Superhero RPG

[Corzak The Mighty]

Aileen nodded compliantly, offering the woman a fake smile of gratitude as she cupped the side of her head with one of her free hands. "O-oh, thank you so much! this head is killing me...."

Following behind the receptionist, Aileen's eyes nevertheless scanned the interior of the homely office. She had no idea if Heng was even in here at the moment, but it didn't hurt to take a quick survey of the area. She knew she could not reasonably afford to use her powers right now, due to the damage excessive use had caused to her after yesterday evening's altercation. For now, she would have to do this the old fashioned way.

Her eyes drifted back to Lind before she stepped into the door that led deeper into the clinic. She hoped whoever was going to check up on her wouldn't be talkative...

[Demon Lord Gira]

The room that Lind had moved Aileen to was rather plain and bare aside from an operating table and leaning chair beside it. On a far off desk was a laptop that was still on but had its screen locked behind a password. Lind moved off to the side, a small thin smile on her face.

"Please, take a seat. I will need to take a blood sample and run a few tests with our brainwave scanner before I can administer the proper treatment. Can you stick out your arm for me?"

Lind reached into a drawer of the desk, and pulled out a cleaned syringe, before she walked over toward Aileen and prepared to take a sample...

________________________________


Why did it burn just to fight this thing?

Kala twisted her body to land on her feet on the roof of the building, just in time as The Beast broke through and landed as well. The sunlight was bearing down upon them both, and news helicopters flying hundreds of feet away recorded the whole event. Yet Kala ignored all of those. Her eyes were only on the abomination before her, and her teeth gritted harder and harder as she tried to think of something, anything, she could do to this thing.

Every time she hit it, it burned. Every time it hit her, it burned worse. It had hardened its skin so now she couldn't rip and tear through it, and it was larger and stronger than she was. She was fairly confident she still had speed on her side, but it seemed as if at any moment, it would change itself to become even faster than her. So what could she do? How could she kill something that was changing to counter her? Her feet shifted against the rocks and dirt on the roof...

A thought came to her mind. Yes, she could do that. Put her brain to use over this thing.

"Perfect. Even if he evolves physically, he cannot match you mentally. Thus is the failings of a sinner to the one who carries judgement." The voice in her mind hissed.

The hulking form of The Beast charged forward, a fist raised as it swung down to crush Bloodless. Before its eyes, Bloodless melted down into the dirt and rocks, the powerful blow only hitting air. The Beast turned to try and locate her, steam billowing from its jagged jaws and fists.

A plume of dirt and gravel burst up from beneath it. Instinctively, The Beast turned to attack, but it was only that, dirt and gravel that launched up into its eyes. A hateful hiss escaped from the parted jaws as it tried to swipe the dirt away, but it was a distraction, just the type Bloodless needed. She reformed behind the briefly blinded foe, and leaped at him. The Beast heard her breath, and swiped at her. She tried to evade the strike, but the claws tore into her stomach. Even despite the pain, she landed in front of the creature and swung her fists, balled together, into its legs. The creature was top heavy, and unprepared for such a blow even with its armored hide, and it was swept off of its feet and crashed down face first. Kala slammed her fists into the back of its skull, which rattled its brain and caused the building to shake from the force of the impact. She leaped upward, and prepared to bring both fists down upon the head once more with every bit of strength she could muster. Even if she couldn't pierce its hide anymore with its claws, perhaps she could crack open its head!

[Breakdown]

As Marina followed the sounds of battle as well as homing in on Franklin's presence, Blind's sudden appearance made her jump in surprise. She spun and faced Blind with her claws bared, breathing heavily as she prepared for battle. Upon seeing Blind and quickly remembering her, she calmed down a bit and placed a hand on her forehead while looking down at the ground as she struggled to gather her thoughts with everything that was going on. Marina would be lying if she said she wasn't at least somewhat grateful for Blind's role in getting Sierra to safety, however given that she appeared to be in league with the "heroes" and that she was interrupting her on her mission to help Franklin, her annoyance was reflected by her facial expression as she spoke.

"No, I'm not okay. My whole fucking world has been turned upside down; my best friend is dying and my boyfriend got turned into a monster. A bunch of guys with guns came here and tried to kill us" She said, her voice conveying her irritation. Suddenly, the building shook from an impact on the roof as the fight between Franklin and Bloodless continued on above them. Marina looked up at the ceiling as the impact caused the lights to flicker before turning her attention back to Blind.

"Look, I appreciate what you did for Sierra, but Franklin needs help, my help, and I will not stop until I find a way to undo whatever those shitheels did to him. Now, if you'll excuse me.." Marina said sternly as she turned her back to Blind and stomped off towards a nearby stairwell, accelerating her pace to a sprint as she pushed her way through the doors and began ascending the stairs towards the roof of the campus where the battle raged on.

================================================================================

The Beast writhed on the ground shrieking from Bloodless's last attacks, when suddenly the force of another impact made its vision blur and pressed its head into the ground. The force of the impact produced an audible crack and a faint shockwave that kicked up tiny stones and dust from the gravel rooftop of the building. It tasted blood in its mouth, and felt one of its teeth come loose and fall out onto the ground as it lied there for a moment. Anger- pure unadulterated anger - surged within the Beast as the prey had bypassed its defenses and inflicted damage upon it. While it had succeeded in rendering piercing attacks null and void with its newfound reptilian hide, it was still very much vulnerable to blunt-force trauma. This flaw had to be corrected immediately. At once, its flesh began to bubble and ripple like water in a flowing stream and a faint orange glow could be seen underneath its skin. On a cellular level the Beast began to absorb the internal organs and tissues of its host that were not necessary to its survival, then converting the biomass into osseus growth to reinforce its skeleton. Every bone in its body dramatically increased in density, and thus durability, to the point where they were now 2x stronger than before. With all the genetic information it had assimilated, this was unfortunately the most it could do with what it had available, but it would be adequate against this foe.

Now it was time to subdue the prey before consuming it and unlocking its secrets. With a flick of its wrist, the flesh and muscle of its left lower arm unraveled into a mass of barbed tentacles that writhed like a nest of hungry serpents. The tendrils lashed out and coiled around Bloodless's throat, the barbs digging into her flesh as they continued to constrict her tighter and tighter. It did not intend to kill Kala in this way; this was merely the set up for its second attack. Standing up to its full height and raising its arm, Kala included, the Beast swung her into an air conditioning unit on the roof hard enough to utterly demolish it. Raising its arm again, the beast swung up and to its right and smashed Kala onto the gravel roof of the building hard enough to pulverize some of the stones into grainy powder. The abomination of the flesh would do this three more times, each time with increasing ferocity that made the building shake. With one final swing like one would with a baseball bat, the creature's tentacles uncoiled from Kala's neck and allowed the momentum to make her crash onto the roof and skid across the ground like a stone skipping on water. The tentacles would slowly recede and meld together to form the creature's left lower arm again as though the transformation had never happened. Stomping its one foot on the ground and putting its arms at its sides, the monster roared as Kala's downed form, its body eyes and veins lighting up bright orange as it did so.

[Demon Lord Gira]

Kala felt the air be knocked from her lungs as her body bounced from the impact and skidded to a stop. Every time she thought the pain couldn't get any worse, it did in ways she couldn't imagine. Her breath slow and staggered, she forced herself off of her side and onto her hands and knees, but this only brought a new wave of pain to her head and throat. She coughed, but something caught her eye from the mutated abomination before her down to right below her.

Blood. Blood was tricking down from her mouth and from the cuts and gouges in her throat and shoulder. No, it wasn't just that. Her vision was starting to become hazy, lines blurred together to where it was becoming difficult to tell distinct shapes anymore. Had that last slam or two did something to her vision, or was she just that tired? It was a struggle for her just to slowly rise back to her feet, one arm wrapped around her stomach to sooth the pain. Her mask was cracked, yet the burning red eyes behind were clear and visible to the monster before her, and her teeth formed into a feral snarl.

