingale drew her own duffel bag, which contained her rifle, her handgun, her knife. Chloe drew the one thing they had a damned hard hiding and extended it to her-a Japanese style katana, razor sharp and lethally beautiful. Anastasia slung it over her shoulder, along with the duffel bag. Such a strange sight, on such a petite woman, but she was more familiar with the guns in that bag than most cops were with their standard issue sidearms. Chloe looked into the trunk, eyeing the Mossberg 590, sawed down just a bit; a couple handguns varying in caliber and modifications; the Mini Thirty, heavy and reliable, the AR-15 and the collection of knives and a few gallons of gasoline. Various duffel bags sat, empty, or containing a few spare rounds of ammunition. They were running hot, and any onlooker would be correct in assuming very few of these weapons were acquired legally.

Anastasia reached into her pocket and pulled out a small stack of hundred dollar bills, which she handed to Chloe, along with a small note. Chloe raised her hand and it began to glow, pulsating with a golden light, by which she quickly read the address on the note. It was a hotel, in Black Falls, along with a room number. A keycard was taped to the note, and Chloe motioned to tuck that in her bra as well but Riley deftly swiped it from her and placed it in his own. She scowled at him, the light from her hand beginning to dim away.

"Anything else?" Riley asked her, his voice low and steady. Anastasia made a few quick motions with her hands, and Riley nodded. "Yeah. We know who our guy is."

There was a moment of awkward silence, and then Anastasia nodded, grabbing one last bag out of the bag-this was heavy and close to being totally full, and saddled up her motorcycle. She made a half-hearted wave without looking back and turned the bike back on, manuevering back to the main road.

Chloe and Riley were left alone, the cicadas resuming their symphony-they hadn't noticed the bike leaving, since it didn't make a sound as Anastasia floored it back to the highway and swung back onto the road. Chloe and Riley watched each other for a moment, and realized something. Other teenagers, they'd take the backseat of a car a few hundred yards from the road and a free hotel room to screw each others' brains out. And, granted, they just might take up on that offer, but it wasn't the same. Their beds tonight would be paid for in blood money. And every gun in that trunk had taken someone's life, ended it with a world-shattering bang and a blast of light. Kinda hard to get in the mood with all that a few inches from your head.

The two just held each other, for a moment, instead, Chloe's unusually warm body almost seeming to glow slightly. Her hair fluttered in the wind, a shimmering blonde hue, and her eyes curiously matched. Riley's weathered arms her tight for a moment, and then he pulled away. They needed to go.

The Mustang rumbled to a stop in a rather shitty part of Black Falls, the sort of part where you would normally lock your doors and keep your eyes trained on the steering wheel, rather than the decaying homes or rather shifty looking people around you. But, instead, the two climbed out, Riley slinging all the bags over his shoulders (combined, this must've weighed several hundred pounds, but it didn't seem to inconvenience him in the slightest) and he handed the keycard to Chloe.

"Try not to shove anything else into your bra between now and then, Aphrodite."

"If you see Pocahontas remember we're dating," Chloe muttered back, taking off down the sidewalk. She looked back after a few steps and Riley winked at her. She disappeared around a corner and Riley went back to the car, unlocking the doors and rolling down the windows. He made sure the car was running and then got out, walking down the street after giving Chloe a ten or fifteen minute head start. He glanced back to make sure somebody had seen it, and sure enough there was a man eyeing the car, eyeing Riley, inching closer and closer. By the time he reached the next crossroads, he witnessed the Mustang drive by him.

After some time, Chloe reached the hotel room. After some more time, Riley wound up in the hotel room, having smiled his way past the front desk and walked to the elevators, whistling softly. It was late, and most types that showed up to motels this late weren't up to much good. Riley supposed he wasn't, either, but dropping the bags on the floor he laid down next to Chloe, wondering where Anastasia was. She's probably sleeping in the nicest suite this town has to offer. Meanwhile, I think this mattress is more bedbug than bed. Maybe the floor's cleaner.

---

The next day, Riley clambered into the dingy motel through the window, prompting Chloe to level a .45 at his head for a moment. She lowered it immediately and raised the hammer back up, frowning. "Damnit, Riley, don't do that."

"Oh, you're no fun. C'mon. I found our mark."

"Caden?"

"Yeah. Creepy looking, sort you wouldn't want your kids around. He's in a park, not terribly far from here. We can get there in maybe ten minutes if we run, but I don't think he's going anywhere. Seemed like he was looking for something, but he went to a bit of trouble to hide himself coming into the mark."

Chloe's minds mulled over the possibilities as she took off her shirt, slipping on a shoulder holster, into which she tucked a pistol, before slipping her shirt back on. She offered Riley a gun, but he waved a hand: he preferred more traditional weaponry. Riley eyed her for a moment, noting the dark circles under her eyes. Her hand shook a little, buttoning the shirt up. Her eyes were wide and Chloe's normally stoic visage was...broken. A cigarette, freshly lit, sat on the ashtray. It burned violently.

He could smell the fear on her.

"Nightmare?" Riley asked, his voice soft and concerned, not at all like his usual bantering tone. Chloe nodded, grabbing the cigarette and sitting down for a moment. She laced up her boots, attempting for a mix of fashionable and practical. No matter how great her ensemble matched, she was going to look like hell today. Riley felt a rush of sympathy, wanted to tell her to stay in that hotel bed and pop a few valium and some melatonin and sleep for days without dreams, that he'd send up room service (if this hole-in-the-ground motel even offered it) and wine and let her rest.

But that wasn't an option.

"You okay? To go?"

"It's just a dream, Riley, I'm fine." the cigarette, lit only a minute ago, was now burnt entirely to ash, and Chloe lit another. Riley didn't have to ask what her dream had been of-it was Anastasia, holding a trash bag in her hands, one that was full, one that she handed over to Chloe. Chloe choked up for a moment, shaking, and even Riley had to turn his head.

Then there was the smell of burning trash bags. And burning...dear God.

They walked out of the hotel and made their way to the park, making good time (considering Chloe's current emotional state, which was now concealed behind a face of steel and a aura of "don't f*ck with me" that radiated off her in waves) to the park. They found Caden, easily enough-Riley turned his face to the wind and inhaled deeply, turning and nodding towards his direction. They walked casually, scanning surreptitiously. There he was. Looked like he was being held up by two teenagers, a boy and a girl. Heh. The irony.

"There a problem here?" Riley asked, his voice friendly and casual. His name was Nick and he could alter gravity, which was what he was holding Caden to the ground with. Her name was Faith and she had fun with electronics. His name was Caden, but he only knew from the description-Riley sensed nothing but darkness. That was...creepy. He didn't let it show, practiced friendliness on his face. "And I here I thought the people in Black Falls were friendly, eh? Let's take a step back here. My name's Rick, this is the lady friend Angela."

