Topic: RPG Dark City: A Super Humans' Tale

Ph34r I hope you don't mind us using your idea again...

Carmen Smithton smoothed back her short blonde hair as she sat on the rooftop admiring her handy work. Bloody bodies littered the alley below, their throats torn out. Carmen looked at her hands, her fingers were elongated and were almost as long as her forearms. Each finger was shaped like a blade and was just as sharp. The skin on her hands looked like metal as it glinted faintly in the moonlight.

With a smile Carmen watched as her hands transformed back to their normal state, the metal coating her fingers pooled to the ground before turning back into a pile of spoons. She was already referred to by the police as Slasher. That suited her just fine. She was a mutant, hunted and stalked by those who feared her. She’d finally decided to give them something to really be afraid of.

A dark grin crossed Carmen’s face as she heard a feminine scream from the alley below. In that moment she teleported away, her work for tonight was not done...

Setting: Well a certain person **coughSevcough** was saying he was wanting a Super Humans type RPG, thought I’d give it a bit of a start. This one can take place between SH1 and SH2 when the mutants are hated and are being hunted. I’d prefer that none of the old characters are in this one, I’d like this to be more of a “roll with it” kinda RPG.

Let’s call the city Norton Peak, its dark and gothic and full of crime. Once again chose your side, good or bad...

Character Sheet:

Name: Carmen Smithton
Nickname: Slasher
Affiliation: Bad
Powers: To be revealed... teleportation, power to manipulate metal and a more secret power...
Appearance:
Background: Was once a reporter for the Emerson Star, she was in an accident when trying to get a scoop on a dirty corporate tycoon and it almost cost her life. It was then that she discovered her powers.

Name: Edgar Blane
Nickname: Obsidian
Affiliation: Not good, not bad
Powers: levitation, temporary mind control, telekinesis
Appearance: http://th00.deviantart.com/fs34/300W/f/2008/238/c/b/Genesis_Color_WIP_by_Amaranth_Sparrow.jpg
Background: Signed up to volunteer for a donor operation, but instead he was sent to a secret government formula test, where they dosed him with new DNA which gave him an odd array of powers.

Name:  Michael Shaw
Nickname:  Mimik
Age: 26
Affiliation:  Good
Appearance:   (Yes that is Bobby Drake of the X-Men.  Just ignore the X's and you have Michael Shaw)
Powers:  Michael can mimic whatever he touches be it animate or inanimate.  He can mimic the powers of supers for a bit.  How much he absorbs is based on how long he was touching.  He can't stay in that form forever or he will get tired.  And he can control his powers unlike Rogue for example.  As a sidenote his clothes do not change with him.  If you have any questions about other restrictions PM me.
Personality:  Michael is a cocky guy.  Almost to a point of being obnoxious.  Only around his close friends though.  He's always trying to make an impression on those he meets.
Brief History:  When his powers manifested when he was 16 his parents cast him out.  A group of mutants took him and and he now is with them.

Michael strolled down the dark streets whistling a happy tune which seemed to bounce off the dingy, grimy walls.  Michael took a deep breath of the stale air and smiled.  No matter how dirty Norton Peak was it was his home.  And Michael was going to do all in his 'power' to clean it up.  That's why he loved the Redeemers, the group of mutants that had taken him in.  They were looking to cleanse the town of its filthy underworld into something to be proud of. 

"Yo kid.  Why so happy?"

Michael was jarred out his daydream walk by a harsh voice.  He was face to face big ugly thug with a pipe.  Looking around he saw two others behind this one thug, one brandishing a chain and the other a gun, sneers on their faces. 

"Get into the alley.  Now."

Michael smiled.  "Why certainly gentlemen.  And to what do I owe this pleasure?"

"Cute kid.  Just take out the wallet and we won't beat you.  That much."  The others chuckled.  Michael casually leaned back discreetly placing his hand against the brick wall behind him.  He felt his hand solidify as it turned to brick. 

"I'm afraid I can't do that."

"Oh?  Well then we'll have to take it off your lifeless body."  He took a mighty swing and Michael brought his hand in front of his face blocking the pipe.  The pipe bounced harmless off the stone arm and clattered out of the shocked thugs hands.  Michael quickly bent down and grabbed the pipe allowing himself to become fully metal.  His metallic teeth glinted in the low light. 

"Now where were we?  Oh yes."  Michael grabbed the shocked man in front of him and threw him into the one with the chain.  They both crashed onto the ground as the one with the gun opened fire.  Michael laughed as the bullets pinged off his body.  He grabbed the gun and crushed it.  Picking up the man he threw him against the wall.  He chuckled as he wiped his hands and surveyed the three motionless forms.  He slowly let himself become human again and walked back onto the street to a discreet warehouse in the city.  Home of the Redeemers.

((Y'know, it's funny, the other day I was thinkin' "I'd love to do another Superhero RPG, but boy would I look like a one-trick pony if I did 3 Super-rp's in a row!" I just wanna personally thank you for taking a swing at this. :) ))

Name: Toby Harkenn
Nickname: Mister Haze
Affiliation: Bad as can be (Sorry, but I love the villains )
Appearance: (only difference is Toby wears other colored suits and often has a fedorah on his head) You can't really tell in the picture, but Toby is tall (about 6'5") and lanky.
Powers: Mister Haze's body is a living hive of carnivorous purple insects, each capable of individually skeletonizing a human being in minutes. His face is the only thing that isn't made of insects, but the rest of his body is visibly alive, which often creeps out other people. Each bug has a high degree of invulnerability, as shooting him will result in one dead, slightly dented, bug.
Personality: Haze is a sly, smooth-talking businessman, but his cool conniving act masks a cruel and bloodthirsy exterior. He has a dry, witty sense of humor also.
Background: Once a minor thug, Toby was volunteered by his super-villainous boss for a risky experiment to give other people super powers. Toby used his newfound powers to kill his former boss and take over the dead villain's considerable crime faction. He now seeks to control all of Norton Peak's criminal processions.

Name:Tharus (Born Benjamin F. Turner)
Alias: The Huntsman
Age: 63
Affiliation: None, does more good then bad, but is wanted by the government, and has a shoot on sight order on his head. Sometimes works with the Redeemers
Appearance:http://i236.photobucket.com/albums/ff78/Adeptus_Astartes/Theron.jpg lower body has a long, tattered kama type thingy. seven foot 3 inches tall
Powers: Tharus is faster then a normal human, and stronger as well, he is a strong psychic, however his abilities are very unrefined. His psychic strength sometimes causes residents of the city to have dreams, seeing dark caverns and ancient tunnels. He sometimes appears to psychics in the city, people who are mutants but don't even realize it themselves. Has a sort of unconscious precognition, which sometimes warns others of impending danger. This only occurs when Thanus is asleep.
Equipment:a bow(http://i236.photobucket.com/albums/ff78/Adeptus_Astartes/Torque.jpg) with multiple types of arrows, explosive, poison etc. a large knife, and a .45 revolver. (this does not include any weapons he may or may not snag along the way)

The child was born sixty three years ago on the eighth of January. He was born blind, but he was not sightless, he quickly developed his own way to perceive the world around him, as those who are born with a disability naturally compensate. His sense of smell, touch, hearing and his sixth sense were strengthened by his lack of sight. By his fourth birthday, his unseeing eyes had darkend and turned almost black. This change unnerved his mother, and he was made to wear a blindfold when in his home, and darkend glasses when in public.

In the child's sixth yeah on this earth he gained an odd rash on his left calf, the doctor was unable to reach a diagnosis within a week the rash had gone away, but an odd scaly patch of flesh had taken its place. The new flesh was tough and thick, cold to the touch like a scale on a reptile. By the child's tenth year the childs amrs legs and head were covered in them. He was locked away inside his house. His hair had been lost, and his nose had began to shrink away.

His parents were disturbed by this creature, and so they decided to dispose of the child which had once been their son. The father took the creature to a cave, and pushed it inside, it fell down into a pit, and the childs father was certain the creature would die.

But to survive was to endure and prosper, and the child had most certainly survived.

The cave was part of a system which ran underneath Norton Peak, there was adequate water and there was life in the cave.

By the time the boy had reached the age at which puberty would begin for normal humans, his nose was a slight bump on his face with two slits for nostrils. He was five feet 10 inches tall and he was very muscular, he no longer spoke his words, he now hissed them.

The child had made ventures to the city, stolen what he needed to survive, taken things, made himself armor, for life in the caves was dangerous.

He acquired a strange bow and learned its workings.

The child named himself Tharus.

Tharus became aware of others like himself, other mutants, some who used their abilities to help others, others who used them for their own gains. Tharus himself used his advantages to survive in the caves.