She couldn't loose to this thing, this freak of nature! If she was struggling to do any sort of damage to it, who else was there to fight it? Supercell? No, Supercell was gone, so she was the strongest line of defense this city had against... whatever this was! What could stop this thing? Not the police, not any of the weaker heroes in this city... No, it could run rampant and kill anyone and everyone it wanted if she didn't stop it. But everything she was trying failed...

But she couldn't stop. Not now, not ever. She would continue to fight, to maul this monster until both of them were dead!

"Until it is dead! " The voice in her head hissed. "Continue to fight, continue to judge it. If it is too much for you, then I shall take over..."

Kala didn't know what the voice meant with that last bit, but she understood the part of the message she needed to. Bloodless matched the monster's roar with one of her own, her muscles twitching and bulging in her arms as she readied herself, then charged head first toward it. If she could tackle it off of the roof and smash it down into the ground below with enough force to bypass its adaptive properties...

----------------
Why had it come to this? Of course his calling out for Kala would draw in the attention of heroes likely to be trying to make the situation better, but to think someone like Puppeteer was here. He was no stranger to her. The time he had spent in her daycare before Heng had adopted him, it felt like an eternity ago, but it couldn't have been more than a few months, just before he had come across Kala. Puppeteer wasn't a bad person, but he knew she was the sort of person who would likely try to kill Kala if she knew she was Bloodless, a far cry from the gentle and almost maternal air she gave off as she held his hand. The dolls that floated behind them, held up and controlled by her ever so slight finger twitches and magic, did Vinnie no favors in feeling calm in the moment.

"So, what is your name?" Alice asked the young boy. "You look familiar, but I can't quite put a finger on it."

"Vincent." Vinnie said. He hated saying his real name, it sounded too formal for his liking, and it was one he made sure to never use. He insisted that everyone call him Vinnie, and that was a name he felt more comfortable with, though if his real name was ever used he had little choice but to endure its usage and swallow the pill. Even back in the orphanage, he had only ever used the nickname Vinnie, so he hoped that using his real name would be enough to keep Puppeteer from recognizing him, that and the fact he was a little taller and more filled out than back then. "Me and my sister were up here visiting someone, and then... I lost track of her."

"And what does your sister look like, Vincent?" Alice looked down at him. "Anything I can use to try and-"

Puppeteer was cut off as one of the dorm buildings shook with a plume of dust and debris, and for a brief moment Vinnie saw a familiar shape, one he knew for a matter of fact was Kala, fly up into the air then fall back down.

"What is going on over there?" Alice bit her lower lip. "I thought they had everything under control... Is that Bloodless there?"

"Bloodless, here?" Vinnie tried to lie. "There's no possible way-"

"No, that's her, making a bad situation even worse." Alice's face hardened into a focused glare, and with a tug she hoisted Vinnie off of his feet and into her arms to the child's surprise. "There's someone in that dorm I'll pass you off to so you can get out of here safely. I have to stop that murderer before this situation becomes unsalvageable."

"Wait, I ca- Waiiiit!"




--------------------------

Celine swore under her breath as she felt the very building shake and tremble beneath the blows of the titans above. Couldn't they be a bit more careful with how they were fighting? Well, Franklin at least had the excuse of likely losing his mind to whatever he was turning into, but Kala had no excuse fighting this rough. She was thankful this building by this point was largely vacated of straggling students and teachers by this point. She would have to thank Seisshia for being so thorough with the evacuation in this building...

A message entered into her mind, and Alice's voice was unmistakable. "I thought you and Marina had everything under control against those gunmen. Why is Bloodless here?!"

"I could ask you the same thing." Celine mentally shot back. "Is Sierra in a safe location?"

"Yes. She's been dropped off at the medical ward, and I have a kid here I need you to get out of here."

"Of course- wait, why can't you-"

"Because so long as that murderer is here, things will only get worse. I'm going to stop her, and you need to make sure Franklin and Marina get the help they need at Heng's clinic."

"Yeah... about that..." Celine let out a painful sigh. "Franklin... has completely lost all reason because of those gunmen and Bloodless. He's a rampaging beast who will likely attack anyone or anything that gets near to him."

She heard Alice curse under her breath. "When it rains, it pours. I can still get through to him, or at least get Marina in there to hopefully get through to him."

"Just... be careful. I'll meet you on the second floor." With that, she cut the message. When it rains it pours indeed. Could this get any-

She shook her head. No, she was not going to even think that. of course it could, and if she thought it it WOULD happen. This was the exact type of situation her mother would be cackling and orchestrating to make as horrible and disastrous as possible, and that pissed Celine off even more. She wasn't going to let it become that kind of worse, she would not allow it to!

[Breakdown]

Brody quickly go to typing a reply as he watched the events at DRU unfold on Live TV. God, it was far worse than he could have ever imagined. There it was, standing in plain view while fighting Bloodless on the university rooftop. Franklin Ferri, innocent man turned horrific monster. Brody watched as the creature that had formerly been Franklin mutate before his very eyes, and cemented the urgency of stopping GenTech and this new threat. If GenTech is able to crank out an army of more controllable versions of these things, the world would be in deep shit.

"Bring anything you can for infiltrating a high-security compound. We're going to GenTech. I believe they may have the key to stopping what's transpiring before our very eyes <>8<>"

==============================================================

The monstrosity let out a saliva-laden snarl as it dashed forward to meet Kala's charge head-on while pulling its right arm back to throw a punch. The fist glowed like hot iron and fizzled with steam and atomic energy before thrusting it forward directly into Kala's nose, creating a sickening crunch followed by a miniature explosion, sending Bloodless flying back into the trench she carved earlier from being thrown. The beast roared in triumph as it moved in for the kill: its arm began to undergo a transformation as it split in half horizontally. The bottom half of the forearm extended forward and out into a wicked bone blade covered in torn, bloody sinew. The top half as well as the hand shrunk into a series of thick, quill-like spikes presumably for extra damage in the event that this prey continued to put up resistance. The beast could sense that its prey was weakening however, and it could smell the shed blood of its target which lead it to believe this fight was essentially over.

=========================================================

Marina channeled all of her superhuman strength and speed to bolt up the stairwell to the roof, her gills palpitating as she sweat and panted. To the naked eye, she would appear as little more than a blur flying up the stairs, and with exceptional grace she avoided tripping over her own shoes as she could see the red exit sign of the roof access just above her. Franklin's presence pulsed intensely to confirm that he was still on the roof just above her. It wouldn't be long now; she'd burst through the roof access and call out to him, and together they'd go to Heng to get him cured then live out the rest of their lives in peace. This was to be their future, she was so sure of it that it fueled her to go even faster. At last, she used both arms to push the roof access door off it's hinges with the smallest of effort and looked around, quickly spotting Franklin approaching the downed form of...someone. She wasn't exactly sure who this other woman was, but it ultimately didn't matter and she wasn't about to allow Franklin to kill her. Gathering up gulp of air, she screamed his name at the top of her lungs.

"FRANK!!!!!!" Marina yelled.

Instantly, the monster stopped dead in its tracks and spun around with a toothy snarl. It was her again, and The Beast could feel Franklin forcing his way to the surface in her presence. The murderous, predatory instinct was forced into hiding for the time being, and left Franklin back in control. His eyes dimmed from bright orange until returning to a bloodshot hazel green. He looked around in panic, to Bloodless and then his hideously mutated arm. The sight was enough to drive him over the edge and he screamed. The scream was monstrous and inhuman, and it broke Marina's heart to hear it, to see him in pain, to see him suffering like this. She began to power-walk towards him with her arms stretched out as if to embrace him.

