Topic: RPG Dark City: A Super Humans' Tale

As Mister Haze's limo sat outside the mall, hoping to catch the Boyce girl as she left, he decided to make sure she was there at all, and to make sure the call from the phone booth wasn't perhaps another family member.

Haze let down his window just a smidge, and stuck his hand out the window, letting the top segment of his ring finger dissolve into a small clump of purple bugs. Mister Haze reclined in his seat, his eyes going blank as he entered a sort of trance-like state. The clump of purple bugs flew into the mall, and their eyes were now Haze's eyes. The rest of his body seemed to be out cold, as his consciousness shifted into this group of 30 or 40 bugs that quickly split up to comb the shopping mall for anyone in a Le Veux Poulet waitress outfit.

The Reborn roamed the rooftops watching and waiting for...something. Despite feeling that he was ready, he felt something was missing. He had the Power, and he had blades, but he felt he was missing something. Motion in the alley below caught his eye. Four men were threatening a young women with metal rods. He would have been content to watch, or ignore the whole thing, but something, a feeling, rose up from within, from what was left of his soul, deeply buried under cold thoughts. Under his mask, the Reborn blinked. Did he feel pity? Yes...something left from Before--the man he once was wanted to help her.

Though he tried, he couldn't fully ignore this feeling. And he did feel like testing his powers on a helpless foe. So he dropped down into the alley, and the thugs turned towards the sound. Before they could see him, the Reborn absorbed the electricity in the area, felt it flow into him, and the lamp nearby died. One of the thugs charged him, metal bar raised, and a bolt of lightening arced to his weapon, and he fell, screaming. The Reborn raised a blade, and watched as electricity danced across its surface. Interesting. He flung it into another's chest, then pulled a rod to his hand, focusing energy into. He watched in interest as a crackling thread of electricity formed from its end, then snapped it, and the third thug dropped. The Reborn toyed with his new weapon, stepped into the moonlight.

The fourth thug backed away dropping his weapon and fleeing at the sight of him--A Knight clad in Shadow, wielding a whip of pure electricity. The Reborn laughed. He returned his attention to his new weapon, changed the form of the energy, noting its flexibility. Now it was a shorter thread of energy, with crackling ball of energy at the end--a mace. He nodded. He had his weapon. He released the energy, and the lamp sputtered to life, flaring in brilliance. The woman, who had been cowering on the ground, flinched, covered her eyes. When she looked again, her savior was gone.

And throughout the underworld of Norton Peak, word of the Shadow Knight spread.

Michael snapped out of his half daze when he heard stirring.  He looked inside the room and saw the prisoner awake.  Checking on Alexa and Energon he noticed only small beads of sweat.  Michael entered the room from and pulled up the other chair.  He sat down and stared at his quarry for a bit.  But this hood was quite a drawback.  He should have taken it off.

"I'm Micheal.  And you are?"

"No one special."

"That's no answer."

"I'm called Reaper.  You're Mimic, right?"  Cale grinned slightly beneath his mask.  Let them sweat; they didn;t know how much about them he knew.

Michael wasn't the least bit surprised by the question.  He figured that this guy may have been watching them for an indefinate amount of time. 

"That's right.  Glad you have paid attention.  So 'Reaper', mind telling me why you are here?"

"I'm a ghost.  I wander around, and I haunt things.  Guess what; you are definitely haunted."

Mimic didn't respond.  If anything, it looked like Reaper wasn't getting through to him.  Pity.  Mimic repeated the question.

"Would you believe I'm here to collect the souls of those cursed to an eternity of torment for their crimes?" Cale responed.

Mimic just stared.

"How about, I'm here to play practical jokes by haunting random people?"

Still nothing.

"Maybe I'm here to collect wheat from the grocery store?"

Michael chuckled. "It appears that you aren't quite taking me seriously.  Since I'm the good guy I obligated to give you this chance.  You answer my one question that I have and this doesn't hurt.  If you continue down this path of mockery, I can guarantee this will get painful."

A brief pause before Reaper answered.  "What's your question?"

"Why are you here?"

"Who says you're the good guy anyhow?  And besides, I sense repetition here."

"Just.  Answer.  The.  Question."

"Okay, fine.  I am...was...a normal person.  In high school, I was almost always ignored, invisible to people around me.  I hit eighteen, and bam, suddenly I find I can go invisible, for real.  So I left my ungrateful home, and came here.  I was wandering around, when I nearly got hit by one of your buddy's arrows.  I followed you, and your friend attacked me, forcing me to fight back, accidentally injuring your other friend, before getting shoved in here."

