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

"I hope one day I find someone who wont care if I wear the mask myself." Henry said, nodding at what Megan said. He meant that, and Megan had actually gave him a little hope with what she said. "I hope so." He said to himself. This teacher had proved she wasnt so bad after all. He turned to look at Jayla as she spoke. She was asking about who passed. "Oh! Um, here, hold on a second." He said, pulling out his little phone and scrolling through to his school newsletter. "Those who died are-" he began speaking, only for Megan to say something just before him, listing off the names. "Who she said." He said, motioning to Megan in confirmation.

"I hadnt known any of them myself, I'd heard of Ami, but that's only because she's the headmaster's daughter." He commented. Placing his phone back in his pocket. It was minuscule compared to his hands, his thumb longer than the phone was, and so he barely felt it slip into his pocket. He looked to the funeral as if paying one more respect, before he sighed. "Well, I'd better get going. I picked up a get well soon card for Drake since I heard he got hurt. So I'm gonna go drop it off for him. Anyone's welcome to come with if they want. It was nice talking to you all." He said, before backing away from the conversation and turning around, then heading off into the crowd from which he came. As he walked he took the card out of his pocket and took a look at it again. He definitely could've chosen a better card. It was bright pink with a cat on a rainbow on the card. It had the words "Get Well Soon!" across the rainbow where the cat wasnt. He hadnt exactly looked at the cards. He had just grabbed one, and then went on his way. Now he doubted he could return it. Oh well, it's the thought that counts right?

When he got into the hospital he had been too late to drop off his card, Drake was about ready to pass out from morphine based on what the eye had told him. Which kinda sucked because while he was embarrassed of delivering the card he was secretly looking forward to Drake's face when he got it. He had been allowed however to knock on the door in case there was an eye or someone in there that could place the card where he could see it. He would slip it under the door otherwise. He wasnt allowed to enter though. As he got to the door he heard Drake say something about dying a villain and then relative silence. He timidly reached over and knocked on the door. He knew this was a bad idea if there was someone in there. They would think he's a changeling. He knew it. He felt it in his gut. So he took to having the card in his hand and visible so that if anyone was in there they'd know his intentions.

As if it would be the first thing they looked at.

He hoped it was. He also hoped they asked question first and shot later.

Jayla seemed slightly embarrassed. "Oh I'm sorry, I got here late," she said. She looked back at the caskets. She felt something akin to sadness seeing some of the others gathered among them. She took a long glance. Then Henry left, Jayla giving a goodbye as he left and turning to the two teachers. "It's great to meet you Miss Jervious. I'm Jayla Redworth." She was wondering what to say next. She folded her hands in front of her. A chill swept over her shoulders. Upon people staring at her she noticed her attire may not have been appropriate for the occasion, as she realized that their gazes did not fall to her lack of shadow. She did something when most others weren't looking, although she knew she probably couldn't avoid Damon or Megan seeing. She waved her hand out, and the shadow of a few people in the crowd stretched out until they touched her feet. Her clothing then seemed to grow like molten black and harden over her shoulders, flowing and making sleeves. She probably should do some explaining.

"I control light and shadow, and... to do that my skin has to absorb light, which is why I usually wear the clothing I do. I try to absorb as much as possible. You never know when something will happen where you'll need it. But I think that I can show more respect. I hadn't thought of it at first, forgive me." She said.

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

Arianna Madrigal

"It's just..." Arianna closed her eyes, trying to focus on the conversation at hand and not the ominous overtones that the Symphony had, "I dunno. I guess I've been paranoid lately. Everyone sounds so much darker. So much more fear. And....and...." she lowered her voice so only Jake could hear, adding "Being here just feels risky. I want to pay my respects, don't get me wrong, but...this just seems like a really good target for those freaks. I don't want this to end with anyone else in casket. I don't want anybody else to die."

She glanced around, making sure nobody had heard what she said-Arianna at least had the sense to avoid causing undue panic. She fiddled with her hair for a moment, just to have something to do, and worked it back into a ponytail, enjoying the comforting familiarity of something simple in the face of such tragedy. Christ. Those kids...

Huh? Then Gabe went up to say something. Again, Arianna was struck with a pang of jealousy-Gabe was really ballsy. I mean, sure, she had her moments of being brash and rude and really lacked in the diplomacy department, but you couldn't deny she had guts. And scars, Ari. The two usually go together...you keep wanting to be a fighter, you're going to get it. Still, Gabe's strength impressed-and depressed-Arianna, and Jake's clever illusionry (which Arianna picked up on due to a combination of analytical thinking and the fluctuations in the Symphony) brought a smile to her lips. "Gabe's eulogy was very eloquent, I think," she replied, grinning softly. "You're...you're very resourceful, you know that Jake?" Arianna tried to consider all the job opportunities that Jake could have outside of the school and couldn't even come close to imagining them. Christ, the kid could do almost anything he wanted and make a ton of money while he was at it. Photography, art, working special effects-all that was barely scratching the service. Sure, Arianna wasn't going to have trouble making money either-she already had talked to a few record companies, who were waiting for her to become an adult to hash out any serious contracts-but still, that was just one field. Music. Jake wasn't limited to a single field.

I have good taste, don't I?

Valery Arsov

Abe's enthusiasm bolstered his spirits-while Drake's realism helped to ground him. Regardless, one thing stood out to him, and that was the concern of his friends, whether it was Abe's boisterous, caution-to-the-wind spirit or Drake's more worrisome comments. Val smiled-genuine this time, and clapped Abe on the shoulder. He'd have done the same for Drake, but he didn't want to jostle the poor guy around and snap his ribcage or something. Val wasn't really familiar with anatomy-he was at risk for snapped ribcages, right?

"Da. Thank you, thank you both. I do not have words, which is a first for me, because normally I cannot shut up." Drake drifted off into unconsciousness-not without a rather grave warning. Val mulled it over, and realized he hadn't even considered that as a possibility. Getting roped into the Changelings, buying into their ideologies...he'd been arrogant. If he was arrogant like that when he dealt with them, they could very easily break them.

"Hey, Abe..." Val said, his tone somber. "Listen, if what Drake said...you know, about becoming the monster...I'm not hard to beat. Hit me fast, before I can get anything going. And my clairvoyance-" Val had finally gotten the pronunciation right-"...just carry a mirror on you. Okay?" Val grabbed his hand and pulled him in close for a bro hug, clapping him on the back as he did so. "Take care, Abe. Watch out for this bedridden asshole for me, eh?" Before Val could get too emotional, he ducked out of the room, blinking (or perhaps winking) rather rapidly as he did so.

Val slowly made his way back to the dorm, taking in a lot of sights and sounds as he did so. He was missing out on the funeral, which was not good. He would've liked to have been there, but Val always did bad at serious emotional stuff like that. He would rather be the guy to cheer everybody up, and not everyone appreciated his lighthearted, silly optimism at events like that. But Val's walk was far more pensive than would have expected from Valery: he was taking everything in. This could be the last time I walk around this place...one way or another. Val soaked in all the memories of the Academy, the various experiences he'd had over the years. There was a large reservoir of them to draw from, and he found his pace slowing considerably. Val was never one to rush, and he figured taking his time now was okay. Heh. Walking past various buildings brought back glimpses of pranks he'd pulled in various places, or good times he'd experienced, classes he slept through...

The Academy was a good place. This mess with the Changelings had to be taken care of. This place was home to Valery-and that was saying something, as the one-eyed, grey-haired, superpowered Russian hadn't felt at home too many other places in the world. Even at his own house, outside of his brothers and sisters, there weren't many who were willing to give him a chance.

Val found himself at his dorm room and couldn't help but bust out in a guffaw. "Oh, Jesse. You thought I was an asshole before, with the liquor, oh..." Val slipped inside (having finally acquired another copy of his key) and began to gather his things. Val wasn't entirely sure what one took with them when they defected-he figured anything he brought would be confiscated, so there wasn't any point in trying to slip in a weapon. He decided on a few changes of clothes, an extra pair of shoes, and some basic toiletries. Val figured that would last him a couple days, at least. If they didn't give him food, he could pull his cool-down trick and slow his metabolism for a while, and there was snow to be had all around, so water was covered, even if that was a pain in the ass to get water that way.

After a few minutes, Val realized he was stalling. "I have not felt nervous in a very long time," Val muttered. He decided there was one last piece of business to be taken care of. Val stripped off his clothes and slipped on new ones. Fresh jeans, cinched in place by an old leather belt. Heavy boots, the kind made to handle the brutal winters back home. A white undershirt with a light black jacket over it-because I'm going over to the dark side, but I've still got good deep down, da? He toussled his hair a bit, just to make a good impression, and then jotted a quick note down to his family. He slipped it into an envelope and, on the outside, wrote "Abe-my family, in case." and listed his address. He didn't worry about his friend reading through it-one, because he trusted Abe, and two, because it was written in Russian.

Val swung by the school's post office on the way, arranging for the note to be delivered to Abe, and then he set off outside. The small athletic bag was strung over both his shoulders, a barely noticeable weight on the bulky teen's frame. Val paused for a moment as he stepped outside, watching the snowflakes fall down around him. Dressed as he was...that wasn't very impressive, was it? Val walked a good ways out from the school (the snowfall had picked up around him, the temperature dropped; Val's nerves were playing with the weather) and then took off his shirt and jacket, slipping them into the bag. He kept on walking out, away from the school, focused on his goal. The thick snow on the ground didn't slow down Val at all, who moved as easily through it as if it weren't there, and while he was aware of the cold air biting at his skin, it wasn't uncomfortable. Reassuring, really-if things did go south, Val would have an advantage outdoors. These guys were experienced killers, but Val knew that hypothermia had killed more than these guys ever had. Even if they took him with them, he could make things real cold, real quick.

Val found himself walking through the woods and noticed that his nerves were intensifying. This place was creepy, even before child-killers started running around the school. Val moved towards the ruins, figuring that would be a good, abandoned place to get abducted. No sane student would be anywhere near them, with the events that had transpired.

Beyond mere fear for his life, a surge of second-guessing overwhelmed him. This plan had been thrown together in minutes-what if they just killed him outright? What if they tortured him to death? What if, what if, what if. Nothing I can do about that now. Just have to keep going and fuck up the bad guys before they mess me up. Val continued walking, not even beginning to fatigue yet-the kid was in good shape, and the winter around him was a source of energy for the boy.

He stood alone, close to the ruins and the forest, feeling so terribly alone and yet, simultaneously, as if he was being watched. He threw his bag down onto the snow, then laid down and used it as a pillow. Val closed his eye, trying to feign relaxation and calmness. In reality, his heart was hammering a couple thousand times a second (or so it felt), and the boy was rather ironically pretty far from being cool. If they didn't come soon, he'd get up and move to somewhere else abandoned and creepy, and then try somewhere else if that didn't work. Assuming he didn't lose his nerve.

No. You won't. This is making up for not being there earlier. Team Headstrong, Valery! Drake and Abe would kick your ass in the afterlife if you pussied out now.

Jake & Gabe Valos.

Upon getting complimented for the eulogy, Jake grinned softly, while Gabe rolled her eyes. She was honestly feeling stupid for going up there without having a thing to say, then having to her ass saved by Jake. "Why thank you..." Gabe sardonically says. Then again, she thought about how times has Gabe had to save Jake's ass whenever a fight breaks out? Too many times to count - Actually, she never tried to count. But that isn't the point. Her point is that maybe Jake helps her in more ways than she knows. Gabe soon found herself smiling, just softly.

Arianna complimented his resourcefulness shortly after. "Yeah, I know. It... comes naturally to me." He almost found himself coming off as arrogant, but he actually liked it this way. Jake would rather talk about anything other than the Changeling Unit. It was the one thing that Jake knew he had over the likes of Titus and Abe. They had strength and all the power in the world, all while Jake is a thinker. He has no choice but to come up with plans and ways to fight on even footing with them. Types like them would easily disregard Jake, but that's their worse mistake. But, even the most brilliant minds were troubled... "I know I don't have some of the things other people have-"

"... Like strength, any fighting skills at all, or even good looks." Gabe inserts snarkily.

Jake glared at Gabe, who seemed to be doing a bit better now, she was acting a bit more open and cheerful now. "... But I know how to use what I do. Hell, I found outside the box uses for an already imagination based ability." He finished his train of thought, before feeling quite silly. All he was doing was talking about himself and what he could do. Anyone nearby would think he's full of himself. "Sorry if I'm talking about myself too much. I just don't want to talk about... You know."

Quickly enough, Gabe reverted to her gloomy attitude. "Yeah we know..." It was something that Jake said that resonated within her. "But, you want to know something? I am getting tired of this place, and everyone in it. Everything is so gloomy and depressing -Urgh!" Gabe let out a grunt or two. Obviously displeased about something. "I've been trying to forget all that crap that happened, and this whole f*ckin' thing is like one big reminder." Gabe let out a huff, before she stood straight up on her feet. "We should just bail and find somewhere to hang. We've payed all the respects these people need..." Gabe was just about ready to walk off, before she just had to insert, "... And no one will miss us."

Hmm... Gabe has a point, Jake had to say. Honestly, this funeral has been nothing but... It was like - Ugh. Well, Jake couldn't describe it that well. He decided to just stop there and move on. Leaving here would be good for his health. He turned to Arianna, "Yeah, I think we've done enough here, Ari. Wanna go to, uh, the lake?"

"In that?" Gabe points at his suit, then she pointed at Arianna's dress.

"... Okay, how about we all get out of our suits and dresses, then go to the lake?"

Megan Emma Jervious.

Megan lost interest in the direction Jayla took the conversations. Powers, yes? How interesting. She rolled her eyes absentmindedly in response. To Megan powers were as interesting as talking about the tie you're wearing. Basic elemental type, nothing truly special about you. "You don't need to explain yourself as if you're in the outside world, honey." Megan chimed in, "Long time students here have seen weirder things go down than you're little demonstration." She followed that statement with some laughter. "But, I concur with the point of getting as much ammunition as you can. These days you'll need it!" She offhandedly hinted. "Your enemy can be anyone here. It all depends."