"Angela" smiled, which was a stretch for Chloe. The acting didn't come as naturally to her as it did for him. But, hey, the asskicking came more naturally to her. So there. "Rick maybe we shouldn't get involved-" she started.

"Aw, this is nothing to worry about. Just a little scuffle. C'mon, friend, I'll help you up." Riley took a step over to Caden and extended a hand, acting calm and confident. He didn't show any worry to Nick/gravity boy and wasn't too concerned with Faith, who was a bit nervous at the moment and wasn't in her element for fighting. If things did spark into an actual fight, they'd just scamper off and live to fight another day. Not that any metahuman present could kill them, but better not to take chances. Riley looked down at Caden, not meeting him in the eyes (because bad things tended to happen when Riley met peoples' gaze) but making his point clear. His back was turned to the other two: Been looking for you, Caden. What say you I help you up, we wander a little ways off, and talk business? Riley's superficial grin stuck on his face, and Chloe watched with feigned anxiety. Her eyes darted to the side, checking out bystanders. She'd hate to go full-force with her powers, which was...conspicuous, and that ruled out the firearm. Cops would be on top of them in seconds. She'd have to settle this the fun way, then. I will break my foot off in your ass if you touch him, boy she thought at Nick, covering her mouth with her hands to add to the "distressed ditzy girlfriend" persona. Honestly, one of these days, she was going to have Riley act like the idiot.

The Black Falls Effect isn't as interesting when it's forced, now is it?

---
The Night Before

Anastasia Krol was, indeed, in the swankiest hotel Black Falls had to offer. And you only say something is "the swankiest" if it is the damned classiest thing within a hundred miles, ya dig me baby? It was a fine hotel in the Northlands, and with a bit of accrued money from a lot of jobs, Anastasia had enough to essentially buy her own suite. The manager was rather eager to get her acclimated when he saw the kind of money she was throwing around, and dressed as she was and built like she was, there was no way it was drug money or something. I mean, how many 5'5, one-hundred-and-twenty-pounds-soaking-wet drug dealers have you heard of? The poor thing with the scarred face and mute voice, some rich girl looking to settle down. Who cared where she was from, her money backed up her credibility ten times over.

Anastasia dropped the heaviest bag down and unzipped it, checking to make sure her gear was proper. It was all there, which made her smile. She checked her weapons and the ammunition (not a lot: she didn't need much) and then looked around her suite. It was nice, classy and luxurious. Spacious, too, far more than she needed. But there was no way in hell she was about to get a roommate. Anastasia placed the prepaid phone, whose twin she gave to the other two (Oh, the Harrier and the Hound, set loose in this city. Should be fun. Hopefully they'll burn themselves out, bite off more than they can chew, and I won't have the nasty job of finishing them if they can't pay up on those debts. Caden better be packing some serious money for the bills that girl has racked up. Shame about her mother. Anastasia walked out onto the deck and surveyed the beach, water lapping against the sand. Maybe she'd go down and walk, after dark, once everyone had left. Anastasia might've been in a very nasty line of work, but she was human. She was tired of people staring at her face. She was tired of that fucking scar. Her hand traced across the flesh-mark, a protrusion from her otherwise smooth, porcelain face. She shivered, a chill running down her back, settling into her bones. If I ever find him I'm going to kill him.

A songbird was singing happily a ways away, but she couldn't discern exactly where. Confused little thing, why are you singing at night? Riley could've-the boy had senses like a bloodhound. But she wasn't babysitting those two anymore. They'd call her, sooner or later, and she'd have to bail them out of something. Which raised the question of what she would do. Anastasia didn't know much about this town, other than that there whispers of metahumans being behind every corner, here. Talk of vigilantes and beefed up, supernatural gangs. Strange occurrences. Kidnappings and murders no one could explain. And a rather lovely beach, that was nice. Anastasia went back into her room and brought the bag of firearms to the deck, where she cleaned them fastidiously, letting the breeze from the water (the water, what was that Navajo boy's real name, Tahoma or something) caress her as she wiped them clean with the rag. She could find a job, easily enough. She didn't have enough money to live off of. And killing, hell, killing was the only thing she was good at.

Anastasia Krol didn't feel like Anastasia Krol when she wiped off those guns. She felt like the Nightingale, and the armor in the bag a few feet from her beckoned to her as she checked the slide, easing it back. No one could see her, here, but still the hypervigilance gnawed at her, to check for snipers on the rooftops, to check for entryways into her room. It never let up. Until she put on the armor, snug and familiar. Until her belt was heavy and the strap dug into her chest. You're fucked up real good, Anastasia, you know that? She put the weapons back in the bag and slid it inside, in case it rained. Then she went inside, got a glass of wine, and sipped it as she watched more and more stars start to peek out from the night sky. There were no ravens around. It was a good night.

Ten stories up, leaning upon the wrought-iron suicide rail which ran around the roof of a T Rowe Price office building, the Watcher saw everything. However, today he wasn't The Watcher. At this moment, he was James Gabriel, a banker at a nearby M&T Bank building. But as the scuffle began, James' calm, almost happy face slowly transmuted into a scowl. The young of this city were pathetic, and this was a perfect showing of it. The Watcher fought for peace and sanity because of burnouts like this. James sighed, and made a 180-degree turn towards a brick smokestack atop the building. He had hoped to have spent today trying to track down Lacey, but then the other two had shown up. His powers allowed him to see the pair of new arrivals close up, and he vaguely recognized them from somewhere- he wasn't sure. James knew many people, and he could be mistaken; he had been before.

Upon arriving at the smokestack, James knelt down in front of a pile of copper-colored bricks stacked in a perfect triangular prism. Five layers into the prism was a pile of clothing; a black suit, a black fedora, still perfectly molded despite the conditions it was in, and a metal eyemask. Several moments later, the tattered veil that was James Gabriel fell away, and The Watcher appeared, placing his mask on his face and donning his hat. At the bottom of the pile was a gun, a semi-automatic Desert Eagle .44 magnum with a silencer on the end. The Watcher placed this cartoon-sized gun into a specialized holster in his suit coat, and then grabbed the second item at the bottom of his little hideaway; a short black umbrella. It wasn't raining, but its usefulness would be revealed later. He wished that he'd have had time to get some weapons from his truck, but it was already hidden and the best way to unhide it would be to walk up and take out a shotgun from the back seat while in full hero garb. He looked over at the group to make sure that they were still there, and then began to step down the fire escape, umbrella in hand.

