[hr][center][img]https://i.imgur.com/CGfuTsW.png[/img][img]https://i.imgur.com/KNwZBsF.png[/img]
[sub][@Surtr], & [@Zombiedude101][/sub][/center][hr]
[b][code]Courtbridge, Prince Ed-Field_[/code][/b][hr][hr]


`So far, the mall had been going excellently. 

Getting Lijuan to calm her was easy enough with some ice cream. The girl was licking away at a chocolate ice cream cone, as Meifeng held her hand, and Jen walked at their side. She casually swung the little girl's hand. Jennifer also had a cone of vanilla ice cream... she said that she hated chocolate. Heh. Meifeng smiled. For a moment, the two almost looked like a [/i]couple[/i]. She laughed at the thought, before she continued, and her little sister looked up at her. Lijuan suddenly broke her grip from Meifeng and paused. Which caused both Meifeng and Jennifer a bit of confusion as she just stood there.

"Li, what's wrong?" Meifeng asked with a raised eyebrow, her hand quickly reached for the power suppressant collar that hung off her hip. "Is your power acting up?"

Lijuan sighed for a moment, before she continued, "It's nothing... I was just reminded of something...." She continued walking, Meifeng tried to grab her hand again, but then she swiped it away.

The eldest Zhao was floored by her little sister's sudden aloofness... but, then it hit her. [i]I get it, I know just what Lijuan means...[/i] Meifeng thought to herself, as she remembered that Lijuan was still [i]grieving[/i]. She just needed to give her a little bit of space.

A large boom from the distance made Meifeng jolt, followed by frantic screaming. Meifeng quickly reached for her pistol as she whipped around to see... a bloody abomination of a person. It's body was seemingly made out of... organs. From intestines, to livers... It was spewing blood everywhere. It's torso was bloated, and it's right arm was oversized. She couldn't tell if it was a man or a woman... or even a person. It's humanoid body told her that it was somewhat rooted in humanity.

Meifeng had no idea what was going on, but she quickly drew her gun on it. "Stay right there! Don't get any closer!" It took several steps closer, and Meifeng fired a shot that went into it's body... only for it to miraculously heal the wound. She raised an eyebrow, and realized that it had to possess Metahuman abilities to some extent or another.

Lijuan was frozen in fear as the only motions that came from the girl was shaking. Her draw dropped, and eyes were wide - but Jennifer quickly slid in and covered her eyes.

"It's okay," Jennifer said as she tried to pull Lijuan away... but she loudly yelled when her hand was badly burned, and she snatched it away. She grabbed her wrist... before she looked and Lijuan was giving off so much heat. She quickly turned to Meifeng, and said, "Mei, we got a problem - another one!"

At this point, Lijuan's body had burst into flames, almost like a massive torch. She cried out in fear, and flames came out of her mouth. The sprinkler system came on to extinguish the flames, but it barely cooled down her overheated body.

Meifeng turned between Lijuan and the monster... this was going to suck.


[hr]

True to form, the crystalline woman lumbered further towards Rowan, a low rasp erupting from her mouth. She could see him, clear enough it was - and he had become the target of her animalistic savagery as any objects she could reach were punted towards him, shards of the growths breaking off from her flesh and scattering towards him. "Oh shit, shit, shit-" He murmured, backpedalling still as he tried to draw her away from the other shoppers. Further and further he moved, tossing pieces of metallic debris her way just enough so that he could keep antagonising her and luring her away. He could've really used Wendy at this point just to back him up, but that what could have been and what was were two different things - he had to deal with it now, he could talk shit about it later.

[i]This was a stupid idea.[/i] 

Common sense and his gut would've told him to hightail out of there, instead he was still pulling further inside to lure this crazy bitch - if only because he'd committed at this point and wasn't in a position to do anything else. Experience taught him that he had to try and end this fast because if it got drawn out it would have gone the same way the fights with Blake and the Hound had, all screwed up. [i]Remember Ezekiel,[/i] he reminded himself, [i]get it over and done with[/i].

Then overhead, Rowan spotted it - a heavy looking display piece suspended from the ceiling, held in place by a chainlink and metal frame. Rowan gave pause as he ducked down again from another one of the shards being cast his way, then tore at the frame with all the might he could, bringing the full weight of it down upon her body with an ear-splitting clatter. What remained was a warped metal frame, the original advertisement that had been plastered across it now ruined. The body wasn't in sight, concealed under the mess - which was probably for the best. The implication of what he'd just done were... they were [i]fucked up[/i], to say the least, so instead he put the gruesome thought of what he'd done to what remained of that woman's body and turned towards what he thought would've been the easiest exit point.

