Silver Carrot

Mobius Academy: The City in the Sky

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Lydia Creel

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Lydia was listening with genuine excitement, though she seemed to be the only one. Lydia had always wanted to be a superhero, and here, surrounded by powerful fellow students, being taught by Heroes, was where she's have the best (and only, really) chance of doing that. She was powerless on her own. She couldn't even be able to stop an armed bankrobber. But here, with teammates, she could do so much more. The truth was that she needed to be part of a team to be effective at all. And she was hoping that here, she could make friends and possibly join or form their very own superhero team. Or she could be somebody's sidekick. She didn't want the fame or recognition. Just the privilege of fighting crime and people knowing that you were a Hero. That was all she wanted.

So she was eager to learn, and was smiling. The four teachers' names that were read out caused her to get more and more excited. All four of them were people she had idolized since childhood. She of course had her preferences, but she took the keycard from under her seat, and opened the envelope to discover that she was going to be taught by Scott Lang,. Not her first pick bad. She imagined his classes would at least be fun! Honestly, she couldn't actually imagine getting *taught* by Wolverine. He didn't seem the teacher type.

Lydia wondered to her dorms at a leisurely pace, and the first thing she did was check out her room. Her single suitcase was here, and the room was nice! Even though she was sharing it, it was larger and nicer than the room at her foster home, and even had an en suite. No more having to share one tiny bathroom between a large family! Lydia put her suitcase on her bed, opened it, and began to take a few things out to put in and on the bedside cabinet, before stashing the case under her bed. Wardrobe allocation would probably be something to discuss with her new roomie. Speaking of which, she should go and introduce herself. Taking one last look at her room before closing the door, Lydia headed to the 1D common room.

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Gene Green

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Gene was less interested in speeches. He was here because his mom wanted him to come here, to learn 'how to be a Hero' and to get training and guidance from the real deal. He could have become a Superhero without this but his mom got so emotional it scared him a little. She didn't want him 'becoming his dad'. All Gene knew about his dad is that he was a bad guy. That's all he was ever told and all he really cares to know. But this speech was going on way too long and was putting him to sleep. Hopefully the classes wouldn't be this tedious. And he was actually looking forward to the social aspect, and being surrounded by people his age who didn't find a guy with fluffy tail a little bit weird.

At the end of the speech he hadn't really been paying attention too, nobody clapped but one guy, with lobster claws. Gene blinked, and stared. He was now no longer worried about people finding his tail weird. Gene considered clapping too, but then other people might join in and Gene didn't want to take anything away from lobster hand guy. After checking his keycard, Gene was very happy he'd be taught by Wolverine. That was kinda who he had been hoping for when he heard the names. When people began leaving, Gene could not get out fast enough. He headed over to the 1C dorms and didn't even bother to check his room, heading straight for the common room.

The Promise - Second Star to the Right, and Straight on 'til Morning.

Natalie Ellis

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One week after the incident, Natalie began to attend classes again. She was still so weak that she needed a crutch to walk, and slept either sixteen or two hours a day with rarely an in-between. She looked like hell. Her entire body was covered with stitches, her shoulder was bandaged near her neck, her neck itself was still bruised, her skin was deathly pale and her eyes were red and puffy. The class were very silent on that day, as she was a fresh reminder of the horrors of that day. At least people weren't avoiding her out of fear anymore. No, now they were avoiding her out of pity.

Classes went well for her. Well, reasonably well. She was an 18 year old with the schooling of the average 16 year old, do she was two years behind on literally every subject. She had no strong or weak subjects. She worked hard at everything, glad of the distraction and chance to achieve something, but lacked the intelligence or talent to excel at any one area. She got Bs and Cs across the board in all the quizes and tests. She'd have to try harder to get As.

Well, there was one class she was struggling, but Natalie didn't think of it as a class. Power Training. It was hard to do well in power training when you were afraid to, and often outright refused, to use your power. Natalie's average power training class was spent sitting on a bench, and sometimes crying. She had come to resent that class. It was one of the things she had brought up with her therapist, who had suggested that she try to join in and not be afraid to use her powers, but that was largely overshadowed by larger areas of concern for her therapist.

Ever since the incident, Natalie had been racked with guilt over taking another two lives. It was affecting her sleeping, her diet, and many other aspects of her physical and mental health (during one health checkup she practically got yelled at for how little she was eating). But her therapy sessions were helping. Natalie had been told in her first week to find creative hobbies. Natalie loved to read, so had began writing. She wasn't a storyteller, or very creative, but she did have a lot of emotional turmoil in her head. Thus, poetry had become her solace. Though her poetry was often dark, it helped to get things out of her head and onto a computer.

