[center][img]https://i.imgur.com/uvX201s.png[/img] & [img]https://vgy.me/weS5zP.png[/img][/center] Location: Sherman Square Time: During the HoH attack. [hr] Racheli felt weighed down by the shock of bullets entering her body. Their tips shredded the skin, penetrated the muscles, and shattered the bone before she hit the ground. Water sprayed across her back when she landed. All the air in her lungs escaped her body in a swift movement. Life leaked from her wounds to taint the rainwater collecting nearby. In her mind, she knew she should’ve died. This was not something a normal human lived through and stood up to tell the tale later. It took forever for her mentality to catch up to the fact she was still alive. Her mind was so trapped in its own little hell that she barely registered her limp figure being lifted up and hauled to the roof by Fletch. With the sudden impact, her body twitched. The logic of being human and being a monster fought in her consciousness until finally, they collided. This was enough to snap her from her ‘death’ into the world of the living. Nanites saturating the blood began to tear the material at its very molecule level giving the impression of acid burning away the fabric. They altered the base structure into something more organic in order to patch the vital organs first. At the last of Fletch’s words, Racheli’s figure jerked upright. Her mouth inhaled air rapidly causing her to break out into a coughing fit. Black blood trickle across her mouth before she leaned forward then vomited forth whatever remained in her stomach. Thankfully for her, it wasn’t much. Another stream of acidic blood sprayed across the roof’s concrete surface before dissolving the material and trying to slither back to its origins. In fact, all the droplets left in Nemesis’ wake began to deny nature’s own laws on their way toward her. The farthest ones died before even making it an inch beyond their starting point. Long exposure to the air appeared to be lethal or too much to handle. For the moments she had remained by Nemesis’s side to try and stem the bleeding, Kayla was preparing for the worst that was to come. [i]What if this was it?[/i] she thought. [i]Evergreen will not be happy with me if I got through the blockade of the mafia war just to see her die?[/i] she shuddered at the thought of a pissed-off meta gunning for her, who had only her bow and arrow to protect herself. Her thoughts were detracted from this idea as Nemesis jerked upright. [color=indianred]“SHIT! SHIT!”[/color] Nemesis cursed out loud through heavy pants. [color=e38c2d]”Take it easy,”[/color] Kayla responded, keeping calm and composed as she tried to ‘scramble’. Seeing the material on the woman’s body fizzling away and the acidic blood dissolving the rooftop had been the least of her concerns, especially as the blood was on her hands. The main thing was to make sure Nemesis was calmed down to slow down the bleed. [color=e38c2d]”Not to state the obvious, but you have been shot. It is pretty bad, but you can make it through if you stay calm.”[/color] Surprisingly, in a stark contrast from her confrontation with War-Pulse, her voice was calm, almost having a soothing tone in it to try and calm the meta. From behind Fletch, she heard a male’s voice speak. His tone was icy and uncaring about Racheli’s condition thanks to his annoyance at her,[b]“It’s about time you were woken from that illusion that you’re human.”[/b] At first, the archer wanted to turn around and see who was behind the voice that came from outside of her vision. However, with her bow still resting a few yards away from her, there was not much to do but to keep tending to the wounds Nemesis had. [color=e38c2d]”Who says that she isn’t human to begin with?”[/color] Kayla responded, catching sight of the man behind her in her peripheral vision. [color=e38c2d]”After all, she looks human in my eyes. Besides, she has made morality choices. Surely that’s a trait a human has?”[/color] [b]“That’s…amusing,”[/b] the Virus began as he walked around Racheli, finally coming into Fletch’s view. The speaker was a white man in his thirties with dark black hair, the strands cut short and parted at the upper left of his head. The bangs were combed to the right side giving him a very well groomed appearance. Draped across his lithe figure were a simple polo shirt and slacks giving him a fatherly guise to his image. [b]“Morals are subjective. Even the very people we are fighting truly believe they are benefiting humanity by eliminating those with threatening evolutionary qualities or abilities that could easily be used to selfishly hurt others. For their narrow-minded view, they believe it’s immoral not to act out for the survival of humanity,”[/b] the Virus’ tone was dark but firm in his words. A poison seeping through his lips into each syllable. [b]“More than just humans show this trait, even for selfish reasons, but they aren’t considered equals in your race’s eyes.”[/b] [b]“Looks are deceiving and morality is purely subjective. It doesn’t make you human,”[/b] the Virus retorted as he came to a stop before both women,[b]“Even a monster can make a moral choice based on their understanding, but doesn’t make them human.”