Fallenreaper

Blood Act I~ Ghosts of the Past

I demand a day break in the RPG. I think we all deserve it.

@Demonic Angel

I've been waiting for everyone's opinion and thoughts on giving a few days lull between the end of this IC day and the next batch of plot but no one seems to want to voice their thoughts. So I can only assume everyone wants to move on wards, not rest and relax.

Create-A-Hero: A Superhero RPG (Closed)

<Snipped quote by ShyDot>

No one's all that sure. Maybe a few months? Give or take. Since Fallen has her Arc coming up next and who knows how long that'll take since the last took years... ;p Sorry Fallen.

@VATROU

That wasn't completely my fault. :P

Create-A-Hero: A Superhero RPG (Closed)

My character concepts are going through more and more rewrites as I'm inspired in different ways. May I ask how long it'll be before S2?

@ShyDot

There's no determined amount of time but I say you still have plenty of time. Even if you don't get the PC done when S2 rolls around, you can still join since NMS is considering putting up an INT CHK as well for it.

Create-A-Hero: A Superhero RPG (Closed)

Character you have created: Benjamin Ethan Reeves
Alias: These are usually given by others.
School: Spoiled Rich Brat, Ben
While in werewolf form: Mutt, Huge Ass Dog, Stray, and a few other choices and lame namesakes thanks to the ignorant
people of New York’s lesser educated.
Speech Color (Actually say what you're using): Chocolate
Character Alignment: Hero
Identity: Secret
Character Personality:

Benjamin’s personality is what someone would call a true Aries as he displays both the bad and good qualities that make up the zodiac sign. If anyone was a literal definition of the sign, it would be him.

To those he’s attached and chosen to become friends with, they will see his generous and enthusiastic nature. His optimism in a negative situation or setback is often shining bright even if it's not in the expected or chipper tone most people use. In addition to this, he’s got an independent streak when it comes to getting things done and when he wants to, finding excitement in seeing the completing of goals rather than meeting the end results. This often leaves him jumping from one project to another due to his impulsive nature, especially if the task shows little to no progress when it comes to feeding his satisfaction. It’s during that sensation that he’s most likely to drop it complete unless someone can redirect his attention and spark interest again.

When he is forced into a situation where he feels trapped or stuck, Ben becomes moody and short-tempered. His attitude often venting out on whoever, and sometimes whatever, is nearby. If it is built up longer enough, he has a habit of becoming violent on instinctive causing him to lash out should someone attempt to comfort him with touch. Often his words in these moments aren’t clearly thought out or the consequences considered, creating guilt and regret when Ben recalls these moments and especially when he’s reminded of them. Only his few true friends can understand and look pass these eruptive moments to stick him by.

Underneath the hard earned image he has chiseled out for himself, lays a heart that holds great courage. This bravery also feeds his impulsive nature and passion in what he does. That one trait can hurt him because he easily can become derailed from his goal or aid him in spur of the moment decisions, usually helping him to get over unexpected road bumps coming his way. His passion carries him through challenges to get things done, usually with the aim of completing them quickly as possible.

As mentioned before, he does have a generous nature. However, it can and most the time does include himself when it comes to the thought. It’s an ingrain habit that he usually thinks about his friend’s influences on him, his happiness and in what ways. When a problem arises connected to them in any form, he’ll usually push to confront them or make his attempt to solve the issue behind their back. Either way, he doesn’t come off well and it often ends up in an aggressive and moody fight, one that will test or break his friendships.

Uniform/costume:

The bad thing about being a werewolf is when he shifts. It tends to shred everything. That makes it pretty much impossible to wear any attire when Benjamin goes completely wolf as the thing ends up becoming nothing more than rags at the end of the day. Nothing he has tried has shown to be able to conform and meld with his physical shape, not even the fashion retardness of spandex.

So, he has decided it was just better to go all wolf and use that to hide his identity. Most people would assume he was stray canine if they ever saw him, despite his much larger size when hunched down on all fours.

When fully wolfed out, Benjamin's height grows to about 6’2” giving him a looming appearance against the average man. His natural fur is a tarnish blonde with a white underbelly, under jaw, chest, and lower limbs. For most people, when he’s hunched down on all four, he looks like a rather large dog. He reaches about the waist of the average man in this position.

