[IC] ZONES: -system offline-

[ScarlettWaters16]

@Stairdweller

Jazz frowns as she rolls ducks under her wings, but she draws her wings back in around her all the same. She has them tucked in close by her side as she watches Lenora approach the Denizens. She then notices how nice they actually seem and tips her head to the side curiously. Honestly, she expected every Zone to be as dangerous as hers, but she guessed it was exactly possible, considering her Zone is full of beasts and other creatures that would like to bring harm to outsiders. Well most of the time anyways.

She watches as they gesture to Lenora and Lenora takes a bite out of the aggressor meat. Jazz cringes and swallows down a bit of bile. She wouldn't say it out loud, but that is kind of disgusting. She was guilty of going and eating some raw fish or beaver meat at times, but she does not think she could ever eat one of the animals in the Zones. Jazz carefully approaches the Denizens as well, keeping a safe distance, but making sure that she's close enough to yank Lenora away if there's any danger.

She looks at Lenora and cringes as she eats the meat. "How... how does it taste?" Jazz asks her. She looks down at the humanoid like from and swallows another bit of bile.

Right then the message comes through and Jazz presses a finger to her ear. She looks at Lenora once it's over and says, "I'm heading uptown for those aggressors. I'll either see you there or back at base." She nods to the girl and runs outside. She jumps into the air, beating her wings strong enough to gain a current under them and begins to fly over the red city. She looks down at the ground, noticing the small, and big, specks of the others from base, some heading toward the same place she is. She smiles and looks ahead. She notices the two large aggressors in the distance and she descends immediately. She lands nearby, but not close enough to where the aggressors can see her. She waits for the others to arrive.

[Twisted Fate]

@UrbanEvolution

Jared released the tornado around his legs as Miriam helped him up of the rooftop. His arm hurt a little bit, but that had nothing on how much she'd bruised his ego. She'd flipped him over like he weighed nothing, which actually seemed like a possibility when he thought of it; after all, he could usually transform himself in air at will. He watched as she flung herself off the roof and went to follow her, but paused. Do I really want to follow this psychopath around? he wondered. He was startled by how quickly he realised that he did actually want to follow her around – she was the only person he'd met here that had the potential to be a friend.

He jumped down after her, controlling his descent so that he came to a halt a few inches off the ground. Landing on the ground, he turned to her to address her previous statements.

“Breaking limbs and snapping necks sounds good to me.” He said, walking down the street and gesturing for her to follow her. “Not sure it quite matches up to my abilities, but I think you've demonstrated well enough that I can't rely on them alone.” He was curious about her attitude to his inqury about her appearance, and decided to respond equally as vaguely. “If you don't want to get too attached, that's fine by me.” He said. “So I think we can leave my name until we get better acquainted.” He flashed a grin at her. “Twinkletoes is fine by me, Jailbait.”

The pair continued following the street for about thirty seconds, before Eli's message came in to them.
“I know you said I needed to get in some practice, but think we can fit it in along the way? This sounds like it could be important.” He didn't wait for an answer, instead lifting himself up and propelling himself at a moderate speed towards to north, and whatever was in store for them there.

[GingerBoi123]

Malcolm looked at the two before him then gestured to himself. "Malcolm," He said, introducing himself. "and Ursula." He then said, introducing the geomancer on her behalf. Then Eli's message came through into his mind, actually it was an earpiece that Malcolm hadn't noticed till now. “That guy you ran into when you first entered Zone 1 – the Aggressor with the helmet who screamed and ran off? The surveillance team have seen him before. We call him “the Ram”. He’s a tricky fucker, and one we’re interested in finding more info on. Never shows up on the grid, never eats Denizens – kills them sometimes, yeah, but he just leaves the bodies lying around. A team of three or so should be enough to find him while the rest handle the situation up north. From what I saw when you all walked in, he was heading southeast. See if you can follow his trail – blast marks on the rooftops. Be careful with him, he doesn't fuck around.” Malcolm listened intently then put his finger on the earpiece. "Sounds fun Eli, I'll rendezvous to the tunnel and meet up with anyone else who will go there too." Malcolm replied. Malcolm then set off to the tunnel he first emerged from. He then turned to the others. "You guys want to come with me or...?" He asked quizzically.

[Horrid]

Ursula Elwyn

---

Ursula raised her hand to wave slowly as she was introduced. To her the smaller girl in the shining silver suit and the large reptilian man looked like apples and oranges, completely contrasting one another. She scratched at her arm, looking on dumbfounded for a moment as Henry mentioned the other Zoner present, Julian. The knowledge that there were other zones like the Red City was still something that she was having trouble wrapping her head around. She had many questions for her new companions, but all that she could manage to blurt out was directed to Henry, "Christ, you're big. You must weigh a freakin' ton! Just what the hell do you ea-" She cut herself off from inquiring about his diet, hands raised in a gesture that said 'I don't even want to know'.She felt that her stomach had received enough of a shock for one day and it didn't take a genius to put together the pieces based on what he had said and what she was seeing. "You seem to have everything under control here though, thankfully."

