The Freaks Reloaded IC Chapter three: the Game is On

Kirra looked over at where the stranger had thrown the gun, and two more scents reached her nose. So, there were three intruders in her territory? At least the other two were smart enough to hide, and for their own good, they should stay out of her sight. She looked back over at the man who had stepped out of the jeep. In all honesty, what she thought about throwing the gun away? She was insulted, a little, that he thought he could get on her good side that easily. As such, she opened her mouth slightly, and exhaled loudly, several times, in a fashion that sounded like a coughing fit, although it was intentional. The overall effect, and what the sound was meant to resemble, was obvious. She was laughing at him, and his pathetic attempt at trying to play nice. Even in animal form, the laugh was cold and mocking, clearly sending the message that she wasn't stupid. In fact, if anyone looked more pathetic, it was the stranger who thought it was a good idea to leave himself unarmed.

Upon this, her form began to change, bones rearranged themselves, and she pushed the upper half of her body away from the ground, as her stance changed to bipedal. When the transformation was done, a cat-like humanoid was standing there, wearing a black hoodie and yoga pants, her arms folded. When she spoke, her voice was deeper, and sort of raspy, but distinctly feminine, "You really are the most pathetic negotiator I have ever seen walk into the forest. Even tabloid reporters had enough common sense to remain armed. Do you think you can make peace by throwing away your weapon? Do you think I'm a stupid dog that falls for every trick in the book? You'd best watch what you do or say, because you're very close to having your throat ripped out, for trespassing in my territory; you and your two friends hiding in the trees. I can smell your fear, and not even the putrid reek of car fumes can hide it." Her tone was cool and even, but it was condescending and cold. She stated the insults as though they were facts, which they were, from her point of view, at any rate, and that was the only opinion that mattered.


Damien knew that the cat girl was the person he had been looking for, the pull had abruptly stopped when he had seen her. However, upon reading her emotions and feelings, he found a tightly closed mind, one not open to the ideas that came from others, one that could not be changed or influenced by new things. The heart itself, seemed to have been encased, and the sound of the cold words made it seem as though a stone rested where the heart should have been. However, somewhere deep inside, there was the faintest spark, a tiny grain of kindness and compassion that only someone like Damien could sense. However, the girl's mind was so calloused by pride and hardship, along with domination and animal savagery, that there was no way to uncover it to others, although somewhere deep down, there was a desire to be good.

Damien wanted to be friends with this person, but he immediately knew that she would probably scorn any attempt at it. If he was to ever succeed in being a friend, then he would have to hurt her, before he could help her. He would have to open her mind, so that she could be affected once more by the actions of others. He could do it, but he would have to get close, and make eye contact. However, what he did know, was that to make eye contact, was to make a direct challenge.

"I thought that disarming myself would make you believe that I do not want to hurt you." Richard stuttered, afraid. Irene rolled her eyes, and giggled silently once more. Her eyes began to glow a light, robin's egg blue, and in front of everyone's eyes, Irene stepped out into the clearing. She looked down at the ground, away from Kirra's eyes, a sign of respect to animals, she believed. Richard remained speechless as Irene walked out over to Kirra.

"She's not a beast like that clam-thing Richard." Irene said as she walked over next to Kirra. She met Kirra's beautiful cat-like eyes, and smiled.

"I'm Irene." she said calmly to Kirra "What's your name?"

"What are you doing, Irene?" Richard said cautiously. But Irene ignored him and simply looked at Kirra as if she were a good friend.

"My name is Kirra, and I lay sole claim to these woods. Thank you for asking." Kirra said, her tail flicking at this. Although Irene and Richard appeared to dislike one another, it was obvious that Irene was much more clever than Richard was. She seemed to show more respect, which was wisely done, when in someone else' territory. Indeed, Kirra was far more than a mindless beast, and to be treated as such was an insult. She looked over at Richard, "It appears that this woman, Irene, has far more common sense than you." She said, her tone condescending. "In fact, because it brings me great pleasure to see a dog-brained idiot like you squirm and cower, I will tell you exactly what you did wrong, so you don't repeat your mistakes. First, you drove in here with a loud, noisy, smelly car, instead of bothering to walk, and now you have surely scared off all the prey within a mile radius. Second, you didn't take into account that I can read your body language and scent far better than a human. If you are scared, it doesn't matter if you stop shaking, because when there is fear, I can smell it. Third, you also moved quickly, when you threw your gun, and an ordinary predator would have seen that, and pounced. Be grateful that I'm intelligent, because a normal jaguar would have killed you the instant they smelled adrenaline, or seen you move to throw the gun." The entire time she explained these things, the cat girl never strayed from her cold, insulting tone.


