[hr][h1][i][color=lawngreen]Sonya & Maria Mayfield[/color] & [color=DarkSlateBlue]Cassius Taylor[/color][/i][/h1][hr][sub][sub][@Mr Allen J][/sub][/sub] Sonya could smell the rain. A puddle splashed underneath her froggy foot. She was heading there on foot - normally, she and Maria would have taken to the rooftops, but she was was trying to stick to the sidewalks just because they had a little guest with them! He wasn't blessed with Metahuman abilities like they were - and they had to respect that. Sonya did a little hop to the corner, before she put her fingers on her earpiece. "Grue, can you check out any...." Sonya trailed off when she realized that rain was dropping. The storm had returned. "Christ!" She said, as she immediately reached for her pistol. A Glock 17, loaded with taser rounds - though that wouldn't be all that useful here. "Inky, stay in human form. You know what rain does to you." Maria nodded her head, and reached for her own glock. "Cass, we should be on guard - because I think the rain has something to do with it." Sonya was no rookie to NEST - she had a great deal of experience in knowledge in the world of Metahumans. "My theory is that our target can control weather - or is working with someone who [i]can[/i] - to cover his tracks like the little bugger he is." Cass threw them a nod, resting a hand on his holstered sidearm. "I'm familiar with the concept. Back in '94 when NEST wasn't what it is now, I worked a case where a group of professionals had someone on their crew who manipulated the weather to create thick fog, then use it as cover to hijack security trucks. We're moving on [i]their[/i] terms, now." "Good." The rainstorm had picked up, and Sonya looked upwards. She pressed her comm-piece's button, "Grue, it's raining." There was a thin layer of fog forming. Nothing that would obstruct the average human's eyesight (Especially not someone like Sonya). "We need eyes." "Alright, I'll see what I can do." Dana said. "I can tap into a few camera feeds, but that's just about it." "Keep me posted." Sonya nodded her head. She took in two deep whiffs of the air in order to get a scent... and all she could smell was rain, and the usual scents of the city washed down by the rain. A good thing about all this rain was that it was keeping her layer of slime nice and moist. So she doesn't have to worry about- Sonya's superb hearing picked up a loud splash coming out of the nearby river. It called for some further investigation. Sonya hopped high up into the air, and attached herself to the side of the building. She quickly crawled her way up, and hopped up onto the roof of the building. She immediately grabbed her sniper rifle and looked through the scopes. She scanned the area... Everything looked clear. She was searching corners, nooks, and crannies. A glowing eye. Attached to a silhouette obscured by the fog. It was staring right at Sonya. Almost like it somehow knew she was [i]there[/i]. It quickly climbed up the side of the wall and used it's powerful arms to carry it like a gorilla, and Sonya wished that she had Inky here to spot it. "Shit...." Sonya muttered to herself. She called down to the people below her, "I got eyes on it!" [hr][b][h2]Meanwhile... [color=lightgreen]Marcus Rowland[/color] and [color=gray]Audrey Novalik[/color][/h2][/b] Marcus cycled to Haven, still disturbed by the events that had just occured. The incoming rain didn't bother him as much as the death of their customer. Why would she just die, out of all the people in the city? It was just so...random. The thoughts stayed with him all the way to the counter, where Audrey caught him staring into space, slightly zoned out by his thoughts. A quick slap to the back of the head woke him. [color=gray]"Oy, lazy [i]blyat[/i], what are you doing?"[/color] [color=lightgreen]"Oh, I uh, um..."[/color] [color=gray]"Marcus, what's on your mind?"[/color] [color=lightgreen]"Huh?"[/color] The question caught him off guard. It wasn't like Audrey to ask something like that. He sighed and ran a hand through his hair. [color=lightgreen]"Well, boss, y'know Cora? Regular customer? Photographer chick."[/color] She thought for a moment and nodded in recognition. [color=gray]"[i]Da[/i], [i]da[/i], yes I remember. Caramel latte, yes?"[/color] He nodded and sighed. [color=lightgreen]"Well...she's dead. Killed. By a...monster or something. NEST was there, but I couldn't do anything."[/color] [color=gray]"Mmm. I think you should take five from register. Go take break."