[/b] Kayla gritted her teeth when the man responded to her comments. She had to admit that using the philosophical workaround to his comment about Nemesis’s status as a human wasn’t the best course of action. Even so, she wasn’t going to allow for that comment to stand. Especially when he dragged the Hounds into the argument. [color=e38c2d]”While I can certainly give you that much for a lot of the morality comments,”[/color] she started, her eyes furrowing towards his, [color=e38c2d]”I think the Hounds have lost all their standing in ‘fighting for humanity’ when they destroyed two towns and decimated a city, killing hundreds of thousands of lives. Innocent men, women and children that have nothing to do with their agenda. Doesn’t seem to me that they are the champions for non-meta people after such an act. Certainly the case in my non-metahuman mind.”[/color] [color=e38c2d]”To be honest, if there are more than just humans and animals out there then I wouldn’t know about them, purely from ignorance. But my point is that she’s still not a monster. Just a human who has abilities beyond my comprehension who just so happens to put up with an asshole such as yourself.”[/color] It cast a casual look at Racheli then added,[b]“She merely needs material to mend herself and it will be like it never happened. She still won’t listen to me over it.”[/b] Racheli glared at the Virus, who shrugged it off. Feeling her actions were getting her nowhere, she finally glanced down at her chest then spotted the holes Fletch mentioned. A hand gently pressed to her chest before she pulled it away, the glove covered in a tar-like substance. [color=indianred] "I'll be fine. This is minor compared to having my arm cut off,"[/color] Racheli said through gritted teeth. As the man talked to Nemesis, Kayla was still confused by what he meant about needing materials. This had been the first interaction the archer had with the woman so she doesn’t know about any abilities. But, in a world where she had seen a lot of crazy things, the news that this was just a minor thing was surprisingly good in her ears. [color=e38c2d]”Well, if you can survive your arm being cut off and survive that explosion in Chinatown, then I’m sure that these bullet wounds would be a relative inconvenience.”[/color] Out of eyeshot, Archie, the plant-based marsupial, poked its head out from her trouser pocket. [color=indianred] “Yeah, give me a second,”[/color] Racheli said as she eyed the roof. Begrudgingly, she slowly removed her glove then placed her palm on its surface. She inhaled a breath. As if given a signal, black blood oozed from her wounds and trailed down her arm. It swarmed with a purpose until it touched the ground. A subtle hissing grew louder while it began to break down materials, leaving behind a traced indentation of her hand. Unnaturally it retreated back inside the woman before the small nanites could die. Racheli gritted in pain as her insides were already nibbling at the bullets buried in her muscles, bones and other cavities. The skin through the jacket’s holes were seen knitting themselves together. As if nothing had happened. Kayla watched on as Nemesis began to work on getting healed up from the bullet wounds in her body. As the black blood dissolved the concrete that made up the roof, the archer looked at her hands as the gloves she wore had been covered with the same blood. Luckily for her, the blood hadn’t damaged the gloves too much that she would need to spend the time to make a new one. However, the combination of the damage from the blood and the roadrash on the right glove meant that she would need to get them repaired once all of this was over. When it ended, Rach blinked then stared at Fletch in surprise. [color=indianred]“How in the world do you know about Chinatown?”[/color] Any additional question was stopped when Rach heard, more than saw, the creature peer out of the woman’s pocket. Instinctively her head tilted to the side in order to get a better view. It took her a moment to fully accept what she was seeing as not being a hallucination. [color=indianred]“Before you answer the first question, where did you get that?”[/color] Her finger held up to prevent Fletch from interrupting her then dropped when she finished. Once done, Fletch looked as the woman she was with gave her a surprised look. It was then that the ball dropped about what happened that night was brought up. However before she could answer that, the archer was silenced by as a lone finger was raised at her. Before she had to ponder on what the second question meant, she felt Archie shift out of her trouser pocket and crawl down to the floor between them. Its eyes looked at Nemesis with curiosity before, surprisingly, crawling closer to settle near her. Even the archer was visibly surprised by the lax nature that the plant marsupial had when around Nemesis. [color=e38c2d]”Both questions that are easily answered,”[/color] Fletch replied, her eyes keeping the light-hearted gaze from a moment ago. [color=e38c2d]”But to answer the second question first, Archie here was given to me by a mutual acquaintance: a plant-based meta known as Evergreen. I came into contact with him shortly before a mafia war broke out in Chinatown and gave me the creature for future uses as well as a companion.”