Academy 218 - IC (Act 6: Reverence and Inspirational Misery)

Merry felt an incredible weight lifted from herself as the power cuffs were suddenly deactivated. Merry frantically tried to remove her cuffs, often finding herself tangled within the chains. Eventually she got fed up with them, the weight of them making her wrists ache. Merry took a deep breath, focusing her powers on the chains. Soon they began to float, ever so slightly, off of her wrists. From there it was much easier to remove her hands from them. She rubbed her wrists, keeping her head low as she looked around the room at the current chaos. Man this place was going to hell, and Merry was scared.

The changelings were bringing new things to the table and things were getting more and more dangerous. Merry kept herself low, as to either try and keep herself out of the view of the changelings and to keep out of the way of flying projectiles. Merry wished she knew what to do, but found herself unable to think of anything fast. Her powers were too weak, to underdeveloped, to do anything substantial to the changelings. So once again, Merry found herself being the damsel. She suddenly felt anxious. What if they came towards her and Lily? Merry whispered to herself, saying if she was able to get out of this alive she would practice more.

She then heard a familiar voice above her, Jesse. Merry found herself returning the excited smile to her friend. She then directed herself to Lily, feeling relieved tears in her eyes. Personal space be damned! Merry, despite their danger, Wrapped her arms around Lily, just thankful to see her friend was out.

Jackson

The cuff fell off his neck he realized his powers were back,sinews and muscles in his arms enlarged and with a mighty jerk he ripped off the links connected to his cuffs. He considered running for a moment just bolting out of there as fast as his legs could go,but then he realized he could do something he could help! He wasnt going to let more people get hurt,let these sick bastards get away with what they,ve done.He stood fully up a a bony stone-like cone erupted from the flesh around his neck forming a protective "cone" around his neck and part of his face,massive spikes erupted from his arms his hands transformed into round spheres spikes erupted from from the areas,sharp thick spikes. he ran straight at the Gigglers brandishing his mace-like hands he smashed at their smiling creepy faces his technique was clearly just "Hit them until they stay down". Not very flashy but effective.

Ene
-

The moment her collar fell off Ene began to sob. She didn't care about the fact that they were being rescued right now. She just wanted to forget. She wanted to forget it all and she wouldn't. She hated her power so so much. For her being able to use her power right now... It was like being offered food when starving, only not being able to eat it since it is poisoned. Sure, it is a dramatized version of it... But she found it fitting. Ene buried her face in her knees as she continued to weep.

Then suddenly she heard someone. Evelyn Brown. Her name? It had been a while since she heard her actual name. Ene slowly looked up to see a girl of Asian descent. She watched in shock as the girl freed her from the shackles. It was enough to get her mind off the idea of forgetting everything. She hesitated a moment before speaking up.

"I, um... I prefer Ene, uh.... Who are you?"

-
Mina
-

Mina almost immediately felt fatigue as her collar fell off. Sleep... Sounded so good right now. Wait, no! Ray is dying right now- she can't sleep. Mina looked back at Ray- how did Rush get freed?- and bit her lip.

"I-idot... You better not die," she choked out. Really she felt guilty about the situation- here Ray was, dying, and he had saved her life before. And yet she did nothing to save him. Mina suddenly tasted iron. She had bit her lip so hard it broke skin. She sighed and looked nervously around the room. They needed a healer.

And by some miracle, a random girl approached and said she could help. Mina stared in shock before for once giving a grateful smile, "Thank you." She was quiet for a moment before adding, "Now someone get me out of these chains."

(Sorry about short post. I'll post as the others later but right now I'm at a church thingy)

Carmen 'Lily' Santo.


"Thank god you've came, Jess! We would have been screwed otherwise." Lily was somewhat excited by the fact that she was finally free from these cuffs... Only for the harsh reality of the situation to quickly bare down on her. The exits were quickly being closed, they had summoned creatures that seemed to be impeccable, and some of the Changelings were going on the offensive themselves. Not all of the students were combat capable, and required defending themselves. Jesse couldn't turn his apparitions on all of them. And worst of all, all the escape routes are being closed. They needed an edge... A boost of some sorts.

Lily awkwardly slid the glove off her hand, halfway taking it off. Wondering if she should supercharge someone here... Not anyone, someone she knew, and someone she could trust. The one person she thought of was Merry, her ability to manipulate weight, boosted times ten - A very lethal combination. As scary as the idea was... Using her deep dark secret to save everyone, and how easily Lily could make a mistake and everyone would be paying for it. In truth, there was no choice. Really. Lily knew that her life, and the lives of everyone around them were worth far more than her secret. She took her glove all the way off. She turned to Merry saying, "Look, Merry, I know this might be dangerous-" That's underestimating it a bit. "-but, I have to charge you. It might be the only way we'll make it out of this." Lily put out her hand for Merry to grab onto it. "... Because I trust you more than anyone."

Lily noticed a very faint source of the Meta-human energy creeping up from the ceiling...


Jake Vin, Gabriela Mya, & Jaska Din Valos.


Getting burned was a pain sharper and more intense than any other, even though Gabe has conditioned herself to tolerate such intense heats. Which was why going all out with her laser beams was a test for Gabe. At this point, her hands were on fire themselves. While she was resistant to temperature based damage, there was a limit, and she sure as hell was pushing herself past that limit. She was firing off lasers that were cleaving through the Gigglers like they were nothing. Unlike the others that turned into a liquid, the Gigglers killed by her lasers merely disappeared into nothing. Not a thought was given to as to why they were being destroyed like that. She just kept giving it to them. She quickly swept lasers acrossed left and right, and they were dropping like flies. But, no matter how many she killed, more kept coming.

Jake stood a healthy distance away from Gabe (To avoid getting burned himself). He was giving everyone some defense. Since Abe no longer had to worry about the acid, the illusion was dispelled, almost right before Abe launch quite a fearsome attack on the Gigglers and Dreamwalker. Though, he doubted it'd do anything to keep the Gigglers down for good. He can now delegate his full attention to helping everyone else. Jake created illusory barriers of metal around Jaska, around Ray (And those helping him), and around Jasmine and Ene. Of course, there was so much he could do himself, he still needed to protect himself. At the corner of his eye, he noticed Acid-Scar using the Gigglers to obscure his movements, as he rushed towards Titus. Unleashing a full blast of acid that surely would do some damage to him. Jake could have done the same thing he did to help Abe... But.... Save yourself, asshole. Jake silently said to Titus, leaving him to his fate, whatever it may be.

"We need to get Jaska out!" Gabe reminded him, snapping him out of his focus. They need to save their little dragon. Crap.

"Alright." Jake said, quickly running over to Jaska, followed by Gabe, who was taking pot shots at the Gigglers as she ran her ass off. The shackles around Jaska were no different from everyone elses. With one well placed laser, the shackles were broken off. Allowing them to pull them off, and pull Jaska out of there.  

Even with his powers back, the young beast wasn't particularly happy, because now . Watching all this bloodshed and chaos was something else entirely. He was experiencing a fear unlike any other. Unlike the fear he shows towards himself. He gave into his instincts, and let the beast take over. When he felt someone grab onto him, he didn't think, he simply attacked. He swung around full circle, claws out. He felt his claws make contact with someone, and felt the familiar feeling of flesh being curled and dirtying his claws with blood.

But the familiar scream of pain filled his ear. It was someone whom he knew. Gabe.

"Hey, hey, hey!" Jake got Jaska's attention by shouting, putting a hand . "It's okay, it's okay! It's us!"

It had knocked him back to his senses, he realized what he had done. The five slashes deep into Gabe's midsection that were oozing blood. "O-oh, I'm so s-sorry!" He apologized. Hanging his head in guilt.

"It's okay, it's okay, I'm only going to bleed to death!" Gabe hisses through her teeth. This wasn't the first (Or last) time she's been cut. She knows how to handle it, even though it hurt worse than setting herself on fire shooting lasers. Her hand was surrounded in a shell of burning hot lasers. She gulped, before she pressed her hand against the wound. She screeched in pain as the sickening sizzle of flesh burning filled their ears, but the sound could barely be heard over the sound of the battle. Gabe pulled her hand back, the wound was burned closed. That's gonna scar...

There were more pressing matters to attend to now. There's still plenty of Gigglers to go around. Even with everyone doing their best to kill them, they kept getting back up. Gabe was easily the best the students had to kill them. Now that they had Jaska they had even more means to cut down the Gigglers.

Gabe assumed one of her karate stances, the front stance. Her hands glowing with blinding laser lights. She spoke to Jaska, "Listen, baby, ya' have to use that fire of yours to help us. Set those things on fire." She pointed her hand at the Gigglers, as they made their approach.

"I..." The fear of the situation was still bearing down a heavy load onto Jaska. "... I don't think I c-can do it!" He admitted. These creatures.

"Yes you can. You've done it before. Just..." I hate to be cliche "... Believe in yourself."

Okay. Doubt, fear, and a reluctance to use his own ability was holding him back. His hands were engulfed in raging flames, like a torch. They were hotter and far more intense than regular flames, and the light from them reflected off the walls. He pointed his hands at the largest crowd of Gigglers, and unleashed a powerful jet of fire. The heat quickly traveled, and make the area around it sting. Any of the Gigglers in the way were destroyed instantly without a trace.

Gabe quickly joined in and let off a salvo of lasers. Cleaving through the Gigglers.

The combined heat from both Gabe and Jaska letting loose with their powers was too much for Jake. He had to retreat further away from them, if his illusions defending the students were going to be kept up and running.


Drake Deltori Blackmore vs Flashbang.


"Titus..." Drake muttered quietly. While he didn't like Titus (It was less of pure dislike, and more that he was annoyed by him). In these times, it didn't matter whether or not they had grudges, only that they were willing to put them aside. If Titus was, Drake was. "There's still a few kids needing to get out." He pointed at Mina, "Help that girl get out. I have my own thing to do." Drake changed into his plasma form. No flashy transformations this time, he merely ignited like a match. The Changelings stopped going after Abe, and focused their efforts on the students. Which was bad. Since there were people trying to get everyone out, Drake felt his 'talents' could be better suited for fighting them, buy everyone else some time to get free. Then come up with a plan to get out of here. Metal can't do much to withstand thousands of degrees worth of plasma.

Drake floated up into the air, and charged at Acid-Scar and Primitive Light, getting ready to simply explode in their faces. That'd be a quick and easy way to kill them.  Once he got close however, a portal opened up in his path. It was so close, and he was going so fast, that it was next to impossible to dodge, or react in time. He was transported to the other side of the room... Directly into a wall. He fortunately managed to brace himself and throw his arms in front of his face. Managing to stop from getting seriously injured, but it still hurt him like hell. Underneath the plasma, there was black bruises.

Flashbang was keeping Drake away from them, as he was a huge threat to the group. Though, Primitive Light could have easily trumped him with her power. It was simple as opening up a few portals to keep him distanced away from the action.

That was annoying. Still, Drake has too much determination to possibly give up now. He turned around, still in pain, and this time, he moved back towards the students at a slower pace. So he still has time to react.

Flashbang took advantage of this. She opened up another portal directly in front of him, then directly behind him. Then one to left, and another to his right. Before he could react, she opened a portal directly above and below him. Effectively trapping him.

Drake had to fly to avoid getting locked in the infinite portal loop.


The Changeling Unit.


Once a Giggler was 'killed' (By a physical attack), it dissolved into a green liquid. A liquid that was consumed by another Giggler, causing it to absorb it's fallen brother's mass. Quickly undergoing something that could easily be described as mitosis. The Giggler split in half, effectively resurrecting it's fallen brother, continuing the onslaught. While even more of them entered the room.

In truth, the Gigglers were merely distractions and meat shields for the rest of the Unit. To give them leeway, but also tiring their enemies out trying to destroy them.

Charging headon in a fight with the Gigglers will be something that Jackson would surely regret. Sure he managed to get a few hits in, but their bodies were resistant to physical attacks. It would only bounce off, or not do anything at all to him. The Gigglers quickly ganged up on Jackson. Launching a barrage of wild punches, bites, or just slamming into him with their bodies.

It was not the smartest idea for Ariella to call out that she was a healer. Because now Primitive Light made a target out of her. One bolt of lightning, and the girl would be dead. The same screaming assaulted Primitive Light before she could begin her attack on the students. Unlike Heartbreaker, Primitive Light was far more hardened to damage. She was surely under attack, dropping to her knees, covering her ears, but she was not determined to let this hinder her. She aimed for Ariella, pointing a hand at them. Charging up electricity, which would have been easier if she wasn't under attack.

Acid-Scar decided to take out the people who have the potential to get more people free. Since if they're taken out of the picture, everyone who isn't chained up would be dead. He saw a giant guy... Obviously has super strength from the way he's tossing around chains and killing Gigglers. It made him an easy target. Acid-Scar's body was covered in a purple acid from head to toe. He pointed both arm at Titus, and fired off a stream of acid that would surely melt him, giving him a painful death.

The Dreamwalker was attempting to figure out who was behind these mental attacks on the group. That presented a bit of difficulty, as he was multitasking here. Even though he was a top-tier telepath, there was so much he could do at once. He quickly skimmed over the thoughts of the students, ignoring those whose thoughts didn't match up with what he was looking for. Until he found what he was looking for. Jesse Sutor. He also learned that he was behind the attack on Heartbreaker. Dreamwalker wasted no time in warning the rest of the unit. Kill that boy this instant! He is torturing our allies! Dreamwalker was completely unprepared for Abe's attack. If he wasn't so preoccupied, he would have avoided it. The spikes dug their way into his body, one went through his chest, cleaving an enormous hole through it. Instead of killing him however... There was simply a hole through his body, there were no exposed organs nor was there a drop of blood.  A 'crack' in Dreamwalker's body had formed, starting from the top of him, going down to the bottom of his robe. This crack could be seen from both sides. It implied that he didn't even have a body.

At least, not a normal one.

This was annoying. The spires were telekinetically ripped from the Dreamwalker's body, and lazily dropped to the ground. It was time that he stopped playing Abe's game, and started playing his own game... A game not about strength, more of mental hardening and conditioning that only another telepath could obtain. Dreamwalker launched an assault on Abe's mind. Flooding his mind with a barrage of random thoughts. The point was that it was more thoughts than an average mind could possibly handle. It would be hard for him to even think straight, or even discern his thoughts from what the Dreamwalker was implanting.

When the message was relayed to the Mannequin, he decided to take out the boy himself. Flashbang teleported him to the ceiling, where he clinged onto and climbed around it like he was a bug. He quickly climbed on the side of the wall. Until he was in range of Jesse, and pushed off the wall, with his blades out. Ready to deliver a quick death to Jesse.

At this point, Count Vicious was halfway finished with closing off the exits to the chamber. In a few more minutes, it'd be nigh-impenetrable. Which means that everyone but the Changeling Unit would be screwed. As they'd get overwhelmed by either the Unit, or the Gigglers first.

Bloodsucker.

Spoiler:

How delightful another kid thought he'd be a hero.

The last one was on the verge of death, and resigning to her fate... Of course a 'white knight' would weasel his way into her death ceremony... None the less, Bloodsucker's gut was penetrated with a spear. While that would have been a fatal attack, if done to anyone else, all it did was annoy Bloodsucker. However, Neal made one fatal mistake; he made a mess. Bloodsucker's blood got on Claire, and he was going to punish her for Neal's error. Every drop of blood that was on Claire solidified and pushed it's way into Claire's blood stream, the hard way. Once his blood was inside of her, it would be next to impossible to remove without a drastic procedure. It would cut up her body and organs from the inside out. A very painful death, indeed. It was time to deal with Claire. "... Kid, if you wanted to die so badly, you should have fell on your own weapon..." Blood slammed his claymore into the ground, the tip was embedded into the concrete. He grabbed the top of the spear with his free hand, and displaying an impressive amount of strength, he pulled the spear from out of the ground, through his gut, and dropped it on the ground like it was nothing. The wound closed near instantly. "... It'd be easier and a lot quicker than what I'm going to do to you!"