Yet a short trip down one of the corridors made him realise that this woman wasn't the [i]only[/i] mutant asshole lurking in the mall today.

"Oh, fuck."

[hr]

A wave of water swept underneath the joy mutant's feet, and quickly froze. It barely did anything, as the mutant stomped on it, but Meifeng had her arms back as if she was willing water along. She slammed it into the creature that sent it skidding backwards. It slammed it's disgusting, fleshy, hand into the ground and it pulled out tiles on the ground. Which told Meifeng that, if it was tough enough to take [i]that[/i], then there was little she could throw at it.

She looked around her shoulder at Lijuan losing control of her power.... That was something that her talents were better suited for...

"Jenny!" Meifeng shouted behind her. "Switch!" Before she broke off into a sprint right towards Lijuan, gathering as much spare water as she could. While Jennifer shook her head and two bone spears erupted from her wrists in a bloody display as she ran towards the monster as it recovered. She leaped up into the air just before the ice began. It threw it's monstrous arm up, before Jennifer slashed at it's arms and created a huge gap in it's flesh. It screamed before Jen went under it's arm and rammed both of her spears into it.

Meanwhile Meifeng was using all the water she could and pouring it on Lijuan... this wasn't right! Lijuan's power was fire, but she was going supernova here. She felt the heat radiate off of Lijuan's body, and she sweat profusely. It was just a sensation, as Meifeng was determined to die before she let Lijuan ash. She merely used the sweat to hose Lijuan down, but couldn't hold off the flames for long. She needed something more than water.

It thunderously roared in pain, but quickly whipped its arm around and sent Jennifer flying. She hit the ground rolling, and grit her teeth as pain was sent throughout her body. Briefly, there were bruises on her arms that quickly disappeared. She got back up as the monster kept running towards Meifeng and Lijuan. She rammed those spears right into it's back, but then the creature's hellish regeneration kicked in and it began to [i]heal over[/i] the spears. Jennifer tried to pull it out, but they were stuck. She had one choice; she detached the spears. They snapped off halfway so she can quickly remake them, but the beast whipped around and hit her hard as it could. There was the sickening sound of her rib cage breaking as she coughed up blood as she hit the ground behind her.

Her vision was blurry and she saw the hulking beast stand over top of her. "No..." She whispered as she put her hand up. The beast did the same as it primed to slam its own gnarled fist down upon her.

A grating metallic groan rattled across the section of the mall, followed by the sight and sound of a hefty metal frame smashing into the grotesque mutant's frame from its flank, jagged pieces of the sheared display tearing into the viscera that enveloped it, throwing the creature off balance and to the floor. 

As Jen lay there, badly wounded, a bearded youth wearing a hoodie rushed over to her, hooked an arm under her shoulder and tried to pull her to her feet. "C'mon, move!" Rowan urged, his other arm being used to keep the mutant pinned under the metal frame.

Jennifer hissed in pain as the boy pulled her up. "... It's hard when your rib cage collapsed." Jennifer hissed in between her lips at the boy. She didn't even look up at him, but she was focused on repairing her rib-cage over her organs. Long as her backup organs were functioning, she was fine. She stood on her feet, and grasped her ribs as they snapped back into place.

The mutant, pinned beneath the metal, quickly healed much like Jennifer did. But it healed over the metal, and it seemingly became apart of the mutant. It lifted itself up with all of it's strength, then quickly began to march towards Rowan and Jennifer. During its march, it drove its hand into the ground and dragged it along, before whipping it forward and sending chunks of broken tile towards the two.

Narrowly avoiding a chunk which soared overhead while another shard which rippled past his shoulder, gashing his sleeve, Rowan sucked in his breath and yanked Jennifer as far out of the lumbering mutant's path as he could, then twisted in place and reached out with his palm, clenching his fingers into a fist and twisting upwards, causing it to it writhe and gurgle as the metal embedded within its monstrous form was moved against it, stemming its mobility.

Or so he'd thought - a grisly sight ensued as the mutant tore free of the twisted metal embedded within, which disturbingly remained in place, still coated in a mass of gore, all whilst the thing continued dragging itself forwards, thrashing away at anything in sight, its ruined legs yet to reform.

[i]How was this thing still alive?[/i]

Rowan was about to drop the existing metal frame on it one more time, but his concentration was thrown when a wooden bench swiped at by the creature erupted into a volley of splintered chunks which slammed against him, this time throwing him off his footing and causing the frame to clatter against the ruined tile floor.