Tharus noticed the amount of mutants increasing, and began to make his trips to the surface more regular.

--

The man slept on the couch, he had a pistol clutched in his hand, as he did every night now. The couch was turned back to the door, and anyone who broke in might not check to see if there was a man on the couch, and if they didnt they certainly wouldn't notice him until they were bleeding to death. As he slept a vision touched his mind. He was in a dark cave, light glowing from something, his first thought was fungus, he had heard of glowing cave plants, but he knew that was wrong. Before him stood something....It was tall,  six and a half feet at least, and muscular, wearing thick black and red leather, it had a mask, and only its mouth and chin were showing. The things teeth scared the man, they were long and sharp, a carnivores teeth. It spoke, but its mouth didnt move. The man knew this was a dream, it had to be, so it didnt disturb him as greatly as the thing that stood before him "Suffer......." the thing hissed, pointing at him.

He woke with a start already forgetting the creature in his dream. He stood to turn on the light, when the door was kicked down. He was shot and fell to the ground bleeding. The man who had shot him stepped in. "Mr. Haze warned you about what would happen if you didnt pay on time. I guess you should have listened."

--

Tharus was crouching on top of a building, his head turned, as if he were looking at his surroundings. His bow was slung on his back. He had seen the man be pulled into the alley by the thugs, he saw him attack the thugs and then saw him walk into the redeemers base of operations. He lept from the roof and crossed the street with agility uncanny for a creature as big as himself and followed the man in.

((NOTE: no he isnt a lizard-person, idk if their even scales, but the locust from GoW look scaley so...))

((Boy, Adeptus, you sure do love your lizard-men! ;-) ))

Mister Haze sat in his private office, his legs propped up on his desk as he lay languidly in his comfortable leather chair. A bowl of cashews lay on the table. Mister Haze leaned over to the table and picked the bowl up. He picked up a single nut, but didn't bother moving the hand to his mouth, as the nut would have never made it that far before the bugs in his fingertips had their way with his snack. Haze took a sip of water from a glass on the table, and recline, exhaling deeply.

It was then that an associate entered the door.

"Mister Haze, sir, we--we completed that errand you wanted." The croney was understandably nervous around his boss. Wouldn't you be?

"Well?" Haze asked calmly. "Did he get the message...?"

"Oh, message received sir, message definitely received."

Mister Haze smiled in satisfaction. "Good. Serves the moron right for dodging payments. Get Arysta on freezing the stiff's assets. I want my money twice as fast now that the little zit's dead."

"Yessir. Rightawaysir. Yessir." The croney hurriedly left the office and shut the door behind him.

Mister Haze reached for the phone in his office and called his receptionist.

"Marliss? It's Mister Haze. Remind me again what my dinner appointment is?"

"It, uh, it says here you've got a 'business meeting', and there's also a sticky note that says 'Halloween', What's that supposed to mean?"

"Oh, just an inside joke for me and my...guests at the meeting. Thanks for jogging my memory." Mister Haze then promptly hung up.

Haze swivelled in his chair to turn and face the wall to his left, where a dartboard was hung. On the dartboard were several photos of former rivals, each with a dart stuck between the eyes. However, 4 photos had no darts in them.

Haze picked up a pen and paper and scribbled "buy more darts" on it before standing up, exiting his office, and turning in for the night.

((Oh, and just to clarify, I may start calling him just plain 'Haze' for short sometimes. Also, he has no connection with Mel's character Haze from SH1 and SH2, just to make that clear. :) ))

In the Dark it was created. A weapon of Man. Bred to destroy other men...To be intelligent, powerful and cunning. It beamed with purpose un-afraid, and fully aware of its power willing to use it in anyway for its masters. It was the dream of a mad-man: To bind human and animal DNA into a startlingly powerful, and resilient weapon.
But its power proved to be to great.
The kind of genetic mutation the weapon would eventually be able to learn and achieve would prove disastrous to all of man, and was deemed a threat to national security.
So the weapon was to be destoryed. In the deepths of a secret underground military installation, the loyal weapon was betrayed by its masters. Man took flame to the beast, taking no mind of the creatures howling screams of shock and sadness at there betrayal. The creature they had nursed as a baby, to adulthood.
Screams turned to wimpering as its regeneration powers were overwhelmed by the flame, and only proved to slow its death. The beast threw itself to the floor refusing to fight. It lay there convulsing intill it was nothing but ash. Having no remorse for the creature, Its ashes were thrown to the sea, and denied a traditionel burial. They drifed across the US coastline intill they arrived at the Norton Peak cave system.
And there...It began again, from one cell, one tiny little cell, close to death itself: Split into another cell, and that cell in turn split and so on and so forth, feeding off the fungas and other single celled organisims in the sewers. Intill...It was once more, in bodily shape, whole once more. But Its memories un-intact.
Once again, it lies in the dark. This time afraid and without meaning. Un-aware, that it has the power to destroy man-kind...

Official Designation: Project LANSA

Assumed Name: The Weapon

Gender: No Gender

Age: 63 years and 6 months

Affiliation: Finding out what has happened to It, then...You''ll find out.

Appearance:  http://wh40k.lexicanum.com/mediawiki/images/c/cc/Tyranid_Hive_Tyrant_Forgeworld_2.jpg
Its is around 4 feet tall (but is growing rapidly). It has (instead of just one) four fingers on each hand, and a thumb. Its blades are also sleeker and retractable.

Known: Powers: Regeneration i;e: It can grow back limbs and heal wounds easily, and is capable of surviving just about anything that is thrown at It. It can even be reduced to smouldering ashes and still surrvive. (However, the time it takes to regenerate that amount of mass would take close to a whole lifetime) As long as one cell of Its body is alive, then so is It.

Slight Physic Awarness: It is a very small and un-used awareness, except when used for hunting, and other rare occasion which then it seems to kick in on its own. The Weapon refers to this as 'See-Feeling'.

Un-known power: DNA hard-wired inteligence: This means that even if It is reduced to a single celled organisim, that whatever It learned before hand was hard-wired into Its DNA, and as soon as It has a mind able to hold the information it automaticly kicks in, the time it takes to do this is unknown, but is probably close at hand...

Weakness: Thermophobia, It is afraid of major heat sources. (i;e the sun, fire, ect.)

Personality:  Is essentially an animal, with animal like behaviour, but It also has a high intelligence level as well, which is bording on human consciousness, which means It is capable of feeling emotion on a near human level, and can take part in basic communication with humans.

Memory: All the creature can remember is pain and fire from its past, so it does its best to block it out all together, slowing down the regeneration of its brain cells and mind. It will eventually remember everything, but not for awhile. The only other thing it knows is that it was refered to as 'The Weapon'. So that is what it calls its self.

Flame. Sadness. Pain. Betrayal. Shock. These were Its memories, all of these things caused It nothing but grief, and more pain. So It bloted them out, hurling them to the ends of Its mind, putting them away so as not to deal with them, or what they meant. It brought itself back to the here and the now, Its blades piercing the small mammal's flesh and eating. Violence always brought back those terrible memories, It didnt know why, they just did. For this reason he hunted as little as possible, starving Itself if necessary. By doing this It learned that It could go for months with out food or water, but the pain THAT caused was far greater than Its memories, so It had hunted and eaten. During the months of It's fasting It had gone exploring  to pass the time. Finding an occasionally intresting object or place. It was doing this that he had discovered The Other.
As soon as It saw-felt The Other, It had fled at once, fearing that it might be the source of Its memory-pain. It had then retreated as far as It could in a state of panic and terror for several weeks. However the hunger pains soon became unbearable, which forced him into action. It soon found out that the being he had saw-felt was not to cause of Its pain, he however remained very wary of The Other.

I think I'll join, but don't expect too much creativity. This is a variant of what I'd planned for a "Force Unleashed" --style RPG I'd been planning, but never did.

Name: The Reborn/Shadow Knight (Shadow for short)
Affiliation: Evil, but not wantonly so. Doesn't kill or terrorize for ABSOLUTELY no reason.
Powers: Telekineses, and control over electrical fields. This is harnessed in unique and unexpected ways.

Appearance

Personality: Not much--he's extremely cold. But he will develop feelings for things that surprise even him, perhaps related to his old life, of which he remembers none.

History: Remembers very little, only that it nearly ended in death, and now he has become what he is, the Reborn.

Name: Zachary Cale, AKA: Reaper

Age: 28

Gender: Male

Affiliation: Whoever pays best, although he is currently working alongside a very hush-hush organization dedicated to rounding up and incarcerating metahumans.  While seeming like an ordinary mercenary, he only does what he does in an effort to protect and care for his family, namely his younger brother.