Bloodhawk had finally broken a sweat. He had finally made it back to the diner Le Veux Poulet.  Unfortunately, the diner contained nothing needed to help his investigation, other than raw bones of the dead staff.  Realizing his mistake of letting the last witness be alone, with the murderer probably out there looking for her, he dashed through the door, running out into the street.  Looking around for the quickest form of transportation, he spotted a biker just getting off his bike across the street.  Using the opportunity, as soon as the biker entered the store, he flew across the road, and hopped on the bike.  Cale made a use of his hijacking skills and reved the engine.

Michael smiled.  He stod up and exited the room without a word.  Walking upstairs he looked for one particular mutant.  It didn't take long to find this one. 

"Ah High Voltage!  I think I have need of your special talents downstairs."

The flamboyantly dressed mutant turned to Michael and smiled.

"Well when you need a bit of a shock I'm the guy to look for!"  Michael cracked a fake smile.  He hadn't heard that one before.  Michael briefed him on the way down.  It also helped that High Voltage was slightly sadistic.

They both entered the room.  Reaper hadn't moved a muscle.

"What's wrong too much to handle on your own?"

"Frankly I don't believe a word of your story.  Your gloves are awfully hightech for someone who wanders the streets.  And I don't remember you ever mentioning technopath in your repetoire.  So this is the last time I will ask before I am forced to withdraw from the question and hand it over to Sparky there."

High Voltage was playing with a spark jumping from finger to finger. 

"Why are you here?"

This proved problematic, and yet, also kind of useful.  He couldn't phase through electricity, but they'd have to open a hole in the field for him to fire.  Even so, the hole wouldn't be nearly large enough...but maybe it would be big enough to take out the ones keeping his shield in place.

"I am here to observe the situation in Norton Peak."  He wasn't lying, Cale reflected.  "It won't go well for you if you stand in my way."  He still wasn't lying.

"Who sent you?"

"Aww come on!  You only said one question."

"I altered my plans.  Pray I don't alter it further.  ((I had to.))  Tell me who is your employer.  It's really not that hard to do."

"Good guys, you aint."

"Answer me."

"As you wish.  but you won't like it.  I have no idea who my employer is.  There.  Happy?'

"Not quite."  Michael nodded to Energon and Alexa who opened a small hole in the force field.  High Voltage shot as big as a bolt through as he could.  Michael halted him as the electricity coursed through Reaper's body.  His gauntlets sparked as the electricity went through them.  Reaper grunted.

"I'm really sorry.  I need as much as you know about your employer.  I don't want to make this too messy."

"Your funeral.  I mean that.  All I know is a title.  They call the leader Operator or something.  That's it.  No distinguishing names, markings or titles."

Mimic looked at him oddly, as if trying to figure out if he was lying or not.

The electrical shock was playing havoc with Cale's body; the pain was only now beginning to die down.  Cale only hoped that the electricity didn't do too much damage to the gauntlets.

Michael sighed.  That seemed to be about as much as they would get from Reaper.  He motioned for High Voltage to follow as he closed the door.  He addressed Alexa and Energon.  "You only have to hold this for a few more minutes.  I'm going to go upstairs make a call, then come back down with a telepath who will knock this guy out until we can further decide what to do with him."

They both nodded not wanting to break their concentration.  Michael and High Voltage headed back upstairs.  Michael found a telepath and sent him down.  Michael opened his cell and dialed a number. 

"Hello?"

"Gez ((Rev's char for those who don't know))?  It's me Michael Shaw.  Mimik."

"Hey long time no talk!"

"Listen Gez, I got a secret leader of some government group.  Mind looking it up for me?"

"Sure what you got?"

"His name is Operator.  One of his operatives is named Reaper.  And that's pretty much all I know.  Think you can help?"

Despite Mimik's warnings, the duo did break concentration, just for a little bit.  He dematerialized, going both intangible and invisible.  He immediately phased an energized hand through both the shield-maker and the energy-maker's chests, rendering them both unconscious.  The lightning-bolt one followed, although Cale allowed more pain in that attack, solidifying his hand ever so slightly, smiling darkly as the man crumbled to the floor in agony.   

He then grabbed the shield-maker, being the closest, slung her over his shoulder, and phased through the walls, moving fast and silently, and keeping his unconscious hostage unseen, until he exited the installation.  He made sure to memorize the location, before slinking down into a nearby alley.

"Command?  This is Reaper.  I have one prisoner, but expect some people to do some digging on your operation."

"Of course you gave them the information...Very well.  We'll send a retrieval team for the captive within the hour; they'll meet you at your base of operations."

