The Old/New Gods: IC (The Party Begins)

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Jake



The only thing Jake could possibly say to respond to this after watching Proto disappear by running up a wall like spider-man, "Da- uh, I got some weird friends..." He said to himself. Before his entire eyeballs started to glow a unnatural cobalt blue before shifting back to brown. There wasn't too much more to this other than wait for the other guests of his party to show up. As unfortunate as it would be for someone to miss him while he was dealing with Proto he could easily give out the rest of the golden letters when the party starts.



Tipping his hat at Proto and his iris flashed blue.


He walked back towards the railing then looked at the water.


---------------------------------------------------------------------------

Drake


The scene wasn't especially exciting. Drake was standing in line at the Strong Man challenge. He was standing wearing nothing special; just his black-colored basketball team jersey with “Blackmore” on the front and back, black and white striped shorts, he's almost never seen without his famous tinted goggles or his black leather gloves. Today was a good day for him, the breeze was calm and the overall atmosphere of the place was pleasing, he came here for no reason really. Jake's here and he's really bored, that's just about all the reasoning he needs to show up at a place like this.


Alongside him (for motivational purposes) was his longtime girlfriend Sarah Cineheart, a cheerleader for his basketball team. A girl a year older than him that he's known for quite awhile. She was a African-American teenager -or woman- of the attractive variety with light brown skin and several distinguishable features about her such as her unnatural red hair, and freckles. She was dressed up in her casual attire nothing special; a white T-shirt, with a tan jacket on top of that, ripped up tan jeans and a black beret. For reasons unbeknownst to Drake, Sarah seemed very anxious--- but being the light hearted fellow he was he wasn't going to press her on it other than asking her, "Are you okay?" instead focusing on showing off his strength at the strongman.


There was something to be very anxious about for Sarah. What? That was the mystery to Drake.



By the time it was Drake's turn Sarah seemingly waited long enough and while he was going to take the hammer from the last challenger Sarah was completely out of his attention and line of sight--- which was exactly what she needed, she started off by taking a few steps away from the line and started walking backward a few steps. Before turning around and breaking into a sprint. What she hadn't expected was Drake to notice, right when he had the hammer raised above his head he looked back to see Sarah sprinting off. He wanted to go off after her, but the crowd was certainly going to make fun of him if he backed out now. It was widely irrelevant, all he wanted to know what was wrong with Sarah.



He put the hammer down and as expected he was greeted with a massed "Boo!" or "Pansy!" From the crowd believing that he was scared (the worried face he had on didn't help his case).



"Sarah" went to the beach area of the Carnival (noticing Jake on the way) and with a surprising amount of agility she leaped over the rail into the sandy beach below. Then she scrolled under the board walks, it was pretty dark and made it somewhat hard to look around. Good. Nobody to see her ((Neron and May have departed). She walked to a certain spot under the boardwalks to a transparent water-proof bag, containing a black dress and other clothes. She took off her clothes until she was in her underwear.



Drake was in pursuit, he wasn't going at full speed because half-way through his chase he decided that he was interested in seeing where Sarah was going--- the exit is on the other side of the carnival. He was using the copious amount of people as cover. When Sarah leaped over the rail, he walked down the stairs to avoid detection. And, he carefully started to sneak up on her to see what she was doing hiding behind the enormous supports of the boardwalk and going very slowly. By the time he was close enough to spot her; Sarah was wearing some black dress and other clothes that didn't fit.




Then, Sarah's skin turned paper white, her face went blank, and a billion tiny tentacles covered her being. A moment later "Sarah" shifted into her preferred form: Megan Emmet Jerius. She hadn't transformed before so that she wouldn't get caught in Sarah's clothes in case anyone followed her--- much to her chagrin someone did. It was her stupidity and impatience with carrying out her objective was the reason that Drake followed her, of course at the sight of Megan's transformation he was shocked and confused. While he is a mutant there were several factor. One; he's not aware he's a mutant, and he doesn't know any mutants.



There was something that wanted him to know more out of this situation. There was only one person who can tell him what he wanted to know; Megan. He opened his mouth, "What are you?!" Before charging and catching Megan off guard. She tried to run off but Drake grabbed her by the shoulder and pinned her against one of the supports. "Oh, bloody hell..." Megan muttered to herself, abandoning her american accent for a British one, "I suppose you didn't see any of that, dear?"


Drake narrowed his eyes, he kept her against the pole as he was far stronger than her. She wasn't going anywhere as long as he was conscious. "Where is Sarah... who the hell are you?"



"Ah, Sarah. I guess I know you THAT well... you can keep a secret, eh dear?"



"Don't call me dear," Drake hissed, "Tell me what I just saw, freak."



"Freak is such a beastly term for someone you love. Why don't you-"


"I don't love you. I love Sarah."


"I should stop arsing around, shouldn't I? You're the young and dishy type? You have heard of... 'mutants' as you call them. Me and my superiors like to call them-"



Drake tightened his grip and pushed her harder, "Get. To. The. Point. Tell me what you are!" He shouted this time, loud enough for even Jake to hear him.


"I should have expected as much from you. Impatient as always. You see? I am Sarah." Megan repeated the same process and turned back into Sarah, before turning back into Megan, "Eh, I know everything you told my alias Sarah. I can go over what I know, but that's."



"How...?" Drake mustered the answer, "... How can you do that?"



"Have you been listening or are you- never-mind. I'm a mutant. Those are the kind of people you read about in those, eh, stupid over-priced movies." Drake let her continue by easing up his grip, "There are more of you's out there. I'm just one of what could be billions!"


"Hm. Prove it."



"Prove what, love?"



"Prove you are Sarah."



"Well... I know that secret that you've never told anyone else other than Sarah, hmmm... ever since your daddy died of that heart attack years back you've been questioning things..."


Drake let her continue.



"... About yourself, about your friends, about life. It's really intriguing you know. Diving into the mind of a arrogant teenager and it turns out he has so many hidden depths I think I'll need scuba gear! That's a metaphor, Young Blackmore."


Drake shrugged and took a few steps back from her, and crossed his arms. All of this is strange as hell and there's no explanation behind this other than people are mutants. This was more interesting than anything since this person could very well be the Sarah he knows and loves. "Why? Tell me why you did this and who you are."


"Why? It's like how teenagers play those pointless video games: for fun! I'm a shape shifter so every so often I become a brand new person. It's like a hobby of sorts, dear. This time I wanted to become a basketball star in a female team... the only thing that stopped me is that it's hard to make a... a... profile or back story. Those are needed to get into schools you know!"



"And I'm Megan. I need to step out for a few minutes. I'll meet you above the boardwalk in a few, okay? You have no reason not to trust me you know. Then, I'll tell you everything you want to know, Mr. Blackmore."


"Okay..." Drake hesitantly replied, he reached into his pocket and pulled out his carton of cigarettes and placed one cigarette into his mouth before lighting it. "Ace, Mr. Blackmore... just ace!" Megan walked around him, up the stairs leaving the clothing of her alias Sarah behind since she doesn't have any intentions of continuing as her. She wanted to show Drake the "real" her, not telling him her true age of course because that would make their special moments seem much creepier.