The traffic stopped as The Watcher crossed the street, bumping past several civilians, some of which screamed in fear and some of which applauded his heroism. It was a mixed bag when you were a superhero; half the world hated you and half the world loved you. The Watcher didn't see himself as a superhero though. he was no model of society like Superman or beacon of hope like The Green Lantern. The Watcher was a guy with a gun. The difference between him and the other guys with guns, though, was that he knew where to point his.

He reached the other side of the street and walked into the park, passing Dante, who cried out and jumped back when he saw the embodiment of Death himself walk past in his best suit. Dante dropped his book and fell backwards, banging his head on the bumper of his car. He jumped back in, and drove off as soon as he could. Whenever the Watcher showed up, some serious sh*t was about to go down. The Watcher simply smirked, and made his way over to the squad of people standing around the man he now saw as Caden, a little-known pest he had heard about once before.

"Morning." The Watcher said in a deep, authoritative voice as he approached the group silently "Is there a problem over here?" His eyes wandered over to Chloe's shirt, and he scowled. He could just barely make out the phantom of a pistol at her shoulder, a bad sign. He was sure that the boy was armed as well, and Caden carrying around weapon or something wouldn't surprise him in the least. In the eyes of The Watcher, Caden was just a public pest, like mosquitoes or a rat. He hadn't much in the way of followers, and seemed to have no real way to hurt anyone but himself. The Watcher wasn't worried about Caden, he was worried about the kids who approached him.

Lacey

After the second client for the morning left, Lacey looked out of the large bay window of her office the third floor of the T. Rowe Price building moments before frequented by the Watcher to see a scuffle forming in the park. A rather shady-looking character was being cornered by two teenagers. She watched, bored as always, as Chloe and Riley approached the cornered man. She sipped at her fourth cup of coffee that morning, and kicked her feet up onto the desk. She hadn't another appointment for an hour or so, so Lacey figured she'd take in the show.

Huh. This should be good. Let me tell you what, Darth Vader, there's going to be a problem over here if you don't CENSORED off.Chloe eyed the man (who was staring at her breasts, it seemed: he was either attempting to analyze her for something or was ogling her, and she had a strong feeling which one it was. Buddy, I can still see your eyes through that mask. And that steel mask is going to hurt, sizzling against your face) and had to contain a smile. She wasn't about to ditch the ditzy facade-not quite yet-but as suspicious as their own presence had been, this man hadn't even attempted to conceal his presence. A trench coat and a steel mask? He either came out of a cosplay convention or was trying real hard to conceal something. Even if he had facial scarring of some sort, he'd have more mundane options available to him. No, this man had a flair for the dramatic. In Chloe's opinion, flairs for the dramatic tended to get people killed. Time would tell.

Still, and perhaps even noticeable, Chloe readied. Her hair and eyes twinkled slightly, the sort of barely-noticeable change you might attribute to simply "sparkling eyes" if you weren't paying extremely close attention. The golden hair rippled in the sunlight, almost seeming to take on a slightly orange tint. Chloe looked to her right and to her left-they were in the middle of a park, which didn't leave much in the way of cover. Pity. She didn't want to get shot today. But this man wasn't going to shoot either of them, if he was packing heat. He'd drawn enough attention walking around with a steel mask on his face and a fedora-even if they couldn't get his identity, it'd be a simple task to track the only person dressed like that with security cameras. No, anything this man threw at them was a bluff, and Chloe had a feeling he was counting on them not calling it. She'd play along, for now. There was no point in turning this park into the OK Corral, not yet. Her pistol was cold against her flesh, but it began to warm up. She crossed her arms-a defensive, reflexive posture most assumed when they were uncomfortable-but Chloe ever-so-subtly arranged her right hand over her left arm. She was ready to sweep it up and to the side, deflecting a punch or a gun barrel away from herself and Riley. Of course, if things did start to intensify into a conflict, they'd just scamper off. No sense in getting killed over a dead-beat with a little extra cash to spare and a couple of young lovebirds. Chloe felt the irony, at calling them that. We aren't young anymore, sweetheart. Enjoy it while you can. World has a funny way of chewing people like us up and spitting us out when we start to taste bitter.

Riley similarly went through a process of assessing the newcomer, and shifted his own position ever so slightly to place him between this man and Chloe. He smiled, keeping his eyes from locking with the masked man's. But as he grinned, he leaned forward, mentally, seeing who the man was. Called himself the Watcher. Real name, James Gabriel. He was packing heat. Might've had powers, but Riley didn't have time to delve much further before he concentrated on speaking: there were many clues one could gather without looking into someone's mind, and they were often equally, if not more, valuable.

"Everything's quite alright, actually. We were strolling by and saw this poor guy stumble over and fall, didn't know if he was hurt. Angela's in Pre-Med at UPenn, just a few miles down the road, so I thought she might be able to help if he'd broken something. Took a pretty nasty fall, there, I think these two came over to make sure he was okay, too."

Riley spoke smoothly and calmly, the words rolling off his lips as he took in the situation. Eyeing Chloe's chest, eh? Riley sensed it wasn't sexual in nature, but he felt a quiver of jealousy claw up from his gut. Riley seemed to recall talk of vigilantes in this city, and it seemed they had crossed paths with one. He wasn't too worried, of course, because even if he decided to attack them, there wasn't much he could do to them. He was confident the two of them could easily overpower a single fighter-he would normally avoid confrontation, but in this instance, leaving a vigilante pissed off would only serve to hurt them later on. No use in making enemies in this city-they were low on cash and low on allies. The Nightingale wasn't exactly the kind to be happy to dole out favors, and he'd prefer to steer clear of her for the duration of their stay in Black Falls. He wasn't...a good person. By any means. Riley had come to terms with that, with the brutal knowledge that this world isn't a fairy tale, it's a damn film noir novel, and sometimes your hands have to get a little dirty. But that woman...he suppressed a wave of nausea. Better they parted ways. Things weren't the same after that last job. Riley's smile diminished, just a little, but he still attempted to exude non-hostility and calmness. No use exacerbating the situation, although if he needed to put the fear of God into someone here, he would be more than capable. If this guy tried to get away, Riley made a mental note to try and grab his hat as he fled-he could give it to the police, it'd likely have hair follicles on it. But Riley and Chloe attempted to avoid the police whenever possible, tended to make things go far, far more smoothly.