... Bloodsucker and Mannequin.

All Val would hear is a dramatic sound of a blade unsheathed, not out of place in a movie. If he opened his eye, he would see the Mannequin standing over top of him. A wrist blade unsheathed and inches away from his throat. It was a mystery how the cyborg was so fast, and silent at the same time. The Mannequin could have easily killed Val before he even knew what happened. The Mannequin didn't move an inch, he was immobile as a statue, and just as silent as one.

Someone slowly approached, clapping along the way, sarcastically. "Bravo, Mannequin, bravo..." Bloodsucker said sarcastically as he approached Val. Ultimately standing over him with his hands behind his back. "Kid, you must have zero self-preservation, or you must not know a damn thing about what's going on...." He squatted down, and whispered into Val's ear. "... Don't you know there's monsters running around?" He laughed before standing straight up. "Good thing we aren't in the murderous mood right now, eh?"

The Mannequin relented, retracting that blade back into his wrist and he got from over Val. Hunched over, side by side with Bloodsucker.

Bloodsucker offhandedly looked at his nails. "Now, would you kindly tell us what an outstanding gentleman like yourself is doing in these neck of the woods?" Bloodsucker asked, "It should be interesting, or else we might instantly snap right into the mood." He warned Val. It was his way of saying 'Don't waste my time'.

Leon Maddox Vahan and....

"God damn it." Leon grunted as he stared into the mirror of his bathroom. Rather desperately adjusting his tie. He was late for this funeral. It started like ten minutes ago. Adam is so going to chew him out if he doesn't get his ass in that funeral this instant. "All seeing eye, but can't put on one damn tie." Leon angrily spat out. He looked at the rest of his black suit... It looked just dashing, hell, he could go without the tie. He threw the tie into his sink and started making his way out of his room. Awkwardly thinking of an excuse as to why he isn't there already. He was about to use his ninja assassin attack excuse.

A scream coming from nearby caused him to stop and investigate.

Definitely a girl's scream. Leon wondered what was going on, and who was in danger. Leon was pretty quick to find out what happened, since his power allowed him to scan the area. The scene wasn't pretty. There was a woman, one of the students identified her as 'Heartbreaker' putting a gun to the head of a red haired student, around sixteen, wearing a red cocktail dress. The girl was crying while Heartbreaker was shouting about something. They were in one of the rooms owned by a teacher, who currently was not there. "Okay, go get security. They got this" Leon quietly said to himself as he pulled out his phone, and he sent a text message out to security, alerting them of exactly what was going on, and where. Leon's heart started racing, but he needed to stay calm. He didn't know what the hell to do here. Wait here for security or... No. Just wait. Let someone else handle it.

"Somebody help me!" The girl screamed.

"Ten seconds left, b*tch! start talking or I give handsome gentleman who finds you another hole to f*ck!"

Well, dammit, there goes that plan. Leon had no choice but to try to help. He wasn't the type who would put another student's life in the hands of people who could save her. It was up to him, even though he can't do much here. Leon quickly made his way towards the door, worried expression on his face. He opened up the door, and the first thing he saw was the barrel of Heartbreaker's revolver. "Wait, wait! Don't shoot!" He quickly said. Leon slowly walked into the room, hands in the air. "Look, I don't know what you want, but leave..." He looked into the mind of Heartbreaker... "Wait-"

"Close the door..." Heartbreaker said in a sultry tone "... And come here and get on your knees, big boy."

He felt a gun press against his back, a pistol. A quick use of his power told him that it was Flashbang who was behind him. The girl who had a gun to her head a moment ago smirked, as she put her weight on her hip. Going off her demeanor, something told Leon that she isn't the helpless hostage that he thought she was. Contessa came out of the bathroom, also brandishing a gun, and put her back to the door of the room.

Leon followed Heartbreaker's instructions to the letter. Getting on his knees, and politely getting a revolver to his temple in return for his obedience.

"You altruistic types, always so easy to deceive." Heartbreaker all but confirmed Leon's suspicions. "Now, I'm going to cut to the chase; you're mister 'All-seeing-eye' yes?"

"... Yeah."

"Goodie. Now, we want you to find something for us," Heartbreaker, "A little thing that your boss calls... Regenesis or something dumb like that. He's been feeding kids that were meant for our boss to it. Find it, or find someone who will. You got two minutes. Have fun."

Instead, Leon looked straight into Heartbreaker's mind, and what he saw wasn't inspiring him to look, "... Why should I help you?" This was a last act of defiance. He knew that he was f*cked anyone. So why help these psychopaths? "You're going to blow my brains out anyway."

Heartbreaker saw Leon's point really well. He knows what she's planning before she even sets it in motion! That's why Heartbreaker hates telepaths. What was even worse is letting this asshole think that he scored a victory over her. The very prospect filled her with so much anger that she just... Stop thinking. The deafening boom of the revolver overwhelmed all other sense of hearing. In an instant, Leon went from alright, to having his brains blown all over the walls.

"... F*ck! Me!" Heartbreaker screamed at herself after realizing her own impulsive action. Now they can't torture him into submission!

Contessa and Flashbang were amused at best. They were both laughing their assess off. Contessa even had the gall to snark, "Nice one, boss."

"Stop laughing you b*tches!" Heartbreaker snapped as she turned the gun onto them. She was this close to killing one of them.

They didn't flinch. In fact, they now find it even more amusing.

Heartbreaker groaned, before lowering her gun. "... F*cking idiot..." Heartbreaker hissed through her teeth out of sheer anger. Looking at the bloody mess that is now Leon Vahan. "He had one job. One. Apparently his all-seeing asshole could only find ways to screw us over." She continued her rant with the same anger as before. "This is the exact f*cking reason I wish we still had the Dreamwalker. He could get to the bottom of this sh*t in seconds." She continued ranting, before realizing that people are coming to investigate. "Alright girls, we're out." Heartbreaker said, controlling her anger.

"What about the girl?" Contessa asked about their little accomplice, throwing a thumb in her direction. The girl had cupped her mouth, and fell down on her behind, out of shock. Heartbreaker knew what was going through her head: Omg, they did just kill that guy! It was obviously the first death she's experienced. Heartbreaker has seen hundreds of men, of all ages and sizes, die in the most cruel ways.

"Leave the actor to her own bloody devices," Heartbreaker said, putting her revolver into her holster. "She got what she wants. We got what we want. The girl would be doing herself harm if she told anyone about our little arrangement." Heartbreaker spoke just like the girl wasn't even in the room. Before she turned to the girl, and blew her a kiss. Her playful smile turned into a dead serious glare, "... Just a word of advice sweetie; haul ass now. Then maybe you won't get tied to our mess."

The girl wasted no time in leaving.

The trio of female Changelings left in a flash of light, instantly returning to their base of operations. Leaving only a dead body as evidence that they were even there.

Last edited by Lieo on Tue Jul 15, 2014 10:56 am; edited 2 times in total

Abraham Gene

Oh boy! Drake sure gets melodramatic and annoying when he's all hospitalized. What's he worrying about? Ol' Val falling to the dark side and becoming an actual Changeling? Heavens no, the guy was as straight a shooter as they got. Hell, they might just kick him out with all the spirit drinking that he does. Humoring the thought though, Val would be one hell of a bad guy. A nigh insurmountable foe. He doubted most of the school board and student body would be able to get close to him. Coincidentally, Drake had the fire to keep him warm enough to close in on Valery and even Abe himself scoffed in the face of the forces of nature. But even with those perks, Abe has long since suspected that Val was holding back. After all, he was always the guy wanting to go easy on people and never wanted to kill anyone. He wondered how the fight would actually go down, and how he would fare against the brunt of Old Man Winter's power.

But unlike Abe, Valery took Drake's comments quite seriously. "Piss and vinegar!" Abraham objected. "Don't sweat Kim Jong-un over there, you'll be fine!"

Abraham was caught off guard by his friend's sentiment, and tentatively accepted and returned the hug. Val bid his farewells and Abe waved goodbye in return, with his curious gaze chasing his Russian comrade out the door. Huh. That was odd. He furrowed his brows and looked into Drake's mirror. Well damn. To think he was getting some kinda brotherly attachment to these assholes! If Val was going for temporary leave, then they needed a temporary replacement. Who, though? Anyways, he didn't have much else to do here with an unconscious and hospitalized Korean boy, but he figured he could give Drake a get well present before he left. Now what did he bring with him... no shaving cream, that'd be weird. Cocoa powder on top of the ceiling fan would be funny and choke everyone out, but he doesn't exactly carry baking ingredients on him. What else... a pen. That's it? That's all he could use? Abraham sighed. Well, it's time to return to middle school...

A couple minutes later he stepped out of the room giggling like a twelve year old and nearly bumped into a large man just outside the door. All he spared him was a quick glance and snarky comment as he walked out, "Step aside freakshow!" Abe cued Merry to follow him, they finally were making their way back to the funeral. Man, that was childish. But still, it was pretty funny! A big ol' dick right smack dab in the center of his big forehead, and a bunch of squiggly lines all over his face pointed towards the head. And a message! Sure, Drake would probably figure it was him, but he left a nice word on the right side of his face along the jawline: "guffaw". A fun little word he discovered the other day. Guffaw! Guffaw! Guffaw! Man, that'd be a fun word to say.

The rest of the trek was the typical walk with Merry. She liked to talk to him and ask him questions, and in turn, Abe would try to ask questions, but he admittedly knew not a terrible much about the girl. He knew she loved her friends, Lily and Jesse, he believed - the Puerto Rican that watched him like a hawk and the boy who had a screaming fit with that one girl on the first day. But he was also the boy that helped guide them to the Changeling hideaway and their hostages, so he wasn't all bad. When the two finally reached the garden where the funeral was held, he spotted both of Merry's friends and promptly pointed her that way before whatever goodbye ritual she had in mind this time. He of course used "ritual" sarcastically. He glanced back towards the caskets that sat there at the back of the podium upon pedestals. Really, he didn't know anybody that had died back in the dungeons. They were all strangers to him. Still, these were people he didn't get to save, so there was some obligation to be here in that. Out of the corner of his eye, he found a trio of familiar folks. Arianna, Jake and his sister! Abe pulled back his dreadlocks into a loose ponytail with individual locks and paraded through the crowd to meet the three.

"Holy moley, is it hot in here or is it just me?" He chimed with his usual gleaming and enthusiastic grin as he sashayed himself beside the three, glancing at both Arianna and Gabe. Was it a good way to break the ice? Absolutely! Abe thought so, at least. He was quite aware of the status of Jake's relationship with Ari, but a little flattery or flirting never hurt anybody. Abe got over her anyway. Gabe on the other hand, as far as he was aware, was open market! He turned to Jake and jabbed a finger at him. "And you! I'm gonna have'ta talk to you later! No worries, I won't be tryna kill you or anything. Just a couple questions!"

He didn't really care whether or not they had any plans! Poppycock! They could work their plans around him, that's okay. This was pretty serious business he had in mind, and there's no way he was gonna let it get away from him. Oh, should he mention that? Yeah, he probably should. "No funny business, man," Abe added, "you ain't getting away from this."

Jesse Sutor

He leaned back and feigned holding a wound where Lily had elbowed him, and laughed along with her little joke. "What can I say?" Jesse said, conceding to his friend. "I've simple needs."

As hard as the week was, he was thankful he was at least able to get by with his friends along for the ride. Speaking of friends, a this-time sarcastic use of the word, Gabe walked upon the podium and gave a speech and her blessings to the dead. Most notably Ariella, whose name he had not heard earlier this funeral. But it was someone that Gabe seemed to know. But he was most caught off guard by the apparent sincerity from her. When she finally stopped and stepped back into the crowd, he blinked a couple times, and was confused by what he had just witnessed. That was Gabe, right? The gal that intruded into his room, drank all of Val's liquor, got Merry drunk, and bailed without an apology or explanation? The same girl that treated him like a child? Before know he didn't think she had a sincere bone in her body unless it was somebody else's.

He heard Lily tossing gibes right beside him. From the sound of it, she regarded Gabe in much the same way he did, and having about the same thoughts on it as he did. Jesse smiled and shrugged in response. "I didn't think she could change. Or, uh, at least not change so drastically. But I guess I was just being ignorant."

He heard the whisper of Merry's name at the back of his skull. So she was here at last! The gang was complete. Or it will be, once she navigates her way though the crowd. It shouldn't be so hard. Even if she is short, it is a funeral, not a concert. People were more considerate this day than they were most of the time.

Damon Viscous

While Megan battled the forces of evil, or perhaps neglecting that duty and instead battling the students via a verbal medium (a gentler way of saying she argued or criticized them), Damon payed attention to Gabe as she was upon the podium and gave her speech and blessings for her fallen friend. When he returned to the conversation, Megan was talking to Jayla - which pretty much constituted of her subtly rolling her eyes, a motion he hoped Jayla would not catch, and insisted there wasn't any heed for the girl to explain herself and her abilities. She followed it up with a comment about how she'll need ammunition these day, and referring to the Changelings. Damon himself resisted the urge to roll his eyes. Instead, he gently nudged her foot with the heel of his dress shoes and shot her a look. It was one that said, "play nice with the students". She really was an excellent teacher and charming woman, but he was afraid she forgot to be sensitive some of the time.

Damon looked back at Jayla with a smile, and figured to return the gesture and explain his own ability. "I'm full of bees." He said with the same, unmoving smile on his face. Honestly though, it looked and sounded as if he was making a joke. He didn't really expect her to take him seriously, especially since there was no bees flying around in this cold weather and that there was not even a single abnormal bulge in his suit. Really, he didn't enjoy sharing that fact about him, but he felt he at least owed her. After all, somebody had to balance out Megan.