Appearance:
2.5b5*m1*Reaper*Hair:Standard,fraBlank,FFFFFF,FFFFFF,100,100,23,Eyebrows:Standard,fraBlank,FFFFFF,FFFFFF,100,100,21,Eyes:Standard,plain1,8CCFF9,FFFFFF,100,100,20,Nose:Standard,slash,CEBB9B,CEBB9B,76,76,27,Mouth:Standard,closedsmile,CEBB9B,CEBB9B,66,66,18,Beard:Standard,fraBlank,FFFFFF,FFFFFF,100,100,26,Ears:Standard,fraBlank,FFFFFF,FFFFFF,100,100,19,Skin:Standard,fraBlank,CEBB9B,CEBB9B,63,63,6,Mask:Standard,blank,070707,070707,100,100,22,Headgear:Standard,cowl,848484,070707,100,100,29,Undershirt:Expansion1,gloved,070707,848484,96,100,7,Overshirt:Standard,fraBlank,FFFFFF,FFFFFF,100,100,8,Coat:Expansion1,fraBlank,FFFFFF,FFFFFF,100,100,25,RightGlove:Expansion1,scifi,848484,070707,55,76,17,LeftGlove:Expansion1,scifi,848484,070707,55,76,16,Insignia:Standard,fraBlank,FFFFFF,FFFFFF,100,100,9,Neckwear:Expansion1,medal,070707,848484,100,100,24,Belt:Standard,supes,000000,848484,100,100,15,Leggings:Expansion1,checks,070707,848484,100,100,10,Overleggings:Standard,fraBlank,FFFFFF,FFFFFF,100,100,11,Pants:Standard,fraBlank,FFFFFF,FFFFFF,100,100,14,RightFoot:Standard,down,848484,070707,100,100,13,LeftFoot:Standard,down,848484,070707,100,100,12,Back:Expansion1,fraBlank,070707,848484,100,100,3,Wings:Standard,fraBlank,FFFFFF,FFFFFF,100,100,4,Tail:Standard,fraBlank,FFFFFF,FFFFFF,100,100,5,Aura:Standard,fraBlank,FFFFFF,FFFFFF,100,100,2,Companion:Standard,fraBlank,FFFFFF,FFFFFF,100,100,31,Background:Standard,fraBlank,FFFFFF,FFFFFF,100,100,1,RightHand:Energy,plasma,EE9F00,FF0000,65,65,30,LeftHand:Energy,plasma,EE9F00,FF0000,65,65,28,#

Powers:
He can go intangible, allowing him to pass through solid objects. 
He can also render himself invisible to most means of sight, save for in the ultraviolet spectrum (Using blacklights, etc)
Edit: Due to some confusion over what things are harmful to Reaper's health, I am now listing weaknesses.  I had hoped the in post context had helped, but since it hasn't, here goes.  Reaper is weak against electricity, as the electron flow will disrupt his cells (normal electrical current, as found in buildings et cetera are not harmful, but fcued bursts are really painful).  In addition, radiation and gas-based attacks do more damage, as the contaminated cells interface directly with Reaper's healthy ones, without the tedious process of an immunity system.

Equipment: He wears two high-tech gauntlets, which generate a powerful energy field that shrouds his
hands.

Morality/Personality: He is typically no-nonsense, and always puts the mission first, although he is questioning the morality of imprisoning other human beings simply for their differences.  He also does his best for what family he has left, although he will never speak much of them, save that he cares for his brother immensely, and does what he does to protect said sibling.

Norton Peaks by night was a beautiful sight.  The lights shining on, little beacons of hope, in a world of despair.  Well, some of them anyways.  Zach Cale knew that hope was almost an impossiblity in this dismal city, but the idea did have its pleasantries.  He was sitting on the rooftop of a high apartment building gazing down at his hunting grounds for the next seven months.  His superiors never let him loose for any longer than that.  SO within those seven months, he would have to bring in as many metahumans as possible, as per the usual requirements.  He sighed.  While the job took him all over the world, more often than not the constant hunting of metahumnas got tedious, and half the time he failed in catching his targets within the allotted time-span.  That was the nature of the job; win-some-lose-some.

He had arrived earlier that day, and was currently wandering about, trying to get a 'feel' for the cty by night.  He knew from the reports that this place had two very different faces; the daytime facade being the fake, while the city's true colours revealed themselves in the dead of night.  As his targets typically ventured out at night, it would be very useful for him to get used to the city after dusk.

Cale stood, flexing his gauntleted fngers, being careful not to activate the energy-field; it was too much of a visible give-away, and for one whose existence thrived upon being invisible, that sort of beacon would only be lit if in a major fight, or in emergencies.  He turned and walked over to the locked roof access door, calmly phasing his body through the steel-reinforced door, and fading from sight at the same time; he couldn't risk being spotted in his 'hunting-gear' (as he called it) so soon after entering the target zone.  As he floated through the floors, unsee and unheard, his mind went over the official target of his deployment; a strange mutated human who had a strange skin-deformity, giving him almost a lizard-bug-like appearance.  His name was not known to Cale's benefactors, but his appearance was hard to forget.  There was also something about the target's eyes, but Cale was assure that he wouldn't need to remember anything but the basic appearance.

He soon found himself exiting the building.  He would return to his room there later.  But first, he had to acquaint himself with his new home.  Norton Peaks awaited.  So Cale smiled slightly beneath his mask, and continued on his way, making sure to keep himself invisible, but material; he liked the feeling of solid ground beneath his feet for a while.  And so the Reaper wandered aimlessly through the city, searching for the first unlucky soul to fall before him.

Michael entered into an otherwise boring warehouse.  But inside was a commotion of activity.  But not sort of the commotion that Michael was used to.  Panicked would be an appropriate word.  Michael was approached by Arthur the leader of the Redeemers.  Arthur grew in strength in proportion to kinetic energy absorbed.  He was slightly flustered as well.

"Michael!  Where have you been?  We've been looking for you and Shaylee."

"Shaylee?  That new young technopath we picked up?  The one that thinks she was so smart because she hacked into the federal system?  Good riddance I say."

Arthur Stone or just Stone as everyone called him, folded his massive arms and looked stern.  "She went missing about 5 hours ago.  Says she wanted some fresh air.  Hasn't come back."

Michael shrugged.  "She's just getting used to us.  Probably just ran off for a bit.  She'll be back."

"I don't want to take any chances.  You and Speed Freak can go looking for her."

Michael groaned.  "That guy is even worse!  He never shuts up!  I swear his speed powers work with speech as well."

Stone's frowned deepened.  "Speed!"

Before Michael could blink Speed was standing right beside Stone.

"HeyBoss,youcalled?I'vebeensittingherewaitingforhourslikeImeanhours!"

"That's great.  You and Mike here are going to be looking for Shaylee."

"That'sgreat!I'vebeenitchingtogooutsideanddo-"

"Yah yah.  Let's get this over with."

Michael shoved his hands in his pockets and began towards outside.  Speed just kept jogging right up beside him never slowing.

"SoI'veheardthisgirlisarealtroublemaker.Shedoesallthiscrazystuffwithcomputers-"

"Shut up."

"That'sprettyhardtodoformeyaknow?ItseemsIalwayshavesomethingtosay-"

"Seriously.  Shut up."  Speed kind of shut his mouth and walked eyes darting nervously.  He opened his mouth to talk.

"I-"

"No."  Mike walked in silence.  Sweet silence.  But as they approached the door a hulking form blocked their way.  Speed shrunk back but Michael stood tall.  He recognized this one.  Michael nodded a greeting.

"Tharus."

Tharus nodded back.  Michael looked to Speed who had paled in the face.  An idea struck him.  Tharus' presence seemed to shut Speed up.  He was slightly aware of Tharus' psychic powers but didn't really know how they worked. 

"Hey I have an idea,  You mind joining us?  We're looking for a mutant, that new girl that came in here a few days ago, who seemed to have ran away.  Think you can help us find her?"

Tharus seemed to think this over then nodded.

"Great!  Tis an adventure then." 

They walked outside into the brisk night Tharus following.

Speed came up beside Michael and whispered, "You know this guy?"

"Ya.  He comes in and out of our team."

"Is he going to eat me?"

Michael guffawed but kept his cool.  "No Tharus isn't like that.  He's more of a dash your brains out on the side walk kind of guy.  Kind of unpredictable too."

Speed snuck a look behind to Tharus who flashed a toothy smile.  Speed's face paled and he quickly shut his mouth.  It was great when a plan came together.