"You mean the apartment."

"Yes.  Hurry up, now, Reaper.  You've failed too many times already..."

Cale sighed, and began the journey back to his apartment.

Gez walked down the various parking rows fumbling in his pockets for the keys to the car sitting in the end space. He got in the Cuda and drove it out of the parking complex, spinning the tires as he pulled out on the main road. The loud masculine tone of the engine and exhaust was almost soothing, making the lesser economy sedans look like pansies as he passed them by. The moment was, however, interrupted by the Imperial March ringtone blaring in his tiny ear headset.

"Ahck...oww...geez..." Gez reached to his ear and activated the mic. "Hello?...Hey long time no talk!...Sure, what you got?...Yeah, maybe. I have limited access on the uplink, but I'm heading over to  the Arca Barracks Armory to pick up some hardware, and can possibly get more data on my computer there. I can check what's allowed but that's it...yeah give me a sec."

Gez connected his datapad to the secure satellite uplink pulling numerous files, but the connection stopped, prompting a high level security code. "Err...problem. I have a few things on file, purchase records it looks like...The cost doesn't add up though...Maybe they ordered solid gold desk chairs?...heck I have no idea...I don't have the proper security clearance to get anything else..."

"That's alright.  We'll have our techs work on it.  For now you might as well come on down here and help us out.  Something's up here-"

A commotion was heard from the stairs.  The telepath Michael sent down came tearing upstairs.

"Michael!  He's gone!  The prisoner is gone and Alexa and Energon are down.  High Voltage is as well and he's hurt bad. He's coughing up blood!"

"Hold on Gez, I'll get back to you."  He tore off downstairs and observed the carnage.  Just as the telepath said.

Michael grabbed high voltage and brought him to their medical wing they had set-up.  The 'doctor' a mutant who had gotten through medical school before being tested upon himself and being discovered a mutant. He took some readings looking grave. 

"His lungs are filled with blood.  He's not going to make it."

Michael swore.  This was his fault.  He left them alone with a stranger.  An now one of them was dead and three others unconscious.  Although Speed Freak in a coma wasn't necessarily a bad thing.  But still.  Reaper had just made an enemy.

(sorry i have not been on the past few days, preparing for Thanksgiving and i've been kicked off the computer, so i'll have to resort to posting in school for now. any help here would be hot as for a place for me to jump in :D)

The Reborn had quickly left the alley, leaping onto an adjacent rooftop at the flash of light and continuing into the darkness. He planned on returning to his meditation chamber until the following night, but stopped when he heard someone speaking in the middle of a dark alley.

"Command?  This is Reaper.  I have one prisoner, but expect some people to do some digging on your operation."

He waited.

"You mean the apartment." The figure listened for a second, then sighed, and continued on, carrying a figure over his shoulder.

The Reborn followed "Reaper", thinking. This was clearly something more than a casual conversation--this Reaper was up to something. He focused on the figure, managing to glean a few basic thoughts, mostly frustration with his superiors, but mainly focused on his motivation--darkness greeted his probes, and The Reborn made a decision. He waited until Reaper neared a lightpost, then drained the power and dropped down infront of him, a ball of energy in his hand. Reaper, as well as his captive, immediately disappeared, and the Reborn lashed out with the energy, telekinesis, and a uncontrolled mental blast. The Reaper and his captive crashed into a wall, stunned.

The Reborn fed energy into his weapon, creating a mace. "Who...are..you?" he hissed, focusing his mind on Reaper, keeping him from disappearing again.

Reaper grunted.  His invisibility was having difficulties here.  This guy was obviously a telepath.  Luckily, though, he had some experience with them before.  He began to think of the most random things he could think of, a purple cow, a pen, a five day old puppy, blue sky, and others along with a constant stream of random numbers.  The flow of unstructured thoughts was bound to at the very least make concentration upon his mind more difficult for this meta.

"I am none of your business."  He subtly energized his gauntlets, in case things got dirty.  "Get out of my way; I'm busy here."  While he answered this strange attacker, he worked on summoning enough mental energy to force himself into invisibility.

As soon as the engine came to life, Bloodhawk accelerated the bike and brought it to fifth gear.  He zoomed down the middle of the street with his cape flaring menacingly behind him, as he ducked and weaved between cars. The only thought that was going through his head was to save her, because he knew that she was the only witness to the murders, unless if she herself was the killer, in which case he had to apprehend her.  Both ways required him to get to her.