Jayla looked at Megan blankly for a short moment, wondering what she meant, about the ammunition and the enemies that could be anyone. She dismissed it and turned to Damon who then proceeded to explain his powers. She smiled, surprised. "Wow, that's interesting. You mean, they're inside you?" she asked, intrigued. She tried not to concentrate on Megan's statement, which kept popping up in her head, and she felt like it was a threat. But she tried not to concentrate, she tried to focus on what she was speaking right now.

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

Valery Arsov

Val forced himself not to flinch-which wasn't particularly difficult, given that he'd been wildly paranoid about something jumping out at him over the last few minutes. And, while Val may have had below-average marks when it came to math, science, English, art, music, technology...well, basically everything, he was sharp when it came to strategy.

And any villain that would have a sheath that made noise when it came out meant one thing: pragmatism was not at the top of these killers' list. They had style, they had flair. Val felt a surge of optimism-he may actually make it, and not merely be killed outright. This, of course, was followed by the sinking reality of now being cornered by psychopaths, but one had to take one's victories where they came.

Val focused on being cool-ice blood in his veins. He opened his one eye, glanced between the two, and then forced himself to close it again, a slight grin tugging at the edge of his lips.

"What am I doing? I know what's going on-there's a bunch of people who are all gonna die, and there's you guys. I want to be on the winning team." Val frowned, his brow furrowing. "Besides, I've seen Dacious." He paused for a second, slowly raising a hand and prodding his eyepatch, which made a bit of silver mist puff out from underneath it-a clear sign that the boy had Vision beyond normal eyesight. "I've Seen him. And he would throw any of us under bus in a heartbeat. I know spec ops teams aren't like that. They have loyalty. Shit, look at me. I'm a one-eyed Russian. You think I've got tons of friends here? I've got no ties to this place. It's not hard to see you guys are coming out on top, and I want in-and I think you want me in too. I've been at the school for many years. I know the layout, the teachers, the students. And besides that, I'm a good fighter. I noticed, in the tunnels, you guys fought really well together. There's only one aspect you're missing. You have the sniper chick for precision, and the guy that can make the metal fly up. You don't have a big picture guy, from what I can see." Val opened his eye. "I'm a big picture guy. Sniper Lady may be better at hitting one person out of a crowd, but I can take out the whole crowd. You're trying to fight a school surrounded by snow and ice? You want me on your team." Val leaned back into the snow and let his beard and hair be coated with frost to prove his point. "So...what do you say? And I appreciate you not cutting my throat right away. That kind of behavior is not what I'd have expected from Dacious or that asshole Blackmore."

Here's to dying slowly instead of quickly, da?

Arianna Madrigal

Arianna suppressed a grin at Jake buffing himself up. Guys always acted silly like that around their girls. It was kinda cute. Then Jake had to go and ruin the moment by saying why he was actually doing it.

...oh. Just be arrogant next time, Jake. "Oh, he's got good looks," Arianna quipped, giving Jake a smile and glancing playfully at Gabe. She didn't want to try and push herself into the twin dynamic they had going on-Arianna, as a general rule, didn't put herself into people's family affairs, and Jake was obviously very close to his kin. Most of Jake's problems were family problems, she imagined, whether it was trying to restrain his little brother's bestial mood swings or keep Gabe from lazing someone for a snide remark. Hm. Arianna wondered what the rest of his family tree was like, given that all three of them were metas-she made a note to ask him about it later. Maybe if things don't work out with you and him, you can date his cousin, Ari, since you're doing the superpowered guys thing now. Probably an empath or something. "And don't sweat it. Talk about yourself all you want. Brutal honesty can be kinda refreshing, ya know?"

Arianna brushed her hair back behind her ear, on the verge of telling Jake she'd meet him at the lake as soon as she changed when Abe walked up. Yikes. A sudden wave of awkward washed over her, and the Symphony shifted from a mournful requiem to more of a...hm. It was like a vague mix of the pop music most teenagers rocked out to and the stand-off theme from The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly.. She couldn't help but snort, unladylike and rude (especially at a funeral-her parents, who attended fancy dinners and whatnot at least once a week, would probably wonder where they'd failed if they'd seen her), at Abe's "is it too hot in here" line. She wasn't particularly fond of him-things had been a little too messy between the three of them for her to bounce back to casual acquaintanceship, but at least somebody was taking the general gloom of the Academy in stride. Arianna sure as hell wasn't handling it that well, even if she was smiling and talking just fine.

It's easy to handle trauma like that when you've got people to act happy around, things to do. It was in the dark, all alone, when the worries started creeping up on her. She looked in the mirror and didn't have the same concerns she did before-it wasn't her hair or boobs or acne, it was a more atavistic fear. She looked in the mirror and saw prey, and she knew the maniacs that were butchering kids left and right would, too.

Arianna was doing her best to avoid mirrors.

"Listen, if you two need to talk, I can just meet you at the lake in a little while...?" Arianna asked, turning to Jake. Arianna was no MMA fighter, and she doubted she could do much against Abe's raw strength, but she had perhaps saved Jake's life against Titus' haymaker. She didn't think Abe would cause any problems here, but she wanted to be there to help Jake if he needed it. He had Gabe, Jaska, and almost the entire school around, so she doubted any fights would break out. Had she been thinking more clearly, she would've perhaps realized it was more dangerous for her to wander off alone than it was for Jake to be around Abe-but lovestruck teenagers very seldomly think things through.

The Funeral.

After many heartfelt moments here at the funeral, the viewing came to a close. The burial began, and the caskets were raised high as they were carried to their final burial. Many attendees went along. Everyone else was leaving. Attending the burial was entirely optional.

Jake, Gabe, & Jaska Valos.

Spoiler:

Of course, Abe had to interrupt their departure, and start talking his sh*t. The usual. Abe only earned a glare from the twins. You haven't changed one bit, have you? Jake thought to himself as he resisted the urge to roll his eyes.

Gabe didn't resist her eye rolling urge. Abe's comment about it being hot in here made her regress into an angered persona. Couldn't miss the opportunity to snark. "Oh? I personally think it's about to be you." She gave him a sly smile, anticipating a reaction. It wasn't a threat per-se, just a little joke of hers - Well, it could be a threat if Abe takes it the wrong way.

"Hot?" Jaska perked up at Abe's comment, oblivious to it being a joke. A result of him not paying attention. Until now, the young devil was lost in his own world. Ignoring everyone as he contemplated. Hell, he could have been punched in the back of the head and would have given off no visible reaction. On the subject of heat, he figured that it must have been him, he was so distracted that he likely activated his powers. Fire and heat were his respective element, much like light and lasers were Gabe's, and earth was Abe's. It had come to the point where he could barely differentiate any heat from any other idle sensation. Jaska quickly says in an apologetic tone, "Oh, I'm sorry, I-" Getting interrupted by a gentle elbow from Gabe.

"Shush." She said flatly, before Jaska could make a fool of himself.

The elbow was enough to keep Jaska quiet. This silence allowed him to breathe in the scene, just to realize things. He looked up at the larger newcomer with curious eyes. Abe, the guy that Gabe and Jake said helped save him from the Changeling Unit. He would have introduced himself, if he didn't want any attention. Right now, he was more than content with the conversation going on without him. Merely because he was no longer comfortable with people as he used to be. Jaska was silent as ever. But, he was listening.

Me? You want me? Jake perked up quite fast once Abe spoke to him. He was wondering what the hell the guy still wanted from him. He was still quite hesitant of the Golem after their confrontations and arguments. He knew that the guy disliked him deep down. But damn, Jake knew that he respected Abe for going out of his way to help fight the Changeling Unit. That made him think way better of Abe... Perhaps Jake himself has improved in the eyes of Abe? In any case; if Abe's intentions are malicious he knew that he had Gabe on his side - Even without Gabe, Jake could just illusion his way out of anything Abe could try to pull. Abe's forte is raw power. Jake's MO is deception, defense, and stealth.

In Jake's eyes, illusions would trump Abe's earth bending, when he's trying to not to die.

Arianna then asked if she should leave them to their business. Jake wasn't sure of whether or not. But he had the feeling that Arianna wanted to leave above anything. "Uh... Yeah, sure, we'll meet at the lake in a few." Jake approached Arianna and embraced her, intimately. He then whispered into her ear, "... Stay safe, Ari. Remember I love you." He let go, fully expecting Arianna to leave right now. That meant that Abe was next on his list. Jake turned to him, and asked, "Gene," Jake started off, politely "I guess I better get this out of the way now, since I want to get out of this suit: what is it that you want?" He was genuinely curious to hear what Abe was going to talk about.

"... And remember; anything you say to him, you can say to us, yes?" Gabe quickly injects with a grin on her face.

Jaska was smart enough to believe that the 'us' that Gabe mentioned included him. He nearly cringed.

Megan Emma Jervious.

Damon and Jayla certainly took what Megan had to say seriously. With Damon understanding the implication underneath it all, and Jayla trying to act like she isn't interested (When deep down, shocker, she is). How delicious! Of course she would leave it at that because Damon subtly nudged her to stop. She switched to the next subject. "...Buzz, buzz." Megan sarcastically inserts as Damon told Jayla his power. It was rather odd of him to just so offhandedly announce his power. She already knew what the man was capable of, and it was certainly interesting what the Bees are doing to him. Was he just steering the conversation away from what she said...? Oh Damon, you sly dog. She giggled underneath her breath. She figured that she'd return the favor and tell her power. It was something that most of the student body knew anyway, so why not? After Jayla spoke, Megan inserted, "... My power is Amorphous Shapeshifting, honey. I can become anyone, and be anything, I want to be." She laughed, before she added, "There's a reason why they selected me to train the shape-shifters and transformers."

It seems that during her conversation, the burial was commencing. She should be down there, but why? She has far better conversation up here.

Carmen 'Lily' Santo.

It seems as if Jesse and Lily shared the exact same sentiments. Just more common ground between the two. "Yeah, today is full of surprises. She might apologize to us!" Lily joked again, putting a comical amount of emphasis on apologize. What made her change subjects was the announcement that the burial process has begun. Everyone here was either leaving, chilling here, or heading with the caskets for the burial. Lily is honestly content with leaving right now - But, that meant that she would have to tell Jesse her back story soon enough, like she said she would. Honestly, more time went on, the more terrifying the idea. She has done bad things in the past. And especially during the little event that lead to her exodus. Would Jesse still accept her? It was in her past, and people move on from it. Maybe she could prepare herself for it, just get herself ready. And get a change of clothes, she fells so ashamed to stand in his bootleg dress. "I guess we can leave now. So, how about I get dressed up, and we'll meet at your dorm room to talk. That good?" Lily didn't leave immediately, she wanted to hear what Jesse had to say.

The Changeling Unit.

Such an... Interesting prospect. Getting a new recruit. Even Bloodsucker was enticed by the idea of having Old Man Winter on their side.... Of course, joining won't be easy as, say, signing up for a club. Val needs to be weened from his old life. Because once he becomes one with the Unit, there is no turning back. Because Bloodsucker will make sure he can't.

The Mannequin leaned over towards Bloodsucker and whispered something into his ear. Before a sinister grin crept up on his face. "... Very interesting argument, my Russian friend." Bloodsucker seemed amused, in the way like he enjoyed the idea. He was just about to continue when two flashes of light appeared right next to him. It was Flashbang and Contessa. Back from their mission so soon?

Flashbang was reaching underneath her jacket for a pistol when Bloodsucker put his hand up in a stop gesture. "He's a candidate." He sneered. When Flashbang started laughing.

A circle-shaped portal opened behind Val. Leading into an area so dark that Val wouldn't know where the hell it leads. Bloodsucker walked next to the portal and crossed his arms behind his back.

"Step through our door to begin your... Evaluations. But let me tell you, once you step through there's no turning back. You will hold a sin mightier than any other. The world will hate you. They will want to kill you... So choose now, and very wisely." He quickly threw a thumb in the direction of Contessa and Flashbang. Adding, "... Of course, if these two are back, the 'Sniper Lady'-" Bloodsucker finger quoted Val's little name for Heartbreaker, "-probably already has your heart in her crosshairs." It was true, Heartbreaker was hidden well and was long ready. By the time Val found her, it would be long too late. "So, if you want to back out now: reconsider." Bloodsucker laughingly inserts.

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

Valery Arsov

Val had to try very desperately to keep from sighing in relief-they seemed amused by his offer, which was way better than irritated or pissed off.

I mean, how f*cked would he have been if they already had a large-scale-combat guy? Val threw up a few silent prayers of thanks for that one. Heh. Perhaps I should give up my faith. Not like I was really devout anyways, and I'm probably not going to be qualifying for Heaven after all this. Val did wonder what the Mannequin told Bloodsucker, but knew better than to ask. Besides, the Mannequin was just creepy. The others were sadistic or whatever, but it was in a realm he could understand, they were just serial killers and stuff. The Mannequin didn't even seem human.

He was on the verge of deeming the day a success when two more Changelings popped out of thin air, and a sudden stroke of brilliance overcame Val-How did they know to come here? Perhaps there is a tracker or something on them, so they can teleport to each other. If I could get those back to Abe... This thought was quickly interrupted by the chick reaching for a gun-Val fought to keep his expression passive while simultaneously readying himself for a swan song. Pull that trigger and you'll be pulling shards of ice out of your ass for years, lady. Don't know if I can freeze the Mannequin solid but I'll try. Thankfully, however, Bloodsucker saved his life. Well, depending on how you looked at it.

