Hidden 2 yrs ago Post by King Cosmos
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King Cosmos

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Kitsune


Just like that, Bouncer was gone; vanishing from in front of her with only the sound of air rushing in to the fill the empty space to announce her departure. Akeno waved an arm through the air, checking to see if the other woman was actually gone or just hidden and sure enough there was nothing around her; teleportation then, most likely. Useful.

It was a shame she hadn’t stuck around a little bit longer before leaving because, as a matter of fact, Akeno had no idea where to find Bouncer if she needed to speak to her again. Not unless she was talking about the hospital where her friends were admitted; after all, it was probably safe to assume the other woman would be ignoring her advice about staying away from there, so if she did the same they might run into each other again.

Not that it would matter much. It was unlikely either of them would find out anything new in the next day or so.

With a sigh, Kitsune finally turned away from the vacant space and back towards the burning building and the crowd of emergency vehicles. The fire fighters seemed to have everything under control now, meaning that the building was less burning and more smouldering at this point and the ambulances had mostly left at this point since it was only Bouncer and her friends who had been hurt. No one else had been inside, just as the woman had said. That left Kitsune with no reason to still be here but also with nowhere else to go.

She walked over to the stolen van and opened the door, sliding in to the driver seat and grabbing the phone from the dashboard. It was still displaying the map and the address it had been before, but as she took it from its mount it returned to the home screen. Before it had a chance to turn off she went to the settings and disabled any password or security it might have had, lest it shut off and she lose all access to the device. That done, she slipped the phone into her pocket and exited the vehicle, leaving it where it was amongst the fire engines and ambulances and other parked cars as she began the long work back to her dorm building.

There was a report she still had to finish, before she could even think about what she was going to do next.
Hidden 2 yrs ago Post by Blazion
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“Great, because the guy who tried to have us murder one another is definitely someone that I want to spend time around.” The words were admittedly a little petulant, but Grim felt justified in it. Even if the events were slightly skewed, since Grim was the one attempting to murder Wraith and not vice versa when Mindraker decided to take the Shadowmancer’s sense of reality for a spin.

“But you’re right,” Grim exhaled heavily. “Mindraker seems to know more than he should.” The hero mulled over everything silently, peering out the window. The events of the night, the previous day, the mystery laid out before them. In truth, despite the complaint of sleep it was likely he wouldn’t be able to sleep. Not only was this a puzzle that needed to be looked at from all angles, if Grim gave himself even a moment to bring his thoughts to himself his mind would wander back to that warehouse. To the bodies, to frantically trying to keep dying people alive, to a person who should have died and instead suffered in order to cling to life.

When he finally heaved a heavy sigh and turned back to the other occupant of the room, Joel was fast asleep.

“There’s a bed.” Again, a petulant mutter. For a moment, Grim debated just leaving Joel there. Despite how uncomfortable the position might have been and how stiff it would leave his neck in the morning, trying to wake a man who almost daily makes enemies of the nightlife didn’t seem like a good idea. On the other hand, if it really was his first real sleep in years it could very well be like trying to wake the dead.

At least, trying to wake the dead when you’re not NecroMandy, a very odd criminal who’s career didn’t last long since she was afraid of graveyards.

Teenagers.

Mind made up, Grim stalked off to the bedroom and returned with a pillow and blanket. He set the pillow up before stepping back, lifting a hand as he manipulated the shadows to gently move Joel to at least lay down on the couch properly. Then the blanket was draped over him, and almost on auto pilot the shadows tucked the blanket in.

Zoey blanched behind the mask.

Grim took a large step back, abruptly turning. He took a moment to finish off his drink before dropping the bottle, which disappeared into the shadow at his feet without a sound - a shadow claw holding it stretching from the recycling bin in the kitchen to place it gently in. With Joel… tucked in… the hero cut his losses and exited out the window. Once again the shadows moved on auto pilot, this time replacing the traps connected to the window to protect the occupant while he slept.

He’s just gonna blame that one on the stress.

For now, it was time to return home to do some more research - and maybe find some others along the way. After all, it hadn’t slipped Grim’s mind that the rabbit faced woman from the other night had purposefully shown up to an apartment connected to this.
Hidden 2 yrs ago Post by ThisIsFine
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ThisIsFine

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Joel Beck
Location: Grim's hideout
Tags: Grim, Reaper, Rory, no necrophilia was involed in the making of this post


The inky black void around him was oddly familiar, but foreign at the same time. It was quiet, but in a good way. Years of stress and constant, nagging thoughts could slip away and Joel could let himself decompress. After three years of insistent and total insomnia, he had forgotten what it was like to dream. Was it always so bland?

Just as he resigned himself to float adrift inside this empty void until his body was done resting, a tiny pinprick of light appeared. Curious, Joel began to make his way towards it. It grew as he drew closer, as did his eagerness to get there. He was like a moth to a flame. He had to go to the light, he belonged there.

A sweet, angelic voice began to creep into his ears. It was warm and familiar, wrapping around him like a blanket on a cold night. It was singing, he realized, and the song was one he'd heard many times before.

"Sweet pea

Apple of my eye

Don't know when, and I don't know why

But you're the only reason I keep on coming home"


It was a lazy weekend morning spent in the kitchen, making pancakes. Or rather, cleaning up the spilt batter and flour while she mixed and poured. They didn't exchange words, but she hummed happily.

"Sweet pea

What's all of this about?

Don't get your way all you do is fuss and pout

You're the only reason I keep on coming home"


It was the end of a rough night, licking their wounds and regrouping. Tensions were high and the urge to get snappy for all the wrong reasons was pressing in on him. The shower in the bathroom turned on and it wasn't long before she was belting out that song. He could feel his nerves uncoil immediately. A soft smile tugged at his lips.

"I'm like the Rock of Gibraltar

I always seem to falter

And the words just get in the way"


It was a tipsy evening of celebrating a case solved and put away. A half empty bottle of brandy and a spent bottle of wine. She swung into the room, her words slightly slurred as she sang that song and giggled.

"Oh I know I'm gonna crumble

And I'm trying to stay humble

But I never think before I say
"

It was a long stakeout in a car filled with empty coffee cups and fast food wrappers. It was Joel dozing off to her humming until she grabbed his face and sang the next line directly to him, startling him awake.

"Sweet pea

Keeper of my soul

I know sometimes I'm out of control

You're the only reason I keep on coming

You're the only reason I keep on coming

Yeah you're the only reason I keep on coming home"


It was home.

The light engulfed him as he stepped out of the void and into somewhere else entirely. The source of the voice was immediately clear: a silvery figure with a familiar shape. She didn't seem to notice him, at least not until he spoke.

"Rory?"

She stopped and looked around, confused. "Joel?"

Then, a black shroud rushed towards him, and Joel was dragged back into the void, away from the light. He shouted and fought in protest; he didn't want to leave. He was plopped down, and then he recognized who and what he was looking at.

"Oh. Hey Reaper. I was hoping I'd see you again." His tone was cold.

"Joel."

"No, no Joel. No dancing around the truth. I spent the last three years of my life thinking I was losing my goddamn mind! Only to find out that you knew, you knew what was happening all along. And what? You couldn't tell me because of some bullshit ancient laws written by some old asshole forces of nature? You couldn't drop me a hint? Tell me that my life as I knew it was a lie?! How much of it was real, Reaper?!"

The Reaper stood silent, his skeletal face bowed. He at least had the good sense to look ashamed; as much as a bare skull could. "It was all real, at least up until you died. No soul is supposed to cross back over once it has been laid to rest. It's a crime against nature and a cruel abomination. You know this because you haven't known happiness since. You were supposed to be at peace, resting on the Otherside, with Rory."

"That was her, wasn't it. This…isn't a dream."

"Yes."

Joel threw his hand up in exasperation. "What the hell is going on?!"

"You weren't the first soul Dr. Ellison tried to resurrect. There were several others, some even successful. But he found that whenever those individuals lost consciousness, their soul would naturally wander back to where it belonged. They died."

"Is that what I'm doing now? Dying?"

"If I hadn't intervened, yes."

Joel let out a cold, incredulous laugh. "Of course. Of fucking course. It's always gotta' be some complicated bullshit; I can't just take a win for once, huh? Not even a little bit? I gotta' die when I fall asleep?"

"You have a choice right now, Joel. You can go back into the light, or you can stay here until your body is rested enough to wake."

He frowned. Did he want to wake up? After all, the second life he'd had so far had been pretty shitty. He could ditch it and spend eternity in peace, with Rory, comfortable and away from all his troubles at last.

But then…he had kinda' been in the middle of something…

And Grim probably wouldn't be happy if Joel died on his couch.

"Can I talk to her before I decide?"

"Of course," The Reaper waved his skeletal hand and suddenly she was there. Rory blinked, confused, until her eyes settled on him.

"Joel?!"

He smiled and nodded silently.

"Hi baby!" She ran forward and threw herself at him. Joel let out a laugh and wrapped his arms around her, swinging her feet off the ground. "I missed you so much," She said softly into his ear.

Joel let her down so he could study her face. She was just as beautiful as he remembered. Tears were already forming in his eyes. "I missed you too."

"Such a softy," She teased as she reached up and thumbed the moisture from his eye. Her hand cupped his cheek and her face turned sad. Her dark brown eyes searched his, as if she could see every moment he had suffered since they parted. "What happened to you while I was gone?"

Joel did his best to force a smile. It didn't work.

"Reaper said I had a choice. I can stay here or go back. I don't know what I want; I mean, I want to stay here but there was stuff I was doing and-"

She cut him off with a finger on his lips. "Go back," She said without hesitation.

"But-"

She shook her head. "I don't mind it here, but if I had a second chance, I would take it in a heartbeat. I don't want you to give that opportunity up just for me, okay? There's other people back there that are counting on you, and it's not like I'm going anywhere." She tilted her head and smiled up at him.

It wasn't what he wanted to hear, but he needed it. Joel swallowed and nodded his head. "Yeah. You're right."

"Duh." Rory pushed him playfully. He couldn't help but laugh again. Every part of him wanted to stay here with her, but he knew he couldn't. Shouldn't.