"What the f*ck..." Drake muttered to himself.

"Post-traumatic stress disorder!" Black roared, incredulously waving an absurd amount of paperwork in the air. In the man's other hand was the house phone pressed against his ear, whose long coiled chord in which he was entangled in with his knuckles bared white. He threw down the papers onto the coffee table and combed his hand through his brown hair, looking out the window in the late evening. From the other side of the line is what sounded to be a senior aged woman, who spoke in a Scottish accent much like Black, however thicker. “Son, you punched a man in the chest and flipped a security guard on his back….”

“I got cut from work because of post-traumatic stress disorder until I come back after three to four months of rehabilitation.” Black sighed, slowly trying to untangle himself from the telephone cord, albeit unsuccessfully.

“That’s good,” his mother assured sounding rather surprised at the time frame. “Usually it would take a year or so for an average person to get past that.”

“I don’t have three months.” He groaned.

“Son, you’re living in a big house by yourself and with no pets to boot. There’s no point in you being there! Move into an apartment by the beach.”

Black rolled his eyes. “Those unkempt buildings? They’re falling in on themselves and I swear to God, every time I walk by it smells like somebody committed homicide.”

“You’re being very pertinacious.”

“Don’t give me that.”

“Are you a xenophobe?”

“I’m hanging up now, mother.

“I heard about that carnival in Black Fall, maybe you could—“

Black dropped the phone onto its stand and took a deep breath, pinching the bridge of his nose. CENSORED woman. He loves her, and she means well; but she drives him crazy sometimes. Half the time he wonders if she just does it on purpose. But there was no chance he was going to degrade himself by working at a carnival; it would hardly keep up the cost of his home. Let alone provide food for him. He shuffled his way into his bathroom and looked into the mirror after turning on the light. Thin bags underlined his green eyes. Stubble was across his lower face. He was wearing his usual white tank top. Baggy camouflage pants.

He turned on the faucet and watched the cold water drain into the bowl. He cupped his hands together and splashed his face with the cold, refreshing fluid. To some extent it had a revitalizing effect on him. It’s a minor shock of sudden cold water splashing across the face, combined with a clean, fresh sensation. Breathing in the air that has been cooled by the water next to it relaxes the sinuses, reducing the heat induced swelling. You’re awake, you’re clean, and you breathe with ease. You’re positive.

Such as the way Black is now. Perhaps taking a trip to the carnival wasn’t such a bad idea… he could check it out at least. He walked back into the living room and slipped his socked feet into his boots and lazily tying them down. He grabbed a leather jacket before slipping away into the closet where he picked out a sign that said “FOR RENT” with a phone number at the bottom and walked outside and stuck it in the ground before putting on his helmet and revving his motorcycle.

Drake



All of this wasn't making too much sense. Mutants, his girlfriend being a mutant, there was something about this he couldn't wrap his head around. Aside from the whole concept, but, there was something off about Megan. Why is she so willing to reveal her powers like this? Couldn't she have made up some lie of sorts to hide herself. For this reason Drake felt like he was being played like a tool and this shape-shifting b@stard. But, there was a layer of intrigue about mutants. There could be more, like her. He didn't know it yet but his powers had manifested very recently and he was born a mutant. Mutants are indeed born that way but their powers manifest at a random date from early as toddler to later as a old man. It's very unpredictable. The very next mutant that touched him and he was going to transform.


He was standing under the boardwalks, waiting for the return of Megan. She did say she would be gone for a few minutes. Where the hell could she be? For a second he wondered if she had tricked him again. He was persistent and wasn't going to stop until he got to the bottom of this. Even if she's gone he's going to devote his life to finding her.


Or at least until he gets bored.




Drake looked up at the boardwalk, his friend Jake didn't notice his yelling at all, and from what he could tell he was talking to his girlfriend Lin. Sometimes he envies Jake. Sure, the boy had his faults but he has the good life; money, friends, woman were all irrelevant. What Drake truly envied about Jake was that he had a simple drama-free life. Drake's father had died, he got into fights, and now his girlfriend was turning out to be out of the comics. In this moment Megan ran down the stairs at top speed over to Drake. So, she wasn't going to get hunted down like an animal. "You're back." Drake stoically--- and quite frankly rudely greets Megan.



"Why aren't you the gentlemen, Mr. Blackmore."



"I am. When I'm sure my girlfriend isn't you know. A shape shifting freak."



"Why there you go with the freak again."



"Why didn't you leave? You had the perfect chance to run off your @ss to Canada."



"Ha. I guess I did. But, I'm better than that. But let's bung that subject and go on about something else--- I don't know. Perhaps, eh, 'What are you?' "



"Yeah. What are you?"



"Oh deary... you've fallen for another trick question.... you know what I am. A 'mutant'" Megan put a strange amount of emphasis on mutant.



Drake snarled, "I don't care about your games. Megan," He started off and hissed out the next statement, "I want to know was everything we've done together a joke, or a game!?" He got more and more aggressive and stepped towards her dropping the cigarette in the sand.



Megan was clearly intimidated by Drake's reaction, "Now, now, Mr. Blackmore, no need to get angry. There's a lot more to this than you think..." Megan half whispered acknowledging the people above them and their conversation.


"Then what is it!? I'm getting pissed off here because you're being descriptive as hell and I don't feel like f*cking around!" Drake yelled. Prompting Lin above to look down at the pair, before looking at Jake and changing the subject to Drake and the hostility below.


"You're making a scene-" Drake immediately cut off Megan, "Tell me now..."



"Okay, okay. I know of mutants. A lot of them, and quite frankly too many of those hormonal buggers are teenagers."


"Go on." Drake calmed down a bit,


"I'll be clear. I want to find mutants-- people like me. Mind if I call them by their official name... what my superiors call them?"



Drake gave her a narrow look since she was going around the subject again, "Yeah..."



"Gods."




"That's an interesting name."



"Sure is! Now, I want to find mutants but I needed a teenage popular boy like yourself, Mr. Blackmore. You have connections like that popular boy Jake, you were important to my mission. Because you know; once you find one clique of Gods you have to find all of them--- it's addictive like Pokemon! Sorry I used you like that, dear. It was a lot of fun, though."



So she wanted to find mutants, eh? Was that what our relationship was built around? Drake mused, again doubting himself yet again. He was strong, handsome and had friends but now everything seems to be falling apart. He started to understand now and that boiling range from her deceit started to fade. Right now he wished he didn't throw that cigarette away. His lips moved again, spouting orders to Megan, "I have some things I want to know Sarah... Megan..."


"Go right on ahead, Mr. Blackmore."



"Will you stay with me?"


"Yes."



"Can you stay as Megan?"



"Yes."



"Can we look for 'Gods' together?"



"Yes."



Drake smiled and said, "This could be the start of something beautiful."