A few minutes later, he arrived at the shopping mall.  However, there was a limousine parked in front of it, which was a strange sight, due to the crime rate of Norton Peak.... ah well, he shrugged, he could worry about it later.    He put the machine at the peak of its speed as Cale did a wheelie through the front doors of the shopping mall, the glass instantly shattering around him.  He was in no mood for subtlety at this point.

The Reborn smiled grimly beneath his mask--"Reaper" was resisting. He was worthy. It wouldn't matter. Random thoughts would make controlling or reading the mind difficult--unfortunately for Reaper, he needed to do neither. He only needed to press hard enough to make him give in, and to keep him from disappearing. He gathered more strength, pouring the untrained, brute power of his mind into Reapers, crushing resistance. Reaper flinched. "Tell me." The Reborn pounded his words into his foes mind. WHO ARE YOU! "Resistance is futile...Reaper."

Mister Haze's scout bugs were buzzing quietly through the mall, looking for the Boyce girl. The bugs had spread out, so only 5 or 6 were present when the man in the red cape crashed a motorbike through the main entrance. Mister Haze was relayed this information by his bugs, as their eyes were now his.

"Bloodhawk..." mister Haze muttered from his trance in the back seat of his limo.

Suddenly, there was a sharp ringing in the limo, snapping Mr. Haze out of his "coma".

"Hmm?" Mr. Haze grunted, reahcing for the source of the sound, his phone.

"Hello?" Mr.Haze said grumpily.

"It's...it's me." Came the voice of Burst Limit on the other end of the call.

"What's going on? Are the Redeemers making a move?"

"Well, yes, but not against you. They got into a fight with someone called Reaper earlier, and now High Voltage is dead, so they're all pretty focused on getting him."

"Keep me updated." Mr. Haze said, hanging up. Well at least those blasted Redeemers would be occupied for awhile. 

Mr.Haze closed his eyes once more and focused on reestablishing his link with his "scouts" in the mall.

Keep an eye on the man in the cape He instructed his bugs. If he finds the girl, eat him. But leave the Boyce child alone.

((hey ph34r, is your character's body vulnerable to bug spray? :P ))

((That's a cheap shot, but I guess so. :-P ))

Tharus could smell the blood, the super was on the ground dying, his freinds doing their best to make him comfortable, morphine and a few other drugs were administered to the dying man. He coughed up more blood. The smell was driving Tharus mad. He needed to leave, and he needed to leave fast. He hated himself for the hunger, but after living in the caves and killing for food, it was simply part of his being. He hissed to himself and turned to go through the door, he would spend his time taking out the anger he felt at the man who was responsible.

((Just curious, how does telekinesis possibly prevent someone from using their powers?  Telepathy, I can understand slightly, but not telekinesis))

"Heh.  Resistance is futile.  Where'd you get that?  The Borg?  Look, you know my name, so obviously you know who I am.  So this questioning is wasting both of our time.  Why don't you go off, and terrorize some poor helpless old woman or something, and let me get back to my business?"

The weird guy with the electrical mace in his hands only glared at Cale.  Obviously, although powerful, he hadn't bothered to invest energy in a sense of humour.  Go figure.  Cale was in no mood to continue to banter, as his wounds were really starting to irritate him.  So Cale decided to use a different tactic.

He went intangible, and charged his gauntlets; as far as anyone could tell, since he was still visible, nothing had changed.  He then stood up, grinning beneath his mask, as the telekinetic energy that held him down before slipped right thrugh him; one cannot hold the air, and that was about as effective as trying to hold an intangible Reaper.  He then sprinted towards the strange figure, narrowly avoiding a swipe of the energy mace as he closed the distance between the two. 

Not wasting any of his precious momentum, he dove straight through his enemy, his gauntlets' unique energy coupled with his own intangibility to scramble the other being's synapses, not quite lasting long enough to knock him out, but effectively paralyzing him for a time.

"Take some time out, okay?"  He then returned to his prisoner, solidified, grabbed onto her, and phased them both through the ground and into the sewers below.  From there, he made his way back to hs apartment, making sure to keep his invisibility and intangibility active at all times; he didn't need another random encounter tonight; he had to report in, hand over the prisoner, and get some much needed sleep.

The Telekinesis was combined with energy and telepathy in a wave to bash a foe that had disappeared, after that, it was just telepathy, battering your mind to keep you from accessing your powers. He's got a lot of strength, but is untrained, so its just brute force. Nevermind--you're not getting away that easily. But I'll give you time to rest.