"Oh, by the way, I met that weird guy you told me about that one time. The one with the dog puns. Yeah, he still does that."

"Oh my god, no way! I love that guy! Are you gonna' start making zombie puns to match?"

"Absolutely not."

It was amazing how easily they fell right back into their old cadence. They had so much catching up to do, it was easy to spend the next few hours just talking. But, finally, Rory brought up the one thing that had been tugging at him. He didn't want to hear it, but she wasn't going to let him off that easily.

"Joel, I'm not coming back. You know that."

"Yeah."

"You can come here and talk, but our time together, alive, is over. You know…the whole "till death" thing? You deserve to be alive, Joel. You deserve to move on."

"What if I don't want to?"

"Then I'll put my ghost foot up your ass."

He was caught off guard and belted out a laugh. He knew she was right. Again. He just wasn't ready to accept it yet. This get together…he'd really needed it. Joel didn't realize just how badly he needed closure. It was a massive weight lifted off his chest. Maybe it was greedy; not many people got the chance to sort things out with their loved ones post-mortem. It was cathartic and weird all at once.

"I love you," He said, "You know that won't ever change."

"I know, babe. I love you too. Send me a post card, kay?"

Joel turned to the Reaper. "Okay, I'm ready to go back."

The Reaper nodded silently. The void quickly faded away. When Joel opened his eyes, he was in an unfamiliar room. Well, mostly unfamiliar. He remembered Grim dragging him here. Joel sat up slowly and rubbed his neck. He'd forgotten the perils of sleeping past thirty.

Hidden 2 yrs ago Post by druidquest
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druidquest 魔法少女

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Rabbit wasn’t sure what time it was when she finally found a convenience store that didn’t immediately try to call the cops or lock her out the minute they saw her. Seriously, they acted like they’d never seen blood before. They did know where they lived, right? The store glimmered like a beacon on the next corner, fluorescent signs and decals on the front surface seeming to darken the lights coming from inside. It seemed empty as she approached, not yet receiving the trickle of strays who had to be up earlier than decent people. That was good; fewer people to balk at the sight of her.

Rabbit’s eyes met her face in the reflection of the glass door as she reached for the handle, and she flinched as if in pain. She had caught glimpses of herself in the reflective windows of the city all the time she’d been wandering around, and each time felt like she was meeting eyes with a totally naked stranger, the way she could know who it was meant to be without recognizing it. Rabbit had absolutely no idea how people could be so attached to looking at that bizarre, disturbing face staring back at them with such regularity. She squeezed her eyes shut for a moment, pushing the door open and stepping into the store.

“Welcome to 24-7,” the clerk yawned, not looking up from the questionable cartoon program she was watching on a small screen behind the counter. The audio played somewhat quietly through the store’s PA system. A real surround-sound experience. Rabbit left the woman to her porn and turned to look for any clothes the store might be selling, finding them in a corner to the right of the entrance. It wasn’t a great selection, but it wasn’t covered in her blood yet, either. She grabbed a few things and stepped over to the counter, fishing a wad of cash out of her pocket.

The clerk glanced at the bundle of blood-soaked bills as Rabbit placed them on the counter, then clicked her tongue before looking back at the screen. “Just take ‘em.”

Fair enough. “Bathroom?” she asked, grabbing the money and stuffing it back in her pocket. The clerk pointed limply, not gracing Rabbit with her voice any further.

The bathroom door didn’t really have a working lock; trying to lock the door instead pushed the door away from the frame, letting people peek inside despite also, somewhat ironically, wedging the door enough that it couldn’t be opened. So… in a way, it did have a working lock, just with a pretty big negative side effect. She left it unlocked.

Rabbit peeled the tattered, singed, bloodstained suit off herself, tossing the worthless garments at the trash bin she moved to block the door. She turned the faucet on, pulling out several paper towels and soaking them to wipe herself down with. The ash and coagulated blood clinging to her stained them dark brown and black, and it took nearly the full roll before she felt satisfied with how clean she was.

The clothing was loose and breezy, a pleasant change from the tight stickiness she’d had to deal with that night. A white tank top, Cubs shirt, dark blue basketball shorts, crew socks, and hot pink flip flops. Rabbit thought it looked pretty nice, all things considered. They didn’t have any masks like the one she’d had before, but she did grab a black face mask and a hockey mask to go over it. Not quite the 360-degree coverage Rabbit was used to, but she supposed it would work. She let the hockey mask sit askew on the side of her head for now.

Rabbit stifled a yawn with the back of her hand as she stepped out of the bathroom, kicking the bin full of her old bloodstained suit to one side. There was some kind of commotion outside, and she glanced over to see a line of patrol cars roar past, sirens blaring. So they did still respond to emergencies then. Good to know. Rabbit stopped in front of a shelf full of snack foods, considering grabbing something. She hadn’t eaten in… nearly fifteen hours, and it was starting to get a little uncomfortable. She picked up a snickers bar, opening the wrapper and raising it to her mouth with a glance at the clerk, who was predictably disinterested in her presence.

Rabbit pulled the cloth mask down, her teeth hovering over the mid-tier candy bar in preparation to take a bite. A loud crash on the street distracted her before she could; she turned her head toward the store’s front windows in mild curiosity just in time to see a half-crushed control car go hurtling past. Huh. She shoved the candy bar into her mouth with three bites, then pulled her face mask back up and tossed the wrapper aside before vanishing with a thp.




Sirens blanketed the streets of Chicago, waking the city into chaos before the sun had fully begun to creep over the horizon. Cops on the street cower behind patrol car barricades, or the remains of such. Gangs were one thing, but there was no training to prepare them for what was filling the streets under the dusk-gray morning sky.

A riot van swerved hard to avoid the oncoming charge of a brutish, horned lizard the same size it was. Common thugs jumped off the backs of pickup trucks, readying weapons the likes of which hadn’t yet been seen. Soldiers of metal dominating increasingly scarce bits of flesh march in disorganized formation what would normally be a busy street, some taking to the air with experimental jet packs, soaring clumsily over the heads of the police trying to maintain a defensive line - or exploding in midair when their flight suits proved less than stable. Twisted mutants crawled up to the surface of the city, pushing aside manhole covers or squeezing themselves out of rain gutters. A wild-eyed, savage-grinning young man strolled jauntily through the street, wisps of smoke rising off his skin, and standing in the middle of a crosswalk, having just sent a car hurtling through the air, a tall, four-armed woman with skin partially covered in black chitin rested a shotgun against her shoulder.

The city’s defenders wouldn’t be resting for a while yet.
Hidden 2 yrs ago Post by ThisIsFine
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Joel Beck
Location: The street
Tags: Paranormal Cracktivity


Joel pushed the blanket off of him -had it been there when he dozed off?- and lumbered over to the kitchenette. He hadn't eaten all night, and with the exhaustion at bay, hunger was now begging for attention.

The fridge didn't yield much. Water, beer, shelf stable soy milk. A poke around in the pantry revealed some cereal and protein bars. That would do. After he poured a bowl of cereal and soy milk -it tasted funny but he could tolerate it- Joel sat down at the small table and let his thoughts wander.

How was he going to find Mindraker? This city was huge, and he got the feeling that Raker was probably good at disappearing. He had doubts that Mindraker consorted with the types that Joel sought for leads. Maybe the super villains that he knew of would have some ideas…although they wouldn't spill easily.

When he was done, he washed his dishes and set them in the drying rack. Joel absent-mindedly rubbed his growing five o'clock shadow. He hadn't had a chance to shave yet, and his hair grew like crazy. Surely Grim wouldn't mind if he nicked a disposable razor.

Joel felt a little strange rummaging around in someone else's bathroom, but seeing as he had just lost his home and everything in it, he got over it. Grim had a surprising assortment of feminine products, from a hair brush with a couple long strands tangled in it, hygiene stuff, and nail polish. Joel thought it was nice that he kept the place stocked for whomever his lady friend was. Honestly, it was none of his business, so Joel just took what he needed and left as much of it undisturbed as possible.

He shaved carefully over the sink, sure not to make a mess. The strawberry scented shaving cream he'd found was…different. At least it smelled nice. Once all the stubble was washed out of the sink, Joel found himself longing for a shower. Hell, this place might even have hot water!

The shower products he found were once again not something he would have picked out, but Joel was hardly in a position to be picky. After a quick wash, he smelled like a bouquet of fruit and perfumes. As he dried off on a clean towel he'd found in the linen closet, Joel figured he may be out of luck as far as his typical hair products went. A brief glance at the assortment in the vanity drawer confirmed this. What the hell was "anti humidity spray"?

He settled on running a hand through his hair and hoping for the best before redressing in the clothes he came here in. After the adventure in the bathroom, there was absolutely no way he was going to go pawing through the dresser drawers in hopes of something to wear. It was clear that Grim had set this safehouse up with a female significant other in mind, and Joel already felt like he'd imposed on whoever that was enough.

Joel meandered out of the bathroom and wandered over to the window with the booby trap. What the hell was this medieval shit? Might as well have installed a spring loaded shotgun. Joel wondered if it was the neighborhood that made Grim nervous enough to implement such a thing. Honestly, this place was steps above the slum he'd been living in. To think that the only security that Joel had was a deadbolt and a reputation.

He dismantled the trap and climbed out the window onto the fire escape. The sun was turning the horizon a blaze of pink and orange. The wail of not so far off police sirens was anything but new. Joel barely even registered them as he climbed down into the alley and made his way onto the main street.

Almost immediately, he noticed a man down the block that was acting erratically: twitching, spasming, tweaking out. He'd probably gotten into that new street drug or something. Joel was content to ignore him until the man locked onto him like a laser guided missile. He barreled towards Joel, snarling like a wild animal. He just barely had time to brace himself against the man before both of them were on the ground.

The man's teeth snapped dangerously close to Joel's face. Okay, bath salts it was. "Get the hell off me!" Joel grunted as he gathered the strength to toss the man off. He only just had time to reach into his bag and let his suit slither into place before the man was trying to claw his eyes out. A solid punch to the jaw sent the crackhead spiraling to the ground, but he was back up in seconds. Whatever this guy took, it had turned off the self preservation part of his brain.