[/color] With a weary sigh Marcus left the register and went out to the back step, apron draped over his shoulder. He gazed out over the beach, empty as it was in the wet of the afternoon. The rain was starting again, the large drops making little divots in the sand from the storm that was rolling in, and the sounds made his mind wander. His thoughts drifted back to Cora, and her seemingly senseless murder. NEST were quick to respond yes, but... An idea began forming, and almost immediately he went straight for his phone and dialed a number. [i]"H-hello?"[/i] [color=lightgreen]"Yo Cole? I need you to do me a favour."[/color] [hr] Sonya pointed across the buildingline, and the creature they were after hopped up to the roof of the building. Maria looked up, and saw that it hopped to another rooftop. "Crap!" Maria said as she ran towards it. She wished that she could use her ink-form in all this rain - she could keep up with Sonya in her alternate form - but she'll have to stick with Cass. "Follow me!" On the rooftop, Sonya leveled her rifle at it. She tried to line up a shot, but it moved out of the way, it fell down into one of the alleyways. "Damn it!" Sonya hopped from one roof to another, keeping up with Maria and Cass, shouting, "It ducked into one of the alleyways!" Maria picked up the pace. She quickly reached the alleyway, and turned around the corner, aiming her gun. She couldn't see anything - the fog was just too damn thick! She saw the figure's glowing eye facing her, and she shouted, "[i]FREEZE![/i]" It didn't oblige. It launched itself at her. Maria immediately - it was [i]very[/i] difficult not turning into ink on reflex - rolled to the ground. She turned her head, and saw it perched on a car like a vulture, before it hopped off to the next roof. She leveled her glock at it, and fired a few taser rounds. All of them missed. "Leave the shooting to me, hun!" Sonya shouted. Thanks to the wifey, she got a clear shot at it! She saw it hopping from roof to roof, she leveled her Barrett at it, before squeezing the trigger. A taser dart round came flying out at it, and pierced through the air. It hit the beast in its back, it let out a screech as it convulsed as the electricity rocked its body. It fell down, and hit the ground out of sight. "Nailed it!" Sonya fist pumped. "Good job, ace." Maria said through the comms. "But let's not get ahead of ourselves. Confirm it." "Oh, yeah," Sonya climbed down, and stood besides Maria. "After you." Sonya pointed her sniper ahead for a second in a sweeping motion. Before the two ran off after the monster. They came up around the corner, and it felt very inconvenient... the fog was so thick that it was hard to get a good look at things. However, they were right in front of a river. The creature, in one last desperate move, pulled itself into the water. "Wait!" Sonya shouted before she heard the splash. "Damn it! Shit!" She cursed. God damn it, they probably lost it for good. She pressed her earpiece, and communicated with Grue, "Grue, I nailed it with a taser dart, but the bastard just crawled into the water." "These waterways go all over the city," Dana noted. "Your target could reach any part of the city." "Well, loooooooooooks like there's only one thing to do...." Sonya immediately reached for her sniper rifle, and handed it to Agent Inkshade. "Looks like I gotta go after 'em. Rifle ain't waterproofed." She shook her head. "Only one that can swim, after all." "Um..." Maria was at a loss for words of encouragement. "Be careful." "I will..." Sonya stepped over the edge, and retracted the webbing in between her fingers and toes. She smiled, perfect for swimming. She took a step - before stopping. Oh! Looks like they forgot all about their VPD buddy. She faced Cass, throwing him a wide, disarming, smile, "Oh, thanks for the help, Cass. But looks like this is where we part ways for a second." Putting her hands on her hips with a tilted head, Sonya continued with, "As you can see..." She put her webbed hands with her bulbous fingertips, "... I'm a lil' beastie, so I think I can handle this part a little better. But don't feel sad, you have Maria to keep you company!" Sonya turned back towards the river, and dove inside, with her hands together. She pierced through the water and felt that [i]splash[/i]. Her eyes opened, and she didn't even have to hold her breath. She was now breathing through her skin. She quickly unsheathed her knife, and looked around, [i]Where is that bugger...?[/i] She thought to herself. She saw a purple light moving away. [i]Ah! There you are![/i] [hr][b][h2]Meanwhile... John Cole Sykes[/h2][/b] "Y-you want me to what?!" [color=lightgreen][i]"You heard me right Cole! These guys, these NEST chicks? I think they're looking for leads on Cora's death, and I want you to get into their databases and show me what they got!"