"'Cmon hon! I'm here!! Let's get out of here and get you fixed! I promised, remember?? Now let's go!!" Marina urged, when suddenly her enhanced hearing picked up something big approaching from behind.

She and Franklin both slowly turned their heads to the sound of incoming propeller blades, and saw an inbound military helicopter bristling with weapons no doubt intended to kill Franklin with. Marina tried to motion "stop" and "go back" with her arms in an attempt to get the pilots to leave, but her efforts were for naught. Inside the cockpit of the aircraft, the pilots looked at Franklin with a mix of horror and awe.

"Jesus christ, what the hell is that thing??" asked one of the pilots as he trained the chopper's targeting arrays on Franklin.

"Our monster, if I had to guess" replied the second pilot.

The pilot noticed Marina on the roof as well and cursed under his breath; civilian casualties were possible here. He didn't know if she was in control of the monster or if it had pulled a King Kong and abducted this woman, but it had to be stopped here and now. The helicopter's vulcan cannon let out a mechanical whine as it rotated and leveled itself as to be aimed directly at Franklin. Within seconds, the cannon began to spin up with an additional mechanical whine, but did not fire.

"Target acquired, requesting permission to fire?" said one of the pilots, directly asking for the commanding officer to receive word from the mayor to allow weapons-free.

[HayesAJones]

Blind, surprised by both Marina's speed and the firm tone her voice had taken, had taken a moment to catch up the the grieving woman, and her blood went cold when she did.

"You need to get down!" she shouted as she scrambled onto the roof. She didn't know if the gunship would fire on a civilian- two civilians really, but she couldn't blame them for being threatened by the beast- but she feared finding out the hard way. "You can't help anyone if you're dead!"

[Corzak The Mighty]

Aileen, seeing the needle, decided to play things up a little to divert any sort of suspicion. The blonde woman let out a yelp of faux fear as Lind produced the needle.

"D-do you think we could bypass the shots please?" Aileen stammered, eyes widened. "I'm deathly afraid of needles..."
______________________________
Dhriti sprinted through the city streets as quickly as she could, snaking through the bustling sidewalks of Los Diamantes, past pedestrians, cyclists, school kids loitering on the side by bike racks and bus stops for a ride home. As she passed by a storefront, Dhriti nearly ran into a worker taking out the trash, barely managing to slide out of the way before she ran full force into him.

"Hey!" The man shouted angrily, shaking his fist at Dhriti. "Watch where you're going, bitch!"

"Sorry!" Dhriti shouted to the man, grimacing as she passed. Damn! Moments like this made her seriously wish that she had a car...

[Demon Lord Gira]

Lind paused, and looked at the expression on Aileen's face. After what seemed to be a moment to comprehend the request, she turned back around and placed the needle down. "Understood. Then perhaps a saliva sample with cotton swabs."

She reached into a drawer of the desk near her, and pulled out several cotton swabs. "Once I've taken a sample, I can accurately diagnose what sort of medication can work best for you. A few questions will have to be answered as well."

-------------------

"Rise and shine, it's morning!"

She nudged the sleeping little girl in the bed, and the girl's eyes slowly opened with a weak yawn as she rolled out of the bed and stumbled to her feet. She was less than half her size, with dull crimson and black hair and a pair of small red wings that were still curled up around her. One eye was a pale light blue, and the other a vibrant red, and her hands and feet were covered in jagged dark green scales. She looked up at her older sister. "Morning already, Balam? I just went to sleep..."

Balam let out a sigh with her arms folded across her chest. "You stayed up that late again? This isn't our parent's place, there's nothing here to keep you awake during the night, Malcania."

"I-I know..." Malcania muttered. "I just am too used to staying up because of all the noise they make."

Balam knelt over and picked up the girl and held her close. "And that is why you're living with me now." She ran a hand through Malcania's hair. "Two Cubi who cannot control themselves have no business being parents. It's not a good environment for you, and I told them as such. I don't want you to grow up and... be like them."

Malcania, her small smile faded away, gave Balam a nod. " Can I at least see them? They loved to spoil me-"

"Visits are fine, but that's it. And I will tell them as such. I don't want them to influence you poorly." She carried Malcania over to a chair in the bedroom and sat down with her on her lap. Several stuffed bats hung from the ceiling, and a suit of steel armor stood silent by the wall next to a oak bookcase filled with books. "Besides, it is safer with me. I know someone who has a kid around your age. You can play with him if I can convince his older sister to allow that."

Malcania's eyes widened. "R-really? A friend for me?"

Balam smiled and patted Malcania's head. "Yup, a cute little boy. His older sister is a piece of work and more protective of him than I am of you, but you'll like them."

"Are you heading out today?"

"Yes. I have work at the shop, helping people out." Balam had to pause a moment after saying that. It technically wasn't a lie, but how could she tell her little sister the full extent of her job, of stealing supplies and knowledge from Belphor's enemies and selling them to Belphor's men? "But, I'll be back later today. I already have breakfast made for you, and lunch prepared in the pantry. Don't go outside until I get back, and don't answer the door if anyone knocks. Stay hidden and silent if that happens, okay?"

Malcania nodded. "Yes, Balam." The smile returned to her face. "I'll stay safe. After all, I have the bestest sister ever. When I grow up, I'll be even better than you!"

Balam chuckled. "I dunno. No other Cubi can do what I can, and that is be the bestest sister around. Now before I leave, why don't we try flying again?" She nudged her knee up, and Malcania was launched from her older sister's lap and onto her bed, landing face first into her pillows with an oomph.

"Hey! I wasn't ready!" Malcania leaped off of the bed and back into Balam's arms. "I'll launch you when I get older, just watch!"

Viola shook her head as she flew high over the skyline of Los Diamantes in the form of a four winged eagle. Those were simpler times, before everything had fallen apart, before the rise of that goddamn icy bitch who had tore everything apart, before she had lost everything and ended up here.

Malcania...

Viola shook her head again. She couldn't linger on the past, as much as she hoped beyond hope her little sister was still alive somewhere, somehow. Nothing would be done if she didn't press forward. This was for Malcania, a chance to be reunited with her once more.

Her claws opened up, and thousands of papers she had curled up in her grasp fluttered down toward the sprawling city below. It was time to lure in those willing to do business with her once more...

___________________________________

It did not take long for Alice and Vinnie to reach the dorm building in question. Despite the shakes and rumbles that shook from it, everything held firm, but for how long was not something Alice was willing to chance. She carried the young boy up to the second floor, where Celine was waiting. Alice noticed that Celine's eyes seemed to go wide as she looked at the kid, a look of surprise.

"Celine, get this kid out of here and to safety." Alice told her. She handed over Vinnie to her, and Celine took the kid in her hands. "I need to get up there and stop Bloodless and Franklin before things get even worse."

"You better hurry, because Marina is heading up there as well, and-" Celine stopped. "Is... Is that helicopter blades I hear, and..."

She closed her eyes for a moment, and panic and fear swept across her face. "There's an attack helicopter about to level this building down! We need to get out now!"

"A WHAT?!" Both Alice and Vinnie shouted at the same time. Alice began to curse at herself mentally. Was this from whoever those gunmen were before, or was this Tenmus taking matters into her own hands? Either way, she couldn't get up there in time if something like that was about to start firing. She could handle a hit or two from something like a bolt of lightning or a fireball, not metallic slugs fired fast enough to shred through her and concrete like crap through a goose, like Lorina so eloquently would say...

------------

"Am I doing enough for this city?"