A glint of metal caught Wraith's eyes before he was tangling with the rabid man again. He had a shiny ankle bracelet; a very familiar one. Oh shit. That changed things.

Wraith fought the man back until they reached a nearby bike rack. A lock sat open, hung over the rail. Wraith snatched it and forcefully shoved the man down, then snapped the lock shut around his neck and the metal structure. The wild man howled and flailed against his restraints.

"Sorry man, but you tried to eat my face," Wraith turned around and started to walk off.

"Wait!" The man croaked. Oh, he talked. Wraith paused and turned back around. "There's more," The man's wild eyes locked onto him, "So many more. They drugged me up and let me loose on purpose."

"Yeah, I can believe that. You're saying they set a bunch of you guys free? Why?"

"Distraction. It's not my fault, I'm not like this!"

"I know, trust me, I've been there."

"So you'll let me go?"

"No. You still tried to eat my face, and that's kinda' fucked up."

A couple police cars flew by, sirens blaring. Okay, so maybe he should check out all this commotion after all.

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Hidden 2 yrs ago Post by Blazion
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It was honestly relatively quiet in the last bit of darkness before the twilight, a fact that Grim was both frustrated and thankful for. He felt bone-tired despite having pulled longer ‘shifts’ than this before, and it was obvious why. It was a complete clusterfuck of a night, from the very moment he stepped foot into that ceramics factory. The burning, the layer after layer of conspiracy, the fucking fact that he invited a known crazy person into his apartment hideout!

That was the guilt.

Because Grim did feel guilty. His hands were full with those tagged survivors, trying to make sure they stayed survivors rather than being condemned to that pile of corpses. It didn’t mean that he didn’t feel responsible for not having kept an eye on Wraith, no matter the man’s regenerative abilities. Grim would do better.

He had to do better.

Right now was not the time for self improvement, however. Right now was the time for dragging his ass home, shedding this thrice bedamned costume, and then proceeding to make further bad decisions by mixing sleeping pills and alcohol in an effort to suppress any dreams that were going to haunt him. Not for the first time, really. Maybe he could think up some new dog jokes for when he caught up with that rabbit mask.

Of course, nothing ever works out the way Grim wants to. It was just edging into twilight when a siren caught his ear, and he hesitated, leg half in the next shadow step as he tilted his head to listen. It was tempting to ignore it, but … fuck, that wasn’t why he started this shit in the first place. With a long suffering sigh he withdrew and changed direction.

Another siren joined the first, then another, and soon it was a chorus of them across the city. That was concerning. The dog themed hero stalked across the rooftops, taking the vantage point to-

“Ooo, my first masked freak of the night!”

The sentence obviously stopped Grim short, and he turned to see … something different, that’s for sure. A scrawny, stick-thin man with a sort of jetpack that looked bigger than him, twisting and rolling in the air like a crackhead mosquito. It was honestly impressive that he could even keep his lunch down. Grim grimaced beneath the mask, but outwardly put his hands on his hips and puffed his chest out.

“A freak? I’ll have you know-” And then Grim’s conversation was cut short as the jetpack exploded, engulfing it and the man in a fireball that plummeted to the ground, slamming off the edge of the building and then clanging onto a dumpster below.

Grim stayed there, hands on his hips, bewildered.

When he edged his way down the man was almost definitely dead. The sight of charred metal and burning flesh brought up some unpleasant memories, and Grim nearly gagged - thank god for this mask right now, seriously. However of note was that, on a foot sticking up at an awkward angle, there was a metal band wrapped around the ankle. A very familiar one.

“I should’ve just become a Doctor like Mom wanted.”
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Hidden 2 yrs ago Post by King Cosmos
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King Cosmos

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Kitsune


The attacker charged her again, screaming an incoherent roar of pain and rage as he tried to put his over-sized fist through her skull. She dodged the first swing, barely, then the second and the third, each one by less than a hair. By the fourth swing the attacks had slowed down to something more reasonable and she was able to knock the arm aside and back away entirely.

No fifth attack came as her assailant seemed to run out of steam; literally out of steam, as small vents opened along the man’s biceps and shoulders to vent clouds of the stuff, the cool night air shimmering with heat and the skin around the vents audibly sizzling even over the sound of more screaming.

Just pain this time.

Kitsune hadn’t made it very far from the parking lot and her run in with Bouncer before getting caught up in something else, something as equally out of her league as a mass human trafficking ring was, on her way home. Three men with oversized torsos and arms, all wearing equally non-descript clothing and all shouting at the top of their lungs as they threw themselves randomly at passers-by and tore into nearby cars and buildings; their hands punched through metal and brick and pavement with ease and they were faster than the average thug she usually dealt with, though not by much. They could tear through a human to, as some unfortunate people had found out before she had a chance to get their attentions.

Two of those men now lay motionless on the street behind her, not due to anything she had done but instead simply collapsing after venting steam a couple of times while she ran rings around them; their faces were a reddish purple and the skin around their upper arms where the hidden vents were looked bruised and possibly even necrotic. Whatever it was that gave them their strength, it came with a cost.

The third was now done screaming and was charging her again, gritting his teeth and reaching out for her with a desperate look in his eye. Kitsune stepped to the side and ducked under the grasping arms, moving behind the juggernaut and stamping foot into the back of his knee to drive him into a crouch. He swung at her, arm like a tree trunk flying over her head as she ducked under it and moved out of his range. They stood again, slowly, clumsily and had to catch themselves on a nearby car and crushing the hood in the process. One step towards her was as far as they got before the vents opened again and the screaming started again and their legs gave out. It was happening more and more frequently as the fight dragged on.

Kitsune approached, cautiously, and stopped just aside of their reach. Even from here she could feel the heat emanating from their body, which meant they must have been giving off enough heat for it to be near unbearable for a normal person; almost as much heat as she felt standing outside the burning building earlier. The man was panting for breath, face as red as those who had already collapsed and presumably died and was probably about to meet the same fate.

“Why do this?” Whether she meant the attack or the modifications she didn’t know. The man didn’t answer right away, all of his energy being put towards taking laboured breaths as he lay there.

“They said… they’d let us go… if we… killed… ma-nngh.” Their words cut off as the vents opened again, more steam pouring out without him even needing to exert himself first now. Kitsune didn’t move out of the way, just letting the scaling blast wash over her to no effect.

“Who?”

No answer through the steam. No screams either.

“Who sent you? Who did this?”

The steam cleared and she could see that the man was gone. Leaving just another red and brutalised body behind.
Hidden 2 yrs ago Post by druidquest
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druidquest 魔法少女

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Wind cracked like a gunshot as Bouncer’s leg hit the ant woman’s back, air rushing back to fill the space she just was as she vanished again, reappearing down the road before teleporting again and reappearing on the side of a building, then vanishing again to reappear on the roof of a car. The other woman didn’t so much as flinch from the impact, simply raising her shotgun to track Bouncer around the street, listening for the sound of her appearing and disappearing as the only cue to her location. The gun found its mark, only to lose it in the same instant, forcing the ant woman to pivot back and forth in place, constantly looking for Bouncer’s next landing point.

“Anyone ever tell you that’s really annoying?” she called out, her voice half-filled with gravel.

“No.” Bouncer reappeared behind the woman just long enough to strike her leg against the back of the ant woman’s skull loud enough for the impact to echo down the street and the windforce to send up a cloud of dust, then vanished again.

“You’re gonna break your legs before you break me, girl.” The ant woman gave a theatrical shrug of her shoulders to exemplify the point. Her ears twitched at the telltale sound of air being suddenly displaced, and she turned on a dime, shotgun flying up and finger squeezing against the trigger. “So why don’t you give up?!”

Buckshot pitted the street and nearby cars, but no irritating teleporters. The ant woman clicked her tongue, wheeling around to point the gun the opposite direction. Nothing. “Did you actually run away?!” she taunted into the empty air.

“Nope.”

The ant woman reacted in an instant, pivoting on the ball of her foot while her upper right hand angled the shotgun upward without raising her arm - anticipating the need to fire point-blank into the air. Instead, she felt her body list backwards, gravity beginning to assert itself on her- The bitch had fucking tripped her! She twisted as she fell to catch herself, feeling something in her ankle crack just before her hands hit the ground.

The stimulus of the ant woman’s palms slapping against gravel was chased by the impact of a metal pole against the side of her face. “Oh, shit,” Bouncer tittered, admiring how the stop sign had bent nearly all the way back on itself before tossing it aside. The ant woman lunged for her, only to stumble into open air. She struggled to keep her balance, favoring her twisted ankle.

“What are you, a horse?” Bouncer mocked, planting her foot against the small of the ant woman’s back and pushing her over. “Should I call the glue factory?”

The ant woman caught herself on the side of a car before hitting the ground, a dark smirk creeping across her face. “Make your jokes, bitch,” she hissed, putting her foot back on the ground and testing her weight on it. Her grip tightened against the roof of the car, forcing dents into its surface. “While you can!” With a heave she raised the car into the air with her two left hands, sending it hurtling down the street like a comet.

Bouncer teleported out of the way at the last second, reappearing on the other side of the street only for the ant woman herself to slam into her with the force of a professional linebacker. Bouncer went tumbling down the sidewalk, coming to a stop when her back slammed into one of the cop cars that had done its best to be a barricade. Bouncer gasped for air as the wind was forced from her lungs, every part of her body screaming out at once. Her head spun, and she squeezed her eyes shut to try and regain some sense of herself.

“I forgot to compliment your hockey mask!” the ant woman’s voice was muffled, distant. Bouncer pulled her legs back under herself, trying to get back to her feet only to be thwarted by the feeling of a boot on her back, forcing her back down. “You’re the disc, right?”

“It’s called a puck,” Bouncer retorted weakly, forcing one eye open. If she could get away-

“I didn’t ask!!” The ant woman’s leg pressed down like a hydraulic press, hard enough to crater the asphalt beneath her.

A silence fell over the street, despite the chaos echoing from the rest of the city. The ant woman brought her foot back into line with the other, squinting down at the ground before raising her eyes to scan the area around her. “Slippery little shit…” she cursed under her breath.