"As Mal said, I'm Ursula. Friendly and all, so no problems here." She raised her hands and held them open, taking a passive posture. Her attention was torn away as Eli's message beamed over to her, voice in her head giving her a 'special mission'. She watched as Malcolm spoke to himself with his finger to his ear. Different strokes, she guessed, because she didn't get any earpiece. Would have been cool though. She shook her head and nodded, to both Malcolm's invitation and Eli's mission offer. "We'll get there right quick." She stated, turning to leave the veritable crime scene they had just intruded upon. She delayed for a moment, turning back to spare a wave to the large lizard man Henry and the smaller space cadet Kayla. "See you two later, nice meeting you. However strange the circumstance may be." She stepped quickly, eager to be away from the carnage of the scene and to be at the tunnel again so they could begin to investigate this 'Ram'.
@GingerBoi123
@UrbanEvolution
@Empour

[SepticGentleman]

Elias Winzer

---

The marks for each of the Zoners began to split apart as they veered off towards their respective missions. A large group to the north, and a trio to the west, where they all spawned in. He sat back in his chair and observed everyone's vital signs - stable, all of them. So he didn't have that to worry about.

"Hey."

A woman's voice sounded on a separate neural communication board. Eli turned his head - rather fast - and held his finger down on the button.

"Yeah?" He responded.

"Your team's looking good so far."

"That supposed to be patronizing?"

"Believe it or not? No. For once, I am actually commending you for your selection of troops."

"They were volunteers, actually."

"Even better."

There was a bit of a pause.

"So what's your game plan?"

"You and the guys tell me whenever you see something that needs a beating and I'll send them after it."

"Beyond that."

"What do you mean "beyond that"? That's everything. That's the plan."

"They are going to want to find out more eventually."

"More about what?"

"You. Somniatis. The Zones. Everything."

"They want that kind of info, they'll have to earn it. Until then, plan's just as I said. No deviations or setbacks. Nothing to piss off the Board anymore than they already are."

"Fine, then. It's only a matter of time before they start asking, anyway."

"Yeah, yeah, I get the point."

Eli sighed, but not out of annoyance.

"Everything okay on your end?"

"I'm fine. Hector's keeping to himself. Kenneth is... well, he's Kenneth."

"Causing you any trouble?"

"Not right now, no. But I'm afraid of what Ken's going to start doing once conditions improve in the Zones. He's... he's not right, anymore. In his head, I mean."

"I know. But, look, with things kicking up tonight, it won't be long before you're all out of there. So... tough it out for me, okay?"

"Yeah... Yeah. Okay. See you. Take care."

"Same to you. Thanks."

He took his finger off the button and slumped in his chair a bit, exhaling through his nose. A short pause, and he rolled back over to the central area of the console, back to observing the Zoners as they got closer and closer to their destinations. He'd have to be careful about this one - coordinating two teams on two tasks at the same time. He was confident in his own abilities, but... things tend to surprise him these days.

[Stairdweller]

Nora and Bobby

"It's kind of gamy," Nora replied thoughtfully after swallowing her mouthful of Aggressor. "There is a strong after-taste of aldolase. The zinc balances it nicely though." She finished the piece in silence. The texture was reminiscent of raw tuna.

When the message from Eli came through - she piked it up on her ear knobs - she nodded a curt goodbye to Jazz. "I believe I will go to track this helmeted villain. It sounds like it could be informative." The bird-girl headed off. Nora ripped off a larger chunk of triceps with her mechanical arm before she left too, continuing to eat as she jogged back to the entrance tunnel.

Some distance away through through the half-shadowed streets, Bobby trotted toward the north side of the city. He occasionally climbed a building to get a look at the lay of the land, navigating northward to keeping the sun on his left. He didn't have to wonder if he was getting close when he heard the sounds of gunfire and general calamity ahead. He scaled another, taller building an could see, distantly, the roiling red forms of the Aggressors. He leapt across a narrow street onto a rooftop nearer the battle, and began looking for a good way to get started. These Aggressors were a lot bigger than the one he'd mauled in the alley.

[UrbanEvolution]

Miriam Grant

---

Heart Shaped Box

---

Miriam scoffed at Jared's question. Fitting it in? Like she'd set time apart! "You dont understand, airhead, I believe on learning on the job. This is the perfect excuse. It's like it was meant to be!" she said, shooting off after Jared, flying intangibly through the fencing and walls that blocked her path, and washing over any denizens or aggressors that happened to be in her way. "Hey, Eli I assume you can hear us," she said, reforming in the street to speak. "What part of the city is north? I didn't even know that they had that here."