Jake




COMING SOON

Carole


Whenever Richard Cory went down town,
We people on the pavement looked at him:
He was a gentleman from sole to crown,
Clean favored, and imperially slim.

And he was always quietly arrayed,
And he was always human when he talked;
But still he fluttered pulses when he said,
'Good-morning,' and he glittered when he walked.

And he was rich - yes, richer than a king -
And admirably schooled in every grace:
In fine, we thought that he was everything
To make us wish that we were in his place.

-Richard Cory, by Edwin Arlington


Carole Elias walked down the boardwalk in her usual attire; a short red cocktail dress with matching heels and a red velvet purse, which hung limply from her extended forearm. Her long black hair was let out and trailed down to the small of her back, and it slowly drifted through the air on the warm water breeze. The billion-heiress paused for a moment and took in the salty scent of the sea breeze billowing off of the water, her favorite scent in the world. After taking in the breeze, she continued down the boardwalk, her right hand rigidly holding onto the side of ehr dress, as if to keep it from blowing up in a Marilyn Monroe-style fashion. She almost wished that it would happen, so that all of the boys would look at her and drool, like they used to when she'd walk down the boardwalk wearing her white bikini down in Rio De Janiero, until her father found out and grounded her for a year. Her pretty face contorted into an ugly mask as she thought of her father that day. Sometimes, that man irritated her. He didn't act like a rich person should, and his bullshit excuse for this was that he remembered his roots.

Carole scowled, and muttered something under her breath. In her mind, the rich had a right to act like they were better than everyone else because they were. They had worked harder and maybe if those stupid poor people weren't lazy sacks of unemployment and they actually went and got a stinking job, then they wouldn't be so poor!

"ugh, I need some caviar." she muttered under her breath as she checked her makeup in the mirror of a smooth black compact for the fifth time in the last five minutes. She dabbed a bit of makeup on her right cheek for no apparent reason other than to occupy herself, and then stowed the tiny makeup kit in her purse and continued on down the boards.

Her pulse began to quicken when she saw the boy she was looking for; Jake Valos, her secret crush. She paused for a moment, and giggled silently. He was everything she wanted; hot, Brazilian, and rich, but mostly rich. That's how it worked in Carole's mind; the rich married the rich, and so got richer, while the poor, well, you get the idea. She fanned herself with her hand a moment, and then took a deep breath, slowly exhaled, and walked over to him as quietly as possible. When she got within a few inches of him, she tapped him on the shoulder.

"Uma festa!" she said in Portugese "Parece devertido!"

Jake


Since Carole wasn't looking directly into his eyes (as he was focused on the ocean) she didn't notice his iris flashing cobalt-blue for a split second. Jake turned his head and smiled. Carole was one of the many females he had invited to his party, but she was also one of the many people who were VIPs at his party. Though, she talked in Portuguese. While he was an expert of Portuguese he felt more comfortable speaking in his native language: English. Most of the time when he speaks Portuguese was so he could talk sh*t about others without people knowing what he's saying. He turned his entire body towards her. "Hi, Carole. Nice to see you here at the Carnival. Can we." At this moment a gust of wind blew towards Jake, and his overcoat which the top buttons were actually buttoned flowed gracefully in the wind much like a cape.



He reached into his pocket for one of the golden letters, and extended his arm offering it to Carole, charismatic as always he says in a sly tone, "You are cordially invited," He starts off, "That's a free invite inside of my beach house. Just show that to Drake and he'll let you in. He's the big guy with the goggles."


He peaked down under the board walks only to see Drake talking to some girl he's never seen before he seems a bit aggravated--- but, there's one thing he learned from Johnny was that you should mind your business and let people do their thing then they let you do your thing. Just how Jake liked it. Shortly after he diverted his attention back to Carole. Again he spoke, this time without that charm, "He's down there." Then shrugged.



After acquiring some more cotton candy for herself and Jake, Lin had returned. Causally. She has spotted Jake with Carolina Elisas, something she was less than comfortable with. Every now and then some girl stirs up some drama by coming on to Jake. So, she scrolled over slowly in a somewhat enticing manner, over to Jake's side prompting a "Hey Lin." From him before she kissed him on the cheek. Basically a subtle way of saying "Screw you, he's mine." Without speaking a single word. "Jake, there's some really strange things going on here." After some yelling from under the board walk Lin looked under it.


Jake raised an eyebrow, "Like?"



Lin peeked at Carole, "Like... ummm..." She didn't want to say mutants around strangers. Because as far as she knew Jake, herself and the little boy were the only mutants here. "Those... you know...." She leaned in and whispered in his ear. Anything that was whispered was completely unknown to Carole as intended. In the mist of her whisper Jake's eyes widened and he crossed his arms.


"We should find this boy." The only response he said out loud. Then focused back on Carole, "Oh uh, sorry. We were talking and this is Lin. My girlfriend." He shrugged, "I don't think you two ever met."


Lin smiled, but she was still focused a bit on Drake and the mysterious girl, she looked down and shouted to them, "Are you two okay?!"



Drake shouted back, "Yeah, yeah we're fine!"






Drake and Megan.



After responding to Lin Drake reached into his pocket for a cigarette and placed it in his mouth, then promptly went for his lighter to light the cigarette. "So, where do we start Megan?"



"Start what?"




"... Looking for these Gods..."




"Oh that. I have a few theories on who might be one and who might not be indeed: 'A God'."




"Get on with it..." Drake hissed.



Megan started laughing loudly, "Haaaaha... You know half the people on my list are obviously Gods; either through their stupidity or that their power just gives them a blatant give away. First your friends the Valos brothers. That boy Jake and his glowing eyes. I honestly have no clue what power he could possibly have."


"He just says that it's the light reflecting off his eyes or something..." Drake Shrugged.



"That's merely a guise to trick blokes like you. Being the intelligent woman I am know that such a glow is impossible."



"How old are you really...?"



"Don't change the subject." Megan cheerily says, "Then there's Johnny. You know how famous he is at Poker and those silly little games of chance? Well, he's too good and famous at both. I think he may have Precognition, Super Human Luck, or... who knows."



"Yeah..."




"Then there's that weird looking red haired boy with the dread-locks like a full blown rasta-mon."



"Really funny. You mean Vito the rat?"



"Ah that one. At that one basketball match we were in--- dashing as always and just making the other team feel quite silly. When he accidentally kicked that Soccer ball over the fence and I got a good look at it... it had a pink glow around it that left a trail. So your guess is as good as mine on what his power is. Finally there's that girl with the hoodie and those horrid tattoos. I got real close and saw that aura of her hers.... yeah, Mr. Blackmore."



Drake was listening to Megan describe who may be a mutant and who may not be. Drake never had any suspicions on them being mutants until now. Since, he wasn't even aware that such a person can exist he just put off the idea in general and just thought that he himself was crazy. Now, there was something he needed to ask Megan, "How do we get them to reveal?"


"Oh, Deary. That's almost easy..."



"What do you mean by that?"