[/color] Kayla’s eyes shifted back to the serious tone it had before. [i]Now it’s time to reveal why you gave that nod to her,[/i] she thought, pondering on how to word her next answer carefully. [color=e38c2d]”Going back to the first question you asked, I’m not going to sugar coat it. How I know about the explosion in Chinatown that you [u]and[/u] War-Pulse got caught up in? It’s because I was there when it happened.”[/color] Rach warily looked at the creature. Usually animals tolerated her presence or fled from her, unable to stand her. Like they sensed something wrong with her on a subconscious level and heeded their natural instincts. It concerned her briefly that this strange, mossy creature simply plopped down beside her. Slowly her hand edged out then gave its leafy outside a soft stroke along its head then spine. After a few gentle pettings, Rach’s attention turned back to Fletch. [color=indianred] “It would figure he would break nature’s rule that animals don’t like me,”[/color] Her voice held some amusement hinted in the undertone. Gradually she lifted onto her feet, her right hand raised out and gestured for help from Fletch. After she rose, her arm leaned down to allow the creature -if he wanted to- onto her arm. She would then return him to his proper owner before continuing the conversation. [color=indianred]“Better hope Midas never finds out or you’ll likely vanish or be silenced in some way. The rich asshat has an ego the size of the moon with the arrogance to match,”[/color] instinctively her hand reached to behind her ear. Her fingers gingerly touched the device under the skin that leashed her to the jerk’s whims. At least kept her from walking away from him. When Archie felt a hand stroke its head and back, he reflexively pressed up against it. While he didn’t make any noise while it was petted, the face gave off an air that he was enjoying the experience. As Nemesis stopped petting him so that she could get back up, Fletch obliged her by reaching out for the hand and braced herself to allow the woman to get back up. Then, the archer watched as the marsupial climbed up the arm and returned to her, climbing along her arm until he reached her left shoulder, the green eyes looking at Nemesis with further curiosity. [color=e38c2d]”Yeah, I gather he would.”[/color] Kayla responded, a similar amusement in her tone. [color=e38c2d]”I think that as both you and Evergreen knew each other is the reason why Archie would be more at ease around you. He still gives me some shit, though still friendly towards me after meeting his creator for the first time.”[/color] As she listened to her talk about Midas, Kayla was already thinking about her confrontation with War-Pulse. [i]Surely Midas can’t be more of an asshole that that merc?[/i] she thought to herself. Then, she watched as the woman reached behind her ear. While it was possibly a normal reaction, the archer’s head tilted slightly in the direction the hand went. [color=e38c2d]”I bet he would want me silenced or to disappear completely,”[/color] she replied, her head returning to its normal, relaxed position. [color=e38c2d]”I think after sending two drones to incapacitate you and that asshat of a mercenary, resulting in destroying half of the block in Chinatown, I would want to keep that quiet and disguise it as something else.”[/color] While she returned her gaze back to normal for Nemesis, the archer just had a nagging feeling that something was up. So, much like opening the door to her witnessing the events in Chinatown, she asked the next few question. [color=e38c2d]”One thing’s still puzzling me: You are a metahuman that has the ability to take down those mechs with seemingly little difficulty, barring whatever caused you the bullet wounds. Why couldn’t you simply walk away from Midas? Has he got something on you that means you can’t?”[/color] [color=indianred]“It isn’t that simple,”[/color] Rach scoffed, then lifted her hairline. She twisted for Fletch to see the misshapen and obvious unnatural lump near the back of her skull. Her mask retracted far enough to show it. [color=indianred] “The jerk took precautions and I really don’t want to see how far my ‘healing’ factor goes. It’s bad enough when my nanites touch it… they get shocked and disabled. So they learned to ignore it,”[/color] Racheli grumbled. After Fletch examined it, Rach pulled back. As Nemesis turned her head to show off what was stopping her from leaving Midas, Fletch began to focus on the lump in her head. Unlike the focus she used whenever she was looking down the scope of her bow, this one had been for her electronic and electrical engineering in focus. As she listened to what the device did to the nanites that were in her blood already, she can conclude that it was definitely electrical and would have some sort of circuit that would discharge a