The ant woman turned and walked back down the street toward where her gun had fallen. The little rabbit had gotten away, but that was fine. The order was just to buy time, after all, and in the state that girl was in now, she wasn’t going to be a problem for anyone any time soon. Possibly never again, if her back was broken. The ant woman grinned in satisfaction at the idea, leaning down to pick up her gun. Back to hunting, now.

Why did she smell burning ozone?

Bouncer hit the ant woman like a ballistic missile, face contorted in a manic grin and her body wreathed in violent lightning. The energy within her exploded outward at the same moment they made contact, sending the ant woman flying down the street, through the blockaded police vehicles and embedding her in the wall of the building on the opposite side. Bouncer staggered, trying to stay standing with one arm hanging limp and black at her side.

“Ffffffffffffffffffuuuuuck you,” she slurred, raising a middle finger with her other arm.

And then fell face-first into the street.
Hidden 2 yrs ago Post by ThisIsFine
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ThisIsFine

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Joel Beck
Location: The street
Tags: Turns out insomnia was a pretty useful super power


Wraith arrived at the center of the chaos shortly after the Rabbit girl's victory. There were police lights flooding the early morning street with blue as they attempted to block the roads from early commuters. Several officers were unloading their guns into the monstrosities with varying degrees of success. He supposed he should just pick a place to start, then.

A creature with a man's body and a dinosaur's head came barreling towards him.

"Why?" Wraith groaned. Why would someone make this? What possible reason could they have had?

He caught the creature by the jaws as it attempted to take his head off. Wraith forced the scaly maw shut and wrapped his arms around its head. He'd seen guys who wrestle with alligators do this on TV, and, well, they were sort of the same thing, right?

The human part of the monster flailed its hands at him wildly. It seemed to lack the instinct to punch; instead it tried to gut him with the dinosaur talons that it didn't have. The puny human fingernails didn't do much damage.

He looked around for something to restrain the guy with, while failing to notice the police officer approaching with a gun. The cop put the barrel of the pistol to the dinosaur's temple and fired before Wraith could intervene.

The body went limp in his grip and Wraith let go, partially in shock at suddenly being splattered with prehistoric brain matter.

"What the fuck?! Why did you just kill it?! The hell is wrong with you?!" Wraith turned on the officer furiously.

"That thing was trying to tear your throat out!" The officer shouted back defensively.

"Of course it was, it's part dinosaur! It doesn't know any better!"

"I've seen you cave a few heads in," The officer snapped, "Since when did you become a conscientious objector?"

Wraith deflated a bit. That wasn't his fault; he'd been brainwashed, drugged, and suffering the effects of a major head injury. Right? Or were those things just enough to unlock a viciousness he already possessed? Were any of these beings at fault, or were they just victims?

The officer had stormed off while Wraith spaced out. By the time a sharp pain snapped him out of it, he had a whole new problem. A man with what looked like fleshy guns for hands was shooting at him. Okay, so he would just break off the finger barrels and disarm him. A little brutal, sure, but not too entirely cruel.

Wraith quickly approached him, taking the bony bullets rather than trying to dodge them, as was his usual tactic to save time. At least until one of the shots hit him square in the forehead.

He didn't even have a chance to process what had happened before he collapsed into a pile of angsty goth on the concrete, unconscious.

Hidden 2 yrs ago 2 yrs ago Post by Blazion
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Blazion

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In the time it had taken to put out the fire and then keep the charred body covered, which resulted in Grim gagging at least once, the crow drones had gone crazy with alerts of various dangers nearby. And far away. And a medium amount of distance away just to complete the set.

In short, the city was in slightly more chaos than usual.

A quick alert to the Chicago P.D. of the location of the body - which likely wouldn’t be picked up for quite awhile - and Grim was taking off to the nearest commotion. The rising sun was a blessing and curse all in one, the sunlight chasing away the darkness that made up Grim’s powers while also elongating the shadows for some tricky maneuvering.

To be honest, even Grim wasn’t sure how his powers worked exactly. How do you manipulate the absence of light? A mystery. That’s why these things still weren’t well understood even in the modern day.

The scene the mask hero arrived to was a stand still of sorts - there was two police cruisers, four officers, all with guns drawn behind the doors of their cars aiming at a gleaming man. Much to Grim’s disappointment this wasn’t a sparkling vampire however - because honestly, that would’ve been a story to tell - but rather every inch of the man’s body was what appeared to be a shining steel.

Also he was naked, which was another problem.

… Although it did explain why he was so angry.

The man of steel, having been initially ignoring the officers as he looked around, finally gave the shouting cops his attention. Predictably, he wasn’t too keen on following orders and merely laughed at their demands before just charging forward. They began shooting, but not even the force of the bullets ricocheting off metal man slowed him. He got dangerously close to the officers before a line of pure black shot out from the still-dark alley just in front of him, the solidified shadows using his own speed to clothesline him. He actually cracked the concrete.

“Ooo, so sorry about the ruff landing! But don’t you know a good boy follows orders?” Despite the bone-deep tiredness in Grim, his voice was as loud and booming as ever as the hero popped out like a daisy from the shadows cast by one of the police cars. He gave a quick finger guns to the lady officer he emerged by before stepping forward, hands on his hips.

“Good trick.” The metal man rumbled, slowly peeling himself from the ground. “But it didn’t even leave a scratch. I’m gonna crack your head open for even trying to penetrate me.”

“Penet- are we not doing phrasing anymore?” Grim glanced over his shoulder to the officers, and was met by bewildered stares. Not unusual for him. He shook his head and looked forward to mutter. “No, absolutely not. I am a PG-13 rated hero and I will not be taking that train to Banterbury.”

Before the metal man could do more than get to a knee, Grim lifted his hands. The long shadow the other man cast darkened, before claws shot out and slammed into him, the long fingers morphing to tendrils that wrapped around his upper body and face.

“So sorry my friend, but metal or not I think it’s time you were leashed!” It took a few moments before the shadows were beginning to give way around his upper body, but the more he struggled with that the more effective the covering over his face was. Just as he got a hand loose and began to reach up for his face, the lack of oxygen took hold and he went limp. It was a bit uneasy of a thing to stand by and watch, considering how long it can take for a person to fall unconscious from lack of oxygen, not to mention dangerous - but it was the safest option for everyone involved.

When the metal receded from the man’s body, Grim cautiously withdrew the shadows enough to form another hand, which poked the man. He didn’t stir, but he was breathing, so it was a win.

“Well, I do believe it’s your turn, officers!” Least of all because Grim didn’t particularly want to be handling another naked man tonight. Today. Whatever. However as the uniformed police finally went to move, what appeared to be the senior officer stopped beside him.

“Thanks for the hand, Grim. That was a tricky situation.” She inclined her head in a small nod, which Grim proceeded to respond to with another set of finger guns.

“Not a problem. With me around, anything is paw-sible!” The officer’s smile grew extremely pained, which was always the sign of a good pun. Before she could excuse herself however, Grim’s voice turned serious. “By the way… think you can lend ol’ Grim a couple sets of handcuffs?”




It was hard to say that the years of chasing criminals and crime scenes wasn’t paying off, as Grim’s experience was leading to some quick take downs. He had started off with four spare sets of handcuffs from the officers, and gained two more along the way, and within thirty minutes was down to one set. Of course, stopping constantly to assist officers and civilians alike - as well as just plain stopping the property damage of one particularly angry woman who seemed to either have a grudge against convenience stores or was particularly hangry - didn’t bring Grim any closer to the goal.

All this chaos at once meant it was planned, and a plan means there was a planner. Hopefully getting to them would stop this, but so far Grim wasn’t having much luck with having to bounce from incident to incident. The most he had gotten so far was a garbled rambling of being set free, and another man roaring about how the torture would be stopping either way today. The ankle cuffs were honestly more of an indication than anything, especially since Grim didn’t exactly have time to interrogate deeply before having to bolt off to help the next person.

It was actually on the way to the next beeping alarm from a crow drone that Grim was rudely upended mid-run across a rooftop, ending up ass over teakettle and skidding along the floor before rolling to his hands and feet.

“Hah! I found him! I found him!” The man crowing before Grim was a barely more put together version of the first person who accosted him that night. Morning. Whatever. This man instead of a jetpack had long feathers growing from his arms, an actually attractive sandy brown color with dark tips, which flapped to keep him afloat. However the coloration was the only thing appealing about him, as otherwise he had long talons, an unnaturally long hunched neck, and his words were nasally due to the hooked beak emerging from his face.

“A vulture, right?” Grim ventured as he straightened out to stand fully on his feet, voice relaxed even as he began to gather what shadows he could between the open space and rising sun. The sharp, beady eyes of the animal hybrid were focused intently upon him, to which the shadowmancer merely gestured to his own neck. “The neck gave it away. Very distinct curve. Don’t you know carrions don’t hunt live prey? I know I’m an old dog but I’ve still got some bite.”

“That can be fixed.” A large hand grabbed the edge of the building, the material crumbling beneath a meaty paw and painted nails as they pulled themself over. It was an extremely large woman with blonde hair and about three, maybe four times the width of Grim himself, all rolling muscle and long blonde hair. Naturally, Grim whistled.

“Well, excuse me for panting! Ain’t that a lucky son of a bitch?” The son of a bitch in question was held almost like a doll in the woman’s hand, a sullen looking young man who as soon as he was set down ignited in flames.

See, he managed to keep his clothes from igniting - why did the metal dude have to be naked?

“What a charmer,” The woman rumbled, and if there was sarcasm heavy in her voice Grim did what he did best and completely ignored it.

“Sorry, was I being too fur-miliar? I thought I was responding appropriately to being hounded.”

“Ugh, can we just get him already?!” The vulture man screeched, diving forward. Thankfully vultures weren’t exactly known for their speed, and with a quick upwards thrust of Grim’s arm the shadows coalescing around his feet shot up in the shape of a huge fist that slammed into the vulture’s belly and sent him reeling.

Or should he say flying?

“Can’t we paws a moment to talk about-” Fire rolled over Grim and the creation, shrinking it even as Grim went to retreat. Most of the roof was open, with only an industrial cooling unit and a door to the stairs atop it. Cheap bastards, what kind of building only has one cooling unit? Still, it was there that Grim retreated to to regroup - only for the flames to disappear as suddenly the blonde hulk was stop him, slamming a fist into Grim’s chest. It was like being hit by a car - which he was unfortunately familiar with - and something cracked as he was thrown into the unit he was counting on as his salvation, which dented around him.