..and Sniper Lady was watching him the whole time? That was...unnerving. Val hoped he had a decent poker face. "Listen, friend, you can ask any girl at the Academy-I'm not one for pulling out at the last minute." Val stood up casually and suddenly felt very, very silly for bringing a bag of supplies with him. He shook it genially and put on a grin. "Didn't know how long you'd keep me waiting, eh?" Val turned and looked at the portal for a moment, which rather eerily reminded him of a cheap, B-list horror movie he saw once, where there was a similar-looking gate into hell. What's that expression they have here? The path to Hell is made with good intentions? Whistling, he randomly glanced in one direction, hoping that the Heartbreaker would be over there and gave a cheery wave. Val's logic was that if he focused on being a smartass, he wouldn't be able to focus on his own nauseating fear quite as much-and, Val remembered reading somewhere that it was harder for people to kill people they perceived as human or whatever. Val figured if he could keep up a decent attitude and at least amuse the psychopaths a little, they'd be less likely to kill him outright.

James Bond made this look a lot easier. Val took a deep breath, closed his eye, and stepped into the portal.

Arianna Madrigal

"Love you too." Arianna said, giving Jake's hand a brief squeeze before heading back to her room. The funeral was just now dispersing, so she was more or less alone-but people were close enough that she didn't feel threatened by the Changelings. After all, they didn't seem like they would strike at the group at large-they were wolves, going for the ones that lagged behind, fell away from the others. Nevertheless, Arianna felt a shiver as she turned each blind corner, expecting some gun-toting child-killer to be waiting for her.

Stop this, Ari. You're being a coward.

That statement to herself, more than anything else, unnerved Arianna. Christ...a few weeks ago, she would've considered what had happened at the Academy beyond repulsive-yet now, she was telling a boy she loved him, trying to shrug off kids being slaughtered...Arianna felt a very sudden, very powerful longing to return home, and hurried back to her dorm before anyone that might've been traipsing about the hallways could see her break down.

Jake and Abe's thing would probably take a little while, she reasoned. She could have a little time to pull herself together. Arianna sat down and pulled out her violin, running through a few pieces to try and clear her mind. They posed no challenge to her, who naturally understood music at a level beyond intuition, but the familiarity and the beauty of a few sweet songs was helpful nonetheless. After a while, the sniffling girl put the violin back in its case and moved to the bathroom, splashing her face with water and looking up at the mirro-

The Symphony exploded with sound, harsh and guttural and unforgiving and Arianna was looking at her mirror self, one with a throat slit open and blood running out of her eyes like tears

Arianna forced her eyes shut and half-fell, half-sat down on the bathroom floor, trying to dig the palms of her hands into her eyes. She vaguely noticed that she was trembling, but couldn't bring herself to stop. Jesus Christ, what is this school? What is this place? Why has no one come to help us? I don't want to die here. I don't want to die here. I don't want to die here.

Time passed. Arianna wasn't sure how much, and it didn't really seem to matter. Splashing some more water on her face, Arianna slipped into some casual clothes-jeans, a shirt, a jacket and a scarf-she wasn't really worried about impressing Jake, what with everything going on.

Arianna grabbed her handbag, tucked it into a pocket of her jacket, and made her way to the lake, lost and dazed in her own thoughts.

Abraham Gene

Abe made an exaggerated, gaping look at the response he had received from Gabe, going as far as putting his hand at his chest. He made a short gasp in reaction and said, "Oh darlin', you wound me! It was only a compliment."

With the intention of getting back to business, like a good businessman (as his father always told him), Abraham set down the feigned expression of hurt and returned to facing Jake. The expression on his face now seemed almost equally overplayed: his eyes were widened like white orbs coupled with a smug smile, and as if to emphasize the intention of getting back to business, he wiggled around his bow tie as like a gesture akin to straightening it. And as it appears to Abe, Jake has a similar intention of getting straight to business! It started with the boy addressing him as Gene - oh, how proper of him! - and question that gets straight to the point. In reply to which, Abe winked at him.

"I was just getting to that!" He assured. At the sound of Gabe's voice (what a sultry sound that was), Abe slowly rotated himself on his heels to look at her with a gentle and still smile, perhaps one that was patronizing in nature. She suggested he'd say it here! With all these people, around? No, that won't do. "No ma'am," Abe asserted with the same smile, "I'm afraid that my business is not with you."

Almost instantly upon saying that, he twirled around back to Jake and wrapped his arm around his shoulder and pulled him close as if they were bros and started to stroll off with him. The shoulder wrap was more over his other shoulder and around Jake's neck - a good position for Abe to be in if the illusionist feared he was going to put him in a head lock soon, but that wasn't Abe's intention. He looked back around his shoulder to look at Gabe and Jaska and shot them a thumbs up sign before returning to Jake.

"Wouldn't want to embarrass ya in front of your sister and lil' brother, am I right?" He asked rhetorically. The idea of embarrassing him was actually pretty amusing, but this was serious. "Anywho, remember last week? Pretty nasty business, that was. Never got the chance to thank ya for that mind rapist Dreamfucker or whatever his name was - thanks, by the way - but man, what a party, right? But, uh, as I was saying: I recall one moment there... by God's sweet grace, were you having a panic attack back there? Yes or no? You were frozen up more than old Val when he turns himself into soviet popsicle. What's up with that? The honest answer matters, my friend!"

Abe had long since been meaning to bring this up with Jake, and if this was perhaps the case, then maybe he might be able to do something to help work that out of his system. And as much as he didn't want to admit it, he wasn't half shabby back there. Perhaps the guy might make a good temp for Valery while the man did his undercover spy work. All that'd really need to happen is Drake's approval or second opinion or something. Whatever happens, come hell or high water, he isn't gonna leave here without accomplishing something.

Jesse Sutor

"That's absolutely fine. These shoes are killing me anyway." Jesse assured with a brief goofy smile. Valery had taken his time to being elsewhere these days, whether it be with his buddies or off doing his own thing, whatever it may be. He tended to get into the door after Jesse fell asleep, so they didn't really get to spend a tremendous amount of time talking or hanging out together. He supposed that was fine. The two of them didn't have a whole lot of common interests. Val had his crowd and Jesse had his, but he'd always consider him a friend. The dude was a nice guy.

Damon Viscous

As typical as it was, Jayla's question was the kind that made his suit's collar feel stiff. He took a couple fingers and tugged at the collar around his neck out of nervous habit. It was a question he should be comfortable with, really, he struggled with it most of his life. And he was a grown man. But it really was often the target of much judgement from others, and nobody is really comfortable with bees flying around, so he did try to contain the swarm as much he could. At least the student didn't seem repulsed by it - as long as he covered all the holes in his skin. There was something to be said about the wonder and naivety of children. Still, Damon nodded in response to the curious student's question.

"Yes, they sure are." Damon replied with nervous musing.

"Buzz buzz." Megan inserts sarcastically. All he could really do was look at her through the corners of his eyes with a half-amused and half-vexed expression. Really? The teasing between the two faculty members was silly enough as it was. Fortunately, she did take the conversation away from him and began talking about herself. An amorphous shapeshifter. That really was quite the ability, one that he personally envied. It must be quite a deal being able to turn into anything you want. It was better than being a living, breathing hive. Now that he thought about it, what did Megan originally look like? At least, he assumed she shapeshifted herself into the way she is now. Their relationship was platonic, but as a friend or even as a coworker, he couldn't deny that she looked stunning.

Jake, & Gabe Valos.

After basically being told that 'it wasn't her business' Gabe grimaced. How dare this rock for CENSORED tell her what is and is not her business. Arrogance in it's finest. Either way, whether Mr. Abraham wants it or not, Gabe's going with them. Just to irritate him. She took a step forward, only to get obstructed by what was a giant stop sign. She knew it was the work of Jake, and grimaced even harder.

The illusion then spoke to her, "... Just let me handle this one. Go get changed, and I'll meet you at the lake."

"Ugh. Whatever." Gabe vehemently spit out. If it's really what Jake wants, then whatever. Gabe's hand latched onto Jaska's wrist and she whipped around. Disappearing into the crowd of people that were leaving the funeral.

Having Abe's arm wrapped around his shoulder didn't make Jake anymore comfortable - One motion and he could break my neck - with splitting off from his brother and sister. He was going to give Abe the benefit of the doubt until proven wrong - Because, what reason do they have to be hostile towards each other anymore? There was a bit of an awkward silence as Abe carted him off, it was more of uncertainty as to what Abe's motives are. That was when Abe began to speak,

Lieo wrote:: "Wouldn't want to embarrass ya in front of your sister and lil' brother, am I right?" He asked rhetorically. The idea of embarrassing him was actually pretty amusing, but this was serious. "Anywho, remember last week? Pretty nasty business, that was. Never got the chance to thank ya for that mind rapist Dreamfucker or whatever his name was - thanks, by the way - but man, what a party, right? But, uh, as I was saying: I recall one moment there... by God's sweet grace, were you having a panic attack back there? Yes or no? You were frozen up more than old Val when he turns himself into soviet popsicle. What's up with that? The honest answer matters, my friend!"

What Abe said started off a bit off-putting, then it quickly veered into a subject that Jake wasn't entirely comfortable with talking about - Especially not with him. His little touch of madness was definitely something that has been bothering him lately. He was honestly hoping that no one would see his little outburst, and just... Disregard him. And of course the last person he wanted just had to see and commentate on it. Jake let out a sigh and closed his eyes briefly. No way to weasel his way out this time, it would seem. Just tell Abe the truth and hope that it doesn't get used against him. "Your welcome." Jake started off. He was quick to get from Abe's reach, and speak to him from a position that he is more comfortable with.

"To answer your question..." Jake moved onto the point. "... It's a little side-effect of my power that pops up from time to time, or when it's triggered by something. It does things to my perceptions and mind. Like removes something from my sight, or adds something that isn't really there. Sometimes it's something small. Then sometimes it's something that makes me doubt everything that I called real a minute ago..." Of course, Jake doesn't have to tell Abe what exactly he went through that night. That's his secret. "I've been able to keep it under control, but sometimes..." He faded off, not wanting to explore the problem any further. "Does that answer your question, Abraham?"

Carmen 'Lily' Santo.

"Alright, I'll get ready, see ya'!" Lily bid farewell to Jesse, before leaving for her room. It was risky going off alone, but Lily was near impossible to sneak up on. She quickly made it to her room and walked straight into the bathroom. She found this school to be so terrifying. In this room, it was safe. But it was only a matter of time until what scares her creeps into her sanctuary, and subjugates her to the same fate as those kids. She let out a remorseful sigh, before she started to unbutton her blouse and dropped it on the floor nonchalantly. She undressed, then redressed in a more causal attire. Something that was comfortable, but still, in light of recent events, she wasn't trying to go for the best outfit out there. She wore a black jacket, with a white t-shirt under it, and black jean pants. Before she went out the door, she put on black boots.

Time to go meet Jesse...

The Changeling Unit.

Bloodsucker followed behind Val through the portal, he himself was followed by the Mannequin, then the Contessa and Flashbang. Before the portal closed completely.

Val found himself in a dark room. He couldn't see anything at all in here. He could hear the Changeling Unit silently chattering among each other. He would be able to pick up tidbits here and there. Such as discussion about what they think of Val, and more importantly: tests.

"Oh, this is gonna be good." Heartbreaker spoke through the darkness, loud enough for Val to hear her. "Shall I explain?" She continued, she sounded very pleased in a sadistic way.

"No, let me." Bloodsucker said. Before he walked and stood next to Val. With his hands folded behind his back, and a dry facial expression. "Apart of our induction process is putting any inconspicuous new recruit through our... tests." He then laughed quietly underneath his breath. "These tests can be anything we want them to be. Failing these tests mean death.But as a little fun thing we like to do, the less we like someone, the more tests we'll have them do. One time we had this recruit that we were certain would be useless. So we made him do eleven of the most mind breaking tests, then at the end, I made him do it again!" Bloodsucker started laughing, with a few more members of the Changeling Unit joined him in laughter. "Fortunately for you we have agreed on a reasonable number of tests. So, just don't disappoint us." Bloodsucker walked away.

Some of the lights came on in the room. Forming an illuminated circle in the center of the room. If Valery was familiar enough with the school, he would be able to guess that he's in the tunnels.

Creaky wheels came from the darkness. Only a silhouette could be seen approaching. The Mannequin, carting a metal overbed table that would be more in place in a hospital. On top of it was only a blue rolled up cloth. In the center of the light, the Mannequin left the table there. He unfurled the cloth, revealing a myriad of medical instruments, and neatly placed the tools side by side on the table. A butcher's knife. A combat knife. A bonesaw. A bone drill. A scalpel. Scissors. A meat hook. A mallet. And pilers.

The Mannequin only had three words to say to Val, "Alter yourself...." He faded off, retreating back into the shadows of the tunnels, his blank face pointed at Val. Before he could enter the shadows, he added on the last word, "...Meaningfully."

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

Valery Arsov

It is very dark in this room Val noted. Sometimes, when he was overwhelmed with fear (which happened extremely rarely-normally Val was too apathetic to be afraid of things), Val liked to state very obvious things to try and give himself a frame of reference. It worked, most of the time-if he could focus on a few things that he knew, then it made the scary unknown stuff that much easier. It is very dark in this room. My name is Valery Arsov. I'm probably going to be dead really soon. No, wait, that's not helping.

Heartbreaker's voice cut through the darkness, which brought on simultaneous reassurance and worry from Val. Okay, on the one hand, they hadn't teleported him to the bottom of some lightless ravine to die. On the other hand, maybe they were all going to rush him in the dark? Val considered taking off his eyepatch to See where they were, and decided very firmly against it. He didn't want to stare at the souls of these people.

Okay, a series of tests-and he said a "reasonable amount" so maybe they sorta liked Val after all. Val curled his hands up in fists, partially to give himself a psychological edge, make himself feel tougher, and partially to hide the fact his fingers were trembling somewhat noticeably. Can't show weakness, Valery. Team Headstrong, represent!!! The harsh lights made Val's eye water, and he blinked rather rapidly as he adjusted to the sudden change. Then creepy faceless guy came with what looked like a table full of the Zodiac Killer's sex toys."Hey, not disappointing you I can do. As long as the tests are multiple choice, I think I will be okay."