The Reborn was surprised at losing his prey, but learned several precious things. He now had a more accurate idea of Reapers skills and weapons. And while his body was paralyzed, his mind wasn't--he tracked Reapers movements across the city, marking carefully where he came to rest. Though his body had recovered before that point, he focused all his attention on the task, as he wasn't yet capable of tracking a mind over such a distance and doing much else at once. Once he was sure he knew Reaper's base of operations, he set up watch outside of it. This was a powerful being, and one would could be a useful ally--but force might not be the only way to handle this.

Hope I've cleared a few things up, motive and power wise.

((Sorry, I didn't see telepathy as any of Reborn's abilities in his character sheet; thought he only had a high level of telekinesis and electrokinesis.))

Command was punctual, which was good.  They took the prisoner without additional hassle, save for the intrusion of an Observer.

"What went wrong, Reaper?"

"They had telepaths, they found me when I was invisible."

"Nonetheless, you should have been able to get in, take down the target, and get out."

"But I couldn't.  I was lucky to survive."

"Maybe.  But why didn't you have your cowl's neural scrambler active?  Would that not have blocked their psionic intrusions?"

"Yeah, but you know I hate to rely upon external equipment.  Even the gauntlets were pushing it."

"Even so, if your personal preferences are interfering with your effectiveness and the mission, your decisions may have to be made for you.  You're lucky we don't stuff you in some Stalker armour."

"Again, I work better using my own skills."

"That remain to be seen.  I still do not understand why you wo't at least use the rest of the armour.  it's saved many agents so far."

"Their reliance upon such equipment is precisely why I avoid it; I hate being indebted to anything."

"Apparently.  Just...see to it that you activate your neural scrambler from now on, Reaper.  Too many more failures and certain 'measures' will have to be taken."

With that the Observer left, along with the remnants of the retrieval team.  Cale sighed, and relaxed.  He took his gauntlets off, adn placed them in their charger, beneath the bed.  He took his mask and hood in his hands, and tinkered with the miniscule scrambler control panel.  While he hated using this sort of tech, his target had been able to easily detect him, and attack him, even while he remained unseen.  Cale didn't want that happening again, as he knew the next time he fought the Redeemers, they wouldn't be as lenient as last time.  And he couldn't risk having his one benefit being compromised. 

So with a dissatisfied groan, he activated the device, and placed the cowl on the arm of an easy chair, into which he sat, after binding adn treating his wounds as best he could with what medical supplies he had.  He had some time to finally relax.  Command's threats against his brother were escalating.  And there was no way Cale was going to let anything happen to his brother.  He was the only family he had left, and Zachary was going to do his best to protect his helpless younger brother.  Nothing was going to stand in his way...

(( o ok, won't use it unless if forced to in extreme situations))

Tharus, who had managed to regain control of himself a few moments after climbing down into the sewers outside the Redeemer warehouse, had began to track the prey (for that is what he had began to think of the one known as Reaper as) through the sewers, the prey had moved in a relatively straight line. He came to a junction, where the sewer split into four, with a access hole above, Reapers scent continued on, but Tharus had a feeling it would be best to exit now, so he did so. He emerged slowly as ever, checking for vehicles lest he wish to become a head shorter. His claws scratched asphalt, and his strong arms pulled him out of the sewers quickly once he knew it was clear. He saw the preys house, found a good hiding spot, and waited.

((By the way, underground the Redeemer's base is a portion of the caves and tunnels.  They just have utilized a part of them and haven't fully explored.))

Sorry, Mandalorian Assassain--I didn't have it on there, just on a later post and the post where I attacked you, I mentioned a telepathic attack--but I did forget to list it on my charry bio. Sorry about that.

Post later.

((Hey Werda Verd, no offense but your character seems much too overpowered to me.  The psychokinesis AND electrokinesis is too much.  I think it would be best if you decided on one or the other.  Or maybe limit the telepathy to awareness and not complete dominance.  Focus on psycho or electro.))

Michael paced back and forth. Stone aproached Michael.

"It wasn't your fault Michael, accidents happen.  There was nothing you can do.  Living for revenge can ruin you."

"Yeah sure."  Stone nodded and walked back to his tasks.

Michael scoffed.  There was no way Reaper was getting away with murder.  Michael made his way over to Carmen who was making small talk with some others.

"You want to be useful around here?"

"Sure."

"Let's go catch a murderer then."

Thats why its mostly awareness, but he can basically press his mind on people, but not actually affect them. Just disrupt powers like in the case of Reaper. And telekinesis hasn't been used much--I deliberately made his telepathy limited to disruption and observation, because I was afraid of that. But since he's mostly alone....and has no gadgets....I'll try to focus more on electrokinesis, as that's his main weapon. But Reaper isn't affected much by electrokinesis, and I need a reason to stop him from immediately disappearing if I show up. 