"I don't think they'll, um, roll over for us just because we asked. I have several ways of outing them but they'll take time, patience and... just to be sure don't walk up to them and ask 'are you different?' just because you're friends."



"That might work--- but what do you think we do?"



"We can either wait until they slip up and hound them until they reveal the truth or... beat it out of them."



"I think that'll work--- waiting until they slip up. I'm not going to attack my friends."



"Righto, then. We should get started with your friends up there." Megan looked up at Lin and Jake including the unknown girl.

Black watched out for any of the street sides that would lead him to the carnival. He slowly came to a stop as the vehicle in front of him began to slow down. He stood up on the bike for just a second to see that a red light just ahead had stopped the traffic. He sat back down comfortable into the seat of the motorcycle with his foot propping the bike up on the road. He remembered when his dad started to teach him how to ride these bikes. The number one rule about riding a motorcycle, he always said to him, was to ride as if everyone was ought to kill you -- and the man was right. American drivers and the system itself is not used to motorcycles. Which is why there are so many motorcycle accidents every year. The number one rule, he always said, was to ride as if everyone was ought to kill you. He meant to be cautious. That's the scariest part about driving though, isn't it? You know the rules, you know how to drive, okay. Half of learning how to drive was to trust other drivers to do your part. Not to cut you off, or t-bone you, or run lights. Remain weary. Ride as if everyone was ought to kill you... that didn't help the poor fool though...

The car in front of him started to move again. He lifted his foot, and made a right turn.

Salty beach air hit his nose like a refreshing brick wall. The dim evening sky was outshined by the flashy carnival lights. Black rode past the entrance and smoothly rolled into the nearest available parking space. Doubts crossed his mind; it was late evening and the people there are probably closing up already, and likely too tired to talk business. Not too far are what seemed to be three highschool aged kids, one boy, two girls. He could tell by just looking at the boy and one of the girls that they were part of one of the upper class families around Black Falls. The boy especially; he smelled rich. Must be one of the Valos kids. As must distaste as had for corporate, capitalistic, upper class citizens (and their children especially), it wouldn't hurt to ask them some questions. He put down the kickstand and took off his helmet, setting it down on one of the handlebars. He took the key from the ignition and set it in his pocket before relaxing himself as he approached the teenagers.

"Uh, hey kids." Black said in a somewhat awkward but fast paced, rushed manner. His voice, if noted, was lightly Scottish accented. "Do any of you cognize--" He stopped himself. CENSORED, teenagers. Right. "Er, know about the opening hours of this... carnival, fair... thing?"

He had stumbled over tongue while looking for the right word to describe this festivity. It was quite hard to tell, but from what he could tell from the way girl with the red dress was looking at the boy earlier, she seemed about ready to turn it into a bacchanal, or carousal of sorts. Black anxiously rubbed the back of his neck before regaining his posture.

Jake and Lin



Right at the second when Black walked up both Lin and Jake looked at him and observed him. Lin was a bit more observant than your average teenager. The first thing evident about him was that he was a bit older, at least in his early thirties or late twenties. So it was safe to assume that he wasn't one of Jake's friends since Proto and his father's friends were probably the oldest friends he had. He was taller than all of them, which was a bit intimidating for the females of their small little trio. But, not Jake. He was formal as always, keeping his attention all on Black he answered his question but with a sort cocky attitude, "Haha, mister.... No disrespect but we're not stupid." He started a hearty laugh. Then he leaned up against the wooden railing and crossed his arms which wouldn't have made him look intimidating even if he wasn't smiling like a clown.



Then he peered over to Lin for a half a second, "I think the opening hours are... ummm..." Jake started off trying to remember when the carnival started, usually he just comes when it's opens and leaves when it's not. Lin knew the hours to the carnival since she's been here more times than she can count. "On friday and weekends it's 10 am to 9 pm." She started off trying to remember the weekday times, "... I think it starts at 3 pm like on mondays and fridays and closes at I think 8."



There was little to no reason to be hostile to the man. They are kind and respectable teenagers that -unlike the rest of their generation- don't go out stirring up trouble. Lin peeked down at her white dress... it sort of went with Carole's dress. Speaking of which they definitely can't speak for the Brazilian-teen. Jake turned his head towards Lin, "Thanks Lin. Mister, is there anything else we can help you with?"

Carole's eyes angrily latched onto Lin, and she completely ignored this new gentleman. She didn't know he had a girlfriend! How could she have known, considering he never told her! Before she could stop herself, she felt her long nails begin to grow to a point and they turned a silvery color, though she soon noticed them and changed her hand back with a considerable amount of difficulty. Her hand fell from Jake's shoulder down to her side, and she took the invitation with disinterest. It was the boy she was after, not some fucking stupid rager at a beach house. If Carole wanted to have a party, she'd go to her own beach house in Monte Carlo, invite some boys over, get-

She stopped herself there, thanked Jake for the invite, and walked back down the boardwalk, thinking of all the ways she could get rid of this Lin chick.

And most of them weren't too pretty.


----

Carter

Saber Tech Biomedical Research Facility, North of Black Falls, PA.

The hallways of Saber Tech Biomedical (or STBM, as many call it) is a home for what the owner calls "biological oddities". These oddities are not human, and include many odd sights, such as a three-armed chimpanzee and a Giraffe that is covered in coarse, arachnid-like hairs that are toxic to the touch. Well, there weren't any mutated humans but one, who was known as Subject Omega-233-C, or Carter. Carter's room was a 10x10x10m concrete cell with austere furnishings. The concrete walls are five feet thick, and are reinforced with steel and rebar. The room is accessed by opening three separate titanium carbonate sliding doors, which all have hand scanners and passcodes. On the outside of the room, next to the door, this message can be read:

Enclosure of subject Omega-233-C. Unauthorized personnel strictly forbidden to enter

Safety guidelines
1. All hair is to be concealed or shaved off. No body hair, including facial hair, is allowed to be visible while in the enclosure.
2. All scientists are to wear latex gloves and have their fingernails clipped to be as short as possible. No long fingernails are allowed.
3. All jewelry is to be taken off prior to entering the enclosure. Wearing any sort of jewelry whatsoever while in the enclosure is grounds for immediate termination.
4. No pens or other sharp writing utensils are allowed in the enclosure. All notes are to be taken electronically.
5. No syringes of any kind are to be brought into the enclosure until after the subject has been sedated.
6. No sharp objects and/or blades of any kind are permitted in the enclosure at all times. Breaking this rule will most likely end your life.
7. Please note that entering Omega-233-C's enclosure at any time can jeopardize your life. This mutated creature is extremely dangerous and caution is advised at all times.

All questions to the rules are to be addressed directly to the director himself. Thank you for your cooperation.



Inside of the cell, Carter stirred. He rose from off of the blanket-clad concrete slab that was his bed and stretched, making an odd whirring noise that resembled yawning. He looked around for a moment, his memory of the last year's events and not remembering his surroundings, until everything flooded back to him; the people in hazmat suits taking him from his home in the sewers, the surgeries, the blood. Oh, the blood was terrible.