Carmen had been taking her time in picking her next victim. She’d been eyeing off a pair of emos but her attention was diverted at the sound of sirens. With the slight tilt of her Carmen watched as the emos ran away and chuckled quietly. “Like the cops are interested in your pathetic hides,” Carmen muttered to herself.

The red and blue flicker of lights hovered over a nearby building wall. Carmen teleported herself to the roof of the building and admired the view below.

Two police cars and four policemen were stalking towards the alley end with their pistols pointed before them. Carmen turned her attention to the dark alley end. A thin smile crept over Carmen’s face as she recognised the short white faced freak that waited for the cops.

Kremlin was a self mutilated menace. He liked inflicting pain on others as well as himself. Carmen was fairly certain that Kremlin was eyeing off his own handy work and was no planning his next kill: the police.

Carmen had no problem with that idea, the local police chef Mitchell was known to encourage the killing of mutants and was even more inclined to let mutants kill each other. It was one reason why Carmen chose human victims rather than mutant victims, she liked the idea that she was ticking off the dirty cop.

Carmen watched as Kremlin fingered his daggers eagerly. He was poised to attack when his so-called victim came at his back. Carmen also recognised him, this was local do-gooder Ace Power. Carmen shook her head. If the muscular bulk actually managed to put down Kremlin, Carmen would return the favour: if the cops didn’t kill the mutant first.

There was no allegiance between Carmen and Kremlin but Carmen had been looking for a chance to take down Ace Power. The guy was such a joke, yet his mediocre powers and overly large muscles seemed to have allowed him to live this long with such a lame name.

As the two mutants fought, the cops hung back to watch, their guns still raised but not nearly as eagerly aimed.  Carmen watched as Kremlin slashed at Ace who somehow managed to dodge most of the blows. Carmen took a spoon from her pocket and without looking at it formed it into the shape of an icepick. She took another spoon and replicated the change, she repeated it until she had four icepicks.

By some miracle Ace was getting the upper hand on Kremlin. Carmen decided to divert the do-gooder’s attention. With both hands Carmen launched the icepicks and took out all four cops who were standing neatly near each other. She got two in the throat, one in the head and the other in the back just above T1 of his spine.

Ace was immediately distracted and it allowed Kremlin to cut the buffoon’s chest. Unfortunately he didn’t manage a deep cut. Carmen let out a sigh, “Kremlin, what a disappointment.” The two continued to fight and Carmen heard a feminine voice cry out Ace’s name. Carmen rolled her eyes, it appeared that Shaylee had come to the rescue of Mr Power.

Cale was not disappointed on his first night in town.  For one thing, it seemed that this place was virtually crawling with metas.  For another, had he not been able to render himself immaterial, he would've been run over by a squad of cop cars.  Due to the glimpses of anxiosuness and a little fear on their faces that he got as the cars passed through him, he assumed that they were responding to a less-than-welcome call.  And because those calls were typically reserved for metahuman activity, especially in this city, Cale followed along.  The sirens made it easy, and being able to literally travel in a straight line also shortened the trip.

His ghostly for arrived at the scene of the activity, and he knew immediately that his educated guess payed off.  A government sanctioned metahuman was brawling with a scarred, leaner looking fellow, wielding two daggers.  The ground was littered with dead police officers, each with an icepick protruding from their back.  So Cale leaned against the side of a buiding, and observed.  He didn't interfere for two reasons; one, this way he got to see how they fought, and two, if one was to defeat the other, it would make his job so much easier. 

And then he heard a voice cry out, "Ace!".  He silently groaned; a newcomer meant witnesses.  It looked like the police-officer would be getting some assistance.  Or not.  Cale would hav to wait to see how this turned out.

After a few miles of wandering around through what could only be described at ridiculous coincidence the group heard a shout from down an alley.  "Ace!" 

"That's Shaylee all right.  Sounds like a scuffle.  We best get her some help.  The cops at the beginning of the alley went down.  Michael got a look to the rooftops and spied a figure sitting up there. 

"Speed.  You go and take care of that unknown up there.  Tharus and I will go see who is in the alley."

Speed nodded and zoomed off.  Michael jogged around the corner already touching the metal dumpster.  He stopped dead in his tracks when he spied a local loner known as Ace Powers bleeding but still standing facing a disfigured Kremlin.  But what shocked him the most was Shaylee.  She stood holding what could nly be desribed as a BIG gun. 

"What is that?!"

Shaylee shrugged.  "It started off as an aerosoft gun, a flashlight and an electric razor but I've made it a highpowered electric ballistics gun.  With melee function."  SHe fingered a button and a blade on the bottom hummed back and forth.  "I told Stone I wasn't helpless."

"Okay you proved your point.  Now you can get behind us as we take care of Kremmy over there."

The white faced Kremlin hissed.  He didn't look too happy with these odds.  Suddenly Ace turned around.  "Mimic?  I'm sorry but I've got to take you down as well.  You are wanted by the government for not registering with the Metahumans."

"You're kidding right?  You government sanctions are all the same.  Pompous jerks."

"Rules are rules kid."

"There is more to this world than black and white Ace.  It's time you saw that."

Kremlin who was tiring of this launched himself at Ace slashing and cutting at his face.  Looks like the time for talk was over.

Mister Haze rode in his limousine as it drove towards his dinner meeting. He wore a navy blue tuxedo, but under the suit he wore a skin-tight black surfer's bodysuit, and he also wore skintight black gloves. The only visible "skin" on his body was his neck and head.

The limo pulled in to a chintzy restaurant called Le Veux Poulet, and Mister Haze exited the vehilce and went inside. Their was a very imporant dinner meeting happening on his time and dime.

Haze entered his special back room and saw his four guests seated at the long mahoganey table. Four new up-and-comers, each with a sizable chunk of muscle in the city. They were each sitting and eating their complementary meals.

Farenheit sat on the far left, burning his steak to a crisp, since he had purposely ordered it rare so he could do so.

Next to him was Man Mountain Marcus, who was completely indestructable...on the ouside at least.

The psychic named Mad Carnelli was eating his meal without using his hands while sitting next to Marcus.

And on the far right, the elastic Stretchmark smoked calmly, having finished his meal.

Mister Haze sauntered into the room, picked up a glass, and began tapping on it with a fork.

"Ahem. Excuse me, gentlemen, but if I could have your attention..."

The four crimelords looked up, somewhat interested.

"I'm sure you're all wondering why I asked you here today. Well, the answer is, first and foremost, that I respect you guys as worthy competitors. I do. I really, truly, do. And ofr that, I applaud you.

"But, I am also a businessman, and too many competitors is bad for business. I'm sorry, but that's just how it is. This, of course, means that over time, we may bump heads with eachother if we have comflicting interests. I am completely okay with at.

"Anyway, I'm getting sidetracked. You guys know my favorite holiday? Anyone? Anyone? It's Halloween. I just LOVE getting to dress up in a funny costume and go around scaring people. Thing is, this year, I was busy Halloween night so I didn't get a chance to dress up."

Mister Haze stopped here and took off his tux, revealing the bodysuit and gloves. He also wore rubber socks to cover up his "feet". He then picked a gas mask out of a pocket in his suit before dropping it on the ground.

"Now, this," Mister Haze said, holding up the mask. "Isn't part of my suit, but it's still necessary." Haze then placed the mask over his head and tapping his fingers on the knuckles of the other hand.

"....What is that?" Stretchmark asked, bewildered.

"Ih uh ahh mahk." Haze said from under the mask.

"A what?"

Haze lifted up the mask. "It's a gas mask." He then put the mask back on.

"....ok...why are you wearing it?" Farenheit asked, beginning to sweat.

"Becuh uh thuh gah."

"What are you saying?!?"

Haze removed the mask again. "Because of the gas." He then again placed the mask over his head.

"what...what GAS?!?" Man Mountain Marcus asked, confused.

"Weh, thih gah." Haze mumbled.

Suddenly, the sprinklers in the room began emitting a strange, red cloud of gas that quickly filled the entire place. The four villains coughed and wheezed before succumbing to the cloud and falling over, lifeless.

Haze picked up a remote and pressed a button. Within seconds the sprinklers had reabsorbed the gas. He then threw his gasmask down, no longer needing it.

"Alright boys..." He said, as the air slowly filled with purple insects and high pitched buzzing. "...Dig in."

Deep in the basement of a ancient building, the Reborn stirred. Long had he lain here, in the condemned shell of a once prominent building, back in Norton Peak's heyday. Long had he waited, silently, for his time. In all this time, he remembered almost nothing before....the Rebirth. Not a name, not a face, truth or lie. Just the pain....and then the strength. He didn't even remember what happened after the Rebirthing. Just the act.....then the waiting.