Jennifer's ribs were finally in one piece, and she smiled as she reached it was time to exploit a little weakness that she saw in the mutant. When the bench hit the beast, Jennifer sprung into action, and created one large bone spear about the length and width of her arm. She ran towards it, and rammed it deep as it could go into the creature's leg - but, she quickly detached it, and left it stuck in the creature's leg. The beast roared as it regenerated over the spear embedded within and tried to walk on it, but it couldn't keep its footing.

But, there was another problem. Jennifer could feel the heat that Lijuan was giving off from all the way over her. The mousy-girl whipped her head around at light-speed, and saw that Meifeng was still doing the best she could to extinguish Lijuan. But, she was shaking, and her body was sweating like no other.

Mei wouldn't survive at this rate.

"Keep the monster down!" Jennifer shouted as she ran over to Meifeng. Getting close burned her skin, but she grabbed Meifeng by the shoulder and arm. "You're gonna die! You have to get away!"

Now alone, Rowan was left with the writhing, crawling mass and had little other option - he tugged at the nearest object again and smashed it into the creature, but all that achieved was a spatter of viscera across the ruined tile floor. In the heat of the moment it was fight or flight and he'd chosen the first of those two, desperately tossing whatever he could, ducking and dodging debris scattered towards him by the creature's swipes, until an [i]unlucky[/i] shot from a stray object hamstrung him and caused him to lose his footing once more. With the mutant looming over him, Rowan's gaze desperately darted from left to right, searching for the nearest object within reach - but he found none, his heart pounding away.

But he was stubborn enough to fight on, regardless, instead drawing both hands inwards, fingers clenched as though he was grasping at a rope with all his might, concentrating as he had practiced in his sessions with Wendy. [i]Something[/i] came within his senses as he reached out, then came a brittle cracking sound - one of the concrete pillars just ahead seemed to crumble at the top, a thin cloud of dust forming overhead, then he saw the fissures forming across. After a moment's hesitation at the idea that he might bring the ceiling down upon the both of them, Rowan took a hold and [i]pulled[/i].

This time the concrete gave way as the steel beam within was torn from its place and pulled down onto the grotesque mutant and along with it came about half a ton's worth of scattered concrete and other debris, the ceiling above it giving way. Rowan scrabbled across the floor, narrowly pulling himself to safety before he could be caught underneath the architectural avalanche, but the creature it was left completely covered, with any view of the scene obscured by a growing cloud of dust. 

"Holy fuck..." He murmured. It had been [i]intense[/i], the last time he'd used his powers like this had been during the fight with Ezekiel. An occasional practice session in-between had kept him on his toes but there had been [i]nothing[/i] to prepare him for it as the real thing. Then the heat hit him and his gaze became fixated on the girl wreathed in fire.

Jennifer managed to pull the weakened Meifeng away, but only because the heat exhaustion had almost gotten to her. This was a battle no one was going to win... but, Jennifer felt that collar hit her in the thigh, before a lightbulb went off in her head. She didn't know what this kid's power was, but he was the only thing that could save them. Jenny yanked it off hard as she could, and threw it at Rowan's feet. Before pointing at Lijuan.

"Put that on her, please!" Jennifer said. "There's no time!"

"W-what?!" Rowan almost stuttered, before hesitantly picking up the collar and glancing towards the girl once more time.

"You need to put it on the little girl on fire!" Jennifer commanded again, trying to make her point clear as day.

If what he'd just done hadn't been stupid, then this sure was - but she had a point, that girl was burning up quick and they were going to burn with her. Sweat trickled down his forehead, not just from the fight but from the sheer heat. Rowan took a step towards the girl for a moment, almost hesitating as he glanced back towards Jen, then started to make the approach, slowly edging closer to the whirling inferno with an arm raised to shield his face from the intense heat, the sobering taste of smoke filling his mouth as he grew closer, trying to withstand the flames.

Rowan reached out towards the girl, collar in the other hand as he hoped to steady himself, but then a column of fire seemed to widen around the girl and he recoiled, almost falling flat. It was too much, he [i]couldn't...[/i]

[jen or mei says something to try and encourage him? idk]

[i]He had to try.[/i] They couldn't just die like this, not here. Not the girl, either. Wendy wouldn't have wanted that. He'd held it together before and he could've done it again.

Concentrating with all his might, Rowan tore at one of the shutters covering a storefront close by, bending what he drew in around himself it around himself as a makeshift shield against the flames. It wouldn't have done much, but he could only hope that it would've been [i]enough.[/i] Just as things had quickly heated up with Blake, the flames licking at the shutters did the same, the heat enveloping him so that the air almost burned to the touch of his skin. It was like being inside a furnace, but he pushed on, edging closer to Lijuan, now almost entirely wreathed in frame.