So there they stood, a Mexican standoff with no guns drawn. Riley reached into his core and felt a sharp wave of vivacity roll through him: the breeze was crisper, sharper, and his eyes saw colors more vibrantly, distinctions more clearly. The smells of the park and the people standing (or, in Caden's case, lying) around him were amplified, and the textures of his jeans against his legs and moccasins against his feet were more intense. He was aware of the squirrel a dozen yards behind him, and the rabbit thirty yards to his right. He knew this because they knew he was there-and they were rightfully afraid. The little animals of the park, from the squirrels to the birds, started to edge back from Riley, in a way that was hardly noticeable: and who would be paying attention to the squirrels in a situation like this? No, it wasn't a conscious effort on Riley's part, but it was nonetheless satisfying. They recognized when a force of nature walked among them. My name is Tahoma. Water's Edge. You would be wise to leave this place, Watcher, because I'm not like these others. Chloe and I are a separate breed. We aren't human. We aren't meta-human. We're a cut above. There's only one person in a mask I'm apprehensive of, and you talk too much to be her. Riley wasn't carrying a gun, or even so much as carrying a pocket knife, but this was mostly due to the fact that, really and truly, he didn't need them. They got in the way. He smiled dimly, but behind it, the same steel core that refused to budge against insults to his beloved or the adamant refusal to touch the dead, the part that still respected the old traditions after all these years-it reared its ugly head. It stared right at the Watchers' mask, dead center. And it was prepared to look into his eyes, if it had to, and it would send the Watcher running if need be. These others? They weren't a terrible threat. Neither was the Watcher, for that matter. But he was determined, Riley would give him that much. Perhaps Caden was, but it was bit trickier to read him-there had been a...wall...of sorts, earlier. Draw for those guns facing Chloe and it will be the last thing you ever do, old man.

The put-on civility was being eroded quickly by the tension and severity of the situation. Riley and Chloe were rather skilled at picking up on each other's body language at this point, and they'd notice the subtle shift. That the facade was dropped, and it was time to dance. Thus far, Riley was still willing to give polite chatter a shot. He tried to catch the eyes of Nick, and convey a silent message: Perhaps you should take that girl and leave. He looked away before the shared gaze could have adverse effects.

Caden


Who the hell are all these people? And why the hell are they ruining what I had here? Caden scrowled as the two people had approached them. Followed by a third person who looked like he was up to something rather devious. This wasn't the best time for everyone to come out of the sh*tworks. Especially since he was at the moment he was too close to convincing them to let him free. Even though, he was only in this trap because he wants to be. He could easily have escaped and killed both of them. Except, he wants to milk them for any information (And potentially use them as traps) and indulge them with information about Meta-humans. The only reason he wanted to do the latter was "for fun."

The Real Shade wrote:

Been looking for you, Caden. What say you I help you up, we wander a little ways off, and talk business?

Caden has no idea who these people are--- But, he wanted to know if they are Meta-humans. There was something even more interesting about them; there's great darkness in their hearts. That was always interesting to run into people like that. Even more interesting was that they were fairly young. Around his own age people don't have darkness like them. Unless they were already thrown into such a life while they were even younger. Must have been murdering people left and right since they were little. Caden took Riley's hand and stood straight up and eyed everyone here. "Thank you, Rick... Took a little dip there while we were having a nice little chat... Everything's good."

Nonetheless, Caden didn't like to be interrupted.    Oh my. Looks can be deceiving... Rick. I was only on the ground because I want to be---I was free to stand tall whenever I please. They must not know of my true power just yet, now do they!? Caden looked around for a moment.   We can converse after I'm done here... You all are attracting even more attention--- For men like me, attention is something you don't want. Just... Scurry off and wait somewhere. I will find you.

Maxx Toron wrote:

"Morning." The Watcher said in a deep, authoritative voice as he approached the group silently "Is there a problem over here?"

Caden focused on the Watcher now. He had indeed heard of vigilantes around Black Fall. Especially one called the Watcher, he had hoped that this wasn't him. This wasn't something he needed right now. If things went badly, he would have to kill the man. It would be easy to do in fact, just stab him with a spear of darkness and run away. Except, Caden wants one thing more anything--- Ambiguity. Everyone's watching and looking. Their eyes are creeping in. If they fight here then he'll give up the one thing he wants most of all. Surprise. He wasn't sure if these two people that approached and contacted him would fight, all he was sure of was that he would kill anyone who'd dare stand against them. As whoever stood against him were enemies of change, and advancement. They would prefer if they let themselves (and humanity) stagnate. Caden stood tall and spoke in his usual grandiose and odd style, with a smile on his face, "Everything is great. Mr...? Ah, who cares. There was merely a conversation between these fine younger members of society and I tripped over something--- And my associates came to help me up..."

Caden noticed that Faith and Nick left. There goes everything that he built up. Now there was only the situation here. His eyes narrowed as his eyes peered towards "Rick" and "Angela" for a moment. He looked much more serious and determined. Then his eyes went straight to the Watcher. Ready for some action. "Now that those teens are gone... I figure that we have no more business here, now do we? Let us... Depart. This instant." Caden wasn't talking to anyone in particular, he was anxious to leave right now.

Faith smile and was just about to thank Nick when two people walked up.  Talking.  Great, just when she gets used to two people speaking to her.  Wait, they are Caden's friends?  She found the idea unlikely.  The girl- Angela, was it?- seemed kinda mean.  The guy- Rick, he had said- seemed nicer but still... Faith had finally formed the courage to speak up when yet another person walked up- this one in a mask.  It's official. Faith jut got converted. Apparently God had made a special holiday just for her called, "Make a shy girl stammer," day.  Faith's face was bright red.  So. Many. People. Talking. She looked around nervously, feeling like she was going to pass out. Even though everyone was talking casually, she could feel the tension building up. Wait, they were taking Caden? But she was curious about what he was saying about meta humans!  Faith quickly scanned the electronic devices in the area.  The Angela lady had a cheap cell phone.  She quickly had her own cellphone in her bag type the number.  Just in case. He began stammering words, trying to form a sentence.

"h-hey, um....  Y-you guys, Please calm do-" Faith was taken by surprise when Nick started pulling her away from the group.  But she was curious about what was going on- and now there was a guy in a mask involved which made everything more interesting!  He then mentioned a good point- Angela did look like the type of person who would bite your head off. She grabbed her bag from the park bench as they began walking away.

After walking a little while, she finally spoke up, "so what just happened, who was the three people, and what do they know about meta humans?" wait... Nick probably knew just as little as she did.  Faith sighed, "so where are we going?"

The Watcher smiled ever-so-gently, the biggest smile he could allow while under the mask. These two were good; telepaths, so it seemed. He remembered a story he had heard about not long ago in the criminal underground about these two; The Hound and The Harrier, a team of hitmen. He watched as the other two went, and then returned his gaze to Riley. There wasn't much he could hide from these two, so he figured he'd just skip the secrecy and speak the truth, as they already most likely knew every one of his tricks.