And now was the time. He had gathered his strength, and others were moving in the city. Mutants were hunting, and being hunted. A power war for the city had begun, and he would join the confrontation. He rose, flexing his gauntleted hands, reveling in the first movement in years. Then he drew upon the his power, streaming electricity from nearby buildings into his hands, toying with lethal voltages of power. He formed it into an orb, caressed it. Then he released it, burning a hole in a metal panel. Had he been human, he might have laughed--but the Reborn displayed no emotions, and felt almost none. Despite this, this trifle of his power amused him.

Enough playing--there was work to be done, and an entire city awaited him. A wave of his hand sent power crashing into the ceiling, and he leaped through it, before destroying a wall and stalking into the night.

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

Carmen watched the scene unfold below, Shaylee was not the only one to come to Ace's aid. It seemed that she'd brought friends. Two males appeared on the scene. Carmen had done her research and recognised one as Speed, the other looked familiar but she couldn't see his features well enough to correctly identify him. Unfortunately they seemed to have spotted her.

Carmen considered teleporting out but she was curious to see which one of them would come for her. It seemed Speed was the unlucky one. Carmen stayed where she was, she wanted Speed to think he'd gained the element of surprise. In her hand she held a spoon which she had already flattened out so that it was smooth and shiny. It reflected images almost as well as a mirror. She knew the moment Speed was on the roof from the tiny image in the spoon she cautiously held in her hand, well out of his view.

"Ma'ampleasestepawayfromtheledge," Speed said so quickly that Carmen only turned to look at him.

Carmen faked a jump of surprise as she spied him, "What? I don't understand."

"Isaidtostepawayfromtheledge," he repeated.

Carmen's brow furrowed but she understood. She was simply playing him for time. She noticed that he wore a thick silver chain around his neck and for a moment she was tempted to manipulate the metal into a rope and tighten it ever so slowly. Unfortunately his friends below might stumble across such a scene taking all the pleasure out of it.

"What's going on below?" Carmen asked, "I wanted to help but it was so chaotic that I could only watch."

Speed moved swiftly to the ledge and looked down at his friends. Carmen saw it as a perfect opportunity to push him over the edge but she didn't. Her mind was working faster than that. A sly smile crept across her face briefly but was gone by the time Speed looked back at her, "There'scriminalactivitybelow. Myfriendswilltakecareofit."

Carmen watched with wry amusement as three mutants backed Kremlin against a wall. The short violent mutant was not afraid, merely covering his back. A sharp smile crossed his face as a shadow appeared behind the three do-gooders. It seemed his partner in crime, Shanks, had finally decided to make an appearance.

"Is that one of your friends?" Carmen asked innocently.

"No," Speed said and then suddenly sped off to assist his friends.

Carmen raised a brow with mild interest. Shanks had gained his name from his time as a butcher. Apparently these days he liked to chop up his victims and then cook them the way people often cooked lamb shanks. Carmen shuddered, Shanks was a weird one but extremely lethal. As far as she understood he was able to dematerialise into a shadow like substance. He was also gifted with extreme strength and a very thick hide. Apparently he'd been shot and stabbed numerous times and yet he'd continued to rampage. Carmen was interested to see how he planned on saving Kremlin.

For a second something shimmered at the edge of Carmen's vision. She looked down near the police cars but there was nothing obvious. Then she remembered hearing one of the do-gooders mention the name Mimic. Carmen was not familiar with such a mutant but that didn't mean one didn't exist. The do-gooders were none the wiser that she was in fact Slasher and she planned to keep things that way.

She returned her attention to the scene below. Ace had been launched into a brick wall as Shanks materialised. Speed was suddenly at Shanks' back but Kremlin was already busy trying to slice into Shaylee. She fired her oversized weapon and Kremlin's smaller size allowed him to dodge the shot. He slashed at her ankles and was rewarded with a cry of pain from the female.

Ace shook off the small shattered pieces of brick that had resulted from his impact and attempted to swing at Shanks. Shanks merely dematerialised enough to avoid any sort of blow and then rematerialised to catch Ace's fist in his own hand. With both hands locked around Ace's, Shanks did a swinging throw and tumbled Ace into the unidentified male who was trying to assist Shaylee.

Speed was suddenly on Shanks' back, his hands going around the criminal's throat. Again Shanks dematerialised and Speed dropped to the ground with a hard thump. He was on his feet in a blink of an eye but he'd missed the fact that Kremlin had moved away from his previous position.

Carmen could already anticipate what was going to happen. Speed was totally unaware of Kremlin and his friends were well out of range to assist him. Kremlin would cut his throat and the do-gooders would lose one of their own. But Carmen had already had an idea how to hurt them more than any way Kremlin or Shanks could.

Carmen teleported in, grabbed Speed and teleported back to the roof. "Are you okay?" she asked Speed.

"Why'dyoudothat? Ihadhim." Speed said with a touch of annoyance.

"The short one was about to slit your throat," Carmen pointed out as she saw that the two criminals make a run for it now their exit was clear.

"Oh," Speed said finally only stopping at one syllable.

Carmen turned to Speed knowing that he'd now think that there was a sort of trust between them. She had saved his life after all. However Carmen had simply been looking for a way to get in with these mutants so she could slowly tear apart their organisation. It was her nature to destroy and it would also allow her to prove herself to the more sinister mutants in the city.

"Looks like it's over," Carmen commented as she looked at the street below. "Shall we talk to your friends now?"

Although the arrival of the new mutant surprised Michael, he took it in stride.  But Ace managed to get caught by this new guy and was thrown into Michael.  He is made of a shadow like material.  Interesting.  Kremlin jumped onto Michael's back but Michael quickly grabbed him and threw him onto the ground.  Hard.  Kremlin lay still.  The other mutant roared at his friends smackdown and charged.  He was met with an arrow from Thanus' gun and a electric shock from the gun of Shaylee.  He collapsed to the ground.  She was propped up on the ground, ankles bleeding. 

"I told you Shaylee!  You should have listened to Stone!  Running away always turns-"

"I'm sorry but I'm going to have to take you guys in as well." 

Michael rolled his eyes.  He swung around with a double-fisted punch to Ace's jaw.  Ace flew into the wall head hung limp.  But before he could do anything both Shanks and Kremlin were mysteriously gone.  Michael looked down the alley to see them scampering off.

"Thanks to Mr. Power over here they got away.  Just leave him here.  He'll wake up with a terrible headache and an aching jaw but that's what you get.  Sure he'll hate my guts but he let our quarry get away.  And where's Speed?"  Michael allowed his human skin to once again reform. 

"I'mrighthereandIhaveafriend."

Speed Freak was standing next to a newcomer.  Michael extended his hand and greeted her with a warm smile.  "Hello.  Who might you be?"

Okay, things were officially out of control.  Another group of metas had entered the scene, one exhibiting enhanced speed, one carrying a large rifle, claiming it to be made of an airsoft gun, electric razor, and a flashlight, so Cale guessed she was either a technopath, or a very intelligent flatline.  There were also two otehrs, a younger one, referred to as 'Mimic' by the one called 'Ace'.  The final member of the group matched the physical description of his primary target.  Perfect. 

It was a virtual shopping list of renegade metas.  He was just about to enter the chaos, when another hulking figure appeared.  Upon engaging the metas in teh favour of the knife-wielder, Cale observed that he utilized a form of umbrakinesis, in that he gained the sonsistency of shadows themselves.  Interesting.  Cale wondered what it would be like having two immaterial beings fight.  But before he could test it, the two obvious antagonists were taken down by the team of metas, only to get up while the group was arguing, and flee. 

This was good, in that there were less metas in the area, but it still didn't help the fact that there were four remaining unregistered metas, all obviously close allies.  Cale knew the unconscious Ace would be of noassistance, should it come down to a fight, and he didn't want to risk having to fight the whole group of unregistered metas.  That, and now that his target was within sight, he could continue to observe, and learn the habits of his target.  So Cale continued to watch as the speedster brought forth a new person, claiming her to eb a 'friend'.  Curious Cale, crept slightly closer, ready to follow the group at a moment's notice, should they leave.

Irony--my younger brother's bday is the 8th of January. And the Theron guards are a pain in the shebs.

Carmen accepted the hand and shook it with a degree of strength that seemed to surprise the owner of the hand. "My name is Carmen. I'm a teleporter." she said simply, deciding to keep her other skills secret.

"I'm Michael, this is Shaylee and you've already met Speed." Michael replied.

"I thought there was someone named Mimik?" Carmen comment.

Michael chuckled, "Oh that's my super name."

Carmen raised a brow, "So what exactly do you mimick?"