Like many newly turned werewolves, his eyes are an almost electrical blue and in the following months will edge to a golden yellow. Black outlines his wolfen eyes and give off an almost human sensation to them. His hand are a cross between human and wolf, there being four finger digits and one thumb with thick pads on the inside hand. There’s two sets along the finger digits, one on the thumb tip and about three on the main hand.

Origin Info/Details:

Profile/Bio

Race: Caucasian
Sex: Male
Age: 16
HT: 5’6”
WT: 159 lbs.
EY: Gunsmoke Hazel
HR: Dirty Blonde, short and wavy.
SK: White
Ethnicity: None
Vision: 20/20
DoB: Mar 31 (Aries)

Birth Order: Single child

Bio

Benjamin, or Ben as he’s often called by his peers, is the iconic rich boy. The boy with money, good looks and almost everything any teenager could ever want. When the public, from the media to his school mates, look at him they see a kid that never had to work a hard day in his life to earn what he wanted or felt the sense of failure gripping his soul. For the most part, they would be right. He is spoiled and has high tastes in quality and expectations, through he has known loss unlike those whose lives were completely and utterly perfect.

Being the single child of the New York District Attorney and an art director for the NYC museum for fine arts, Ben grew up in Bayside, Queens all his privileged life and goes to the private academy called McArthur Academy for Higher Education. There he was the popular kid that everyone seemed to want to be. The boy without a care or worry, ready to take risks to get what he wanted as he saw the thrill of the chase being the best part. Through this was the outside mask he often displayed to the outside world. If they would peel back the layers of his family dynamic and see the truth: the grass was rarely greener on the other side.

It was a cold, December day when the wreck happened changing his life from its near perfection to a tragic roller coaster of emotion. His grandparents on his mother’s side had come to New York to spend the holidays and to see his first piano recital, his mother driving them all -save for his father- to the school. It was terrible weather where icy winds whipped through the towering buildings and hurt visibility for most drivers. A drunk man at the wheel of a semi-truck collided head on and crushed their little car, the truck’s front literally parked on the hood where most the occupants were killed instantly. Rosalie, his mother, was the only survivor.

She was his foundation. Being the primary parent in his life, Ben was at lost for words upon seeing his mother in a death like coma shortly after the accident. So lost in his own pain, he barely recalled the press trying to push in for snapshots of him sitting, depressed and holding her lifeless hand. Or the fact his father’s hand rested on his shoulder during it. Their image was placed on the newscast for weeks that followed, the tragic story about her grief stricken husband running for the DA office and loving son Benjamin Reeves. It was a nightmare for the boy while he tolerated the interviews, lurking media and worse.

It was a month later when they finally ceased. On the second month, Daniel Reeves decided it was time to let his wife move on to greener pastures. He ordered the treatment on his wife stopped and the tubes taken out. The doctors recorded her death three hours later when they rolled her to the morgue, storing her for the funeral a week later. It was a mournful moment for Ben as he was never be allowed to say good bye, denied by his own father, still a stranger claiming to be a parent on legal paper, since he was away at school trying to learn how to move on. Any respect he held for his father was gone that day.

Barely a year passed before he watched his mother become replaced by some whorish slut named Lorrie Hart, a woman about a decade younger than his father.

At first, things were fine since his father allowed Ben his independent streak and enabled them to avoid each other most the time. In the spotlight, they had the ideal father-son relationship. What the media wouldn’t pay to discover it was all an act he often mused.

It was about two years and a month when his father finally become engaged to the Ms. Hart, though Ben suspected it was to gain a bigger political vote for his future position into the Mayor’s office. Not that it would surprise him. The moment the woman came into his father’s household, things rapidly changed. At first, her methods were subtle. She wanted to be his friend and get to know him better, his father rarely mentioned the boy to her, as she sought to be get cozy. It rubbed him wrong causing his moodiness and aggression to butt heads with her.

A week passed and she was already working on manipulating his father. His mother’s presence, her things and little trinkets that gave him comfort, were starting to be removed from the house. When she caught him trying to move his mother’s old jewelry box down into his room, Lorrie confronted him. Since then she’s stalked his movements, began to take away his freedom and gradually had him moved down into the basement where he often found she locked him in there at night.

He hasn’t any idea what she’s planning but he’s got a bad feeling about it.