Heng looked over at Tenmus, who stood by the window pane and stared out at the city of Los Diamantes before her. "What sort of question is that? You're clearly doing everything you feel comfortable doing to make the city bet-"

"And I am failing at it." Tenmus cut her off. Her eyes were narrowed as they stared at Heng's thick black sunglasses that covered her eyes. "More police patrols, better training, testing on the new Golem project you have proposed... And yet, crime never stops. More robberies, more murders, and now we have a new vigilante who is tearing apart criminals yes, but everyone is in fear of her. Heng, I look and I see a city that is breaking apart at the seems, where not even Supercell can handle everything. Am I missing something? Am I... not adequate to keep this city afloat?"

Heng stood up from her seat, and walked over to the taller Tenmus. She put a hand on her shoulder. "If it's keeping this city afloat, you and Supercell are doing just that. But, if you want to make this city a better place, if you want the crime to stop and these bloodthirsty vigilantes to go away, you need a heavier wi-hand. A light yoke allows for people to do more, but a heavier yoke keeps them in line."

Tenmus took a deep breath. "I know, but what if I am perceived as being no better than the monsters I wish to stop? I want people to be happy and safe, not think I am a tyrant oppressing them, letting some suffer so the many thrive. It's not what they would want... what he would have wanted. But... I just don't know anymore."

"They'll understand." Heng said with a quiet voice. She pushed her sunglasses further up the ridge of her nose. "I know it sucks, having to make the hard choices when the time comes, but someone has to. If a monster is rampaging and it has a hostage, sometimes the hostage must fall with the monster for countless other lives to be spared. If that is the shot that you must take to stop the threat before it gets worse, take it. An illness caught and cured as soon as it manifests is a better outcome than suffering from its effects in the long run. Tenmus, I am a doctor. I want to see as many people survive and be happy as possible. I want to help as many as I can... but I cannot help all of them. I have to make hard choices to ensure the best outcomes, and Tenmus, you should as well. So, to make Los Diamantes a better place..."

"No, you have a point. I... I understand that. It's a pill I would rather not swallow, but one I must." The mayor of Los Diamantes turned back out to gaze out the window. "And... thank you."

"You really shouldn't." Heng shook her head. "I hate what I just told you, and I wish it wasn't so simple, but it is. You may hate yourself, and the city's people may fear and hate you at first, but the results will speak for themselves, and they will realize this is the key to success, to making Los Diamantes a better place.

Tenmus stood by that window even now, but while before her gaze had been aimless, now her eyes were focused, sharp as ever, off toward the university. When news of what was occurring had reached her ears, she had made a beeline up toward the top floor of the command center and had been handed a phone, still held by Alan, with the pilots of the gunship on the other side. She could see the horrid monster that was on the roof, and a woman in its grasp. And there was Bloodless, broken and nearly limp, no doubt bested by something even mightier than her. That alone made her smile, but someone else was on the roof as well. Two civilians... and two high priority targets.

Heng's words rang through her mind, and Tenmus steeled her heart. This was the shot she needed, the one to ensure this problem was nipped in the bud and that Bloodless would no longer be a thorn in her side.

"Open fire." She gave the order. "Make sure that creature is killed here and now!"

[Breakdown]

At once, Marina went deaf and her ears rang from the roar of the helicopter's gatling gun firing. A trail of projectile impacts traced its way to Franklin's bewildered form, and tore through him like paper. The newly evolved defenses did nothing to stop these high-caliber, high-powered rounds that blasted away chunks of his torso in a gory shower. Franklin shrieked and screamed as bit by bit, he stumbled back from the sustained vulcan cannon fire. Marina lowered her arm that she was using to shield her face from the debris the chopper propellers were creating, and her eyes widened with horror at the sight before her. She screamed, screamed loud enough that it nearly overpowered the sound of the vulcan cannon. Being in such close proximity to her, Blind would be deafened by Marina's shriek of grief and agony.

"NOOO! FRANK!!!!! RAAAAAAGGHHHH!!!!" She screamed.

Marina flew into a berserk rage, and spotted the damaged air conditioning unit that Bloodless had been thrown into earlier. Though the unit itself was destroyed, the several ducts once connected to it weren't, and would be excellent projectiles. She suddenly took off in a blur, running towards the ducts and skidding to a stop as she wrapped her arms around one of the ducts. With effortless ease, she wrenched one of the ducts free, breaking the bolts and fittings holding it to the roof. She spun around 180 degrees and threw the air duct at the helicopter.

"Shit! Incoming!!!!!!!" yelled one of the pilots.

The second pilot barely had enough time to move the aircraft out of the way of the incoming projectile before retraining its aim on Franklin. Franklin was on both knees, being held up only by his arms as he bled profusely. Some of his ribs were plainly visible, and some of the rounds blew holes clean through his body that could be seen through. He vomited a stream of blood mixed with a glowing orange, oily substance. His legs shook as he struggled to get back on his feet, blood dripping on the gravel roof as he weakly raised his head to look at the hovering chopper. With blood oozing from between his teeth, Franklin roared at the helicopter defiantly and took a single step forward.

"Jesus, there's no way this thing's still not dead" remarked one of the pilots as he watched the monster get up through the chopper's external cameras.

"Light 'em up again!" ordered the second pilot.

With a squeeze of the trigger, the vulcan cannon whined and then roared as it belched a stream of scorching lead at Franklin. Again, the bullets ripped through his already mutilated body and forced him further and further back towards the edge of the building. He screamed as he felt bone splinter, flesh and muscle rip, and blood vessels rupture under the heavy gunfire. Seeing this and in an act of pure desperation, Marina dashed towards him in an attempt to prevent him from falling off the roof, but her efforts would be for naught. Franklin turned his attention to her one final time, locking eyes as weakly held out a hand towards her. She reached out, her webbed hand within mere inches of his before at last, he completely lost balance and went over the edge. Below him was the manmade river that drained out into the ocean, and it's rolling waves almost seemed to beckon him into its cold embrace as he fell. Franklin's life flashed before his eyes: his earliest memories with his parents, the times he and Sierra played at the park when they were kids, his first kiss, graduating high school...meeting Marina for the first time and being entranced by her beauty. These memories raced before him rapid-fire, some so fast he couldn't make out specific details. Finally, he splashed into the water and immediately stained it a crimson gore. He thrashed about underwater, desperately trying to claw his way to the surface against the water current. Too weak from the brutal perforation he'd suffered, his movements became weaker and weaker until finally he stopped moving all together.

The current swept his hulking, mutilated, mutated body away and left a trail of bloody water in his wake as he was whisked away. A faint orange glow and bloody water was all that could be seen of Franklin before it flickered out like a blown out candle. Marina was frantic, stammering incoherently as tears streaked down her cheeks and over the edge into the water below.

"Frank! Oh god please! PLEASE...NO!!!!!!" she cried as she fell to her knees and covered her face with her hands, sobbing uncontrollably. Around the school, the students that had evacuated began to cheer the monster's defeat, unaware of the tragedy behind the monster that had once been a man. Some stared in awe and bewilderment as they watched the event live on their phones, and some of the new choppers filmed Marina on the roof in her grieving state.

"Hey isn't that the quiet girl from Davidsworth's class!" Said one student.

"Holy shit look at her, she's all scaly..and what are those things on her neck?? Are those gills??"

"God I always knew she was a weirdo, but I never thought she was a legit freak"

"What are the odds that one of the marine bio students turned out to be a fish"

Similar sentiments were heard throughout the gathered crowds. Even Gemma and Marissa who had been in the car with Marina mere hours ago, were shocked and horrified that they'd been next to an inhuman fish-freak the entire time. They wondered if Sierra knew knew the truth about Marina, and then noticed that they hadn't seen Sierra leave the building nor had they seen her amongst the crowds of students.

