[b]City Streets[/b] [b]Lost Haven, Maine[/b] [b]Day of the Riots[/b] [i]Run.[/i] The crowd was loud and violent, shattered glass flying here and profanity being hollered there. It was full of people, angry at something beyond Charlotte's understanding. [i]Run, and don't look back.[/i] They were all enraged over something for sure, but regardless of what it was, it was enough to drive them mad--in both meanings of the word. And fortunately for her, they made the perfect crowd for her to blend right into. [i]Don't make yourself distinguishable, just run.[/i] She didn't intend to distinguish herself from the crowd, that was certain. All that mattered was getting away from that freak, that monster--but he was already right behind her. [i]RUN![/i] She didn't even have the time to bolt away. He charged forward and tackled her, pinning her to the ground on her stomach. His weight coupled with him forcing her to the ground knocked the air out of her lungs, only adding to the struggle of the moment. Immediately, T grabbed the hood on Charlotte's hoodie and used it to start smashing Charlotte's face into the pavement, yelling insults as he did so. She couldn't really make them out, what with her face being smashed up and all that jazz. Time seemed to slow down between mashes, to a tempo where she could think clearly despite the injuries she was receiving. If she used her powers now, she might be able to get away...but then, people would see her use her powers in public.... Wait, why was she even debating the use of her powers at all? [color=orange]"Fire at will, baby,"[/color] she hissed as her head was brought up, and then she solidified light to the left of T and swung the chunk at him, knocking him off. The sudden relief in weight was the only cue she needed for getting up. She began to roll over on to her back so as to get up and run in the direction she'd came from, but all too quickly T was back on top of her. This time, however, he had a knife in his right hand, ready to do the deed that she knew he desperately wanted to do. As the arm came down, she quickly materialized a small wall of light in front of her face. The result was that T embedded the knife right through the shield, with the tip of it just inches from Charlotte's nose. He groaned, and began to push the shield itself down; all Charlotte could do was hold the shield, though she began to feel her strength failing her. [color=brown]"You know..."[/color] said T, grunting from the force of pushing the shield, [color=brown]"...in these past few months...I've learned a thing or two...about your little 'talent'...as well...as its weaknesses...."[/color] T abruptly stopped pushing the shield altogether and began to bash it with his left hand, forming cracks with each hit. Soon, Charlotte realized, the shield would give way, and both T's fist and knife would come right down when that happened. Frantically, she kicked him backwards, causing him to stumble and fall over backwards. This time, she didn't try to take her time; instead, she hopped up and began to run as far away from the former gangster as she could before he could get up back up. [color=brown]"Oh no, you're not going anywhere!"[/color] T seethed, pointing his wrist at a nearby skyscraper. Out from the wrist came a grappling hook, which swiftly attached itself to the skyscraper T was pointing at. Almost in an instant, T was flying through the air, straight towards Charlotte. Turning to face T as he swung towards her, Charlotte groaned. [color=orange]"You have [i]got[/i] to be kidding me, you fu-"[/color Before she could finish her sentence, T snatched Charlotte by the collar and dragged her with him as they swung across the road. Fortunately, however, fate managed to once again censor some unspoken profanity. At high velocity, the two of them swung inside of a building that was aflame, with Charlotte toppling onto the floor and T managing to catch himself as he landed. As soon as she was on her feet again, though, Charlotte once again decided to book it, leaping out of the window and back onto the streets, where somehow she still thought she could escape. T just shook his head and took chase once more. Charlotte, realizing that the gangster was on her tail again, decided that enough was enough. If she kept running like this, she'd just collapse from exhaustion. She was already beaten to a pulp; her face ached from bruises and cuts, and her sides were growing weary from T's pursuit. She needed to stop him, here and [i]now.[/i] Abruptly, she whirled around and threw forward tiny little shards of light towards T. As if expecting her to do this, however, T came to a sudden halt and threw his hands forward. What he did was enough to stop the shards, certainly; but moreso, it was enough to leave Charlotte in a state of shock. T stood motionless, holding his arms out. His suit had managed to produce a blue dome-shaped shield of soldified light that protected him. [color=brown]"You made a mistake attacking someone as resourceful as me with that shard of light,"[/color] he said, a smirk wrinkled upon his torn lips. Charlotte realized what he meant before he even said it. She'd tried to kill him with that one shard of light, and she'd left so many of those shards at the scene of the crime. Had he someone learned how to reverse-engineer her power? If he knew things like that, he certainly knew what limits her powers had. And that was [i]not[/i] something she wanted him to exploit. Panicking, she could only resort running once again, to which T soon followed. [i]He's not going to stop. You have to try to lose him for good this time![/i] she thought. Once again, this sounded more like her father than her own thoughts. But she couldn't physically escape from him, not in this state. At least, not if she let him continue chasing her on-foot.... Her thoughts were interrupted by her being slammed and pinned to the wall of a building. He'd caught up to her yet again, and she had a feeling she might not be able to escape his grasp this time. On impulse, she began to talk. [color=orange]"Why...why do you think this is right? Killing me won't solve this-"[/color] [color=brown]"Shut up! You shut your mouth, you hypocritical freak!"