Don't expect telepathy to have much play outside of that, and general awareness. I don't want a hugely overpowered character.

((I'd ask MA before assuming things about his character because you have some of your facts mixed up about him.))

((One thing being that electrokinesis is a major weak point for Reaper...so with Reborn wielding not only his greatest weakness, but to be able to remove Reaper's one single benefit (his powers), you've essentially made Reaper moot.))

Morana stalked the man as he left his job. The man wasn't important, but Morana knew his thoughts. He was twisted, and not in the same was she was. His daughter had recently developed a mutant skill, she was able to stretch and twist her body like it was a rubber band. It wasn't deforming, but he hated mutants, and he was sadly, a pervert. On the out side another balding middle class middle aged man. Normal looking, but thoughts betrayed all. And Morana knew all those dark, twisted and sick things that lived in his mind and consciousness. He had to die.

He neared the entrance to the train that would take him back towards the family that deserved to be happy with out him. She touched his mind in such a way that made him stop. Morana fed him a vision of his own death and terror. She made him feel what he had made his daughter feel. He tried to scream, but found he had lost the ability to. Eyes wide in fear, he sank down to his knees.

Morana approached him and with her black leather gloved hand, grabbed the man's face and whispered in his ear, "I know you're secretes. Angie has a chance now that you're going to die. " A large wet spot spread on the front of the man's trousers. 

"Damn a slip in control" Morana lamented. "Something to be improved on"

With that she let go of the mans face, and concentrated. After what seemed like a long eternity, but more like 90 seconds. The man fell forward, a look of horrible discomfort on his face, dead and lying in a pool of his own fluids.

Morana slipped away again into the dark alley ways of the city. To rest for now, tired and weakened, but satisfied in the taste of death.

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

Name: Fara

Gender: Female

Alliance: None so far. Pro Mutant, as being one.

Power: Strong telepath. Can control life functions by manipulating the brain.

Appearance: Slight figure with curvy features. Has short cropped blonde hair.

Personality: Fara has been isolated for some time, so she is desperate for belonging. She's smart and tries to read as much as she can, and stays on top of mutant affairs. She longs for the day when everyone will accept each other and just get along.

Amy had made her way to the food court, mainly because it seemed to be the busiest place in the mall. She ordered a latte from Starbucks and sat at a table for two to think. She could go to the Police but chances were they’d think her crazy or realise she was a mutant and try to pin the crime on her.

She reached into her red apron to retrieve her wallet. She flicked through the contents until she found the business card she was looking for. A long time ago back when she was in high school she’d met a reporter by the name of Carmen. She’d seemed rather intense and very dominating but Amy had a feeling that now might just be the right time to call the reporter.

Amy let out a sigh and she realised that she’s have to return to the phone booth. She didn’t like the prospect and instead made her way to the nearest shop that sold mobile phones. She bought a cheap pre-paid model and had it activated within minutes.

With slightly shaky fingers Amy dialled the number and pressed the phone to her ear. She was greeted with an annoyed, “Yes?”

“Is that Carmen?” Amy asked.

“What if it is?” Came the response.

“My name is Amy, I met Carmen some time ago. I wanted to tell her about a story she could publish in her paper.” Amy explained.

“What sort of story?” Was the sharp retort.

Amy held the phone close and looked around praying no one was listening, “About a bizarre murder.”

The voice became velvety, “Really, now that does sound like something that would interest me. Where can I meet you?”

Amy let out a sigh of relief. “I’ll be out the front of Starbucks at the Norton Mall.”

“Which level?” Carmen asked.

“Level two, please be quick.” Amy whimpered.

The voice that answered was more predatory than soothing, “Don’t worry, I will be.”

Carmen closed her flip phone and gave a brief look around. There seemed to be enough chaos without her interference. “I’ve got to go,” she said to no one in particular.

“Where are you going?” Someone asked but Carmen didn’t turn around.

She smiled to herself, “Norton Mall.” With that she teleported out.

Carmen reappeared in the disabled toilet at Norton Mall, it was one of the safest places for her to suddenly appear. Thankfully no one was in the cubicle this time. As she opened the door she heard a crunch as her foot stepped on something. She lifted her boot to see the remains of a squashed bug. Carmen raised a brow, “Well well, long time no see Mr Haze.”

Scraping the remains from the sole of her shoe Carmen made her way to Starbucks with a upturned lip, it seemed that things were becoming more interesting.

Michael stood bewildered as Carmen answered phone.  From what he understood she was after some sort of story.  She was a reporter?  Hmm.