Hero Type (Select one): Supernatural- American Werewolf subspecies.

Power Level (Select one below): Street/City Level

Powers (Be Specific):
Being a werewolf, Ben has two modes he can flip from at will when he learns how to. When he is completely human, he looks like a normal teenage with limited healing rate and enhanced senses. The anthro mode is described in the costume section while his human form is in the Original Details/Origins section.

Enhanced Senses

In human mode, Benjamin’s senses are the only thing that is above normal. These are the primary sense used most but not the only ones enhanced.

~Sight: Ben’s eyesight is unique mixture of human and wolf qualities, giving him the perks of both and covering each other’s weakness. From the wolf side of sight, he has have excellent day and night vision and far sharper than a human’s, enhanced by hyper sensitive to motion within the range. The distance range limit is about 1000 feet, slightly shorter than a human but his other senses quickly make up for that weakness.

~Hearing: Because Ben is a werewolf, he can hear between 25 khz to up at least 80 khz and within 6 to 10 miles depending on the geography lay out. The more crowded by objects like a city then the less miles he gains. However, due to his sensitive ears, the higher pitches like a dog whistle will distract and hurt his ears usually crippling him until the source is stop.

~Scent: Ben’s sense of scent is extremely strong compared to a human and even most canines, detailing information about an individual’s condition, their past whereabouts, gender and other needed to know information. About a hundred times stronger, in favorable conditions he can sniff out his prey about 1.75 miles from his location and stalk it a fair distance.

Regeneration

Human
His healing rate is about double of his original healing, enabling him to heal in half the time it would take normal humans. However, he is unable to regenerate limbs, survive impact into the brain or any usually fatal hits.

Wolf
When in wolf form, his healing factor is about 3-4 times higher than a normal, healthy human. This enables him to take a beating that would cripple most living or kill normal beings, his body still able to move and keep fighting until his last breath. Greater the wound, the more time it takes to heal it.

• regenerate broken bones (heavy wounds)- days
• regenerate torn/severed muscles (medium wounds)- hours
• regenerate flesh wound (light wounds)-minutes/moments

Telepathy

When in wolf form, Ben has the ability to communicate to others with his mind and merely by looking at them. As long as he retains eye contact and focus on the individual he can project emotions, images (usually chaotic), and sensation of another’s presence inside the mind of the target with ease. Unless one is a wolf or is comfortable with him, they will often find this uncomfortable since the projected throughs aren’t exactly words or their own emotions. When eye contact is broken so is the link, the sensation of the telepathy fading almost instantly.

Fangs and Claws

All big, bad wolves have teeth and Ben is no exception. Unlike the traditional werewolves who have long, feline like claws made for cutting and slicing, his hand and feet paws are made more to act like track shoes giving him excellent ability to turn nearly on a dime without falling on his furry ass. When his teeth break, they can regrow much like a shark can replace his and within a short period in a fight.

Ben also has extreme pressure behind his jaws making it difficult rip him off should you let him get a grip. It’s almost supernatural in some ways when coupled with his regeneration ability it would be a challenge in getting him off.

Skills Learned
Computer Software/Hacking (adept)
Hot wiring vehicles (novice)
Parkour (novice in human form)
Lying (highly skilled)
Dirt bike/stunt ability (highly skilled)
Piano (highly skilled but rusty)

Attributes (Select one at each category):
All these are while Ben is in wolf form.

Strength Level:Without stress he can lift up to 5 tons, but pushed to the limit he can lift up to 10 though he risks snapping something.
Speed/Reaction Timing Level:

• With training speed Ben’s is about 5x faster than humans, making time slow slightly and enables quicker acknowledgement to the threats. However being able to dodge or count them is another matter. Presently, since he's untrained, his reaction is only 2x faster.
• When it comes to his speed, in a trot he can reach up to 5 mph and causally cover wide areas of ground in a single day without rest. When in a flat out run he can reach up to 25 mph, with a few bursts of 45 mph for 1-2 minutes, before he nears exhaustion and risk collapsing.

Endurance at MAXIMUM Effort:

• In a steady, easily going trot Ben can cover miles in a day’s time before he needs to rest. This stands to reason with lax and less
• During non-stop and stressful activity, his endurance lasts about 3-4 hours. However afterwards he will collapse from complete exhaustion and feel ravenous, reverting back to human.