Damien appeared out of the trees shortly after hearing this, unable to listen any longer, "Hey! What gives you the right to insult him like that! He was trying to be nice to you!" He said. Although he still wanted to be friendly, he didn't like the way Kirra was behaving. She was now being downright cruel towards the man. The cat girl just growled a little, "What makes you think you have the right to defend him? From what I can see, you, too, are a mutt, an insolent whelp with no power to support his own words. Do you want me to punish your impudence? I will make it swift." Damien could sense her emotions, and the girl seemed to give off contempt in waves. Truly, he never thought he would ever meet such a truly ruthless person. "I might be small, but I'm stronger than I look." Damien said, warning her. If he could just make eye contact, he could do it, but she was a bit too far away for it to be effective. Kirra just laughed a little bit, "You are begging to be beaten, little dog." She growled. It seemed that calling someone a dog or mutt was her preferred insult.

"Oh don't waste your energy, Kirra." Irene said, "I've got this." Irene sighed, and moved her pistol from Richard's chest to the direction of Damien. She smiled wickedly as the sight of the pistol centered on the half-pint's forehead.

"Mutt?" Richard muttered, stiffening up. "Wait...mutt." he looked over at Damien and would have smiled had he had a face. "You're a meta-human too?" he asked Damien, his head falling to one side. Irene rolled her eyes and looked over at Richard, wide-eyed with a silly grin on her face. Her body language gave off an "are you kidding me?" vibe.

"Does anyone realize that I'm pointing a gun at this kid Damien's face?" She yelled out loud insanely. Richard got an idea.

"Then shoot me!" he said, making a guttural laughing noise. Irene stared at him a moment, perplexed as he walked closer. He calmed down a lot ro an unrealistic level for someone with a gun in their face.

"So you want me to shoot you?" Irene said, perplexed.

"Yes I do!" Richard responded

"Right now?"

"Right now".

"So you want me to shoot you in the head right now?"

"Yes. In the head. Right between the eyes actually!"

"Are you sure?"

"Just do it!" Irene turned her head, and pulled the trigger. A loud, crashing noise filled the clearing, accompanied by a blinding flash. yet there was no bullet, and Richard was not shot. Irene shimmered blue, and disappeared. The real Irene stepped out from behind a tree and brushed herself off. She smiled at Richard and walked closer to Kirra, back where she originally was.

"Congratulations, you called my bluff!" Irene said, smiling "Sorry Kirra. I knew that when I did that, I had a fifty percent chance of living and a fifty percent chance of you ripping my head off and eating it".

"See?" Richard called out "You can't trust her!"

Kirra's tails flicked, "I was actually somewhat impressed, by that." She said curtly, now clearly determined to dislike Richard and the boy, Damien. "In case you didn't notice, though, a mutt is the lowest form of dog, and I wouldn't reserve it for just a meta-human. Any idiot who isn't worth the meat on his bones is a mutt. I wouldn't even consider you fit for crows, if you were prey, although I suspect that for a dimwit, you are accurate in guessing that the whelp is a meta-human, like everyone else here." She nodded at Damien, who looked stunned from the whole incident. She walked up to him, and examined him closely, "Poor thing appears to be in shock, though, I guess he was just too slow to comprehend." She said, her voice dripping with mock-pity.

Suddenly, Damien's face changed, and he glared at her, "Or maybe I just needed to make sure you were close enough for my trick to work." He said, his eyes meeting hers. Suddenly, the young boy's eyes glowed with a bright golden light, and there was a blinding flash, forcing everyone to shield their eyes. Kirra screamed, and strangely, the cry seemed to separate, as though there were now two people, before both tapered off, as though strangled. Moments later, when the light dimmed, Damien was still standing, and he was looking down at Kirra, who had gone to her knees, clutching her head with one hand, gritting her teeth. "What...did...you...do...to...me...?!" She growled, barely able to choke out the words. "I opened your mind, now you can be a better person. I'm sorry it hurt, but the pain will go away." He said, only loud enough for the cat girl to hear. As soon as he finished, he ran over to Richard, "Quick, we have to get out of here!" He said, glancing over his shoulder.

Irene fell backwards and screamed when she saw the flash of light. Her hand flew to her gun, and she fired blankly into the air three times. Two sailed harmlessly through the air, but one.

"Ugh." Richard stumbled back and fell on his rear in front of the Hummer. He looked around a moment, bewildered and perplexed. He looked around his person, feeling for wet spots. He finally found on in the pit of his stomach. The bullet had gone through his stomach, and exited cleanly between his kidney and spine, just barely missing a definite kill shot. He groaned a moment, and clutched the gunshot as the blood ran onto his suit, ruining it. Richard stared down at his stomach a moment, and groaned once more.

"Damien," he said, "Can you drive?" Irene meanwhile laid on the ground, her eyes still with stars in them. She propped herself up on one elbow, and looked out at the scene. When she saw at Richard was hurt, she simply made a "hmph" noise, and stayed where she was, watching the scene play out.

"I'm fourteen, I don't have a license, but I think I know enough to get us out of here." Damien said, worried. He got into the driver's seat and carefully adjusted the mirrors so that he could see, although the seat was too large for him, and his feet barely touched the gas pedal. He wouldn't have been offended if Richard or anyone else was shocked by his age. Only Damien's voice really seemed to fit, every other aspect of his appearance looked much younger. He started the car and sped out of the clearing, clutching the steering wheel to the point that his knuckles were white. It was more out of fear that they were going to be chased, but after awhile, he decided they were too far away for Kirra or Irene to catch.