((Its more coincidence, than irony))

True....anyways, I still found it funny. If any irony, its that my 80 pound little brother has the same birthday as a 7 foot tall supermutant/Theron Guard (ie--Torque Bow whores, I hate those things).

((It would be ironic if his brother was some terror.  At least I think it would.))

He was slightly surprised by this firm handshake.  She didn't appear to stocky, almost frail it seemed.  You could never tell nowadays.  Michael hadn't really ever divulged his mimicry of powers through skin contact to anybody really.  Not even Stone who was Michael's best friend.  And he wasn't about to make an exception.  "Objects.  See I can grab this stone for example and..."  Michael let his power do the talking as his body turned to a hard rock.  And then he let his skin take over once again.

"Any object you name and I'm holding in my hand I can copy its properties.  Of course there are some negative side effects to certain materials.  You don't really appear to hold any allegiance at this time.  Ever heard of the Redeemers?"

"Possibly."

"Well its our mission to clean up this town.  We could always use a little help.  Would you be so inclined to join us on our valiant quest?"

Now this was interesting.  They were organized, and seemingly dedicated to 'cleaning' up this city.  Cale assumed, from the general appearance of the cityscape by night, that this wouldn't be easy for them.  And with the other metas virtually confirming any suspicions about their powers he had, this entire mission would be insanely easy for him, once he developed the appropriate countermeasures to their abilities.  So Cale continued to watch, listen, and gather information.  After all, knowledge is power, and with this many metapowered peope about, knowledge was the best defense he had.

(( I think it would be ironic if we were all made of iron

Post on the way))

Tharus had hung back most of the fight, he had held his bow at the ready, loaded with the explosive arrows, as he usually kept it. They were simply arrows with small cave creatures on the head, when struck suddenly they produced a small explosion, not much, enough to take out a human sized opponent, but they served. He had watched the fight, ready to step in at the slightest sign of his need, but the others had the situation under control and he was unneeded. Then the one known as Ace showed the indirect proportion of muscle size to intelligence by confronting them. He was hit in the face.  He approached the others, and began to listen to them speak. He had a bad feeling about something, like a death-sense, however in this city, death lingered, so he made nothing of it.

((GAH! I was tottaly going to say the same thing AA, darn you....:P))

Carmen had to swallow the laugh that was threatening to erupt from her throat. So they thought they were on a quest, how intriguing. “I’m sure I could help you clean up this town,” Carmen said with a nod. She gave nothing away, her thoughts on cleaning up were totally different to Michael’s.

“Great we can always use more help,” Michael said enthusiastically.

Carmen smiled sweetly, “So how many Redeemers are there?”

Name: Amy Boyce
Nickname: Rainbow (much to her disdain)
Gender: Female
Powers: Empath, can feel other people's emotions and can also influence them to some degree.
Appearance: Short dark hair always pulled back into a ponytail. Slim build, average looks - nothing out of the ordinary.
Weapons: A lover not a fighter, tends to run and hide a the first sign of danger.

Le Veux Poulet was fully booked yet as Amy walked passed the window she only saw a single table full of people. With a shrug of her shoulders she walked down the side alley to the rear entrance shrugging her backpack off her left shoulder as she neared the back door.

It was a crappy job but Amy was determined to pay her university fees as she went rather than having a debt over her head for when she joined the real work force. Her thoughts were only slightly interrupted as she noticed that the kitchen staff were strangely absent from their posts. She hurried to the meeting room only to find it also empty.

With a furrowed brow Amy went to the change rooms and quickly donned her uniform of black slacks, white blouse and a red apron at her hips. As she picked up her order pad and returned to the kitchen she noticed a hand on the floor near the deep-frier. Stepping forward Amy noticed that it was Emanuel sprawled on the floor, beside him was Alex and Tanya.

A strange sound emanated from the dining area. Amy felt her heart begin to pound, her senses reaching out. She hated using her gift but in times of panic it came to the surface despite her semi-control. She hated being an empath but right now she felt the self-satisfaction of someone with a dark purpose. It almost seemed as if a thousand tiny minds reflected the behaviour.

Amy moved despite her brain screaming at her not to. She looked through the glass panel on the kitchen door to see a man or what seemed to be a man revelling in the scene before him. Amy opened her mouth to scream but slammed her hand over her mouth. Millions of bugs were crawling over lumps that looked human in shape.

Backing away Amy was so caught up in the horror of what she'd just witnessed that she forgot about the bodies on the floor and fell backward. Her arms stretched out, search for something to grip. A pan went sailing and clunked loudly on the floor. Amy landed hard on her backside and immediately shot to her feet running for the alley. In her haste she didn't realise that she'd dropped her order pad which neatly had her name printed on the cover.

"You'll find out soon enough.  Tharus over here shall be our escort."  It was surprising how long a seven foot tall cave person could stay in the shadows but this guy somehow managed.  He must have had the power to ((*COUGH*NOTPOST*COUGH*)) turn invisible.  Michael would have to watch him.  You never knew enough about some people.

Carmen physically didn't shrink back but he could see it in her eyes that she was surprised.  Good.

"Follow us."  Michael led the rest of the group to the Redeemer Warehouse.  Stone breathed a sigh of relief when he saw Shaylee albeit bloody, but intact nonetheless.  But his face grew grave. 

"I see you picked out a newcomer Michael. I'm Stone."

"Carmen."

"We always need the help around here.  Speed?  You take her around and introduce her to some of the key members."

Tharus and Michael stayed behind with Stone and Shaylee.

Shaylee came right out.  "I don't trust her."

Stone gave her a look.  "You aren't a telepath are you Shaylee?  But I agree with her."

Michael was taken aback.  "What?"

"You can't go around trusting everybody with a whim.  They have to go through some sort of initiation."

"Speed tells me she saved him."

Stone grunted. "Still.  Tharus.  You can keep an eye on her.  Think you can do that for me?  I just have this nag in the back of my mind."

Carmen walked with Speed but managed to catch the last of the conversation between Michael and the others. She had to stop herself from smiling, so Shaylee didn’t trust her, that wasn’t surprising. Carmen wondered if it was simply the reaction to another female joining the ranks. Carmen also wondered if Shaylee fancied one of her male companions and felt threatened.

Her attention quickly returned to Speed who was talking a hundred miles per hour as usual. Carmen took in what she could understand. She felt herself momentarily pause in her step as she heard the sirens of police cars again.

“So are the cops on our side?” Carmen cut into Speed’s babble.

“Wellnotentirely. Somearebutalotaren’t,” can the usual machine gun paced answer.

“Can you speak a little more slowly?” Carmen asked, although her eyes were scanning for any sign of the police drawing near. The sirens seemed to be getting quieter.

Name: Rohlan Cummins
Nickname: Gez (Only called this by people he knows, the press and everyone else regards him as 'Nomad' )
Age: 37
Affiliation: Good
Appearance: 6', short brown buzz cut hair, black tactical gear and fatigues.
Power: Superhuman Perception
Weapons: Colt 1911 Custom, M40A3 Tactical Rifle (For now)
Personality: Prone to comedic outbreaks, but tends to keep a serious attitude.
Brief History: Rohlan first discovered his unique ability in the Military as a Marine Scout Sniper. Having a hyper-focusing ability, he quickly out-shot the competition; boasting 947 confirmed kills. However, this did not go unnoticed, and was soon confined to the States for further investigation after his tour in the Middle-East.
_

Run. That was the only thought circulating through Gez's head. He'd escaped confinement. Throaty growls from the dog team were getting closer...no, right behind him. Suddenly, a large black dog lept at his throat, ripping cartilage and spraying the air with blood.
_

Gez jerked out of his bed, firmly planting his KaBar knife into a pillow next to him. He sat up gasping for breath, sweat dripping from his forehead. He merely swept it from his brow, shaking his head. "Why? WHY?!" Gez hit his head against the wall of the apartment bedroom. It was one of many nightmares he'd been having recently, constantly being tormented by them.

Gez pulled himself together enough to take a hot shower and get his gear on. He grabbed the 1911 custom off the nightstand and walked out the door, down to the parking garage.

Oh,and I'm adding untrained telepathy. He can sense vague things, and if he concentrates, can influence minds, but rarely very strong ones. Mostly just humans. As a watcher, I want him to be able to do that, sense who's there.

Or if instead f bullets, our guns shot a healing sound that cured all wounds. Or if we had to work together to hurt each other.

On to the short, before school post:

The Reborn watched the mutants confrontation from high above, on an adjacent building, from the time Kremlin and Ace first started fighting, to the resolution and fleeing of the allies. He was aware of another watching presence, one he couldn't see, but it too was watching them, so he didn't worry about him.