She waited a moment, and sure enough, Eli made a response. "Oh, uh... the area with the warehouses? Know what I mean? Waterways, looks like there's another city in the distance? There." his voice answered in her head. Miriam said nothing in response, more of just waved to Jared. "This way, I know the city like that back of my hand!" she shouted, shooting off in the direction she had been pointed in, flying down the streets like a smokey fireball. She continued down this path for a long while, eventually shooting to the left and climbing a small building and reforming on the roof about a quarter mile away from the docks and warehouses. She couldn't see any aggressors from her angle, she must be behind them. She sank down on one knee and began to write a game plan in the roof's floor with ash, when company joined her. Company that wasn't Jared. It seemed they weren't the other ones either. She could see a small mammilian form climbing up a building a good distance away, and another, more avian being landing on a roof not too incredibly far from them. Awesome.

---

Henry Olin

---

"I personally think we should-" Henry began, only to get cut off abruptly by Eli's voice ringing in his head.

"Hey, everyone listen up. The surveillance team is telling me there’s something going on up in the northern section of the city. Two big Aggressor marks surrounded by a lot of smaller ones. But I’m being told they’re all under fire… from a single source. So, it sounds to me like some Denizen is getting in way over his head. I’m more worried about those two bigger marks so, however many of you are good for it, get over there." the older man said, before his voice cut out. Henry groaned and stuck his pinky in his ear, as if to clear it out. "I hope everyone else heard that." he commented, but his face was stricken with confusion. He waved goodbye to the other two though, who seemed to be departing to take heed of Eli's other command. When they were gone, Henry turned to the remaining companion he had left. "Do you happen to know what he means by north because I do-"

"Oh, uh... the area with the warehouses? Know what I mean? Waterways, looks like there's another city in the distance? There." Eli's voice broadcasted again. That must've been an answer to another person's question that had been broadcasted to all of them. "That doesn't he-" Henry began, only to once again be cut off by a giant billow of smoke barreling through the street past them at an outrageous speed, leaving a trail of orange and black wisps. Henry looked to Kayla for a moment and locked eyes with her. He could only assume that had been the zoner girl he had helped out of the nexus that jumped off the bridge in an explosion of smoke.

"Get on."

He turned around and got on all fours, and Kayla hesitantly climbed onto his back, holding onto the large and thick osteoderms that lined his back like that of a crocodile's. Henry then kicked off, following the trail of wisps that the smoke ball left behind. He was fast, even with Kayla weighing him down, and when he eventually was led to the ninety degree incline of the one story building the trail led to, even it didn't stop him, ending up with Kayla handing onto his neck while he smashed his claws into the wall and pulled them both up. When they reached the top, he saw the girl he had helped earlier, and above he saw another zoner, a male this time.

"Oh great, more fuckers I have to... watch..." Miriam said, turning around with her hands on her hips looking genuinely pissed off until she had to look directly upward to meet Henry's eyes. The blood around his lips and the rippling muscles and big teeth was enough for her. "You... we can use you. But..." she said, looked past Henry's huge frame to Kayla, who had just dropped off of his back. "What do you do, Neil Armstrong?" she said, pushing past Henry to size her up compared to herself.

"I'm gonna draw a map, a game plan per say, on the floor for us to follow. I need to know the niche you're gonna fill. I'm already carrying the weight for myself and twinkletoes up there," she said, pointing upwards lazily with her index finger. "I wanna know who I can count on and who I have to look out for. Big gu-" she said, only to be cut off. "Henry." Henry corrected. Miriam cleared her throat to display her annoyance at being interrupted. "Henry here looks alright. You two a tag team?"

@Empour
@Stairdweller
@ScarlettWaters16
@Twisted Fate

[Stairdweller]

Bobby saw the two airborne Zoners arrive, joined quickly by Henrysaurus - he was hard to miss - and land-diver. They'd all decided to congregate on a roof a slight distance away; but Bobby had rapidly learned that his long, ungulate legs were fantastic for jumping, so he alternately sprinted across roofs and leapt streets until he had joined them.

"Hey!" he smiled without showing his teeth. No need to show off the chompers when he was covered in drying blood to his furry elbows. "'M Bobby. I got a pretty good look at the Aggressors from my roof over there. Two big ones, lots of little ones - counted twenty-five, probably more, they were moving 'round a lot. They're all concentrating on one of the warehouses, but I couldn't get a good look at it from where I was. They've got some barriers and junk walls set up, too."