"Where are you going?"

"Norton Mall."

WIthout another word she disappeared. 

"What the..."

Michael sighed.  Well Reaper would have to wait.  Norton Mall seemed a bit more pressing at the moment.  Michael shoved his hands in his pockets and began towards the mall.  At least Norton Mall wasn't terrbly far away.  Only about an hour walk.  If he jogged he could probably cut it in half.  Michael hated long distance jogging.  He was built more for quick bursts of energy.  Oh well.  Might as well get it over with...

Ok--wasn't sure if electrokinesis would affect an intangible ....my bad there. It'll be limited to awareness then. Mostly electrokinesis, as that's also the funnest to use.

((It's OK.  It's not a normal intangibility affecting factor; I just gave it as a weakness to Reaper, to make him less invincible.  No problem))

It didn't look like sleep was coming.  Every time Zach closed his eyes he was greeted by a flood of images, sights and sounds.  Featuring prominently in these chaotic dreams were his brother and the obnoxious Observer who had visited him earlier.  His target, Tharus, along with that one guy called Mimik, and the mysterious telekine/telepath/electrokine also appeared at various intervals.  He woke from his attempt at leep with a scream of fear and pain, although he could no longer remember what for.

"I gotta get out.  Clear my head."  Cale mumled to himself, as he rubbed the sleep from his eyes.  He got dressed in a pair of jeans, a black T-shirt, and put on his boots.  This time, though, he didn't want any metahuman conflicts, so he left his gauntlets and cowl in his apartment, under his bed.  He also did something else that went against his mode of operation; he used the front door.  And the elevator.

Once outside, he took a deep breath of the cool night air.  It was soothing, refreshing, like a mother caressing her child.  Already calmed slightly, he thrust his hands into his pockets, and began to walk, staying on the sidewalks and staying visible and solid; he wanted to be normal for now, at least for a little while.

In the dark chamber preparing for another training mission, The Weapon brought its body into attack mode, molding into the right form to take on the coming mission. But in midst of it flame burst from nowhere filling his lungs with smoke and ash. Screams.

The Weapon woke with a start...Sweating. Startled by this fact he looked at his claws and found them to be some sort of grasping...things (hands). he looked to his legs and descovered slightly similar things but with no grasping finger. (feet) Trying to stand he marveled at his new body. Steading himself, he tried out his body walking at first, but then running. He seemed to remember this body, the controls for it kicking in automaticaly.
He ran, jumped, leaped, swam, sumersaulted through the air. He found himself farther than he had ever explored before. a stench filled the air. He rinkled his nose, at it. Curious, he moved in farther, through a broken wall into a sysyem of more caves...No not caves...Sewers. "How did I know that?" he wondered. Now he could here beeping sounds...Cars. Again startled by the knowlege that he had not know before, he moved towards the sounds, intill he came apon a ladder. Not as surprised as before by reconizing this object he proceded to climb it and push off the lid that was on it. And as he look apon the city a huge flood of memory came back to him, shocking him to his core. A whole world was up here, more beings shaped like he was now, walked near by him apparently not noticing him. He was over joyed by the fact he was not the only thing alive here. He pulled himself  out of the hole and rushed to imbrace the nearest passerbyer, expecting to be welcomed with open-arms. This was however not the case. The man he had chosen to 'hug' was from a notorious city gang, and the gangster, (being the cruel man he was) seeing a large slightly deformed, bald and not to mention nude man running at him, was enough for him to react harshly.  As in a Snub-nosed Magnum harsh. The man fired twice (sending everyone around him in a panic) expecting the man to stop dead in his tracts...Which he did. Though only from his own shock, and not from the force of the bullets. The gangster, surprised that he was seeing the man alive and not dead was enough to send anyone packing, so he huriedly made his escape. 

The Weapon looked down at his body, red blood oozing out of two holes, he saw the bleeding stop, right after the two bullets were pushed out of his body and hitting the side walk, with a slightly audiable 'ding'. He then just stood there trying to comprehend what had just happened.
But thats when things went to Hell.
His mind pushed his Consciousness onto the back burner, before he had a chance to link the fire from the gangsters gun, to the fire that he had experienced so long ago, to avoid permenant mental damage. His Un- consciousness, to pretect itself assumed an attack mold, changing his body yet again, this time growing armor Chitin all over his body, increasing his strength and in turn his height to compensate for the added strength. His arms changes also. Growing plasma producing glands in his biceps, and heating organs in his forearms, with an added squriting mussel (sp) in his hands in just a matter of minutes. His mind then (by itself) targeted everything that was a possible threat...Which was everything.