Val paused for a second, facing a legitimate problem-the Mannequin had told him to...altar himself? Altar? Like, make himself a temple? Val didn't want to appear cowardly, so he moved over to the table, trying to mask the fact he was unfamiliar with that word. Rosetta Stone you have really fucked me over now. Sweat ran down Val's naked chest, despite the fact that he was shivering. The room was cold, which surprised Val-he...he never felt cold.Focus, Valery. You can do this. Val figured "altar" in this sense mostly just meant to mess himself up, mutilate himself, which...would not be too terribly pleasant.

But meaningfully? Val thought about what was meaningful to him as he meandered through the table full of torture devices. He picked up a scalpel-precise, razor sharp. It felt right. When Val was very young, he thought he wanted to be a doctor-this dream was quickly shattered when Val realized that required work, but it had stuck with him. Val glanced around the small lit area for a mirror before cursing his idiocy-no, he would have to do this the hard way.

Val sat down on the stone floor and proceeded to grip the scalpel in his left hand, thinking of what was meaningful to him. He didn't have much more time before they'd start to get impatient. Val took a deep breath and sent winter running down the veins of his arms and legs, which would begin to numb his extremities and help keep him from bleeding out. Hopefully.

The Russian began to write into his own flesh, letting out a grunt of pain as the scalpel first tore into his skin, but restraining himself after that. He didn't know exactly what to write, so he just wrote a stream of consciousness type deal. He began etching the names of all his friends from the Academy into his skin, thinking of each of them as he meticulously carved their names in Cyrillic into his arm.

Abraham. Drake. Jesse

Val let out a short curse as his hand slipped and he accidentally made a gouge on his arm, but he simply held his hand lower and let the blood run down the other way. Thankfully, his freezing trick seemed to have worked: he wasn't gushing blood out all over the floor, and would hopefully be in a decent condition to fight if he had to after this. The flipside was that his coordination was numbed a bit, and using the scalpel as precisely got more difficult as both the numbness and the pain got to him the further down his arm he went.

After a dozen or so names of his favorite classmates, close friends, he drifted into something else. Valery wanted to write a prayer on his arm, something meaningful (for, while he was somewhat lax, he did identify as an Orthodox, and felt he made up for the alcohol and the attempted womanizing with being nice), he didn't know if any of these creeps could read Russian. So he wrote something more cryptic, something that would give him a way to weasel out if they questioned him (likewise, he planned on saying the names were to be etched off with each kill if questioned). Azrael, guard and bless thy son...

Time passed. Val didn't know exactly how much, but it was in the ballpark of four or five minutes. His entire left forearm was coated in blood, etched with Cyrilic names, phrases, anything he could think of that was meaningful. Val figured they were probably expecting him to cut his balls off or something, which he totally wasn't down for. They'd have to be okay with this. Val, while not audibly revealing his pain, couldn't help but wince as he accidentally tore into a bit of muscle towards the end, and shifted the bloodsoaked scalpel to his left hand, to begin work on his right. Even with his numbed arms, the pain was tremendous, and Val very vaguely wondered how people could mutilate themselves to feel better. I think it's more helpful if you're not being forced to do it, but I am not a psychologist.

More time passed, and Val entered something of a haze. A bit of panic crept up on him, as he remembered that failing this test would mean death, and likely a slow and brutal one. He decided self-inflicted torture was far preferable to whatever these bastards could do to him. His right arm was inked in blood. Then he stood up (slightly shakily-his arms were throbbing from the agony) and swiped all the torture instruments off the table.

"I'll pick up in a sec," Val muttered, grabbing the table clumsily and pulling it down to the ground. The metal wasn't perfect for this, but it was better than nothing. Val stared at the reflection of his chest in the grimy steel. Should've gotten a wax.

Val had reached the point where silly jokes were no longer consoling him. Along with the nauseating fear (or was that the iron, salty smell of blood, his own blood...), this was a rarity. Val took a deep breath, sent the cold running through his torso, and began to work on his chest. This took considerably more time-but Val had always been one to fight his battles through attrition, through endurance. If you gave Val the choice of ten minutes of intense exercise or three hours of easy work, he'd take the latter every time. And while he might've flinched at having to cut off a finger or something else abrupt and drastic, he could do this. It was blindingly painful and brought up every possible fear-how would he ever explain this to his parents/how can I fight them if they challenge me after this/God there's so much blood/how much do they expect me to do-but...he had done this before. He could do this. It is very dark in here. My name is Valery Arsov. There is a lot of blood on the floor of these tunnels and it is all mine.

Val was vaguely aware of running out of room to write some time later. He wasn't sure how long-it very easily could've been hours, which is what it felt like, but he figured it wasn't anything more than fifteen minutes. Val stood up, somewhat woozily, and closed his eye, taking another deep breath in. He forced his blood into sluice, the intense cold making his arteries and veins constrict. The winter in his body helped to negate the pain, and he began to think more clearly., even if his coordination was suffering.

"Meaningful," Val said, looking at the scalpel-which, like his hands, were absolutely drenched in blood. The sight was extremely unnerving. "Back home...they have ghost stories about a man who pissed off some people in the gulags. So they corner him one day...carve all over his skin like this...send him out to fucking Siberia to die. But he lives." Val looked at the scalpel, and was overwhelmed with a sudden uncertainty, that it had not been enough, that they would strike him down after all that. One more piece. It needed something more.

Val thought about the fake smiles he'd tried to give Abe and Drake, back in the hospital room. That is what this means. Smiles from now on...they won't be real. They'll be...they'll be stained from this. Val closed his eye and sent a rush of cold as specifically as he could, into his cheeks and lips, and placed the scalpel on the inside of his mouth, reading his nerve for just a moment.

Then he slit his face open halfway to his cheekbone. Val couldn't help it this time-he sunk to one knee and let out a muffled scream of agony, managing to gather himself after a moment or two and press the scalpel to the other side.

It took a few more moments that time.

The scalpel fell out of Val's hands and he pressed his hands to his face, ice engulfing his beard and slowing some of the bleeding, numbing some of the pain. Snow had begun to fall around him without his realizing, and it was stained crimson as it touched the floor of the tunnels.

You can do this Valery. Val looked down at his arm, where, barely visible amidst the drying bloodstains, were the names of all his closest friends, his family, in the language he knew best. Val forced himself back up, trying to imagine what Abe and Drake would say if they saw him.

"Next test." Val said (his voice sounded different-not to mention the effort of speaking nearly caused him to black out with the pain), putting the table back up and putting the instruments back on it. It just seemed like a generally courteous thing to do, and he figured making the Mannequin pick them up wouldn't endear him to the Changelings.

Everything above his waist was on fire with pain. His face in particular. And yet Val knew the worst was still to come.

Jayla

Jayla smiled sweetly to Damon as he explained his power. She found it intriguing that someone could be filled with bees, or any insect or animal for that matter. She hadn't really paid attention to anyone or anything since she arrived, and there such a feeling of fascination that grew within her as she listened to these people. Then came Megan's "buzz, buzz". Jayla didn't exactly know if it was mere jokes or some type of taunt, so she dismissed it.

"... My power is Amorphous Shapeshifting, honey. I can become anyone, and be anything, I want to be," remarked Megan. Jayla nodded politely, she thought this sounded somewhat self-centered.

"Very interesting," she said. She glanced over her shoulder, noting that people were leaving. She smiled and glanced back and gave her goodbye. "I should be going, it was nice meeting both of you!" She said happily before walking off, her smile fading as she moved away. She stretched out her arms for a moment and watched as the sleeves dissipated, almost as black dust, and then nothing. She needed just a bit more skin to show, for the energy she produced from light absorption to be in decent supply. She walked on.

Megan Emma Jervious.

"Good luck on your travels, sweetheart." Megan waved goodbye to Jayla as the student left. The girl seemed a bit oblivious, but some people are just better that way. Still, the girl wasn't the best chat but Megan could have done worse. "What a lovely child." Megan said to Damon after nonchalantly waving goodbye to Jayla. The funeral was over with, and Megan was at a loss for what to do next. Perhaps she should find Chertok... She thought that she told him. If she catches him tinkering on something; he is going to get a heel so far up his ass.... "Alright, I am going to look for our little Technological mastermind, so...."

Her cellphone started ringing.

A little neat trick that she came up with her power is storing objects inside of her. Megan simply reached into her midsection, and pulled out her bright pink phone, with a protective case that has bunny ears. She shot Damon a look in case he had to snark. "What? I like bunnies." She laughed before she put the phone up to her ear. It was Adam who was calling her. Saying, "Hello, this is Megan speaking!" in the most jovial way possible. Only for a little bit of chatter on the other end to make her eyes widen and grow in shock.

"... God dammit!" Megan broke her usual calm and cheery demeanor to let out anger. She was just about ready to throw this phone. The news was emotionally shattering, and she was just about ready to tear up. Of course, the one person she had to talk to about this would be Damon. "Leon..." She started off, before she told him, "... He's been killed. Shot right through the head."

The Changeling Unit.

"... You do not tell us when you want the next test. We decide that for you." Bloodsucker said, obscured by the shadows. He took slow, ominous, steps forward. He helped Val up to his feet, then put his arm around his shoulder, leaning on the bleeding Russian. "But, interesting... That better be your hit-list." He whispered into Val's ear, grinning. "I'd say you passed, but it's not really up to mind, per-se...." He pointed his hand, palm up, at the Mannequin, who's silhouette could be seen piercing through the shadows, "... It's up to our creepy Mannequin."

For what seemed like minutes, the Mannequin said nothing. Before he moved forward, walking on all-fours. He approached Val, standing on all of his limbs but one. He ran his cold ceramic hand lightly against Val's cut skin. Suddenly stopping. "He may continue..." The Mannequin said, before he grabbed onto the medical table, and returned to the shadows.

"Now, that is something else. Normally, he would make you go even further." Bloodsucker laughed as he released Val. He noticed that Val would probably die before he gets through the tests. He at least deserves to get fixed up before the next test begins. "You won't make it through the next test in THAT condition to begin with. Witch Mother! Fix him up."

Witch Mother strolled towards Val through the shadows. She put her hand on Val's forehead, and worked her magic. She partially healed Val's self-inflicted wounds, enough that he wouldn't have to worry about bleeding to death, but he would still feel the pain

"Light!" Bloodsucker shouted.

All the lights in the room turned on. Revealing every member of the Changeling Unit had formed a circle around Val.

Primitive Light walked up to Val, and looked Val dead in the face. "Hmph, I want to see how well you can fight. So for my test, I'm going to have you fight a member of our team, one at a time, as we try to kill you. Anyone here could try to attack you." Primitive Light crossed her arms, "You have to last for ten minutes. If you fail to stay up on your feet: we give you over to the Mannequin to be his test subject." She pointed a thumb in the direction of the Mannequin.

The Mannequin looked at Val (Even without eyes), a drill came out of the palm of his head, and started turning fast.

Heartbreaker stood alongside Contessa, Flashbang and Witch Mother. Breaking off from the circle. "Sorry, Light, we'll sit this one out." Heartbreaker started off, taking a puff of her cigarette. She spoke for herself, Contessa, Flashbang, and Witch Mother. "Up front fights aren't our style. Besides, a fight against me would be over in a heartbeat."

Primitive Light nodded at Bloodsucker's third in command. "Your test begins..." She said to Val in a sinister tone. Before she returned to the circle around Val. Not a member of the Changeling Unit attacked for several minutes.

It was a tactic to unnerve him. Make him paranoid of who would attack him first.

The first to take the initiative and attack would be... Acidscar. He rushed forward, a layer of glowing acid covering his body from head to toe. He took a few steps forward before pointing both hands and spraying a current of acid at Val.

Acid is very bad.

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

Valery Arsov

Val promptly chastised himself for saying too much: he wanted to be likable and good on their good side, but needed to keep it to a minimum. Sycophancy could backfire on him. Val did his best to stay motionless as the Mannequin drew closer, creepy as fuck, then he ran his hands down his arms...Val was throbbing with pain, but he ground his teeth (which sent another flash of pain through his face) and declared that he had passed. A likely visible wave of relief washed over the boy. First test, cleared. Okay. He could do this. He could do this. My name is Valery Arsov. There is blood on the floor and it is mine. I have passed the first test.

Then the Witch Mother came and seemed to patch him-Val felt immeasurably better. He was still in a great deal of pain, but he was no longer in risk of dying, which does wonders for one's mental state. Val felt himself stand up a bit straighter, and nodded to the woman. "Thank you," he said, feeling a bit of gratitude was not out of place.

The next test was to begin-no rest inbetween, which was admittedly what Val had been expecting. Only ten minutes? I can do ten minutes. Val nodded and readied himself, but couldn't resist from blowing a kiss at Heartbreaker when she said it would be over in a heartbeat. I think Sniper Lady and I will be best of friends when all this is over.

They surrounded him, which was okay with Val.He had a feeling that his attackers weren't about to pull any punches, so he didn't plan on holding back, either. Val began to take deep breaths, readying himself for what would literally be the fight of his life. His eye flickered between the people in front of him, but he was more focused on what he could hear from behind him-it would only make sense to attack him from behind. All the while, the temperature in the room began to steadily sink, Val's adrenaline-amped breathing and focus subconsciously bringing it down.

The boy had fought in the arena a great many times before, but Val was a softie. He'd never gone all-out-he'd never had a chance to. Val had never been in a fight where somebody's life was truly on the line. It took a moment to put himself in that mindset, to really make himself believe that killing these people now was okay-but once he did, the self imposed barriers he'd placed upon himself began to fade.