He crouched down, pointing at the map with his right middle claw. "Nice map. This alley," he traced it, "ends up sorta in the mid-back of the pack. None of 'em were watching it; I think it would be a good attack point. On the other hand," he pointed to a different street, "this one comes out right next to where the two big'uns are hanging around, but it looks like they've got it blocked off. I dunno if we can get through that way."

[Empour]

@UrbanEvolution

Kayla Kirby

The voice that appeared in her head was startling, but Keyla tried not to let it show. They were supposed to go help a denizen? That sounded okay, but how would they-
All of the sudden, Kayla was climbing up onto Henry’s back without even realizing what she was doing. She blinked hard for a second, and all of the sudden, they were moving. She let out a shout that was quickly stolen away by the wind, and ducked forwards to hang on tight. They climbed over walls, through alleys and streets, and finally up a vertical wall. The whole ordeal was very fast, windy, and overall exciting.

When the reached the top of the wall, Henry stopped going at his breakneck pace, and stood back up on his feet. This had the unfortunate side effect of flinging Kayla off his back and onto the ground behind him. It actually didn’t hurt that much for some reason, but it was startling. She started to stand up, and all of the sudden, there was a pair of very intimidating eyes ripping through the top of her head.

“And what do you do, Meal Armstrong?” the eyes asked. Kayla pulled herself up, and was about to respond, but the woman the eyes belonged to just charged on without her,"I'm gonna draw a map, a game plan per say, on the floor for us to follow. I need to know the niche you're gonna fill. I'm already carrying the weight for myself and twinkletoes up there," Twinkletoes? What? “I wanna know who I can count on and who I have to look out for. Big gu-” Henry interrupted her, and announced his name, to the woman’s obvious annoyance. Kayla inched her way behind Henry, while the woman asked, “Henry here looks alright. You two a tag team?"

Kayla didn’t really know what she meant, and couldn’t think of a way to get out of this situation, so she said(with a slight stutter creeping in), “What do you mean? H-henry took me over here, we just met up and started talking, when the, uh, the voice told us to come over here,”

[SepticGentleman]

PROMPT 3

---

At the workshop, the Zoners watch as gunfire erupts from the fortified, two-story building towards a single point directly across the way. On the opposite rooftop, a lone Denizen is crouched behind a doorway with a rifle in his hands, dressed in layers of dark brown garbs and patches of armor, along with a rather wide-brimmed hat. The Aggressors occupying the workshop shout and scream in their language, obviously directed at the Denizen. Among them, near the front door, two hulking brutes stand and watch. One is wearing layers of belts and workman’s clothing, carrying a Gatling gun-like weapon at his side. The other is naked, save for a shredded and charred pair of trousers. Arcs of crimson electricity course along his shifting skin, and along the large, metal beam he has in his hands.

The Denizen turns his head and, somehow, places his gaze upon the Zoners. He calls out something in the local tongue, which none of the team should have any trouble translating as a call for help. Needless to say, you’re inclined to oblige the man and help him out with this ill-planned attack. The Aggressors have not noticed you yet – you have the element of surprise.

FOOTNOTE: For now, focus on making short posts amidst your characters. There are around thirty to forty normal Aggressors armed with rifles. Discuss a plan of action and then execute it, and save the two large Aggressors for last. Have everyone on the team contribute a fair amount of effort. Help the Denizen move forward and seize the workshop, and you will be rewarded for your assistance.

[Twisted Fate]

Jared's attention was drawn to the warzone ahead of the group. He was still airborne, surveying the assault from a fair bit higher than the rest of the Zoners, but he realized that he was going to have to land to conserve his strength; it seemed that when using the Nexus he actually needed to expend energy to remain in the air. He swooped down towards Miriam and the couple of misfits she'd attracted, and dropped himself to the ground next to her. Well, he tried at least. He misjudged his landing, stumbling into Miriam and sending them both crashing into the ground. He sprung to his feet in a demonstration of tenacity that was incredibly unlike him, and offered his hand to Miriam, muttering a quick apology.

"Newbies, how you doing? I'm the one she's presumably referred to as Twinkletoes, and I've got some pretty bad news." He glanced at the two newcomers. They were an odd pair, but he wasn't too distracted by that at the minute.
"You, Henry, was it?" He said to the goliath. "We're gonna need some serious manpower with what we're about to be up against, so I'm glad you're with us." He turned to Kayla. "I didn't catch your name, sweetheart, but I'm sure you're about as much use as I am right now."

He shot briefly back up into the air to get another view of the aggressors before falling to the ground again, thankfully sticking the landing perfectly.
"So, anyone got any ideas?"