[/i][/color] "B-but that's illegal!" [color=lightgreen][i]"Beside the point! Point is that whatever that [b]thing[/b] is, it's out there, and I ain't dreamin'! And if it's out there, I can chase it! Just get online, get me information on that thing, and let me get some vengeance on this asswipe!"[/i][/color] Seated on his bed, John sighed. It was raining out, the perfect weather to stay inside and play some games on his laptop. Today he'd taken a day off from work to just relax and unwind, to try and isolate himself from the streams of data that wove through Verthaven's sky. The streams from his laptop and phone gently roiled and twisted in the air, filtering through his window as they joined the masses outside, but he didn't care much for them. His attention was on the call he was having. "S-so what do you need me to do, Marcus?" [color=lightgreen][i]"I need you to get into the NEST network, okay? Those chicks had phones and stuff, they have to be communicating somehow. You gotta find that network, get into it, then feed me whatever information they got on this thing so I can track it."[/i][/color] With a weary sigh, John nodded, even though Marcus couldn't see the gesture through the phone. "A-alright, Marcus. But you better tell Audrey that I'll be in sick for another day or two after this. How will I find you after I get what you need?" [color=lightgreen][i]"My phone's with me. You find them, you'll find me. Listen, I'm heading back to where I found the body, gonna start from there. They couldn't have gone far."[/i][/color] "B-but Marcus- " [color=lightgreen][i]"Just get your computer stuff done and get back to me, alright? Now's not the time for questions!"[/i][/color] A blip of sound indicated Marcus' message coming through, and in a second John had the address committed to memory. "A-alright. I'm going to jack in now. I'll see you in a bit." He laid his phone down on his bedside table and sprawled out on his mattress, getting comfortable as he settled in for a long haul journey through cyberspace. Then, with a hand lying on his phone screen, he closed his eyes and jacked in. The real world rushed by him in a whoosh of sound as his consciousness converted itself into raw data and surged into the datastream connected to his phone, and soon he was in the data world, floating as an angel of light above a bright highway of data that extended from his phone outward into the skies above Verthaven. With a look in the general direction of his address, he set out along the highway of light and disappeared in the blink of an eye. In the cyber world, John flew on wings of data, speeding along the highways of data that led West, towards Haven and the beach. In a matter of seconds, he'd found the correct address and latched onto a route there. The journey would take less than a minute, and yet would leave him as exhausted as a five mile run. The physics of his powers, he could never explain, but at least they were useful. As soon as he reached the mobile tower in the vicinity of the given address, John stopped. Here was where the work got difficult. Somewhere in this sea of data were three unique data signatures that led back to NEST, and they routed through this tower. With a nigh infinite amount of time on his hands, he began to search, using his hands to spread and search each and every data stream that came into the tower for specific keywords or audio signatures. To the common computer user, a search this deep would take hours, but for John? A matter of seconds was all it took for him to locate a data stream of a...Sonya Mayfield. NEST field agent, marksman and metahuman, and currently on the case of Cora's death and the monster they were hunting. The hunt was just underway, but with this information and access into the datapad she carried, Cole could follow her and her team's progress through the whole hunt. And, right on time, a new blip emerged that routed into the tower, a stream that Cole handily identified as Marcus. Now for the chase. [hr][b][h2][color=lightgreen]Marcus Rowland[/color][/h2][/b] [quote] I have the info you need Use the attached app Will display GPS info on your phone screen - JCS[/quote] [color=lightgreen]"Awesome."