Ah, yes, the Hound and the Harrier. he thought You're prettier than the underground portrayed you as. The Watcher chose these words intentionally, hoping to entice jealousy in Riley. This would make The Watcher's powers stronger in the event that a fight broke out. He hoped that one wouldn't. These two weren't directly showing any threatening behaviors, besides Harrier's threats, and Caden wasn't a threat. His hand unconsciously released slack on the umbrella, and his head slowly tilted to one side in an avian fashion when Caden engaged him. This three-man showdown was now four. He looked from Caden to Riley to Chloe and back slowly, as if he were trying to read their emotions. He knew Caden didn't want a fight; the kid probably didn't have the balls to attack him, nor did he have the strength.

Look, I- Then The Watcher thought of something. The Skulls were a tough bunch; one person would have trouble beating them all. He knew he missed a few, and after his first scuffle, that Warpig guy gave him the creeps. He knew he could take Warpig and Carlos on his own, but it would be much easier with some help. I really don't want this to end badly, friends. he began once more It turns out that you both have come at a rather opportunistic time. Unlike the boy, I have what you want; money. And there's a job I could use some assistance with. The Watcher wanted to move his hand towards his gun, but knew that this would give away where it was, so he concentrated on the switchblade which he had hidden in his right sock. He brought the hand with the umbrella in it to rest at his left side, his hand sliding up the umbrella and onto its canvas, which he squeezed tightly. An act like this was extremely out of character for The Watcher, asking criminals for assistance, but he was doing many things out of character lately. There was something about this creep Caden that gave The Watcher the willies. There was something more to him, something chilling; a hint of insanity, perhaps. This kid did not look emotionally stable in the slightest.

"You're funny, kid." The Watcher said, making eye contact with Caden "You're also bad at lying." He activated his penance stare, but wasn't able to find much in the way of convincing evil. This would only cause slight irritation in his target Caden, and maybe what would feel like sunburn. Unfortunately, The Watcher could only concentrate on actions, not thoughts. This kid had many dark thoughts, but didn't act on them much, so it seemed. This whole situation distracted The Watcher some, though, so he was sure there were things that he missed.

Mr Allen J wrote:

"I think that these rich kids are @ssholes myself. I got into one major situation because of them..." Ray remembered that one war he got into because of the Valos family. That was not a nice situation. He continued, "Between you and me: I don't want to find them. But, I need to."

The way he said this perplexed Merry a bit. She leaned forward in her chair slightly. "You seem determined." She said with a slight smile. "Now we both know that I have and want nothing to do with the rich kids, but I kinda want to know your motives for messing with them." She leaned back again. "That is if you don't mind me prying in on your goals and such." Ray seemed like an interesting man, maybe interesting enough to get Merry involved with some sort of adventure.

Before Merry could even get an answer something on Rays person caught her eye. She found her eyes slowly lowering to his waist where a piece of paper sticking out of his pocket. This little scrap of paper was most likely not important to her at all, but at the same time she found it weird that she saw something so insignificant and was unable to move her eyes away.

Faith looked at Nick curiously, "the watcher?". She ha never really heard of him but she figured he was some sort of hero or something around town. Wait, eating? She was kinda hungry. Nick said he was paying. Faith shook her head, "I would feel bad i you were to pay for it all- how about we split the cost, 50/50?" she suggested. Faith had always felt bad when people did things for her since she would feel the need to pay them back. The only exception for such circumstances were her birthdays.

Faith went over the day's events in her head. Met at least two meta humans, though that one "The Watcher" guy is probably one along with the two other people. She still wondered about the girl in the wheel chair from earlier- was the Black Fall effect active when the girl said hi to her? Probably not. There seemed to be a lot more meta humans then she had ever thought. If there were as little amount of meta humans as Faith had originally believed, the probability of finding up to five meta humans at the exact same place was extremely low. That ment there must be a lot more meta humans in town. But then a lot of them might not be very nice. Faith bit her lip nervously. The Angela and Rick duo didn't seem very trust worthy. Oh, Angela! The cell phone number! Faith quickly dug through her bag and pulled out her own cell phone- an iPhone 3. She never felt like upgrading it since it would be hard to redownload all the devices she had on it.

"I got the Angela lady's number," she told Nick quietly as she held out the cell phone for him, "for... I dunno.... Just in case, I guess?" now that she was explaining why she felt stupid. The last thing she wanted was to call Angela. Then again she reeeeaaaally wanted to know more about meta humans so if she eve got desperate then she might use it.

Riley's brand of telepathy wasn't as focused as, say, Professor X's. It was a rough, crude mechanism, the difference between smacking someone with a sledgehammer and delivering a gentle poke. As such, the whirlwhind of thoughts (and the fear, sweet and aromatic, the tense kind that just barely started to bubble up under the surface) between Nick, Faith, and The Watcher mostly passed him by. He caught rough snippets of conversation, vague notions and intentions, but not the full dialogue. He picked up on a job offer from the Watcher-which made him seriously wonder if there was a dress code attached, because the Watcher's ensemble wasn't going to fly with Riley. Curiously, Caden's thoughts were veiled to him, which made him assume the boy had some immunity to psychic abilities. It was of no concern-Riley was confident he and Chloe could either evade or crush him if he attempted to harm them, regardless of what his powers were. Riley kept a close eye on the Watcher's umbrella, although he didn't think there was anything significant to it.

Ah, just that. A diversion. Clever. Riley kept his eye away from the umbrella, instead, preferring to be bludgeoned by a parasol rather than stabbed with a knife or shot. None of them could kill him, but the latter two weren't exactly pleasant. As for being beaten with an umbrella? Hey, some people are into that sort of thing. Don't judge. Riley, however, was starting to grow weary of the double-talk and the masked intentions. The Watcher seemed least subtle of all of them-the only relief he'd gotten was from Nick and Faith leaving, which was good-he didn't want any collateral damage if a fight broke out. Poor girl looked absolutely terrified, and he had the feeling Nick hadn't been in a lot of standoffs. Hopefully, they'd distance themselves from what could potentially become ground zero.

"A bad liar? And here I thought the people of Black Falls were hospitable."

