Superhero RPG

Corzak The Mighty · Post by **Corzak The Mighty** » Wed Aug 09, 2023 6:04 pm

Dhriti's eyes widened as the jagged, crystalline blade of blood erupted forth from Bloodless' hand. Barely having time to mutter a shocked expletive, the Indian woman brought her four conjured arms together in front of her, acting as a makeshift shield to protect herself from what surely would have been a fatal blow. The jagged blade nearly slid into a narrow a gap between the shield Dhriti had made for herself, stopping mere inches away from the woman's mid-section.

That was WAY too damn close, Dhriti thought to herself. Couple more inches and I'd be calling for a paramedic...

Flexing her spectral arms, Dhriti shattered pointed end of the crystalline blade and shoved what remained of it aside, before she lashed out with a swift kick to the vampiric vigilante's ribs, causing her to stumble briefly.

"How much punishment can this psycho take?!" Dhriti shouted to Roadrunner.

Spuro · Post by **Spuro** » Sat Aug 12, 2023 9:29 pm

Out the window of the third floor in the building above the battle, a flare rocketed outside into the sky and exploded into brilliant fireworks that could be seen for miles. Foxtrot's emergency signal for paramedics...

–––----------------------------------

Inside, Foxtrot had already begun first aid on Alice, hoping to stabilize her while help arrived. Already she regretted that she had to get Alice so swiftly out of Bloodless's way. Alice's injuries looked bad. Suspecting a skull fracture, Foxtrot applied a light gauze dressing over the wound, careful not to put pressure on the bleeding area or move Alice's head any more than necessary. SWhen her work was finished, she stabilized Alice's head and neck with both her hands and her arms.

"Hope you didn't injure your spine," Foxtrot grimaced as she sat with Alice, keeping her ears alert for sirens and on the battle in the streets below.

Breakdown · Post by **Breakdown** » Sun Aug 13, 2023 8:48 am

Marina's expression grew more and more grim as the read the message, to where those present could almost pinpoint exactly when the full weight of the revelation came down on her like a meteor. She stared at the phone as a knot formed in her stomach, and her hands began to shake with increasing intensity. She wanted to badly to throw the phone against the wall or crush it in her hand, but she exercised enough control to simply let it fall to the ground. She buried her face in her hands and slowly began sobbing, which soon turned to crying and wailing. In between breaths and bouts of crying she'd babble incoherently; some sounded like pleas for forgiveness, others sounded like recalling old memories. She suddenly looked up at Celine and Emily with bloodshot eyes, tears freely rolling down her cheeks, resembling a child who'd been hurt.

"W..what did I do wrong?? Who did I piss off to deserve this!?" she said as she suddenly stood up.

"Ever since I came to this fucking city it's been nothing but loss after loss. First my brother is murdered, then Franklin gets turned into some fucking monster, and now my best friend since I've known as a kid is fucking dead! Do you two have any fucking idea how this feels? DO YOU?!" she said, now shouting.

"Now I have almost nobody left. My dad lives on the other end of the country, and if we can't cure Franklin I'll...I'll..I can't take this anymore. I really, really can't. This is too much too soon" she said while pacing the room.

"Kruger.." she hissed as her sorrow turned to anger, her hands balling into fists. The mention of his name brought flashbacks to DRU when his squad attacked them, when she fought him alone and nearly lost. She remembered every detail of his face, and the more she did the angrier she became. Her rage began building to the point where her nails slowly extended out into claws and the texture of scales began to form on her body.

"I should have killed him when I had the chance!! I should have bashed his fucking head apart with that fountain. He's the reason all of this has gone to shit! He's the reason why Franklin didn't get cured sooner and why Sierra is dead! Him, Mills and that entire fucking company" She said, her voice seething with rage that was so potent it made the room uneasy.

Her aquatic features were almost fully on display as she finally got ahold of herself. She panted as she caught her breath, and although the rage had subsided, the sorrow remained. Sierra was dead. Gone. She'd never see her friend again. She'd never hear her playful quips, or be able to seek her advice, or cry on her shoulder. She truly felt alone and vulnerable with her support systems either dead or unavailable. Shaking her head, she sulked over towards the bathroom with the desire to submerge herself in the tub and be left alone for a while.

"I'm going to sleep. I....I don't wanna be awake anymore....it hurts too much..." she said before opening the door and slamming it shut.

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

Roadrunner yelled out as the crimson blade cut his left thigh, cutting through his tracksuit and into his flesh. Before he had time to examine the wound, he found himself being seized by the neck and lifted up off the ground. He struggled and attempted to pry Bloodless's hands off his neck but to no avail: she was far too strong. He chuckled to himself as he dangled there; looks like this was the end of the road for Roadrunner. This isn't exactly how he hoped to go out, but he was going to make the best of it. Turning his head as far as he could, he spat in Bloodless's face and winked.

"Au revoir, darling" he said with a wide grin and awaited the killing blow.

Suddenly, Dhriti rejoined the fight with a kick to Bloodless's ribs that made the vigilante stumble and loosen her grip. Sensing an opportunity, Roadrunner mule-kicked Bloodless in the abdomen with both legs to free himself. He landed on his feet, holding his throat and gasping for air as he looked at Dhriti.

"Your guess is as good as mind, lass. I've never gone this many rounds with her. It would be nice to have that chap in the black armor though, I'd bet he could set her straight!" he said while wiping the sweat from his brow.

Then suddenly, an idea popped into mind: Hypersonic. He'd only done it a few times to show off, but never as an actual attack as the risk of collateral damage was risky. However nothing they've been doing was enough to put Bloodless down, so perhaps a "last resort" move was the play to make here. Looking over at Dhriti, the speedster offered a warning:

"Lass, you may want to stand back" he said as he focused his eyes on Bloodless.

He gritted his teeth as his body became energized, the muscles in his legs tensing up as he adopted a stance akin to an Olympic sprinter at the starting line. He felt as though his shoes would sink into the street with how hard he was pressing his feet to the ground. The high-speed energies in his body continued to supercharge his muscles, far beyond their usual capacity. He closed his eyes and allowed the charge to build up just a little longer when he felt the moment was right. He opened his eyes, giving Bloodless a wink and a grin.

"Choo-choo, baybee!" He said, before releasing all the muscles in his body and running forward so quickly that he created an immense sonic boom that shattered every window he ran past as he achieved hypersonic speeds almost instantly.

Before Bloodless had a chance to blink, or her heart to beat, Roadrunner slammed into her with such tremendous force that it cratered the ground below them and sent her flying with sufficient force that she could potentially land miles away. Roadrunner was not unscathed by this either, as the impact felt like it may have bruised a few ribs and perhaps even dislocated his shoulder. He fell to his knees, then on his back as his head began to spin and his vision blurred.

Post by **Demon Lord Gira** » Sun Aug 13, 2023 9:40 am

Celine could only watch Marina in silence. She wanted to comfort her, to help her out in some way, to alleviate the pain... But there was nothing she could do. No words she could say would bring back Sierra or undo what had happened to Franklin. She didn't have the power to turn back the clock to before all of this happened and alter the trajectory that fate was sending Marina on. Anything she could try to say would simply ring hollow compared to what Marina was going through.

She was no unused to such outbursts of emotion. Part of her job at the university was to help students through their problems, and many had she sat there and listened to their woes and ailments and offered the best help she could. Both she and Seisshia were fairly popular on campus even only for that reason, for being what many considered to be miracle workers to help get students back on track. But nothing compared to what Marina was going through, of a day where it seemed like the very fabric of reality was out to screw her over in every way possible.

So when Marina asked if they knew what she felt, Celine could only look away. There was no good answer to that.

"I'm sorry." She softly said as Marina closed the door into the bathroom. She turned to look to Blind. "If you want to leave, feel free to. I'll stay here. If she needs someone to vent her frustrations out on, to help her through these next few days, I can do that. I'm used to it."