Bloodsucker quickly grabbed his claymore by the hilt and swung it around at him at lightning fast speeds. Aiming for the side of him that was opposite to the shield. The attack would cause some severe bodily damage to Neal once it connected. And even if he did block it with that little shield of his, the impact would surely do something.

Merry had taken a step back from Lily, suddenly feeling very anxious. There was no way Merry was strong enough to anything substantial to the changeling unit. If anything she was going to mess up and end up screwing over more people. She wasn't strong enough. There were plenty of other students here who were much stronger and much more in control. Merry crossed her arms over her chest, just barely looking up at her friend. Lily would be wasting her time and power on Merry. And they were running out of time. But then Lily said she trusted Merry. She trusted Merry more then anyone else. She looked up at her friend, and then looked down to her outstretched hand.

"I trust you too Lily." Merry said, her voice so quiet it felt swallowed up by the noises from the battle going on around her. Merry took a deep breath, trying to calm her shaking hands. She didn't know what was about to happen. She didn't know what would happen to her or her friends and classmates once she charged. Merry slowly outstretched her hand, exchanging one final phrase with her friend before she grabbed her hand. "We're going to make it out."

Merry then, without giving Lily much time to respond, connected her hand with Lilys, her grip growing stronger as she was charged. Merry initially squeezed her eyes shut, as if scared of what was happening, but soon she would herself opening them. The timid look in Merry's eyes had been replaced with one of pure confidence and badassery. Once Merry had been sufficiently charged, she let go of Lilys hand, just faintly seeing some sort of red energy being shared between the two of them. "Oooohhhhh" Merry drew out, looking down at her hands. "Oooohhhh Lily you have nooooo idea how good this feels."

She began to hover slightly, her legs bent at the knee and no longer touching the ground as her own weight was manipulated. She continued to give herself more and more height, seeing the carnage around her. Merry had a cocky smile on her face as she looked around. Not only did her powers feel stronger, she felt so much more confident. Finally. She could do something. Merry didn't know how long she had to feel like this, or what would happen when it stopped. So the best thing to do would be to do as much as she could as quickly as possible.

The Gigglers. She hated the Gigglers. They were weak. And they wouldn't accept defeat. Constantly falling apart with physical damage then reforming. They weren't even the main event, the higher ups of the changeling unit were the really dangerous ones. Merry's hands began to raise, lifted out in front of her, as she began to focus on only the Gigglers. They would suddenly feel a curious stirring, as if they bodies were suddenly being vibrated as Merry took over their weight. Suddenly, all of the Gigglers suddenly launched into the air, slamming into the ceiling and becoming pinned there. It wasn't enough damage to destroy them, but it was enough to hurt.

Merry began to laugh, deep and throaty, as she pinned the Gigglers to the ceiling, then suddenly slam them into the floor. She did it over and over again, keeping the Gigglers on only an ounce of life. Her arms rose and fell, leading the movement of the Gigglers.

Jesse Sutor and Abraham Gene

Abe's mind was suddenly aflood with a myriad of alien thoughts. Voices, emotions, sensations, they were all wracking his body, his brain being overloaded by Dreamwalker's assault. His front limbs were ripped from the ceiling to which they were merged. He clutched and wrapped around his face with a pained roar, his body spasming under this mental attack... it was everything he has ever felt! All at once! Excruciating!

FLANKING ATTACK. Jesse heard at the back of his mind. He whipped around to see the robotic man closing in swiftly. Instinctively, he darted off to the side and ducked with practiced movements. Regardless, he still found himself stumbling off to the side, just barely avoiding Mannequin's blades. Jesse let out a sharp gasp. Were it not for the warning, he would've been killed!

No, no, no! This was ridiculous! There was no way this try-hard had to stop him here! The pain continued to torture the Golem - the Golem! Pain was alien! Pain was inconceivable! He tore his feet from the ceiling,  consequently crashing down and striking the hard ground with a thunderous boom. He in fact had barely noticed the impact - yet here he was! Dreamwalker had the audacity to do this to him! How?!

Jesse fell into weak stance - something he never had to do often, and so made him uncomfortable.  But all he had to do was anticipate this guy's movements, right? Easier said than done! This guy was insane! Did this thing even have a mind? He honestly doubted it, but he had to try something.  "Target the mannequin," Jesse muttered, beginning to panic, "I don't care what you all do, just try something..."

On top of all the disorder, Abe's mind was overcome with confusion. Confusion turned into rage. He had come too for to stop here! He had to keep fighting! They were just like those bastards! Preying on the defenseless, preying on Sam! He let Sam down and look what happened! Abraham, the Golem, slammed his hands down like two giant hammers threatening to pulverize Dreamwalker, roaring Sam's name louder than ever before. He can't save Sam, but he damn well can kill every single evil man and woman in memory of him! And by God, if it means clouding the rest of his mind with his own rage to get to this little CENSORED, he will.

Carmen 'Lily' Santo, & The Mannequin.


"Alright, chica, be very careful do not-" Lily warned (Or tried to) Merry before she did the exact thing that Lily was about to warn her around. One big flashy attack, instead shorter and controlled attacks. The problem with what Merry just did is that it would expend too much stamina at best, and kill herself at worse. Fortunately Merry was able to take out the Gigglers without killing herself in the process. Lily looked at Jesse. He finally had learn to command the Apparitions, and they were attacking... It was amazing how far his power had finally come along in a week. It was a bit of a surprise when Jesse suddenly dodged. It was instinct for Lily to dodge too. She dove off to the side, landing on her shoulder with a thump, and a sharp pain. Whatever Jesse was dodging went straight for him, and him alone... It was the Mannequin.

The Mannequin landed perfectly on the ground, after missing his target, his blades were still retracted, and ready to kill. He wasn't the type to give up that easily. The Apparitions screaming into his mind barely affected his combat capability, as he was more machine than man, and his brain was altered with cybernetics. He quickly rushed at Jesse, his body moving at unnatural speeds for such seemingly imprecise and wild movements. He poised his limbs to drive them straight through Jesse's chest, which would be an easy kill and put an end to the mental assaults.

Lily flipped over onto her back, and saw the Mannequin was going for Jesse, ready to impale him. "Jesse!" She shouted his name, praying that this wouldn't be the end of Jesse. Lily couldn't do much to help him, the Mannequin was moving too fast. Merry could probably do something to him... If she wouldn't be so tired from getting charged.


Gabriela, Jake, & Jaska Valos vs. Dreamwalker.


Dreamwalker got some interesting thoughts from Abe. He thinks of someone named Sam, a loved one lost. It gave him some interesting ideas. The best way to fight is one where you remove the will of your opponents. Even with Abe's rage fueling him, the Dreamwalker could easily fix that. The Dreamwalker dodged the fists that would have surely crushed him by dashing out of the way. His tactic quickly changed from overload him with random thoughts, to overload him random thoughts about Sammy. It wouldn't be long before the Golem gives up. Once again, he was left open to another attack...

Thank god, the Gigglers were taken care of by... The Valos honestly didn't care. Probably a telekinetic. The Gigglers were brought up into the sky, and slammed into the ground, which caused most of them to splatter on impact. That meant that there was one less problem for them to deal with. That meant that they would have to delegate their efforts to another target... That Metal-guy was just standing there in the room, likely he was the one barricading off the doors... They wouldn't be able to do much to him. His armor was too shiny for Gabe's lasers, Jake's illusions likely wouldn't impede him, Jaska's fire could roast him, but they aren't going to risk their younger brother like that... Everyone else seemed to be doing just fine against the unit, except for Abe. The golem seemed to be having a problem facing his opponent, and has reverted to an unstoppable rage.

Sam... Jake thought to himself. He couldn't help but think about what Abe was talking about when he screamed that name... But those thoughts were dashed aside when he snapped back into reality. "We should help him. I don't think he's doing too well." Jake blurted to Gabe, pointing at the scene.

Gabe was conflicted for a moment... She had no idea who the hell was this moving statue of a person, or why she could help him, and not try to find a way to get the hell out of here. However, she had to thank him for helping the Valos, and giving the Changeling Unit hell. "Yeah, let's f*ck that ghosty lookin' motherfucker over." Her hands started glowing with a brilliant laser light that could be seen all throughout the room. She proceeded forward.
 
"Jaska, hang back." Jake warned the little devil.

"Mhmm..." For once, Jaska was content with listening to Gabe and Jake. He naturally put his back to the wall, and activated his camouflage. He was more or less invisible, except for the burned clothes he was wearing still visible as ever.  

A black field of darkness surrounded the Dreamwalker, courteous of Jake. That was assuming that the Dreamwalker didn't have any way to see through it. But it would serve it's purpose either way.

It's purpose being the massive laser that Gabe is charging up, and fired. She fired a solid laser beam that was bigger than her in terms of circumference. A red light filled the room that absolutely drowned out everything else going on. Normally, Gabe doesn't do big lasers like this, because they waste too much of her energy, and run the risk of killing someone. She doesn't have to worry about that, does she?

The laser caught the Dreamwalker off guard, as he was not expecting it, and it was next to impossible for him to dodge it once it was fired. The laser launched him across the room towards the nearest wall with the force that would kill any human. He hit the wall with a thud, and was embedded into the concrete. He's still 'alive'. His body now had enormous cracks throughout his body. Indicating that the Dreamwalker has taken more damage. Now he was getting pissed. His focus was broken, and his mental onslaught of Abe was interrupted.

Gabe's face remained determined as ever, she wasn't going to let him catch his second wind. Her fighting style was overwhelm the opponent with so many attacks that they don't get the opportunity to retaliate. She fired off a salvo of burning hot laser beams that set anything they came in contact with ablaze. The air itself was heated, a heat that traveled throughout the area.

Dreamwalker went from reading Abe's mind to reading Gabe's. He knew what her next attack was... Unfortunately, Gabe started using the wrong element to fight him. The Dreamwalker doesn't burn, nor does he feel pain. So any lasers that hit him were as harmless as a flashlight. Dreamwalker responded by pulling more chunks of concrete out of the ground, and hiding behind them. It was time that he use the same move that he used on Abe on Gabe. He filled her head with thousands upon thousands of thoughts.

The laser bombardment halted, and Gabe grabbed onto the sides of her head, screaming bloody murder.

"Gabe!" Jake shouted, grabbing onto his sister's shoulders, frantic, and entirely unsure of what to even do. Well, there was one thing he knew that he could do. He created a thick metal barrier between himself, Gabe, and Dreamwalker. Thick enough to absorb even the strongest physical attacks.


Changeling Unit.


Merry's attack on the Gigglers was quite effective. The slam killed all of them, stopping their murderous advances. All of them were reduced to puddles of liquid. However, the puddles were extremely heavy. Even if they were slurped up by another Giggler, it. Thus, reducing their advances to a super slow crawl that even infants could dodge them.

Contessa and Flashbang joined the mix rather fast. They teleported close to the fight, and would do their best to give the rest of the Unit firing support. With Flashbang capable of teleporting allies and enemies alike, and Contessa turning off the powers of anyone too troublesome, and giving the rest of the Unit information about their enemies powers.

Count Vicious was nearly complete with the barricades and defenses that would keep the students in. Even with the few that could easily destroy the provisions boxing them in, it was the Changeling Unit's job to make sure they don't get the opportunity to. He looked around, the students were holding their own. Likely because the Unit are divided well, and they are truly nothing to underestimate. Vicious will surely be a threat once he gets into the fight, and once the Berserker is finished transforming... Well, there will be no hope for them.

Away from all the chaos, a bright flash of light appeared a few feet above the ground. With a vague humanoid shape dropping down from the flash in a crash that shattered the concrete upon landing. It stood up straight up, towering above the group at thirteen feet, easily a quarter of that in terms of width. The creature was covered in a hardened skin with a similar appearance to stone. It was shiny, and clearly hard, similar to metal. It's face was not human in the slightest, an ugly beast that nobody would love. It was more like a reptile, with a short snout, glowing orange eyes on the side of it's head, mouth full of teeth, and two symmetrical holes that were it's nose. The creature was bulging hardened muscles, a sign that it had super-strength. The Berserker's metamorphosis was finally complete.

The Berserker slammed one foot into the ground, and let out an ear-splitting roar. Before charging at the group with an unstoppable sprint.

Lily's voice seemed far away. Merry felt like she was floating, both physically and mentally. It as strange for her, to suddenly feel so strong and free. For once she didn't feel scared, despite the fact that the students were still kidnapped, surrounded by super strong enemies. However, it was equally reassuring to see that she was also surrounded by strong allies. It was interesting for her to observe her classmates, all of which had such different fighting styles and powers. And without any rules, they could fight however they wanted. Merry grinned, looking down at the puddles of goo that were once the Gigglers. She felt her pride swell, she was helping. She was actually helping. She wasn't the weak one anymore.

Without turning, Merry began to talk to her friend behind her. Her voice had a mix of ego and laughter. "Lily? Jesse? Did you guys see that? I did that! I destroyed those guys! Guys did you see th-" as she spoke she turned, stopping herself when she saw Lily on the ground. And something was charging at Jesse. It was going to impale her friend, and her other friend was lying defenseless on the ground. Merry would have liked to say she was going to jump into the action, but instead she felt a familiar feeling of dread wash over her.

"Oh god. Oh god. Oh god." Merry mouthed, her words barely coming above a whisper as the world seemed to slow down around her. Her eyes were wide and her mouth was slightly agape in shock. What if Jesse didn't turn around in time? What if he was killed? Merry suddenly felt a large amount of confidence, as well as energy, drain out of her. Oh god. Without thinking much, Merry directed some of her power towards the Mannequin, hoping to weigh him down enough to either give Jesse more time to react or cause the Mannequin to miss, and maybe impale the ground instead of her friend.

Valery Arsov

If you all can remember, I said a very long while back that Valery was sub-par in most academic disciplines, but was really not too bad when it came to tactics and strategy. He enjoyed military history, the way that battles were waged, that logistics were handled. The study of war had influenced both his own utilization of his gifts and his philosophy when it came to fighting.

However, none of that was the reason why our RP's resident Russian had been so quiet for the duration of this fight.

If you all can remember, I said a very short while back that Valery was black-out drunk at the party from which our lovable protagonists were abducted. And, upon waking in a strange environment, cuffed and devoid of his powers, Valery honestly assumed it was one trippy-ass dream, and resumed sleeping. The significant amount of alcohol still in his blood made this surprisingly easy, and even when the fight began to break out, no one noticed a single body, slumped over and snoozing. At some point, his collar was deactivated, and Valery only vaguely began to stir when a laser hot as hell and wide as the sun cut through his sleep.

Valery let out an indignant roar, shielding his face and cursing rather...creatively. I'm not sure there are English equivalents for what he said, but, were he Catholic, it was probably grounds for excommunication. Valery quickly drew up, head throbbing with pain (Why is it so damned bright in here? What b*tch is throwing aroud all that light?) for only a few moments before adrenaline very quickly began surging into his system.

Valery was always slow to react and cautious to make up his mind-decisive action was not a strong suit of his. But, whenever you're surrounded by the stench of blood, a thousand different conflicts making up one huge, chaotic brawl, it becomes a lot easier to react. Val instinctively reached up for his eyepatch, then forced his hand down. No...no...this place...his clairvoyance would...

Valery Arsov didn't want the nightmares that would come from seeing the Changeling Unit. Even if it meant some of his friends would die. He wasn't proud of it, but the gift of True Sight was not one that you used lightly.