Agility: 2x that of a normal human, usually when in a flat out run such as rushing over objects like trash cans, buildings, etc or people.
Intelligence: Smart for his age, but not a genius level individual. Underestimate him at your own peril.
Fighting Skill: Untrained

Resources:
Small

Being a kid, he’s got his own things from high tech computer to his own car (BMW 5 Series). However he doesn’t have a source of income other than what his father allows within a bank account on a weekly basis. Meaning while he has a lot of cash to burn, there’s still a limit and if he’s not careful his funds could dry up quickly forcing him to ask his father for more. A matter he rather avoid.

Weaknesses:

Being a breed of werewolf, there are ways to counter this ability. It also works in his both forms but in different ways, his human form being the most vulnerable to the substances. Strangely enough, Ben is unable to detect them with his sense of smell and it could be related to it being his breed’s weakness toward it.

• Silver: Most werewolves are allergic to silver, through fortunately for Ben’s breed isn’t not fatal on instant contact and would take large amounts to become it.
  In his human form it causes severe allergic reactions such as swelling on the location where the metal comes into contact. If injected/ingested, it could cause his throat to swell shut and breathing to be impossible unless an adrenaline is injected into his system boosting his immunity which will open his airways.
  
  In his wolf form, this can easily paralyze and slow Ben’s healing rate, but the purity of the metal determines the healing power and time it lasts. The more pure the silver is, the longer the effects last and sooner it takes effect. Pure silver can take effect within at least a minute depending on Ben’s condition.
  
  For any reason, should pure, liquified silver get into his blood system (digestion or something) when a wolf then it will paralyze Ben up to a day. Large amounts will kill him, such as a quarter of a pint or more, unless it’s purged from his system quickly and in about 3-4 hours.
• Wolfsbane- herb: A weak smelling herb that is a strong and slow poison. It’s believed to be so lethal to a werewolf that a tablespoon worth sprinkled inside a bullet and shot into the target will kill even an alpha in half a day’s time. Any smaller amount will only cripple the wolf for several days, making them helpless and feeling like they wish they were dead. It can be cured through magical/unnatural means or even when a werewolf is laid out under a full moon, allowed to undergo extreme transformation thanks to the moon’s radiation.
• Full Moon- Every American werewolf must answer the call of the moon as its radiation fills them with an immerse and sudden surge of energy, their bodies unable to contain their wolf forms while underneath its pale light. New wolves have the hardest time since their animalistic side is most frenzied and frighten during this time so many newly made wolves depend on their pack mates to keep them from injuring themselves during this period. After a few moons (6 moons), the eyes turn a yellow declaring them an adult.
  
  It’s unknown why, but when someone is bitten beneath a full moon they have a percent of becoming werewolf depending on the species of werewolf.
• New Werewolf Syndrome (NWS): When a human is turned into a werewolf, they develop something called new werewolf syndrome which happens with all newly turned. Changes are unpredictable as they aren't just affected by the moon and decision, but emotion as well. This factor is worsened by the fact all newly turned wolves became moody for about six months and will taper off when they reach adulthood.

Supporting Characters (Does your character have a significant other? A mother? Friend? Who are they, what do they have to do with your character?):

Family (intermediate):

Alive

Daniel Reeves-35……...Father

Job: DA of New York, recently elected.
Relationship Strength: Weak father and son bond, Ben obeys him to the barest degree only because his mother wanted him to respect the man.

Lorrie Hart (Scorpio)-26……...Stepmother to be

Job: Trophy Wife
Relationship Strength: Weak, Ben actually hates her due to her manipulative and controlling behavior.

Deceased

Anthony Reeves-56……...Grandfather
Sophia Reeves(surname: Morris)-59……...Grandmother
Rosalie Reeves (surname Snyder)-32……...Mother

Additional details: Mother was in a coma for about a week, then taken off where she died about five hours later. It was a slim chance she would’ve made it without any permanent brain damage or would’ve been the same before the accident so Benjamin's father believed this was a mercy for his wife’s spirit. However, Benjamin secretly blames himself for her death and has bitterness toward his father for allowing her to be taken off the machines without his knowledge, denying him his last goodbye.