______________________________

The blow was far greater than she expected. She had braced herself as best she could, but this hero, this sinner, had moved far faster than she had ever seen him move. The kick to the gut from the woman had been unexpected, but nothing she couldn't have been ready for, but as Roadrunner slammed into her like a speeding bullet, Bloodless felt her eyes roll into the back of their sockets. Blood and saliva shot out of her mouth as all of the air was forced out of her lungs and her ribs cracked and broke from the impact. She was sent hurtling far through the air, barely past the top of a high building. She righted herself as she flew, and from her palms extended out blackish bloody tendrils that shot toward the building's roof.

Yet, they never connected. A wave of pain and exhaustion washed over the body of Kala, and the tendrils dissolved before they could stop her momentum. Behind her mask, Bloodless's eyes widened with bloodshot rage as she found herself helpless to stop her flight. NO! NO! This worthless girl's body had already reached its limits?! Impossible! The heathens had to be punished! They were pawns of the cursed one, the root of all of this evil! She had smelled its scent on them, the scent of the one responsible! They had to be stopped! It had to be stopped!

The body of Kala flew out of sight, and into a series of abandoned warehouses where she crashed with such force that the stone concrete was shattered and pieces of metal and stone were embedded into her flesh. A weak gasp escaped from her mouth as she lay there for several moments. Then, she slowly began to rise back up, but as she rose to her feet, her body finally gave in and she broke down into shadows that slithered into the debris.

The inner voice cursed and hissed as it felt its presence waning. She could no longer fight like this. This worthless body needed to regain its strength, to recover, and that worthless other personality, that stupid girl was starting to come to. Infuriating... How infuriating. And to only be able to slip into control when that worthless girl wasn't able to do anything... A different approach was needed. Next time, she couldn't afford to wait until that girl's control was relinquished to attempt this... But how?

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

"She's close. Her signal is only less than a block away." Heng told Vinnie. The car pulled off of the main road and into a series of alleyways. The doctor had one eye firmly on the tracker, the other on the stretch ahead to make sure she wasn't crashing the car into anything. "Vinnie, once we get her back, I am making absolutely certain she cannot do anything like this again, both for her own good and the good of oth-"

She stopped as she saw a flare shoot up from further ahead. She knew that was that. A call for help. She bit her lower lip. She could only hope there was no one dead...

"Fireworks, at this time?" Vinnie asked. "But... Why?"

"Those aren't fir-" She was cut off once more as a shockwave blasted around the car. The glass on the car shattered as Vinnie screamed and ducked low to try and avoid the shattered glass. The windows on the buildings around the car shattered as well. "What the hell?!" She gasped, before she noticed something on the tracker that made her heart sink.

Kala was no longer in the area. She was several miles away in the few seconds her eyes had been off of it. Heng smashed a fist into the steering wheel that caused a honk to sound from the car. "FUCK!" She hit the steering wheel again. "She's no longer here!" She angrily pocketed the tracker. They had been too slow, and now wherever by her own choice or the actions of another, Kala was now much farther away than she had started off. It took every fiber of her being to not immediately reverse the car out of the alleyway and speed off after the signal. If it wasn't for that flare, she would have done just that, but knowing that flare had been fired meant there was an emergency ahead, and to knowingly avoid such an emergency... The doctor began cursing to herself under her breath as she continued forward.

Vinnie uncurled himself from behind her seat. "W-what was tha-"

"Shut up, and don't say anything." Heng snapped. "It's an emergency that has to be dealt with."

The boy shrunk back into his seat. For Heng to be this angry...

The car turned a corner in the alleyway, and before Heng's eyes she saw the aftermath of what Kala had done. Cracked walls and pools of blood among several torn bodies, and two heroes who looked as if they had fought their way out of a meat grinder. She stopped the car, then turned back to Vinnie. "Don't say a word, let me do all of the talking." She hissed at him, before she got out of the car...

Corzak The Mighty · Post by **Corzak The Mighty** » Tue Aug 15, 2023 8:07 pm

DhrIti raised up both of her arms to block the cloud of dust and debris kicked up by Roadrunner's blazing speed, feeling the sonic boom from his burst of unfathomable speed shake through her chest, nearly causing her to topple over.

"Holy SHIT!" Dhriti coughed, spitting out dirt that had sprayed itself into her face and mouth. As the cloud of debris cleared, Dhriti lowered her conjured limbs, glancing around at the destruction Roadrunner had caused. The Indian woman grimaced in disapproval. Sure, Bloodless had been dealt with, at least for now, but how were they going to explain the sheer magnitude of property damage laying scattered about?

Seeing roadrunner through the clearing cloud, however, Dhriti hustled over to him. "Hey, you okay?"

She extended her good arm out toward Roadrunner. She could feel her adrenaline beginning to wear off as sharp lances of pain began to run down her severely lacerated arm, but she gritted her teeth and did her best to fight through both the unbearable pain and the wooziness from the loss of blood. As Heng approached, Dhriti eyed the doctor warily, though she stood down once she recognized her face.

"H-hey... you... you're from the clinic... right?" Dhriti stated, struggling to keep her focus. "I think me and my friend here are more hurt than we thought..."

HayesAJones · Post by **HayesAJones** » Fri Aug 25, 2023 10:46 am

Blind- or Donna now- shook her head. It did not seem to be in response to Celine, but to clear the fog that had rolled over her eyes when Marina had demanded to know if they knew loss.

As her actual answer, the young woman fished a burner phone, identical to the one she had given Marina before, from her pocket and set it on the nightstand. “You both know how to reach me.”

Before leaving the room, she paused, and told Celine, “She needs space to be angry. To burn. Just… don’t let her burn so hot it hurts her. Or someone else. I’m not very good with people. But I know patterns. I don’t want to see that one take her.”

With a parting nod to Celine, Blind pulled her hood over her long, hastily tied up hair and ducked out of the room.

Spuro · Post by **Spuro** » Mon Sep 04, 2023 4:41 pm

The shockwave from Roadrunner's blow rattled the buildings around him, and in the abandoned highrise above, Foxtrot grimaced as she set her arms tight against Alice's head to prevent it from moving. The silence that followed was broken by the sound of a car turning into the street outside. Foxtrot's brows furrowed as she listened carefully. No sirens. Who was driving into the middle of an active battle zone at this hour?

"Roadrunner?! Durga?! Everything okay out there?" she shouted, hoping her voice could be heard on the street below. Beneath her body, her legs tensed, ready to leap back into action on the chance that Bloodless might charge into the building.

Breakdown · Post by **Breakdown** » Mon Sep 04, 2023 5:35 pm

As Roadrunner lay on the ground, he groaned as his vision swung between blurry and clear. Now that the adrenaline was wearing off, the pain from his injuries was beginning to set in. Every time he took a breath, it felt like he was being stabbed in the sides; definitely bruised some ribs during the impact. He was surprised by just how tough Bloodless was in this state, as it felt like running into a brick wall. He went to move the arm of the shoulder he used in the attack, and groaned as it stung with every motion. Even the mere thought of moving it was enough to send spiders of pain through the limb. He wasn't sure if he dislocated his arm or broke it, hopefully Heng would be able to assess the problem in due time. He heard several voices call out to him, but he barely had the wits to make out his surroundings through his blurring vision.

"I'll be fine, darling. A nap would be delightful, however..." he said with a soft, quiet voice as he lay on the ground.

Corzak The Mighty · Post by **Corzak The Mighty** » Mon Sep 04, 2023 6:06 pm

Dhriti, feeling her strength beginning the wane, tilted her head to the sound of Foxtrot's voice. She attempted to reply, but her head was beginning to become fuzzy. Dhriti felt her legs become tingly and weak, before she quickly slid down onto the ground. The indian woman tried hard to keep her focus, before finally willing up the strength to reply to Foxtrot.