Marina was aware that she was likely being filmed by the new choppers above, but she didn't care. She didn't care that her secret was revealed to the entire city and beyond. She didn't care. She didn't care. She didn't care one bit. Franklin was gone, and she was helpless to watch as he was nearly shot to pieces by the guns of the helicopter. Surviving gunshots from a rifle was one thing, but this time it was a military-grade cannon designed to rip through armored vehicles. There's no way Franklin could have survived that. The image of him riddled with holes was stuck in her mind, and she blamed herself for not being fast enough to grab him and pull him back onto the roof. Marina Griffin lay knelt on the roof, hands covering her face as she sobbed to herself. She promised him that she'd get him cured...she promised, and now that promise was broken.

[MinorBone Good]

Ceokiri’s crew was all huddled around each other, watching the TV report about what was happening over at the University. A couple of news helicopters were already flying overhead, despite the active firing. It was like something out of some action movie. But here it was in real life.

Tillie had no choice but to watch along with the others, curiosity getting the best of her. She was originally going to go back to sleep so she could try lucid dreaming for a quick nap. It was interrupted though as the loud alert snapped her out of it.

The TV then zoomed on a woman kneeling by the beast. It was hazy at first, but the camera was finally able to showcase the features of the woman. She had blue scales, and seemed aquatic like. Was this some sort of hero that she never heard about? The sound of a loud groan next to hear startled her, nearly falling to the floor out of fear.

“C’mon!! Get us closer shooot!” The man whined. He seemed oddly fascinated by the woman. True, she was strange in appearance. Then again, there were already pretty weird looking people here in Los Diamantes. Tillie was about to speak up, but was cut off by another member.

“God fucking damn.. What the hell..?”

“Well, at least it seems to be over now. We don’t have a casualty count, do we?”

“Nah, I just hope Jenny wasn’t one of them.” Jenny was one of the daughters of the crew here. Jake was a good man. Always caring after Jenny after her mom split up. Tillie didn’t really interact with Jenny all that much, but heard plenty of good things. Jake was actually gone, trying to get Jenny out of there. That man knew no fear.

“No! Don’t cut away! Get us a closer shot of the fish lady!” The man next to Tillie shouted again, slapping his own knee. Tillie shifted a bit away from the man next to her on the couch, feeling a bit uncomfortable. His name was Greg. He was a nice guy most of the time but… He had certain quirks that made him a bit… unique.

“Christ dude, chill.” The woman behind the couch crossed her arms, speaking in an annoyed tone. “You’re lucky Ceo had to do something, or your ass would’ve been kicked to the curb.”

“We could’ve gotten to see her feet, right? We were so close!”

Most of the group sighed. They had to deal with his antics plenty enough on occasion. Tillie heard that Greg even got distracted during a scouting mission because he saw a cat person's foot and attempted to go after them. Ceokiri actually told that story to Tillie when she wasn’t feeling well about a month ago. That was the hardest she laughed in a year.

Since then, Greg was demoted. Despite his flaws, he was able to get things done. As long as his perversions didn’t come into play. He was probably the nicest of the bunch, and was probably why he wasn’t kicked out. Though Ceokiri did say that once you were in the group, you were part of the group for life.

Tillie sighed to herself as the group started to disperse now the event was over. She rubbed her own eyes before Greg spoke to her. “Hey, do you need help going back to yer’ room?” He said with a polite smile.

“Um..” Tillie bit her tongue, looking back at the TV screen. “I.. I don’t need to. I want to watch a bit more.”

Greg nodded. “Alrighty, I can cook you something if you’d like!”

“...A simple salad should suffice.” Tillies stated. She really wasn’t hungry, but she didn’t want to be rude to him. She was already useless as is. She didn’t provide any support to this group. Even if she could, she probably wouldn’t. At least in a way that would harm others. Why did Ceokiri care so much for her?

With an excited cheer, Greg spun around like an over-exaggerated ice skater, and pranced over towards the kitchen of the hideout. Tillie stared at the TV as the camera showed the slumped form of the beast. That thing was able to make a wreck of things out of the university with pure strength. Strength. Tillie dug her fingers into her thighs, trying to imagine what it would be like. Tears started to well up in her eyes.

Why was she looking up to a beast that decimated that place? She didn’t even know why she started to tear up, her thoughts drifting back towards GenTech. If only she had gotten caught in that explosion in GenTech her life would have been freed. She probably would’ve been happy if her life ended there.

But no, she didn’t have the strength to go there. She should’ve fought the first person to go there and take their place. She was just a weakling. A weakling who always sat around who watched strong people do immoral things. She could tell them to stop anytime. But even then, they probably wouldn’t listen. Especially with her weak body and weak voice. She was just a weakling, and she had to accept it at this point. Nothing would be able to save her.

[Demon Lord Gira]

Atop of the roof, lay the broken and battered form of Bloodless. She watched on, in a daze, as the monster she had been fighting was disposed of so easily, so effortlessly, by the flying vehicle that had showed up. A soft "huh" was all that escaped from her opened mouth, too quiet to hear amidst everything else that was happening. So the thing's adaptive capabilities were not perfect... With enough force and power, she could do the same thing. It was defeated, the city saved... But what if there was more of it? There was never only one of anything, there was always another. Another that could kill and main, another that could be a threat to Vinnie and Heng. She would need to become stronger to take on another, one like this one...

But... How was she to do that? Her eyes, blurred vision though they suffered, could see the blood that had been left behind by the fiend. Perhaps if she tasted some of that for herself...

She tried to force her good arm up to begin to crawl toward the pools of blood, but the section of roof she had been flung into could support itself no longer. It cracked, and Kala felt her body begin to plummet down to the ground below as it gave way.

As she fell, a few of the pools of blood began to flow to where she had fallen, and dripped down toward her...

-----------------------------------

The building shuddered and rocked as the gunship's weapons tore through it and their intended target. Alice had to brace herself against Celine, but before they could fully leave the building, it stopped. Alice breathed a sigh of relief. Thank goodness Tenmus hadn't ordered the entire building to be leveled. She wouldn't put it past her, but the fact some modicum of restraint had been shown...

"Is... Is it over up there?" Alice found herself asking. "I'm going up there to help Marina and Franklin if he's still alive." The puppeteer ran up the stairs, leaving Celine with Vinnie. Once she was out of likely earshot, Celine took a deep and heavy sigh.

"What a shitshow..." Celine grumbled. "You and your sister have gotten yourselves into a hell of a mess. I don't know which god you pissed off this morning, but good lord..."

"Wait..." Vinnie said as he was let down onto the ground. "I need to get to Kala! She has to be up there still! I can't just leave her!"

Celine bit her lower lip. Alice had told her to get the kid to safety, but... "Yeah, let's head up and see what is going on up there. I can only hope your sister hasn't been turned into swiss cheese."

__________

"Target has been eliminated, ma'am." The pilot's voice echoed into Tenmus's ear through the phone held up for her. "No way it could have survived that, thing was bleeding like a pig when it fell."

Tenmus's face however showed no emotional reaction. No, her eyes were still focused on the scene. She had observed the gunship blast apart the creature, and while it was satisfying to observe, she had also seen its body fall down into the river. Not just that, but Bloodless as well had fallen away. And now there was this development with the girl... Another inhuman.

An example would have to be made of.

"Search the area for the body." Tenmus gave the order. "I want absolute undeniable proof that thing no longer lives, and for its corpse and Bloodless's to be found and restrained. And Alan, tell your team that is on their way there to take in that girl up on the roof into custody, and any teachers which may still be on the premises. Any sort of knowledge they have on that creature and of what happened, they wil be interrogated on."

"As you wish, Lady Tenmus." Alan gave her a gentle bow, then placed the phone on the table and took his leave...

