[hr][h1][color=Powderblue]Taylor Pierpoint[/color][/h1][hr] 


So one of the girls was a meta too. Taylor looked over at the Asian girl and found her to be quite ungrateful. She frowned and looked at the girl. Maybe she was jealous. Taylor crossed her arms across her chest as the girl snatched the duffel bag. Something told Taylor that she and this girl weren’t going to be friends. Still though, if summoning water from a pocket dimension was all she could do, then she had a pretty whimpy power. Only time would tell what she would be able to do with that water. Taylor looked back over at the other girl. She seemed afraid. 

[color=aqua] "You're a... Metahuman. Both of you are. Using your powers in public... and you never told me, Meifeng."[/color] Taylor smirked cockishly. Whenever someone mentioned how freakish metas were, Taylor could always feel eyes stabbing at her from all around. This time, it was somewhat valid. Beachgoers were standing in awe. The ones who weren’t were probably metahumans or NEST agents. Taylor was used to it, though, and she had come to accept that some saw her as a freak. 


“Ah, but ma cherie,” she said “Why would I ever hide my powers?” The sheet of ice shot off of the ground and began to circle Taylor as snow (the ice chains stayed. Much to the chagrin of the robber, the chains were frozen around two slats of the boardwalk). “I’m not afraid; I spent years perfecting my powers. No one will hurt me for using them.” The snow gathered itself into an orb above her hand and then took the shape of a giant snowflake. The snowflake glowed in the sunlight and began to slowly rotate in Taylor’s hand. Taylor smiled; she loved showing off. 

“My name is Taylor, by the way,” she said. “Taylor Pierpoint, same as the fashion designer. Why? Because he is my father.” 




[hr][h1][color=DarkSlateGray]PLAGUE[/color][/h1][hr] 


Plague and his men could hear shouts from behind them as they ran through the next building. The crashing of glass told him that men had roped in onto the second floor. As they clambered through the hole in the wall, they were joined by two more Fiends, who followed them into the next condemned rowhouse. Plague normally would’ve killed them right there, but he knew he’d eventually need some meatshields. The seven ran across the second level of the next house to a hole in the floor. Roark and Byon slid the plywood back and lowered down Plague. Then each member jumped down. They ran across the first floor of the next house. Here, the gaping hole was behind the shower. They climbed a ladder in the next one and walked through a massive cavern of collapsed drywall. As they ran through, gunfire came from below. One of the three phages exploded and its remnants crashed to the ground. One lone soldier had followed them through their maze. One of the two Fiends collapsed and fell back into the hole. As the soldier went to reload, Daniel stepped out and shot him in the head with his pistol. They walked through and arrived in the next building. 

 Now they were trapped. This was the last building in the row. Desperately, Plague looked around for a way to escape. He could hear the whirring of sirens and the beating of helicopter rotors from outside. It couldn’t end like this. The Chosen took positions around the room, prepared for a fight to the death. Daniel knelt down and placed another rocket in his RPG. 

“I don’t suppose you have any ideas, do you?” Daniel said. Then Plague thought of it. 

“Follow me,” Plague said. 

They ran down the steps down to the first floor, and walked to the door to the basement. It was locked. Roark kicked it down. They ran down the steps and to where the washing machines were. By this time, Plague was wheezing through his mask. Daniel put Plague’s arm around his shoulders and supported them to the wall. Daniel knelt down with the RPG, and the others cleared the way. He fired it at the crumbling wall, and it gave way. Once their ears stopped ringing and the rubble stopped falling, there stood a hole in the wall large enough to provide entrance to one person at a time. The hole led down to the sewers below via a crawl space next to the water pipes. One by one, the Fiends lowered themselves down and found themselves in one of the cisterns under Union Point Hills. 

As the last Fiend lowered himself to the floor of the cistern, Daniel took another detonator from his pocket. As he hit the button, a bottle of clorox sitting on the stairs of the last building exploded. It collapsed the steps and then splattered burning-hot homemade napalm over the walls, setting a massive fire. Just as Plauge stood triumphantly in his victory, a deafening roar came from the other end of the sewer. Plague turned to see a gigantic red monster lumbering towards him. He looked to his other Fiends. 

“Kill it,” he said. Roark and Byon grabbed their guns and opened fire. Daniel reached for his handgun and joined them. The two remaining phages pounced and tore at the red monster’s flesh, digging their probosci into its shoulders. The other Fiend charged, a circular saw in his hand.