"We're... we're okay!" Dhriti shouted back. "Heng's here, that's all...."

Spuro · Post by **Spuro** » Tue Sep 05, 2023 5:01 am

Foxtrot breathed a sigh of relief at hearing Dhriti's voice. "Alice is in a bad state!" she shouted back down. "Fractured skull, possible spinal injury! We'll need medical attention!"

Post by **Demon Lord Gira** » Tue Sep 05, 2023 6:01 pm

Heng's expression soured as she took in the sorry state she had stumbled upon. This was bad, very bad. There was no doubt in her mind this had been Bloodless's doing, but against so many superheroes at this time, what had possessed Kala to do this? And what on earth could be done about her now that things had taken this turn?

"Yes, I am from the clinic. I was in the middle of an errand when I heard the noise coming fro-" She was stopped as Foxtrot's voice, and words, reached her, and she turned to face her. "Alice?! Oh gods... I'll take you all to the clinic for help. Pile into the vehicle, or let me help you get in. We don't have much time."

From in the back seat, Vinnie shrunk down even lower. "Kala... Why?" Was all he could bring to mutter to himself as he curled his arms around his legs...

________________________________________________________________________

3 days later

“A welcome morning to all of Los Diamantes. All of you watching may have noticed that my co-anchor Gerald is not present today. There is no need to worry, he is alive and physically well. However, the incident revolving around Supercell's disappearance has taken its toll on my co-anchor, who has taken an extended leave of absence until his mental state can recover, a process which he has described as involving 140 proof, an elephant gun, and a delivery truck filled with superglue and lego pieces.”

“Onto the news, the city is still recovering not just from Supercell as a whole, but from what has transpired in DRU three days prior. After a mysterious creature attacked and was repelled thanks to the efforts of local hero Puppeteer and the brave armed forces who answered the call, classes have been chosen to continue in an online format, with the college campus closed down until repairs and improved security measures are finished and all students forced off the premises. Local law enforcement and investigation teams are still searching for any evidence as to what this strange creature was, and all eye witnesses are still being questioned. Among the casualties of the attack was a young and bright student, Sierra Stanton, age 26. She was at ground zero when both the creature and a group of armed men entered a fight, and despite best efforts to stabilize her, she passed away that following night. A funeral is being held for her at the Los Diamantes Cematary by Father Pius Arguvius Stephan this evening, where friends and loved ones of Sierra will gather to give their final respects to such a brilliant mind cut short. Eye witness reports identify the vigilante Bloodless as also having been on the scene of the incident, though what role she played is still under investigation. Several heroes confronted Bloodless that night, and in a first were able to drive her back, though not without severe injury.”

“Yesterday, Mayor Tenmus announced that a new hero would be appointed to take Supercell's place. This announcement was met with skepticism, and for good reason. Supercell was, for many people, an irreplaceable fragment of Los Diamantes, a hero with no equal in the city. Some suspect the speedster known as Roadrunner to be the logical choice for a replacement, while others suspect a hero from outside of the city to be brought in. When questioned further, Tenmus's statement was that her choice was the only logical choice to be made. The ceremony to reveal the newly appointed Protector of Los Diamantes will be held this noon, with Sierra's funeral taking place 3 hours later. ”

“In today's weather, a mixture of a cold and warm front meeting will bring rain for the next week. Expect temperatures to remain in the low 40's to high 50's, and for as much as a foot of rain over the next several days. As we end today's news segment, here is Heng with today's Dr. Helper segment.”

“HI HI! It's everyone's favorite immaculate doctor, the people's Doctor Helper here! Did you know that the average person is overweight? According to the BMI index, if you are over 200 pounds in weight, you are very likely overweight, and if you weigh more than 230 pounds, you are obese! Forget the body shape, forget if those are all in your thighs, in your ass, or heaven forbid all built up in your chest you unfortunate woman with your backs breaking, you are simply overweight and you need to trim all of that fat off immediately! Cut the sugar, cut the red meat, get on the treadmill or pay a visit to me so I can help remove all that ugly wasted fat with surgical precision! A healthier body mass means less health issues and far more energy to run around and listen to your parents you naughty little children! Thank you for your ears, and cya on the next segment, nya!”

Corzak The Mighty · Post by **Corzak The Mighty** » Mon Sep 11, 2023 8:33 pm

Dhriti, arm held tightly in a cast, sat at a desk in her apartment, laptop cracked open as she typed with lightning speed using her free hand, scanning through emails and scanning through her company's database. It'd been three days since the meeting with the heroes in that alleyway and her brutal fight with Bloodless, and she'd been effectively forced to stay in and heal. When her job caught wind of the severity of her injuries, they were quick to have her work from home rather than come into the office, which was honestly a blessing in disguise - she really hated having to go in, only to have creepy old men catcall her while she was trying to work.

Dhriti tried to stretch, wincing in pain as she struggled in vain against her cast. Damn this thing... she really, REALLY fucking hated it. She should be out there fighting crime and getting to the bottom of this Gentech situation, not working from home, too hurt to do anything! Suddenly, she heard the telltale vibration of her phone from a new incoming message. The Indian woman glanced over with great speed, wincing in pain as she once again overextended her wounded arm. Her eyes darted to her lit up screen, but her heart quickly fell as she looked at the resulting message.

Hey, kid. Been looking into Gentech, but all I've found are dead ends. They got their secrets locked up like a bank vault. Sorry. - Razorback

Dhriti, visibly frustrated, slammed her good hand onto her desk. Shit... now there really were no good leads for her... hopefully the others were having better luck.
-----
It'd been a very boring three days for Somsak. After robbing the joint that Ectoparasite had asked him to so he could secure some funds, Somsak spent the majority of his free time getting drunk and hanging out in clubs. Now, there was nothing wrong with some good old fashioned partying, but with the guilt of his former gang members' deaths still looming over him, he couldn't help but still feel a crushing void inside of him, yearning to wipe that vampiric bitch of a vigilante off the face of the earth.

Rolling his way out of bed, Somsak lit up a cigarette and got to work making himself a delectable breakfast - a freshly microwaved cup of noodles. As he filled his cup of noodles with water, however, his phone chirped out an excitable "UWU!" Scrambling to get his phone out, Somsak spilled his lunch, causing it to fill his sink with soggy, uncooked noodle bits. Rolling his eyes in frustration, the feline super quickly swiped open his phone. It was from Ectoparasite!

Hello again! Meet me at these coordinates. It's an empty warehouse in the heart of town. I'll show the prototype weapon to put Bloodless in the ground.

Somsak smiled sadistically. Oh, this was gonna be good...
----
Razorback poured himself a fresh cup of coffee, glancing over a scattering of folders spread across his table, along with a map of the city detailing several points of interest. Recently, there had been an influx in the disappearance of supers all across Los Diamantes... now it wasn't unheard of for Supers to disappear or be killed, but three of them had vanished completely without a trace in only three days.

The boar-headed humanoid raised a marker to his chin as he eyed the map of the city. Hothead, Rockslide, and ice Queen all vanished without any trace beyond a few bloodstains... there was no pattern to the location of the disappearances, but all the disappearances seemed to occur in a similar manner from what the coroner reports said: a vicious full force attack, akin to that of a wild animal, that savaged them, but left no remains behind. Whatever had caused this was no doubt capable of incredible feats of strength, and is likely of prodigious size considering no remains have ever been uncovered.

Razorback's brow furrowed. He had little doubt that whatever was causing these disappearances would rear its head soon, and the thought of it terrified him.
----
The crash of trash cans and the sounds of gunfire echoed through an alley way in the roughest sectors of the city - but these gunshots were not some gangsters killing innocents or hustling against police. No, these gunshots were in a panic, frantic in their attempts to push away an encroaching foe. Inside of the alley way stood three crooks, a bag of money in between them, the mangled remains of two of their comrades splattered across the brick walls from their unseen assailant.