[/color] Marcus grinned and tapped the new icon that had just arrived on his phone's screen. In a second, the app expanded into a small map of the area, with a collection of blips. The green blip, he recognised as himself; stationary at a street junction. The other three blips, the ones in blue, were the NEST agents he'd seen earlier, and they were moving. The last blip, a purple one, he didn't know, but he guessed was the monster. This one was moving quicker, and it didn't have a positive GPS position, only a circle that covered the general river area without any solid blips. But he knew where it was. Time to hunt. He clipped his phone to his upper arm, sat astride his bike and began pedaling for the river. With his strength and cycling ability, he'd be sure to catch up to the pursuants easily enough. As he cycled he watched his progress on his phone, which was still on. His blip moved steadily along the river's bank, albeit just behind the blue blip and purple circle. [hr] The second Sonya caught sight of the target, she immediately went right towards it. Swimming through the water with the speed and finesse of a fish. The light narrowed, and then swam in the other direction fast as possible - but Sonya was right on it's tail. She wish that she'd seen this ahead of time, just so she could grab her waterproofed rifle. The creature swam to the bottom of the little river hoping that it would deter Sonya, but she was essentially [i]made[/i] for this. Only problem for Sonya was that this thing was moderately fast itself. The chase went upwards when the creature decided that it wasn't going to lose Sonya underwater. It tripled speed in it's ascent, and hopped out of the water like a god damn fish. Creating a massive splash, which caught the eyes of many people trying to avoid the rain. It grabbed onto the nearest roof, and hoisted itself up. Sonya popped her head out of the water, and grinned. Looks like he lost the natural advantage just like that! Sonya hopped out of the water, and landed on the sidewalk. Earning hereslf looks from the passerbys. She looked at them and said, "Official NEST business." Before she hopped upwards right onto the side of the building, she clung to the red brick building using her sticky fingers. She climbed up the side of the building to the top, and instinctively reached behind her for her rifle - then remembered that she gave it to Maria. "Damn it!" Sonya hissed. "Inkshade, where are you?" Sonya asked Maria through the comms. "Gonna need my rifle back!" Her large eyeballs picked up the creature's movements. [i]You're not getting away from me that easily.[/i] "I don't know, let me use the datapad...." Maria looked at her wristpad. Fortunately, Grue linked their pads together. "Alright, I found you, I'm on my way!" Maria started running, holding Sonya's sniper behind her as she ran after her. In the meantime, that meant that Sonya could only hopelessly chase after the beast, and hope to grab onto it. Sonya hopped from one roof to another, her eyes were keen on finding it. She was glad that no damn gang member decided to roll by, because she was in the heart of Union Point Hills. Even with the Fiends gone, that would be a problem. Sonya made another hop, before the beast jumped down. Sonya jumped to the edge of the building, and looked down. Only to loudly sigh, and proclaim, "Of coooooourse...." Her target rammed his way into an abandoned factory. Closed down not too long ago, and set to be demolished. Sonya hopped down, and was quickly joined by Maria, who handed her the rifle. "Looks like we're going in...." [hr] The rain was pouring hard, and Sonya held onto her rifle as she, Maria, and Cass walked up the building. It smashed it's way inside somewhere, and she just needed to find it. Indoors, it should be easy to get a solid trace of it. Her enhanced senses are good enough to pick up it's sound, and scent. The trio circled around the building, until they found a boarded up window that was smashed down. "Looks like we found our way in." Sonya put her rifle behind her as she hopped in through the broken window. Maria did the same. Except - the moment she was out of the rain - she turned into her black ink form, and hopped through the window as a puddle of ink. She reformed into her true form, a large and tall woman made out of ink, with all of her organs and bones visible through her transparent skin. [i]Functioning[/i]. "Um... You can say that the both of us are... [i]weird[/i]." Sonya shrugged as she said to Cass, nervously looking at her feet. The three moved in. Lead by Sonya, who had a trace scent of the beast. Meanwhile, outside, Marcus screeched to a halt just at the entrance to the factory. On his phone, the three blips of the NEST agents had moved inside, and the purple circle had expanded to include the whole factory area. He got off his bike and moved into shelter, unclipping his phone from his arm so he could message Cole. [quote]cole ty for map heading in now[/quote] With his phone back on his arm, he allowed his arm bones to overgrow, twin blades extending from his forearms as he stalked into the factory. He kept behind the agents, but made his own path, running up stairs and keeping to the high ground and away from the ladies that he was pursuing. His green blip slowly drew closer to the blue blip. His footsteps softly echoed through the abandoned factory, alongside the