Damien sighed, with relief, when they arrived on the main road, and slowed down to the normal speed limit. "Just tell me which way to turn when we get to forks or intersections." He said. He still looked very anxious, though, as he glanced between the speedometer, road, and over at Richard. "Hey, you don't have a face...how did I miss that?" He said, confused. He didn't give Richard a chance to answer, "I'm sorry I did that, I didn't mean for you to get shot, but I had to. I was looking for her because the pull was leading me to a friend, but I didn't know that the friend at the end of it would be like that. That's the first time the pull has ever led me to a friend that needed a mind rend."


Back in the forest, after Richard and Damien had sped off, Kirra rubbed her forehead and slowly got up. She braced herself for a splitting headache, but found that it was gone. However, in its place, she felt something even worse. She felt different, strange, and she couldn't place the feeling. She shook it off, though, "That little whelp...he actually tricked me..." She said, hardly believing it. Irene had used her powers, but Damien had just been acting, and he had managed to fool her into thinking he was in shock. She turned to Irene, "I can't believe they got away that easily. I should have ripped that guy's throat out from the beginning."

"Just please stop talking and drive." Richard said, gasping as the blood ran over his hand. he grunted again, and muttered "left here." when they got to an offramp. The thought that he had just told a fourteen-year-old to drive him to a hospital never crossed Richard's mind due to the trauma. He picked up his phone and called one of the men back at the plane, who told him to return to the plane where he would receive medical treatment.

Irene was still on the ground, and had to actually roll out of the way of the speeding Hummer. She smiled assuredly, knowing that her enemy would die of a car crash. She looked around to make sure that Kirra was still there, and cleared her throat.

"You okay Kirra?" she said, rising from the ground and brushing herself off. Irene grimaced when she saw that there was now a splash of dark brown mud on the side of her jacket. That would cost one helluva price to get dry cleaned.

"I'm fine, but when I catch that kid, he's gonna regret tricking me like that." Kirra said, angry, "What did that even do? One moment, I felt like I was being torn in half, and yet, it didn't feel as excruciating as one might think it would, although it still hurt. When I screamed, I was sure there were two of me, if that makes any sense, but it looks like all it did was temporarily stun us." She was angry, but she was also pondering what the boy had done. That weird feeling wasn't going away, and it made Kirra feel wrong, but she couldn't explain what it was.

"Oh well. We'll catch him eventually. He'll probably die in a car crash while en route to the hospital anyways." Irene walked across the road to Kirra once more, and picked Richard's gun up off of the ground.

"I don't suppose that you want this?" Irene said "Anyways, I might as well tell you why I'm here now. I have realized that you've been in the news a lot lately; the amazing cat woman. The tabloids are eating you up, and you know that the government is going to come after you soon. That guy, Richard, he was with the government. And there will be others. Just like always, those stupid human mutts try to muddle in affairs that they have no hand in, and it's gotten to a point where we ought to cut that hand off. I want to help you, Kirra. These woods aren't safe anymore. The humans who live here will hunt you down like they have so many others. They think that we're monsters, aliens, freaks, even. To them, We're the freaks. But me and my friends, we've had enough of these stupid humans, so we're going to do something about it. They say that the way to make animals go away is to cause them pain, and strike fear into them. Well evolution has made us the premier race, and we're going to strike fear into those animals and claim this dying world for ourselves". The entire time of her speech, Irene smiled evilly, as if imagining all of the terrible things that she wanted to do to the humans.

Kirra blinked, and as usual, her voice kept an even tone, "Normally, I would have rejected such an offer, and although I don't need any help dispatching those mutts, I would rather not live in a place where I am constantly pestered. If you know a place where humans and those dogs from the government can't find me, then I'll gladly help you and your friends with whatever you wish to do." Her eyes then narrowed, "However, just a warning, Irene, that my loyalty is never assured, and that if you want to keep it, you and your friends will have to be respectful, as well as avoid eye contact, unless I allow it. After that boy did whatever it was when he made eye contact with me, I'll most likely kill whoever tries to do it on impulse." Her ears flattened, "With that out of the way, I'll go with you, but don't forget my warning." Even though Kirra was not insulting Irene, her tone was still extremely cold and condescending. She would let people know ahead of time that they should avoid doing certain things, if they valued their lives. However, she was also inwardly feeling very confused. Whatever the boy Damien had done, it was nagging her.


Damien stopped talking, and made turns wherever Richard told him to go. Eventually, the arrived at an airstrip where there was a plane. In reality, he actually realized he had just driven a complete stranger he barely knew. At the same time, though, he was still reading the man's emotions, and he couldn't really control who he did and did not read. It was automatic, and couldn't be turned off. He stopped the Hummer, and looked over at Richard, "I know you need medical help, sir, but I actually don't have a clue of what's going on here. Is there someone here who can explain to me what's happening?"