Valery sat back down, rather surprised no one had taken a potshot while he was unconscious, and briefly noted Abe's golem form and Drake's plasma form. "Well, I would hate to slow Team Headstrong down, eh? Hope you all dressed warm, cause...uh..." He paused, struggling to think of something intimidating. "...f*ck all of you that's why." Valery, as rapidly and thoroughly as he could muster, began to draw forth the power of winter from the supernatural well within him. Frost coated his hair and beard within a matter of seconds, the temperature of the room dropping steadily-within about a minute, tiny flurries of snow were falling, and a thin layer of ice had seeped across the floor from where he sat, accelerated by the chill breeze that came with it.

Fighting down shivers as his blood began to coagulate, Val did his best to wear down the Changeling Unit. Ideally, they wouldn't notice him amidst the chaos-not until it was too late.

Arianna Madrigal

The score of a film greatly affects the mood. A few notes can be all the difference between a tragedy and a comedy.

Arianna sat, singing her heart out, and crying, as the Symphony changed from the triumphant, heroic entry they'd had to something darker. Bleaker. They...they were losing. The initial surprise was lost, the training and experience of the Changeling Unit letting them recuperate far too quickly. No one had died, not yet, but...the Symphony sounded so close to it. It was an inch away from death, and everything was too chaotic and violent for her to tell whose. Beyond that, the more people were freed, the more quintessence added into the flurry of Songs, it became harder and harder to maintain her own. Harder to bolster her allies and enhance their abilities.

Breathing hard, Arianna was forced to stop-she'd been using her power nonstop since Abe took off for a sprint towards the chamber, and it was taking its toll. She considered several things, trying to figure out what her options were. She could keep Singing-which honestly felt like Singing into a hurricane. She'd give her allies an edge, but the Symphony was telling her it wouldn't be enough. Too little, too late.

You're still too weak, Ari. Still too weak.

But...but she could get out. Someone had barricaded the tunnel exit. They....they couldn't get to her. If she went, right now, she could make it to the docks. They wouldn't notice one girl missing amidst all the chaos. Arianna truly considered this-she had felt the tortures inflicted by the Changelings through the song, all the panic and terror of her allies had been her own. Trembling in the dark and unsure of how many heartbeats she had left, this answer sounded very, very appealing.

But she knew if she did that, one day down the road she'd blow her own brains out from the guilt. And, likely, be caught and eviscerated anyways.

Think, Arianna, think! There has to be somethin-

Wait. The teachers. Oh God, why didn't they go to the teachers from the start? Drawing her sword, holding it before her for a moment, she rose and began backpedaling towards the entrance to the tunnel, not wanting to turn her back on the demons that waited beyond Vicious' wall of steel. No, she couldn't stop them alone. And she couldn't help them with her Songs, not like this. But maybe the teachers could?

Assuming the teachers aren't with the Changelings. You should run, Ari. This place is evil. You can feel it, in the Symphony. If you stay here, you'll die an inch at a time.

Her back bumped into the ladder and Arianna nearly screamed. She whipped around and smacked the training katana against a rung, making a very satisfying thung but not accomplishing very much. Forcing herself to calm back down, she sheathed the blade (after two or three tries) and began scampering up the ladder, pulling the facemask back over her nose. The suit had some form of insulative properties, and kept her from being chilled to the bone by the cold Academy night.

She hesitated for only a moment, checking through the Symphony that she hadn't been followed, and took off at a full-sprint to find Adam.

Abraham Gene

And suddenly it was peaceful - the thoughts, the overload of all the thoughts he had of ol' Sammy was gone. The golem could hardly help but revel in the peace this interruption brought. Briefing lifting his gaze to see the obscured visage of Dreamwalker, engulfed in a cloud of darkness. It was curious. Suddenly it was penetrated by a blinding red laser and pierced straight through it - the darkness had dissipated to show the gaping hole left in the Dreamwalker's torso, and the cracks that spread across his body. But he still stood. So... Jake and his sister came to help him? Ha... what a turn of events. He was tired though, and as much as he detested the idea of being saved by that runt and the rest of his litter, he didn't have the energy to refuse it. Still. There was no way in hell he's going to stand idle! This son of a bitch, Dreamwalker - what a pansy little name - he was going to pay!

There was no roar this time. No warning. He heaved up all his weight off the ground with his two gargantuan hands in the air, and slammed them down in the corner where Dreamwalker stood. He didn't care how invulnerable this bastard was. He was going to crush him, grind him, and rip him apart into so many pieces until he wouldn't be able to move. His hands met the ground his a thunderous clamor and a cloud of dust and dirt. It didn't even matter if he Abe knew he survived it - even if he was dead, the golem was about to rip him in half and then crush his two halves together to form a little ball of Dreamwalker. Then maybe he'll throw it at one of the other bastards around here to show 'em what he thinks of them.

---

Jesse Sutor

He was stuck there like a deer in headlights, watching Mannequin's advance. Oh God, oh god, this was it! The apparitions weren't doing anything to stop it! He saw them, they were surrounding him. But his pace was unimpeded, unfaltered, and here Jesse was about to die. Wasn't anybody watching?! Nobody was going to save him? Of course! Of course, leave it to him to die here! He should have known... it turns out he wasn't much of a fighter to begin with. When Mannequin began his lunge, Jesse turned away and squeezed his eyes shut. But it was at that moment, the air itself seemed to make a hollow chime, mixed with the sound of static.

The apparitions crackled into existence, into visibility where everybody else in the room could see. They were gaseous, nearly transparent, and luminescent. They floated above the ground, a good half dozen of them surrounding Mannequin from every angle. Simultaneously, they all droned a very low, chiming sound that reverberated through the air. A single moment of pause. Then near instantly, Jesse's assaulter was launched across the room with no warning, sent flying through the air at lightning speeds where he was furthest from Jesse. Then the apparitions shuttered and blinked, before vanishing in thin air with another static chime.

Jesse's eyes were open ever since the sound first started - out of an alarming mix of how he wasn't spontaneously gutted open by Mannequin's blades and by the strange, alien sound that occurred. It looked as though, to him, that nothing had changed. He was always able to see the apparitions. But it was the sudden rocketing off of Mannequin's body that alarmed him the most. Was that Merry? She played with gravity, right? That freak rocketed right off as though he were falling from ten thousand feet in the air! He still layed there, his back against the wall, in shock of the recent developments of what had happened.

Neal

"You think I'm gonna die that easily?" Neal jumped back, dodging the swing of the mighty claymore. The weapon struck the edge of his shield as he moved, causing sparks to fly through the air. The vibrations arced up Neal's arm, sending pain through his nerves. This guy hit really hard. Once Neal recovered from the blow, he struck back, cracking the three-tailed whip at Bloodsucker's face. The hooks on the end enlarged until they became meathooks, capable of tearing through flesh and putting quite a hurting on bone. Neal's strategy was to damage Bloodsucker's senses as much as possible, so as to prevent him from being able to fight. He saw few other options, especially against a man who could was possibly immortal.



Claire, Eli, and Ariella

Just as Claire’s fist was about to collide with a Giggler, she exploded in pain. She stumbled backwards as the blood began to seep through her pores and burrow through her skull. It felt as if someone were driving nails through her face. She felt something drip onto her hand, and looked down to see blood trickling from her chin. Half a dozen holes in her skin were dripping blood. Another wave of pain hit her as the alien blood tore through her facial bones, before spreading out across her body. She felt their every move as they pushed themselves through her muscles, intentionally avoiding the blood stream so as to cause more pain. She screamed, and her vision went black. Her eyes began to fill with blood, and soon her whites were a shade of crimson. Blood began to trickle from the corner of her mouth as she fell backwards. She was unconscious before she hit the ground, bleeding in a dozen places. Her shadows surrounded her defensively, forming a sort of shadow cocoon which physical damage could not pierce. She rolled into a fetal position, and the shadows moved her across the floor just as Jake’s illusions appeared around Ariella.

Ariella was nearly finished healing Ray. She had repaired the cracks in his bones and stopped several sources of internal bleeding. Now all she needed to do was figure out how to keep him from dying of shock. She could not heal the mental damage, however. That was far beyond any sort of help. Eli ran towards her from across the room and placed a reassuring hand on her shoulder just as Claire’s body moved towards her. She looked down to see Claire’s eyes blankly staring up at her, filled with blood, and screamed. Quickly she touched her hands to Claire’s cheeks, repairing the bursted blood vessels in her eyes and causing them to return to their normal white. Just as she began to search Claire’s body for other wounds, the blood vessels rebroke and her eyes filled up once more.

“What the hell?” she muttered “This...this doesn’t make any sense.”

“What’s wrong?” Eli asked.

“There must be something in Claire that is preventing me from healing her.” Ariella said “It’s almost as if there’s something inside her.” Eli looked down as Claire’s eyes clouded over with blood. Perhaps his angelic aura could help enlighten this problem. He placed his hands on Ariella’s shoulders.

“Stay still.” he said “I have an idea that might help.” He closed his eyes, and his hands began to glow a dull gold. A halo appeared above his head and then faded, reappearing over Ariella’s head. Confused, Ariella opened her eyes and looked up at Eli, who was standing behind her, his hands still on her shoulders. He answered her question before she asked it. “It’s a special aura that I can transfer to others. Think of something you have faith in, and then activate your powers. That is how it works.” Ariella did what she was told without speaking. She closed her eyes once more, and immediately found the problem. There was some kind of foreign invader floating around in her body, intentionally tearing up any tissue it could find. Ariella thought to herself for a moment, trying to figure out what to do.

“Well that’s not good.” she mumbled.

Dreamwalker, Jake, & Gabe.


The Dreamwalker's body 'shattered' as if it was made out of glass. The moment his body broke, every piece of him disappeared. Leaving not a trace of him behind. It was almost like he was never there. The only thing indicating that Dreamwalker was destroyed was the fact that his mental intrusion on Gabe has ceased.

Gabe was given her respite from the torment. She stopped screaming, then looked so relieved. She had to give it to Abe, at least he didn't stand there like a useless tool like she thought he'd do. She had the feeling that he didn't do it to help them, even though they more or less saved him from the Dreamwalker. Whatever. Long as one of these motherf*ckers lost, Gabe was happy. She noticed the air strangely cool down, fortunately a perk of her power gave her a resistance to the temperatures, including the cold. So she could handle it. In fact, it kinda helped a bit with her burning hands situation.

The Mannequin's voice filled their ears, he was announcing the fall of the Dreamwalker.


Mannequin.


The Apparitions surrounded Mannequin, and he stopped his march instantly, and without a sign of surprise. His head quickly turned in a circle, realizing that he was surrounded by these strange beings. Blindly rushing ahead would to idiotic, especially since he had no idea what these beings were capable of. He was slung across the room at high speeds and impacted the concrete wall with enough force to kill anyone else. The Mannequin's ceramic torso took the brunt of the hit. Fortunately, the cyborg was armored with a outer layer of boron carbide. One of the hardest materials on the planet. It barely scratched his armor. He flipped back onto his feet, and turned back to Jesse. The Mannequin poised his hands to stab Jesse in the throat, and was going to mentally order Flashbang to teleport him straight to Jesse. Except, when he sent out the order, the Dreamwalker didn't relay it to Flashbang like he suggested.

"... Dreamwalker has been defeated!" The Mannequin loudly announced to the rest of the Unit, his voice was extremely loud, like he had a speaker installed in his robotic body.


The Changeling Unit.


Neal's counter attack was easily countered by sidestepping the move, Bloodsucker's reflexes were apex. However, by chance, Neal's whip managed to take out one of Bloodsucker's eye. The blade had embedded itself into Bloodsucker's iris. The boy got lucky. The eye seemingly healed instantly, only a small trickle of blood dripped down from his eye. Bloodsucker did not show an ounce of pain, a result of his training. However, despite his amazing regenerative abilities, it would take him a while to heal that eye. His vision was blurry, his depth perception was off, and he couldn't see colours that well. Despite that one injury the fight was far from over, Neal would concede with time. Bloodsucker only got angry because Neal got lucky. "Dreamwalker?!" Bloodsucker's concentration was broken when Mannequin announced the death of the Dreamwalker.

Spoiler:

That meant that their communications in this fight were gone. They now have a huge disadvantage in this fight. It pissed Bloodsucker off so much that these snot nosed kids had outgunned one of their strongest, and most valuable members, and defeated him... That means that the rules of the fight have changed. No holding back now. Time to gain power, and wipe these kids out. But he needs someone to take out Neal. Bloodsucker's vision turned to Berserker, before he shouted out to her, "Berserker! Crush this child." Before he rushed off.

The Berserker heard the command and turned to Neal. She turned her direction towards Neal, she rammed her hand into the concrete to cancel her momentum. Halting to a stop. He stood straight up and stared Neal with the eagle eye, before she acted. She ran towards Neal, every step digging her feet into the concrete and picking up more and more speed and force. Seemingly air resistance and inertia didn't affect her. Absolutely nothing would stop her at this point. The force she was running at would kill anyone on impact.

While the Berserker was charging at Neal to pummel into the dirt, Bloodsucker rushed towards the center of the room. Flashbang teleported next to him. "I must gain power!" He spoke to Flashbang, "The blood of innocents must be spilled!"

Flashbang smirked deviously, "They have a healer. Start with her." Pointing at Ariella behind the illusory barrier. She knew exactly what was about to come.

"Yes... Gather the dead, I need blood more blood." Bloodsucker growled as he took one step forward. Before he could take his second step Flashbang teleported him straight to the scene with Ariella. Bloodsucker didn't waste a second of his time with the rest of these bottom-feeders, he had one target, he grabbed onto to Ariella's head with a painful squeeze. In a swift motion he threw Ariella, face-first, into the nearest wall with all of his unholy strength, sprinting towards her with his sword in hand. The loud sound of Ariella's skull shattering on impact bursted through the air. That wasn't the Coup de grâce. The second Ariella had hit the wall, Bloodsucker swung his colossal blade through the air. One swift motion, and the blade had already cleaved through Ariella's mid-section. Her legs dropped, while her upper body was propped up onto his sword. Copious amounts of blood dripped from her body, which was all Bloodsucker needed.

The more blood is spilled the stronger he gets.

Bloodsucker grabbed onto Ariella's top half and raised it over his head, letting the blood shower him. As he underwent a transformation, no where near as drastic as Jaska's or Abe's. It was still intimidating. Muscles bulged, teeth sharpened and grew, and his eyes started glowing red. He was overloading with power, a familiar kind of strength, and an even more familiar excitement as blood was shed. But it isn't enough. Bloodsucker tossed Ariella's top-half back to Eli and went to a different target. He was teleported away by Flashbang again.

The next doomed soul to get targeted by Bloodsucker was Thorn and Trace. Standing side by side, Trace was transformed into a beast of some sort, and Thorn had projected her poisons. They were attacked by a horde of Gigglers, and nearly ripped to shreds if Merry hadn't incapacitated them. Unfortunate that they survived their first attack, only to fall prey to another one. Bloodsucker had teleported into the scene and quickly raised his foot over Thorn's face at a speed that she could barely react to. He brought down his boot and slammed it, and Thorn's head, into the ground with such a force that the concrete cracked underneath his feet. It was a quick death for Thorn. But he wasn't done just yet. He grabbed Trace by the neck and threw him high up into the air, and his claymore had followed behind Trace. The bloody weapon quickly split up into several blades, spinning at lightning fast speeds. The blades flew into Trace, and then they turned Trace into a finely grounded mist. Blood, meat, and bones rained upon Bloodsucker. It wasn't enough. He stepped off, grabbed onto, Thorn, grabbing her sides with both of his hands. He grabbed onto her really tight, then the blades that were hovering above him came down on Thorn. Splitting her into two pieces. Blood spray onto battlefield. It was a gruesome display.

And it still wasn't enough. Bloodsucker needed more. He craved more. Flashbang teleported him to the center of the room. Before she teleported to Amimoore and Bre's dead bodies, and touched them, they were sent to Bloodsucker at the center of the room. She dropped them from the air, and Bloodsucker created two spears of blood which impaled them through the stomachs. Before their bodies were bifurcated from the center. Even more blood sprayed onto the scene.