The Reborn idly considered draining the power to the area, but it would only warn them to another threat--him. And it wasn't time yet. He would watch and wait more, until it was truly time to reveal himself.

And he was good at waiting.

This.  Was. Perfect.  Because of their new 'recruit', these 'Redeemers' had to be careful in leading her to their secret base, which made it very easy for Cale to follow them.  He also knew now that his target's name was Tharus.  Subsequently he was, in a roundabout and unintentional sort of way, introduced to the group's leader, a guy by the name of Stone.  He couldn't guess his powers from the get go, but now that he knew where to look, it would all quickly fall into place. 

"Nothing can save you now." He thought.  He was then interrupted by a very quiet beeping noise, coming from his left gauntlet.  "Shoot".  Of all times for Command to call....He ignored the call, but he knew that they'd page him again.  Cale just hoped that no one else heard the beeping.

Mister Haze's floating bodysuit floated in the air, as did his disembodied head, cuasing him to look like some sort of purple-faced ghost as his body feasted the fallen patrons of the dining room. It was a shame, really, to kill an entire staff of waiters and chefs, but such was the cost of victory. After the criminals were stripped down to bone and blood-stained clothes, the bugs returned to Mister Haze, flying up his sleeves until they reformed his body.

Haze marched into the kitchen to make sure he still had some more snacks, and sure enough there were several bodies lying motionless on the floor. However, he noticed that one was missing, what was her name, the college student, oh yes, Amy. Haze assumed she was just out sick for the day. Lukcy girl. He let his extended family out to eat again, as they were extremely hungry little buggers, but as they finished this second course, a small flock of bugs noticed a notepad on the floor. When Mister Haze's body rematerialized, the notepad was in his hand.

"...Amy's notepad..." Mister Haze mused. The tiny feelers on the bugs in his "fingers" told him her fingerprints were fresh all over it, meaning she had indeed been there today.

Mister Haze returned to his suit in the other room and picked up his cell phone.

"Yes, Marliss? Go ahead and send the clean-up crew down to Le Veux Poulet, and remind someone to call in on Amy Boyce, she must be sick or something today, so just check and make sure she's not playing hookie or anything." Mister Haze hung up the phone and exited the restaurant. If some college girl found out about his little "party", things would not be good for anyone in Norton Peak.

Tharus's hearing was sharp, his blindness, mutation and his life in the caves had all contributed to it, he heard things others did not, and he was able to make an accurate guess of direction from a sound. For many a suddenly enhanced hearing would prove to be a nuisance, causing some things which were taken for every day background noise to be deafening, but for one who has lived with it almost their entire life, it is simply part of their existence.

There were no others present with enhanced hearing, which is why Tharus was the only one who heard the beeping. At first he took it for another of the Redeemer's mobile phones, or something like that, but no one else responded to it, so he assumed it was something else. It was coming from...Tharus wasn't quite sure, it was to faint, there were to many other noises in the building, but something was beeping, something was happening, and the death-sense seemed to be the beeping bedmate, for when he began to notice it the death-sense became stronger, a smell just on the edge of perception, one of old dead leaves and moss in cold dark places, at the same time holding a striking similarity to blood and meat. Smells Tharus was well familiar with,

Cale's fears were soon realized.   In a bizarre sense of irony, his very target seemed to e looking directly at him.  Which was ridiculous, since he was supposed to be blind.  So Cale calmly stepped to the left.  And Tharus turned slightly to face him again.  Blind or not, Thaur knew he was here. Lovely.  When he got out of this, he'd chew Command out for paging him here.

He materialized, become tangible, but not yet visible.  This would allow his energized gauntlets to do their thing, but the downside is that people could now hear his footsteps.  Maybe if he moved fast, he'd be able to take Tharus down, and deal with the rest later.  He also took the time to make sure that his built-in pager was disabled; it ould not do for it to go off full blare during a stealth based operation.  Once that was done, he crouched down and tensed, ready to lunge for Tharus once the others moved out of the line of attack.  He hated fighting in crowds...

Tharus looked, and he saw. The man became more visible and his legs tensed, Tharus was again reminded of cave spiders ready to spring on their prey. He knew suddenly that he was to be attacked. The ghost-man launched himself, and Tharus dived  to the side, drawing the glances of the others. Speed, who happened to be standing right behind Tharus jumped slightly and began to talk "Heywhatthehe-" The ghost-man passed right through him and he collapsed to the ground, and began twitching randomly. Tharus rose pulling his knife from the sheath on his back and held it in a reverse grip, watching the 'empty' space where his opponent stood. He could hear the ghost-man's heartbeat, thumping in his chest quickly, the double beat almost sounding alien to him, for Tharus's own heartbeat sounded four times before repeating itself. The ghost-man closed, and swung at Thrarus who dodged quickly and made a quick cutting motion with his knife, making a shallow but long cut on his abdomen probably painful as well. The ghost-man jumped back and looked ready to attack again, while the others stared in shocked silence as Tharus seemed to fight nothing.

Cale winced and reflexively clutched his side.  How the target had evaded him, and worse, managed to cut him reamined a mystery, but at this point, it didn't matter.  Since intangibility was out (whatever that knife was, it managed to cut him while he was intangible), he solidified, and slipped into a ready stance.  Tharus slashed at him, his speed surprising for his bulk, this blow also drawing blood along Cale's bicep.  As Tharus passed by, Cale swung at him, the side of his gauntlet catching Tharus in the shoulder, causing him pain, it seemed, but no more.  He folowd up with a rapdi series of blows from his fists, but each with negligible results.... This guy was obviously going to be a difficult opponent, with his scaly hide and all.  Cale dodged back, evading the bloody knife slashing his way.  "Got to keep focusing on the fight..."

((k, this time i'm gonna focus a lot more on this rpg, so ill try my best to post regularily))

Name: Bloodhawk
Real Name: Austin Cale
Age: mid 20's
Affiliation: Anti-hero
Power: ....power??? what power?
Weapons: Various gadgets, his body (cuz in martial arts, you dont need a gun)
Personality: Very serious, sometimes has his moments of morbic humour, though hardly ever
Brief History: Was youngest of two brothers, had a very hard life, parents died when he was 10, and his older brother disappeared (real mysteriously) a few years after.  For the rest of his teenage years, he trained (like batman) so when he was ready, he could take on the criminal underworld (a lot like batman)
Appearance: imagine The Dark Knight batman body armour, except with some blood red body armour pieces, the bat symbol as a hawk, the cape is blood red, and there is no bat ears on his mask.  The mask has an hud implanted in it.

His cape made a muffled noise as he landed on a small ledge surrounding the roof of the Le Veux Poulet.  It was late night in Norton Peak, the perfect time for Austin to do his work. he pulled up the police scanner on his HUD, hoping to find some trouble, as his day-job had left him in a sour mood.  With nothing but small thefts and petty crimes, he turned it off and sighed in frustaration.  Cale jumped down to the sidewalk below, making sure to quietly slip into the alleyway beside the restaraunt.  Just before he was about to remove his mask, somebody burst from the door that led to the alleyway, and dashed around the corner, without even the slightest hint of seeing him.  Curious, he shot his grapple up to the roof of the building, shot up, and started roof jumping after the figure...

A commotion was heard in the crowd.  Speed all of a sudden convulsed and went down to the ground.  Then Tharus began slashing in the air with his gun.  And it came back bloodied.  Sparks were randomly bursting off areas of his body.  Something was up. 

"Everyone clear out around Tharus!  Give him space!"

Michael's mind was racing through different possibilities.  He couldn't quite figure out what it was.  A shout rang through the crowds.  Stone.

"We have an invisible!  Do as Michael says!  Telepaths get on that presence right now!"

Carmen had stepped back to assess the invisible threat. The others were taking damage because they were going in too close before knowing what they were taking on.

Reaching into her pocket Carmen pulled out a can of shaving cream. It was an odd thing for a woman to carry but Carmen had found it handy to blind attackers. In this case it would help reveal the invisible attacker. With a quick step forward Carmen let loose with shaving cream. She hit the attacker in the face, neck and upper chest.

Stepping back Carmen admired her handy work but didn’t attempt to help the others. They were all jumping in, so there was no point.

hmmm....not the best place for me to jump in--I'll let you all have your fun, then jump in at the resolution. My character needs a good entry to fully make sense, and this is an important fight.

Mister Haze sat in the back of his limo, his fingers nervously drumming on an armrest. He stared out his car window, surveying the city that required so much effort, so much attention, so much work to manage. Norton Peak was like a spoiled child, and Mister Haze intended to train it well and teach it how to act properly.

As he continued to ride, he noticed someone hopping across the rooftops, in a direct trajectory that led Haze to believe this person was coming from Le Veux Poulet.