"Dont touch Hiss..." a deep ominous voice boomed as a man in a lab coat accompanied with two armed personell entered the containment chamber. "Hiss only want to be free... the voice continued. "You cannot exist outside the facility. You two," the doctor said, before turning his head tot he men behind him, catching their attention. "Keep your guns at the ready." The men perked up, and readied their M16's with a 'Tck-chack!'. "You're not ready for the outside world. And besides, we're not done with you." The three men looked around the darkened room, trying to find a twenty foot giant. It was kept dark to limit the subject's energy intake. How could you loose something so big? "Hiss... Never free." the voice said once again, only to be accompanied by a deep growl that echoed around the containment facility.

The subject wasn't at eye level, and it couldn't be underground. That only left...

"Oh no..." The doctor whispered to himself, and looked up. His eyes locked with another pair. Two eyes that seemed to glow in the dark. They were yellow, and had slitted pupils, although this much the doctor couldn't see.

A primal roar sounded out as the giant above dropped to the ground.


"ATTENTION! SUBJECT 682 HAS BREACHED CONTAINMENT!"


Red lights lit up 682's facility, and he knew that if he was to be free, it would be now, or never. He looked to the doors, contemplating his limited options, before deciding to outright charge. He rammed into the door, making it bend only slightly. They were really strict on containment, and he wasn't surprised that the door didn't give on the first go. He tried once, again, with similar success, and on the third try, he finally busted the two steel doors down, allowing him access to the hallway. The great lizard man shielded his eyes with a tree trunk of an arm to give them time to adjust, as the hallway, now bathed in red light and ringing with sirens, was much brighter than his facility. But every second counted, and after they were ready, he sprinted, running on all fours down the hall, trying to find his way out fo the facility.

Men were grabbing guns and positioning themselves at exits to stop the raging lizard. Guns were primed to fire, and extended magazines loaded every gun. Hiss skidded around a corner, coming to an exit, and about twenty men all holding M16's in his direction. "STAND DOWN AND YOU WILL BE RELOCATED BACK TO YOUR FACILITY!" One man yelled at him. Hiss, seeing this as only a challenge, roared in defiance, and charged once again. The men began to fire, but didn't get many bullets out before the monster was upon them. Hiss opened his maw and dove down on a man, enveloping his head and neck in his maw, only to shake vigorously, and throw him into two other men with great force, incapacitating the three. His tail swept several people, knocking them to the ground and breaking bones. He roared as pain shot up his back, and spun around to see one man open firing on him. Hiss dove at the man, slashing his claws across the man's chest. THe kevlar vest protected the man from being fatally injured, but the sheer force send the man flying several feet away.

The coast was clear, so he began to ram the now locked doors that lead to the exit. He burst through the exit doors, sending them off their hinges and into the desert sun. He stood up, and ducked under the door's frame and stepped into the natural sunlight for the first time in years. His attention shifted, however, to another source. There was a helicopter now trained on him, along with several other armed men.

"SUBJECT, 682! YOU ARE SURROUNDED." A man with a megaphone yelled. "IF YOU MAKE ANY MOVE, YOU WILL BE KILLED." the man continued. Hiss looked around, eyes becoming slits in pure rage. But he knew he couldn't take this. Not alone.

The eerie red lights echoed down the hallways, and Carter was bathed in crimson light. He looked around, afraid, and the other doctors ran for the door. Now was his chance. Carter looked at the hallway of opened doors, and ran for his life. One of the doctors turned around and screamed as Carter went roaring down the hall, scaring several doctors away.


EMERGENCY! SUBJECT 6 HAS BREACHED CONTAINMENT! WE HAVE A DOUBLE BREACH! REPEAT, WE HAVE A DOUBLE BREACH! the alarms sounded. Several security guards began to fire at Carter. He screamed as the bullets pelted him, but they simply sailed cut through Carter's slime and shot out the back without seeming to injure him. Carter roared in pain and charged at the two guards. One pulled out a knife, and Carter's hand began to morph. It warped and stretched until his hand turned into what resembled a praying mantis' scythe. One swipe later, and both guards were cut to pieces. Carter heard a roaring from down the hall and ran that direction to find a dinosaur-like creature surrounded by armed guards who were aiming guns at it. Carter looked at Hiss and began to morph once more. His skin rippled, and Carter grew larger and larger until he was about the same height as Hiss. His skin began to morph, and became tough and gamy, though instead of scales he formed feathers. Carter's finger grew long and sharp to match Hiss' claws, though his were longer and sharper, like a sloth's. His snout grew to resemble a crocodile's, and his teeth grew so long that they actually kept him from opening his mouth. Carter grew two lizardlike eyes, each of which were a different size. One was the size of a normal human's eye and one was massive and deformed, like a frog's eye. Carter let out a booming roar, and cleaved a scientist in two.