As Bloodsucker stood in the center of the room, all the blood that had been spilled during this fight, and the slaughter of those kids, had converged onto Bloodsucker. Pooling onto the ground underneath his feet. At this point, Bloodsucker's body had rapidly transformed. He has enough young, virgin, blood to power him through this fight. He was five times stronger, and faster than he'll ever be. "My brothers... Their time has finally come," Bloodsucker said, as he reached into his coat, to pull out a knife... He needs more ammunition. Bloodsucker used the knife to mutilate himself. He slashed his own throat, cut his own wrists, and stabbed himself in the mid-section repeatedly. Unhealed wounds poured gallons of blood onto the floor, he was regenerating the blood faster than he was losing it, so it wasn't a problem. The wounds instantly closed up. "Time to finish this fight! Enough playing around! Make this chamber their grave!"

The Changeling Unit launched their collective attacks against the students.

Count Vicious had finished closing off all the exits. It was time for him to attack. He could alter and manipulate the environment, making it harder for their opponents to attack, or he could launch one big attack against all of them. Vicious went with the former. Thin metal spikes sprung up from the ground towards the students with enough force to impale, and they cascaded. Starting from one side of the room to the other.

Despite the mental bombardment, Primitive Light had an attack charged up. She raised her fist into the air, and shot off streams of electricity (Not lightning) randomly. It wasn't a aimed attack, so some would hit, others would miss. It wasn't strong enough to stop someone's heart, but it was enough to stun anyone for a few moments. Primitive Light rose back to her feet, the assault on her mind was not going to stop her from killing the little sh*t responsible for this.

Flashbang and Contessa stayed out of the fight, waiting to take anyone too troublesome out of the fight. Unfortunately, those troublesome people came in the form of Abe and Jesse. With the Dreamwalker out of the mix, they were the among the most dangerous students. They both went into action.

Just for the time being, the Contessa turned her sights onto Jesse, and used her ability to shut off his power. It was not necessary for anyone to continue aggression against him for the time being. He would be taken out by someone.

Flashbang teleported to Abe in a flash of light, which would surely get his attention. There was a problem here; she couldn't possibly hurt Abe without redirecting other ranged attacks back into him. She could try portal locking him, but she had a feeling that it wouldn't work unless she stuns Abe. Given his stone body, that would be next to impossible. So she would have to buy time for the rest of the Unit to wipe out the students, so they can work together to bring him down. "Yoohoo!" She shouted sarcastically, waving her hand into the air. The plan was to distract him long as possible.


Drake, & Gabe vs. Bloodsucker.


Drake finally had gotten himself free of the confines of his portal imprisonment by using his shape-shifting form to slip out the smallest gap in the portals. He quickly gathered himself and reformed. He crossed his arms as his body ignited with super-heated plasma, counteracting the chilling effect that Val was inducing. He rose to the air to get a good grasp on the battle. He saw... A massacre. Bloodsucker went on a rampaging, ripping three people to shreds. "No, no, no, no, no!" Drake naturally tried to stop him, going as fast as he could, shooting a jetstream of plasma in his wake. But it was too late. Every. Single. Time. Bloodsucker went onto the next victim, and tore them to pieces... Drake dropped to the ground, shocked, and utterly lost confidence and faith in himself. He couldn't save them, he can't save anyone. What good is this powerful ability he's been blessed with, then? If he can't even save a life using it, then it's worthless...

"Ariella!" Gabe screamed, shocked that Bloodsucker would savagely kill her... Gabe didn't care about the other guys, but she had a soft spot for the girl. Which made it quite painful to see her go. She threw a volly of burning hot lasers at Bloodsucker, only for him to teleport away, and the lasers missed. The shock wore off fast; Gabe was filled with rage, which was easily the only way she could react. While the rest of these kids tremble and scream, she got pissed. Gabe pointed a hand at Bloodsucker, amassing all the blood he could in the center of the room. It started glowing with a red light that filled the room. She fired a large laser so hot that it set the air around it on fire, the heat quickly traveled throughout the room. The skin off her fingers were burned off, as she was filled with a pain like no other. Gabe had fired a laser hotter than anything else, she went for the maximum this time around. A thousand degrees. She was done holding back. No holds barred.

The laser burned an enormous hole in Bloodsucker's chest, setting him on fire, and hit the wall behind him, and ignited that. An attack that would have killed anyone in the most painful way. When the light faded, Bloodsucker was in the middle of healing that wound, he was still on fire, but he was visibly healing. "Now, I think you've elected to die first." Bloodsucker's voice was truly demonic at this stage. He pointed his hand at Gabe, on fire, and the blood quickly traveled towards her, forming a rounded guillotine styled weapon that whipped at her head, and would have surely decapitated her.

Gabe responded by emitting lasers from each of her fingers. Thin, and focused. The kind of lasers that burn their way through anything in their path. She swiped her hand towards the guillotine like her hand was a claw. The lasers cut through the weapon, and Bloodsucker, and gave her a moment to dive out of the way. The blade kept careening towards her. The blood turned and whipped around, giving Gabe a smack that sent her sprawling across the concrete. Her arm had started dripping blood, but that was quickly sucked in towards Bloodsucker. She was quick to get back onto her feet.

The first thing she saw was the blade again, which would have surely cut her in half... If she hadn't gotten some help.

In the middle of Drake's self loathing, he thought about everything he had to lose here... Truly, deep down, he had little to lose here. Underneath the layer of the jovial jock; he really found life pointless and dull, and that nothing was ever worth it. Even if he died here, why would it even matter? No one other than his family would truly care. But, he thought harder - Even if he has fallen into despair, he can still make sure that this blood fetishing asshole never leaves this chamber. The plasma intensified, he flew towards Bloodsucker. He saw Gabe being the center of his attention, and he acted fast.

A dragon crafted out of super-heated plasma hit the blade and burned it to ash. Once the plasma faded Drake was standing in the path of the blade.

I can save someone.

"Yes... Your blood will strength me." Bloodsucker said to Drake, with a sadistic grin as he gathered more blood for another attack. "Come with it, fool. Take your best shot and finish this..." He laughed demonically.

"Enough bloodshed, monster. I will not allow you to take another life." Drake took advantage of the fact that Bloodsucker was a chatty villain, "You need a moment?" He quickly whispered to Gabe. Before he turned his attention back to Bloodsucker.

"Yeah...." Gabe awkwardly said grasping her arm. While Drake and Bloodsucker spoke to each other, Gabe had looked down at her arm... On top of the burns, now she has to deal with torn and broken flesh, that was oozing blood. Nothing that would stop her, but she just can't keep fighting like this. All the more reason to end this soon as possible. She just had to make sure that the Changeling Unit never wins this fight. If the Changeling Unit wins, everything that Gabe had come to love would end. It's not hard to understand why she can't allow that to happen. Gabe burned the wounds shut with red hot lasers, that would solve the blood problem, for the time being.

For Jake.

"Hahaha... It's funny how lightly you toss that word around... Monster." Bloodsucker laughed, walking toward Drake. "At least I am not hiding. The real monsters stand amongst you. Hiding and awaiting your downfall."

"Monsters? Who do you honestly think you are?" Drake was almost tempted to laugh, "Some clever, sophisticated genius? The people you've been trying to kill this entire time were just every day kids pushed into the corner." Drake took a stance, hands glowing brightly with orbs of plasma, "But, I'm not going to argue philosophies with a maniac. That's someone else's strong suit." Blades of plasma elongated from his hands, "Me? I'm a warrior. And I'm going to defeat you."

"Let's have at it, then." Bloodsucker sprung into action. Bloodsucker had finished gathering all of his blood, and was creating waves and waves of tendrils that were sent sprawling towards Drake.

For Jaska.

Drake quickly charged up his plasma blades and started slicing and dicing his way through the tendrils, but a few of them were getting hits in on him. He started oozing plasma-charged blood, that was also added to Bloodsucker's arsenal. Drake had enough of these tendrils and charged up a massive blast of plasma that burned the blood to a crisp. The remaining tendrils quickly formed a thick wall of blood that obstructed Drake. Burnt blood filled the air. Bloodsucker used the blood he was controlling to launch several spears through his body and retracted them, spraying blood.

For mother and father.

Gabe was ready, she fired large burning-lasers, one from each hand, at the wall of blood. Screaming the names of every member of the Valos family, the only people that mattered to her right now. Something... Different happened. The normally red lasers were a variety of colors that radiated throughout the room, and what was even stranger was the fact that the lasers weren't straight. They curbed around the wall of blood, and went for Bloodsucker. The lasers had hit Bloodsucker in the chest, not at the same amount of heat and intensity as she expected - Possibly because she made her lasers turn, she lowered their strength. But her lasers burned some of his wounds shut, stopping him from producing more blood.

"Now..." Gabe looked at her hands, before trying that little trick again, she pointed both of her hands upwards and did the same trick again. Lasers that curbed around his defenses to hit him. This laser had hit Bloodsucker in the back, closing up most of the wounds.

Drake was bombarding the wall with plasma until it more-or-less melted. He quickly followed it up with a jetstream directed at Bloodsucker. The vampire king dodged the attack quite easily. It wasn't as fast and nigh-undodgable as Gabe's attacks. "Hm... Looks like I'll have to switch to a different tactic..." Bloodsucker tapped his chin.

In any case, Bloodsucker showed no signs of slowing down.


Adam Blackmore, Megam Jervious, & Leon Vahan.


"... Where are you now?" Adam asked Leon, his expression was stern, and his arms were crossed over his chest. Wearing the same coat he was wearing all day over his existing outfit. The snowfall raged hard, no one noticed that more than Adam. He was standing on the roof of the dorms. They had their usual triangle position, with Megan to Adam's left, and Leon in front of them. He was trying hard as he could to find the missing students, among which was his son, only to come up with nothing. He was getting desperate.

"I'm scanning still scanning the wood right now, but I have nothing." Leon responded, his hand was on his chin, observing the situation from afar.

Megan tried to inject, since she was tired of standing guard, looking for these students. "Look Adam, we had Leon search everywhere-" She was cut off by Adam,

"... Not everywhere, we have no choice but to keep looking." Adam venomously injected. Not intending on breaking for a moment.

"It's less of 'we' and more of me you know..." Leon sarcastically said, "Perhaps do that power replication thingy and give me a hand?" He looked around some more and noticed a girl wearing a modified arena uniform, running through the snow like she's seen a ghost. "... Hold that thought, we might have company." He pointed down towards Arianna.

"Allow me to do the talking." Orbs of rushing winds had surrounded Adam, and his companions, until they were flying gracefully. They flew towards Arianna and cut off her path by landing right in front of her. "Miss, what are you doing out here at this hour? Is something wrong?"

Arianna Madrigal

No matter how much time you spend around the supernatural, you still get surprised by it from time to time, like when three adults come falling out of the sky in front of you.

Arianna narrowly held back a shriek, but did flinch backwards, stumbling and falling back. Thankfully, the snow was thick enough that it didn't bruise much more than her pride, and she scrambled back up to her feet-hell, maybe she'd broken both her legs, she had no way of knowing. Her heart was hammering in her chest and her body had wholeheartedly chosen "flight" over "fight".

"Oh! Oh thank God! These these guys, they're like, soldiers or something, they've got everybody in the," she gasped for breath, trying to regulate her breathing. It was futile-sprinting for a few hundred yards doesn't leave one well-prepped for delivering speeches. "They're that way, a ways back, down through the tunnel. We went in to find the others," gasp gasp gasp "I stayed in the tunnel to Sing and help them-" gasp gasp gasp "But somebody put up a..." she fumbled for the words..."a barricade or something out of metal, sealed me off. They started to lose the fight so I ran to get more help and," gasp gasp gasp "You guys have to hurry I don't know how much longer they can hold them off."

Arianna had a rather sickening thought come to her as she wrapped up her summary of what had happened. What if they took this as her leading them into a trap or something? She didn't know what powers they had, exactly-if one was a telepath or something they'd know she was speaking the truth-but still, it made her uneasy. After the school's less-than-stellar safety record so far, she wasn't entirely comfortable being here alone with three adults. There was no way she could overpower them. Taking deep breaths to calm herself down, Arianna fought back a panic attack (because, after all of the night's events, coupled with the previous night's events, any sane person would be having some anxiety issues) and struggled desperately to think of a Song that could help her get away if they did turn on her.

...no. No, there wasn't one. She wasn't skilled enough to turn the tables that significantly. But she could Sing something that would even the odds-albeit, it wouldn't be pretty for any of them.

A requiem on the tip of her tongue, Arianna waited with tensed muscles and nervously flickering eyes to see how the school's administrators would react. I-If you try to take me to them or kill me I swear I'll bring you down with me.

Neal

“Run, you little coward!” Neal taunted at Bloodsucker as he ran away. He would have taunted more, but before he could he was besieged by Berserker the angry man-lady. Her speed increased, just like that of a charging rhinoceros, building momentum as she came in for the kill. Neal instinctively moved out of her way and summoned a wall of energy the strength of steel in an attempt to stop her, but to no avail. The wall shattered upon contact with the monstrous creature and it showed no sign of slowing down. Neal at first was horrified by the prospect that he was trapped in a battle with an unstoppable force that could literally turn him into a bug on a windshield, but the cogs of his mind were turning and an idea popped into his head. If this monster could bust through any surface, then he could use her as a gigantic wrecking ball to smash a hole in the sealed-off exits and get everyone out. Once they got out, they would be able to either finish the b¡tch off or have her simply keep going until she tunneled away. He sprinted off as fast as he could, constructing a makeshift suit of armor around himself to prevent collateral damage.

His vision was beginning to blur slightly, and it was getting much harder to focus; he was starting to burn out. On a normal day, he would have much more energy to work with, but he was still at least somewhat intoxicated and his mind was weak. The armor, which had to be consciously held together, lest it fall to pieces and drag him down as he ran. A few stray drops of acid fell on the armor, burning golf ball-esque pockmarks in a few places before fizzling out. He ran towards the exit and turned to wait for the oncoming monster, hoping this plan would work. The armor began to dematerialize as he stood, sliding off of him and falling to the floor, where it turned to luminous violet dust. The dust blew across the floor with the gentle zephyrs and breezes of the fight and soon covered most of the floor like a carpet. A drop of blood trickled down the bridge of Neal’s nose from a relatively minor cut made when his wall shattered like glass from the concussive force of Berserker’s strike. He focused on Berserker, waiting for her to get just close enough for him to jump safely out of the way. If he jumped too soon, then the behemoth would be able to change direction and splatter him without destroying the door. If he moved too late, then he would be the next thing to become dust on the floor.

Jasmine

Many things surged through Jasmine’s head as she heard the fighting going on outside of her protective metal cube. She could see nothing, courtesy to Jake’s protective illusion, but the combination of her ESP and her flash precognition allowed her a slight glimpse into the heat of combat. Ariella, Trace, and Bre had all died (she had seen Bre die, but the other two she learned through her powers. She had the unlucky privilege of bearing firsthand witness to Ariella’s bloody execution four seconds before it happened), and more could be soon to come. Neal had wounded Bloodsucker’s eye, but at the same time the monstrous vampire king had strengthened himself by brutally slaughtering three innocent children. Jasmine continued to analyze the fight in her mind and think of some way she could help. Bloodsucker was an incredibly powerful metahuman, one who could most likely defeat every other student in the room if he wasn’t stopped. Perhaps, if Ene got close enough she could damage his memory in such a way that-

No. That wasn’t going to work. It would get the both of them killed. Jasmine gazed at Ene out of the corner of her eyes, and cringed to imagine her pretty freckled face splattered with blood and her severed from the rest of her frail body. The girl didn’t deserve that, and Jasmine would not force her to die. The only thing left to do was...nothing. If Jasmine did nothing, then she couldn’t get in the way of the real heroes out there who were risking their lives to save those of others. All Jasmine’s getting involved would achieve is more deaths. So, having made up her mind, Jasmine sat cross-legged on the ground next to Ene and stared blankly at the hard concrete floor.