agents. Sonya took in a strong whiff through her nose, and smelled the beast... Smelled a lot like rain, with other beasty scents. Sonya and Inkshade pushed in a little harder, until they reached one large room. It was dark, and hard to hear with the rain hitting the roof of the building. Thankfully, Sonya had some amount of nightvision. Nothing perfect... When she stepped into the room, she immediately looked right, then left. No sneak attack. Sonya looked up and... The beast was right there, hanging from the ceiling. It released it's grip. "Move!" Sonya immediately rolled out of the way, holding her rifle tightly as she immediately turned around, holding her sniper in hand. Inkshade turned into a puddle of ink, and threw herself across the room. Hitting the wall like paint, and reforming halfway and staring at the beast. Now... [i]Now,[/i] Sonya could get a good look at it. It had strange dark-grey skin, that was rough - on top of that skin was what looked like a layer of water. It had a long snout like a Goat's skull, with rows and rows and rows of nasty sharp looking teeth. It's arms were long, and thick, like a sloth, topped off with nasty sharp looking claws. It's legs were stubby enough to understand why it used it's hands to do all the moving. It's single eye glew purple brightly as it stared at Sonya. Sonya shouted, "Freeze!" To no effect, the monster didn't even recognize her statement. It rushed her headon, and Sonya had to roll her eyes up into her head. She leaped high up into the air, pulling out her knife as she attached herself to the ceiling. The beast braced itself on the ground, and leaped through the air powerfully at her. Sonya's tongue shot out of her mouth, and it attached her to the wall to the side, and slung her through the air. She pulled onto it tightly, and hit the wall. The beast went right by her and hit the air. She landed on the ground next to Inkshade, both drawing their sidearms as they pointed them at the descending beast. As Marcus drew up on the group, he saw the beast perched on the ceiling, and it dove straight for one of the agents. She lassoed out of its way as it flew through the air, and as it impacted the ground, he struck. From his perch up in the catwalks, he drew some bone shards from his hands and slung them straight at the beast, keeping himself hidden but aiming to incapacitate the monster before it went anywhere else. The bone shards hit the beast in the shoulders, and knocked it off course. It looked behind it to see Marcus. However, the two NEST Agents unloaded a barrage of taser darts that hit it's front, and sent electricity coursing through it's body. It hit the ground, bracing it's arms for the impact. It hit the ground with a thud, growling loudly as the two Agents leveled their arms at it. It looked around, and saw an empty crate. It grinned as it's hand latched onto it, and swung it around it's front - deflecting the taser darts that were just fired - before letting it go. Turning it into a high impact projectile. Naturally, Sonya jumped over it, and Maria dodging it was as simple as turning into a puddle of ink. It used it's distraction well, by flinging itself upwards towards the catwalk that Marcus was on. It's claws attached to the side of the catwalk, and it hoisted itself up. It didn't waste a second in rushing Marcus, using it's arms as legs like a Gorilla. He barely had the time to stand up straight before the beast was on his level, barreling down at him on the catwalk. With his arm blades out he charged straight ahead, growling as he dove forward with arms out, blades set to stab the beast in its shoulders. The blades hit their mark, unfortunately, this left Marcus open. The beast slashed it's claws wildly towards Marcus's midsection. "The hell is he doing here?" Sonya asked as she looked up. She recognized his scent and the clothes he was wearing... was he... was he following them? Either way, Sonya was going to help him. She hopped over in order to get a good angle on him. She leveled her sidearm at it, before pulling the trigger a few times. Shooting a few darts that hit the beast in the side. It convulsed and gave Marcus some breathing room. He hissed as the beast's claws opened up deep gashes in his middle, bleeding crimson all over the catwalk, but as his wounds began healing he kicked the beast away, his bone blades stuck inside its shoulders as he readied two more. With those in his hands, he charged forward and swung, aiming for its chest as he chopped the two blades together like a pair of scissors. Still stunned by the tasers, the blades pierced through the beast's stomach, spilling blood. It grabbed it's chest, as it let out a cry of pain. Before it rushed Marcus, throwing it's weight at