At this point he was just a few feet away from her, within what could've been arm's reach - it was now or never. Tearing a viewport in his shield, Rowan could make out the girl's form through the tendrils of fire that surrounded her and reached out, using his magnetism to push the collar through the fire and fasten it around her neck. Relief washed over him, prompting him to drop the shield in the wake of a lucky success.

But just before the collar had fully activated, a final burst of flame erupted from where Lijuan stood and threw her would-be savior to the floor, his left sleeve wreathed in flame. "Gyragh! F-fuck!" Rowan howled, beating away at the burning section of his hoodie in a blind panic, frantically trying to put out the flames.

Thinking fast, Jennifer quickly formed a blade out of bone and grabbed onto the sleeve, then hastily began to cut away the still-smouldering fabric. Soon enough, the sleeve sloughed off, Jennifer's protruding bone having made short work of it. But now it was exposed, the extent of the damage was clear - Rowan's outer forearm was an unsightly mess of red-raw blotches running from elbow to wrist where the impromptu scorching had left it burnt. By all means, it wasn't a third and [i]probably[/i] wasn't a second degree burn, but right now? It hurt like hell, like something Rowan hadn't felt in a long time. Exposing it to the open air had only converted his frantic yelp into a stifled hiss, his left fist and jaw both clenched alike.

"Are you okay?" Jennifer asked, looking at Rowan's red skin. "I don't think you need a doctor... but, you might need some ointment."

"Tss," Rowan sucked in his breath, then snapped back at her. "You think?" 

"Yeah." Jennifer sarcastically replied, before her eyes landed on the two. 

Wth the collar now slipped on, Lijuan had felt relief, but she quickly fell unconscious and hit the ground with a thud. Her body pushed to its literal limits as she was on the verge of ashing before being saved by Rowan's intervention. There was a faint smile on her face before she hit the ground. Meifeng also smiled, letting out a quiet, "Thank you." Before passing out from the heat, as well.

"Mei!" Jennifer shouted as she ran over to her, and checked her vital signs. She's okay... but burned. Shit. This wasn't good. But, she went over to Lijuan who was also in a poor shape, but didn't have a burn on her thanks to her heat resistance. They're alive... but with everything that was going on... could Jen get them out of here? She couldn't. Not without help. "Hey," She said, looking up at Rowan. "I'm sorry that it's a lot to ask of you since you got hurt helping us - but, can you me get them out of here?"

There was a part of him that wanted nothing more than to beat it out of here and find some ointment or other shit to slap on these burns, like she'd said, but his conscience got the better of him again, particularly when he saw the little girl slumped on the floor, barely conscious if at all. It hit a raw note on him and, well... like he'd just told himself a few moments before, Wendy would've probably wanted it. 

"Fine, sure." He answered, sourly.

"Thank you." Jennifer said - sweetly as she could - as she got up and lifted Meifeng's unconscious frame onto her shoulders. She left Lijuan to the stranger, but the thought never occurred to her to ask for his name. Maybe later. They had to focus on surviving first.

Whatever the case, there was no way Rowan could've carried the girl out with his arm in the state it was. Knowing himself, he'd probably have dropped at her the moment he felt the raw skin's irritation, so instead he restorted to an [i]alternative[/i] means, if somewhat unorthodox. With his unburnt arm, he reached out towards a discarded segment of the steel shutters he'd used a shield and set it across the ground, flattening it where he could. Then, for good measure, he moved over to where Lijuan was curled up on the ground, fatigued but otherwise unharmed, and began to shift the girl's weight towards the flattened shutters as best as he could, laying her out on top of the surface, making sure she was tucked in neat.

Next was the [i]scary[/i] part.

Rowan reached out again towards the shutters, this time with Lijuan set on top of them. Slowly, they rose up - then partially curled inwards with a shrill metallic groan, forming a makeshift stretcher which was now shaped in a manner to make it a little easier to move her without her slipping out. He'd done something similar before, like with the bands of metal around his limbs, but unlike this it was for his own movement, for his own body where he was in full control - this was someone else, someone who, if he made the slightly wrong move, could get crushed or slip out and end up even worse off. Yet again, he made a mental note reminding himself that someone like Wendy would've probably handled this better.

Whatever the case, both Jennifer and Rowan set off on the move - each bearing their unconscious cargo. Jennifer wondered how a simple day at the mall had escalated so fast, at literally the worst possible time - but, she was going to survive it either way.