“Nothing…” she mumbled to Ene with a melancholy tone “We’re going to do nothing.” She realized that she hadn’t answered the girl’s question, and so said“My name is Jasmine.”


Titus

When Titus was about halfway across the room, his left arm erupted in pain as a splash of acid from Acid Scar met its mark and turned his flesh to liquid. Titus, however, was not damaged as much as his attacker had most likely hoped, as his flesh healed about as quickly as the acid destroyed it. He spun around, swinging one of the chains that was still attached to his wrist with him in an attempt to whip his attacker in the face. He heard screams about the room and saw Bloodsucker appear in the center, drenched with blood and bulging with power. After this asswipe Acid Scar went down, Bloodsucker was next on Titus’ kill list.


EliWh

Spoiler:

It was as if time had stopped and Eli had been rendered helpless. Before he could react, Bloodsucker appeared, and in another moment the entire inside of the cube was splattered with blood. Eli’s right cheek was now dyed red, and his jacket now had a pockmarking of crimson polka dots. He fell to his knees, his pupils fully dilated and his mouth hanging open in horror. He tried to scream, but no sound escaped his lips. From that moment on, Eli knew that there would never be another peaceful moment again in his life when he wouldn’t see that horrific scene flashing before his eyes like the frames of a film strip. He fell forward onto his hands, equidistant from Claire, Ray, and what was left of Ariella, the frozen expression of fear and surprise petrified on her once beautiful, now blood-covered face. His skin turned pale as a sheet of fresh paper as his mind replayed the butchering over and over again, torturing him. He reached forward hesitantly, gently brushing Ariella’s hand before the growing lake of blood encompassed it. Her fingertips dimly glowed bronze and then retreated as Eli’s hand did.

If any had dared to look up at the face of the brutally-deceased, they would see a faint golden halo appear around her head, momentarily overlapping the corona of blood and then fading away like the flashbulb of a camera. A similar halo fleetingly glittered above Eli’s head and vanished into his paper-white scalp, as if absorbed into his brain. With that, the transfer was complete. As Eli moved to stand, his face locked in that same horrified expression, he began to quiver, and then fell to the ground once more, shuddering violently as if he were having a seizure. His lips turned blue and his pupil nearly vanished into the center of his eye like a singularity. His senses withdrew into him as blood rushed away from his limbs and towards his arms, feet, and brain; a fight-or-flight response. His skin paled even more, and in some places appeared blue, and his lips were now a lovely shade of cerulean. His heartbeat increases to 200 beats-per-minute, a rate that could cause heart attack and instant death at any moment. His chest heaved and his shallow breaths increased as if he had just finished a marathon. Eli’s blank, dead eyes sparkled bronze, and light streamed from his hands and face a moment later. A pulse of energy rocketed through the room, healing all nonfatal wounds, both friend and foe. All of Ray’s physical damage was fully repaired, and Claire’s assailant blood pockets were surrounded by cysts hard enough to prevent them from moving, ready to be extracted by a surgeon at a later date. All physical damage to her body was repaired, though she remained unconscious. Even a few wounded Gigglers were fully-healed of their wounds. The blood stopped flowing from Neal’s nose and the cut sealed. During this entire time, Eli convulsed epileptically, the damage done to his circulatory system by the extreme heartbeat repaired instantly. Once or twice he went into cardiac arrest, but the healing energy defibrillated him back alive. To him, it was as if he had simply fallen asleep, he could feel nothing, experience nothing. He had none of his five senses, and thus had no way to communicate with the outside world. Until the seizure ended, he was a prisoner in his own mind.

Adam Leo Blackmore, Megan Emma Jervious, & Leon Maddox Vahan.


In a sense Arianna's story was a somewhat plausible explanation as to why everyone disappeared, but this wouldn't be the first time someone pulled a prank like this. Fortunately, the trio had Leon on their side. With one look into Arianna's psyche, he learned that Arianna was being deathly serious right now. He jolted in shock, his sunglasses nearly fell off his face. He couldn't help but probe further from there. He found the location where Arianna was speaking of, and saw the chaotic conflict going on from there. The sword he was clenching dropped to the ground.  "Adam, we gotta move," He started off, his eyes wide as they could get. "They're killing kids left and right!"

While Adam was initially skeptical of Arianna's story, getting Leon to confirm it was enough for Adam to kick right into action. It required his immediate intervention in the matter. He couldn't let them die - He will not let them die. Adam quickly barked his orders for his two team-mates, "Leon, get security, staff, everyone that's able-bodied, and get down there."

"Gotcha', what are you going to do?" Leon was about to rush off, before the question popped into his head.

"What is right, I am heading down there myself."

"Roger." He quickly dismissed any thoughts of putting up any resistance, to go do as Adam said. Leon pulled out a phone, and started calling everyone he could, running off towards the dorms to get help from any of the students that were awake.

"Megan," Adam pivoted towards Megan, "Take this girl to the security station. But do not leave her side for a moment." He ordered Megan. Before he floated off, he went straight for the nearest entrance to the tunnels. Leaving everyone behind.

Following Adam's orders, Megan grabbed tightly onto Arianna's wrist. Arianna would notice how Megan's grip felt artificial, like she was a robot. That was because she was mimicking steel, and her power brought her strength up a few notches. Megan quickly dragged Arianna off, heading straight into towards the security station. That was the safest place to go right now - At least, off the top of her head, it is. To be honest with herself, Megan knew that one part of the school was no less dangerous than the other right now. At least Arianna would be surrounded by the security guards, opposed to striking out alone. She wasted not a second of time rushing towards the administration building. The closer they got, the safer Megan felt. She got close to the building, and a squad of security officers rushed out of the front doors, all brandishing guns of the assault rifle variety.

Megan stepped inside of the security station, which was quite hectic given everyone was being mobilized by Leon. The room was set up like a police station lobby. A large rectangle shaped room, with a desk opposite to the entrance. There were many doors to other rooms, and they were definitely in use. Megan dragged Arianna off to the corner, with the least activity and sat her down there. She didn't know what to do next, other than sit down right next to her. "You should calm down now, dearie." Megan tried to reassure Arianna. "Adam and Leon will do all that they can to make sure that your friend make it out of there alive."


Berserker.


Berserker turned around, rather forcibly, she slide alongside the ground, destroying much of the concrete underneath her feet. She faced Neal, and started charging him again, creating enormous holes in the floor with every step. Neal's plan was quite successful, she missed and the momentum she had carried her forward. The moment the Berserker impacted the wall, she put an enormous hole in it. A shock wave vibrated throughout the entire room. A cloud of dust and debris filled the air, and the lungs of anyone close enough. She came to another sliding halt, grinding the concrete under her feet. She didn't think of the implications of the fact that she just came them an exit. All that was running through her head was following Bloodsucker's orders, and that meant killing Neal. It was time to try another tactic. She quickly ran out of the hallway and ran for Neal, almost like she was charging. When she was in an acceptable range, she stopped, sliding forward again like a speeding car that jammed on the breaks.

A pitch black darkness swept over her, restricting her ability to see to herself, and herself alone. Inside the darkness, a loud cluster of voices filled the darkness, and a strong scent overloaded her own. Making it next to impossible for her to track her target. She wildly swung out, moving towards Neal's last location. Every swing could destroy just about anything solid, so standing in her way was not the smartest idea.

All complementary of Jake.


Acid-Scar.


Acid-Scar attempted to defend himself. Propping his arms up to block Titus' attack, and covered himself in a layer of acid. When the attack came around, Acid-Scar's arm was broken in a gruesome display of broken bones, and sprayed blood. He was knocked over, and the acid that surrounded him dissolved the very floor he landed on. Flashbang teleported him away, however, to the Witch Mother, who would heal his wounds.


Jake, & Jaska Valos.


"Wait! Don't-" Jake tried to talk Gabe out of engaging Bloodsucker out of rage. Even in times like this, are you still the damn same? The deaths of Ariella, Trace, and Thorn were certainly brutal - The kind of things that would haunt his memories for years to come. In fact, watching such a bloodbath had provoked thoughts... The kind of thoughts that triggered his delusions. Violent visions flashed through his eyes... Jaska getting bifurcated by Bloodsucker's sword, Gabe getting drowned in blood. His own power had overwritten his perception of reality - It made all other illusions he had created disappear into thin air. No! Make it stop goddammit! He slammed his back against the wall, breathing heavily. "It's not real... It's not real..." He repeated the mantra over and over again, as he slumped to the ground. The visions before his eyes took a... Far morbid turn. It changed from Bloodsucker tearing his siblings to limbs, to Jake doing the deed. The tables were turned. The first vision was him tearing Jaska's eyes out with a knife, before brutally ramming it through his face. Then it turned to him choking Gabe to death - Everything about this vision disturbed him. From the horrified look in Gabe's eyes as he strangled her. "... It's not f*cking real god dammit!" He screamed at the top of his lungs as tears ran down his eyes. From his perspective, it looked, and felt, like it was so real. He was so caught up in his vision that he barely realized that he was in the perfect position to be killed.

Are these his thoughts, or alien thoughts imprinted upon him?

The self-mental torture continued for what felt like hours. Getting even more brutal as it continued. "Jake..." His name spoken overpowered everything else. Strangely enough, it was in his own voice, and not someone speaking to him. "... Jake!" He heard his name once more. Now he felt an alien presence moving his body, like an explosion. It was enough to snap him out of this trance he was locked into.

He opened his eyes to see Jaska, who had firmly grabbed onto his arm. Trying to pull him away with all of his strength. He was strong enough to move Jake, but his body was just not capable of dragging him to the exit without help. Jaska had the worse face on... Like he had watched those people get killed, and was traumatized by it. Still, the Dragon had enough courage to try to get Jake out. For that, Jake had to commend him. "Jaska..." Jake said in a low tone.

The second Jake spoke to him, Jaska unleashed a torrent of panicked speech. "P-please! We have to go! I-I..." He paused for a moment, "T-hose people... They're... they're... dead! I-I-I..." Jaska was about to continue when Jake cupped his mouth with his hand.

He had to admit it. Realizing that he had real people to save snapped him out of it quite fast. He still needed time to get his wits together. "Shhh, shhh... It's okay, it's okay." Jake knew that this was far away from the truth as humanly possible. Nothing is okay here. He rose to his feet and looked around... Apparently that shockwave that snapped him out of it was a hole being made in the wall, that exposed a nice exit. "Come with me." Jake grabbed onto Jaska's wrist, dragging him along. Jaska was more than willing to go with Jake, as long as it meant he would be with Jake. Jake went towards the entrance, and stood in the doorway, surrounding himself in a transparent cube of metal. He quickly noticed that the entrance was being sealed off, yet again, by metal.

Count Vicious was attempting to close the exit quickly as possible. Jake snapped his fingers and a orb of smoky black darkness engulfed the entrance. It was a stroke of luck that Jake had found out one of Count Vicious's weaknesses. His powers don't work where he couldn't see. Nonetheless, he wasn't going to stop. He sprung metal spears from the ground to impale the students. Jake made the connection rather fast, and summoned a orb of darkness around Vicious, that chased him where ever he went. Effectively taking Vicious out of the fight.

Jake's vision went towards Neal and the Berserker. He didn't know where it came from, but it looked like it would give Neal some trouble. Jake decided to assist. He surrounded the berserker in a smoky cloud of darkness, and just in case she had any form of enhanced senses, Jake made the illusion bombard her hearing and smell.

In fact, Jake put a concealing cloud of darkness around the exit. Before he shouted, the illusion carried his voice forward, "Everyone over here! The exit's over here! I'll cover you!"

Everyone rushed forward towards the darkness, any attacks launched on them would be defended with the best of Jake's ability. Everything was looking up. There was still one thing he had to handle.... The ten year old in his arms.

"Jaska, you need to leave too." Jake said

"No! I'm not!" Jaska pulled away from Jake, pleading with him, though it came down to his fear of being separated from them. "I... Don't want to be alone!"

"Look, Jask. You have to leave, get help, get anyone. I still have to help everyone down here. Okay?" Jake said to Jaska.

Jaska turned away, tapping the tips of his claws together. Thinking. It wasn't long before he came to a conclusion. "Okay..."

Before Jaska could leave, Jake wrapped him in his arm, and gave him a one handed hug. "... I love you." Letting him go as the last word left his mouth.

Oh god, this was nothing that Jaska wanted to ever see. People dying... And these people are scary. And. And. He just wants to go home. Never speaking of what happened here again. Jaska wanted to run away from it all. Which is what he did. He whipped around and ran towards the exit. Quickly dropping to all fours and running like an animal. He used all of his strength to push himself forward for a leap. He grabbed onto the edge of the hole in the wall, then propelled himself forward. Before he disappeared into the dark tunnels, using his camouflage to blend in easier. Unlike anyone else, he would have no trouble maneuvering in the dark. Jaska's body being attuned to function in the shadows.

Jake watched Jaska leave. God-speed little dragon. He wanted to accompany him, but he can't leave just yet. Not while Gabe was still in the fight with Bloodsucker. This would be all for nothing if he just left now.


Dexter 'Rush' Chertok, & Ray Judah Drager.


Ariella just died.

Rush didn't have to look. He turned away, just so he wouldn't be unfortunate enough to see. But from the blood splattering on him, it wasn't pretty. Rush had to focus on what was important. Ariella served her purpose well, and for that Rush was grateful - But it would be for nothing if he just let Ray die down here? Yes it would. Rush's hyper-logical mind allowed him to force out the thoughts of grief, and shock, out of his head, and focused on cold hard logic. There was a presentable exit, and Jake was covering them. Wandering around the tunnels was not... Ideal, he had to say, but staying in here was worse. Rush grabbed onto Ray, and tried to drag him towards the exit. Unfortunately, the problem came when Rush realized that he was simply not strong enough. All those years of preferring to stay in, working on computers, rather than hitting the gym, was starting to catch up to him. "Need assistance!" Rush loudly shouted, as he dragged Ray's unconscious body across the room. Hoping that he wouldn't get unlucky and they try to take him out.


Carmen 'Lily' Santo.


Lily once again felt some relief in this brutal confrontation. Jesse's apparitions had surrounded the Mannequin, forcing him to a halt, before they sent him flying at the nearest wall. Lily had learned far more about it than she would have looking at it. However, she could have figured it out without her power instinctively telling her. It was telekinesis at work. "Jesse, that was incredible!" It wasn't that impressive, but Lily was relieved that he was alive. "You have gotten so-" That was when Bloodsucker's rampage started. Three people were brutally murdered... Right before her eyes. She wished that she could have done something, but it happened so fast, then shock and other emotions started welling up inside of her. To the point where she didn't even know what the hell to do. Lily cupped her mouth very tightly, only opening it for a split second, "Jesus!" She screamed. Nearly falling on her behind. She learned a few more aspects about Bloodsucker's ability. This time, it felt more overwhelming than before... Like, she just couldn't think of anything else other than the details of his power. Lily loudly shouted, "He gets stronger whenever blood is spilled!" Lily shouted out, trying to make her voice heard over the chaos.

Things took a turn for the worse when Merry passed out on the ground. It was obviously from the super-charging she got, but it definitely made a difference in the fight. Only now, Lily got another serious problem. Merry was incapacitated, and she would need someone to tend to her... Defend her.

Lily watched as Gabe and Drake fought Bloodsucker, they fought valiantly, with Gabe unlocking a new part of her power. But ultimately, Bloodsucker shrugged off whatever they threw at him. She finally realized something...