[HayesAJones]

As the eyes of the city bore down on Marina, some sympathetic to her anguish, others uncaring or even worse, a veil fell over all of them. A thick curtain of white smoke began to spread over the rooftop, making it even harder to see than it already between the airborne debris and pink mist. Several more plumes of the thick vapor joined it, originating from three metal canisters that rolled in different directions across the roof, maximizing coverage. Light footfall approached the sobbing woman, and a gentle hand found her shoulder.

"We need to go." The masked woman's voice. "I don't know how far the mayor is willing to go, and what she plans for you, but... we'll figure this out."

An arm, short but sturdy, wrapped around Marina. "I'll guide you. We're getting out of the public eye and underground, okay?"

[Corzak The Mighty]

Aileen nodded silently to the woman, not in the mood for causing any sort of argument. As Lind gathered cotton swabs to test her saliva, Aileen asked, "S-so, what kind of tests were they going to run, exactly? A-and questions."

Aileen then opened her mouth for the test, though not without rolling her eyes internally. She hoped Kala turned up soon so she could be done with this...
______________________________________________
As Dhriti steadily made progress towards the university, sprinting down the sidewalks as quickly as she could, she suddenly could make out the distinctive hum of helicopter blades in the direction of the school. Even more alramingly, she could make out the sounds of gunfire... some serious, heavy duty gunfire too.

"Fuck...." Dhriti cursed under her breath, before she began to pick up the pace. Just what the fuck was going on there that they called in a goddamn attack helicopter?
______________________________________________
It did not take long for Cocytus to handle the muggers assailing the poor woman, mopping them up in a brutal display of magic and force, leaving little of them in his destructive wake. The mangled bodies, strewn across the alleyway like roadkill on a busy street, Cocytus was quick to send the shocked woman the brutes had assailed on her way. Wiping the blood off of his axe before dispelling it, Cocytus hopped back onto the rooftops of the nearby buildings and scouted his surroundings, cobalt eyes scanning the city from his vantage point.

Off in the distance. near where his main target was, Cocytus could make out the shape of a helicopter, along with the distinct hum of its blades. He could also make out the flash of a muzzle, along with the echoing shots of its powerful main gun raining hell upon whatever was unfortunate to get in its way. Cocytus growled to himself. He needed to hurry up; the situation was already far out of hand if an assault vehicle had been called in to handle the situation. Conjuring one of his biting chains, Cocytus launched it into a nearby taller structure before using it to swing farther than he could jump, hoping to close as much distance as possible...

[Breakdown]

As Marina was forced up and away by Blind, she couldn't help but stare out at the flowing river next to the campus as tears continued to stream from her eyes.

"He's gone...he's fucking gone...I..I couldn't save him! I fucked up so bad, if only I was faster, if only I-" she said before being cut off by another insistent tug from Blind.

Marina could easily break free from Blind's grasp if she chose to, yet she allowed herself to be shepherded away. Maybe it was for the better that she leave this place before things got worse; there could be soldiers on their way to arrest her or worse, the chopper would just gun her down right then and there for attacking it earlier. She took one last look back at the river before she entered a brisk jog with Blind and went back through the now door-less roof access of the building. As they went down the stairs, her thoughts drifted to Sierra and the injuries she sustained at the hands of the gunmen who ruined everything. Marina thought it was worth asking this "stranger" about how Sierra was doing, given that she got separated from the group when the leader of the gunmen attacked her.

"Sierra....please tell me she's okay at least...." Marina said softly and somberly, as if expecting Blind to give her bad news. She didn't want to believe Sierra was dead, but after watching Franklin get gunned down before her very eyes, she was in a very pessimistic state of mind. She looked at Blind, eyes puffy and red from crying and her eyeliner partially melted from the tears.

[Demon Lord Gira]

Lind walked over to Aileen, and gently rubbed the inside of Aileen's cheek with one of the swabs, before she moved it between the molars and the gum, then pulled it out. The swab was placed in a container, then put off to the side on the desk. The desk top opened, and the container dropped down away from sight.

"The tests are mainly to determine which types of advanced medication are safest for you to take without an adverse effect." Lind explained. "And the questions will simply be to determine the severity of the head pains you are suffering from, and what type of preliminary medication is best. Once the test results are back, I can diagnose you with a more proper form of head medication.."

She took a seat over at the desk, and logged back into the laptop, before she opened up a blank page to type on. "When have these head pains begun afflicting you? Can you precisely describe how they feel, and where they originate from in your head? How do you usually alleviate the pains, and is there anyone you know who is there to help when the pain becomes too much?"

---------

Outside of the clinic, a small lean sapphire car with emerald stripes pulled up into the parking lot and shut down. The driver's door opened and Heng swung her legs out and pushed herself out of the car. She held a hand to her head, and took several deep breaths as she locked the car back up. As if Tenmus being on edge wasn't bad enough, she had heard her screaming about the University being under attack as she had been going down the elevator, and that had caused a pit to form in Heng's stomach. And that pit had only worsened as she had driven back to the clinic and the news had confirmed her worst fears: Kala had gotten involved in what was going on.

She had warned Kala, she and Vinnie both had told her to not do anything outrageous or any superhero antics, but it seemed as if fate had other plans. She wanted to wrap her fingers around the neck of the girl and shake some common sense into her, but Heng knew that simply was not possible. She had no way of knowing if this was something Kala had flung herself into, or if she had been swept up by forces beyond her control, so she couldn't be too mad at her, not without the whole story. She knew Kala would be fine, if past experiences were anything to go off of, and Vinnie was a smart kid who would do his best to keep out of trouble, so she wasn't too worried about them. If she tried to go there, it was just as likely she would get caught in the crossfire, and she valued her own life too much to be killed by an abomination. So she had to simply trust and hope that Vinnie and Kala were fine.

Even so, it was far too early in the morning for this nonsense. She opened the front door and walked into the clinic, the other car in the parking lot not registering in her mind. With any hope, Lind would be willing to pay for drinks at the bar. She needed some if she was going to remain sane as a person.

__________________________________

The ascent up the stairs for Alice was cut short as she ran into Blind and Marina. Questions entered her mind: Who was this new person Marina was with.. And where was Franklin? The fading helicopter noises made Alice suspect the worst, but it was a thought she didn't want to think.

Up from behind her came Celine, with Vinnie in tow. "Marina... W.. What happened? Where... Where's Franklin and..."

Alice shook her head. The tears in Marina's eyes all but confirmed her suspicions. The poor girl had her entire life turned upside down in this one day. Her beloved, shot and downed like a feral animal in combat with another feral animal. She felt for her. Losing that which was closest.. She had gone through that before. It was a pain she never wanted anyone to have to endure, and it was all the more reason why Bloodless had to be stopped. There was no doubt in her mind, she was part of the reason why this had happened, a reason it had escalated the way it did. And it infuriated her all the more.

"Sierra's safe." Alice told Marina. "I ran into Sister Seisshia, and she stopped the bleeding. I took Sierra to the medical ward where she is being treated. She lost a lot of blood, but she should be able to make it. And Franklin... I'm sure he's still out there alive. I'm going to go up to the roof and get the blood samples that are up there, and bring them to Heng. She can use them to find a cure and help track Franklin down. Marina, I'll do everything I can for you and for Franklin, I promise."

Vinnie was silent. He had seen what Kala had been fighting up on the rooftop, and if that had been this Franklin, what he had seen concerned him. He knew how tough Kala was. He had seen her have an entire building collapse onto her and come crawling out with many of her bones crushed and shattered, and she had survived that. And that thing she had fought was much larger and tougher than Kala...