Natalie hadn't talked to Keaton at all since the day after she got back, and that was mostly just them asking each other if they were okay. Natalie and Amelia talked a lot, as per usual. They weren't at the level of friends where they'd ever go out to lunch together, but they appreciated each other's company. Natalie wanted to talk to Lynn, to reassure her and support her, after seeing the look on her face that day, but could never bring herself to. She didn't think Lynn would be very comfortable with the situation brought up either. And Archie...She really liked spending time with Archie. They got each other. They could relate to each other. They'd made a pact to protect each other. They didn't see each other very much, though, and sometimes she avoided Archie. Sometimes she could also tell he was avoiding her. Natalie didn't think she had a crush on Archie, but then again, she didn't know what a crush would feel like, having never had one. And she hadn't have any close friends in her life either. She honestly didn't know whether this was a close friendship or a crush. It was one of them. She had been forcing herself not to think too deeply about the latter possibility. Her head was chaotic enough.

Today, in class, her stitches out, body healed, and fresh, ugly scars on top of her old ones, she sat. They had finally addressed the incident. No explanation. But at least they're not trying to pretend that it didn't happen. If that had stayed the case, Natalie might have started to think that Lynn and Keaton were onto something regarding the establishment being shady. Natalie didn't want that. She establishment was her one hope of becoming....well, sane again.

Natalie zoned out during the homecoming talk. She wouldn't be going. She would not wear a dress with her scars. The rest of the day, she just coasted. It was when she was on her way back to her room that her phone buzzed, and she checked it. It wasn't from Amelia, surprisingly. It wad from Archie, asking her, Lynn and Keaton if they wanted to meet at the mall. Natalie stopped in her tracks. She supposed this day would have had to come eventually, when the four of them met up as a group once again.

'Sure. Where about?' Natalie texted back.

The Promise - Second Star to the Right, and Straight on 'til Morning.

Natalie Ellis

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Nat had her guard up, but her body was in no shape to fight, and even as she started to pull her fist back for a punch, the blow landed, and she crumpled. Her bones were strong enough to keep her straight as it was the ground that gave way and absorbed the impact, but it was still a powerful blow. Natalie went limp, as she was now putting all of her conscious effort into staying awake, and keeping her aching muscles tense. If they relaxed, she'd bleed out in minutes. She held on with her will to survive. She didn't have the strength to fight Archie anymore. The massive lizard had picked her up and even though her frantic brain was screaming at her to kill Archie before he killed her, she could barely move her arms. But as she was held there, she began to sense she was bring cradled. Rocked like she used to be by her parents. She hadn't seen them for over two years. She'd never see them again. Thoughts of them flooded her mind. She no longer felt in danger. Her mind was no longer in a dark time several months ago. It was in a warm time many years ago.

The lizard started to make strange noises and Natalie was put on edge again. The lizard started to twitch and convulse, and in a panic, Nat grabbed and pulled, which both helped Archie get free of his de-transformation and rip the lizard skin to pieces. She was now calm enough to think rationally. Two more people. She'd taken two more lives. She didn't even want to think about that properly yet. Right now it was nothing but a fact, because her own life was still in danger. Nobody was trying to kill her, but she was in such bad shape that all her focus needed to be on keeping herself alive.

Archie came around to her, and brushed bloodsoaked hair off her face. She'd killed. Tried to kill him. And he wasn't scared of her. Not even a hint of caution. She felt tears welling up after hearing his words, and she shook her head. "They already hurt me, Archie. And they'll always be hurting me," She answered weakly. "Nothing you can do." Even so, she started to cry. Although she wasn't quite hugging back, her face was buried in his shoulder as she sobbed and howled.

Security came, and Nat also didn't want to be taken out of Archie's arms, so let herself be carried onto the cruiser. She had to hold on just a little longer, until they got to the hospital, to a place where she could give her muscles some rest and let herself bleed freely from her entire body. And she didn't have that strength alone. Without Archie, would her will to keep living have been strong enough to compel her to endure the strain? She didn't even know.

Before the door closed, she got a brief glance at Lynn. Natalie knew that look. She understood it all too well. It wasn't pity or sympathy she felt for Lynn, but true understanding and appreciation for the horrors she was going through.

The Promise - Second Star to the Right, and Straight on 'til Morning.

Natalie Ellis

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As Natalie advanced, all but one of the prisoners backed away. This crazy bitch just ripped off Death Head's head! But one of them, whose hands ended in six inch claws, began to advance. He was clearly unafraid. As soon as he was close enough, he swung to slash at her. But she caught his wrist, and with one more movement of her free hand, the prisoner fell to the ground in two pieces. That was the cue the rest of them needed to turn and run. Natalie continues to go after them, but that's when she heard the roar.