This … was not good.

“Ah, playing ruff with me?” Grim coughed, mustering up a laugh. The shadows beneath him darkened as he prepared to slip away, taking the moment given to him - the woman was standing back after the punch rather than following up, and the pyromancer was still on fire but also backed off. It was strange but better not to look a gift horse in the-

A projectile pounded into Grim’s chest, making him choke and double over as it combined with the earlier hit. Hunched over, the gleam of the projectile sticking from his chest was obvious. A tranquilizer dart.

And not shot from either of them.

“Was he hit?”

Yes, yes he was. Of course, the problem with being hit was he was shot in the chest - where his padding was thickest, for reasons obvious only to himself. It hadn’t quite penetrated. Which meant he had a moment. Grim went still, gathering his energy as he heard the large woman approaching. He waited, patiently, until her equally large shadow stretched out behind her - and then fell backwards into the shadows at his back.

“Fuck!” Grim emerged from the stretch of shadows behind the gargantuan woman in a leap, trusting the thick padding of his costume to take the brunt of fiery damage as he tackled the stick-like figure covered in flames. They both went down, and without being able to use his shadows, Grim trusted the instinct that said this man had very little hand to hand combat. In a display that showed Grim’s speed one hand grabbed the other man’s as he went to raise it, bending his fingers backwards painfully so the man cried out, while Grim’s other hand grabbed his face to slam the back of his head into the roof. The flames went out. Grim rolled away just as another shot would’ve hit his back - instead catching the pyromancer in the chest.

Hah. Karma.

A gleam on a nearby rooftop caught Grim’s attention, likely where the sniper was, but that was the only moment he had before Miss Amazon was upon him. With the fire out Grim threw his arm out, slugging the woman across the face with another shadow fist. It barely moved her, but the more important aspect was that it wrapped around her face to begin suffocating her just as he had with the first fight of the night. Of course, that left her hands still free which was evidenced by her reaching for Grim’s much smaller body.

So he grabbed onto the pyromancer’s arm and yanked it over, the woman’s arm wrapping around it as she yanked her comrade just to slam him into the ground where Grim was a moment ago. Then she made a muffled yelp as the first tranquilizer Grim was shot with thrust into the back of her leg, before Grim was moving once more.

The gleam of the sniper kept glinting in the distance as Grim rapid fire shadowstepped across the roofs, closing in with each motion. It was obvious the sniper was trying to get a hold of him, but Grim was quick and sneaky. They were too slow, and in a moment Grim was bursting from the sniper’s shadow with a raised fist-

A pain dug into both of Grim’s shoulders before he was unceremoniously yanked off his feet and away from the sniper. Just like that he lost his main source of power too, struggling in the air against the talons digging through his costume into skin.

“I really think you’re hounding the wrong guy!” Grim tried to laugh, but it was breathless as he twisted. The shadowmancer managed to reach out and grab onto one of the bruised vulture man’s stick-like talons on his left shoulder. It was a strong grip, and he had to use both hands to just grab one talon to twist painfully around - for the both of them. But the vulture man still shrieked and yanked the rest of his foot away, ripping away jacket and shirt and flesh as Grim nearly roared. He was struggling to hold onto Grim by the one talon on his other arm, and at this point little tendrils of shadows were wiggling out from under Grim’s mask to reach for the vulture even as his hands went for the other foot.

Then they both spun as a loud crack sounded out, the force nearly ragdolling Grim even as he screamed. In the ripped flesh of his shoulder, a tranquilizer dart was now protruding from the bloody mess.

“I’m fucking trying to fly here!” The vulture man shrieked, struggling to right them out. It was a lost cause and they crashed to the roof. Immediately Grim threw himself away, to the nearest shadow - the vulture’s own - to shadowstep away. In his disorientated and mad haste he ended up emerging halfway down the building, falling a few feet before hitting the railing of the fire escape.

“Fuck, fuck.” Grim hissed weakly, yanking himself over the railing and falling on the other side. On his back now, Grim ripped the tranquilizer out but he could already feel it taking effect - was this a fucking horse tranq or something?!

Gotta escape. Gotta go. Grim stumbled to the railing once more, peering over the edge to try and pick out the shadows below. It was harder, as the sun rose higher and higher - there was just a slice of shadows against the wall from the two buildings being so close, but it did leave a pool against the ground. He just had to remain conscious long enough to shadowstep away-

“There he is! Get him, get him! The masked one all in black!” The vulture was crowing above him - heh - but more importantly, it seemed the four of these bozos weren’t the only back up they had. At his call a group of three people emerged on one side of the alley, two more on the other.

“Heh… I guess every dog has his day.” Grim laughed to himself, the voice modulator deepening Zoey’s voice before she finally slumped back and passed out.
Hidden 2 yrs ago Post by King Cosmos
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Kitsune


The city had become a warzone and Akeno had no idea what she was going to do about it.

Over the past hour, from the moment the first… thing appeared and started attacking people to now, she had done nothing but fight. Oversized men with steam-powered muscled who boiled themselves from the inside, enraged people dressed like hospital patients who bite and scratch and flailed at anyone who got close, weird human-animal hybrids and cyborgs and a few unique looking individuals who she refused to approach. A few days ago she had never even seen, let alone fought another person with powers; now it was like a mad scientist had upended the entire contents of their lab onto the streets and she was having to deal with all of it herself.

Up ahead a car rolled past the intersection, completely ablaze and with no one inside that she could see. Overhead, a pair of people with jetpacks roared past, one of them banking around the corner while the other clipped a lamppost and spiralled into the ground. Gunfire, sirens and even the occasional explosion sounded from adjacent streets.

It was chaos.

It was hell.

It was, allegedly, the kind of situation heroes were supposed to deal with, but so far she hadn’t seen any; police, paramedics and a lone fire engine, but no heroes. Well, she had seen a couple of drones flying around that looked like the ones that Grim guy had used, so maybe there was someone else out there.

The sound of metal being dragged along tarmac caught her attention and she turned around to see a group of men wearing the same outfit and masks approaching her; five of them in total, the one in the middle dragging a steel pipe while the others were unarmed. They’d seen her and were clearly looking for a fight; normally she wouldn’t oblige, five was more than she was usually willing to deal with by herself, but there was nowhere safe out here tonight and running would just take her to another threat. Besides, these guys didn’t looked too bad, tall and thin unlike the thugs she usually dealt with; the only thing worrying about them was the strange uniformity they had with each other.

Probably nothing.

They started to split up, spreading out to surround her, and rather than let them do so she rushed forward and attacked the one furthest to the right. A jumping, spinning back kick, the same one she used to knock out the telepath a couple nights ago, and the guy hit the ground even easier than she had expected. Then she was on to the next, kicking his lower leg to unbalance him before throwing a series of punches at his head; he blocked by throwing his arms over his head and she knocked him away with a kick to his chest instead.

She had a brief second to wonder about how easily they went down before the remaining three, no four, all rushed her at once and forced her to back away. Fights against groups didn’t often go the way they did in the movies, with the henchmen forming a circle and taking turns getting knocked out one or two at a time; if they were smart they all rushed in a once, overwhelmed the opponent with numbers and bringing them to the ground. What usually followed after that couldn’t be called a fight. It was the same now, four people all bearing down on her as she retreated and sought to keep them from surrounding or reaching her, hoping to split them up again.

One pulled to far ahead and she reversed direction, charging back in and slamming an elbow into their chest that doubled them over. She pushed them towards a pair, forcing them to catch their friend or trip over him as she went after the third and chopped down on their neck with a forearm strike. They fell like a puppet with their strings cut and she spun towards the pair and launched another back kick at the first as they untangled themselves. Behind them she could see the others she had already dealt with picking themselves up or being picked up by others. The two she had knocked down had become four and she only just now noticed the one with the pipe was still back there, watching the whole fight while leaning on their weapon like a walking stick. Things began to click into place right as a hand grabbed her ankle and she reacted by wrenching her foot free and then stomping on the grasping hand; turning to look over her shoulder she saw two people lying there were before there had only been one.

Backing away again, she put distance between herself and the now twelve-strong group that was approaching her. Clones maybe, duplicates or even illusions; they felt real enough when she hit them, but if they were all in her head why wouldn’t they. Either way, she decided to activate her power, cranking up the heat all across her body and adding a slight shimmer to the air around her. If all of this was fake, or if they were fake then she could afford to be a little less careful with how she dealt with them. When the next one reached her and threw a sloppy punch her way she grabbed its wrist, skin immediately beginning to sizzle under her fingers, and drove her other forearm into the back of their elbow to snap it backwards.

It had… less than the desired effect as the man simple lunged for her with his other arm and forced her to kick him away.

“They don’t feel pain.” She glanced towards the voice and saw the one with the pipe had drawn closer, walking towards her with the weapon hefted over his shoulder. “They don’t feel… anything.”

The distraction was enough that she didn’t react quickly enough when the rest, more than twelve now, rushed her. The first she fended off with a hand shoved in their face, mask and skin burning from the contact and the second she tripped and shoved back into the rest of the pack, but the weight of so many bodies was too much and she was pushed back against a parked car. Each of her arm, still blazingly hot, were grabbed and pulled to the side while the press of bodies prevented her from getting any leverage with her legs. Only her head was left clear, the copies, clones or whatever else ducking down or standing off to the side so that she had a clear view of what must have been the original.

“No pain… no anger… no joy or sadness… no remorse… no guilt…” She tried to throw the copies off of her, straining her arms as hard as she could, but there was no way she was throwing a dozen or more people off of her. “They did… at first… they each had… a little of everything… from me… but when they disappeared… I never… got it back…” They gripped the pipe with both hands, holding it like a baseball bat as they turned their shoulders away from her. “And now we… don’t feel… anything.”

The pipe came down and everything went black.
Hidden 2 yrs ago Post by ThisIsFine
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ThisIsFine

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Joel Beck
Location: The street
Tags: Professor X who?