"W-what do we do?" One of the gangsters asked, hands quaking with fear.

"I-I dunno about you two, but I'm getting out of here!" another crook shouted in panic, before he attempted to bolt out of the alley way. Before he could move more than a couple yards down, however, a bolt of blackened energy lanced its way through his chest. The man's body quickly shriveled, before he collapsed onto the ground as a withered husk.

"F-fuck!" The last criminal stammered out in horror, before the sound of a great heavy weight crashed down behind him. The two remaining gangsters swiftly turned towards the noise and fired blindly into the surrounding shade, but their bullets were met with an armor plated chest, causing them to plink off uselessly. From the shadows emerged in full the form of Cocytus, his eyes glowing with an unearthly blue sheen.

Cocytus let out a low growl. "Now you die."

The gangsters dropped their guns and raised their hands, as if pleading for mercy, but before either could make a further statement, the Knight of Punishment lashed out with a twirl of one of his razor-sharp chains, slicing both of their stomachs open in a single motion, causing both to collapse.

Leaving the crooks to bleed out slowly, Cocytus picked up the bag of cash, now heavily stained in the criminals' blood, before hastily dropping it off near the entrance of the none-too-far bank. Though Cocytus found it satisfying to right the wrongs of criminals such as these, he admitted to himself mentally that he likely would not have treated these robbers as brutally had he been in the right state of mind. His flare up had cost him his job, so now he was on a timer for how long he could live in his apartment - or if he was lucky to find a new job before then.

In addition, his hunt for the culprit behind the influx in super disappearances had run up cold. He had little doubt that the monster that had appeared in DRU around the time these disappearances began was linked, but he found no evidence to it beyond his gut feeling... he'd checked the wash near the school and the area the wash expelled to, and he could find nothing. He could only hope he would find what this thing was capable of, and where it had laired, before it makes another grand appearance - possibly with even graver consequences.
----
Watching the news unfold in the lobby of Lord Callous' manor, Aileen smirked at the mention of Supercell's disappearance. Though it'd been over four days since then, Aileen had to admit that seeing him break so quickly still brought her immense pleasure. Even more curious and intriguing to her, however, was the appearance of this monster at DRU... where had this creature come from? And what could it do? Was it truly dead, or had it managed to slip away unnoticed? SHe supposed she would never know... though she had her ways of prying information out of people.

"So, Callous... what do you ask of me today?" The blonde woman inquired, crossing her legs as she took a sip of wine.

Breakdown · Post by **Breakdown** » Tue Sep 12, 2023 3:35 pm

“...the fact is, Miss Mayor, is that your handling of recent events has been sub-par. Terrorist attacks on companies, illegal weapons in the hands of criminals, your main hero being driven from the city by a hostile Super, an unknown creature laying waste to the university, Bloodless slaughtering civilians, and now there’s reports of small-time Supers disappearing. Your disdain for enhanced individuals is noted, however you have a duty to protect the citizens of your city.” said a man in a rolling chair, who spun to face Tenmus in her office. He was dressed in an all black suit with a pair of sunglasses dangling from his coat pocket. He adjusted his neatly trimmed, blonde hair before continuing.

“We're aware of the incident 3 days ago where Roadrunner, Puppeteer, and Durga had an encounter with Bloodless that left two of them injured and another in critical condition. Debriefing of Roadrunner and Durga revealed that Bloodless displayed abilities previously unknown to them and proved to be a considerable challenge to take down. In light of these events, my superiors have elevated Bloodless's threat level. Bloodless’s abilities and feral nature make her an exceedingly dangerous entity that must be destroyed, lest she begins targeting more than just street criminals.” he said, with a sense of urgency as he reached into his coat and pulled out several crime scene photographs of the carnage Bloodless caused in the aquarium and in the alleyway.

Another agent who had been standing in the corner of the office and merely listening chimed in.

“Then there’s the subject of the creature that attacked DRU. Eyewitnesses on the scene claim it was engaged in combat with Bloodless on the rooftop of the University and defeated her before itself being slain by a helicopter strike authorized by you. Thus far, we’ve been unable to locate the creature’s remains, and we’re concerned that there may be more of these creatures out there. If they can defeat an entity as powerful as Bloodless, then the threat they pose to national security should go without saying”

Said the agent as the man in the chair produced more photographs, this time stills of the battle between Bloodless and the unknown creature atop the campus rooftop.

“We’re calling the creature “Toxcinder” for now, based on a colloquial name given to it by witnesses who had seen it previously in a suburban part of the city” said the agent in the chair as he stood up.

“With all these factors considered, my superiors have deemed it necessary to deploy one of our special operatives into the city and clean up this mess that you seem incapable or unwilling to commit the resources to doing yourself.” he said bluntly before also adding more.

“We’re aware that you’ve held this office for longer than is legally permissible, Miss Tenmus. Given recent events, it's entirely possible that you may be deemed unfit to lead and thus removed from office; possibly under criminal charges involving Election Fraud, among other things. It would be in your best interest to work with our field operative and get your city back in order. So, what do you have to say about all this?” asked the agent, crossing his arms and listening intently for Tenmus’s response.

—------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

As the rising sun slowly washed the city in the yellow-orange shade of morning, it began to show signs of waking up; cars began to fill the streets, pedestrians slowly populated the sidewalks, and lights from inside buildings clicked on one by one. There was an uneasy tension in the air as the incident from three days ago was still fresh in everyone's minds. It felt like the city was coming apart at the seams with the attack on DRU, followed later that night with Bloodless claiming more innocent lives. Some were afraid to walk the streets at night, fearing that they may become Bloodless's next victim for whatever arbitrary reason the twisted vigilante decided. The monster's attack on DRU was also still trending strongly on social media, with posts running wild with speculation as to its exact nature, origins, and whether or not it was still alive or if there were more of them. The clip of the two young men who saw the creature and christened it as "Toxcinder" suddenly went viral, and the name caught on with the media and general public. Since then, other witnesses came forward to tell their terrifying encounters with the monster, shifting the public attention away from major criminal activity in the city. One such issue was the presence of illegal, exotic weapons being increasingly common in the hands of both average criminals and low-level Supers. However, nothing escapes the watchful eye of the government, and measures were enacted to deal with this problem more aggressively. A flying object made its way towards the shipping docks of the city, lined with innumerable warehouses, cranes, and docked cargo ships ferrying goods from all around the world. The object slowed down and landed on the rooftop of one such warehouse, revealing it to be a mechanical humanoid figure. More accurately, it resembled a hulking suit of powered armor clad in black, angular armor plates similar to a stealth bomber. The suit was dotted with small red lights that glowed a dim red in the early morning light. On the wedge-shaped helmet was an air-filter of some kind, and a single red optic that glowed the same dim red as the lights on the armor. On the chest plate was the name "Valdevera" printed in white, along with a serial number of some sort.

"Fusillade reporting in. I have visual on the objective." said the occupant of the suit through an encrypted channel.

"Copy that. You're clear to engage at your discretion" replied a male voice on the other end of the comms.

"Affirmative. Fusillade out" the man in the suit replied.

Fusillade stepped forward towards the edge of the tall warehouse that overlooked his objective: a smaller, red brick warehouse with its garage bay open and several individuals, both armed and unarmed, moving in and out of the building. Fusillade increased the magnification on the helmet's inner view screen, and the suit's HUD began highlighting the armed personnel with a red outline. Panning around, Fusillade spotted two semi-trucks approaching with unmarked white trailers attached. Intel gathered from drones, satellites and informants indicated that these trucks were carrying the latest shipment of the exotic weaponry found in the hands of Los Diamante's criminals. Being an Iraq and Afghanistan veteran, Fusillade was well aware of what happens when terrorists or other malicious actors get their hands on advanced weaponry, and he was not going to let it happen here in the United States. Through the use of a terminal build into the suit's right gauntlet, Fusillade armed his suit's missile launchers.