Carter shuddered as he walked towards the wall, where a shabby, stained calendar hung. Hanging from it was a blood red permanent marker. Carter found today's date, and checked it off in blood-colored ink. He wasn't sure when he started the ritual of crossing off the date on the calendar, or why he did it, but crossing off each day made Carter feel better, like he had a purpose, like his time here was limited, like he had a chance to escape.

After examining the calendar for a moment, Carter walked back across the room where he ruffled through a dull wooden desk, and found his diary/sketch pad. He sat down on a white flimsy plastic chair in front of a white flimsy plastic table and drew a picture of a rose with a dull pencil. He worked on the shabby picture for several minutes, until he finally believed that he had gotten the kindergarten-esque flower perfect, and then made a noise that sounded a bit like childish laughter. he then went to writing his diary.

Deaw Diawy,

Todae I ahm feeleeng veree sahd. I dreemeed of a littel hahmstur, awl flufee and wheyete. In meye dreem, I helled da hahmstur 4 a littel beet, butt den da meen doktoars towk da hahmstur awae an' den dey huwt me with deir shawp theengs an' den I codunt trainzformm 2 proeteect meself. Noe I feeleeng veree sahd an' angree. Sahd becuz da meen doktoars towk da hahmstur awae an' den hurt me and den I feew angree becuz dey huwt me. Maibee sumdae I wiw c dat littel hahmstur agan butt unteel den, I jus' ave dis to rewmembur heem bye.

-Carter

After writing some, the third door to Carter's cell opened and a nurse in a hazmat suit with a tray that had what looked like a suspicious-looking bowl of porridge came in. She sat the bowl down in front of Carter, along with a very dull spoon, and then left. He looked at the spoon, and suddenly his left hand began to morph . it became flat and lengthened a bit, but before he could finish the transformation, the hand went limp and became what looked like a deflated balloon. Carter roared in anger and kicked the table over, spilling the suspicious porridge all over the floor. He stood over the smashed table for a moment, breathing heavily from nostrils that he didn't have, and then calmed down. He made a sad noise and grabbed the spoon from off of the ground, falling to his knees when he did so. He then squatted down and ate his breakfast off of the floor, like he had the day before when he'd done the same thing, though he couldn't remember it.

"Today is gonna be a bad day." He said.

"Nick, get off the ceiling," Jason said, walking into Nickolas' room. This was a regular occurrence, and it wasn't anything new. Nick had decided that sitting on the ceiling was a great hiding spot because, well, nobody ever looks up. "Why?" Nick began not making an effort to move. "I'm practicing." Jason looked up at Nick and grinned. "That's the point, I want you to take the rest of the day off and go to the carnival. Too much work will blow you out." Nick, of course, immediately floated down. "Here's some money, go and enjoy yourself." Jason said, giving Nick change for fifty dollars. Nick nodded, and took off.

Yeah, he was going to need more than fifty to help him break everyone's record there. So he began to look for unsuspecting victims on the street as he moved. 'There's one...' Nick thought noticing a dark man wearing a hood. He began to walk behind the man before purposely tipping on his own feet. He feel into the man, and slipped his hand into the person's pocket. The man didn't notice, good. He grabbed the wallet and what seemed to be a thick piece of paper in the pocket, and slipped it out and placed it into his own before he turned around. When the man did, he had a frown. "Watch where you're going next time." he spat, then turned back around to continue on his way.

So what was that thing... Nick wondered, pulling out what seemed to be a golden letter.

O...Kay...

Carefully ripping it open, Nick noticed it was an invitation to some rich guy's house for a massive party. Free food, free drinks, etc. This was great! He could help out the group of homeless who helped him and not have to spend any money! He could potentially buy the Xbox he'd been wanting now! Nick slipped the letter back into his pocket and continued on his way tot he carnival.

(One short trip, admission fee, and three wallets later...)


Nick had finally gotten into the carnival, and went straight to the High Striker. Eventually, he made it to the front of the rather short line, and held out the fee of five dollars. "Give me the tallest." he said, confidently. The man looked unsure, but took the money and gave him the hammer. Now there was the fun part. Nick walked up to the target, and lifted the hammer high above his head, and swung down. Once the hammer made contact, he magnetized the puck and the bell. This brought the puck to the top at a rather constant speed and wrung the bell. He dropped the hammer, and raised his arms in a 'Look how awesome I am.' kind of way. There were no prizes for the High Striker, but the dumbfounded look on people's face was enough of a reward.


And it wasn't like he was the biggest person in the world.

'Could have fooled me' Black thought to himself as he watched the kid casually defended his self-proclaimed intelligence. It was that bit, that bit right there that rubs him the wrong way. It was that rich, teenage arrogance, the lack of modesty, no humility - and to top it off, attempting to emasculate him by laughing it off as if it were nothing. Despite all this, Black kept his composure and subtly rolled his eyes when the boy had leaned back on the railing and watched as the other girl grumpily strolled off after taking a letter of some sort. In any case, he simply kept patient and waited for his answer while he seemed to drag it out as long as he could. Thankfully, the girl whom he later found out to be Lin, jumped on the answer almost immediately. His thanks was just on the tip of his tongue before he realized what the girl had said.

“I’m sorry,” Black said in reply, about as soon as Lin’s last word escaped her lips. “I’m afraid I don’t understand. Ten to nine on Fridays and weekends and… three to eight on Mondays and Fridays?”

“Uh, no thanks, that was all.” He said to the boy.

He had no doubt in what he heard; he was sure to god that he did not mishear the girl. It wasn’t like things like that doesn’t happen regularly, really. But in any case, his question was answered and it was definitely too late to go looking for job applications at this time of night. He did at least wanted to know the proper information before he gone and went though.

Jake



Carole wasn't the most subtle with her angry stare. Lin and for that matter: Jake, appeared heavily uncomfortable for those moments. It was out of no where, but then again some people tend to get jealous when you're on top--- which is one of the reasons why Jake doesn't act like a arrogant d*ck when going about his business. For a moment as Carole walked away Jake stared at her with a curious- yet annoyed look. For a few seconds his eyes started to glow cobalt blue, his entire eyeballs this time. Then reverted back to their natural appearance.



Lin looked embarrassed at her mistake, "Oh I'm sorry," She rested her forehead on her palm, "I mean't Monday to Thursday it closes three to eight." Then she waited for his response. Jake did peer his head over at the man's motorcycle. Then peeked down at Drake and Megan again to see what they were up to.



Victor



Vito was two men behind Nick on the High Strike Challenge. He looked at the boy, who seemed to be around the same age as him but much taller (from Vito's perspective everyone was so much bigger than him). There was something odd about the this, the boy didn't look nearly as strong or big enough to pull that off--- though Vito shrugged off the thought when he remembered that looks aren't everything and maybe the boy had hidden potential or strengths, or whatever.


When it was Victor's turn he was going to charge the hammer with kinetic energy and send that bell off it's rails.