When Joel opened his eyes again, he was back in the void. Oh, right, he'd forgotten that this could happen now.

"Nice one. You're gonna' have to rethink your whole strategy now that one bullet to the noggin can put you on your ass."

"Hey Doug." Joel got to his feet to face his not-brother.

"What? No scathing remarks? No scowl?"

"No. I think I actually owe you an apology. You've been right about everything. You saved my ass several times by now."

"You saved your own ass. We're the same person."

"Yeah, why is it that you're my brother? Have we figured that out yet?"

"Well, who the hell else would you have listened to? Certainly not yourself. Me being Rory would have been a whole mess. You don't exactly have a lot of friends. It's kind of sad, actually, you should work on that."

"Maybe later. While we're here, I need to know something. You remember the things I don't, right? You remember everything from before they fucked my brain up."

"Yeah, it's all here somewhere. No amount of mind fuckery can erase memories; just bury them real deep."

"So let's dig them out. There's gotta' be something I can remember about these assholes that can help us!"

"Whoa, easy there boss," Doug held his arms up in a defensive manner. "It's not that simple. You can't just go pulling out all your repressed memories; some of that shit is locked up for a reason."

"Like what?" Joel cocked his head towards Doug suspiciously.

"Like the furnace incident. How much of that do you remember?"

Joel took a moment to think back on it. "I remember that it happened…but the details are pretty hazy."

"Yeah, you're welcome."

Okay, so Doug had a point. Joel couldn't just go diving head first into his personal catalog of memories that his mind had deemed "traumatic". Nothing could be so simple. Had he forgotten whose life he was living here?

"Let's play another memory game," Doug led, "What did Florida Man say was the reason for the freaks being turned loose?"

"A distraction," Joel said. At least he remembered that.

"Exactly. And what were you doing when you got distracted?"

"I was going to track down Mindraker."

"Right. The guy with freaky mind powers. Probably the only person in this entire god forsaken city that could go bobbing for apples in your head and find exactly what you're looking for."

"That sounds great, Doug, but in case you forgot, there's an army of mutants and weirdos currently kicking our ass. What the hell am I supposed to do about that? And even if I do get away, I don't even know where to start looking for this guy."

"You don't have to." Joel just about jumped out of his skin. The voice that spoke wasn't Doug. From the darkness of the void, a familiar, thin, emotionless figure emerged.

"How did-"

"They are hunting us, Joel. They took your friend, thinking they were you. I found you because soon, I won't be of much use. I am dying. I've been dying since the moment you freed my mind."

"I didn't-"

"A couple nights ago, when I tried to enter your mind, I saw my own work. I was the one who formed the false memories in your head, while under the doctors' control. Seeing those memories played back to me broke down my own programming. Ever since, I haven't been receiving the medication they were slipping me without my knowledge. I have a very aggressive brain tumor that will kill me in a matter of hours."

"Holy shit. Sorry man, that sucks. Is there anything I can do?"

"You can find them and end their sick experiments. I will unlock the memories you need. Then, you must take the other two powdered ones and go. Don't worry about the army; I'll hold them off. Just know that by the time you finish, I will likely be dead."

Joel nodded in solemn understanding. "Yeah. Okay. We got this, right?"

"I certainly hope so. Now, wake up."

Joel sat up straight and took in a gasp of air. He expected to be met with chaos, but the battlefield was dead silent. Mindraker was standing in front of him, arms crossed, expectantly. A glance around the scene in front of him gave Joel chills. The police, the mutants, even the androids, were all frozen in place.

"I can't hold them like this for long," Mindraker said, "You need to get moving."

"Right." Joel stood, rubbing his head. He looked across the sea of bodies for the two he needed to get. Somewhere in this mess was a fox girl and a rabbit girl. Why did all the heroes in this city have an animal theme?

Hidden 2 yrs ago Post by druidquest
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druidquest 魔法少女

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Barren white fields stretched endlessly into the horizon, curving gently beneath the inky blackness of space. She walked forward, or assumed she did, feeling the motion of her legs and the weight of steps against the ground, yet looking back she left no footsteps in the pale, still dust. She turned her eyes toward the dark sky instead, tilting her head in curiosity at the odd shape of the stars which seemed to shift and change shape as her eyes slid back and forth between them.

Ah, not stars, of course, but a thousand thousand curved mirrors shining their myriad warped reflections of her moon back down upon it. How silly to think they were ever stars. She stretched one furry white arm up to them, small black claws reaching out to scratch their flawless silver faces, melting and flowing like water across the sky.

Her hand faltered at a sound in the distance, turning to see what it could be. Far across the greyscale wastes sat the great rotting carcass of a giant horned beast, staring with empty eye sockets just as it had done for as long as she had memory. It had never moved, never made a sound, never raised its giant skeletal head. Yet she had heard something from within it, like some small creature hiding within the hollowed corpse. Long ears twitched, blank eyes blinking in curiosity.

Nothing now. Strange. Perhaps she had imagined it?




Everything hurt. Bouncer’s eyes fluttered open as consciousness enforced itself unpleasantly in her mind. She pushed herself off the asphalt, one hand grabbing her head as a migraine throbbed against the sides of her skull. Bits of charred black skin flaked off her arm, and she rubbed at it idly with her opposite hand as she found her feet. The skin underneath was fresh and pink, gently steaming in the morning air.

A few of the cops had gathered around the ant woman, but seemed hesitant to actually approach her for fear she might free herself from the brickwork. Bouncer clicked her tongue at the scene, leaving the blues to their uselessness and casting her glance around for her hockey mask. She could feel the chill morning air against her face, and did not care for the sensation in the slightest.

She found it - or rather, part of it - laying a ways away, laying face down in the street. She lifted it gingerly off the ground, cringing as several small shards tumbled away from it, leaving it in even worse state than when Bouncer had found it. The entire bottom half seemed to have blinked out of existence - or may as well have, for all she found of it - and one of the eye holes was now easily close to twice the size of the other. That’s what she got for buying cheap crap from a convenience store, she supposed.

Bouncer lifted it back up to her face, securing it in place as she cast another sidelong glance at the ant woman and her gaggle of badges. She seemed to be waking from her nap, and the slow stirring of her head sent several of the cops diving for cover. Chicago’s finest. “Still alive, ant girl?” Bouncer called over, lowering her face mask just enough to snort a wad of blood out of her nose.

“Rabbit bitch,” the ant woman cursed, barely audible. She groaned, trying and failing to free her arm from the wall - or even move it in the slightest. Evidently her immense strength and bulletproof exoskeleton had done nothing to stop the impact from shattering her people skeleton. Bouncer couldn’t remember the exact word. Enderman or whatever. “What a joke… some kind of unbeatable I am…” the ant woman wallowed, letting her head hang.

Bouncer ignored the self-pitying super, stretching her arms over her head and letting out a pleased little sigh at the symphony of cracks down her spine. She could hear shouts and explosions just a few blocks over. Maybe she could find more people to beat up. She hadn’t even jumped yet and she could already hear the energy singing through her muscles. It was nice to be the strongest.

“Out of all four of those supers I could’ve run into, I got beat by the weakest…”

“...”

There was a brief rush of air filling empty space and Bouncer popped into existence in front of the ant woman, standing mere inches from her chest. There were a few yelps of surprise from the cops around them, and one ran forward to grab Bouncer’s arm, warning that it wasn’t safe. Bouncer shoved him away, grabbing his gun from its holster in the same motion.

“Sorry, could you repeat that?” she asked, the friendly politeness in her voice not reaching her eyes. “It’s a little hard to understand you when you mumble, you know? People might think you said something you didn’t.”

The ant woman’s eyes rolled slowly in their sockets, dragging their way over to Bouncer’s broken mask. “Touch a nerve?” Her head jerked back as a deafening CRACK echoed across the street. The barrel of the handgun chased the ant woman’s head toward the wall, pressing against her temple.

”Try again.” Bouncer ignored the cops shouting at her to put the gun down. If they wanted it back, they could try and take it. She had more important things to concern herself with.

The ant woman’s chest shook with a weak, hoarse chuckle. “Temper, temper. Aren’t you a hero?” she taunted, somewhat undermined by the absence of any strength in her voice. Her head jerked back again as another slug flattened itself against her exoskeleton. She groaned and took a deep breath before spitting in Bouncer’s face. The gun froze in midair, Bouncer’s eyes wide and wild.

“What the hell’s wrong with the heroes in this city? I’d make a better hero than any one of you,” the ant woman lamented. Then she sighed. “Or I could’ve, if-”

Her sentence was cut off by another gunshot. Then another, then another, then another, as Bouncer emptied the whole clip onto the ant woman’s face. The explosive cracks were replaced with soft clicks as Bouncer continued to pull the trigger of the empty Glock 22, blind to the guns that had been drawn and leveled at her back.

The ant woman’s shoulders shook with silent laughter before devolving into a coughing fit. “Excellent demonstration,” she taunted, once she recovered enough to speak again.
Hidden 2 yrs ago Post by Blazion
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Blazion

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”This is the one?”

“What other asshole was running around dressed like that?”

“...careful! … ribs broken, don’t want to puncture a lung…”

“...really gonna let ‘em go?”

“... …one of those tweaked out freaks bit me–”

“... said he could make me look normal…”

“... … don’t look him in the eye…”


“... This is who you brought me?”

Consciousness did not come slamming back to Grim, nor even clawing back with a fighting spirit that would’ve at least been halfway respectable. No, instead consciousness came in a slow, molasses drip that oozed into Grim’s body bit by bit, carrying with it the dirt of fragmented words, jostling movements, and a deep stabbing pain along his chest that adrenaline had suppressed before.

Something had definitely fractured. Grim was no stranger to this but it didn’t make anything easier. Each breath laboured against the pain, rattling as though a lung were knocked loose in his chest.

The weight of the heavy metal mask at least gave the hero the reassurance to open his eyes, taking in the bright lights set into the off-white ceiling tiles above and the black camera mounted to the wall. The former wasn’t ideal for his powers, but there was always a dark corner tucked away somewhere. Hell, since they hadn’t removed his mask they were swarming all over his face anyway-

Except the shadows weren’t responding to his need.