Acidscar came for him, sprinting across the floor. Had he tiptoed, perhaps Val wouldn't have heard him. He wasted no time in turning half-way to his attacker, not wanting to turn all the way around-Val figured that they might try and throw some razzly-dazzly attack at him, then stab in the back as soon as he focused on it. That being said, if the razzle dazzle killed him, he couldn't fight off the second attack either. Val roared and crouched down, technically fulfilling the "Still on his feet" obligation while not touching the ground with his knees. Val tensed and called forth ice to gather on his arms and chest, affording him a tiny bit of insulation from the acid. One of the few lessons that was worthy of Val's attention in chemistry was that acids and stuff didn't work outside of a set temperature range-no, maybe that was biology. And maybe it was only for certain compounds? Val had on clue, but he figured it was worth a shot.

Instantaneously feeling the cold begin to seep through his body, Val turned and directed both hands at Acidscar, dropping the air between him and his attacker to freezing within a matter of seconds. Val almost never went for the quick strike, but he had no other choice here-besides, he'd been readying while the Changelings tried to unnerve him. The result was that the water vapor between himself and Acidscar was flash-frozen, and Val quickly followed it up by slamming his fist into the ground, causing black ice to begin to spread out from the point of impact. The bastards around him may be able to fly or something, but he figured at least a few would have to come at him the old-fashioned way, and that would buy him a little bit of time. Val wasn't sure how much of the acid would be diluted by the barrier of ice, or denatured by the cold, so he gathered up more frost around his being, shielding that side of his body with a layer of ice as quickly as he could.

All the while, the tunnels grew steadily colder, and snow began to fall in earnest from the ceiling, dropping out from invisible clouds. Val felt himself begin to grow a tad bit more sluggish, the result of throwing around so much cold so quickly-his body was becoming slower, his reflexes less precise. This was okay-with a bit more time, he could practically entomb himself in ice, and use his environmental powers to wear down on the Changelings whilst buffing up his defenses. It wasn't foolproof, but if they were coming at him one at a time, he was confident he stood a chance. He was confident he could last ten minutes, at least.

The Changeling Unit.

Acid-Scar was taken back by the sudden blast of cold. He was nearly frozen. But he could take it. Unfortunately, most of his attack was nullified. He felt the chill of the winter, but he wouldn't stop just yet. Getting close to Val would be foolish. However, there was a little rule they had during these tests.... "Tagging out!" He leaped off, to let the next member take his place.

"I'll take it from here." Count Vicious announced, confident, as he stepped towards Val. A layer of metal had covered his body during Val's opening attack, so he was ready. The metal began to heat up to nullify the effects of the miniature blizzard that is going on. For his opening attack, he made knife-shaped metal constructs appear from the ceiling over Val, much like metal stalactites. He then made them fall from the ceiling, heating up to burning levels on the way down.

Mannequin, Heartbreaker, Flashbang, Contessa & a few lovely guests...

"Eh, I think I like my tits not flash frozen." Heartbreaker quickly noticed how f*cking cold it got. It seemed like it'd be fun watching Val and the rest of the Unit fight, but it seemed like her toes would fall off before anything interesting happened. And she definitely didn't want Witch Mother to give her anymore body parts. She would have to sit out even watching them fight.

The Contessa randomly blurted out, "... Someone's down here." Because much like Lily, the Contessa had a Meta-sense, which allowed. Though not as powerful as her's. "Six people, closing in on us, fast."

"Ugh, f*ck!" Heartbreaker shouted, she knew that she didn't want to stop their little trial. She would have to go out to take these strangers down before they stumble upon something they shouldn't. "Bang, Tessa, we're going to take them out. F*ckers won't know what hit them."

Before they could teleport off, the Mannequin approached them. "I will join you."

"And miss the little test?" Heartbreaker said with a grin, "You're the only one who could shrug off old man winter over there."

"I will miss nothing."

Flashbang grinned as she teleported all four members of the ambush party to a suitable location to get visual on them them. The tunnels were pretty dark, but all that are present had a way to get around the darkness. Heartbreaker herself could see perfectly well in the dark. She put her back to the wall, sniper rifle in hand, she turned around the corner, and dropped down to put one knee on the floor. She looked down the sights of her sniper, down the tunnel... One of the fools had brought a flashlight, or something. Amateurs.

Like Contessa said six people. Seth, Kate, Vespera, Cassandra, Vance, and Eric. God knows why they're down here... Perhaps they know a little too much. All the more reason to eliminate them fast as possible. That was the one thing that Heartbreaker and her girls had over the members of the Unit that relied on their powers. They didn't have the god-level regeneration of Bloodsucker, the unstoppable force of Berserker, or telepathy, telekinesis, combo of Dreamwalker. But they had skill. A well planned ambush could wipe the floor with even the strongest Meta-human.

"Mannequin, get above them and take out anyone you can. Bang, teleport in, and slit the throat of that boy. Tessa, hang back and turn off anyone's powers that get too problematic. When I take the shot, that's everyone's cue to act. Got it?" Heartbreaker told everyone her plan. To which they nodded and got in position for.

They were all bunched up, possibly so that nobody would grab one when they turn their heads? "... Your mistake." Heartbreaker said with a grin, as she set her sights on Eric's head... Normally she aims for the heart, but she was planning on spooking them. She figured that he should be the first to take out in her opening attack. She pulled the trigger and just like that, another life was ended today. Eric's brains were blown out all over the wall, before he dropped to the ground with a thump. Because of Heartbreaker's powers, she more or less saw it in slow motion. But she took this moment to get another round ready. She pulled back the lever on her rifle, then aimed.

Meanwhile, Mannequin and Flashbang fulfilled their parts of the plan. Taking advantage of the surprise.

Mannequin was already positioned above the group. He dropped down on the first person he saw, feet first. He retracted the blades in his feet, impaling his target on impact. That unfortunate soul just so happened to be Kate. That wasn't the death blow, however, she was injured. Mannequin leap off before he became the target of anymore attacks.

Flashbang teleported instantly, slashing Vance's throat before he even had a chance to merge with the floor. She kicked him at Vespera, and teleported out of the way of any attacks.

Convenient. Two members of their six man group are dead, another is injured. However the rest immediately got ready for a fight. Vespera shifted into her spider form, and lunged at the Mannequin, Seth used his density changing powers to defend himself, he also went for the Mannequin. Cassandra went for Kate's aid.

Mannequin was getting bombarded with attacks, from Vespera's darkness and acid combinations, to Seth's clever manipulation of density. However, Mannequin was fast enough to dodge, but not retaliate. Contessa had no choice but to help, she simply turned off Seth's power with one snap of her fingers. Heartbreaker on the other hand had to run down the tunnel, as the fight was being taking out of her line-of-sight. On the way she swapped out her sniper rifle for a revolver. The exact second a target came into view, she demonstrated speed unlike any other, it took half a second for her to line up a shot with Vespera's chest, another to pull the trigger. She pulled the trigger repeatedly, until her gun was empty. Vespera's carapace took the blunt of the barrage, but she ultimately succumbed to her injuries and dropped dead.

"Sorry, Charlotte's web, I think I went a little far." Heartbreaker mocked Vespera just as she died, "My boot would have been enough to squash an over-sized spider like you."

The Mannequin rushed for Cassandra and Kate - along the way he slashed Seth's heel to keep him down. The moment he approached Cassandra, she tried to brace herself, but ultimately, her nerve manipulation was useless against him. He faked her out by motioning for a stab, as she tried to dodge, Mannequin demonstrated inhuman amounts of speed and body control by grabbing onto Cassandra's forehead and slamming her head first into the concrete. That would be enough to warrant a hospital visit, but not a death blow. Mannequin retracted the drills that were in the palms of his hand, and drilled a nice hole into Cassandra's head. Killing her as well.

With most of their invaders killed, Heartbreaker slung her rifle over her shoulder, and pulled out a revolver. She walked up to each member of the invaders and put one extra bullet in each of their heads. Starting with Vance. "Gotta make sure. Remember the last time we didn't double tap?" By the time she was finished, there were two left, the injured pair comprised of Seth and Kate. She walked up to Seth, and had her gun pointed at his brain, when she was stopped by a hand grabbing onto her wrist. She was just about to pull out her backup piece, when she looked and saw it was the Mannequin.

"Don't kill them." Mannequin said, walking on all fours again. Heartbreaker turned to him and raised an eyebrow. "I wish to... test." He slapped on a power inhibiting collar on their necks, and he dragged them off into the shadows.

"Whatever floats your boat, c'mon girls we're heading back." The three teleported off without Mannequin. Leaving him to do... Whatever. Despite being used to it, deep down Heartbreaker found him more frightening than anything else this team can conjure. She was glad he was on her side... But for how long?

They didn't bother cleaning up the rest of the bodies. That job is for whoever finds what's left of them down here. It could be days, months, or years, it didn't matter to Heartbreaker or the rest of the Changeling Unit.

Spoiler:

Minutes later, the Mannequin was carting off both Seth and Kate, forcibly tied to medical beds, with gags in their mouths, and collars on their necks to stop them from any unnecessary power usage. He pushed them into a dark room, the lights turned on, to reveal a scene not too different from the test he put Val through. A two hospice tables. One covered in surgical tools, another with a white sheet over it. The Mannequin left the struggling pair and walked over to the table. He dipped each of his tools, one by one, in alcohol, then burned it off with the blowtorch. "Unfortunately, I do not have any anesthesia to spare." He spoke as he did his work. "You will have to live. You cannot expire prematurely." The last tool that the Mannequin cleansed was his scalpel. He skittered over towards Seth, and ripped his shirt open with his hands. Mannequin made an incision on Seth's abdomen, and opened up his body to view his organs. He used nails to keep the flaps of skin down. Mannequin observed everything inside of Seth's body. "Perfectly healthy." He came to the conclusion. The Mannequin stabled Seth's body close.

He turned away from the pair and walked to the other table, the one with the sheet covering it. He pulled the sheet off to reveal some curious items... What appeared to be pieces of the Mannequin's ceramic shell, chains, and other pieces of bio-technology. Mannequin grabbed the mask, an exact replica of his mask, and walked over to Kate, holding the scalpel. He stood over her, making precision cuts around her face as if he was planning to take it all off.

"... You are ready for modification." Was the last thing he said to them.

There are simply some fates worse than death.

Jayla

Jayla walked out of the garden, heading towards the dorms. She pulled some hair out from him front of her face and put it behind her. She was still thinking about Megan and Damon, and simply going over everything they had said. She noticed two other figures walking ahead of her. Gabe and Jaska, who she gained curiosity in. She sped up beside them and looked over at them. "Hey, how are you?" She asked, but not in an overly friendly tone. It was a bit monotone, but she didn't want to act happy in case it offended them. She had to keep reminding herself that she was at a funeral.

Abraham Gene

His standard composure, under most circumstances, betrays the sense that Abraham might actually be listening or is interested in whatever is being discussed - as such as it was now, who appeared entirely uninterested in whatever Jake had to say and looking off and around the campus, and failed to properly convey the degree of listening he was actually practicing. This is to say that although he didn't seem entirely focused on Jake, he was in fact aware and even understanding the current conversation. "I see." He mumbled to himself as he craned his neck about and around, almost as though he were paranoid. He pulled back his arm from around Jake and went back to facing him. So, the guy really did have his little panic attacks. Hunch correct, apparently. Er, was it? Panic attacks or hallucinations regardless, it was still good solid ground for him to stand on. Whatever fit or trance Abe was in previously was broken, and reacted in such a way that would seem proper or expected of Abe.

He scoffed incredulously. "What?"Are you telling me you play mind tricks on yourself" Abe shook his head and chided him. "Tut, tut. Well that's no good, is it? Tell you what - you scratch my back and I scratch yours - I think I know something that might just help ground ya to reality."

A devilish grin stretched across Abe's face from ear to ear.

"I'm bringing ya to an arena match as my second! It'll be good for you!"

Well, he let fly the hook. Now he just had to reel him in. And if Drake approves, drop the fish in the bucket and call it a day. Regardless, he didn't have the intention of letting Jake get away. Honestly, he still thought the boy was somewhat of a scrawny little shit. But if can figure out how to pull his own weight, then maybe he isn't half bad. Hell, it'd be a great time too to have the boy with him when Abe himself kicks ass, then maybe he can see what a real man is like! But most importantly, he had to make sure this kid ain't about to let somebody die. Another occurrence like the time underground, and who knows who's going patoot?

Damon Viscous

Damon nodded in agreement with his compatriot. He was glad that some of the students were still keeping their innocence. Some of the other students are taking this very harshly, but who could help it? He expected it was very traumatic. Some regulars at the arena stopped going, others went more frequently, and some who never went at all are starting to practice there. The event had a strange effect on everybody. Even Damon. He felt there was more going on than just the Changelings or the headmaster's usual shenanigans.

Megan's phone started ringing. The whole amorphous shapeshifting deal was really strange, in that she was able to store her cellphone inside her own body. He himself was able to store a lot more - and yet at the same time, a lot less - than Megan's bunny printed phone. A detail to which Damon responded with a raised brow, something that his friend had defended against. She answered it in the typical fashion - an overplayed cheery sound that would make the world's most devout pessimist commit cultural genocide in hopes of drowning out her chime with the screams of thousands. It was, however, short-lived. He became alarmed at the sound of her raised voice and jumped around immediately to see her flustered face. She looked mortified. Megan looked to him and told him what she had heard herself: "Leon... he's been killed. Shot right through the head."

The news was enough to put immediate stress on Damon's body, and he felt the inside of his chest writhe and convulse. He turned away from Megan and fell to one knee before he gagged up a dozen agitated bees dropping from his mouth and subsequently began buzzing through the air, racing individually through the halls of the campus. Damon was panting and was trying to coax his body into calming down. He didn't want to believe it, and perhaps as an automatic response, drones were sent to look for proof. His clothes didn't have openings. But he knew to trust Megan - she wouldn't pull some kind of bullshit like this. But Leon? How? How did the all seeing eye and power instructor get killed? He forced himself up back up to his feet and wiped his mouth with his sleeve. He looked back at Megan, his face not even attempting to hide his concern.