[Breakdown]

Marina let Alice's head shake do the talking for her, besides, she couldn't muster the strength to utter a word after what she had just witnessed transpire on the roof. In her heart, she felt Franklin's presence grow fainter and fainter until it was gone entirely. She winced and clutched her chest as that warm, loving sensation she felt died away. Never again would she feel that sense of safety and comfort Franklin gave her. Never again would she hear the sound of his voice, or the gentle caress of his fingers through her hair. All of it was gone. Four years of building the love story she imagined as a little girl, only to have it vanish in the blink of an eye by a whirlwind of circumstances beyond her control. Instead, she still heard the thundering roar of the helicopter's weapons firing above her and her ears ringing from the horrible sound of both it and Franklin's death screams. She still felt the powerful, hurricane-like winds from the propellers that nearly pushed her back. The whole event was as traumatic as recieving the news of her brother's death, and even though this situation was largely beyond her control, she couldn't help but blame herself for not being fast enough to pull Franklin back over the edge before he fell, or at least making sure she actually knocked the helicopter out of commission to prevent it from firing again. She became so hyper-fixated on what she could have done different that she didn't feel her skin and scales beginning to dry.

It became increasingly hotter, and she found herself struggling to breathe as though she were running out of air. Her breathing became raspy and wheezy as she leaned against a wall with her arm. She bared her teeth as her skin and scales felt dry and itchy, and soon she began to gasp for air. She gripped her throat and grabbed Alice by the arm with an unconscious vicegrip. She struggled to speak before finally being able to utter a phrase.

"W...water. Please, I need...I need water!!" she urged as she continued to gag and wheeze.

She'd reached her out-of-water limit and would need to rehydrate immediately, lest she begin to suffer severe and potentially fatal consequences. Despite being able to live on land, Land Striders were still Merfolk at the end of the day, and as such would always need water in order to live. Sooner or later, they'd need to re-enter it to rehydrate their bodies and survive. Marina found that a temporary solution was simply to drink large amounts of water, however it would never be able to substitute a full-on submersion. She hoped that one of them had a bottle of water nearby, or at the very least they could help her to a water fountain so she could drink, her life depended on it.

===============================================================================

Jonah Brody watched as the events at the campus concluded with a barrage of projectiles from an attack helicopter and a plunge into the river. She slumped in his seat, half-relieved that GenTech's abomination was out of commission, even if it was just for the time being. Brody didn't believe that Franklin was dead, he couldn't be; He'd literally watched him evolve before his very eyes to counter physical attacks by Bloodless almost on-the-fly. There's also the fact that his very presence during that battle indicated that he survived the encounter with GenTech's mercenary team, who were probably equipped with the best firepower able to be carried. Marina was also still alive too, and he saw Blind shepherd her off the roof through the live feed broadcasted by news choppers on-site. He wouldn't have to inquire about Marina's status to Blind, but he was still very much curious as to what exactly happened inside the building before the fight moved to the roof. He could hazard a guess as to what happened to the GenTech team: assuming they hadn't escaped, they were likely butchered by this monster if even a powerful Super like Bloodless was outmatched. He was almost certain Thomas Kruger was leading the operation, as he had effectively taken over Brody's place as their top merc after he deserted from the company. If Kruger's team had been killed to the last man, then good riddance: Kruger may have been his protégé back in the day, but Brody always thought of him as a cruel, sadistic bastard. Since he moved up in the ranks, Kruger was able to exert his cruelty in ways he couldn't before and he made everybody know it.

The men under Kruger's command were far from saints, and Brody had gone through their files in detail to see the vile human beings they were. Most were ex-military dishonorably discharged and tried for war crimes, others were sociopaths who simply wanted to make a paycheck at the expense of innocent lives. GenTech didn't care about their pasts, only that they could carry out their tasks cleanly and efficiently. Such cleanliness would extend to squad casualties as well, and Brody was well aware of the emergency protocol regarding fallen squadmates. His Mk. IV Exoskeleton did not have the self-destruct feature the Mk. Vs had, and he suspected his desertion was part of the reason why such measures were installed: to destroy all evidence of GenTech's involvement and to discourage others from deserting like the once "great" Jonah Brody. He turned away from the monitor displaying the news and to another he had pulled up dossiers he had written on the various heroes of the city that he was aware of: Blind, Foxtrot, Puppeteer, Roadrunner, among others all had a clear picture of them next to a host of biographical data. One however, contained many blank spaces and a blurry security-cam screenshot as well as lacking something as basic as a name. This black knight, as survivors had described him, seemed to be another vigilante-type akin to Bloodless that also used the modus-operandi of butchering criminals.

What Brody found particularly fascinating was the knight's abilities that all seemed to point to otherworldly attributes, supernatural even. If this was the case, then this individual would be absolutely invaluable in Brody's plan. Franklin would no doubt return even more powerful than before, and something to even the odds would be needed to stop him. However the knight likely wouldn't be able to do this alone, and to that, Brody had devised a plan to recruit the best Supers the city had to offer in order to halt this threat while he and Foxtrot go behind the scenes and cut off the head of the snake: GenTech. However, Brody had no idea where to even begin tracking down this supernatural being, and he had been monitoring the knight for months without any solid leads to his identity or whereabouts....

[HayesAJones]

Blind could not be sure of Marina's exact anatomy, but it was apparent to her that her pleads for water were no less desperate than they sounded. Even if she could not get a rough read on the woman's vitals, which were now wildly fluctuating, with her smart suit's sensors, she plainly looked awful, so she acted quickly.

"Step back," she warned the others before gently lowered Marina down, then approaching a wall, which her suit send a ping of sound into. On a small display screen that formed on her wrist, she was told there was a pipe just ahead and to the right, and it read too dense to be carried temperature-controlled air: a water line. Luckily, there was likely a bathroom or a chemistry lab almost directly below them.

The costumed vigilante drew her staple gun. "Splash zone."

With a crack, she fired into the wall, piercing the pipe and sending a thin spray of water over Marina...

[Corzak The Mighty]

Aileen bit her lip in faux anxiety, quickly coming up with a lie to cover her tracks/ "W-well, I just was resting at home, w-when all of a sudden I just got this horrendous headache..." Aileen placed her hands against her temples to emphasize her point. "I-I f-felt woozy and sick. i couldn't concentrate, c-couldn't relax. I-It was like my head was gonna explode!"

She let out a sigh of exhaustion to show how badly the headache was affecting her, hoping to earn sympathy from the woman. "I-I've been easing the pain with some o-over the counter medication... j-just some apsirin, nothing major... I-I have a caretaker back home, sh-she helps me when my pain gets really bad..."

[Demon Lord Gira]

Lind held a finger up to her chin, and she closed her eyes in thought as she typed out the notes with her other hand. She nodded as she listened to Aileen's account. When Aileen finished, she opened her eyes again.

"Apsirin can only do so much." She told her. "What you describe best matches a thunderclap headache, likely the symptom of an internal issue like a brain injury or torn or inflamed blood vessels. It could also merely be its own thing, but further testing will-"

"Hi hi! I'm baaaack, Lind!" Heng's voice echoed through the clinic as the woman in question opened the door. "Lind I need- oooh, we have a patient."

"Yes we do. Welcome back.' Lind plainly and quietly said. "Her name is Aileen, and she is suffering from intense head pains. I think I might know what to give her as a prescription while we run saliva tests. Can you bring the hydrothermi solution?"

"Right, right. I'll get to that. Just been a crazy morning at the office. One thing after another, ohohohoho..." Heng spun around and walked back out the door, leaving Lind with Heng.

"She's very obnoxious and eccentric. Please do not mind her." Lind said.