She remembered that roar from her first day. And sure enough, she saw the giant reptilian form of Archie. Right now she couldn't remember him, or the promise she made. She just remembered getting attacked by the lizard. The pain of getting tail-whipped through a door. The fear re-surged in her, and with it, the desire to kill what she was afraid of. She turned round and began to stalk towards the lizard. There was no recognition in her eyes. Though her eyes were scared and her body was bleeding and painful, she only seemed to be more focused. There was no hatred. No malice. Just the will to kill. It wasn't personal. She was just scared. Beyond terrified.

The Promise - Second Star to the Right, and Straight on 'til Morning.

Natalie Ellis

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Natalie shrieked in unimaginable pain as the blood was once again drawn from her, her eyes shut and screwed up, and her jaw clenched. Her body, in an effort to replace what she'd lost, was just giving it to him! Pumping more and more past the safe wall of her muscles, which were starting to ache from the collective strain of holding the rest of her blood in. She relaxed her body for a split second, and she died. It was now grabbing her hair and shoulder. She opened one eye to look at the terrifying, inhuman creature, so close to her, just in time to witness it lunge at her neck. She felt what seemed like some sort of tendrils enter her skin, and while they couldn't pierce her neck muscles, they didn't have to. There was enough blood to drink without that.

Natalie was so far into the tunnel of fear and despair she felt broken mentally. She no longer had the mental energy to scream. Indtead she merely let out weak grunts as she punched her attacker again, and again, and again. Each blow tore chunks from its body like a shotgun would do to a normal torso. She continued to punch it until its upper body could no longer be called a human torso. It looked like a misshapen raw burger patty. But a tiny part of her brain, still capable of rational thought, took over.

'Its attention is focused entirely on your neck', it was saying to her, 'and it's getting weaker. Go for the kill.'

She listened to this thought. Her eyes flared with newfound hope and passion, and she grabbed the monster's head with both hands and pulled up as hard as she could. It was tough, and she was straining with the effort, but Death's Head wasn't stopping her, too focused on drinking her blood to heal itself from her devastating barrage of punches. It didn't notice its life was in danger until it was too late.

With a final tug, the skull-like head separated from the body with one last spurt of blood, and the body slumped lifeless to the ground. Natalie dropped the head and got shakily to her feet. Everything hurt. She was terrified. Her heart was beating for its life and her adrenaline was high. The thoughts in her head became unignorable.

She looked round to see several other escaped prisoners, who had been standing and watching the fight take place. Natalie started to drag her body in their direction.

'Kill or be killed', her thoughts told her. 'Kill all of them.'

The Promise - Second Star to the Right, and Straight on 'til Morning.

Natalie Ellis

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One thing Natalie immediately noticed as she struggled is that this guy was strong too. She couldn't break his grip on her face or arm with her brainless, wild movements. She felt the pulling again, and her whole body tensed to protect itself, and she screamed in mortified horror as she felt the internal wriggling again. But this time he was closer, meaning the pulling was stronger. And though all the blood behind her muscles was safe, the blood between her muscles and skin wasn't. And it was looking for the path of least resistance...

All of her scars opened at once, and though a tiny fraction of her blood was leaving her body and getting consumed, it was making him stronger, and the pain was making her weaker. At least, physically weaker. More blood flowed from her many open wounds even after Death Head had finished feasting, and now Natalie was coated head to toe in a thin film of blood that was supposed to replace what she lost but now only served to dredge up bad memories and blind her, as well as possibly make her details more visible to her enemy.

She was driven into the concrete, punched very hard, thankfully in the chest, and thrown by the hair, all the while she was screaming in distress and pain. But that was the drawback. Getting hurt only increased her fight-or-flight, animistic nature. Only increased her mindset of 'kill or be killed'. It only made her more dangerous. She landed in a crumpled heap, and didn't even bother getting back to her feet. She crawled towards Death Head on all fours. His height would now be a disadvantage, as she as so fast, and so low to the ground, that before he could attack her or even run through her, She stopped him in his tracks by merely grabbing his ankles once they got close enough. He could no longer move his legs. But before he decided to use his arms to harm her in some way, she yanked both his feet towards her, hopefully causing Death Head to lose balance. And for good measure, she squeezed both his ankles as hard as she could.

Anyone looking on would see a crazy, animal-eyed screaming woman, covered completely in blood, topple the hulking, skull-faced behemoth like he was made of paper mache.

The Promise - Second Star to the Right, and Straight on 'til Morning.

Natalie Ellis

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Natalie could feel the tugging of her arteries behind her muscles. She tensed, stopping it as much as possible, but it felt like her insides were wriggling. Like they were alive. It was the most horrible sensation she'd ever experirnced, though far from the most painful. She looked up, and saw the skull faced man screeching and charging at her. Natalie quickly got back to her feet, and was snarling. Her life was on the line. There was now only one thought in her head;

'You're in danger. Kill him before he kills you. Get out of here and out of danger.'