At once, 12 shutters on both of Fusillade's large shoulder guards swung open and the dormant missiles within moved outwards about an inch and a half into their firing position. These were the E-5 Hornet ballistic missiles, miniature rockets specifically designed to be used for Fusillade's suit. Each warhead was set for guided launch, however they could also be switched to an unguided mode when accuracy wasn't necessary. Such precision would be required in this instance, especially given the roughly 300 meter distance between himself and his target. Fusillade turned his head towards the trucks as they came to a stop side-by-side, and held his gaze on them as the suit's targeting system marked the vehicles and locked-on. Once he was sure everything was in order, he pressed a blinking red panel on the arm terminal. Four of the missiles whistled and whined as they flew out from their compartments and made a beeline for their targets, an internal computer making slight adjustments in trajectory to ensure the projectiles stayed on course. Upon reaching their target, the missiles detonated and engulfed both vehicles in a fiery explosion that lifted their twisted chassis off the ground. The trailers containing the presumed weapons were also hit, ensuring their destruction and preventing them from falling into the wrong hands. The explosions threw several personnel off their feet and sprawling on the ground or flying into walls. Those closest to the vehicles, such as the drivers, were killed immediately.

With the opening salvo successful, Fusillade activated his suit's thrusters and took off towards the scene of destruction. He had to move in now and terminate any hostile forces before they escaped, no doubt having heard and felt the explosions right outside the building. Fusillade landed in front of the open garage door with a metallic thud, and almost immediately came under fire from hostiles that survived the missile barrage. Turning to face them, Fusillade identified 6 targets, armed with sub-machineguns and assault rifles ranging from Uzis all the way up to rifles of the Kalashnikov family. The projectiles harmlessly plinked off the titanium plating of Fusillade's suit, but this did not deter the attackers from firing every shot they had at him. Reaching for his waist, he pulled his KN-99 heavy combat pistol from its magnetic holster and clicked the safety off with the suit's thumb. The weapon was a big, chunky thing specially designed to be used by his XM8A9 Wearable Assault Vehicle, and the bulky mechanical hands it possessed. With reflexes and aim honed from years of combat experience, Fusillade fired off a series of shots at his attackers. The 12 gauge explosive slugs blasted through body armor and exposed flesh, resulting in a kill with each shot. The weapon created a deafening bang with each shot, the recoil easily brought under control by the suit's servomotors. Should an individual not have the sufficient strength, they would find the weapon difficult to handle and even harder to land precise shots. Several more shots from the weapon dropped 5 out of the 6 hostiles, with the last one running inside.

Whipcrack reaction allowed Fusillade to fire off a single shot aimed at the target's leg, blasting it off at the knee and causing him to drop his weapon. As the wounded combatant attempted to crawl away, he could feel the metallic thumping of Fusillade approaching from behind. The man made one last attempt to draw his sidearm and shoot Fusillade, but managed to fire off only one round before the armored warrior finished him with a single round to the chest. With his weapon's magazine depleted, Fusillade hit the magazine release, causing the magazine containing a single round to drop to the ground with an audible "clack!" as he inserted a new one. Dropping the slide to chamber a new round, Fusillade proceeded into the warehouse, his helmet's HUD applying a variety of filters and detection methods to find any hiding assailant.

MinorBone Good · Post by **MinorBone Good** » Wed Sep 13, 2023 4:29 pm

Elodie groaned out as the morning sun invaded her bedroom, the brightness causing her to stir awake. Her sheet covers were pulled up, exposing the mattress underneath. Apparently it had been a rough night's sleep for her. Then again, she knew kicked sometimes in her sleep. She rubbed her eyes and squinted to the wall by her bed, parts of it cracked due to a recent impact from her foot. She physically cringed, thinking of how much money that would take to fix. She really needed to get a job soon…

Quickly getting changed into her hero fit, she looked down at herself with a smile. Her recovery had been going great, and she felt like herself again. Perhaps better. She wasn’t sure what was going on in that doctor’s office, but she didn’t think too much about it. Cider opened the window and hopped out, closing it behind her. With renewed energy, she began to hop across the buildings and getting back into the swing of things.

The hopping rabbit hero began to slow down upon seeing a distressed child and what she assumed to be their mother on the sidewalk. The mother was holding a small stack of papers with a picture on them, though she couldn’t quite see what was on it. She decided to jump down and investigate. She put on a warm smile as she approached. She went to speak, but the 10 year old boy spoke first.

“H-Have you seen Max!? P-Please tell me you have!”

Around the boy’s eyes were red. Looked like he’d been crying for a while now. Cider frowned for a moment. She looked over at the papers the mother was holding. It showed a picture of a dog with contact information below it. Poor thing. The mother soon spoke.

“I can’t believe the police in this city! Can’t they send at least one officer to help? Our dog has clearly been stolen!”

“Oh? How so?”

Cider inquired, one of her ears, flopping down. The mother raised up her hand, holding a red leash that seemed to be cut with a blade.

“Apparently they’re all busy! Which is a load of bullsh-bullcrap! I almost never see them do a thing!”

The mother sighed. “Sorry… Anyways, she’s an American Foxhound. Do you have any information? We would greatly appreciate it.”

Cider shook her head. “Sorry, I haven’t. Wait isn’t Max a b-”

The child spoke up, wiping away a few tears from their eyes. “It’s a cute name..”

Cider smiled. She nodded and spoke in a comforting tone, kneeling down. “It is. It's really a nice name. Hey, I may not have seen her, but I’ll try to keep a lookout!”

She then stood up, pointing over towards the buildings. “You see, I can jump very high, so I can see from different angles than most can! I’ll also try to spread the word to other locations so more can hear of Max! Okay? Does that make you feel a bit bit better?

The child just nodded, but the corners of their mouth were upturned.

“Thank you… What’s your name?” The mother asked.

“Ah! It’s Cider! And it’s no problem! I’ll try my best!”

They all exchanged goodbyes, and Cider headed off towards the city, hopping around and looking around for the dog.
________________________
The hound whimpered as Ectoparasite passed the canine’s new cage, her ears flopped against its head. Ectoparasite didn’t seem to care however, more concerned humming a tune he heard on the radio on his way to the warehouse. After finishing up the text to White Claw, he sent it and twirled around, pointing at the dog.

“Now sit and stay, boy. We’re going to have company over soon. Now, I know cats and dogs don’t really like each other buuut you don’t really need to worry about that.” A feline head appeared on Ecto’s helmet before displaying a skull symbol. He didn’t exactly know the reason why he was talking to a dog. Perhaps out of boredom and stress.

He lifted the silver case up to the nearby table, wiping it down to make sure it looked presentable as possible. He turned toward the cage, walking over the cage. The dog whimpered again, pressing itself against the other side of the cage. Ectoparasite carefully pushed the cage against the wall before patting it.

“There we go! Nice and spiffy. Now hmm, where to make a dramatic entrance for our dear cat.” He placed his hands on his hips, a question mark flashing up on his helmet. He then looked down at the case containing the prototype, leaning against the table.

“Soon we’ll be ready for a test drive with you, my sweet darling.”
____________________________________________________
“A test drive? This soon?” Jake repeated, raising an eyebrow at Ceokiri. He was busy finishing the fine tuning of Spectre, one of the cars Ceokiri requested for her plan. He stood up, wiping a bit of sweat off his brow with a nearby rag.

Ceokiri nodded. Folding her arms together and looking down at the ground. Almost gritting her teeth as she spoke. “Yeah, we’re finished with most of the upgrades. We’re aiming for any cop cars that we can spot.”

“Are you sure you wanna do this in daylight though?”