Caden



Caden had enough of this part of the mall. There was nothing to do here aside from stare at people pass him as they go about their business. He did a fake cough before getting up from off the fountain. As he started his march he brushed aside one of his dreadlocks that got in his face. Then he put his hands in his pocket as he slanted his head to conceal his face leaving his dreadlocks hanging. He scrolled through the crowds as he looked for the food court--- he was hungry then he was going to scroll out of the mall and probably try to do something interesting for a change like snake charm or something. When he arrived however the food court was rather well populated. It was in the morning and people wanted to get their shopping done. Nothing that bothered Caden before. Just that he was the type who preferred the quiet and desolate locations like the swamps of New Orleans. He'll probably go there. He scrolled over to the generic looking burger store and bought himself a large Cheese-burger with fries. He carried the tray to the nearest empty table and started to eat the fries.

"Well, let's get going Kirra!" Irene spun around on her heel and began to walk back towards the car. She eyed the blood on the ground cautiously, and gave it a very wide berth. Irene wasn't a big blood person, and while she didn't actually fear it, she wasn't gonna get it on her two hundred dollar designer leather boots. She picked Richard's gun off of the ground and studied it closely a moment, then turned to Kirra.

"you don't want this, do you dear?" Irene said while turning around to face Kirra.

Hiss needed no other permission. His survival instincts kicked in, and ran, dashing to the side of the base while Six had the others attention. He had come to far to be caught, and he knew that no matter how hard either of them fought, they wouldn't make it out of there. He didn't kill a single scientist while escaping. He didn't want to be labeled any more a monster than what he already was. He also didn't know if subject six was hostile or not, it had cleaved a scientist in half. Anything that could do that was nto to be tangled with unless circumstances demanded it.


Hiss shook his head, and kept running. He needed to move before the helicopter was sent after him. He knew there was a small town near the edge of Area 51, which was a tourist attraction and sold many things relating to aliens and such. Night was beginning to fall, so he could get it unnoticed if he was lucky. He was coming up on the gate that separated area fifty one from the rest of the world. He was growing tired from the full on sprint away from the base. But he had to keep going.

He had to escape.

He sped up as much as he could, and smashed through the locked gate, and kept going down the road. The ground thumped under his footsteps as he galloped on four legs across the pavement. Only thinking of freedom and escape.

However, he failed to realize that once he got there, the military would surely be after him. He would have to keep moving after an hour or so of hiding. He needed a way out. The thought of this saddened him. As much as he wanted to believe he could, he doubted he could ever outrun several helicopters and cars while simultaneously dodging bullet fire.

He needed help.

Kirra looked at the gun, and growled, "I prefer to tear my opponents apart using my teeth and claws. Gunshots make your ears ring, and the smell of gunpowder makes me want to sneeze. However, we should take it, anyway. I don't recall seeing a gun like this before, and if it's government technology, then there may be benefits from studying it. If those options do not present themselves, at least make it so we know nobody else can use it." Kirra, in all truth, hated guns. When she had first been sighted by a group of campers in the woods, people believed she was a rare North American Jaguar, and hunters had come in search of a trophy. She had to learn how to see whether or not someone had a gun hidden on their person, and how to avoid getting shot. Even then, she hated the sounds and smells they produced, and didn't know how to shoot one, anyway. Her natural abilities made up for it, though. A man with a gun was no threat if she could reach him before he pulled the trigger.

"Alright then." Irene said as she handed the gun to Kirra. "Let's get going!" she began to walk through the brush to where her car was parked, but stopped halfway.

"Hey, you don't have a...smaller form, do you? Like a little cat? Because I think you'd stand out a bit too much the way you are now. Normally I wouldn't mind, but the airport is in Austin Texas and I think you'd stand out too much in the city".

---
(here we go!)

Baltimore

It is said that once every few hundred years or so, there is a genetic mutation so great that the stars themselves shiver. It is rare as the Hope Diamond, and as elusive as smoke in the palm of one's hand. When these humans are born, it is said that mountains move, the stars themselves bow, and the heavens make themselves low to behold this God among men. Julius Caesar was one of these titans, as well as Alexander the Great, Hannibal, King Arthur, Joan of Arc, and Napoleon Bonaparte. They are the closest thing a man has ever come to godly strength. However, no single one of these super-mutants have ever existed at the same time.

That is, until now. Because now our world has been thrown into an almost apocalyptic event; three Gods have been born at the same time. This event has never happened before in the course of Human history, and the probability of it ever happening again is slim to none. That isn't our only problem though; three Gods now walk the Earth, and they're all three teenagers.



"Hey! Tess wait up!" a very high-pitched masculine voice yelled down a dark Fells Point Alley. This voice soon revealed itself to be a scrawny, blonde-haired teenaged boy wearing a pair of wire frame glasses which sat low on his birdlike nose. His face was desperate-looking, not because he was afraid or wary of something, but because he was unathletic and didn't like to run.

"Slow down Nicola!" he called out as he stopped a moment to put his hands on his knees and catch his breath.