She screamed to match his screech, and ran at him. They met in the middle, as Natalie ducked under the larger man's hands, clumsy and blind, and punched him in the chest as hard as she could, with a blow that would have outright killed 99% of the people on this station if it actually connected with them, including both Lynn and Sal most likely.

X-Men: The New Era - Issue II: Avalon Rising

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Heidi Williams

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Location: Ashford Institute

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The alcohol had little effect on Heidi. Then again, she hadn't drank very much. She remembered drinking wasn't that big a deal in Edinburgh. Getting absolutely hammered when you were fifteen was a tap on the wrist at most. Having one drink underage wasn't even worth mentioning. And of course the legal age was eighteen, not twenty-one. Here, by comparison, admitting in public that you had one glass of beer when your were twenty is like admitting you used to steal cars. You broke the law, pure and simple. In that regard, America was quite different to Scotland. Heidi definitely preferred the American system, if if she was now one of the offenders.

The rest of her day was routine. She got up early, went for a morning jog, attended all her classes and immediately retained everything they were teaching. It was towards the end of the day when Dean Ashford's announcement came on over the speakers. Heidi was in the library at the time. She was worried that worse punishments would be dished out. She was relieved when it was merely cleanup duty. The message was also vague on whether or not their group were now X-men or if a different group was. Heidi supposed she should head to the danger room and find out.

❂ The Next Step ❂ - A My Hero Acadamia Rp (Full)

Nadeko Tayama

She didn't pay any attention to Damian's declaration as she continued to climb up the robot, assuming he was going for a different target, but then she felt the impact of him slamming into her robot. The shock reverberated through her metallic arms and she dropped a few feet before regaining control. She looked up at the boy, clearly not pleased.

"Watch it! You almost knocked me off! Besides, I was here first! What gives you the right to-" she started to yell up at him, before the robot retaliated to Damian's attack by shaking, and she increased her magnetism to hold on for dear life. Her body was flapping around, and her shoulder joins were screaming and aching in pain. She gritted her teeth and rode it out until it was starting to subside. She looked up at Damian. He was tangled up and in trouble!

She could get the point easily, then save Damian afterwards. But if he tried to untangle himself, he might fall! She tutted in annoyance as she weighed her options before deciding that she had to save him. She got her feet onto the robot, ready to push off, before kicking off with her feet, disengaging, aiming her arms down and repulsing as hard as she could, thus launching herself up into the air. Then she aimed her arms at the spot next to Damian and pulled, latching onto the space next to him. She attached one of her mechanical hands, using her other arm to keep a grip on the robot's body, and grabbed Damian by the back of his uniform. She'd have wrapped her arm around him but they don't bend like that.

"I've got you. You won't fall. Get yourself free and we'll take it out together. If you keep its arms busy I could go for the head. Or I could keep it busy while you destroy it. Either works."

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Katsumi Enoke

Katsumi was tackled. She quickly beefed up her arms and legs to wrestle herself free again but when the robot's three friends joined in, she knew this wouldn't be enough. She had to scatter them. She very quickly made herself as small as she could go, causing the robot dogs to fall towards her and lose their balance. Then she immediately went as big as she could go, knocking them away and into the nearby brush. Returning to her normal size, and adopting some runner's leg's again, she got back to her feet and carried on fleeing. The crying was getting closer. She turned into a strongman she saw on TV, stopped, and rammed an old-looking tree as hard as she could. She managed to break it, and it fell on the robot dogs that were pursuing her, flattening them. Turning back to her base form, Katsumi carried on to the scene of the crying, finding one of the robots to be rescued. She picked it up, and....what do you do now? Do you return to the start with one?

Not knowing otherwise, Katsumi began to run back to the start, holding a rescue robot.

The Promise - Second Star to the Right, and Straight on 'til Morning.

Natalie Ellis

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If Lynn was expecting Natalie to be angry, she was mistaken. Natalie could have hugged Lynn. What she was doing was incredibly stupid but she was keeping Sal's attention and had also given her an out. Natalie didn't even say anything. When Lynn said she was just leaving, Natalie backed out and swiftly left the restaurant. However, outside was worse.

She backed away into the outside wall of the restaurant and watched with horror as the skull man continued to consume the blood of those around him without touching them. Natalie's legs wouldn't even move. She was frozen to the spot, terrified. So much blood. So much death. She didn't want to leave, knowing people were getting killed. She couldn't confront him knowing she'd die before she got close. She couldn't move. She felt...so useless. She started to sob, and slid down the wall slowly as she began to slip into a breakdown.