Grim could feel them attempting to, mind you - moving across the skin of his face beneath the mask, trying to rise up but unable to so much as wiggle in response. It was disconcerting for someone who’s powers were active with their first breath, which almost seemed to have a mind of their own. Strapped down like Grim himself was.

Finding no other option, and the room suspiciously quiet, he raised his head to look around. There were curtains to either side of the bed he was on, open at the foot - and beyond he could see another identical bed. For all the world it looked like a hospital, actually, except much quieter. Though to be honest, Grim barely noticed the room beyond the foot of his bed anyway, considering there was someone there.

A skeletal figure sat almost limp on a stool, dark skin stretched over bone as though shrunk wrapped with sunken eyesockets and gaunt cheeks. They were short, though considering what was obvious starvation and malnutrition it was hard to put an age down - or even a gender. They didn’t even have much hair, only an inch or two off the scalp - must’ve been buzzed semi-recently. The biggest defining feature on them however were the unblinking purple eyes focused on Grim, a faint glow coming from them even under the oppressive lights above.

That, and the glint of a metal bangle on their ankle, bare feet pulled up on the edge of the stool even as their arms hung to either side. As though positioned, with even the too-large pant leg of the hospital pants they were wearing tugged back on clear display.

For a moment Grim stayed stock still, examining this person with the keen eye of someone who was regularly in life-threatening situations. They didn’t seem to even react to the scrutiny, nor the hero’s movements. Even when he experimentally tugged on a wrist to test the leather bindings, no reaction. Just a dead eyed purple stare.

Was there even anyone home?

“Hey,” The damaged mask’s voice modulator crackled for a moment before settling back to the deep voice of the hero, an underlying hint of static clinging to the words. “I’m Grim. What’s your name?” Despite patiently waiting, there was no response. Not even a flicker of eye movement in acknowledgement to the new sound in the quiet room. Not even a blink. So much for that.

Thankfully, the continued disinterest persisted for the next twenty minutes as Grim attempted to get a better hold of where he was. His costume was mostly still on, only the thick outer jacket removed - and hopefully still nearby, that thing was expensive. Wiggling in the constraints did very little other than give his wrists some mild irritation from the edges digging in as well as more pain from his aching torso, and his powers still weren’t working.

The sound of the door opening made Grim still, before going limp.

Sharp footsteps made their way over with purpose, not even hesitating as they came closer to the bed Grim lay on.

“Ah, none of that now, none of that - surely you’ve already seen the camera, no need to insult both of our intelligence.” The voice was jovial and warm, encouraging. The familiar figure that had appeared at the end of the bed even took a moment to ruffle the hair of the person on the stool in an almost affectionate gesture before moving up beside Grim. They were a large, portly man with clean pressed clothes and even a fucking sweater vest beneath their doctor’s coat - which had a strange, lumpy dusting of brown on one shoulder. A bristly walrus of a grey moustache and a balding head that still clung to life on either side. Even the eyes were kind, which was the second most insulting thing.

“Come on, a sweater vest? I think it’s overkill, doc.” The man laughed at Grim’s words, patting his rotund stomach encased in the offending article of clothing.

“Now now, don’t be like that! I’ll have you know I’m the most fashionable senior-discount holder in this entire complex.”

“What? You? A senior? Pssh, you don’t look a day over thirty.”

“Ohoh, I was told you were a flatterer. I do apologize for not being here when you woke up, I’m afraid I had to have a discussion with some of the … newer members of the team.” The apparent doctor’s smile didn’t waver, gentle and kind as he moved about. The dark sleeve of Grim’s shirt was tugged up, folded neatly to his upper arm before a cord was tied around just beneath it.

A complex, huh? Not a hospital.

“Ah, no harm done - healthcare waiting times, am I right? I’m sure you’re a busy man, Doctor…?”

“Edwards.”

“Doctor Edwards.”

Though of course, Grim knew that already, since he had met them shortly before during Zoey’s tour of Northwestern Memorial. Just how many players were there?

“So, Doc, what’s my chart looking like? Am I gonna make it?”

“Hmm, that depends on how treatment goes I’m afraid. Not everyone reacts well to it. Normally for a high profile figure like yourself we’d have something a bit more … tailored, but I’m afraid we’re suffering from a bit of mistaken identity here.” Absently, the doctor reached up and brushed away the brown that was resting on his shoulder - which turned out to be handsome, tawny down feathers that drifted to the floor. Grim’s eyes followed them before turning to Doctor Edwards, who had begun feeling the inside of the tied down man’s elbow.

“Ouch. That stings, it really does. I’ve got to work on my branding if I’m being mistaken for other people.”

“Hah, have no worries - I recognized that emblem the moment you came in. My coworkers should have as well, though to be fair - how many masked heroes are running around in pure black?” The Doctor chuckled, double checking the spot he had picked before turning back to the open side table. He pulled out a wipe and cleaned the area - very thoughtful, really - before pulling out a needle for an IV line.

That wasn’t good.

“Psh, I’ve had the all in black market cornered in Chicago for years. I’m going to have to send a cease and desist. But enough about wannabes, who’s your assistant here, Doc?” Grim nodded towards the person at the end of his bed, even though his eyes never moved from where the needle pierced skin.

“Ah, I’d say Sarah is more of a … volunteer, here. Used to be a patient, now she helps out to return the care she’s gotten over the years. She has a very calming presence.”

“I’ll say.” Grim nodded to her again. “You’re doing a great job Sarah, keep up the good work!”

No response.

Doctor Edwards was getting the IV itself ready now, leaving briefly only to return with one of the rolling hangars for the drip line. There was already a bag on it as well - mostly clear, though with a hint of a green tint. Oh, green was never good when it was going in your blood stream.

“So what’s this, Doc? Painkillers, I hope?”

“Something like that.” The end of the drip line was connected to the needle in Grim’s arm, and soon the mystery fluid was on its way. Though he braced himself, there was no sudden burning sensation or anything like that - so at least it wasn’t an acid solution to eat him away from the inside.

Small mercies.

“Alright, now with that out of the way, let’s get you a bit more comfortable, shall we Grim?” Doctor Edwards reached for the mask.

Nevermind, give him the acid in the blood stream instead. He’ll take that over this.

“Aw, come on Doc - this a clear violation of my confidentiality! A HIPAA violation like this could really come back to bite you in the ass.” Grim cringed away from the hand, but between the bindings on all his limbs and the burning pain in his chest it wasn’t much use.

So instead Grim jerked his face forward to slam the sharp ridges of the mask into Doctor Edward’s palm.

“You little fucker-” The doctor cursed as he drew his hand back, blood staining the man’s palms. Grim’s struggles renewed, despite knowing it was quite useless. He had already tried. His powers were muted, he was tied down-

A hand clasped his throat, before another grabbed the mask and tugged. It jerked Grim’s head back since it wasn’t just a simple mask, and there was a struggle for a few minutes - him being as difficult as possible, the doctor trying to twist the mask off.

"I knew we should've just done this while you were out. Drama queens, the lot of them."

Eventually, Grim lost the battle when the doctor cheated by retreating and grabbing a needle full of liquid, which was apparently quite fast acting as drowsiness was setting in very quickly. He still tried to jerk his head away, but it was weaker and within a few moments the mechanisms were mostly found - the last one in place scraped against Zoey’s chin as the mask was yanked off.

“... Well! If this isn’t a surprise!” Zoey’s head lulled to the side, red strands falling in her eyes that she halfheartedly blew away.

“I hope you know I’m not signing your cheque this week.”

Oh, and there was the burning sensation in her blood. Life was great.
Hidden 2 yrs ago Post by King Cosmos
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Kitsune


“…ink she’s dead?”

Akeno opened her eyes behind her mask, or tried to at least; one of her eyelids clung to her cheek, like it was early morning and it was clogged with sleep crust. Her head was killing her and through her one good eye she could see why; the blood staining her white costume and dripping down through the narrow eye hole of the Kitsune mask she wore proof of the open wound on her scalp. Behind her she could feel something solid pressing against her back, propping her torso up; a wall or, more likely, the car she remembered being pinned against during the fight. Beneath her she could feel the rough tarmac of the road she had collapsed onto.

“Maybe. We should… no, wait, she’s still breathing.”

Her head hurt, because someone had tried to kill her with a length of metal pipe. Her neck hurt, because she had been sitting like this for who knew how long after being knocked unconscious and was starting to develop a crick. She didn’t move to take some of the strain away, because someone had tried to kill her with a length of pipe and now she was being woken up by voices she didn’t recognise and given that she still remembered what she had been doing before this, she could only assume they were dangerous. The fire, the fighting, people with powers and modifications crawling out of the woodwork, even the person who had done this to her; it was all mostly clear in her mind, though everything after she was grabbed by the mob of copies was a bit hazy.

“Did you see who did this to her?”

“The clone guy I think. I saw him, well, them walking away.”

“Ugh, that guy. He really creeps me out.”

“They all creep me out. All of them.”

A man in multiple bodies all wearing the same clothes, copies that didn’t feel pain or stop trying to attack her even when she broke their bones or burned their flesh; that much she remembered. The people, the things roaming the streets were varied but there were clear similarities between some of them; multiple people with jetpacks, multiple muscle-bound hulks, multiple animal-human hybrids. Amidst them she had seen a few unique people that had reeked of danger that she had chosen to avoid; that was probably the they being talked about. The clone guy should have been one of them, but he looked too innocuous for her to think much of.

Her mistake.

“She’s one of them right? The ones we were told about.”

“Yeah.”

This… this had been targeted at her, everything that was happening. Why? No, not just her, her and the others; Grim and Bouncer and whoever else. They were looking into that human trafficking group, they’d burnt down a building just to cover their tracks and now they’d done this? Released… all of these things, these people.

All those people… because of them.

No… because of them.

“So… we should kill her?”

“…yeah.”

Her head snapped up then and the owners of the two voices jumped back. Turning her head so that she could see both with her one good eye, she hooked her foot behind the ankle of the nearest one and then pushed her other foot into the pivot point of his hip; she pulled with one and pushed with the other and toppled him to the ground. Kitsune rose to her feet, back pressing into the side of the car behind her as she fought to get her legs back underneath her; it was a slower process than she would have liked, but the person she had knocked down was even slower to get back up and the second person was backing away instead of taking advantage of her weakness.