"Speed up Ramiel!" a lower female voice called back with a hint of laughter. Ramiel rolled his eyes and continued running after the voice. He soon found himself on a cobblestone plaza. To his left was a shady-looking pretzel stand and the Broadway Market and to his right was the cruel, green waters of the Patapsico River. Across the street, a short, gothic woman with pale skin and jet black hair ran, laughing as she went. Her electric blue eyes seemed to crackle with energy, and Ramiel soon found himself running after her again.

"Nicola where are we going?!" he yelled out to her.

"You'll find out when we get there!" Nicola replied, laughing as she went. They turned a corner and the cobblestone roads turned to asphalt. The archaic brick row homes soon melded into more modern brownstones, and the streets quickly filled with the afternoon traffic. Nicola brushed past a elderly man in a brown coat who yelled "dirty kids!" in Polish as she passed by. Ramiel zoomed past him seconds after, and yelled out "Sorry sir!" The man still yelled at him and Ramiel simply shrugged. People were jerks. Nicola zoomed down the narrow streets and ducked through several alleys while getting yelled at by more elderly men and women. Of course, she didn't care what they yelled at her. Nicola had lived in this neighborhood for almost a year now, and she built up an immunity to the old Polish folk and their insults, as well as a colorful Polish vocabulary.

Nicola continued to run down the streets which considerably widened as she ran. Ramiel was close behind at first, but began to run out of stamina and fall behind. Nicola herself was getting tired, but she sparingly stopped to rest, as she was too excited to get where she wanted to go. About ten minutes of running later and the siblings found themselves at the Inner Harbor. To their right was Fogo de Chao, a famous Brazilian steak restaurant, and to their left was a strip of buildings built into an old abandoned power plant. Atop the old power plant was a red electric guitar, which sat in front of a trio of smokestacks. Ramiel began to loudly catch his breath when he caught up to Nicola, who was too busy having her breath taken away to bother with being exhausted. She began to walk down the brick sidewalk in front of the old power plant until she was in front of the Hard Rock Cafe, which bustled with people even at four o'clock in the afternoon. But Nicola wasn't concerned with the building; she was concerned with the dock across from the building which stretched out into the Patapsico. On top of the dock was a concert stage, and next to the stage, a mob of fans in black leather. Behind the stage, getting ready, was Staind, a popular rock band, and one of Nicola's favorites.

"You...made me run...all this way...to get...to a concert...that doesn't start for hours?" Ramiel yelled at her.

"It's not just any concert dork!" she snapped at him with a blissful smile on her face "it's Staind! We need to get our seats now so that we have them for later!"

"I'm...gonna....kill you..." he muttered as he hyperventilated.

"Stop whining!" She teased "Now lets go get some seats and some lunch while we're at it. I'm so hungry!" Nicola skipped off to get some seats on the dock and Ramiel collapsed onto a metal bench where he tried to catch his breath but failed. He soon found himself texting his girlfriend Annabel, who was on vacation in New Orleans. He smiled warmly at the thought of her in his arms, as she would be when she got back in a few days. But, as everything did with Ramiel, this smile turned into anxiety as he thought of his girlfriend being alone in the world's biggest constant party with thousands of guys walking around and enough alcohol to kill a herd of bull elephants. He soon began to sweat with a mix of exhaustion and anxiety, though he tried to put a happy face on when Nicola brought him to their table on the dock. He'd just try yo enjoy himself for now and worry about his girlfriend later.

Kirra's ears flattened, "I won't transform into a domestic cat, but there are plenty of small species that could probably pass as one. A black-footed cat should do, and unless they do genetic testing on the animals in the airport, I seriously doubt anyone will get onto you for smuggling a vulnerable African species. However, don't think I'll be happy about it, because having to take the form of a pet as a disguise probably means I'm going to wind up stuck in a pet carrier in the cargo hold of the plane for several hours. It does not sound appealing." With this, she started to change, shrinking down into a tiny cat that was barely over a foot in length from head to tail. Although it was a fully grown black-footed cat, the soft tawny fur, speckled with large dark brown spots that merged into rings on the neck, legs, and tail, made her look more like a kitten. She opened her now elliptical eyes and looked up at Irene, her ears flattening again. She made a loud sound that seemed to resemble some sort of burr sound, although it was not a mew, and definitely not a purr. It was also of a volume much louder than one would expect from a cat so small, even louder than a domestic cat.

"Aw! You're so cute!" Irene teased as she picked Kirra up and placed her in the passenger seat of the Wrangler. "And don't worry; I have a private jet waiting for us, so you won't have to sit in a cargo hold. I take care of my friends". She winked at Kirra and drove off down the dirt road towards the airport.

---

The plane was still on the runway. Richard was now laying on an operating table at the back of the Facility's private jet being treated for the wounds. Luckily, Richard's abilities had stopped most of the bleeding, so he didn't bleed out as badly as a normal human would. It was hard to treat Richard though, as most bandages applied to him transformed into carbon fibers. He made a coughing noise, and a small red spot appeared about where his mouth would be.

"How's it looking doctor?" Richard asked the medic.