Ceokiri nodded again, spitting on the ground. Yeah. It’ll be quick though. This way we can see any weaknesses in our gals and improve on them for a bigger strike. I’ll let you know when we’re about to head out. Got it?”

Jake nodded, watching Kara walk outside and exhaled. After months of work, it seemed like now they were able to test the cars in a live environment. Jake wiped his sweaty face in the rag again, and walked towards the meeting area to tell the other members the plan.
_____________________________________________________________

Spencer let out an annoyed grunt lifting small pieces of stone away from the path of the excavators that were rolling into the university. Couldn’t anything in this damn city not be destroyed for a day? He and his team were hard at work cleaning up the mess that the monster caused for the past three days, and they weren’t even halfway done.

“Suuure all those super people want to stop those big threats, but do they help with the recovery process? Nooo!” He said to himself. He then motioned for the driver of the excavator to move on ahead. Watching the machine trudge forward, Spencer just sighed. He could have sworn things weren’t as bad back when he was younger. Perhaps he was just getting old and bitter. It didn’t help that he had to hear Jonathan’s voice constantly the past couple days to tell him to speed up the process. Spencer made sure to tell his team to get a bit slower just to piss Jonathan off.

Not like he could do anything else really. He didn’t have that much of a backbone when it came to talking to Jonathan in person. Still though, he had a job to do, and looked back over at the destroyed university.

Damn, he went for engineering many years ago. A sad state to see it like this now. He shrugged his shoulders and continued to move forward, beginning his day at work once more.

Post by **Demon Lord Gira** » Sun Sep 17, 2023 12:00 pm

Behind the emotionless yet focused face of the mayor of Los Diamantes, a storm was brewing as she had to listen to what this man had to say. She had the city under control, she had everything that was happening under control, Supercell or no Supercell. A single day or two of freak occurrences, and now these government rats were trying to weasel themselves in and undermine her authority. The only evidence of her rising ire was a repeated twitch in her left eye.

It had been a rough last few days for Tenmus, even if she had originally been feeling good with the monster slain. The most troublesome of this news had been what happened to Alice, even if it had come with the small silver lining of Bloodless having finally been confronted and defeated, with no further sightings from her. Her best option for a hero to take Supercell's place had been mortally wounded, and had it not been for Heng's assurances that Alice was in good hands and would be fully healed and ready to resume action in a few day's time, her already sour mood would have been at rock bottom. She could only hope that Bloodless had likewise been dealt a fatal wound and had perished from the fight, but this government agent bastard was making her suspect she couldn't even get to enjoy that possibility. This was her city to protect and run, her people to keep safe, and she wasn't going to part with it when only she had the answers and the means to keep it safe.

And yet, she knew she had no choice in the matter. She couldn't do anything with this damn weasel, least the entire pack immediately bore down upon her. If she wanted any semblance of control left, she would have to play along. Though, perhaps if an accident or two were to happen along the way...

She adjusted her lower jaw as she took a deep breath and exhaled. Her arms still held across her chest within her sleeves, she closed her eyes and reopened them, the twitch slowly fading away.

"W-well, in all actuality, Tenmus's elections have been perfectly legal, due to varying circum-"

A glance over to Heng from Tenmus silenced the doctor, and then Tenmus spoke up. "Los Diamantes has always had a troubled history even before I came into office. Thanks to Supercell's efforts and my own, the city had been relatively peaceful prior to the events of four days ago. To expect me to be able to right a ship that has so suddenly begin to list and sink in so swift and unpredictable a fashion... That is not something that can be done in the blink of an eye, not without overstepping the law and the rights of the people."

She began to pace against the window of her office, each step like that of a stork observing its prey beneath the water. "I do have the means and resources of handling this mess, but it is not something that can be done in an instant. Unless you are implying that your own resources are more than capable of handling both this monster and Bloodless and the fiend who sent Supercell packing and Viola with her black market weapon sales. Whatever your field agent is capable of, I'd be more than interested in seeing. Perhaps they and Puppetteer can work together, since she is to be the replacement for Supercell."

To her side, Heng gave a swift nod. "Yes, Al-Puppetteer's recovery has already been finished. And with none of the standard signs of Bloodless since then, I believe we can safely discredit her as the cause of these missing heroes. So while the situation is dire, I do think progress is already being made, with one of the larger thorns either killed off or out of commission for the time being. So most likely, we only have to deal with Toxcinder if this is somehow its doing, the Sith Lord who dealt with Supercell, and Vio-"

"Sith Lord?" Tenmus raised an eyebrow. "What is that?"

"It's... a reference you wouldn't get." Heng shook her head.

---------------------
Within the warehouse, a large crowd had gathered, thugs, gangs and individuals who all longed for varying types of goods and weapons from the one and only Viola. They did not have long to wait, as the woman herself walked in, a pair of exosuits flanking her on each side. Each of them carried several large crates which they lowered down onto the ground. Viola walked over to the first crate and flipped open the lid, revealing a series of automatic rifles painted pitch black with silver stripes.

Viola motioned for the two exosuit users to step back as she took center stage, a cane in hand as each step of her high heels clicked against the marble ground. This was going to be a good day for business, she could feel that, a good day to further spread the fire of anarchy and burn away the oppression of those who ruled this city. This first shipment she had been sent directly from her employer was only the start of today's grand sales, and the rest was to come in from the delivery trucks also sent from her employer in due time. In fact, they were likely to come in at any moment. So many weapons to be sent out, so much money to be made, the cycle would never end if she had her way. If only her little sister was here to see this, she was certain Malcania would have loved to help turn this city upside down, maybe even make a friend of that one demon from the other night...

"I welcome you, one and all, to Viole Crima's latest weapon sale. I thank all of you for deciphering the clues I have left behind that pinpointed to this locale, and now we begin with the latest automatic rifle yet to hit the market, the VRAS Automatic Rifle. Each round is nanosteel coated and fired with enough force to punch through even tank armor. The opening bid for this is 10,000 dollars."

Shouts and bids rose from the audience, as many tried to outdo the others for the latest weapon.

"15,000 dollars!"

"20,000 dollars!"

"50,000 dollars!"

"225,000 dollars!"

"900,000 dollars!"

"1,250-"

The latest bid was cut off as a deafening series of explosions shook the warehouse. The people present turned and looked around, and Viola's smile died into a confused expression that shifted into a scowl. What the hell was going on? Was there some idiot villain making a scene right outside? With the sounds of gunfire following afterwards, she clenched her fist. No... this was a planned strike, she could feel it. Somehow she had been tracked down, despite all of her efforts to keep the law and the heroes off her trail.

"You know what, on second thought, free trial for the weapons!" Viola announced, as she began to flipping open all of the boxes one after another. Smoothborn shotguns, RPG's, a mounted miniature railgun, and far too many rifles and machine guns to count were all revealed. "The person who kills the offending party that's crashing this auction gets first dibs on any five weapons they want for free!"

The gang leaders and thugs took the bait. They quickly ran up and grabbed whatever weapons they wanted, and though a few pushed each other off and began brawling, the rest were more cooperative, as they moved in toward the entrance of the warehouse to confront the intruder. Behind them, Viola smirked. Whoever this asshole was that was ruining her business, they were in for a rude awakening. Even if it was Supercell, what she had going was going to be a rough time even for him, and anyone else was shit out of luck. They were a frog about to jump into an incinerator.

____________________________

Callous himself walked down the stairs to where Aileen was. His hair was slick and wet, the only hint that he had gotten out of the shower only a few minutes earlier, and he wore a black and white suit with rubies embedded in the tie. He had to admit, the news did bring a smile to his face regarding Supercell, but this monster... Likely this was to be an outside factor that could hamper his plans. He wanted a city that was eating out of the palm of his hands with nothing in his way, not some rogue beast that may or may not be dead and Tenmus breathing down his neck to ensure this fiend was no more. Even if she kept insisting the beast was no more, Callous wasn't about to risk that notion.