"Heh" Mar said plucking a small black phone from his pocket. He tapped and slid the screen a few things, checking something and placed it back.

"You're not going?" he asked. "Funny. I'm not a big party person either. I'd rather throw dem forth of july fireworks at the place. Amatuer, yeah. But fun" he said.

Nick watched as the next person lifted the hammer to make a swing. He was small, but Nick wasn't really focusing on that. In the man's pocket was the glint of a metallic object. Which usually ment something that can fetch a good price. Nick smiled to himself, and walked behind the man, flicking his wrist and magnitizing the watch, and bringing it to his person by puttig it down his sleeve to be hidden.

However, the steal was sloppy, and jerked the pocket slightly when he did it. Crap. He couldn't afford to be caught. Not now. Nick continued past the man, and began to walk a little faster. Nick rounded the corner behind a tent, and stopped for a moment...

Had he been noticed? He certainly hoped not.

He couldn't stay in the area for long. The man would notice eventually.

"Oh..." He said in response. Oh. That was it. But Black wasn't paying attention to the girl right now, no. Right now he was marveled and stunned by the sudden cobalt flashing of the boy's eyes. Whatever contempt he had previously, it is now completely replaced by stoic fascination. Black at first walked slowly towards the boy before getting his CENSORED in gear and gets up real close to Jake trying to get a closer look at his eyes. “This is utterly fascinating,” Black comments. “How do your eyes do that?”

Black begins to think of all the possibilities that could possible warrant a reaction like that, but all seemed to be inconsistent with concrete facts and prior knowledge. “Blue eyes are a product of low melanin in the pigment of the eyes. People make the mistake of taking this for a mutation, but it’s actually a recessive trait usually hidden by brown alleles, which are dominant. But for brown eyes to flash a blue recessive allele is extraordinary, statistically impossible.” Black paused a moment.

“Unless maybe you have a second pair of irises behind your initial pair that has an astronomically lower amount of melanocytes, but the question is how does that show behind the dominant brown allele? The dilation of the pupils would have little to nothing to do with it…”

All of this was all fine and dandy for him; he was having a field day. To anybody around him, hell, maybe even Jake, he probably looks like a raving mad man. Any thoughts about the carnival and its hours were so insignificant to him at this point, all he wanted was to find a way to extract some kind of sample from the eye without causing any pain or damage to the boy. While the whole eye would be best (and maybe even the hyaloid canal that connects it to the brain), plucking the eyes from children would not only be incredibly gross but also highly illegal.

"Would it-- could it be possible that there is something else somewhere in your body that is draining the melanin from your eyes before it is quickly replaced? That's a big question, especially since you're so tan skinned it makes me wonder why whatever it is, it would be taking from your eyes. Unless you have an unbelievable amount of melanin."

Jake and Lin



For once in his arrogant life Jake finally realized that Johnny finally gave him a reasonably piece of advice: "Hah, little bro. Some day you better start wearing sunglasses like myself--- really I got like 500 pairs of these silly little sunglasses ahhhhaha. Yeah... but, some day someone boy or girl is going to flip a sh*t over those eyes of yours." Now he felt like a tool for not following that advice. When Black got really close that's when Jake's facial expression changed to a mixture of a surprise, and confusion. He didn't know how to respond to this. Black was saying so many things that they didn't understand either because they were surprised that he was showing such a "interest" in glowing eyes. One of the many things evident about Black now was that he was indeed likely to be very intelligent, and interested in things like this.



The issue was finding some way to explain his eyes without--- without bringing anymore attention to himself. Since so far in his evening he was dragged into a alleyway and was forced to reveal his mutant-status--- point being that he needs to end this before someone else takes notice. At this point someone else was who can't mind their own d*mn business was bound to to approach and start asking more questions that he didn't want to answer.



To start off Jake wanted Black to get away from him, "Hey, hey... can you get back a little bit?" Before (much to his chagrin) his Iris's flashed cobalt blue again. Then there was making some bullsh*t excuse for his glowing eyes. Telling him about his mutant-status was not a good option at this point, and there was the fact that he'll definitely disregard it as a fact. For a few moments he thought deeply to himself about the answer he could give. Thinking about the things that Black said he knew deep down that the same thing he told all the other idiotic teens his age won't work.



"Well... about that... uhh..." In this situation it isn't about how you answer, more of how fast you answer... well, after he thought about it; it was both. If all else fails he could always run. "Yeah... it's that my body drains that melanin stuff." It was not a very good answer and he knew that.


Yup, he better start running his @ss off.



Lash



"Yeah. I'm not that social. So I don't think I'll fit in with the rich boy/girl crowd, hah." Lash smiled. What Mar said was of absolutely no concern to her, but, he liked fireworks. One of the big things Jake claims about his party is that he's going to lite so many fireworks that it'll be seen all the way from Philadelphia. A risky and quite frankly unintelligent move (since if Police get called). So, she figured that she'll dump her golden letter on Mar and see if she can get another one from Drake--- that is if she feels like going. She reached into her hoodie for said golden letter and put it out to Mar to offer it to him.


"You like fireworks? That boy Jake said he's going to lite a lot... and he's really rich so I think he'll have the best. You can have my VIP, I can get another--- if I want to go."


Vito




Vito smirked when it was his turn, he stepped forward. He did feel his pocket jerk a bit, but didn't notice Nickolas stealing his golden family pocket watch, though he did look over his shoulder to see the same boy that had the hammer before him trying hard to get away. Of course he disregarded this and asked for the hammer and was met with laughter by the other people in line and spectating. He shrugged off the taunting and raised the hammer high above his head and charged it with a minimal amount of kinetic energy, so that it had a faint aura around it he couldn't be outed as a mutant. Then he brought the hammer down with surprising speed, of course when it connected it didn't hit the bell, but just a few inches away from it. So everyone was disappointed but still surprised that he made it that close.


He gave the next man the hammer and looked up at the sky. It was rather dark, so he would have to go home soon. So, he was planning on going to Jake to see what he had to offer then he was going to start heading home before it gets too dark out. Though, he wanted to know the exact time so he reached into his pocket for the pocket watch--- only to discover that it was gone. For a second he looked completely distraught that he had just lost a valuable family heirloom that was passed down for generations... or bought at the pawn shop. Then, he stopped to put two and two together. That boy must have stole the pocket watch there was no way that Vito was going to let him get away with that.



He immediately sprinted off in that direction as fast as his little legs could take him.

"Thanks" Mar said taking it from her hand. He examined it for a moment and placed it in his pocket. "With me there helping him he'll have some... interesting fireworks..." Mar said. Although Mar enjoyed watching fireworks, he found it more fun to launch them at parties and damage as much as he could. It was the next best thing after using his powers to vandalize it all.