[/color] he snarled, using his free hand to begin to choke her. [color=brown]"Your little police friend told me all about your daddy, and how much you wanted us to just [i]die[/i]! Don't you dare try and tell me what I'm doing is wrong when you did the exact same thing to us!"[/color] Charlotte began to strain from the pressure of the former gangster choking her. [color=orange]"But-"[/color] [color=brown]"NO!"[/color] T bellowed, throwing Charlotte onto the ground behind him. He turned around, seething as he watched her try to crawl away. [color=brown]"Explain to me why you think that avenging the death of one person by killing four people is okay, but the moment that someone tries to avenge [i]them[/i], it's just wrong! ANSWER ME!"[/color] She coughed, trying to speak but no words coming out. Finally, she managed to look back and face her monster with weak, watery eyes. [color=orange]"Because...you were all criminals and killers-"[/color] [color=brown]"And what does that matter?"[/color] T snapped, beginning to take slow, small steps towards Charlotte. [color=brown]"Sure we broke the law. But not once, not [i]once[/i] did you people give us a chance, not as regular human beings or even as animals. All of us, every single one of us in that gang, were out on the streets before we formed the group. All of us were treated like monsters, for whatever reason. Donnie had his dialect, Jagg had her obsession, and me...I had my eye."[/color] She looked back at him, right at the eye he spoke of. Its blackness seemed to pierce right through her, as if it were the eye of a shark on the prowl for food...a shark that had just found its meal. [color=brown]"You tried to kill us all because Donnie shot your father. You never even took the time to learn how he died, did you?"[/color] Charlotte had listened to him talk about his freakishness, but she sure wasn't gonna put up with this. [color=orange]"Don't...you dare..."[/color] she began, starting to get up on her hands and knees. [color=brown]"On the day of the heist, he got shot, yeah,"[/color] T ignored her, enjoying every word he said. [color=brown]"But not because he was trying to fight us. When we took out our weapons, your father [i]ran away[/i]."[/color] [i]What? What did he just say?[/i] [color=brown]"The supposed town hero didn't even try to save his people. Instead, he bolted for the front door like a coward, leaving the people inside to a fate that he was too scared to face himself,"[/color] T snarled. [i]No...this...this can't be true...he's lying, he has to be....[/i] [color=brown]"If you don't believe me,"[/color] said T, as if he could read Charlotte's thoughts, [color=brown]"you could ask your police friend. Except of course, you won't get the chance."[/color] As he uttered those words, two little nozzles popped out from his wrists. He bent down a little to speak with Charlotte one last time. [color=brown]"You killed the only family I ever had. All of us together, you and your townsfolk called us freaks. But out of the two of us here, I'm not the freak...you are."[/color] And he aimed his nozzles at Charlotte. [i]Crash![/i] A sudden bursting of nearby windows caught T and Charlotte's attention. An even huger swarm of rioters were pouring out of buildings now, carrying what loot and weaponry they could. All of them came trampling past the two of them, knocking both T and Charlotte aside. Charlotte found herself lost in a sea of people, separated finally from T. The crowd forced her to dart over to an alley a few blocks away where she could find the time to breathe properly. Looking out of the alley to see if T, or perhaps a particularly angry rioter, was nearby, she sighed as she saw that the coast was clear. She had been beaten up pretty badly, but could at least still stand on her own to feet. But she didn't want to do that. She just wanted to go back to her apartment and rest, get things straight in her head...but she couldn't do that. T knew where she lived, and if she went back there, she'd be found out pretty quickly. As a matter of fact, she began to realize that the running and the beatings had gotten her pretty tired. She probably couldn't make it back to her apartment even if she wanted to get there. Not to mention, there was probably rioters inside of the apartment complex, too. But that was really all she had left. She couldn't just collapse in an alley. So, with all her might, she began to slowly limp back down the road to the slums where her apartment stood. =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= [b]Slums Outside the Apartment Complex[/b] [b]Lost Haven, Maine[/b] [b]Day of the Riots[/b] It took her quite some time, but she made it...she finally, finally made it. The slums were relatively untouched, it seemed; nobody wanted to riot in her because frankly there wasn't much to [i]do[/i] in the slums. They were just, well, slums, after all. Nothing valuable to steal, destroy, or protest about in here. Except, it seemed, for her apartment. Charlotte stood across the street from her apartment, staring in awe as bangs and booms went on inside the building. Already the building was in a state of major disrepair. The window to her room was still broken from the start of her chase from T, but otherwise she couldn't see any particular damage to her room. Odds were, however, that any additional damages were on the inside. She really didn't know what to make of anything anymore. Her friend had gone silent, one of the Karks was hunting her down like an animal, the city was suddenly filled with rioters, the true nature of her father's death had been revealed, people talked about "metas" or something like that, and now her apartment was being blown to shreds from the inside-out. Suddenly, staying in an alley didn't seem like such a bad idea after all. Slowly, she krept over to a nearby alleyway and slouched down on a wall, looking back over to her apartment and watching as it seemed to rattle from...well, whatever was going on in there.