[Stairdweller]

E.A. "Bobby" Smith

@Scarlettwaters16
@UrbanEvolution
@Twisted Fate
@Empour

"Someone who can do distance attacks should probably support that Denizen with the rifle," Bobby suggested. "Or even just try to draw some fire offa him." He looked at the fighting; neither side seemed to have spotted them yet. "They ain't seen us yet, either. We oughtta take advantage of that."

He looked around at the four others, trying to get an idea of their abilities. He pointed a claw at Miriam and Jared. "You two can fly, so I think you should come in from the top of the building. Henry should probably attack head on, what with being a giant lizard monster and all. I'll be part of the ground attack too, but I think I'm better off acting a little stealthier." He eyed Land-Diver. "What do you do? Can you do distance attacks? Could you try to help out our Denizen friend?"

[UrbanEvolution]

Miriam Grant

---

Miriam's hand flew up to her face at Kayla's confusion. "Your abilities! I use smoke and fire. Twinkletoes can turn into air. Henry is... Henry." She said, listing examples. "What do you do?"

She shook her head and looked down to the commotion below, and then knelt down to draw a map on the floor in ash with her finger. Bobby then joined them, jumping down from wherever the hell he had come from, complimenting her map. She took into account his words and ideas, altering the map accordingly.

"Henry," she said, pointing to the huge brute. "You're big and look tough as nails. The two large ones? I want you to make as much noise as possible and do as much damage to draw them out. Once that happens, keep their fire off of us. You're the only one of us that would have the defenses necessary to do that." She said. "Twinkletoes, you partner up with Bobby here. He has the weaponry, and with your air you can manipulate your sounds and aid his sense of smell. Bobby, you're the claws of your couple. Use them. Twinkie, you're the eyes. Guide each other." She finished. "I myself am going to engage and provide air support to anyone who needs it and cover your asses to the best of my ability. I'm made of ash, and if that remains in Nexus form as it did in our normal sleep, then I should be neigh impervious to any non elemental attacks they throw at me. Oh, and Henry, watch out for that. Bigger aggressors can develop abilities. I cant see any of the two yet, but watch out for that." She explained, standing up on her feet.

"There's another what looks like a Zoner off in the distance," Miriam said, pointing off behind her. "Avian in shape. She might be able to help. After that, seems we're on our own. We'll follow Bobby's idea in that I'll come from above initially, Henry, you come from the front or side and get their attention. You two," she said, pointing to Bobby and Jared. "You two will help with that pretty soon. Circle around and take them from behind when they're attention is on Henry or myself." She then looked to Kayla. "So that leaves you. The final pice of the puzzle. What do you think you'd be good at?"

---

@Stairdweller
@Twisted Fate
@Empour
@ScarlettWaters16

[ScarlettWaters16]

Jazz

Jasmine notices the other Zoners a little distance off and she immediately jumps into the air, hoping to avoid the aggressors view. She flaps her wings for a little bit, staying in place as she looks toward the Denizen, who looks slightly terrified as he shoots at the aggressors. She looks toward the other Zoners, swears under her breath and hopes that they are ready. She places two of her claws in her mouth, avoiding the poisoned ends, and whistles as loud as she can. The aggressors turn and look toward her and she freezes for a brief moment, her wings stop flapping. She drops a few feet before she remembers what she is doing and she screams, "Hey! Why don't you pick on someone your own size?!"

Being a victim of bullying back when she was younger, Jazz knew the feeling of being alone when others were attacking. She couldn't help but feel bad for the Denizen, and her feeling bad often leads her to do something irrational, like now. She probably should have gone over to the others and figured out a game plan, but someone needed to distract the aggressors. She knew that for sure. She flies gracefully closer and lands on one of the rooftops near the army of aggressors. She looks at them as they look at her curiously. Her voice trembles slightly as she says, "You heard me. Why don't you pick on someone your own size? Someone like me." She looks to the group of other Zoners and sees Miriam looking at her. She nods to him and lowers her talons down by her side, counting down from ten in her head for no apparent reason.

@Stairdweller
@Twisted Fate
@Empour
@UrbanEvolution

[SepticGentleman]

Ursula, Nora, and Malcolm

_{In collaboration with @Horrid, @Stairdweller, and @GingerBoi123}

---

As the tunnel came back into Ursula's peripherals, she couldn't help but ponder on the previous encounter with their quarry. It looked like an Aggressor. It acted like an Aggressor. But what was it that made it so interesting to Elias and the other people directing this first expedition into the Zones? Just a problem to be dealt with, she supposed. She shook her head as they reached the tunnel where they started and stood in the spot she woke up in, as far as she could remember. With her cloth-draped arm flapping in the light breeze, she pointed to the rooftop that she saw the Ram last and looked back to her travelling companions.

"Wasn't the thing up there when we arrived?" She mused.