Lash



Have a ball. Lash mused to herself. There certainly wasn't a good enough reason for her to care. He could as well have ruin the upcoming party... well that could be a bit bad for her. While she doesn't have the best relations with the high-class or self proclaimed "cool kids" there's the fact that it may be detrimental if it goes from sorta bad to complete sh*t. That is if it somehow comes back to her. Which isn't out of the question--- Lash was too smart to disregard a fact such as that because it's a "if". She was just going to have to go to the party and make sure the man doesn't damage her reputation because she had the feeling that because of their previous interactions he wasn't going to give it up without a fight, or if she asks nicely.


"Have a ball." She crossed her arms as her eyes danced around Mar, "Just don't tell anyone I gave that to you."


Vito



Vito wasn't going to let the rat that stole the Villarian family pocket get away that easily. His sprint got faster as his entire body was being charged with kinetic energy, he has a magenta-pink glow around him as his speed skyrocketed until he reached his goal: the thief Nickolas. He was right in front of the boy and came to a stop that left behind a small dust cloud. "Give me back the watch, boy." He slowly reached inside of his vest for his Cat O' Nine Tails. While it wasn't his intention to get violent, he could just hit the boy in the face with a charged whip and grab the watch.

Nick became startled at the man's sudden appearance. He stumbled back and fell, backing up in fear. "What are you?" He said more to himself than anything else. He then squinted angrily. "If you like the watch so much, the take it." Nick sneered, before throwing the watch at Vito. He then put as much magnetic pull on Vito as he could, making the watch rocket at the little man at an astounding speed.

Only to be pulled back at the last second.

"Wait... How did you get to me so fast?" Nick said, not noticing he was suspending the watch in mid air not even a foot away from Vito. "That shouldn't be possible."

Vito



"Ya' know what's impossible?" Vito drew his cat whip in a bad @ss fashion trying to intimidate Nickolas and pointed at the boy, trying to size him up. "How da' hell are ya' doing that?! That's impossible, eh, lad!" It was clear that Vito had just discovered another one of his kind: mutants. That wasn't going to stop him from knocking Nickolas out and taking back the watch with force. Since Nickolas has revealed his own mutant status unintentionally then Vito has free reign to go all out and kick his face in. Though, it shouldn't have to come to violence. No. He was above this, and so should Nickolas. There are far better things to do than beat each other's brains out when there's so much more they can learn just by being friends.



"No. I know ya' a mutie..." He started off, "... Like me-self. So I'm gonna' calm down and I suggest ya don't escalate." Vito warned Nick before putting away his whip. Not a problem since he can easily charge his fists, or throw the change in his pocket at him. "Name's Victor... friends and enemies call me Vito, the more arrogant ones call me Vi." He looked over his shoulder and reached to grab his watch, with no success with liberating it. He cursed not having too many muscles, "Can ya' let go of dis for me?"

Nick tensed as the whip came out. His hand tensing slightly, and he nearly crushed the watch. As it was lowered, he slightly relaxed, but he now didn't trust this person, not at all. "Oh, uh... Sorry." Nick said, before dropping the watch. But he couldn't trust this Vito person knowing he had a weapon on him. He had learned that doing that lead to bad things.

"Nice to meet you, uh... Vito... My name's Nick... I guess?" Nick fumbled. He wasn't sure if he should talk, run, or lie. Neither of which sounded like a good idea right now. He didn't want to get into this... He just wanted to go and live as normally as possible. He would've been happily ignorant on knowing that there were others with powers.

"Are... Are there more?" He stuttered. Hopefully there would be someone who wouldn't be as threatening to him. IF there were more...

...


Echoing across Carter's cell was a quiet, aged and mysterious voice, "God. Gods are above being caged in by those under us. Gods don't lose their mind while being trapped like rats." A strange light-green fog started to appear engulfing one corner of the room, roaring out inhuman roars and sounds like nothing no human has ever heard before. Then a vaguely human shape (of the same fog) took form, unrecognizable as a human--- more of a evil green spirit speaking. There was no time to waste, after Neron's meeting with the young and naive May/Samuel Pimm (and putting them on the right path) he immediately came here as soon as Carmen alerted him of a mutant in this facility. Of course this was no NEST facility, so he assumed that they will be here very shortly.


Neron was indeed that human shape in the cloud of fog, he wanted this beast on his side. It will help him if there's two convincing Gods running amok being the super-villains that you see in movies then he can easily convince the mutant population to search for the immortal and the power manipulator and then his plans will come to fruition.


Neron made a gesture with his hand saying 'come here' and spoke, "And Gods don't stay imprisoned forever. If you wish to avoid a life of torment, solitude and descending into your own madness, I would set into the fog. No rush, the mortals haven't realized that I'm even here... foolish of them not to monitor a being with god-like potential." The fog started glow much brighter until it showed the thick woods that surround Black Fall. The creature should be smart enough to realize that this is freedom.





Vito



Kid's got brains...


Vito mused as he patted his vest. There was a arrogant and cocky grin on his face, as he reached into his pocket and grabbed a quarter, "Dun' know too much 'bout da' other muties... other than my BFF Lash." His manner of speech made it quite clear that he was thinking too highly of himself at the moment.

Carter

Carter looked up at the foggy figure from where he sat, licking his breakfast off the floor with a long black, serpentine tongue which appeared from a wide, toothless black mouth that opened from out of his face. He sucked his tongue back in his mouth in a frog-like fashion and stood slowly, examining the foggy figure closely, his head cocked to one side like a man trying to observe Picasso. He stared at the odd being in front of him with his invisible eyes and whimpered quietly, scared of this new being. He looked scary, and normally scary things hurt Carter. he began to be angry, but stopped himself. What was this about a god? Carter remembered something about gods; he remembered that one of the ladies here told him about some really nice guy called "God". She said that he was the father of all, causing Carter to believe that his dad was called God.

He stepped forward gingerly, his eyes not breaking away from the smoke figure in front of him. If this character was his dad, then he wanted to impress him. Carter slowly began to morph; his hoodie sank into his black oily skin, as did the rest of his clothing, and he began to become puffy, like this cloud figure. But, as it always did, something went wrong. Carter began to grow in size and became more humanoid to resemble a silhouette of a man. He grew to about seven feet tall, and sighed. He never got this right, did he? Carter became angry now. He growled in rage and swung one of his behemoth fists at the wall and shattered the concrete like it was made of glass. He growled in anger and smashed a cart, and then became embarrassed and literally shrunk back down to normal size, embarrassed.

Then he saw it; through the fog, it seemed like there was....a tree, of some sort, then accompanied by another, and another. Carter slowly walked towards the parting in the fog where the trees were, amazed. He had never seen trees before. He had asked and asked the mean people to show them to him, but they always said no and hurt him again. But this person must be nice, because he showed Carter trees without him asking to see them. Carter grabbed his little diary/sketchbook from off of the smashed table and slowly walked towards the fog tentatively, as if expecting the woods to disappear. But they didn't, and soon Carter found himself in a wooded area, under a great big tree. He giggled with happiness and turned around.

"How did you do that?" he said in a childish voice to Neron "There weren't trees in my house before..."