"... It's hopeless." Lily said to Jesse, "We can't keep fighting like this. Either they'll kill us, or we'll kill ourselves when we push ourselves far beyond our limits..." It was a very pessimistic thought. Deep down, she honestly hated seeing people getting killed, or in misfortune such as this. It... Hurt her. In the end, she felt so powerless. "We have to leave here. Find some way to get out. That's our only hope." She turned to Jesse, distraught, and begging for a quick and easy way out of this hellhole. Briefly, Lily thought of overcharging someone... But that would likely do as much damage to them as it would the Changeling Unit. Overcharging Drake or Gabe would likely cause a massive amount of damage, or everyone would be instantly killed. Overcharging Merry would certainly kill her, as her body has already been pushed to the limits. Overcharging Jesse might not be a good idea, given the unpredictable-

A shockwave vibrated throughout the room, as a loud crash certainly got Lily's attention. A massive hole in the wall was made during that Neal boy's fight with the Berserker. Jake was covering everyone by creating obscuring clouds of darkness, telling everyone to run for the exit. That was good of an idea as any. Lily grabbed onto Merry, holding onto her from under the shoulders, and dragged her, with all of her strength, towards the exit. Lily wasn't the strongest girl in the physical arena, she had to admit, but fortunately, Merry isn't that heavy. She did all that she could to heave Merry towards the exit. "I could use a bit of help over here!" Ultimately, she knew that she would do better if she got some help.

Her powers told her that someone just teleported in. There was only one person here that she knew with such an ability. Flashbang. She teleported into range. There was no choice here. Lily hacked into the powers of Flashbang, tapping into the very essence of her ability. She promptly blocked any and all usages of powers... Apparently Flashbang was planning on teleporting members of the Unit straight to the exit.



Gabriela Mya Valos, & Drake Deltori Blackmore vs Bloodsucker.

Spoiler:

Whatever miracle was going on down here had healed both Drake, and Gabe. The minor injuries that Drake had sustained were healed. On the more extreme end, all the burns that Gabe had done to herself were instantly healed. If it wasn't for the black soot, it was like her burns were never there. She stared at her hands in awe, before she said, determined, "... Rock on!"

Even Bloodsucker's wounds were closed. Which was detrimental to him since he did it to himself. He would have regenerated it anyway. "How annoying." He had finally decided to stop his ranged blood attacks, and decided to go in close. He rushed straight at Drake and Gabe, the blood around him quickly shaped into three-finger claws with wickedly long blades. He wildly slashed at them. Both of them dodged in their own ways. Drake flew backwards, firing a stream of plasma to propel him backwards, and injure Bloodsucker. Gabe rolled backwards, launching no counter attack until she was ready. She pointed a fighter at him, and fired a thin laser which burned it's way through Bloodsucker's body. Before it healed.

Hmph. Bloodsucker was getting bored with her. All of her attacks on him did nothing, but yet, she persists. Whatever. He charged at Gabe, quickly closing the extremely short distance between himself and Gabe - Who responded by shooting lasers. This time, however, Bloodsucker pulled out of of his combat knifes and propped it in the way. It's reflection kept the lasers from injuring him, until he was close enough. He stabbed the knife straight for Gabe's heart... Unfortunately, she reacted fast enough to put her arm in the way. Which went straight through her arm. It didn't hit bone, but it certainly pierced muscles and other tissue.

"Sh*t!" Gabe hissed, grabbing onto her injured arm, and realizing that there's a f*cking knife through her arm. "F*ck, f*ck, f*ck, f*ck you!" She took hurried steps back. Trying to put some distance between herself and Bloodsucker.

"Funny isn't it?" Bloodsucker taunted before he went in for the kill. Drake wasn't going to let him have it. He flew straight at Bloodsucker, wrapping his arms around the vampire's waist, and flying forward, boosting by jet-streams of plasma. He got his opponent some distance away from Gabe... But by then Bloodsucker had reacted by using his other combat knife to stab Drake in the back, and swing his leg for a kick to his front. Both of which were effective attacks that sent Drake flying across the room.

Preforming mid-air stunts, Drake landed on his knee. He turned to Gabe, to see her slumped up on her back, trying to get that knife out of her arm. Exhausted from that attack. A knife was sent straight into his back. He dialed back the plasma for a moment, because he didn't want it to start melting inside of him. He grabbed it by the handle, and cast it aside. He was still dripping plasma charged blood... He'd have to deal with it.

"Oh? You're ready?!" Bloodsucker shouted, literally steps away from Drake. There was not a second to respond. Bloodsucker punched Drake square in the gut, as it was expected, it knocked the wind out of him. Before he retreated to regenerate the wounds. That attack left Drake at his knees. So it wouldn't be hard to follow up that attack. He rushed again and delivered a kick to his shoulder so hard that it shattered, retreating. Drake yelled in pain, before silencing himself because he didn't want to show weakness.

If he really wanted to, he could have killed Drake instantly. It was so amusing to him to see Drake squirm.

Drake wasn't going to go down like this. Even when injured, he can still put up a good fight! A dome of plasma, spreading out fifteen-feet in all directions, appeared. Which forced Bloodsucker to retreat. It gave Drake a window to move upwards, as the plasma concealed his movements, making him invisible. However, Bloodsucker reacted fast. He created several blades of blood, which were small, but it allowed him time while he gathered the rest of his blood for a larger weapon. The storm of blades kamikazed Drake, inflicting many knife wounds on him before he plasma body destroyed them. Drake quickly retaliated by shooting off a massive jet stream of plasma, which engulfed almost all he could see, right for Bloodsucker. He intended to end this.

However, his opponent moved so fast, and healed to compensate for the massive burns. He didn't have a clear shot on Drake, but he had an idea.... He had already gathered all the blood he needed for this next construct...

It happened so fast... A spear of blood had been summoned which impaled Drake clean through the shoulder. Spraying burning hot, and glowing, blood everywhere. Drake's body was destroying the spear. Bloodsucker held the weapon from the other end, and with one hand, he whipped the spear in the opposite direction, sending Drake flying at the nearest wall. He smacked the wall, back first, leaving behind a trail of blood and heated air. Finally falling unconscious. He fell on the ground, without a hint of grace. Before he reverted out of his plasma-form, and back into his normal human form. His wounds were apparent, and were oozing blood. It wouldn't be long before he bled to death, or someone executed him.

Drake felt so powerful as he faded out of consciousness. He was a mighty warrior for god's sake! Champion of the Blackmore family. Captain of Team Headstrong. But, as of now, he was just a lamb for slaughter.

Bloodsucker gathered all the blood he had around him, and reformed his meat-cleaver styled weapon that he created at the start of the fight. However, around the sharp edges he had used Drake's plasma charged blood to create a glowing weapon. Adding onto it's cutting power. Thankfully making Bloodsucker's job easier. He had to look at Drake with a bit of pity... He had put up such a great fight, and made Bloodsucker even stronger. Too bad his time has come...

It was time to put an end to this sad display of resistance. Bloodsucker charged forward, his cleaver above his head, moving faster than ever before. Before he could get close to Drake, he noticed something. He looked down, and saw that everything below the waist had been separated from him. A small red laser had cut him in half, it was his fault. He did run into it after all. His momentum launched his upper body forward, and then he climatically hit the ground. By then, his lower body had regenerated near instantly. He stood up and a massive laser hit him right in the chest with such force that it caved his chest in. Sending him sprawling across the room, and into another wall. This time, he went through the wall. It was a few seconds before he was back up to his feet and stepped through the new opening that Gabe created. Pissed off.

Hope was running low. Bloodsucker is just too powerful, everything she threw at him so far only slowed him down. Gabe knew that she was pushing herself, and her powers to the limit - It was a race to see what would happen first: her powers overheating, or she would simply run out of ammunition. You see, Gabe had no choice but to keep fighting. As enticing as it would be to just leave Drake to his fate, she knew that she would be the force keeping this monster from going for them. Yeah. Buy time for Jake and Jaska to get away. No one else was helping her, and she honestly didn't care at this point. Everyone else could burn for all she cared. For Jake. For Jaska. It's what she keeps telling herself.

Bloodsucker rushed her, his cleaver in hand. Moving as speeds that she could barely keep up with.

Gabe let loose once more. A barrage of solid lasers to stop Bloodsucker's advance. It was the best she could do. Don't go all out. Slow him down with smaller attacks. Save her family.

Nothing's coming.

(Sorry for not posting. I haven't felt like it that past few days because of some things. And I am super busy getting ready for a trip and with some other stuff so super quick post- I had to skim all the past ones)

Ene
-

Ene winced as the battle went on. She could see Jake and Jaska fighting along with tons of others. She also saw deaths. Ene buried her face in her knees as the girl who freed he sat beside her. She didnt even bother to look up as she introduced herself as Jasmine. Ene just kept her head buried there and mumbled, "nice to meet you."

She could still hear everyone fighting. Her shoulders tensed up at the thought. Everyone was here fighting and she could do... Nothing. What good was her power, anyway? As if she was going to manipulate someone's memories! Ene sighed and looked at Jasmin before asking, "Why did you help me escape?"

-
Mina
-
(I will just assume she was freed from her chains)
Mina winced when Ariella died, unlike Rush she did look and wished she hadn't. Blood had splattered everywhere. Mina winced and rushed over to help Rush pull Ray. "Idiot..." She murmured sleepily. "He better not die..." She still owed him for saving her all those times. If he died then what could she do?
-
Len, Jaylin, and Kynan
-

Len yelped as he was almost hit. Again. He had been avoiding being noticed and he had been searching for a why to help. He had decided that Bre wouldn't want him to die because he refused to do anything in the midst of battle. How could he help? That's when his eyes fell on Jaylin and Kynan. He couldn't. He could only protect his brothers. They were still chained (if I read through correctly I don't think they were taken care of but idk) and they were scare out of their wits.

Len rushed towards them- they had managed to merge together earlier (probably trying to find a way to escape) but it had only made each shackle on their now merged-together body have two chains attached to them. Len winced and he quickly bent down, looking at them closely. "Are you two okay?"

Jaylin had merged into Kynan's body, so it was Kynan who nodded, though his eyes were wide with terror from the battles going on. "Y-yeah. We're fine."

Jaylin's voice spoke in his mind.

No we aren't.

"W-We are just a bit scared."

More like traumatized!

Kynan ignored Jaylin's voice, though he knew it was true. He just didn't want to worry Len right now. He knew Jaylin understood that, as well, but he still felt the need to get these thoughts off his chest and threw them into the shared thoughts of him and his brother. It helped.

Len nodded, though he could tell they weren't doing so great before saying, "if anyone comes near you I'll protect you guys as best I can, okay? Right now I gotta find a way to help you escape."

"How?" Kynan asked. "I-I mean... You don't have that type of power. Or anything to help with it."

"I know," Len sighed as he knelt down and examined the chains. This was definitely a problem.

-
Niza died somewhere. Too bad. So sad.

Abraham Gene

There was so much going on. Enough to allow him to calm down from his rampage. Between Bloodsucker, the lady running around madly - Berserker, was it? And the other "minors", as Abe labeled them. They were notably less threatening, but there was the problem of them suddenly disappearing and reappearing all fixed up. This was a problem. But nobody could get anything done with the major threats madly throwing out attacks in all directions. He had enough time to see Jake off to the side, screaming something about his family members... it was peculiar. Dreamwalker was already crushed to pieces. He was yelling about how something wasn't real. Even at a time like this, Abraham couldn't help but muse the idea of it. The illusionist is having an existential crisis. Truthfully, Abe didn't like Jake very much. But God damn, people were fighting right now while he was having his little problems right now. He hated to think it, but maybe after all this shit is over and done with, he'd have to take this boy break that little habit of his. Fortunately, his little brother was able to help him out of his predicament and they led each other to the exist, where they decommissioned the guy blocking off all the exits. He barked out his order for everyone to retreat while they could after his little brother went through first. He stayed though. He was looking at that eye-patched girl, Gabe. His sister.

The gears and sprockets went ticking inside his brain and he pieced it together pretty quickly. Well he has to do something. And fighting is what he's good at. Besides, these assholes had to pay for what they've done to all these students. The massive golem looked at Jake from a short distance thoughtfully before turning around. He hesitantly replied, "Yeah, me too. I'll help cover."

As little thought as Abraham had actually put into it, he already had his mind dead set on beating these guys into a pulp. He turned his gaze to Bloodsucker. Drake was wounded? Since when? That little asshole never took it that easy on him! Abe sighed. Seriously cap', we're gonna need to have some words. So Gabe was the only one fending him off? Gal looked kind of overwhelmed. Jake can't function without his family and this jerk-off already had to go and spear Drake, so Bloodsucker was already on his shit-list. In any case, the guy was distracted. That made it easy.

His mitts were thrusted into the ground, fusing with the concrete floor and connecting him to the entire ground. Wonderful. More control. He looked straight ahead to find a good opening to perform this maneuver, where Gabe was in the clear. Preferably when her lasers held him back. He'd be too focused on dodging those to realize what's happening before it is too late. His face seemingly disappeared from his head, taking the appearance of simple stone before it reappeared on his back, looking straight at Jake. Different from his usual composure - as far as one can tell from a golem's face - Abraham was dead serious now. The typical brutish face of the golem was sculpted and rearranged differently upon his back. It was rearranged until it appeared exactly as Abe's own face in his human form. But unlike the other times he was serious with Jake, neither did he appear angry. His face was unmoving and distant, and yet his brows were raised and he spoke gently to his prior rival. "Jake," he said, "I'm going to get your family back. Consider chica n' chico already safe."

Without waiting for a response, the face disappeared and the face of the monster's head was reformed and looking back at the fight. Whatever he did, he had to do it before this guy cut her. Hell, he already made a promise. It'd kind of suck that it was broken a couple seconds after he promised it. Now, Abe found the opening he was looking for.

The ground shook. It vibrated everywhere, and made no warning to which area would be targeted. But in the instant it would be made clear, it should have been too late. Those that might have seen him fight might expect a pillar or spike, but it wasn't quite the case this time. The ground beneath Bloodsucker's feet folded over. A large plot of the ground on his left and a large plot of the ground in his right were nearly instantly ripped from the ground where they were and met each other - folded as though the ground Bloodsucker stood on were a sheet of paper - and with high hopes in Abraham's heart that the bastard was flattened. He didn't bother to wait and see. More sheets of concrete folded over and compacted the previous sheet before it, and from all directions in effort to use as much resources as he could to utterly annihilate anyone inside of it.

When the cloud of dust and dirt cleared, there stood what appeared to be a prism-shaped tower several sheets thick of concrete floor thick. Abraham wasn't a very strong believer in the idea of "overkill". "You fucked with me and my team." Abraham snarled to himself as he ripped his hands from the ground. Large chunks of the floor were connected to his hands as though they were large sledgehammers. "Nobody has the right to do that."

---

Jesse Sutor

"I don't even know what happened..." Jesse said, still gobsmacked by Mannequin's sudden... departure, if he could call it that. But whatever happened, Lily sounded impressed. Or relieved. Whatever it was. Did I do that? He asked himself. He looked to one of the floating apparitions for answers. A voice broke into his mind and said, "ONE OF US. DANGER. INTERVENTION."

Cryptic as always, but Jesse was thankful. But he was also somewhat stupefied. Before, they said few words - as always - about being extra-planar. They weren't physical. They couldn't interact with things as Jesse could. But they did it, somehow. Just how powerful are these things?

Jesse was suddenly jumped by the loud barrage of noises just as Lily had. Berserker was going crazy and running through walls and kicking holes in the ground. Bloodsucker was tearing people apart and covered in blood. Jesse;s breathing was raspy and he felt his chest tightened. All he could do is stare at the mutilated bodies that were piling up left and right, his eyes were widened in shock and horror. This wasn't a book. Or a movie. He was right here in the center of all of it. He felt his knees wobble and shake. All he wanted to do was go home. He wanted to forget all of this. To forget the school, to forget the blood, to forget Lily and Merry, and to pretend that the apparitions floating around him didn't exist and were never there. Lily broke him out of his trance, "it's hopeless. We can't keep fighting like this. Either they'll kill us, or we'll kill ourselves when we push ourselves far beyond our limits..."