large current to temporarily knock them offline. Naturally, she assumed that this device would have some sort of power supply in there that would generate enough current and had a solenoid that a smaller circuit would activate which would be the sensor of something damaging it. Meaning, it was something that could be done to short the device so it could be extracted. Only one problem. [i]I don’t have the equipment with me to attempt something like that,[/i] she thought, her eyes narrowing at one prospect. She ran a few possible ideas in mind that would try to shut down the device completely which might work for her disruptor arrow tip idea. As she retracted her focus, allowing for Nemesis to cover it back up, the archer raised her right hand to her chin, her left arm crossing over into the nook of her right arm. Appearing in thought, she listened as the other heroes started to leave to head off to the next place to fight the Hounds. Now, the next part is the more difficult one: saying she has a possible solution to the problem but not reveal who she was outside of the archer get-up. [color=e38c2d] “I can’t think of anything to help you with that,”[/color] she began, starting to bend the truth in her words. [color=e38c2d]”However, I know someone who might be able to disable that device long enough for it to be removed or for your nanites to destroy it from the inside. Perhaps after we finish off these Hounds bastards we can arrange for you to contact her to sort out the details?”[/color] Racheli’s eyes narrowed in suspicion for a moment. It appeared she might not fully accept the offer, before she bit her cheek side and submitted. [color=indianred]“Why not? I got nothing to lose,”[/color] She had to admit, then added. [color=indianred]“So… do you know what the fuck we’re supposed to do now?”[/color] Racheli found it hard to state she hadn’t been much help so far and had slight doubts that would change. While Kayla didn’t show it, she sighed when Nemesis agreed with the prospect of ‘meeting’ her to try and disable the device in her neck. [i]The hard part is now over,[/i] she thought to herself, listening as the woman asked what was to happen next. The archer finally turned around from the spot she had been at to look over the site where the Hounds fought against the heroes of Lost Haven and noticed that everyone bar a few stragglers have gone off. [color=e38c2d]”Well, judging by most of the heroes no longer being there, I think everyone’s gone off to fight the Hounds at another location.”[/color] Her gaze through the yellow lenses returned to Nemesis. [color=e38c2d]”I’m assuming you’re wanting to catch up to them and finish off these bastards?”[/color] [b]“You’ve not been much use yet…”[/b] the Virus pointed out, his tone condescending. It was a subtle jab at the fact she didn’t understand or know how to fully use her abilities without going overboard. His expression made a smug smile when she glared at him again. Racheli really hated the projection, from his superior attitude to his poking at her flaws, forcing her to acknowledge her shortcomings. [color=indianred]“Shut up, stupid bastard,”[/color] Racheli growled. She turned to Fletch, [color=indianred] “Yes. It’s the best way to get underneath Midas’ skin, and I can’t pass that chance up.”[/color] Fletch also turned to the man, her eyes glowering at him. [color=e38c2d]”At least she’s not a smug prick that no one gives a shit about,”[/color] she retorted, her voice hinting a form of jeer in it. While the archer had no idea that the man was just a projection from Nemesis herself, she figured that the man was seemingly harmless in the state he was in. Kayla’s gaze returned to Racheli as she spoke about joining in the assault of the next Hound location. When the idea of Midas possibly getting annoyed at such a prospect, her lips curled into a mischievous smile. While the cowl hid the smile, her eyes hinted it. [color=e38c2d]”Well then,”[/color] she replied. [color=e38c2d]”I guess we shouldn’t hang around here for too long. Seeing as how I still have my motorbike around, depending on damage from the attack, we could use that to get to the next location. Will need to see if there’s anyone around to help with the directions, but I think Carver was mentioned so we’ll head there if no one is around.”[/color] With things almost finished here and ready to be on the move, the archer walked up towards her bow, the weapon still at the place it skidded to from the initial landing. Picking up the compound bow, her eyes began scanning the surface for any damage. [i]Sure, there’s a few scuff marks on the side,[/i] she noted, seeing the scratches on the non-arrow rest side. The bracket and the stem of the sight was also scratched as well, but it seemed that this was the extent of the damage. [i]The limbs must have taken some of the energy out of the drop.[/i] Satisfied with the pull of the string to full draw, she placed the bow back on her hip and turned towards Nemesis. [color=e38c2d]”Shall we start our nuisance call to Midas?”[/color] Racheli chuckled softly, [color=indianred] “I’m following your lead.”[/color]