"Not bad for a gunshot wound." the medic replied "You should heal up quickly. Though this would be much easier if you didn't disintegrate my bandages." Richard made a chuckling noise, and shifted slightly.

"By the way." the medica said "who's the short guy?"

"Why don't you ask him?" Richard said. The Medic turned to Damien and said "what's your name son?"

"My name is Damien, sir, and for the second time, can someone please explain who you people are?" He said, frowning. The emotions he was picking up were relatively normal, but he wasn't focusing very hard on reading them. He might make a mistake on what he was actually sensing, but his focus was currently split. Right now, he was focusing on a different link, which was still as strong as if he was standing right next to her. The cat girl, Kirra, although seemingly less aggressive than she was earlier, seemed irritated. Because he had used a Mind Rend on her, they were now linked, and he could now sense her emotions over a distance, and even pinpoint where she was. He could only wonder why she was irritated, though. "My parents are going to kill me if someone doesn't explain this." He said, half-distracted.


Kirra's ears flattened and she made an unamused growling sound at being called cute. This brought her back to the time when she had first used her powers, and wound up stuck as a lion cub. The thing about lions was that when they were little, they couldn't growl. Instead, it came out as a loud, squeaky noise that somehow made them seem helpless and more endearing in the eyes of humans. When her parents and a few friends came over to look at her, they got too close. Kirra could still remember growling at them to back off, and then them just talking in that humiliating baby voice, saying things like, "You're so vicious!", and not even meaning any word of it. During her time trapped as a cub, Kirra was forced to do a lot of incredibly taxing things to keep people from thinking she was vulnerable, and even then, she could never get them to take her seriously. It had made her actively hate her parents, and she finally just ran away from home. She couldn't kill them, after all. They were her parents.

Logic. And order. You can't have logic without order. Or order without logic. They're the bases of each other. Without logic order cannot be formed. Yet without order logic cannot be formed. Thus you can't have one without the other. Yet it was chaos that formed everything, so I must adapt.
That simple set of words have been the basis of his entire life. When it comes down to it everything can be broken down and analyzed. Well most things anyhow. Some things still elude him. Mostly abstract concepts like happiness or love. Even hate. Even the workings of his own mind. These things confuse him. Some part of him somehow knows all these things, but logically these things still elude him. But those are only trivial problems. Right now he has other things to take care of.

Ceyx Celsus was currently liquidating all his assets. His investors had no idea he was doing it either. He was simply going to disappear again. He did this periodically. Why? He had to do it; it was how he got by. He would move to a new city and start a small tech company. He’d invest some money in it and let it grow. Then when larger companies would take notice of it he’d silently sell off its assets and leave the city before he was discovered. He’d be sure that his former employees were well taken care of, not that it mattered. Most don’t even who he was, so most didn’t even notice the change in management. Once his business got so large he’d always had a few bidders interested to take over the company. He always plans it that way; to can flee quickly if need be.

He did everything with anonamality as possible so he could remain hidden. Cash purchases, Fake IDs, and Swiss Banks. Even his social was fake. But it almost wasn’t enough. They came close to finding him this time. He thought for sure that by going to a smaller city he could throw them, but guess not.

There were always other after him for his unique abilities. As far as he knew he was the only one like himself. He was a computer hacker with a corporate day job. There wasn’t anything he couldn’t hack, given enough time of course. It was how he managed to stay hidden for years at a time. But unlike others all he had to do was concentrate and he’d be instantly connected to any PC he wanted as long as it was within a certain range. He would break into any data base he needed Information from and taking it at will, storing it all him mind. Or he could go and alter Government records as needed. It was how he got his current identity.

Ceyx was in the middle of running through a few a few sub-routines in his Code breaking program. The Government regularly updated its passwords and encryptions so every time he went to erase himself from the public record he had to spend a tedious amount of time recracking the codes so he could get back in. It was dangerous doing t his because he was completely helpless when he was like this. If something happened in the real world he couldn’t respond. That’s why he always had a guard with him to force him out of the program when needed.

He was about a fifth of the way through cracking the Governments second Firewall when everything went blank. He’d been unplugged. At first he was a bit disorientated, but that was normal. Once he had his bearings he spoke up.

“ Harris. What’s going on?”

“Nothing, Sir. “

“Then why did you unplug me?”

“Well it was time for you to come out… You told me to unplug you at six. I let you stay in a bit longer ’cuz I know how you are. But you need to eat sir.”

“I see. Then what did you get? I am quite famished. Chinese?”

“Nope. Not this time, got us some good old fashioned American fast food.”

“Alright. That is fine. Burgers then.”

“Here you go sir.” Harris gave couple Ceyx small generic cheese burgers from some small food joint near their place out on the eastside of town. This was an old rundown building in one of the poor neiborhoods, but It suited him fine. So long as he kept it in order that is. He went there to hide when he first caught wind that they were near.

“Thank you Harris.” He takes a few bites and swallows before continuing on.” I must say you’ve became quite the gentleman since you’ve been working for me.”

“Thank you sir, but it’s all you. You were the one who taught me how. Otherwise I’d still be a big brute.”