Friends

Benjamin doesn’t have any close friends, their only reasons to associate to him are self gain and manipulation reasons. Usually because their parents are hoping to have an excuse to get close to his father. Little do the ‘click’ he usually hangs around with know, he’s actually using them so he’s not lonely.

(Will likely update this later with images and add more over time)

Desmond Hargraves - Closest to a best friend, his father is an assistant attorney working with Ben’s dad.
Alyssa Kinser- Roland’s girlfriend and rather prissy sob, her mother owns numbers of shares in companies like Midas Industries and other organizations. Ben hates her guts and the feeling is mutual.
Nathan Giavonna & Bradley Giavonna- The swim team twins and part of his click, through they are more numbskulls than any interesting company.
Emma Gracia- House Keeper.

Mass Effect: Borealis

Drono "Why are the drones making loop the loops... Wait a minute. They are drawing penises with their exhaust fumes!"

@Hellis

<Snipped quote by Fallenreaper>

Even still an erotic pattern for Vellios is well within him as a character ;).

@DearTrickster

It's much better with females really. XD

Drono "Why are the drones making loop the loops... Wait a minute. They are drawing penises with their exhaust fumes!"

@Hellis

How would Drono know what one would look like? Has he been examining himself? O_. Also, Serena got to fuck with the enemy some how. XD

Blood Act I~ Ghosts of the Past

One Cosh down, one Alpha to go and yay!

Mass Effect: Borealis

@Fallenreaper I was pretty tired too. A tired Trickser makes for a poor editor~ lol

@DearTrickster

Still, it was was the word erotic. I'm surprised you didn't jump on that! XD

Create-A-Hero: A Superhero RPG (Closed)

@Dedonus I want to make one more war-pulse post before we go to the next scene, at least to address the comments made at the merc. @Fallenreaper I will try to reply to your thing tonight as well, but I am strapped for time.

Also, I will not be around this weekend, as I am off in the woods with no signal.

@NeutralNexus

Noted and I'm hoping to wrap this collab before the weekend, that way we can start that arc and get this thing off the ground. It would also allow all I wiggle room too to make this easy.

Also, don't let a bear eat you!

Mass Effect: Borealis

Hey fallen. I think you meant "Erratic" pattern, not erotic ;D.


Unless those drones double as sextoys.

@Hellis

With Serena, that's possible actually... her cursing earlier makes you wonder. Anyways, yes I was multitasking, tired, in middle of editing and surprise Trickster didn't spot that first. It was also a both getting Vellios in there so I replied up until before DJ's post. My next reply will start from there.

Mass Effect: Borealis

Vellios, after the fight topside

Clean up was easier than Vellios expected. From the last known location of the thugs were finished off or had abruptly vanished, the scarred, black Turian seemed to materialized among the aftermath and walked casually toward the group. He paused long enough to wipe his blade across his leg, smearing the Batarian red blood across his armored thigh. Not fazed by the gruesome display, he quickly flipped it about and insert it into his holster at his hip. Immediately his hand reached to check his medi gel supply then noted he was lower than he would've liked after healing Haze. Choosing now to fix that, he decide to restock by exchanging with one of the mercs in charge of returning the Asari starship back. Thankfully they were willing to take a fair deposit of what meager credit supply he had for additional supplies.

It reminded him he had to seek another way, independent, way to gain credits later.

Vellios leaned against the rig, the one hijacked during the operation, as his eyes studied the Krogan taking lead. He wasn’t one for being highly involved when it came to the final choices so he held back to the background, listening to the conversation. Many would be surprised why he was alive and not some bullet riddled corpse left on a long past battle field since the silent followers were often led to slaughter. Some would assume it was his Turian nature, born and bred to follow orders until the end. Little did they know, any military loyalty never took root in his DNA. Not since the Haides. So any loyalty he did have was usually by his own will and not because of his background, cautiously given. Settling into the metal hull he rested against, he felt the sensation of eyes above him. Curious to the source, he tilted his head to note someone on top.

Tanya.

His lips curled in amusement and delight, her figure perched near the turret ring and overseeing the whole scene. Like a hawk spying her prey or fledglings. Resting his crest against the hull, he let the cool sensation spread along his arching neck. At least until it made it cold then he straightened up. At this point, Tonka’s voice boomed out for everyone to hear.