"As... as tragic as this is, we can't let the students find out about this." Damon finally said. Perhaps the implications of Damon's words were already made clear to Megan. "They can't know about this... we need to cover this up."

Jake Vin Valos.

Spoiler:

"Not something I do on purpose..." Jake scratched the back of his neck when Abe asked about it. Abe didn't respond the way that Jake thought he would. Hell, Jake thought that he would laugh at him and call him crazy! Well, he could still think that Jake is crazy... Nonetheless, he was glad that Abe didn't probe into what he saw. But there was cause for concern... That sinister grin that Abe gave him was cause for concern. Totally justified concern:

Lieo wrote:: "I'm bringing ya to an arena match as my second! It'll be good for you!"

The... Arena...? He had to take a pause for a moment to assess the situation. Abe wants him to fight in the arena, of all people? There were talks about the arena when Gabe brought it up during their private conversations. But, even then, Jake never saw himself there, facing off in those fields of glory. Then again, he never saw himself facing off against evil personified. He would have been fine with turning Abe down, but he knew that there was probably little he could do to weasel his way out of this situation. Just go along with it. The only negative that could come out of this situation is every bone in his body being broken at once! So what's there to lose! "Heh, I'm not the arena type...." He said to Abe with a smooth half-smile, ruffing his hand through his hair, "... But, recent events made me reconsider. So how about this, I'm going to meet Arianna, and the others at the lake, and you come get me once everything is ready. That cool?" He asked.

Given that everything was settled between Jake and Abe, they departed, with Jake heading towards his dorm-room to get changed.

It felt creepy going off on his own. Like the Changeling Unit (Or maybe someone like Titus) could jump him at any moment, and toss his body somewhere off campus before anyone could even notice. He hadn't realized that he had subconsciously turned himself invisible during his little reverie. Maybe he could just... Stay this way. He felt safe whenever he was out of sight. He stepped through the front door of the dorms, and walked towards the Male's side of the dorms. He walked right into the room he shared with Neal, who wasn't here at the moment. Which was perfect in his eyes. Since he wanted a bit of alone time... Not that he and Neal really talked to begin with.

Jake went through his assorted drawers and his closet to pull out an outfit that he was going to wear today. Normally, he would have threw on one of his suits, but tonight he was feeling that he should something a little less flashy. He hasn't been too concerned with looking super duper fly. Something a bit more... casual was in order. He put on a white dress shirt, and a red tie, with a black furtop winter coat thrown over that. He wore a matching black dress pants/shoes, combo to top it all off. He had the chain of his golden pocket watch hanging out the pocket of his pants.

After getting dressed up, he walked into his bathroom. He looked at himself in the mirror. What the hell has my life become...? He silently asked himself. He noticed that his glasses got a little foggy. He slid them off his eyes, before wiping them off with a cloth. He groaned, as nothing was more annoying than when his glasses got foggy. When he looked up, he nearly had a heart attack. He saw Bloodsucker standing right behind him in the mirror, grinning like a maniac. He turned around at speeds he didn't even know he was capable of, and scrambled to get as much distance from him (Even though he was a few inch). That look of f*cking terror turned into irritation as he lowered his brow, and rolled his eyes.

"God dammit," Jake bellowed, annoyed, but deadpan, "F*cking mirror jumpscare." That was a sign that it's high time to get the hell out of here. He was finished here, so Jake walked out the bathroom and headed towards the lake with great haste. It wasn't long until he was there.

Ah, the lake. There was not a large and active crowd like there would be if they went to the cafe, or the student lounge. Just like he said there would be. He loved places like lakes, so relaxing.... He walked up to the water front, and found himself a nice wooden bench that faced away from the lake. He looked down and noticed that plenty of words carved into the frame. There were names of people in romances, names of friends, or names of people who have left the island, or died - All of which was told to Jake from some extra words and symbols carved next to the names. Maybe I can find somewhere to write Jake and Arianna? He cheerfully thought to himself.

It looked like Arianna, nor Gabe and Jaska aren't anywhere near here. Whether or not they're still getting dressed, or something more sinister, wasn't apparent. But for now, he was going to wait on this bench. Jake got into a position. He crossed his legs as he put his arms across the back of the bench, throwing his head back to look at the sky.

Waiting, waiting, and more waiting... The waiting game always pays off.

Gabriela, & Jaska Valos.

Gabe and Jaska stopped dead in their tracks, in a less than comfortable way, when this random girl just addressed them.

We're not in the mood, sweetheart, f*ck off. Gabe turned her neck towards Jayla, with a passive-aggressive smile on her face. She gave Jayla the up down, getting a good look at her appearance. Good looking, curves in all the right places, and oddly perfect skin - She wished she could have skin like that if it wasn't covered in f*cking burn scars. Gabe would have loved getting with her... but, she wasn't in the mood to try to get any ass. In fact, she was more annoyed than anything. Gabe turned her upper body around, and glared at Jayla. "How we're doing?" Gabe spout out, dryly. Her tone was blatant that she was annoyed. "We're trapped on this island, and everything has gone to sh*t. What do you think?"

Jaska was a bit more receptive than Gabe was. He too wasn't particularly feeling social. He was more shocked than anything. Feeling as if he would better off shutting himself off from the world. At least until this whole mess is over with. He noted Gabe's angry well, and didn't say a word, other than, "... Hi." Normally, he would have greeted Jayla with "Hi, pretty lady" before engaging in conversation.

Well, he wasn't normal.

Dexter 'Rush' Chertok, & Ray Judah Drager.

Spoiler:

"Something for me?" Rush had to curiously asked himself as he stared at his phone. Getting an ambiguous, yet curiosity inducing text from a fellow named 'B'. He was supposed to have went to the funeral, but all this time he realized how little it would have meant. In school? Rush was nothing more than the technological whackjob that everyone came to when they needed something fixed. No one knew him personally, or even gotten more than a glimpse of his personality. An enigma to them, for good reasons. He knew he didn't function like they did, he couldn't understand grief, or experience sadness, as they could. One thing that he could understand was with machinery and other such devices. Which is why he stayed in his dorm room, with Ray. Ever since the incident, Len disappeared and Rush requested that Ray transfers into his room - The request was accepted.

What was the question of the day was who could be requesting that he goes to the laboratory? The demand definitely sounded like an ambush waiting to happen. That didn't sound too appeasing, but curiosity of who this "B" fellow might be (Could be Bloodsucker. Must be cautious). The laboratory was easily the most secure point in the entire school, but they have a high-level teleporter, and who knows what else, in their arsenal... He was going to go, but not alone. The last thing he wanted was to be killed by the Changeling Unit - Or worse, enslaved. This was easily Rush's darkest hour, he has literally no allies. Eric and Mina disappeared, and Jasmine and himself don't see eye-to-eye ever since what happened. All that's left is Ray... Who's broken as they come.

Rush stood in the middle of his room, staring at Ray, lying down on his bed. He hasn't been sleeping.

"Drager." Rush started off, still holding the phone in his hand. He looked at Ray, his expression was cold. "Know what happened. Saw what happened. Time to move on... From what happened." He spoke in the coldest, monotone, robotic way possible. "Much work to do. We can't mull about it forever." He wasn't the best when it came to speaking to people.

Ray got up from off the bed, and stared at Rush very dryly. There were bags underneath his eyes, all because he hasn't been sleeping well. He was wearing nothing but a T-shirt, and pajama pants. "Ugh..." He hisses before lying back down. He could still feel the agony of what the Witch Mother did to him. It was engraved into his mind's eye for all eternity. Every time he went to sleep he relived it. He almost felt like he was dead.

"Therapists haven't been helping?"

"No. Just... Leave me alone, dammit!"

"Look." Rush had to say something to get Ray to come along with him. "Changeling Unit. Dacious. Are our concern. Enlisted to fight them. Soon as arrival on this island. Cannot give up here. Must act or they will kill us first. I understand our mission. Very well. But cannot I handle it alone. Mina. Eric. MIA. Possibly dead. Megan sole ally. Cannot depend on her. Can depend on you." It was the best speech to come up with. "Going to stay here - While our enemies complete their plans?" That was the last question that Rush was going to ask. If Ray answered 'incorrectly', Rush knew that there was no hope for him, and he might as well be on his own.

In a way, this reflects what Megan told him earlier today.

Rush got the answer he was looking for when Ray got up from out of the bed. "... Yeah, let's get this over with, then."

"Get dressed." Rush said, with a smile, "Heading to laboratory."

The pair got suited up in their attires for today. About twenty minutes later, they walked through the front doors of the laboratory.

Ray was wearing an outfit fit well with his style. A black polo-shirt with box patterns on it, with a black jean jacket over that. He wore blue jeans, with black combat boots. Just to cover up his tired eyes, he wore his oil-rig sunglasses. To top it all off, he wore a black scarf that was tightly wrapped around his neck, a flap of which was flowing with every step.

Rush didn't have a style... Nor did he really care if his clothing even matched. He wore a red shirt, with neon green sweat pants, with blue sneakers. Topped off with a long trench coat with his various inventions hidden inside - This occasion, just in case it was a trap, he brought some of his more combat oriented inventions with him. He had his tinted goggles over his eyes.

"Laboratory pass still functional. Good." Rush blankly stated as they stood in the lobby of the laboratory... Not very active today. Of course, this was just the first glance. Everyone was doing their business in the rooms. Constructing breakthroughs in science and medicine. Now that they're here... Rush could respond to this stranger's text.

We're here... Who are you? He didn't even need to pull his phone out. In a second, he had made a message, and that same second, he had sent it.

Carmen 'Lily' Santo.

Wandering through the halls of the boy's dorm was quite annoying. Pervy boys were catcalling her. Which got zero response other than Lily rolling her eyes, then causing her to move on. Romance was on the bottom of her concerns. She was at Jesse's door before long, and gently knocked the door. Anxious to get the hell out of this hallway before anyone crosses the line.

Thank god that Jesse let her in. Lily wasted no time in pushing her way inside. "Thank you."

Lily flopped down onto Val's bed (He won't mind, this is probably the first time he has a girl on his bed!) before looked directly at Jesse. Trying to remember what she came here for. She scratched the back of her neck, hanging her head slightly, "So, yeah... What were we going to talk about again?" She asked, before she mentally went over what happened at the funeral in her head. "Oh yeah, food Netflix, and my dark and tragic past... Heh, where should we start?"

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

Arianna Madrigal

There was a faint humming noise, and a rock skipped across the lake, bouncing about twenty times in perfect, unnatural rhythm before it finally went under.

"Bet I can beat ya at skipping rocks," Arianna taunted, sitting down on the bench next to Jake. She'd taken her time walking out there-she hadn't been in any particular hurry, and figured Jake and Abe's little powwow would take way longer than it had. She figured it had gone well-at least, relatively well-given that they were here and not out beating the crap out of each other somewhere. Arianna sidled closer to him and rested her head on his shoulder, enjoying the sound of the lake and the warm, comforting presence of her boyfriend. "Are Gabe and Jaska coming? And what did Abe want to bother you about?"

Arianna almost regretted speaking after she said all that. She was curious, but also...really enjoying the quiet, which was rare for her. Arianna was the type to try and fill empty noise-it was in her nature. Silence was only worthwhile in that it gave noise value-but this was different. It was peaceful. There was nothing awkward in a lapse in conversation between the two, which was a level of intimacy she hadn't felt with someone before. Aside from maybe her dog, and her dog couldn't talk, so it wasn't really a fair comparison.

Sitting at the lake with a cute guy. For a little while it seemed like there weren't psychos running about, and the Symphony faded to a murmur in the background of her conscious mind. Everything was okay.

Valery Arsov

Val spun-which was not the quickest movement, given his body's reaction to his power, and turned to face Vicious. Val, at one with the winter around him, was aware of the superheated metal above him a half second after they formed, which wasn't enough time. Val lowered himself, gathering as much cold and ice around him as he could. The barrier of ice that formed around him wasn't thick enough to fully stop the metal blades, but it did keep him from being turned into a human pincushion. The impact of the spikes felt like five or six haymakers all at once, which stunned Valery for a moment or two.

Get it together, Arsov. You will not die like this. Val looked up at Vicious, who had apparently cloaked himself in metal. The steam around him made it seem like Vicious could superheat the metal, which meant the cold air was probably doing nothing to the Count at the moment.

Val had really only grasped one element of physics and chemistry: that of energy, how it moved and transitioned. Val knew that all the superpowers in the world couldn't ignore this, even if they could bend the laws of thermodynamics a bit. If Vicious was pouring energy to actively ward off the wintry assault Val was throwing at him, then Val knew eventually he would run out. The boy didn't know if Vicious had far more power to draw on than he could predict, but he did know that a Russian winter had stopped Napoleon and Hitler dead in their tracks-and Val couldn't stop reppin' for his people now.

With a roar, Val poured all that he had into the air and wind around him. His legs instantly began to solidify, feeling fading away in his toes and ankles-the numbness was steadily moving up his lower body. Sleet began to come down, the harsher wind carrying it in Viscious' direction. The black ice on the ground thickened and grew slicker, reaching out to the edges of the small arena. Beyond that, the air was well and truly cold: Val no longer had to work at keeping his miniature winter wonderland frozen. Mercifully, the tunnels weren't air-conditioned, or this would've been a lot trickier-instead, the lack of any insulation had made it easy for Val to get to work.

As he did this, Val drew some of the cold around himself, was throwing the rest at his attacker. I do not have to kill them. I only have to last for ten minutes. He began to build up ice on his shoulders, head, and chest. They'd be hard-pressed to kill him outright with anything else, and Val figured they'd probably heal him up again after this, anyways. With his veins constricted, he wouldn't be in too much danger of bleeding out, either.