"There is something, well, two things actually." Callous said. "Either you can survey Doctor Helper and find any additional information on her connection with Bloodless, or you can go monster hunting and track down this poisonous freak of nature that attacked the university a few days ago. I have to prepare for the shitty funeral this evening, and for the appointment of the city's new defender before then."

________________________________

"-chip implant complete. Vital signs stabilized. Subject's brainwave indicates awakening."

Alice slowly opened her eyes. Where... Where was she? What happened? Everything was a blur around her, a mechanical voice she didn't recognize as lights and flashes filled her vision. She rose into a seated position, a hand on her head. The last thing she remembered was...

Bloodless!

Her eyes went wide. She remembered! She had Bloodless defeated and restrained, and then... Something had happened to her. She had gotten stronger, broken free and-

"Awake as Heng predicted." Another voice spoke, this one she recognized as belonging to Lind. "And not a moment too late."

She shook her head. Slowly her vision was beginning to return to normal, though she felt a slight buzzing noise in her ears. She realized Lind was seated across from her at a desk, one hand on the mouse of a computer, the other holding a black wyvern toy that was gnawing on a worm toy and had a smaller toy of a boy underneath a claw. She had on her laboratory coat on, and for once her hair was tied up behind her. Alice noticed the many blood splotches on the lab coat, and immediately realized what had happened.

"I... I was almost killed by her..." Alice gasped. She began to feel her head, where she had felt the pain just before everything had gone black, and felt stitches in the back of her skull. "T-the others... Roadrunner and Foxtrot... What about-"

"They're fine." Lind calmly explained to her as she put the toys away and stood up. "They recovered from their wounds faster than you did. Without immediate care, you would have perished from your fractured skull. Heng and I worked hard to undo the damage Bloodless did."

"Thank you..." Alice felt a weight drop from her shoulders. Both of them were okay. Thank goodness. "And... Wait, what happened to Bloodless?"

"According to Roadrunner, he punched her out of the city limits." Lind walked over to a tray that was beside Alice, and grabbed several bloodied instruments, which she then carried over to the sink and began to scrub with hot water and soap. "There has been no sign of her since then. Some assume she was dealt a mortal blow. Others think she is in hiding, too terrified to come out. She is unlikely the culprit of the missing heroes over the past few days-"

"Missing heroes?!" Alice cut Lind off. She began to push herself off the operating table she had been on, but winced.

"Careful. You need several more hours for the chip to properly refuse your skull bones together." Lind explained. "Several lesser heroes have gone missing over the past few days. At first people thought it was Bloodless, but later found signs of bleeding, a clear sign it isn't her. Something else is targeting them. It is something you need to address in your speech today."

Alice stepped back. This was all coming too fast at her, with so many things. There was a chip in her that was healing her bones? Something other than Bloodless was killing heroes? She had a speech?! "Lind, one thing at a time, please. My head is still reeling."

The nurse took a deep sigh. "As I should have expected. Very well. I'll explain everything more clearly. There's a lot to go over, and your day is going to be busy but hopefully not perilous."

Corzak The Mighty · Post by **Corzak The Mighty** » Tue Oct 10, 2023 8:39 pm

"Oh, a real tragedy, isn't it?" Aileen chuckled, setting down her glass as she gave Callous her full attention, making her way over to him. The liquor seemed to have given the normally reserved woman a wind of confidence. "A ceremony AND funeral in one day... when will you find the time to join me in some fun?"

Aileen let out a sigh, grabbing her broad white sun hat and placing it on his head. "I'll find out about both Doctor Helper's secrets, and scout out our frankenstein's monster's whereabouts. I'll report back to you before you've even had time for dinner."

Aileen snatched the hat off of Callous' head playfully, before she headed out on her way to start her day. Despite her air of confidence, she was somewhat fearful of what this monster was capable of... it would be wise to have one of her thoughtforms do the dirty work for her regarding that thing...
----
Clad in a hoodie and slim-fitting clothes, Somsak took to the streets, both to get some fresh air and to clear his mind of his giddiness. Leaning against the worn, graffiti-covered wall of his apartment building, the felid humanoid flicked his ears beneath his hood before taking a long draw from his cigarette, his eyes quickly scanning everyone as they passed by. A cloud of smoke billowed forth from his mouth, as twin jets of smoke slithered out from his nostrils as his mind drifted off in thought.

He had to admit, he was anxious to meet with Ectoparasite again, but the anticipation was killing him. If this weapon was really something that could take out Bloodless... well, not only was Bloodless going down, but not even supers would be safe anymore! Guys like the black knight, Bloodless, Supercell... they would basically be no longer a challenge to people like him. They could do whatever they wanted! They'd run this city, have free reign to do whatever they wanted! That'd be what the others would've wanted... it was just a shame they wouldn't ever get to see it...
----
It started as perfectly normal day in the South District - people milling about, going about their business, catching up with friends and family. But soon, what would appear to be a day like any other would quickly become a day of chaos and suffering, a day bathed in the crimson glow of fire.

At least, these were the thoughts that raced through Ember's head as she drove down the street in a battered old sedan - clearly stolen from someone else, considering she hadn't even bothered using the car's keys to get into it - clad in her flame retardant suit, her flamethrower readied at her side. Ember scanned her eyes for the most populated area she could find that was nearby. She had gotten an itch lately, an itch that could only be soothed with fire.

She'd tried her best to keep it under wraps, at least temporarily, but the feeling had been smoldering within her for weeks now, and her desire had reached its tipping point. Earlier today, her latest boy toy, thinking he'd scored big, instead found himself on the receiving end of her cravings, now a burnt corpse hidden in a dumpster somewhere. He was just the first of many who would become part of Ember's playtime.

Pulling up to the front of a nearby restaurant, where several civilians were milling about, Ember pulled to a haphazard stop in the middle of the intersection, causing traffic to slam to a halt. Angry drivers honked their horns and cursed her out in frustration at their days being disrupted. Ember only smiled sadistically as she dawned her goggles and grabbed her trusty flamethrower, throwing open the door to her sedan with a maniacal laugh.

"It's showtime, Los Diamantes!"

Panic quickly began to set in among the citizenry, before Backdraft's rampage began. A jet scalding hot fire washed over the stuck cars to her left, incinerating anyone and anything unfortunate enough to get caught in its flames. Grabbing one of her kerosene bombs from her waist and ignited it with her wrist blowtorch, before flinging the bomb into the nearby restaurant's window, causing the patrons to flee in panic as fire quickly began to engulf the building. Laughing maniacally all the way, Ember got to her grim work, sending out another burst of flame from her flamethrower along the sidewalk and into the nearby shops, hoping to cause as much damage as possible...

HayesAJones · Post by **HayesAJones** » Thu Oct 19, 2023 3:41 pm

As Backdraft flung another bomb at a storefront- and the unlucky few window shoppers who had hesitated to run- it was intercepted in midair, struck by a bulky, black bullet that exploded into a gob of liquid foam. Instead of being doused in deadly flames, one of the frightened passersby was struck heavily in the chest by a fast-hardening ball of foam, the firebomb safely locked inside.

As the panicked civilian raised his hand to try and claw the foam away, a low, monotonous voice interrupted him. "Don't touch that. Get at least four blocks away from here, and take off the whole shirt."

After a single moment of further fear and confusion, the unfortunate man nodded to the costumed figure that had stepped from an alleyway like his guardian angel. His companions, grabbing and tugging at his sleeves to hurry him along as he stumbled, off balance and winded from the impact, could not help but glance back and mutter the name that had begun cropping on in news reports and internet articles.

"Blind."

"How did she-?"

"W- Where did she come from?"