Peter



The streets of downtown Black Falls were abustle with the chorus of a thousand competing tunes during the day. The most prominent noise on St.Michael's street at this time was the loud, fun tune of Elvis Presley's Devil in Disguise which blared from the jukebox in one of those 50s-themed restaurants. The powerful wang of the guitar lifted high above the city street noises of cars and the cries of people walking down the street on their lunchbreak, and seemed to carry up into Heaven, perhaps for Presley to hear himself.

However, this was not the only noise which competed with the din of traffic and the shouts of people. On the corner of St.Michael's Street and Box Avenue stood a somber-looking sliver of a teenaged boy. He had "burnout" written all of his face from the combination of his skin-and-bones appearance, and his worn-out clothing. On his dry, sunken head sat a weather-beaten grey fedora which exemplified his look. His face was tired-looking and haggard, like a man who never slept, which he was, though his mouth had a slightly sarcastic look to it. In his right hand was a beaten old silver flute that was rusted in some spots, and after opening its black leather case, the boy put the instrument to his lips and played. Despite the ugliness of the flute, the music was passionate and beautiful, and stopped many a passersby. Nobody seemed to notice the line of rats that appeared near the sewer, or the rows of pigeons who gathered on a nearby power line to watch the boy play.

As he did so, all of the haggardness and anger left his face, and it became tranquil and almost beautiful, as if the sludge had been cleared away and the true face revealed. Peter kept his eyes closed lightly, as if taking in the music like a fine wine, and then pouring it out of his heart and through the fife at his lips.

Neron



Now that Carter was out of the building Neron felt that there was no need to leave the portal open to hint where they had gone, the fog in both the woods and in Carter's cell had faded away. From his knowledge he was far away from the Saber Tech building, and they won't be able to capture him again, not as long as Carter is under constant watch of Neron. There was a good reason why he liberated a God seemingly for no reason: from what he could tell the God was no more than a beast. Easily placed on a chain and controlled by whoever held it the tightest, and if it doesn't obey him he'll kill it here and now. While his fog had long disappeared, Neron was still in his gaseous form. He grinned and reverted back to normal. He was still wearing his enormous black cloak that concealed his identity was still in place.



He walked over to a nearby tree to pick up his wooden and weathered walking stick and started to stand on it. He laughed slightly at the creature's child-like demeanor, it made it seem much easier to manipulate the creature for his own means. "I am a God...." He started, trailing off, ".... And so are you. They have imprisoned you for your God-like abilities, they wanted to see what they could learn from you... unfortunately it's nothing that they could possibly understand with all of their 'science'."



He stepped closer to Carter, and examined the faceless creature, "I have liberated you and you will stay free as long as you do as I say." That sentence sounded a bit more like a threat than a simple statement, as indeed it was. Neron could kill Carter will 18 different ways at this given moment, "This may seem like I'm imprisoning you again but I wish to accomplish great things with your help. Then you are free to do as you wish after that point."




Drake and Megan



The pair were waiting for the conversation that Jake and Lin were having to be over so that they can ask Jake about his mutant status.



"What's taking them so long?" Drake groaned.



"No, no. Mr. Blackmore. We have to be patient or we'll end up making an arse of ourselves." Megan replied.



"Mmmmm..." Drake didn't use words to reply to Megan and took another puff of his cigarette.

New Supplice wrote:

For once in his arrogant life Jake finally realized that Johnny finally gave him a reasonably piece of advice: "Hah, little bro. Some day you better start wearing sunglasses like myself--- really I got like 500 pairs of these silly little sunglasses ahhhhaha. Yeah... but, some day someone boy or girl is going to flip a sh*t over those eyes of yours." Now he felt like a tool for not following that advice. When Black got really close that's when Jake's facial expression changed to a mixture of a surprise, and confusion. He didn't know how to respond to this. Black was saying so many things that they didn't understand either because they were surprised that he was showing such a "interest" in glowing eyes. One of the many things evident about Black now was that he was indeed likely to be very intelligent, and interested in things like this.

The issue was finding some way to explain his eyes without--- without bringing anymore attention to himself. Since so far in his evening he was dragged into a alleyway and was forced to reveal his mutant-status--- point being that he needs to end this before someone else takes notice. At this point someone else was who can't mind their own d*mn business was bound to to approach and start asking more questions that he didn't want to answer.

To start off Jake wanted Black to get away from him, "Hey, hey... can you get back a little bit?" Before (much to his chagrin) his Iris's flashed cobalt blue again. Then there was making some bullsh*t excuse for his glowing eyes. Telling him about his mutant-status was not a good option at this point, and there was the fact that he'll definitely disregard it as a fact. For a few moments he thought deeply to himself about the answer he could give. Thinking about the things that Black said he knew deep down that the same thing he told all the other idiotic teens his age won't work.

"Well... about that... uhh..." In this situation it isn't about how you answer, more of how fast you answer... well, after he thought about it; it was both. If all else fails he could always run. "Yeah... it's that my body drains that melanin stuff." It was not a very good answer and he knew that.

Yup, he better start running his @ss off.

"Huh?" Black said, just a little confused at first. Then it struck him that, here he was, completely geeking out over this kid's eyes, inches away from his face talking a mile a minute. "Oh, yes, of course! I apologize." He said, but as he said so, Jake's eyes had flashed again, prompting an anxious reaction from Black, ducking his head down trying to get a better look without invading his personal space again. Really, the phenomenon he's witnessing was unbelievable and defied all prior knowledge of our understanding of the molecular biological makeup of man's visual sensory organs. Black was impatient to hear his answer; he wanted to know what the deal was, talk to the doctor that diagnosed him with this type of... disorder? Whatever it was!

But Jake wasn't being very quick on the uptake.

He made some verification on the theory of the melanin in his eyes being drained. Black frowned. There was no way that was possible unless there was some new virus or bacteria, or even a fungus that plants itself near the optical lens of the eyes so it would be close enough to the irises and the nervous system. Even then, it didn't explain sudden flashes of blue, not to mention that bacteria anywhere close to the optical lens would result in pain or some degree of blindness. There's no organ that would be capable of draining melanin. The only parts of the body capable of using it would be the eyes and the skin. Melanin was only pigment. He had a suspicion that the boy was lying.

Black gave Jake the hairy eyeball with his brow raised. "If you're trying to lie to me, I bid you good luck with that."

Martin wandered down one of the alleyways of Black Fall, the warm summer wind blowing in his face. He walked silently with his eyes downcast, as he was deep in thought. Martin would often be in this mental state of pondering, sealing himself off from the world and only focusing on his own thoughts. Ever since the incident with his stepfather in California, this was the norm. He would often question life itself, or why it was him that was gifted with something that only seemed to cause death and destruction. He simply couldn't comprehend it at times.

He paused to observe the scenery around him. The alleyway was gritty, the ground covered with grime and dirt, and the walls were filled with colorful, fading graffiti. In the distance, he could hear the commerce of the town and also something rather odd. The sound of a flute, playing a beautiful tune, piqued Martin's interest. He walked a bit towards the sidewalk, stopping his stride to observe a scrawny man around his age masterfully playing.