“It’s all true. And you’re likely the best guard I’ve ever hired, but I’m afraid I may have to leave you when I make my last escape from the city.”

“I see sir.” Then they were both silent for awhile after that.

"I'm just messing with you girl!" Irene laughed as she got in the car. Richard's pistol now sat on the center console of the Wrangler. Out of curiosity, Irene picked it up, and studied the weapon closely. On the side of he gun, about where the safety should be, there was a lever with a GPS symbol next to it. She flicked the lever and was blinded by a bright flash. A metallic whirring noise filled the car, and soon the gun looked very different. It still had the overall shape, but the barrel of the gun had been replaced with what looked like a solar panel. The panel soon lit up with a 3D holographic depiction of America, with red dots scattered all around, representing every mutant in the United States. Irene's eyes lit up, and an evil smile spread across her face.

"So that's how he does it." Irene said, mystified "We have to get back to HQ. Now".

---

(time to finish this up. Sorry Lieo)


Valkyrie and Damon arrived at the roof of the motel an starred down at the situation below. Black cars had gathered all around the front of the building. Traffic from all sides of the three-way intersection which the building sat on were blocked; no way out. Valkyrie looked around a moment, and got an idea just as the elevator made another "ping!" accompanied by the sound of bullets ripping through the steel doors.

"Oh F*ck it!" Valkyrie hissed "Hold on!" She hit a button on her belt and her car started up. The headlights hit high, and several of the men surrounding the building were blinded. The screeching of the tires could be heard, as well as screaming and the sounds of snapping bones as the Pontiac plowed the road. It smashed into the side of a black Crown Vic and swerved around to an alley beside the building. The elevator doors opened and a bullet whizzed past Damon's ear. In a split decision, Valkyrie ran at the side of the building and jumped down towards the alley with Damon, both of them screaming. Just as they would have hit the roof of the car, it retracted and both of them landed in their seats.

"Never do that again!" Damon yelled as the roof of the car closed back up.

"We'll see!" She floored it, and the car took off down the alley. Valkyrie hit a button on the dash board and the back of her car began to spray massive road spikes. Screams could be heard, and three Crown Victorias followed her down the alley in a straight line. The magnetized road spikes stuck up straight, and all four of the first car's tired popped at once. It crashed into the wall of the motel and flipped onto its roof. The two other cars smashed into it, igniting a massive inferno.

The three Shelbies on top of the parking garage decided to start moving at that moment. They all three went into reverse, and drove through the empty lot as fast as they could. They swerved onto a major road just as Valkyrie did, and dodged through the traffic perfectly. The cars on the road began to swerve and crash as the Shelbies flew past, causing a major traffic pileup.

"Damm*t!" Valkyrie pulled into a dark alley at the last second, avoiding the pileup, but screeched past a dumpster on her way through, putting a deep grey scratch in the side of the Pontiac. "I'm gonna kill those little-" She hit the breaks at the last moment to keep herself from ramming one of the shelbies, who, upon seeing her, turned sideways and began to drift, pulling itself around 180 degrees. The car swerved to face Valkyrie, and beeped twice.

"Take this m*****f***!" Valkyrie slammed on the breaks, straight at the Shelby, and hit it head-on, both herself and Damon were thrown forward, but the car was reinforced with a titanium-steel alloy strong enough to survive a fall into the Grand Canyon, so the car made it through with only some large dents and scratches. Valkyrie drove the Shelby through a brick wall, where it fell straight down and crashed into a maze of gas pipes, causing a massive explosion.

"Will you drive like a sane person please!" Damon yelled out.

"Do you want to live?" she retorted.

"Yes!"

"Then stop back seat driving!" He hit the pedal and sped off down another alley. The other two Shelbies soon appeared behind her, and the tip of an RPG popped up from the hood. "You have gotta be-" she swerved out of the way just as the heat-seeking missile was launched. She spun 90 degrees, and it hit the side of a police car, which erupted into flames. Valkyrie grimaced and drove down a highway which she now found herself on. The Shelbies followed her, and each released a payload of three missiles, which zoomed across the highway, following Valkyrie.

"This just keeps getting better and better!" She yelled out.

Kirra saw the dots on the panel and purred, pleased with herself. She was glad she had come up with the idea, she had just helped Irene and her associates in a very big way, and that was quite obvious. Who would have thought that the gun would also be a locator? Plus, there was the bonus of taking it from the mutts that ran the government. If they were really lucky, they never made a duplicate of the system. Even if they did, they would certainly chew out their recruiter, big time, when they tried to come back to retrieve the gun.

Irene smiled deviously, as she saw that one of the red dots were nearby. She hooked the locator into a jack in the car, and her dashboard display lit up with GPS directions to the location. This mutant was revealed to be names Ceyx, and he had some sort of advanced computing properties. Marshall could use someone like that. She put the car into drive and began to tear down the dirt road.

"Hey Kirra, mind if we stop to pick someone else up?" she asked, keeping her eyes on the road.