"Why don't we just cut the bullshit, Rick," Chloe interrupted, making him smile softly. Love, patience is not one of your strengths, do you know that? "Neither of them are going to do anything. Neither of them CAN do anything. We're in a park full of witnesses and I have a feeling walking around in a mask and a trench coat doesn't earn this jackass a lot of favors with the cops. They find him here with a couple of teenage kids-" Clever, Chlo, clever, that was a nice touch "and they'll keep him until they have to let him go. Assuming, of course, he's not doing something stupid like carrying an illegal firearm. And if that trenchcoat has a hole in the pocket they might want to see what kind of stuff he has back at his apart-"

"That's enough," Riley said, his voice stern but devoid of anger. It was difficult to get too irritated at Chloe, or so Riley thought. Many others did share this opinion. "You phrased it rather bluntly, but it's true. Watcher, don't try anything. Likewise, Caden. I'd prefer to keep things civil, and I'll give you my word-" but not Chloe's "I won't start anything. But I'll bury your asses in the shadow of George Washington over there if you draw for a gun or try anything."

Riley cut his eyes at Chloe, who nodded. She was standing, readied and tense, like a cat about to pounce. A small smirk had tugged at the edges of her lips, and her teeth were bared ever so slightly in a cold grin. Her arms were crossed, ready to dart under her shirt and draw the Beretta if needed. But she'd be a good little girl for now. Her ponytail swayed gently, as if pushed by a breeze, but there wasn't one in the park. Her hair darkened slightly, as did her irises, and Riley felt the warmth from her skin a foot away. She eyed the nearest parkgoers, and was pleased to see none of them were close. Perhaps they recognized the tense situation, perhaps they were lucky as hell and chose a nice spot to walk their dogs that day. Regardless, she could cut loose without killing any bystanders. The cops, for some reason, were far less inclined to go after someone that killed a criminal than they were a killer of innocents. Not to mention she wasn't really interested in murdering random people-in particular, a little girl tugging at her mother's hand caught her eye. For a second, the sound of rushing water and the pungent smell of burning plastic and burning something else and the way a trash bag looks when its being vaporized in a blast of fire and heat and the way the Nightingale stared, soulless and dark, from behind that fucking mask. She snapped back to reality with a blink of her almost-white yellow eyes, which matched her hair perfectly. How stylish.

"Now, this isn't how I envisioned our conversation developing, but such is life," Riley continued. He was the orator out of the two of them, preferring to at least try and negotiate before cutting loose. Chloe would've rather just broken one of their arms and sent out a message real quick-like to the denizens of Black Falls regarding their presence, but hotheadedness was not always the best course of action. Or so Riley kept telling her. "We're here to do business, the specifics of which are best discussed behind locked doors and not in parks full of small children and such lovely statues." Some of the detail on those statues is really quite incredible-it's like I can SEE the genocide on most of them

It would've been so fitting if his shoes were pressed into a dusty Western road and a tumbleweed rolled by. And it had to be high noon, of course, with the townsfolk peering out from windows with hushed curiosity. "I'd be amazed if either of you were truly honest with me, but I imagine neither of you came to the park this morning for a polite stroll, either."

Chloe wasn't entirely sure where Riley was going with this-announcing what they were was a very, very poor move in her mind. However, she thought she saw where he was getting at. If Caden was smart enough to to pick up on part of it, but not all of it, he'd realize they were coming to him as a kind of offer, a sign of his influence and prestige. Subtle flattery. Too smart and he'd realize what they were really trying to do, of course. And as for the masked man, he had a certain similarity to Black Falls' hometown vigilante, the one they'd heard of. Interesting. Come to take us in, sheriff? Unfortunately, they didn't take Bonnie and Clyde in that easy. It would either goad him to attack them, then and there, or perhaps frighten him off. She didn't think a guy that beat up criminals in some Pennsylvanian town was really on their level, but perhaps The Watcher had more faith in himself than Chloe did.

Regardless, it was going to be interesting.

(The mood totally called for this)

So, there they were; four killers, all four most likely armed to the teeth, and all four with meta abilities. It was like a game of chicken now; who would blink first? The girl was obviously armed now, and he was sure that the Hound was too. Caden, he wasn't sure about, but the kid looked like he knew more than The Watcher assumed he did. That's assumptions, I guess. They make an ass of you and me. Unfortunately, for the other three combatants in this standoff, The Watcher didn't blink.

His violet eyes now moved to meet Chloe's and as eye contact was established, he began to pick apart all of the crimes she'd committed lately; every murder, every thievery; and there was a lot of sh*t to go through. He didn't want to actually damage her psychologically yet, just punish her for threatening the sheriff in town. He no longer spoke, and instead focused on her eyes. They were a strange color; strange, yet pretty with that yellowish hue to them which matched her hair. The violet glow of his eyes under the mask became brighter as the stare intensified. It would be so incredibly easy to kill her right now. A laser blast in both eyes would blind her long enough to draw his gun and pop a few bullets in her chest. The Hound would be the problem, considering he would be able to tell what was happening before it happened. The Watcher wasn't sure what Chloe's power was, but if she was dumb enough to get in a standoff with a man who could kill someone with a plastic spork, he seriously doubted that her power involved anything mental. The other guy was smart, but this girl wasn't exactly the sharpest tool in the shed.

The Watcher didn't push it, however much he wanted to kill the girl. The crimes that flashed past his eyes didn't intimidate him (or if it did, he wouldn't admit it) but he realized quickly that this duo wasn't something he wanted to mess with. He was sure he could beat them in a fight, but there'd definitely be collateral, and he'd probably get injured, meaning that he would be unavailable to protect the city for several months while his injuries healed. Plus, these two would be much better allies than they would enemies. He pushed one thought almost to the point of speaking it, hoping Riley would pick up on it.

I don't want a fight. Call off your girlfriend.

Caden


Caden's eyes narrowed as a creepy smile on par with (movie) serial killers crept on his face. He pushed his glasses back on his face. He listened, with an murderous intent deep inside of him. He was always ready to kill some fool that got in his way, this man, whether he was the Watcher or not, was no different. In Caden's eyes he's just some moron who thinks that taking crime-fighting into his own hands will make any difference. The only real problem was that people were watching, and he still wants ambiguity above all else at the moment. In the eyes of the public; he's just a stranger who's found an even stranger place. Murdering vigilantes would not help that. It'd be better if all of them just left... Well, he wanted a conversation with "Rick and Angela." Caden is smart. Really smart. Smart enough to easily tell when two people with immense darkness welling up inside of them just happen to come along and help. This was more than the work of the Black Fall effect. Yes that must be it. These people were probably looking for him for some reason (Their immense darkness told him that it was likely malicious). Even though there's very few people who even know who he is. Caden lived life on his own, he wasn't going to simply trust these people for no reason. The chance that they were trying to kill him is very high. It would be impossible for them to just defeat Caden in one swoop. He was too strong to simply get killed by a bullet through the chest, or a blow to the head. It takes power on his level to even come close. He decided to focus on getting this situation resolved. He had the feeling that this wouldn't be the end of it if he just leaves.