Berserker crashed through another wall, another alarming and thunderous sound that snapped everyone back into reality. Lily struggled to get Merry up and bring her to safety while she was unconscious. Jesse began to calm down, but his heart was still racing. He still had to help. Upon Lily's call, he met her at her side. Merry wasn't very heavy, so he could carry her out. "Let me carry her on my back." He offered. It was the least he could do. "Just... stick close, okay? Jake has the exit open. I want to get you two out of here..."

The creaking and thunderous roar of the Abraham's attack vibrated the ground and air. We should get out of here before this building falls down on our heads...

Jake Vin Valos.


Jake looked up at Abe, the Golem changing his face around and spoke to Jake. It was hard... Everything was starting to overwhelm him. From keeping so making illusions up and running, to the chaos of the fight (Though, it started dying down as everyone began to flee). Abe said that he will help Gabe... That was something unexpected, but ultimately, Jake was thankful for the Golem. "Thank you." Jake said in response. He honestly did think far better of Abe now that he helped him. In his eyes, he went from an arrogant asshole, to an arrogant asshole with more shades than previous expected. Abe saved Gabe by stopping Bloodsucker's advance and trapping him, but Jake had a feeling that it wouldn't contain him for long - Either another member of the Unit would break him out, or he'd get out himself. Jake was tempted to put even more layers of defense over it, but he was tasked to capacity as it is. Gabe was running hell straight for him, blasting everyone who looked at her wrong. That was enough, all she had to do was pass through the shadows, and hope that everyone can get away from the Unit.

In either case, Jake could easily escape from the Unit using his powers. All he needs to do is buy more time for everyone else....


Bloodsucker.


At this point, it was starting to get extremely annoying how many times Bloodsucker was being... interrupted. The floor was flipped over on top of him, along with the ground folding over him as if it was malleable as liquid. He was surprisingly nonchalant about it. His eyes rolled in response. However, Bloodsucker created an orb of solid blood surrounding him, acting as a shield that stopped him from getting crushed. It did cause some pressure on his which broke bones among other things - Which was instantly regenerated. It gave him enough room to move around, and plan his counter attack. Bloodsucker screamed, it was an inhuman scream, in the sense that he screamed like an animal. It could barely be heard. He forced the blood to push outwards in all directions in an attempt to break free from his stone prison. It cracked the stone more and more, making it clear that this wouldn't hold him for long.


Gabriela Mya Valos.

Thank god, Gabe was honestly losing hope right now, and Abe saved her, by trapping Bloodsucker. In hindsight, that seemed to be a more effective tactic than shooting him with attacks that do nothing to him. Who knows if it'll keep him, but she had the moment she needed to get the hell out of here. She looked up at Abe with eyes so relieved, before quietly saying to Abe, "Thank you." He didn't hear it, he was sure. Gabe had taken the respite to take a break. Her arm was leaking red, that knifewound went unattended. She did the same thing as before - Cauterized the wound using her lasers... It didn't count as healing, but it would sure as hell stop her from bleeding to death. She looked around, Jake was still in here, but she definitely saw Jaska leave. Good. Now all she has to do is leave herself. Bloodsucker is contained, at least long enough for her to get the hell out of here. Unless another miracle comes along, her body will give out if she keeps fighting like this. She flipped Bloodsucker off as turned towards the exit to run like hell. Completely forgetting about Drake. Blasting any member of the Changeling Unit she saw with lasers hot enough to boil the air.

Things were finally starting to look up.


Carmen 'Lily' Santo.


Lily smiled as Jesse took a mighty weight off of her shoulders. She could now focus on hacking into the powers of the Unit. Like Jesse told her to, she stayed close to them, but she kept her attention on the Changeling Unit. She was still hacked into Flashbang's power, and at this point, she had got such a feel for her power that she could control Flashbang's power. Lily made Flashbang teleport, where was the question, and so she did. She disappeared in a flash of light, but Lily could still sense her, that meant that she was still in range of her ability. However, Lily blocked anymore usages, for the time being. Thus, taking her out of the fight. Lily muttered a few swears in spanish as she followed Jesse tightly.

Lily stepped into the darkness. But she was not afraid...

... Because today showed her that there are far more frightening things than darkness.


Dexter 'Rush' Chertok.


"Ray. Will expire if not removed from room." Rush coldly says to Mina, "That outcome is unfavorable. So come along." Rush kept carrying Ray along into the darkness that obscured the exit, until he was gone. Hopefully this nightmare will finally end.

Jackson

With him free of the gigglers and able the smash and swing around he decided to stop playing it safe. His body tense,his arms grew larger,sinews seemingly sprouted and attached themselves to various points,large bone-like protrusion burst out of the palms of his hands while his fingers themselves sunk in,the protrusions grew thick and sharp into deadly spikes,various tentacles burst out of his cheat ripping through his clothes and striking out around him,as his entire torso grew into massive strong muscle. Seeing some still chained up he ran over and ripped through some of the chains that held them."GET OUT" he yelled at Len. He charged over whipping with his limbs hitting everything that looked like it was trying to kill him.

(Claire is unconscious and Eli is having a seizure atm, so I won't be posting as them).

Neal and Titus

The plan worked swimmingly. Well, at least it would have if the monstrous Berserker hadn't come charging at him. Neal's armor was completely gone now, turned to dust that settled upon the concrete floor. He attempted to form a palisade to spear Berserker, but it crumbled to dust as it formed. His vision was beginning to blur now, and his head was pounding. Neal fell to his knees, his pounding head echoing as if someone were driving a nail into his skull. He was breathing heavily, and his face was pasted with sweat. He grabbed the dust of the palisade and let the it run between his fingers like so many grains of sand. It was the end. He closed his eyes and lowered his head.

"I'm sorry." he muttered under his breath to no one in particular.

Spoiler:

A monstrous roar echoed through the room as Titus came charging towards Berserker. He absolutely hated Neal for beating up on him, but he hated these Changeling b*stards much more. After all, the enemy of your enemy is your friend. This Berserker chick seemed to be extremely strong, but Titus was no lightweight, and there was a big difference between the two; Titus could put himself back together and Berserker could not. He ran at full speed, his shoulder ducked and his baseball mitt-sized hands pumping back and forth. He, of course, had no idea that Berserker could not see, and so was ready for a beatdown. This one was going to hurt. He held his arms out wide, and braced for impact as he launched himself at the charging monster.


Jasmine


As the illusory walls went down, Jasmine perked up. She rose to her feet and grabbed Ene by the arm, pointing over at the hole now in one of the blocked-off entrances.

"There's our ticket out." she said "Let's move!" Still holding onto Ene's upper arm, Jasmine began to sprint, dragging Ene behind her as fast as she could. Her precognition allowed them to dart around obstacles and potential attacks before they happened. She sidestepped the now-blind Berserker and reached the exit, nearly throwing Ene through and then stepping through herself.

"And we're out!" Jasmine exclaimed.

Spoiler:

Abraham Gene

He looked to Gabe with a brief glance at the sound of her thanks, but ultimately disregarded her. There was far too much for him to be focusing on at the moment, and a little bit of tail meant jack shit to him if either him or that little bit of tail was going to die today. Well, that little bit of tail being more likely to do so! Abe had absolutely no intention of going down or getting beaten by anyone. These guys looked really practiced in their abilities. He was too, of course, but he felt that they were actively training day in and day out for whatever operation they were planning to carry out. These freaks were strong. Freakishly strong! Suppose it's only appropriate for a handful of freaks.

And this freak was especially freaky. Damn near the devil himself, it seemed! Blood? What kind of power was that? And to be so strong as to survive Abe's onslaught and on the verge of breaking himself out? He had to hand it to him, he was pretty roach-like in the sense that the bastard doesn't die and is impressively strong! Huh. Dracula and Titus should have lunch together. Regardless, the guy was strong. And probably fast. So while he could pulverize him in this golem form, he had the suspicion he wouldn't be able to catch him. So he had to think of something. He had to trade defense and a little bit of power for a little more agility. Well, he had to give something a shot.

Abe's massive form stood upright and broad shouldered. This was, of course, until grain by grain his body appeared to deteriorate into sand which seemingly floated above him and swirled around him like a slow-acting vortex. The grains themselves were jagged and sharp, and anybody to walk past that well-defined boundary would likely experience a sensation akin to be tossed around in a clothes dryer filled with sandpaper and razors. His body weathered down into a much smaller size until Abraham's model was discernible, down to his usual stone morphology. His body was tense and his face was creased in intense concentration. The cloud of razor sand continued to swirl around him, and two individual currents branched off to feed into Abe. The sand was molded onto his body and finally a second pair of arms grew from his back. He might be able to keep up with him. He was concerned he might not share his power, but at least now Abe had four arms to combat him with, each with the same strength. Even if the added strength didn't match up exactly, he had least had versatility.

All of his arms crossed over each other to form an X shape. He pulled back on both arms with apparent struggle as the leftover sand around Abe clumped together to form a handful of large, sharp fragments of stone that hovered around his head, where his arms were stretched wide. That whole process of using his power - to return to normal, add modifications to himself, and these things? He was breathing heavily and he felt tired. But with these dog-sized stone darts, he could silence any intrusions. And perhaps aim these darts at Bloodsucker, even. Specifically the joints. He doubted these things could kill him if the previous attack didn't, but he could try his best to cripple him or overwhelm him. That was something Abe was always good at.

"Come on, you bastard!" Abe bellowed at Bloodsucker, his eyes glaring straight ahead at the cracking pile of stone in front of him. "Don't pussy out now!"

---

Jesse Sutor

A half-assed smile was flashed at Lily. This was the best he could manage given the circumstances - what with Merry unconscious, several students mutilated to death, and no absolute assurance that they will all turn out okay in the end, that alone Jesse figured was enough. There was somewhat of a gross sense of humor in all of this. One that could only be derived from losing almost all hope of getting out. But he find a sense of reassurance when he carried Merry past Jake and past the frame, looking back just once to see if Lily was catching up. The giganto-woman caught his eye. She might cause problems. There was one thing he could do before he fled the scene. He sent out a final command for a half dozen of his apparitions to assault her. He was getting the hang of it now. He didn't quite think it mattered how blind with rage someone might be. Jesse experienced it himself. It was torturous and exhausting, so if anything, it could help give MacArthur over there an upper hand.

The Changeling Unit.


Things weren't looking good for the Changeling Unit's grand plan.

Several students were escaping into the tunnels, which would be perfect hunting grounds. As the tunnels were dark, cramp and they doubted that they knew where they were going. Except, some of their liberators had already found their way here... They weren't foolish enough to say that the students would wander with their thumbs up their ass.

Bloodsucker finally had released himself from the stone shell, it exploded into a cloud of dust and he leaped onto the floor. He made his presence known with heavy steps. He had already remade his cleaver, and had it slung over his shoulder. Bloodsucker stared directly at Abe, a sadistic grin on his face. "Give up, kid," He taunted, "Your friends are trapped in here with us, and we're..." He looked around, before his face contorted into an ugly frown at what he saw before him. He was so caught up in his fights that he failed to realize that the kids were escaping. Atrocious! Bloodsucker knew that their whole plan would be ruined if they let one snot-nosed brat get away and call for help. Abe would have to wait. Whirling past Abe, the vampire rushed forward, cleaver in his hand, he jumped into the air, eyes on Jake, and had his cleaver raised over his head to split Jake in half. Jake barely had any time to react before he saw death looming over him.

A overwhelming wind came from no where and launched Bloodsucker across the room, slamming him into the wall with force that would have killed anyone else. He was turned into a bloody splatter, until he regenerated and retracted the blood. He landed on the ground on his knee, his head whipped upwards like he heard a bullet, "Who the f-" He roar, stopping himself, once he saw what just happened.

Adam Blackmore stood in front of Jake, his hands poised. Security poured into the room behind him. All aiming guns at the Changeling Unit.

"You may go now. You've done everything you could." Adam says to Jake. Who didn't waste a second of his time running for the exit. All the illusions he had created disappeared.

Adam's eyes observed the battlefield, and the thing that made him loose his composure was Drake in his injured state. "Drake!" He shouted, as he moved over to him.

The security immediately opened fire. Unloading their bullets into every member of the unit. Most of those bullets did not reach their intended target. Count Vicious caught all the bullets, and made them drop onto the ground. That's when the security started using their powers instead of their guns.

Bloodsucker tendrils pushed every bullet out of his body, before he regenerated the wounds instantly. He was really pissed off. He turned towards the security with murder in his eyes, but he realized that there's no point. They failed. With security here, it was certain that these kids would get away. Not even considering the fact that the Unit lost the fact that they were unknown. There'd be no point in trying to fulfill a plan that already failed in many ways. It was best that they retreat to lick their wounds, Bloodsucker wasn't going to risk his already worn out team.

The screaming in her head had worn out the Berserker. She grabbed onto her ears while she thrashed her body around wildly. Packing enough force to break anyone who would be foolish enough to get close. The Berserker was super durable. So even the strongest attacks that hit her bounced off. Titus's fists. The hail of bullets. It bounced off her body as if it was nothing.

"Changeling Unit! We are retreating!" Bloodsucker shouted over the chaos. Flashbang's powers were no longer negated. She teleported back into the room, next to Bloodsucker, whom turned towards her and said, "Bang, we are ready to leave." With one snap of her fingers, Flashbang teleported every member of the Changeling Unit away.

With the Changeling Unit retreated, the school's EMTs poured into the chamber and gathered Drake, Eli,
Ray, Merry, and Claire, to take them to the hospital for emergency treatment. Security gathered everyone else who weren't injured into the auditorium.


The Students.


The cast was forced into the very auditorium that they were in when they entered in the island and received the very speech. Security armed with guns watched the room.


Gabriela, Jake, & Jaska Valos, & Sage Pimm, & Leon Vahan.


"L-Let! Me! Go!" Gabe venomously shouted at the top of her lungs as she was forced into the auditorium, putting up as much resistance as she could. Putting her weight down to the floor, grabbing onto any object to hold her still, even clawing at the security. They shoved her into the room, slamming the door. Gabe responded by whipping around and kicking the door with all of her strength. Before she pointed her hands at the door, her hands started glowing with a laser light. Ready to blow the door down.

Jake was more compliant to go along with security. Because anything was better than the the hellhole that is the tunnels. He felt a bit safer here... But, what happened to those kids, on top of those mental images, reminded him that this school was anything but 'safe'. Everything that happened with MacAuthur didn't compare to this. "Gabe! Enough!" Jake shouted, and grabbed onto Gabe's arm, swinging her away. It was more of her letting him do that than his own strength. He really needed to stop Gabe right there.

Her eye instantly came alight with a red bright light. Gabe turned her upper body, and stared Jake dead in the eye, looking angrier than before. "Let go of me! Do you know what the hell we just went through?! I'm going to get the CENSORED out of here even if it means I have to burn everyone in my way!"

"Yeah, I understand you perfectly," Jake spoke in a calm and quiet tone that contrasted against Gabe's screaming rage. "But you need to calm the f*ck down, all you're going to do is do something stupid and get us into even more sh*t." Jake let go of Gabe, finally deciding to let her do her go and accept the consequences. "We're getting off this island, just have a little patience."

Gabe stepped off, rolling her eyes. Jake had a point, there was no reason to get so angry and do something stupid. She moved her way to the nearest chair, and kicked her feet up onto the chair in front of her. She stared at her hands... Badly burned. Like they always have been after a fight. It could have been much worse if Eli hadn't accidentally healed her. Forth degree burns weren't the best kind of burn to get. Hopefully, Gabe could get the hell off this island, and get some proper medical treatment.