“Okay, from the files Dex and Drono lifted, we have a mineshaft here that didn’t really get a good lifespan before it was shut down. About six hundred meters down, it splits into two, so we’ll have to split the team into two.

When Tonka said that, Vellios was already considering sticking with Serena. While there were a few good individuals, like Tanya and Haze, he still required more time to be fully trusting toward them. That meant more missions where he wasn’t getting his carapace shot off. His eyes closed while Tonka droned on over the battle plan.

“I’ll take point for one, I used to be a miner so this is like stepping into a crusty ass bubble bath for me. Past that, about another 550 meters the fork ends to the right path, and it looks like there’s surface access at the end. The other side goes about 700 meters but is much more narrow at the end, like they were trying to go far, but didn’t really spread it out to look for minerals or whatever the hell they were looking for. Either way, I’ll head off that way. It sounds like that’s checkpoint central, and I’m itching to get my armour dirty.”

The Turian enjoyed the sound of guns being switched, his eyes opened in time to see the sniper rifle being put away and replaced by an Argus rifle. It rapidly extended and stiffened, clearly eager for a fight when the Krogan finished out with a question. “So, who’s with me?””

First one to speak was Tanya, drawing Vellios’ attention back upward.

“Iosif and I seem to be a package deal here, so we’ll take this here truck down and go to the right towards the wider end, rather not find out the road’s too narrow for us to get down and find another rocket sailing up our ass. We’ll do fire support, and we can probably cover a lot of ground acting like an APC of sorts.” Shouted down the mechanic while she brushed her mohawk into something neater, the messy bangs still fluffed out giving her a bed head appearance. Her figure was relaxing on her helmet and her face held a shit eating grin of satisfaction on her lips when she added. ”You know, I’m starting to like you guys. We still haven’t picked a name for our little team here. What do you say we pick it out over celebratory drinks tonight?”

“You humans drink way too much, but screw it. I’m in this to see this beautiful disaster fall apart, so the scary krogan will chaperone you idiots. Now, can we focus on the job?” Tonka grouched.

”As for drinks. None of you drunks better lick my face. It keeps happening with humans. I keep telling people there are better ways to get high.” Drono, the blue Drell, bitched then examined his gun and checking it over keenly. His hand reached for the heat sink and unclipped it, his eyes looking for cracks in the thing only to refasten it back in. It seemed it passed his inspection when he turned away, Vellios watching him vanish.

A thought, namely for the upcoming battle, occurred to him.

Walking away while the others continued to chatter over who was going where, he pushed off the rig then quietly edged toward one of the downed Batarian. It was Jelagon, the thug that Kasyra took down, causing him to pause and crouched down. His fingers pushed aside and rumbled through the cooling corpse.

He found the explosive rounds. Gripping the ammo in his fingers he then shifting them into his belt and again started salvaging for more. While he searched, a memory surfaced. One from his childhood, causing him to grind to a stop and sink back into that hell.

Vellios was covered in grime and dried blood, his talons touching the corpse of a dead Batarian. The tips skimming the surface until it reached a cease then quickly dug in. His fingers ripping off the armor with a sense of urgency, revealing the battered and chilled corpse beneath. A few chits fell from the stash in his suit but the boy wasn't interested in that. His fingers trembled harder causing him to pause, taking notice for the first time. Blood, mostly red, covered his hands. They were stained with his first official kill, the Batarian pirate before him and one of their own. The face was completely bashed in, a crumbled mess of brain bits and skull.

A sickening sensation curled into his middle. It swirled and coiled, souring the meager contents in his stomach. He was distracted when the slave collar began to itch feverishly. Both carapace and thick scars had started to heal over the wires latched into his flesh, leaving it always tender to the touch.

Vellios tried to ignore it. A mistake because it didn’t cease but instead the twitching and tingling need grew, making him raise a talon then scratched along his neck side. The collar was a crude thing, made from metal and wiring, that had a single metal band wrapped around the middle of his neck like a choker. At the back was an attached electrical generator that went from the base of his skull to his neck middle, sparking whenever he touched it. Over the years it had been removed and repaired repeatedly by ill-skilled hands until it looked like a nest of wiring was growing from his flesh. The moment he touched the itch's source, he dug in gently at first. His fingers digging in deeper with each movement until it started to relieve the itch, through his talons didn’t stop since he enjoyed the relief. Then he began to feel a warm, wet sensation dampen them.