(NOTE: The weapon is not affected by light and fire as a weakness when on 'back-up' mode. Also when he crawled out of the sewers it was dark, so the sun did not affect him at that time either)

Mister Haze continued to sit in his trance like state, as his consciousness shifted to the bugs in the mall, who were searching for the Boyce girl. One unlucky bug had flown into the girls' bathroom, a very likely place for a scared young woman to hide. Unfortunately, the bug was squashed for its efforts.

"NGAH!!!" Mr. Haze cried out in pain from the seat of his limo, scrambling the senses of all his bugs as the death of one of the Hive-mind called Mr.Haze reverberated trough them.

Go to where your brother died Haze subconsciously instructed the scouts.Find who did it.

Not much later, a group of scout bugs were flitting about the ceiling of the food court, several of them catching the face of someone unexpected.

"Carmen..." mr. Haze groaned from the backseat.

As citizens screamed and ran in fear as he skidded to a stop, Bloodhawk analyzed the crowd, looking for the girl in the black slacks, white blouse, and the red apron.  Not finding his target, he started the engine again, and motored down the mall hallway, barely avoiding bystanders, crashing through stalls set up throughout the store, and sometimes smashing through stores if it meant a shortcut.  Besides, it added that aura of fear that he needed in order to operate.  After about a minute of racing around the mall, he still hadn't found the girl from the diner incident.  ABout to get very frustarated, he turned into the food court, a very busy, and bustling place.  However, very  soon some people looked towards him just kinda not paying attention, then looking away, then looking back in horror and screaming.  Soon the entire food court had seen him and it became absolute pandomoneom, people running anywhere they could to escape becoming Norton Mall street pizza. 

A few secconds later, Bloodhawk caught a glimpse of his target, frozen with fear, but she was now with another, whom Cale recognized as a reporter that he ran into once, a few months ago.  Carmen..... He thought to himself.  This would end up trickier than he imagined.... reporters weren't exactly his best friends.

A half an hour later Michael arrived at the mall huffing and panting.  Michael hated running.  He arrived at the front entrance to see a gaping hole in the doors.  Michael carefully stepped over the wreckage and saw people sitting stunned on the ground.  Windows and kiosks were in pieces on the ground.  A path could be picked out amongst the destruction.  Michael carefully made his way through broken stores and general carnage.  As he got farther along, the panic became greater.  Until he reached the food court of the mall.  People were running back and forth some of them knocking into Michael as he tried to cut through the crowds.  A sound reminiscent of a motor cycle was heard.  Finally Michael broke through the throngs of people and came upon what looked to be a super on a motorbike.  And Carmen was here.  Perfect.

"Hey you!  Buddy!  Would you mind taking your joy ride outside?"

Gez coasted down the side road to the Arca Barracks HQ. He was still aggravated about being reassigned to a desk job, it was shameful to let his talents go to waste. He swiped the ID card at the gate and drove around looking for a parking space. Gez eased the Cuda in a parking space to a vintage black 1970 Dodge Charger.

He noticed the plates read 'SLV 1' after he got out. "Fara..."
This was ironic, as the plates on his Cuda read 'SLAVE 1'

Gez walked briskly through the automatic glass doors up to the reception desk, leaning over the computer screen. "Fara,"

"Yes?" She replied in a helpful tone, not looking up.

"What's that ugly hunk of sheet metal out in the parking lot?"

"What?" She promptly directed her gaze at the man leaning on her desk. "Gez...What do you want?"
She hit him hard on the shoulder.

"I was just kidding, when did you pick it up?"

"Last Monday. What do you want? I know that look."

"When do you get off?"

"Gez..."

"No, no, nothing like that. There are some files I need you to get for me."

"Files huh?" Fara paused. "You know I can't access that kind of stuff."

Gez leaned closer. "I know you can."

"We'll talk about this later..."

"What is it?"

She grabbed his forearm. "Do you know why they pulled you from active service?"

"No idea."

"Yes you do, don't lie." Fara lowered her tone. "You know the military has been doing mutant research in recent years, right?"

"Yeah."

"They can't touch civilians legally, but soldiers..."

"...What?"

"You know what I'm getting at. Get out, get out while you still can."

"Not the conversation I was expecting when I walked in here..."

"I just thought I'd enlighten you." She sighed. "I'm off in an hour, I'll call you then."

"Alright, thanks."

Gez flashed a smile before walking off down the long corridor to the Armory. It was a good thing Sergeant Snowberger ran things down there these days, Gez saved his ass a few times in the Middle-East. He sometimes wondered what he'd do without his old friends.