Once she was standing again she stalked forward and they both scrambled to get away from her. The one on the ground crawled backwards and raised a hand in front of himself placatingly, until she jumped forward and slammed his head back against the street with the heel of her foot, dealing with the problem a little more viciously than she normally would. Behind them, the second person hesitated before turning around and running; she was quicker, lunging forward and kicking a leg out from under them to send them sprawling to the ground.

Rather than try to pick themselves up and run again, they rolled over on to their back and held their hands out to ward her away. “Please, wait! We weren’t going to kill you! We’re not killers!”

Raising a hand up to her mask, Kitsune reached under it to try and rub away some of the blood caking her eye shut. Once she could pry her eyelid open again she stopped, though once she had some more time she’d need to do something about the wound itself.

“Who did all this?”

“Please, I just want to go home. They said they’d let us go home.”

Two steps forward and she was able to place a foot down on their chest and start applying pressure. Akeno wasn’t one for torture, not one for inflicting pain at all beyond what she needed to, but right now she was feeling like she could stomach it.

“Who is they? Who did this?”

All of this chaos, all of this damage and pain and death; just to help hide the kidnappings and the kinds of experiments that led to people boiling themselves alive and losing all semblance of humanity to their powers. She was starting to get the impression that these guys were as much the victims of the people behind all of this as anything else, but they were also guilty for the part they were playing in it.

The city was on fire.

Normally she’d say it wasn’t her place to deal with things like this. All she ever wanted to do with her powers was help a few people, stop them from getting hurt. It wasn’t her job to fight villains or even to catch the bad guys; she helped the would-be victims get away and then either ran away herself or knocked the criminal out and called the cops to deal with them. She wasn’t a hero, more like a vigilante or just someone who made a habit of being in the wrong places at the right time.

“The doctor! The doctor let us all out and said to cause as much trouble as we could!”

But this was partly her mess, caused by a situation that she had tried to ignore and not become a part of. Her getting involved sooner probably wouldn’t have stopped any of this, she wouldn’t put the blame for this on herself like that, but clearly she could no longer take a half-hearted approach to this. She was all in, she was getting to the bottom of this and she was taking the person responsible for it down.

“Tell me everything you know. Everything.”
Hidden 2 yrs ago Post by ThisIsFine
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Joel Beck
Location: The street, forming a band
Tags:Kitsune, Bouncer


The rabbit girl was the first one Joel spotted. She was surrounded by frozen police offers, aiming guns at her, and a dead ant…person…thing on the ground. He knew better than to ask questions.

"Come on, we need to get out of here." Joel took the rabbit girl by the arm and pulled her from the firing squad. He released her to scan their surroundings for the other animal themed heroine. "I can explain once we find the fox girl, but these people aren't going to stay frozen like this for long."

At the far side of the makeshift battlefield, across an intersection, bodies were starting to unfreeze. Mindraker's hold on them must be weakening. One particular flurry of motion stood out. The fox girl had made some friends from the looks of it.

"Don't bother with them," He said as he approached. The two she was confronting didn't look particularly vicious. "I can explain everything, but we have to get out of here. They let all these things out as a distraction, probably so they have time to pack up and haul ass."

Joel started off at a brisk pace down the sidewalk. Images began to flash across his mind, tugging feelings of dulled panic with them. A clinic? A pain management clinic on…South Wood Street. The vision of the building made his stomach churn, although he couldn't remember why. That was probably for the best.

Joel fought through the creeping anxiety and began to explain, or rather, babble way too fast.

"Okay, so, Grim and I found out who's behind all the kidnappings around the city. There's a group of mad scientists taking people to perform illegal experiments and shit. We found a ceramics factory where they cremate the bodies to hide the evidence. Also, that Mindraker guy from before was there and he pushed me in a furnace and I burned to dust. But it's okay because I healed and it kind of fixed my brain a little. Mostly. Also, I found out that I died three years ago, and one of the asshole doctors brought me back to life and fucked with my head. That's when Reaper gave me this suit and I agreed to do superhero stuff. Mostly because my dead wife was a superhero and I think it felt like the right thing to do at the time…" He was getting off track here.

"My point is, I have some repressed memories about the place they experimented on me, and we can use them to figure out where they're operating from. And also to save Grim, I kinda' owe him one. Mindraker unlocked those memories and said he'll hold that army off and, uh, it's probably not gonna' end well for him. But that gives us a chance to find this place and put an end to this.

We should probably…call the FBI or something too…but we don't really have time for them to screw around with getting warrants and investigate what we already know."

He stopped walking and turned to face the other two. "I'm Joel, by the way." He didn't even try with the Wraith identity. Maybe he was subconsciously trying to distance himself from that persona. "I'm guessing you probably don't go by "Rabbit Girl" and "Fox Girl". At least I hope not."

Then he turned to Bouncer. "How far can you go with that teleport thing? Can you take people with you?"

Hidden 2 yrs ago Post by druidquest
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druidquest 魔法少女

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Bouncer blinked once. The shouting of the cops had cut out all at once, like a radio that had been flipped off. The wall of the building had begun to crumble and fall away, the ant woman coming down with it, and Bouncer took a step back as the rubble scattered around her ankles.

There was a tug on Bouncer’s arm - one of those goth gay guys from the other day? He released her and she rubbed at the lingering sensation of his hand on her arm as he led her through the streets, only half-hearing what he said. Did he know Kitsune? Probably. The other guy was also dog themed, so maybe they were all buddies or something like that.

They found her brawling with some of those punks. They all moved sluggishly like they were caught in slime, though their movements quickened by the moment. The goth guy stopped her, which made sense to Bouncer. These guys didn’t seem like they’d be much fun to go at it with. Too twitchy and weepy. Wait, “distraction”? Distraction from what? And-

“Who’s ‘they’?” Bouncer spoke up, chasing after the goth guy as he sped off. Somewhere in the back of her mind she felt something tugging at her floundering memories. There was the- the guy, from the burning office. He’d mentioned others. It wasn’t the same people, right?

The goth guy responded by saying a lot of words that didn’t mean anything to anyone, probably. Was Grim the other goth guy? The name sounded vaguely familiar. Wait, this guy had a wife? Did his boyfriend know? What’s the FBI? Bouncer vaguely recalled the wolf woman and her boys mentioning them once or twice.

Joel introduced himself after dumping a whole bunch of sentences into the street. “Whatever,” Bouncer replied when he asked after her name, waving the question away with her hand. She almost jumped when he turned toward her then. “What?” she responded dully before processing his question. “Uhm…”

Bouncer pointed toward the end of the block. “About that far,” she answered, one hand on her hip. “I can’t take anyone with me. I can take stuff I’m holding, I guess, but if I try to bring anyone with me I’ll only take whatever’s directly touching my hands.”

“...I’m not a taxi service.”
Hidden 2 yrs ago Post by King Cosmos
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Kitsune


“…wait, hold on.”

Kitsune came to a stop when the others did, taking the slight break in proceedings to finally catch up on everything that had happened since this stranger and Bouncer had shown up to drag her along. All of this information being thrown her way wasn’t doing her impending concussion much good and the disjointed manner in which it was being delivered didn’t help either. She thought she had made out the pertinent parts though; the group of mad scientists conducting experiments she had already figured out herself, along with the fact that this was all a distraction or an attempt to deal with them. The ceramics factory might have been the place that she had been heading to earlier tonight, using the GPS from the van, but the rest was just gibberish. This guy had been burned alive, healed, was actually dead for three years and his deceased wife used to be super hero.

The whole thing was crazy sounding enough that it had her looking the man up and down to see if he had an anklet like all the other escaped or released experiments she’d seen tonight; he’d already admitted to being worked on by this same ‘doctor’ that the others had mentioned. He didn’t have one, but that wasn’t enough to assuage her suspicions.

“Who are you?” Joel, apparently, but that didn’t tell her anything useful. She didn’t know who Mindraker was either and the fact that it felt like she was supposed to was irking her. Kitsune turned to Bouncer but she didn’t seem to know much more than she did, but given how little information she’d been able to get out of the other woman earlier than wasn’t really a surprise. “Do you know him?”
Hidden 2 yrs ago Post by ThisIsFine
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"Hm," Joel said in reply to Bouncer. "Guess we're taking a cab, then." He looked back at Fox Girl, who seemed skeptical. Fair enough, but he doubted going over the whole convoluted plot again would help.

"Does it matter?" Joel asked, "I don't know who either of you are either, but you're running around in silly costumes and seem invested in this," He waved his hand, "Thing. If you don't trust me enough to come with, that's fair, but I'm not gonna' let this shit keep happening to innocent people. The people behind this made me into something I'm not, just like they did to all those miserable fucks back there." He gestured back towards the way they came. "So I'm going to do something about it."

Joel paused to glance around at their surroundings until he spotted a yellow cab. He waved it down and, by something short of a miracle, it stopped. "Hey," Joel opened the back to climb in, "South Wood Street, the pain clinic."

The cabbie looked at him from the rear view mirror, an eyebrow raised. "Mask and cape shit costs extra," He said dully.

Joel rolled his eyes and groaned, "Fine."

Hidden 2 yrs ago Post by ThisIsFine
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Joel Beck
Location: The Fake Pain Clinic
Tags:Kitsune, Bouncer


The taxi pulled up to the building that Joel pointed out. It looked so eerily familiar, but he had no memory of actually being here. That was probably because Mindraker had sanitized whatever event his mind had tucked away about this place. He still didn't like the feel of it.

He scanned the large glass windows with official looking writing printed on them. The front lobby made up a small, and empty, waiting room. It couldn't possibly be as easy as just walking in there. Joel had no doubt that these guys had some sort of armed guards waiting for them.

"Okay, so I got a plan, but it might be stupid. I'll bust in from the front, and hopefully that will keep them distracted, and you two try to find a more discrete way in."

So long as he had his suit on, they couldn't kill him. They could capture him and make him regret his decision, but they couldn't cause any lasting damage. Also, he was willing to bet that the two child sized heroes he was stuck babysitting had significantly less experience with getting shot.

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