The ten year old stopped. Fear edged into his eye as he pulled his hand away, his own blue blood trickling along his spine and anxiety reach into his core. It hugged around and started suffocating him, his breath thick and useless. His collar gave a crackling warning then-

Vellios snapped himself from the memory the moment the electrical surge would've rippled through his young figure, the lacking pain reminding him he was alive. Inhaling, his arm slowly retracted from the slaver’s dead body. He started to retreat from the corpse when he spotted it was time to go.

**

Heading into Hell We Go (Mineshaft)

**

Vellios was assigned to Tonka’s team, his shotgun held tightly at his middle while he moved steadily beside the truck. The low rumbling echoed throughout the tunnel and for a moment, he wonder if the pirates could hear it. This time he had opted for his helmet, hoping he would have better luck, despite the slight constriction about his head and fact it made him uncomfortable. His neck was twitching while the back rubbed against the old scars causing them to flake and hurt slightly. He gritted his teeth to bare through the sensation when he finally said fuck it and jerked the helmet off, tucking it into his arm nook. Without thinking, he started to ease the tingling sensation racing up his scars with a scratch.

He still had Serena’s comm placed about his waist, an alter way to communicate in the event he couldn’t tolerate the helmet, when the woman cursed than hollered out a warning. ““Snipers up ahead! We round that corner, and we’re taking shots.”

Fortunately, he was near the back of the truck when Del exploded. Vellios ducked toward the rear of the truck for cover as Del’s frame shattered and promptly wheeled into the nearest wall, shot by the snipers at the farthest end of the tunnel. It cracked against the mine’s walls causing his ears to go deaf then ring loudly. His eyes widened, his teeth gritting and head hurting thanks to the loud sound causing him to drop his helmet. He couldn’t hear a thing for several seconds because his ears were adjusting to the high pitched results from the snipers. He rubbed his hand palm against his ear, hoping to stop the ringing, while he missed Tanya make a request about the snipers. Though he did note that Tonka drew out his rifle for target practice.

Vellios cautiously pulled to the side, making sure not to be shot when he did, upon seeing Drono approach. The alien had what looked like a sizable spitball of death, one made from improvised flammable and explosive material. Not wanting to know the details, he merely leaned down to snatch up his helmet which had been kicked in his movement then shifted back from whatever the Drell was planning. His attention was taken by what he could hear, Serena’s muffled voice.

"THOSE MOTHERFUCKING, COCKSUCKING, SHIT-EATING, PISS-DRINKING, BASTARD LOVING, KROGAN HUMPING, HANAR SPOONING, BRICK WALL HEADBUTTING, ACID SNIFFING, VOLUS RIDING, VARREN FUCKING, FOUR EYED BALLSWEAT LICKING, SONS OF BITCHES!" Serena’s words cursed letting him know one of her driods were out for the count… again. She was looking at Del’s remains from her hiding spot and cursing a storm, at least from what he could tell, drawing a smirk from him. "He's going to be all sorts of out of whack now you fuckers!"

Being distracted only helped a little when the second explosion, one much farther down the tunnel, occurred. Dust and rock from the mine ceiling hissed down after being knocked from its perch as Vellios’ hand came up to shield his eyes, not liking he would be forced to wear a helmet still. He wasn’t given much chance to dwell on it since the ringing stop and his ears picked up Serena’s voice much clearer now.

"Oh Vellios!" Serena’s sweet voice, clearly false and wanting something from him. Of course, she mentioned it immediately without hesitation or concern for his wellbeing which meant she was pissed. ”You like killing Batarian snipers don't you? The two remaining Del will cause a lovely bit of chaos, and I'll fire a couple concussive crossbow bolts down the way, and you can go kill them. Sounds like a plan?”

She barely gave him a moment to get his helmet fully on and reply when the two Del hovered quickly past him and toward the ceiling. In moments they zipping erratic patterns while darting toward the snipers. Vellios rolled his eyes then shook it, his mind debating on what to do when he spotted Serena get ready. Sighing, he moved to slip as close as he could during the chaos created by Drono. His talon pressed into his helmet comm he spoke to her confirming he was moving quickly. ”Alright, I’m going, don’t get overexcited!”