Jake's gaze chased Gabe all the way to her chair.... Hopefully he can put this place, and the nightmare that will follow, behind him, and he'll forget about it for good. He could be alone with his thoughts. He wanted to make sure of something... He wanted to make sure this was all real, and not another fantasy conjured up. That he wasn't dying in the tunnels, and his mind wanted to assure him with false hope as he bleeds. Jake pulled out his pocket watch and stared into it, briefly looking up at the world. Crap. Jake was reminded of Arianna... He wasn't sure of where she could be, she wasn't with them during the fight. Maybe she didn't come in there to begin with? That's what Jake had hoped, she's too nice to see what Jake has seen down there. After they're out of here, Jake would make it his mission to find her soon as possible. Though, he knew their fling is coming to a close - Jake hated to be negative, but they're all leaving this school, and never coming back.

Their bickering made them ignore the one person they wanted to be safe the most. Jaska. The second he was in the room, he found the darkest, and most isolated corner and hid himself in it, using his power to blend in better with the darkness. He was haunted by the sight of watching those people die... Jaska has done some gruesome things to animals - But it all felt so different when it came to people. He couldn't explain it himself, but he felt like he held a human in a higher regard than an animal. Jaska didn't want to be bothered, he'd keep hiding. Keep hiding until all of this is over.

The doors slowly opened, and Gabe turned her eyes towards them with eyes of venom. Her emotion changed when she saw who walked through the door. Leon Vahan and Sage Lucas Pimm.

Sage took a step into the room, being even more hesitant than they ever were before. They have heard of what happened down there, and they figured that they could help with any wounds they had. More than a day ago, after the black out had ended, Eli had gifted Sage with the power to heal with their light.

"You sure you can heal them?" Leon asked Sage, a little skeptical. Not in the fact that Sage suddenly gained the power to heal, that they could use this new power effectively. "You can still back out."

They were looking at the point of no return. As easy as it would be to back out, Sage knew that they wouldn't be able to use this power effectively without exploring it. "I am." Thinking about it, they thought it sounded a bit morbid to test a new healing ability. Sage turned their head and saw Gabe and her badly burned hands. Sage didn't even need to think, "Here, let me help you!"

"Okay...?" Gabe was confused. Sage grabbed onto her injured hands, almost getting a punch from Gabe, if they hadn't eased the pain. A near-holy light wrapped around Gabe's hands, and under the veil of light, her wounds were healed. It would be like nothing happened, if it wasn't for the fact a few scars would be left behind.

It felt much better now that her burns were gone... However, it left behind a nasty scar. All of her healed wounds did. Burn scars, and blade wounds. It barely mattered anymore given the disgusting mess of scars she had on her body. She'll never be pretty as she used to be. "Thanks." Gabe said, her expression was emotionless. Under her burning rage, she was thankful.


Dexter Harold Chertok.


Once the staff had taken Ray off of his hands, Rush was reluctant to let him go so easily. Given his injuries and his friendship. Rush had hoped for the best for Ray. For now, Rush sat in a chair away from everyone else, with one leg crossed over another. He tucked his chain, grasping it gently with one hand, his other hand was rested on the armrest. Must retrieve technology. Leave immediately. The words went through Rush's head. Right now he felt powerless in this room... None of his inventions, and worst of all, he doesn't have his laptop with him. He was wondering why they're in here of all places... In any case, Rush was going to escape from here. This island is not a place where he wishes to be anymore. Screw exposing the Headmaster, there's more things going on in this school that were bigger than him. Things that he couldn't possibly handle.

What happened to Ray was more than proof.

Everything was so overwhelming and out of place. The school was likely never going to be the same. Several students were killed, most notably Amimoore. The Headmaster's daughter and a very familiar face in the school. He raised his head to listen when Dacious came in.... Perfect. The very man who got them into this.


Carmen 'Lily' Santo.


Jesus, that nightmare is finally over. All Lily wants to do is slide into bed and forget-

No.

It's time to leave the island. She's barely been here a week and she's been bombarded with so many reasons to leave that it's not even funny. Now that it's over with, Lily thought of where she could then, many thoughts crept up on her. She wondered where the hell should she go... She came here for another life. And now it turns out that the grass isn't so green. She isn't sure if her long lost family will take her back in with such open arms. And she sure as hell not going back into the streets. Ugh. She'll need to talk to someone about this. There was one person here she knew was her one and only friend. Jesse. Yeah, find Jesse. She nervously got up from her chair, then awkwardly looked for Jesse. Trying to pick out him out from the crowd of Meta-humans. "Jess, Jess? We... need to talk..." Now it looked like she didn't want to ask him about what to do next, and just wanted to talk to him, "What... Are you okay after all of that?"


Dacious.

Spoiler:

Causing all conversations to halt, Dacious walked onto the stage of the auditorium, escorted by two heavily armed security officers. He walked up to the speaker, and cleared his throat in the most cliche matter. "I have heard of your struggle in the tunnels. I have to commend you for your efforts to support each other and stay alive yourself." Dacious paused for a moment to absorb everyone's reactions. Dacious looked ahead, "But I'd like to tell you..." He cleared his throat again... "It was all a test! And you all passed!" His tone made it sound like he was being sarcastic.

The room went dead with shock. It was the sheer audacity of the statement that caught them off guard.

"... Now wait right there just a moment!" Gabe jumped up, her hands glowing with a red light that overwhelmed the sense of sight. Anyone who got too close would feel the heat of the light. She took a step on the chair right in front of her, giving the headmaster a deathglare. "If you are the motherf*cker behind all of that, I might as well just turn you into a skeleton right now!"

You're going to ruin your hands again... Sage thought to themself as they watched Gabe set her hands on fire, again. The laser's bright lights did nothing to Sage's vision.

Security quickly converged onto Gabe. With Jake doing nothing but rolling his eyes.

"No, no," Dacious surprisingly dismissed the security, "She has done nothing wrong. I will handle her." He handled it with a surprising amount of nonchalance. "There is no further cause for alarm. It is all over, and I promise you that no more harm will come to you, or your friends. However, if you, or anyone else, really want to leave the school, we are getting a boat ready for an immediate departure as we speak. You all have an hour to gather your things before it leaves."

"Damn right we're leaving!" Gabe relented, the laser-light went dim, until it faded away. Before she crossed her arms. Glancing once to her left, then the opposite direction. Offhandedly saying, "I don't know about ya'll motherfuckers..." She hissed through her teeth. "But I'm getting the f*ck out of here! We're done with the school of superpowered d*ckwads."

"As you wish." Dacious responded, nonchalant. "You are all dismissed."

Arianna Madrigal

Arianna laughed-a beautiful, lovely, hysterical sound.

"Calm down? You...you want me to calm down?" Arianna ripped the face mask down, where the elastic bunched up at her collar (this so her neck would be free-Arianna was always very conscientious of her neck, given that it had vocal chords and such in it). "Jesus Christ, I...all my friends..." Jake.... "They're all in there...." Arianna closed her eyes, lifting her knees up to her chest and putting her head down-the fetal position. She could hear them, the pain and the suffering, even across campus, the Symphony was poisoned.

Children being butchered tends to do that.

"Calm down. I'm...I'm supposed to calm down...."

Arianna stayed there for a minute, too terrified for the lives of her friends to feel fatigue. A whirlwind of emotions overtook her: survivor's guilt had almost instantly set in, given that she was spared having to actually see what happened within (even if her Hearing was far sharper than most people's vision) and the fear that maybe...maybe she'd be the only one...the only that lived. If she'd been stronger she could've gone in there and actually helped, or...or...or something, but...

Arianna looked up and Arianna was looking back at her, Megan totally replaced by a version of herself. She blinked and it went away with a faint echo of music.

Megan ((I'm assuming)) got the message that they were needed in the auditorium and Arianna let herself be dragged there. The panic and fear had passed. Shock was setting in, and a strange numbness (physical and emotional) began to crawl over her. They were all dead. They were all probably dead. She was freezing through the uniform and she didn't care-some part of her vaguely noted that she should fix that up when she got time.

In times such as those things can be a bit of a blur. It wasn't, for Arianna. Everything was painstakingly long, attempts to Hear what was currently going on in the school waylaid by the echoes of the night's carnage. Her mind seemed hollow, too full of the swan songs her dying classmates had thrown out to form her own thoughts or opinions. A few times, tears openly poured down her face, but she hardly seemed aware of it.

Then, the auditorium. It was full of panic and tension and...and life. So many people had made it out-maybe she had helped a little after all. Spirits on the rebound, Arianna frantically searched out through the crowd, too...no, excited's not the word. Too utterly overwhelmed by a thousand different emotions to think of using her gifts, Arianna frantically jumped and craned her neck, looking for-

Hopefully, Jake wasn't too trigger-happy, because Arianna engulfed him in a hug from behind. Her eyes broke open like dams and her voice, wracked by sobs and gasps for air, was still somehow as lovely as birdsong.

"Jake! Oh Christ, oh thank God, I Sang as long as I could and then I went and got the adults and and oh God I thought...I thought...." she couldn't make the words come out-she, who could hit any note you asked, couldn't bring the darkest of her thoughts to bear, perhaps out of some childish fear it would make them come true. She simply grabbed onto him, digging her fingers into his chest as if to confirm he was really alive, that it was really a heartbeat she heard pounding in his chest and really a living, warm Jake she felt right next to her.

And Arianna just stood there, content with the information that she wasn't dead, and he wasn't dead, and everything seemed to be kinda okay for a little while.

....then Dacious spoke.

When Gabe openly threatened the headmaster-the man who had sent those killers after his own children-Arianna recoiled back, pulling Jake a half step with her, and readied herself to try and restrain him if he went to her aid-but, it seemed, Jake was tired of Gabe's valiance. Arianna herself was amazed that she managed to be jealous of Gabe's ferocity amidst everything else. She really doesn't take sh*t from anyone...I wish I could be like that...

"Jake," Arianna murmured, speaking loudly enough to be heard but quiet to avoid the notice of the security around Gabe, "As much as I want to leave here...I....I have a really bad feeling about getting on that boat..."

Jackson
(By now Jackson transformed back to his true form
"You sick monster!" "People are dead!" Because of a CENSORED test!" Jackson screamed at Dacious. "GO TO HELL!" With that Jackson turned and walked out of the auditorium he made sure to grow a layer of reinforced flesh around his neck arms and vulnerable skin. As he made the trek to his room to pack for the ship out he glanced around to make sure he wasn't followed. As he got to his room he found it as usual locked. He rammed on the door with his hands. "you know what CENSORED it" flesh grew around his hands forming large heavy bricks about two feet large,he raised his new smashing appendages and brought them down heavily on the door,a slight creaking out was heard as the frame slightly buckle under his smashing as he smashed through his anger grew it powered his onslaught,finally the door swayed open. He grabbed his suitcase and shoved all his belongings in wasn't much few pairs of clothes and his rubix cube. He looked over at Anthony "WAKE UP IDIOT!" He yelled before kicking the bed violently so that Anthony fell off. As his roommate got up looking with a hint of alarm at Jackson. "Who are you and what are you doing here!" I'm Jackson I can shapeshift now that we're done with the introductions I'm leaving this nightmare and I suggest you come too". Anthony rubbed his eyes trying to make sense of the situation "what's this about did something happened?"

"While you were slumbering off in dreamland WE WERE KIDNAPPED! PEOPLE ARE DEAD! all because of a apparent test!" Now I'm getting off this island and I suggest you do too!"

Anthony waved his arms trying to calm Jackson down "clam down man I'm sure there's an explanation stop acting scare crazy!"
Jackson glared at Anthony an then walked forward so that he was glaring down "No you're right I'm not scared,scared is when a spider crawls across your face and you brush it off,scared is when you break a window and your Dad finds out. listen very carefully Sloth-boy I'm not scared.I'm mortified That's when you get chased and drugged by some effed-up slender man doll! When you see someone get turned inside out while you get restrained in a room full of super powered serial killers,when classmates and people you know are killed right before your eyes,and there isn't a thing you can do,when your own headmaster explains why everyone is dead is because of a test". I'm leaving it's better to live in a world that you know will hate and try to kill you then a world that you think you could trust!" With that Jackson stormed out of the room leaving Anthony wondering what just happened.

Abraham Gene

Bloodsucker seemed pretty full of shit back then - back when they were still down in the tunnels. Him and his butt-buddies were getting their asses handed to them on a diamond-studded gold platter. He was about read to unload on that bastard before he ran off unbelievably fast towards the retreating students. Much faster than what Abraham was capable of keeping up with. Fortunately, Drake's old man came in just in time to push him back. Of course Abe tried to help in the security force's assault against the Changeling unit. He projected those stone shards towards the bastards as hard as he could. He might have bonked one on the head, but nothing solid. It took a few brief moments after their counter-attack did the Changelings finally retreat. They won! Damn right they did, the bastards didn't stand a chance... but it wasn't without casualties. This place was a nightmare. Still, it was a step forward to getting off the island and being at peace.

The auditorium was a different story, however.

At the announcement of the headmaster's statement, there was total uproar. The old fart had the audacity to declare it was a test! People died! People they knew died! They weren't just stunt experts or stunt devils, there was blood - and it was everywhere. Abraham shared the crowd's outrage, but was much too tired to be as vocal. He stood there in the crowd, his tattered and once expensive clothes a memento of his fight against those freak-shows and a testament of the struggle that had occurred down there. He had to say... that weird mind-screw person was the only one to really harm him since he went down there, but he had one hell of a migraine to show for it. His body still felt sore from all the exertion he spent trying to hold them off. Drake was in the infirmary. Valery was no where to be seen. Jake and Arianna were undoubtedly in this crowd, and he expected they wanted an explanation as much as he did; and he expected they were just as much unsatisfied by Dacious' obvious cover up. Abe was simple - he knew that - but he wasn't Gods-be-damned stupid. It took him a few moments for him to find those two. Ari and Jake, they were both standing next to each other watching the headmaster on his pedestal. He paced calmly until he stood jsut behind him.

Even when he was normal, he still stood a good deal taller than either of them. But sometimes it was weird getting out of that golem and seeing everything bigger than they were before. Abe casually cleared his throat, with his fist raised to his lips to cover his mouth before he used that hand to rub the ache in one of his shoulders.

"I'm okay too by the way, so don't worry too much." He said sarcastically. Unlike most situations however, it seemed more well-natured - something that could be chalked up as being too tired to make a big deal out of it. Regardless, his sarcasm might even be chalked up to a straight up lie. There was no blood on his clothes, but it was still torned and ripped and snagged in several places. Even if he was okay, he looked as though he was mugged. He looked back up at Dacious and his two bodyguards. "A load of shit, that was. What do you two think? Fucking downtown Boston is better than this trash-heap! You can expect me to be bailing the first cruise out."

---

Jesse Sutor

His eared tickled and perked at a familiar sound, even in the commotion that made up the student body in the auditorium. Right in conjunction with the sound of his same, too. He turned around and found his friend. Lily looked a little worse for wear, and for sure Jesse felt the same way. His legs were killing him, his back was a little sore, and he was still trying to blink away the images he had saw at during the trip... downstairs. That's a good name for it. An actual dungeon that tortured the other students? Some even died. Surely it can be considered nothing less than a literal hell. But even as he tried to blink away those images, they reappeared and blazed his mind with every passing moment of darkness. Sleeping was going to be hard. And this crowd, this noise... it reminded him of the chaos that had ensued downstairs. It was terrible.

Lily appeared nervous. Poor girl. She was probably about as messed up by all of that as much as he was - give or take. She said something about wanting to talk. "I'm all ears." He said. He sounded nervous as he did though. He was still shaky after everything that had happened.

"What... are you okay after all of that?" She asked.

As demented as it must have appeared. He couldn't help but return her soft, confused laughter. "A-ha... no... not at all. Damn. Sleeping is gonna be hard..."

Jesse took both his hands and pressed them hard against his face, rubbing through all the creases and along the hairline and tugging at his hair, all before throwing them back down at his sides. "I never thought I'd have to live through that." He mused, his voice occasionally breaking between words. "God, I hope I never have to again."