Maxx Toron wrote:

"You're funny, kid." The Watcher said, making eye contact with Caden "You're also bad at lying."

"You know what they say..." Caden smirks fiendishly, he focused on the Watcher, "... I'm just so f*cking hysterical... This whole scene is, you know." It became clear that the Watcher wasn't going to leave anytime soon. That annoyed Caden more than anything. He wanted to just leave and find this kidnapper already.

The Real Shade wrote:

"Why don't we just cut the bullshit, Rick," Chloe interrupted, making him smile softly. Love, patience is not one of your strengths, do you know that? "Neither of them are going to do anything. Neither of them CAN do anything. We're in a park full of witnesses and I have a feeling walking around in a mask and a trench coat doesn't earn this jackass a lot of favors with the cops. They find him here with a couple of teenage kids-" Clever, Chlo, clever, that was a nice touch "and they'll keep him until they have to let him go. Assuming, of course, he's not doing something stupid like carrying an illegal firearm. And if that trenchcoat has a hole in the pocket they might want to see what kind of stuff he has back at his apart-"

Caden grasped his chin and started lightly stroking it as Chloe stopped being subtle and went all out. He was being honest with himself when he said that this brought him great amusement. He started chuckling as she spoke, trying his best to hold it in, "Haha... Hahahaha....." This could easily be the turning point in this development. A fight could break out any moment, and Caden would love it. He quietly readied himself. He was very skilled and knowledgeable in his darkness powers. A perk of this was that he has invented several techniques using his powers. One technique was transforming into his darkness form while fully appearing human. It was a hard trick to learn, yet easy to master once he figured it out. A ripple quickly spread throughout his body. Every inch of his body under the outer layers of his body converted into darkness. His insides were turned into darkness, and he still appeared completely normal. If he was attacked, anything would go right through him. Those fools at the school always told me that creativity is your greatest weapon. All they would notice is that his body ripped lightly like water and looked like it was full of a thick-liquid. Caden stood ready in case anyone attacked him--- If they had the gall.

The Real Shade wrote:

"That's enough," Riley said, his voice stern but devoid of anger. It was difficult to get too irritated at Chloe, or so Riley thought. Many others did share this opinion. "You phrased it rather bluntly, but it's true. Watcher, don't try anything. Likewise, Caden. I'd prefer to keep things civil, and I'll give you my word-" but not Chloe's "I won't start anything. But I'll bury your asses in the shadow of George Washington over there if you draw for a gun or try anything."

More or less what Caden was thinking. All he wants to do is get back to those kids and indulge them. It would be difficult to go back to that task, however. Their darkness was lost in the crowd of people that formed. It's hard for him to keep track of people unless he concentrates hard on it. One thing he could concentrate on were the people around him, he was focusing on their immense darkness. If they even move towards him he'll impale them on a spear of darkness. He had hoped that it wouldn't come to that just yet. He spoke in the most polite and civil way possible, "I would love to get across that I do not wish for conflict... At least this early. But, that doesn't mean I won't defend myself if you dare attack."  --- Or stand in my path any longer.... I'll give you an honorable death in battle. Haha.

The Real Shade wrote:

"Now, this isn't how I envisioned our conversation developing, but such is life,"

Caden's eyes peered towards Riley again. "This certainly is not how I imagined it either. However, I get the feeling we wouldn't be doing too much talking..." Caden said to everyone again. His eyes went back towards the Watcher.

The Real Shade wrote:

"We're here to do business, the specifics of which are best discussed behind locked doors and not in parks full of small children and such lovely statues."

This essentially cemented Caden's idea that they all didn't meet by accident. He smirked again. "Business huh...?" He says near sarcastically. My only business here is trying to find out this kidnapper. I'm starting to... suspect there's an ulterior motive here, oh my.  Riley was basically nurturing Caden's idea that they were up to something at this point

The Real Shade wrote:

"I'd be amazed if either of you were truly honest with me, but I imagine neither of you came to the park this morning for a polite stroll, either."

Caden was wising up to what was going on rather fast, these people must be up to something, and Caden was going to be on the short end of the stick here. That was funny. Him being on the short end of anything. He closed his eyes and a massive open-mouth smile crept up on his face. "I was here minding my business before you all arrived..." Caden's eyes opened, "Because I find it very interesting that I've barely been in town for no more than a month and strange duos somehow know my name and have already tracked me down... Aaaaand they know my name. Off the top of my head, I have only spoken to twelve people here." He spoke in a inappropriately sarcastic tone. It gets across what he's getting at. Caden then spoke quietly under his breath, if anyone paid enough attention they would hear it, "It gets even more interesting since you two kind individuals have such immense darkness in your hearts..." Caden said to Riley and Chloe, hoping to excite a response in them.

Caden started loudly crackling, as he spoke in an insanely amused tone, "Because there must something wrong here if you're deluded enough to believe I would be so daft to just blindly go along without even questioning?! Is that so? Let's start being really honest here, Rick and Angela. What do you really want from me?" Caden said, he had plenty more to say, but he already gotten his point across.



Charles

Suiting song:

"C'mon, man. You must know something!" Charles said to his friend, David, in a worried tone.

"Nah, man. Told you everything I know." David crosses his leg and looked annoyed. They were at this for minutes now and David was starting to get annoyed.

"I need to find her. Your older sister was hanging out with Nell last night, right?"

"Yeah, but like I told you forty times. She said that yo' sista' split off before she left." David rolls his eyes up into his head.

The scene took place in his friend's David's house. A dingy house on the East-side part of Black Fall. While it was in common sense not to go anywhere near the East-side. He wanted to find out something important. His adopted sister Nell -Who he was extremely close to- went missing along with the large amount of other people that were suspected to be kidnapped. The investigators weren't turning up anything--- While it broke every rule of ordinary common sense, he was taking things into his own hands. It wasn't too much of an issue since he's far from an ordinary human. Being a Blackmore, he has the power to copy powers--- Except he puts the powers he copies into objects and stores them inside. That gave him near infinite potential. That was all the motivation he needed to go against all logic that told him to stay out of this.

His friend, David. An African-American teen around Charles's age that enjoys music as much as he did. David was a slightly over-weight fellow that had an interesting attire on constantly. He dressed up like a hippie and always had music blasting out of his headphones. The pair were in David's living room, it wasn't the best living room that Charles has ever seen. With his friend being of the lower-class. They were sitting in wooden chairs in the middle of the room both facing each other. Charles was wearing a light-tan sweater with a pattern of horizontal lines. Over that sweater was a dark-blue vest, with several chest pockets full of random items off the street (three of which Powers stored inside of them, the rest were for if he runs into a Meta-human) which jiggled as he walked. Charles wore blue jeans, which were tattered and held up by a large black belt. He wore a black artist beret on his head, slanted to the side, and round glasses on his eyes. It gave him the "artist" vibe--- Which was fitting since he technically is a Musical Artist, just not a very well known one. He wore white Nike sneakers with red highlights and were slightly pointed at the tip. On his fingers were several rings (Of various metals) that's apart of his "collection."