"That's right," Nora said, already jogging toward the building in question. "We should find some stairs and get up to the roof."

One ot the building's door hung crooked on a single hinge. Nora batted it away and pushed the other one open as well. There was a large atrium inside, lit by tall windows with angular panes that cast sharp lines of shadow across the smashed reception desk and overturned chairs within. There were some unintelligible signs on the walls, but helpfully there was one with a familliar step-pattern line to indicate a stairway, and an arrow. A few flights of enclosed stairs led to a locked door that, once forced open, led out onto the rooftop.

Malcolm had stuck close to Ursula and Nora as they went through the ruined streets and school. "It looks like the Ram went through the buildings too." Malcolm commented, spotting the smashed desk and other debris. When they made it to the top, Malcolm saw a pitch black blast mark on the roof. "Damn... He really makes an exit!" Malcolm said, half as a joke half out of shock, the mark took up the entire centre of the roof, it's almost a miracle it didn't cave in. Malcolm went to touch the mark but he realised he couldn't actually feel the temperature due to his mechanical fists. "I can't tell if they're fresh or not. I doubt it however." He said to the others.

"We know how old the marks are." Nora said flatly. "We were here when he made them."

"Oh yeah, haha." Malcolm said, rubbing the back of his head embarrased.

Ursula chuckled, speaking frankly. "So I guess we should just start scanning for smoke or something. He was jumping around, so they have to be in increments."

"Let's try the walkways." Malcolm said as he walked along the ones connecting from roof to roof, going fom blast mark to blast mark.

...

It hadn't taken the trio long, in the end. The blast marks lead from one to another in a relatively straight path towards the southern section of the city. The area was littered with tall, dilapidated buildings with crumbling overpasses and pavillions on the rooftops. From the looks of it, before whatever had happened to the city, it seemed like there used to be a lot of Denizens up here daily. Chairs and tables littered about, shops and stands, courts for games unknown... all vacant. The Ram had left a trail across all of them, the blast marks defacing the veritable ruins they walked upon.

"So where to now?" There weren't any other scorch marks to follow.

"Hang on," Malcom began before he began to concentrate and communicate to Eli. "Eli? Can you get us a location on the Ram?" He asked.

"If the trail's cold around here, then..." Eli responded to the group, "Try... that building a little to your right. The fortified one, with the banners."

"How do you suppose this place got so ruined?" Nora wondered aloud as she headed that way. "They must have had police at some point, how did the Aggressors get so out of control?"

"I was under the impression that is was one hell of a block party." Ursula chortled out, oozing sarcasm.

"That doesn't sound like an enjoyable party."

"It was the Fracture."

"The what now?" Malcolm asked Eli quizzically.

"At one point in time... the Zones were connected. All three of them, in the same fold in spacetime. Relatively close on the cosmic coil to our own reality. Something... happened. And they got split apart. The Denizens used to hunt the things in Zone 2 for sustenance. When they got cut off... it just came to this, eventually."

"So this was some sort of haven utopia?" Malcolm said, trying to piece it all together in his own mind, but he did it through spoken words. "And now it's a cannibal warzone?"

Ursula put her hand to her head as she listened. "Woah... This is some freaky parallel universe shit? Dreams are getting way too complex. What about this Ram? Is he some sort of freaky phenomenon as well, or just another Aggressor?"

"I'm not sure. The surveillance team have caught him running around from time to time, but he always loses them. We think he might be working for someone."

"What, like the KGB?" Ursula blurted out, scanning the horizon once more as she spoke, searching for clues like a good dream detective. "Or, like, the Mafia?"

"He's clearly a vigilante... like Batman!" Malcolm joked with Ursula as he looked around too.

"Like I said - we don't know anything for sure. But I think your best lead will be whatever's in that tower."

The trio eyed their destination, readying themselves as they approached the top walkway of the tower in question. The crimson banners hung along its arches were still - not an indicator as to the life inside. But they'd hoped such.

"Careful. Don't know what's in there."

[Empour]

@UrbanEvolution @Stairdweller @Twisted Fate

Kayla Kirby

Kayla was, frankly, overwhelmed. Everyone seemed to be asking her all sorts of questions at once, most of them being something along the lines of asking what kinds of powers she had, and how they would use them to help the shadow man in the funny hat. Well, this was her time to shine. She would show everyone just how cool her abilities were! All of the others were terrifying monsters, or turned into smoke, but she was the only one with real magical power!

Kayla gave her best smile, the same one that dazzled her classmates in what felt like weeks ago. “Okay, um, watch me! I can do this!” she said, running up to the edge of the roof.
She pointed her finger at one of the closer flaming agre.. agra.. agricultures that looked like it would be the easiest to hit, and let a jet of magic fly, putting special emphasis on the color and luminosity, so it would look really good.