"Hogan..." Mister Haze said to his driver. "Let's trail this fellow on the rooftops to the left. Something tells me he may be worth following..."

This really wasnt going well.  Cale knew he'd get lectured for letting his impulsiveness et the b etter of him, but he also knew that his impulsiveness had saved him on many occasions.  Just not this one.  And now with the shaving cream, there was virtually no use staying invisible, other than preventing the otehrs from seeing his features.  And wth Tharus' armour interfering with the energy discharge from his gauntlets, he wouldn't be able to take them all down, especially not while losing blood.  He was thanklful that he had at least managed to, even accidentally, take down one member.

So Cale fending himself off as best he could, landing blows on Tharus when he could, but not as many as he'd have liked.  No, there were too many of them.  So he pulled his trump card.  Going intangible, he faded through the floor, with the shaving cream falling to the ground as his body dematerialized. 

He floated up into the foundations of the wall, and phased through them, coming to rest immediately behind Tharus.  The others seemed to be scanning the room for any sign of their poltergeist.  So Cale solidified, and stepped silently forward to deal an incapacitating blow to Tharus......only to have the behemoth whirl around and grab him by the throat with one hand.  "Whoops"

*man, he can sure go for a little while* Bloodhawk thought as he hurdled from an apartment building to another.  he had been following this figure for a few minutes now, and from what he could gather going at this speed, it wasn't a guy, instead it was a woman.  Her running speed told him she was most likely in a hurry (no duh) but where to he couldn't guess......  however, before he had time to make an assumption, Bloodhawk heard the sound of a car speeding up just a bit, as if it were trying to catch up to somebody..... nah, Norton Peak was full of reckless drivers. so he shrugged and kept up his pursuit.

Amy's reaction was to run for home, it wasn't the best plan but instinct had taken over. She was ducking and weaving between alleyways and hoped that she didn't come across any gangs on her mad dash.

She reached the shopping district and had to stop as a delivery truck barreled through. Panting for breath Amy wondered whether going home was really a good idea. She made a run for one of the few remaining telephone booths left at Norton Mall. She'd left her mobile phone back in her locker at the restaurant. She dialed home and heard the comforting voice of her mother.

"Mum, something bad is going on work. I can't explain it-" Amy started then got cut short.

"Dear someone named Marliss called to see if you'd gone to work and like a good girl I thought you had. You're not doing drugs are you?" Amy's mother asked.

Amy shook her head, "No Mum, look I might be late home-"

"You're not at work are you?" She cut in.

"No Mum, I think someone got murdered there." The words were out of Amy's mouth before she could think. Immediately her mother ranted on about hallucinating when on drugs.

Amy hung up the phone. The back of her neck prickled and she had the odd sensation of being watched. She peered out of the phone booth and immediately made her way into the somewhat busy mall.

Michael was completely shocked when Carmen sprayed the substance on the invisible figure.

He ran over to her.  "What was that?  Some secret anti-invisible spray?"

"It was shaving cream."

Michael reddened.  It soon turned to anger as the shaving cream suddenly fell to the ground.

Carmen chuckled.  "Looks like he can go intangible as well."

Everyone was once again shocked when out of nowhere Tharus reached out and grabbed someone.  He quickly smashed the figure on his head.  The man slumped in Tharus's massive hand.

Stone clapped Tharus on the back.  "Nice job buddy!  I want this guy taken to one of the safe rooms underground.  Alexa!  How long do you think you can hold force fields?"

An older woman stepped from the crowd of about 50 people.  ((We'll say that's how many are in the Redeemers.  So not limitless.  Any concerns PM me.))  "Several hours if it was a minor one."

"Good.  And Energon?  You around?"

"Yah Stone."  A wiry man replied.  "I need you to infuse her forcefield with energy.  That way if he tries to get out he will be given a nasty shock." 

"Right."  Alexa and the one called Energon took the limp form and dragged him down to the door that led down stairs.  Stone looked to Michael. 

"Mind asking our guest a few questions for me when he comes to?"

"Sure."  Michael headed off after Alexa and Energon.  He followed them and and helped prop up the man in a chair.  Now came the best part, the waiting.  He looked to Energon and Alexa, but they seemed too focused on maintaining whatever it was they were doing to speak.  Michael sighed.  At least Michael was skilled in making conversations with himself...

Mister Haze sat in his limousine as it followed the hero on the rooftops. Mister Haze's phone rang.

"Mister Haze, it's Marliss. The Boyce girl did go to work today."

"Uh-huh, I figured she did. Can you tap the girl's house phone, in case she calls back?"

"Sure thing, just a second..."

Mister Haze waited patiently, enjoying the smooth jazz Marliss played as he waited.

"Okay, the Boyce house phone's being tapped. They recently had one call, we can't listen to it, but I can trace it. You want me to?"

"Eh, why not. Maybe we'll be lucky."

Afew minutes more of smooth jazz later, Marliss was back on the line. "The call came from a phone booth in the mall. Sound worth checking out?"

"Damn. I can't go into the mall. Just keep me posted, alright? Oh, and send Steampunk* out the girl's house, just tell him to lurk there in case she comes back. He's good at lurking."

"Yes sir."

" 'Kay." Mister Haze hung up.

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

Meanwhile, at the Redeemers' scene, Jarad Romero, aka Burst Limit, watched in awe as the one called Tharus took down the ghost-like one with such ease. After the battle was over, Jarad followed the rest of the Redeemers back to HQ. Once they got there, he would have to find a quiet place to inform his boss on the day's proceedings; Mister Haze liked to keep tabs on his biggest obstacles, and the Redeemers were easily that.

--------------------------------------
New character alert! Bwoop! Bwoop!

Name: Jarad Romero
Alias: Burst Limit
Affiliation: Bad (pretending to be good)
Age:18
Powers: Can remotely cause small explosions from afar, but cannot make explosions inside objects; they have to be in open air, though they can be close to solid objects. He often makes the two-finger gun, thumb-trigger motion when using his power, just for dramatic effect.
Appearance: http://www.givememyremote.com/remote/wp-content/uploads/2008/06/francis-capra.jpg
Backstory: A down-on-his-luck mutant boy who's father was a criminal that got involved with Mister Haze's predecessor. When Haze took over, he made sure he got to Jarad and "convinced" him to join the Redeemers as a mole for Mister Haze. His allegiances seem to truly be in the pocket of the purple man.

*more on Steampunk when neccesary

Cale woke up, nursing a sore head.  He looked around him, surprised to find a lack of bonds.  No chain, chair or even handcuffs.  If he wasn't so supicious, he'd almost be insulted.  However a slight shimmering in the air before him told him that everything wasn't quite as innocent as it looked.  Placing his gauntlet against the air, he wasn't surprised to find a solid wall.  And due to the sparks dancing across his gauntlet, he assumed that it had some energetic flow, as his gauntlet's energies collided with those of the invisible barrier.  Lovely.  Idly, he wondered if the roof and floor were similarly  protected.

This unexpected imprisonment did give him a chance to reply to Command.  He tapped the sensor on his left gauntlet, and waited for the encrypted signal to get to Command.  After approximately twelve seconds, he got a response.

"Reaper.  About time you answered.  We told you to report once you arrived."

"I was busy.  I found the target already, but he's associated himself with a group of non-registered metas.  I couldn't fight them all off."  He made sure to keep his voice below a whisper, so that his captors wouldn't hear him.

"What's your current situation?"

"I am held within an energy shield.  I could escape, but I don't want to risk the energy interacting with my insides when I phase through."

"You're taking too many risks.  You should've waited for backup before entering a hornet's nest" (the slang term for a location filled with unregistered metas) "And letting yourelf get captured?  Foolish.  They could get too much out of you."

"They won't."

"They better not.  For your brother's sake."

"You leave him out of this!"

"Then don't fail us...again."

And Command's voice faded, leaving Cale stranded once more in his unseen, but very physical, cell.

A few minutes later, the woman ran into a phone booth by a shopping mall.  Curious, Bloodhawk turned on his sound amplification.  After a few seconds of tuning and extreme eardrum pain, he finally got it to the right channel, although the conversation was already underway.  He was only able to pick up " No Mum, I think someone got murdered there."   And an extensive lecture until the woman hung up the phone.  *Hmm. might have to check back at the Poulet... but not before leaving her with a trace...* Bloodhawk thought as he pulled out a tracer.  Unfotrtunately, she started towards the shopping mall, making it a much more difficult throw.  Austin drew back his arm, with the tracer in hand, and let it fly.  The miniature device sailed through the air , managing to snag onto the fringe of her black slacks.  With a sense of accomplishment in mind, he raced back to the diner...