him. "Oh, that isn't good." Sonya said as she watched from above. "Looks like we gotta help the poor bastard, Inky. Let's go!" Inkshade turned into a puddle of ink, and climbed along the walls until she was on the ceiling. That's when she dropped down, and reformed, gun in hand Taking a more direct route, Sonya jumped into the air, and shot her tongue out, grabbing onto the catwalk. She hopped up on it. She sat on the railing, and grinned as she pointed her glock at the beast's back, and squeezed the trigger three times - releasing a barrage of taser darts - once she squeezed it a fourth time, no taser round came out. The creature howled as it raised it's hands up into the air, shaking. Leaving itself open for one final blow.... The thing was on top of him, trying to get him dead. But he had other ideas. As the thing shook from the taser shock, he grabbed it and hugged it tight. [color=lightgreen]"This is for Cora!"[/color] Spines and spikes of bone burst from his arms, hands, chest, even face, impaling the beast in a bloody iron maiden. The creature let out one last cry as it died. "... [i]Dude![/i]" Sonya loudly shouted. "We needed him [i]alive![/i]" Sonya pulled her blonde hair. Now they can't bring the bastard to justice! At least they can examine the body. "You realize if he was a Metahuman..." Maria noted, facepalming. [color=lightgreen]"This [b]thing[/b] killed Cora! Damn well better make sure it dies and stays dead! No metahuman would go around killing people and mutilating them like that anyway!"[/color] He shook himself dry of the beast's blood and dusted himself off, pushing the corpse off his arms as he stood. Sonya put her hands on her small hips, and gave Marcus a narrow glare. "I understand how you feel... but you should have left it to us NESTies, we had the situation under control, and Agent Inkshade here was about to disable 'im." Sonya said, "Which brings up [i]another[/i] question: how the [i]hell[/i] did you track us all the way here? I swam through a goddamn river for christ sake." [color=lightgreen]"Well first of all, it didn't look that way, and secondly, I have my ways."[/color] He harrumphed and folded his arms, examining the tatters of his tank top in resignation. "Your... [i]ways?[/i]" Sonya leaned forward, putting her hand up. "Look, buddo, I really appreciate the help and all - but if you're doing anything funky, then we're going to have a problem, mister Rowland." Sonya huffed. Maria on the other hand, knelt down to examine the monster. She was going to disturb this thing as little as possible so the boys- "... It's dissolving." Maria calmly noted as the beast did just that. "It's dissolving." Sonya shrugged, almost like she shrugged it off. "[i]IT'S [/i]DISSOLVING[i], BLOODY HELL![/i]" In a few seconds, what was left of the creature was nothing but a puddle of sludge on the catwalk that dripped to the ground floor. [color=lightgreen]"Holy [b]fuck[/b]- "[/color] Marcus recoiled as the creature's corpse dissolved into a puddle of sludge that dripped through the mesh of the catwalk, momentarily shocked by it's sudden dissolution. Sonya immediately clenched her nose, wincing. "Holy hell, it [i]stinks[/i], too!" "That's going to be a problem." Maria shrugged. "Let me call this in. We'll get a crew out here to clean this up." She immediately turned away from the group, and pressed her earpiece. "Grue, Agent Inkshade here. We have tracked down the killer and..." "And what?" Dana asked. "Marcus Rowland, the witness, jumped in and killed the target, and before I could examine, he dissolved into a puddle." "Oh? Well..." Dana shrugged. "I'll send a team to your location to clean it up." "... In the meantime." Sonya pointed a finger at Marcus. "You're not going anywhere." "Alright, Agents, just keep an eye on..." Dana trailed off, when several alarms went off behind. "Oh no..." She winced. "Agents! We have an escape in p-" Comms went off when power was cut to Headquarters. "... Dana? Dana? [i]Dana?![/i]" Maria repeated over and over and over again. "Wait, what the hell is going on at HQ?" Sonya asked. "I don't know... but we need to get there." "... We don't have a car, and comms are down." Sonya shook her head. She then turned to Marcus, and said, "Alright, buddo... we have business to attend to - we're going to talk to [i]you[/i] later." [color=lightgreen]"Well, if you take me with you, I have a BMX bike. Just outside the factory."[/color] Marcus shrugged and stood around. Might as well be useful since these people "needed" him for later. Sonya scratched the back of her neck, and faced Maria. The two spouses nodded at each each other before turning into a liquid ink form, and jumping onto Sonya's armor. Getting underneath it. "... It's a start."