Immediately, Kayla felt that something was wrong. She got no response from her orders to make it bright and golden, and nothing visible happened. For a second, Kayla felt the most ominous feeling, like the kind that you get when you see a closet door in a horror movie that you just KNOW is going to open. Kayla suddenly let out a very audible squeak, as she was ripped forward out of nowhere by something invisible wrapped around her chest, and plummeted down to the street three floors below.

[UrbanEvolution]

Miriam Grant & Henry Olin

---

Miriam's head shot in the direction of the avian zoner she had seen earlier, who had garnered the aggressors attention. Were they ready? She had no idea. But it didn't matter now.

"Fuck."

She turned back to the others, only to see Henry already departing and that Kayla had had fallen off the building. "Follow the plan to the best of your ability! Stay safe and good luck!" She said, watching Henry jump off the building's edge and fall to the ground below, hitting the ground on all fours and just about bouncing, but continuing without a second though towards the spot where Kayla had fallen. He took a single step and Kayla collided with him.

There was a snapping noised and a roar of pain, more than likely a rib or two on Henry's side that he was ignoring. As soon enough Henry was back on his feet heading towards the distracted horde, which had turned, aiming their weapons and guns upwards in her direction. Knives, bullets, and other various weapons flew into the sky all aimed at her. Some more poorly aimed than others. The loud bang sounds hurling metal more than likely caught Jazz once or twice non fatally, but covered the sound of Henry's thunderous footfalls.

Henry powered on all fours, stumbling somewhat as he transferred from a quadrupedal position to a bipedal. His chest huge, his arms wide, his jaws open. He powered into the horde, grabbing the first aggressor he could get his hands on and continuing on, barreling through, his huge legs pumping furiously, running down a few aggressors unfortunate enough or too slow to get out of his way. He slung the aggressor away as he began to slow, it's body rag-dolling into two other aggressors and throwing them off their feet. He continued onward, grabbing another aggressor with his other outstretched arm and throwing it to his feet, running it down. He slowed to a halt eventually, having plowed through the horde until those ahead of him had jumped out of the way to evade his charge if he hadn't cut it off.

He beat his crest like a gorilla and bellowed slumping slightly and one arm falling to his side. With his free arm he snarled and prepared to fight any other oncoming enemies. Six ganged up on him, attacking various spots with their knives and makeshift clubs. Henry, for the most part, shrugged the attacks off or was able to power through them and repay them in full, until one aggressor with brass knuckles nailed him with several solid punches to his injured side. A shriek erupted from Henry's maw as he stumbled back, clutching his badly injured ribs. The aggressors, seeing this, raised their weapons and prepared to approach only for huge volumes of hot molten ash and smoke rained down upon them, not killing then, but taking the heat off of Henry.

Miriam on the other hand, shot off into the sky, her whole body a huge cloud of ash and sparks that reformed mid air. She couldn't fly in the air like this, but she sure could slow her decent greatly. With both hands small smoke rockets generated, pushing against gravity. She cut one arm and pointed downwards, ready to show off her power in an aerial assist, and was able to do so when she saw that Henry was already in trouble. Taking the fall for Kayla must've been worse than she thought. Regardless, she released billows of smoke in an effort to teargas the Aggressors back from her ally.

They had the skies. Now they needed to keep control of the land. The foreman, seeing Henry lead the charge, had moved from his cover to take a few pot shots at the aggressors while they were distracted, but had to take cover as a maelstrom of metal was shot at him and at Henry, who did nothing but turn his back and allow his crocodilian like armor to absorb the brunt of the damage.

---

@Stairdweller
@Twisted Fate
@Empour
@ScarlettWaters16

[Stairdweller]

E.A. "Bobby" Smith

@Twisted Fate@Empour@UrbanEvolution@ScarlettWaters16

Bobby watched Land-Diver plummet over the edge of the building in mild horror. A crueller person might have thought something like 'that's not a very useful ability,' but Bobby was more concerned with an internal rant about why it was nearly all kids on this damn mission. He'd seen other adults in the cafeteria; why hadn't any of them volunteered? He was half-way through vaulting over the edge of the roof when he saw Henry break the scuba-suited Zoner's fall. Which was good, because there was no physical way he could have gotten down there fast enough to be helpful. Bobby turned his vault into more of a rappel, skidding down the side of the building by digging his claws into the façade enough to slow his fall but not enough to stop himself.

Henry and Miriam were causing enough of a commotion to afford Bobby a chance to sneak over toward where the winged girl was drawing fire. "C'mon, Twinkle," he whisper-shouted, stealing Miriam's nickname for his fighting buddy. He crouched low and ran between different spots of moderate cover, working his way around the building and looking for a weak point. A pair of aggressors armed with nail-studded hunks of broken furniture surprised him as he emerged from behind a pile of overturned park benches. They seemed pretty surprised, too.