_______________________________

Alice was taken aback by Marina's sudden pleas for water. In the current air of events that had been occuring, she had somehow missed the fact that Marina now had the features of a mermaid, of one more adapted to the water than on land. That alone raised many questions in her mind, but now was not the time or the place for them. If she needed water, she would have to-

She stopped as she watched the other woman struck a water line and used it to spray Marina with the liquid she desperately needed. Alice let out a sigh, and looked to the other woman. "Thank you." She told her. With that settled, Alice raced up toward the roof, leaving the others where they were. Celine pinched the ridge of her nose. That woman was always the busy body, always traveling at mach 40 with her mind and never stopping to rest or dwell upon something unless a child was involved.

"Marina..." Celine took a deep breath. "I'll see what I and Father Pius can do regarding the school situation given everything that just happened. And, when Sierra recovers, I'll be the first to inform you."

-----

The rooftop was desolate, a fractured broken landscape strewn by debris and shrapnel. Alice covered her eyes as she ascended the stairs. The news choppers were still present, but the gun ship she had heard was flying elsewhere, which was good for her. She was going to give Tenmus a piece of her mind the next time she talked to her. Was she that desperate to ensure the target was dead, even at the cost of civilian lives in the way?

She focused her gaze toward the rooftop itself. There was surprisingly little blood that covered the roof... But it was there, dripping toward the edge, which surprised Alice. The roof was slanted yes to allow rain to pour off, but not in the direction the blood was flowing. It was going uphill, toward the other side. She moved toward it, but stopped as she felt her skin crawl as she got close. Whatever this blood was, her body was screaming that it was dangerous to contact, even to be around for too long. If she tried to touch it, she had a bad feeling the results wouldn't be pretty.

Thankfully, she had a way to deal with that.

With her gauntlet, she manipulated one of her dolls to fly into the pooling blood. The doll scooped up as much of the blood as it could, and its mouth opened for the blood to drip into. Alice was thankful she had designed her dolls to be hollow and with the ability to contain liquids within them. While it hadn't been of much use when she was with Sulis, there had been times where it had come in handy, and now was among those times.

With the blood sample stored away, Alice moved closer to the edge of the rooftop and peered down. The blood was dripping downward, in a single spot, yet with all the dust that still hung in the air, it was hard for her to make out anything...

Her eyes narrowed. Blood... And Bloodless was here. The most likely answer was this was Bloodless's doing, somehow controlling this blood to rejuvenate herself...

And she wasn't going to let her do that. She turned and ran back down the stairs...

------------------------

It hurt. It hurt so much. Where was she even? Why did she hurt so much?

Kala's eyes weakly opened behind her mask. All she saw was brown and red, and all she tasted was dirt. She pushed herself up, and collapsed onto her back. Now she could see a bit more... Still brown, but the sun pierced through the dust clouds. And there was red falling from the sky onto her...

It fell into her lips, and Kala realized it was blood. Succulent, tasty blood as well. Yet, there was something about it, something not normal. It seemed.. spicy, with a strange aftertaste that tingled. Was it blood from that monster? Did monsters have seasoned or spicy blood?

She let the blood continue to flow into her. She had felt so weak, so helpless, but with this blood she felt her strength slowly begin to return to her. Yet as she tried to move, pain shot back through her body. That thing... That thing she had fought... Has broken her.

She winced as she felt her chest burn. She forced herself onto her feet, and began to limp away, her breath ragged and teeth clenched. Vinnie needed her. He had to be back home, waiting for her. That's what he would do. He'd be there, waiting for her....

[Breakdown]

Marina gasped as the water spayed against her skin, her gills opening wide in anticipation of being submerged as she tilted her neck and allowed the water to enter them. It felt amazing and refreshing after what she had just gone through. She could only imagine how blissful a full submersion would feel, and she anticipated that she'd need one soon as this would only be temporary. As her skin drank the cool water, her breathing slowly returned to normal and she no longer wheezed. She let go of Alice's arm and bent over with both hands on her knees as if she had just ran a marathon. As she caught her breath, she looked up at Blind and nodded to her in gratitude.

"Thanks. That was as unpleasant as it looked" she said as she stood up with her back straight.

She turned to Celine as she approached with her word that she'd speak to Father Pius regarding her school situation. Then her eyes lit up when she mentioned Sierra; she'd nearly forgotten about her during all the chaos and her mind began to flood with anxiety regarding her current status. Last time she saw Sierra, her wounds looked horrible and she was afraid that she'd never see her again after that.

"Is Sierra okay?? Where is she?? Take me to her, please!" Marina begged.

She felt guilty for leaving Sierra in their care rather than being by her best friend's side, but then the mercenary leader attacked followed by the battle on the roof...she'd completely lost track of everything else that was going on. She wasn't ready to lose two loved ones in a single day, she just wasn't. She owed it to Sierra to be there for her just as she'd done countless times.

==================================================================

Near the mouth of the river where it met with the sea, a pale-skinned, blonde-haired woman sat on a rocky outcropping with her legs together looking out over at the scene unfolding in the distance with emergency sirens and helicopters buzzing around a building. Her hands and feet were both webbed and sported sharp black claws that looked like they could shear a man's face off in a single swipe. Palpitating gills sit on her neck that opened and closed with each breath she took, surrounded by patches of black striped, silver scales that covered her legs, arms, back and were flecked on her cheeks and forehead. To call what she was wearing clothing was generous, as it largely consisted of crudely stitched pieces of cloth and canvas covered in some areas by rusted metal plates. She also wore a scaled plate-skirt that covered her thighs and was decorated with various bones hanging from string made of strands of fishing net. Her eyes were cold and black like that of a shark, and her pupils were just barely visible if one got close enough. However all those that did get close enough to see her never lived to tell the tale. They labeled her predations as shark attacks, but the truth was far stranger. She had taken a liking to the name "Scylla" in place of her given name...the one given to her by those pathetic, treacherous creatures she once called her parents.

It was fitting, they were both once innocents who were wrongly punished and were forced to become monsters, preying on humans. She hated humans, hated them with every fiber of her being. Since she found out what she really was as a teenager, they'd treated her like a freak and an abomination. Insults, pranks, mockery, bullying; there was no end to the cruelty these vile animals were capable of, and for what? For what crime? Not fitting their definition of "human"? Even her true parents were not immune to her scorn. She believed they'd disposed of her because she was born with legs rather than a tail like the rest of her kind. They said it was to protect her and keep her safe from those that would seek to harm her, but she refused to believe them. She had come to find out that those like her were nearly hunted to extinction because they were born different. Human society rejected her, and so did her own people. Every time she looked at her legs, she felt hatred and disgust. If only she was born with a beautiful tail instead of these appendages, then her parents wouldn't have discarded her like a piece of trash and she would have never had to have been subjected to human cruelty. It disgusted her to her very core that with these legs, she looked exactly like the people she hated the most.

However with these came certain benefits; in her quest for vengeance, they allowed her to terrorize both land and sea. No human was safe from her wrath, and she would kill every one she could get her hands on; men, women, children, it didn't matter. He hated them, and she-

Her thoughts were suddenly interrupted by the sight of something floating towards her, something large and irregular. She squinted her eyes to get a better look, but was unable to make out anything specific aside from pink-ish flesh and strange quills jutting out of it. With speed and grace, she slid into the water and swam towards the floating mass of tissue. Diving under, she swam about 20 feet below the object when what she saw sent her scrambling away. It was a monster, a real, genuine monster. It appeared to be dead, but that didn't change the fact that its visage was absolutely horrible. Its body was muscular and vaguely reptilian with pink-ish flesh, with smatterings of lizard-like scales scattered throughout its hulking frame. Its face resembled a human skull stuck in a screaming expression, its eye sockets dark and seemingly empty which made it all the more terrifying. It sported chitinous quills down its's back and on its arms that could easily be used as weapons along with its huge teeth and claws. Whatever this thing was, she wanted no part of it and swam away as fast as she could, leaving the monster's corpse to its watery grave...