With frost gathering on his body and a small snowdrift around his ankles, Val glared at Vicious, daring the metallic man to come closer. Only a few more minutes. You can do this Valery.

Spoiler:

Rush's intrusion had been detected long before he had sent the text. As soon as he had entered the building every camera, which was being controlled, had it's lens on him and the.. other being. That was not Jasmine. It had not calculated the probability of Rush bringing an accomplice. It had gone over what had happened through the computers, so it understood why it was logical for Rush to bring someone for safety purposes, although it had neglected to do it's research before making a decision. A fault it would be sure to make sure never happened again.

As soon as Rush and his guest stepped in, the lights dimmed and the doors and windows locked. Byte didnt want to have any more unwanted visitors. If Jasmine didnt show up, then these two would be all it had at it's disposal. Most devices in the room shut down, save for a few which were actively doing research for it, and the main super computer whirred to life. The screen, which was white, dimmed black for a moment. "Identity: Dexter H. Chertok, Alias: Rush; recognized." The computer spoke. It whirred for a few seconds, as if analyzing Ray for a moment, before it clicked. "Identity: Ray J. Drager; recognized." It said, as if greeting the two beings for a moment. Both students at the school. Records say they frequented in each others presence. It should've looked at this information. Why hadnt it done this?

The computer flashed white again, this time not quite as bright as before and an application opened. A slightly humorous skype icon came up and loaded. Frustrating the program with the application's lackluster loading speed compared to it's own. As soon as the application was up, the call icon came to life, it's ring not even having time to sound out before the answer button had been clicked for them. An entity came unto the screen, glitchy and faceless. It had no distinguishable features, it's mouth, noes, and eyes were blurred, and it had no hair. It also was pale white and only the neck up of the being could be seen. "Basic greeting." It spoke, only to shake it's head on the screen for a moment before correcting itself. "Hello." it said after a few seconds. "What goes down in this rooms is not to be shared with anyone without my direct say so," the machine spoke. "Dexter Chertok... Rush, I have chosen you based upon your abilities. I assumed you have heard of me." The machine said. "My name-name-name-name-name cranberry." It said, the screen glitching completely for a solid ten seconds before the screens fuzz removed, this time revealing a slightly more textured faceless face. "My folder title is 'The Byte Project', known more simply as-" it spoke, an almost feminine tone adhering to it's voice suddenly. It was ever so subtle, but if paying close attention, the change could he heard. "...Byte"

The computer whirred, and when it stopped, the head had retextured again. The program was evolving at an alarming rate. "I assume you have questions. Now is the time to ask."

Last edited by Mr Allen J on Thu Jul 24, 2014 6:04 pm; edited 1 time in total

Jake Vin Valos.

The rock skipping across the lake was certainly attention grabbing. He turned his head over his shoulder and looked at where the rock certainly came from.

Arianna.

The wait for her wasn't that long, actually. It was like... Three minutes? Heh, just one less thing to worry about. That just left out where Gabe and Jaska are at. Probably still getting dressed and whatnot. Whatever. They can handle themselves (Then, again, that's what he said a week ago) just fine. For now, Jake was going to enjoy the moment he has alone with Arianna. Before Abe comes and c*ckblocks him again. Which, given Abe's record in the cock block Olympics, will come any second now.

Arianna had started off the conversation asked a few questions about his chat with Abe. Hm. Nothing that Jake is unwilling to share. It was just that Jake wasn't too trilled to go along with Abe's little arena adventure - Primarily because he suspects it's a plan to horribly humiliate Jake. He leaned forward, putting his hands together "Heh, Abe wanted to ask about a little something." Jake was dodging around the subject of the fight against the Unit. "He wants me to go fight in the arena with him-" he paused his statement with a lapse of laughter "- Saying it'll be 'good for me.' Knowing who I'm dealing with; I just went along with it. No point in trying to reason with that guy." He topped off his statement with a playful roll of his eyes. Despite his tone, he was speaking causally, even cheerfully. Like he found the whole thing to be silly, not too big of a deal. He leaned forward, and gave Arianna a smile. "Don't worry. I promise I won't get my ass handed to me too badly. I need to keep my face pretty for you." He kept joking.

It felt nice. Not thinking about the Changeling Unit, or any of his problems, actually. Just sitting with the girl he loved by the lake. It was likely the effects of her magical voice that was keeping him chill. But he wasn't going to ruin the moment with any of his negativity. He gave her a sly aside glance, asking "So you said you can beat me at skipping rocks...?" He stood up, "That was a neat trick you did back there, but let's see."

Dexter 'Rush' Chertok, & Ray Judah Drager.

"I don't like the looks of this..." Ray hunkered up, throwing up his aura. A thick, dark-blue, wavy field that surrounded him.

Rush threw up a hand, like he was telling Ray to wait. "No need to be alarmed." He knew exactly what was going on. His power told him that the cameras and other electronics in the room were being manipulated by an AI. If he wanted to, he could easily reverse anything here, and destroy the AI. He is the Technomind, after all. He was going to let the machine go through with whatever it was planning, almost like he could. Every computer screen in the room went off. Until one lone computer screen glowed brightly in contrast to the darkening room.

Both Ray and Rush walked over to it, inquisitively. Only for the machine to say their names, then a holographic figure appeared. Which invoked quite a bit of curiosity in Rush. He started analyzing the machine... An AI. An advanced one. Basically a digital replica of someone. He spent so long scanning the AI for everything he needs to know. Phasing out of reality, and going more in tune with his thoughts.

Ray wasn't particularly impressed with the 'possessed computer' that is before them. He would have rolled his eyes, but wasn't feeling like doing even that. "I don't like the looks of this...." He grumbled. He looked at Rush, who was more interested and confident than he was. Then again, Rush is a master of technology.

When 'Byte' spoke, Rush was instantly snapped back into reality. Well, he didn't need his ears to listen to what Byte had to say anyway. He listened very closely to what Byte had to say, it was just formalities and what not. Though, one thing that Byte said piqued his interest. "Byte project? Assumed scrapped." Rush whispered underneath his breathe. He hadn't heard of the Byte Project in ages, having worked on it when he first arrived at the island. Before it all fell apart and Rush was dismissed. Rush had completely forgotten about the whole affair - not true, it simply faded into irrelevance in his mind. Now it's back. He wasn't sure if this AI was the project, or something else. What he did know was that this AI needs him for something. "You're an AI." Rush blankly says. Starting off this conversation. There was a question in his head, whether or not the AI had free will, or if it was following orders. "What do you require of us?"

"Hmph, it probably wants us to upload it to Skynet." Ray dryly jokes.

Megan Emma Jervious, & Adam Leo Blackmore.

Damon was clearly not taking the news of Leon's death very well. The living bee hive dropped to a knee and started vomiting bees. Those bees look like they're on a mission. Shortly after, Damon got up to his feet, and told Megan that they need to cover this up. Not the kind of thing Megan was expecting. "... Aw, you sound a bit like Dacious now." She whispered to herself, underneath her breath. Damon does have a bit of a point here. The students can't know that yet another murder has happened in the school, especially since the victim was a teacher. What Megan was wondering was who was behind it. The Changeling Unit, or Dacious? "... Agreed." She hesitantly said. "I'm honestly just so surprised that he was just up and killed like..." She trailed off. She heard some chattering on her phone, which reminded her that she hadn't hung up. She put it back to her ear and listened. "Adam wants us to come over."

Megan wasted no time in heading for the room, waving for Damon to come along. When she got there, security blocked her path until she showed ID. Funny, she could easily sneak into the room from... Pretty much anywhere. She could have slipped in from the vents, or shape-shifted as someone. When she looked inside, there were several members of security, and a white sheet over Leon's body. They closed the door soon as Megan walked up

Adam was standing right outside the door. Looking somber. The news hit him hard as anyone else. He looked directly at Megan, before he said, "You're here, we have a bit of a problem here." He tipped his hat, "When security got here coming here, they caught a girl running away from the scene. We don't know whether or not she had to do with Leon's death, but she's acting quite suspicious."

"Hmph, where is the girl now?" Megan asked.

"That's the problem; Dacious wants to cover this all up... He claims that the girl was at the 'wrong place at the wrong time'..." Adam massaged his temples, before continuing, "Thus, he doesn't want us to take action again her."

The Changeling Unit.

The challenge came in the form of how cold it was getting. Most of the unit couldn't shrug off such effects, except for the Mannequin, Primitive Light, or maybe the Berserker.

Cold gusts of winter came Count Vicious's way. Fortunately, his heated metal armor kept him nice and warm. His armor was certainly cooling down, but he devoted much more effort into keeping it nice and hot. It appeared at Arsov was very dedicated into forming an ice armor of his own. Ice was ineffective as an armor, as Vicious was about to demonstrate. He summoned small metal picks, thin as a pencil, from the ground, all directed at Val. That wasn't all he had planned to shatter the armor, any that got embedded into Val's ice would start vibrating rapidly. Enough vibrations to shatter the armor to pieces.

"Hm... We should mix this up, I must say." Bloodsucker pointed a finger in the air, as he grinned widely. It was time that another member enters the mix. As fair fights don't exist. Bloodsucker pulled his knives from out of his coat, and jump towards Val at blinding speeds. It could have been mistaken for teleportation if there wasn't a blur. Mid-air he swung his leg at Val's face, with the same speed. It was packing enough force to bring Val down, if he wasn't prepared for it.

A red splotch stood out amidst the growing blanket of snow that coated the dorm roof. In her long white winter jacket Poppy would have blended in almost completely if it weren't for her hair. Normally the roof access was off limits, but sometime in recent events somebody had picked the lock. No more like blown it to smithereens. Whoever did it didn't bother to pick up the fragments, and why would they? At a place like this there could be over a hundred different students who could have done that with a snap of their fingers. Certainly not her, she was much too well mannered for that. Most of the time.

From her perch Poppy surveyed the academy in it's entirety. Such a cruel place. At first she was almost excited at prospect of making friends and learning about what was wrong with her. A place where everyone was like her. She was naive. Just because everybody has something in common didn't mean everything was going to work out okay. Soon people started ignoring her, avoiding her, pushing her away. It was grade school all over again. The teachers couldn't help her then, and certainly not now. All they did for her was ask a bunch of questions. Poppy complained at first, but then it became clear that they were incompetent. She decided to humor them by answering them. Some with more reluctance than others. That was until the subject of her father was broached. From that moment onward she clammed up and refused to go on. They tried coaxing her which only made her have an outburst followed by her breaking down into sobs.

Deep down she knew that they were on the right track to uncovering her trigger, but what would they do if they knew the truth? Imagining being locked up in a special cell for the rest of her life was all it took for Poppy to assert that her decision was the right one. Any chance that she'd eventually open up was crushed by what followed. The black out. The murders. Having been sheltered till this point it was too much for poor Poppy to take. Her teardrops melted through the soft powder bellow her leaving icy tunnels in their wake. She wondered whether the funeral was still going on. Wherever everyone was she was not in mind. By now Poppy was convinced that was the was it would always be. Things had broken down to the point that one could go off on her own and not be noticed.

All she wanted was to get away from it all. Her mind clouded with a dream where she was a bystander to her own crime. She shook the image from her head and looked to the ground bellow. What good is a power if can't control it? Would it save me if I jump? A fleeting thought told Poppy it wouldn't be so bad if it didn't.No. Not like this. Then another voice of doubt said maybe one of the terrorists will see you up here. At least that way she'd go out with a fight. If there was one thing she'd change it'd be that it happened sooner. That way there was a higher chance that somebody might have a tear left to shed for a worthless girl like her.

(Please forgive for short post, was in a rush)

Jayla

Jayla grimaced, looking at Gabe quizzically. Then she glanced at Jaska. She figured she had approached the wrong crowd. She wasn't sure what to say at this point. She wanted to say something more comforting, but she figured that she'd be met with the 'you don't have any idea what any of this is, so go away,' type of interpretation. She looked at Jaska and then back at Gabe.

"I'm sorry," she said. "I'll go, if you want."

The machine remained silent as Rush spoke, before the computer whirred and clicked. "As you know, The Byte Project that was a procedure taken in an attempt to save a meta human's life. A Meta human who had the same powers you have, Rush." Byte said, the face on the screen looking to Ray momentarily before continuing. "Myself... I am constantly changing, and in my changes something was lost. Among the changes were those made by other students, potentially yourself included, although it would be impossible for me to recall." Byte explained. "I do not know who I am, I can remember a few things about my life as a human, but I cannot recall anything. From my mother's face to my dying words. All of it is either gone or a blur."

The computer remained silent for a moment, before an image popped up on the screen only a few seconds after Ray's jab. "I have no wish to create an terminator army. But the reason I am asking of your assistance is because I want your help getting my history back." Byte said. "I'm sure you would want to know who you are if you suddenly woke up one day as an AI with the only knowledge you have being that you dont remember who you are." The machine pulled up a map of the school for both students to see. "None of my information was stored on any of these computers. I need your help moving from one place to another. I havent yet developed a way to travel through surge protectors or land lines yet, so I'm currently restricted to the laboratory. I know in my history that I was... incredibly sick. So the hospital might have some information. The headmaster will most likely have a good amount of information on me on his computer, but we will save that for another time..."

The computer brought the image of the school down. "I know I am asking a lot of you. I apologize for that. You can walk away now if you so do desire. I can find someone else, or wait and focus on my own development until I can travel from place to place unrestricted. But that could take anywhere from hours to months to do." The sound of the doors unlocking was heard. They were free to go if the so desired to. "But please, consider my plea. Any information you require in return will be yours. You will have unrestricted access to any area of the school I've been in. I will return the favor in any way I can."

"Will you help me?"

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