Charles slanted his head and put his hands over his face, "Jesus, man. If you're not going to help I might as well just leave." Charles hissed at David.

"Fine, man." David huffed, and pointed at the front door to his house, "The door's right there."

Charles stood straight up, and scowled. The collection in his pockets jingled as he started matching towards the exit. He opened up the front door to David's house and closed the door behind him, peering his head halfway through to look back. He heard the click of the door being locked behind him (Obviously by David). Looks like I'm back to step one... It's not fun being in situations like this. People you love are missing, and it appears that no one gives a d*mn and you're out on your own. That was the life that Charles was living right now. While his older Brother and Sister were off--- Doing whatever the hell that they do--- He was all alone here. He growled and tilted his head downwards as he looked angry (Anger, which was directed at his situation), sliding his hands into his pockets.  He started walking down the streets of the Eastside of Black Fall. Not a pleasant place, especially for someone like him. There were people moving around him, doing everything that they pleased. Whether it was legal or not, people in this part of town ignored the law. He can defend himself if attacked. Right now he just wanted to be alone. The best way to be alone was not to be seen.

Digging into the pockets of his vest, Charles produced a green-colored, Dora the Explorer toy watch, and held it tightly in his hands. Something that would confuse people if he's seen with it. He had a certain power inside of this watch. The power of invisibility (Or something like that). He stopped dead in his tracks for a minute and looked around to see if anyone noticed him.  There was a small group of three women much older than him walking. They exchanged glances as they walked around the young Blackmore. He grabbed the watch tightly, a green energy like electricity came out of the watch and went into his body. Before it disappeared from sight. He now has the power of Blindspot Expansion in his hands. In the heat of the moment, he just disappeared out of thin air, no one noticed him. While this power wasn't true invisibility, it was close enough to it. Whoever looked at him wouldn't see a thing since he has a field around him. It enshrouded him in people's blind spots, which made him invisible to the world. Just how he liked it. Charles started walking away from the scene. His house was on the other side of Town, and the only thing he could talk about was his worries and how he feels so alone and helpless. The one place where Charles wanted to be was the park.

After one long invisible march, he arrived at the first entrance to the park he saw. The second he was through the gates, he dived into the bushes. He deactivated his powers, allowing him to be seen. He didn't put his power back into the watch just yet. He might need it in a few. Charles started walking out of the bushes, and looked around. So many faces here, families, friends, just people, all enjoying this morning... What time is it? Doesn't matter. Something had caught his eye. There appeared to be some sort confrontation going on. There was some tall stranger with dreadlocks on the ground, a girl who looked scared out of her mind, some unremarkable boy--- Soon approached by two teens that looked much older than himself, and some weirdo in a trench-coat and facial mask. He had missed what started it, all that mattered was that there was a crowd of people forming to watch. Charles quickly joined the group of people (Merely out of curiosity) to watch. He was standing in the back of the crowd, since he didn't want to be front and center in case... Things get violent. Charles couldn't make out anything at all, and he wanted to fix that. It was a bit out of character, but he moved to the back of the crowd again, and covered himself in the human blind-spot. Making him invisible again. He waded through the crowd (Hoping not to touch anyone, while he can't be seen, people can still touch him). He walked a little bit closer, trying to hear things... At this point their conversation was about god knows what, and the first two kids that were with Caden had walked away.  

In this situation, Charles would have been long gone. There was something he wanted to know, though. What was going on here was one of those many questions. Charles took a few steps back and decided the only two that he could really talk to about this were the two teens that were with him from the start. He stepped towards the back of the crowd, out of sight again. He dropped his Blind-spot shield and could be seen again. Now that he could have proper conversation he walked over to the pair (Faith and Nick) and immediately spoke once they were close enough.

"Um, hey. What was going on back there?" Charles hesitantly asked the pair about Caden. Hopefully they won't think he's odd or like Caden back there. "Those weirdos looked a bit crazy, Don't you think?"




Ray

Dragonbud wrote:

"You seem determined." She said with a slight smile. "Now we both know that I have and want nothing to do with the rich kids, but I kinda want to know your motives for messing with them."

"Yeah I'm very determined." He said to himself. For a moment, Ray stood quiet. He was unsure of what to say. It would be very difficult to word this without giving away his next step. Though, like he told himself before, this girl... Merry, has no relations to his family. He was conflicted about what to tell her. Whether he should be overly paranoid (About something not worth it), or naive was the issue here. It was a few (obvious) seconds of silence, which made the situation awkward. He decided to say something, "Well. I need to ask them a few questions about something..." That something is this Sparrowdale school... Stuffed in his pocket were a few letters from the school that he recovered from his vase, some were sticking out. He would have brought the entire vase, but that wouldn't end well if he's seen walking around with a (possibly stolen) vase. It was interesting, all of the sudden he knew the Meta-human status of several people. Some people he knew, some he didn't. He wasn't in the least bit interesting in seeking out these people--- But, he was going to keep a few these letters for himself. Get rid of the rest, if they didn't reach their intended host then they weren't meant to be. Ray looked around for a second, just to see if there's anyone around. When his gaze returned to Merry, he noticed that she was staring at the letter that was sticking out of his pocket. Ray had opened up every last letter and looked at them--- Wait....

The realization crept into Ray's head. "Hey Merry... What's your last name?" He recalled seeing her name in there--- If he can just confirm her Meta-human status.




Sage


Something caught Sage's attention. While it was sitting on the hidden inlet, it heard a loud splash. Loud like something big landing in the water, as far as it was concerned there was no such fish big enough to make something like that. Someone had to have made a splash that loud. Sage stood straight up, and took a few steps forward so that it could get a better look at things. It saw a large fish in the water. Which also seemed to be rather, out of place... Then it remembered that he met the Frillerfang last night, and it could be likely that she was here too. It could just be anything really, but Sage wasn't just going to let this opportunity slide by. An orb of light formed in front of it, and it put it's gentle hands around the orb. The light started glowing brighter and brighter until it was extremely bright. Once it reached critical brightness, Sage destroyed the orb. Leaving nothing but the usual light. Hopefully, if it was the Frillerfang, she would notice him. If anyone else (undesired) approached then he could just disappear.