[@Empour]
[h3]Julian Maius[/h3]
He didn’t flinch so much as his body tensed, ready to lash out, when someone bumped right into him. A glance backwards revealed no one nearby and by the time he turned around the small statured girl was already some distance away. He was a bit surprised that she hadn’t been knocked over in the bump or that she could move so fast with the stuff strapped onto her, but that surprise quickly gave away to annoyance mixed with worry. Julian could feel that his abilities were diminished for one reason or another, the spark not as intense as usual and he could only guess at what had caused the individual to break off from the group. Despite the scowl, he nevertheless picked up the pace and jogged after the “brat”; couldn’t exactly just walk away and do his usual thing knowing that some teenager was out there alone.

Despite his late start after the girl, his strides were much longer and he made steady progress in catching up. [i]‘Shit.’[/i] The possibility of losing her pushed him to pick up the pace as she darted around a corner ahead, and he managed the same turn just a few moments later. Yet that was a few moments too late as he slowed to walk on a completely empty street. [b]“Gotta be kidding me,”[/b] he muttered as he looked around and tried to find her. The few doors he tried were all locked or led to empty spaces, his rather quiet calls got no response, and the few side-alleys revealed little of interest. Well, that was until the last alley he bothered to check.

He stepped in front of the shadowed alley just in time to catch a Denizen’s attention - as it tore the flesh off a corpse’s arm. Julian froze as he tried to rationalize exactly what he was seeing, while the Denizen seemed to be in shock at having been caught in the act. Yet the moment was broken as the black veil seemed to crack and bright red flames bled out from underneath. [b]“Christ!”[/b] He didn’t know if cannibalism was what had set off the transformation from Denizen to Aggressor, but there wasn’t a question in Julian’s mind about what he was witnessing. Even as the creature opened its mouth, Julian threw his arm out and with it a stream of azure lightning. Sparks flew as it arced to pipes and other metal pieces in the alley, and whatever noise the Aggressor had been about to make turned to a screech of pain. It lasted for no more than a second before it was cut off abruptly, and the stream continued for a moment after that. By the time Julian retracted his arm and cut the flow off, it was a completely blackened corpse that slumped over the Denizen’s corpse.

Still, the Aggressor’s cry had been pretty damn loud and Julian wore his grimace clear as day. Not bothering to try and keep his voice quiet, he called out one more time, [b]“Scuba girl. I don’t know if you’re from this Zone, but that was a damn Aggressor death cry. Move it, or you’re on your own!”[/b] Arcs of lightning flared to life on his arms as he started to glance around and keep his eyes open. He imagined there weren’t any Aggressors nearby otherwise he’d probably have run into them over two corpses rather than the little cannibalization scene, but who knew how far that call had travelled.