Bobby jabbed a lightning-quick strike at the closest one's eyes, claws extended to dig into the sockets as thick goo sprayed out around his fingers. The power of his punch drove his black claws through the backs of its eye sockets, into its brain and it collapsed, boneless and twitching at his feet. Bobby wrenched his arm, but his hand was unfortunately stuck and the collapsing Aggressor dragged him stumbling forward. The other one's improvised club swished though the space his head had only recently vacated.

"L'il help here, buddy?"

[Twisted Fate]

@Stairdweller @Empour @UrbanEvolution @ScarlettWaters16

"Fuck, fuck, fuck!" Jared whispered to himself as the violence unfolded. He thought he had been ready for this, but he hadn’t anticipated how terrifying the scene would actually be. He watched in stunned horror as about six Aggressors surrounded Henry, beating him mercilessly. He was impressed with his resilience however – he hadn’t gone down yet. Miriam had shot into the air, raining fire and smoke onto her enemies in an impressive display, and Bobby had charged a pair of Aggressors, getting his claws stuck into one.

The sound of Bobby shouting “L’il help here, Buddy?” drew Jared back to reality. The fight appeared to be going badly for him – he was stuck to one enemy and the second one was wildly swinging his club at him.

“Aw shit.” Jared muttered, summoning whatever courage he had, and flinging himself recklessly into the air towards the Aggressors. He didn’t have a clue what he could do to help, but he’d be damned if he didn’t try at least. He blindly shot off a powerful burst of air at the first Aggressor, blasting him backwards a couple of feet and causing Bobby’s claws to become unstuck. Picking up speed, he charged towards the second Aggressor, sending off another blast of air at him. This blast wasn’t fully on target though, and only caused the creature to be thrown off balance. Taking advantage of his enemy’s instability, Jared flew directly at him and grabbed him, pulling him up into the air.

It was at this moment that he realised that it was an absolutely terrible idea. The creature was covered in fire for God’s sake. His arms were numb as he used the last of his strength to propel the Aggressor towards the ground with as much force as he could muster, but didn’t stick around to see what had happened to it. He stumbled to a halt next to Bobby, his arm’s starting to sting from the burns.

“Well, I’m here now. Any other ideas?”

[Jabking]

Nigel McGallet

After flying around for a while, Nigel noticed something. His wings, they felt stiff and tired. To avoid a crash landing, Nigel forced a risky landing onto a nearby roof of a two story building. Nigel fell to the ground shortly after landing. His wings felt as if they were on fire. On top of that, He could barely flap his wings. useless... Nigel thought with disgust at his disadvantageous form. He was used to flying around at high speeds, not plod along the ground like some common beast.

Being cut short from wallowing in self-pity, Two more of the aggressive creatures burst through a door onto the roof, one wielding a knife and the other armed with a crowbar. They must've heard me land Nigel thought as he evaluated his situation. It was obvious from looks alone that the knife wielder would relie on speed, due to his slim form. While the bulky crowbar wielding enemy looked like he could take down a wall if he so desired.

Before Nigel could make anymore deductions, the smaller one launched himself towards Nigel with his knife raised. Nigel reacted by bringing his right claw up to meet the assaulter's arm and, as the knife was being swung, the singular claw on Nigel's pointing finger pierced right through the being's arm. After a screech, the creature quickly retracted it's arm and retreated down the staircase it previously ascended, ripping off Nigel's claw in the process. It didn't hurt, but it put Nigel at a disadvantage.

The second creature screamed at it's partner as it readied it's own weapon, as if to say "you fuck-up". Nigel decided to take the lead and stepped in to swipe at the target's face, which was quickly deflected with it's crowbar and then returned. Nigel deflected it with his arm as his wings were still inoperable, the pain made Nigel side-step and let out an irritated grunt, followed by a growl. Nigel then grabbed the crowbar, pulled the creature pass him and then swiftly brought the last 4 claws on his right hand through the back if the target's neck. The creature's corpse hit the ground in sync with it's weapon.

Nigel looked behind him to see if the accomplice had returned, but it seemed that it had fled for good. Nigel rubbed his wrist as he sat down near the edge of the roof, just so he could rest awhile. After a few seconds, however, the mans voice could be heard. He talked about a large group of "aggressors" and a singular "denizen" attempting to fight back. The location, however was too far away for Nigel to make on foot and without his wings, he wouldn't make it in time to save the day. His lackeys will do fine Nigel thought to himself as he checked his wrist. But I'll check when my wings are rested, just incase they can't handle it he thought, unsure about his "Team's" capabilities.