In truth, the vigilante's swift arrival was a pure coincidence. She had been shopping one street over. She went through a lot of hoodies on patrol, dropping them to get into costume, and not always recalling where or being able to retrieve them. She liked to think the city's homeless found good use for those ones.

"Ember," she addressed the arsonist bluntly. This was not the first time they had crossed paths. "You need to stop this."

Spuro · Post by **Spuro** » Tue Oct 24, 2023 9:00 pm

The crescendo of panicked screaming and the smoke rising from the burning shops was like a beacon. And it had not gone unnoticed by Los Diamantes' resident rooftop dweller.

On the roof of the restaurant that had been set aflame, Foxtrot performed a quick scan of the scene, and thanked her lucky stars that she was close enough to this incident to respond quickly. She thanked her lucky stars once more when she noticed Blind squaring up against the crazed arsonist. It was just the distraction she needed.

Foxtrot descended to the street quietly amidst the chaos, careful to stay behind Backdraft as she darted to one of the cars overtaken by a blazing inferno. She used her grappling hook and her enhanced strength to wrench open the passenger-side door, then began to quickly pull out anyone still trapped inside, rolling them over onto the ground and patting out the flames with her hands.

Breakdown · Post by **Breakdown** » Wed Oct 25, 2023 12:51 pm

The two agents looked at each other, as if surprised that Tenmus would want to directly oversee the operation. Eventually they nodded to one another, and the blonde-haired agent cleared his throat.

"As you wish. The operation is already underway, but this hit doesn't appear to have anything particularly dangerous, compared to other buildings we've raided." He said, gesturing towards the view screen covering the window.

The agents quickly established a connection to the mobile command center near where the action was happening, and the viewscreen turned to static before displaying a first person view of someone in what appeared to be a large suit of armor. The quality of the footage was a bit grainy, however what was going on was plainly visible. They had tuned in to the middle of a heated gunfight between their operative and the criminals involved in the raid, and the criminals appeared to be losing badly.

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Fusillade rounded a corner and fired off a single shot from his KN-99, scoring a chest shot that punched clean through a man's chest and made a bloody mess as it came out his back. The man gurgled, dropping his weapon and falling to the floor, dead. Seemingly unbothered by the death of his comrade, another man dressed in a purple suit and red tie jumped out wielding an Uzi in each hand. He let out an obnoxious battlecry that quickly turned into maniacal laughter as he held down the trigger on both weapons, resulting in a storm of lead aimed in the direction of where the shot came from. Almost as loud as his non-stop cackling was the sound of empty casings clattering against the ground. Suddenly his wildly aimed shots began to strike the surface of something that was getting closer, and it was soon thereafter that he burned through the last of his magazines. Panting from his fit of hysterical laughter, he could now hear heavy metallic footsteps approaching now that the sound of gunfire had ceased. He cursed and fumbled with his suit pocket to fetch a new magazine for his weapon, when a loud clunk seized his attention and he looked up. Infront of him was the reflective barrel of an enormous pistol-like weapon, mere inches from his face. He barely had time to blink when Fusillade fired off a single shot, punching clean through the crazed man's skull.

Fusillade detected more hostiles incoming through his helmet's motion tracker, and so he scooped up the corpse of the man in the purple suit and held it in front of him just as the next wave of thugs arrived. The moment they stepped through the door, Fusillade thrust the body at them, knocking them to the ground and finishing them with single-shots. As he progressed, he began to see more and more strange modifications on some of the weapons carried by the thugs, and some weapons he didn't recognize at all. Most appeared to be prototypes, crude-looking shells built merely to test technology and would be refined later. Others appear to be professionally manufactured, and varied wildly in design and function. He picked up one such weapon and allowed the helmet's camera a perfect view of it.

"Control, are you seeing these?" he asked while keeping his eyes sharp for more hostiles.

No sooner had he asked did a thick mustached man pop up from behind a wooden barrel and yell something incoherent before opening fire with an M240B light machine gun. The incoming rounds plinked off of Fusillade's suit, the projectiles either flattening or being deflected off the titanium armor. The man roared as he stepped out, continuing to fire and trying his hardest to control the full auto recoil. Fusillade wheeled around and aimed his pistol at the attacker, firing off three shots. One round had missed by an inch, the second and third found their mark and passed through the man's flabby skin while the force of impact knocked him to the ground. As he fell, his finger remained held on the trigger, causing his weapon to fire at the ceiling. Fusillade pressed forward, pistol aimed ahead as he entered the large room where the auction was previously held. Inside were clear signs that the bidders had scrambled in a hurry to seize whatever they could get. Most of the weapon racks were empty, and some of the crates were even pried open to get to the goods inside. He panned his head around to capture footage of the room, he spotted Viola and her guards. He focused in on the two guards, their exosuits were of an unknown manufacturer, but were clearly designed for combat in mind. He raised his pistol and fired off a quick shot at the guard closest to Viola aimed at the chest. He intended to kill the guards and keep Viola alive long enough to interrogate her, after which she'd be terminated.

Post by **Demon Lord Gira** » Thu Nov 02, 2023 6:56 am

Callous sighed as Aileen walked off with his hat, before he refocused his mind to the days events that were to unfold. She could keep the hat for now. It wasn't like he needed it.

"Just don't make too much of a mess. The last thing we need is unwanted attention drawn our way before it's time." He told her. He crossed his hands as he looked out the window, toward the city of Los Diamantes as a whole. A ceremony and a funeral was the least of what was to happen today, he could feel it. What was it his old friends back in the gambling business told him? Bad luck always happened in streaks? Things would only get worse before they got better...

Though, perhaps he could be the one to make things better. When the city was at its lowest point without Supercell to holds it all together, perhaps he could... lend a hand to bring things back up. Make the city eat out of the palm of his hands. Perhaps he could even kick the old withering bitch off her roost and take over as mayor..

He shook his head. No, he would lose too much power if he became mayor. And where was the fun in that, anyways?

___________________________

Tenmus's eyes shifted to the screen. She had to admit, what she was seeing from this agent was definitely impressive. Though, it hit a little too close to home in a few ways, but that was then, and this was now.

"He can certainly take some firepower... And, I see this is one of Viola's auctions he is crashing. Impressive he managed to track her down. Every time we got anywhere near close, she was already gone. Perhaps we can see how she's such an escape artist, or prevent that if your agent is lucky."

To her side, Heng also watched the footage that was unfolding. She stepped back and walked out of the room, before she tapped on the shoulder of a passing by Goldman. "I need to go check up on Alice and get her ready for the ceremony, can you keep Tenmus company while I am gone?"

Los Diamante's banker could only give a quick nod before Heng continued out to the elevator. With an annoyed sigh, he walked into the room to her side and found himself interested in what was going on. He had heard government agents were coming in to try and make the situation better here in Los Diamantes, but what was this all about? A demonstration?

________________________________

The warehouse confrontation was not going as Viola had hoped. This shipment her boss had supplied to her to sell off was supposed to be some of the best stuff yet to hit the market, yet it was becoming clear the firepower here wasn't enough to match this idiot in the exo-suit. One of her guards didn't even have time to begin firing before Fusilade's own rounds punched through and dropped the guard in his suit on the spot.

However, luck was on her side. As the first guard dropped, a man in a purple suit activated the mounted machine gun off to the side and began to open fire upon the exo-suit. Dozens of powerful rounds a second blasted into the suit, distracting Fusilade and forcing the agent back. This allowed the second guard, who had been about to meet the same fate, to also open fire onto Fusilade. A few surviving gangsters who had taken to hiding once the carnage had begun revealed themselves from behind crates and from above on the catwalk and rained bullets down onto the agent.

Viola smirked. Even if this idiot wasn't going to die here, this was all the distraction she needed. She turned and ran, running off behind a large series of crates off the central platform. This day was looking to be a bust with no money gained to send back to her boss, but perhaps she could give this guy a little gift from her home, a gift that had been itching for some action while in its dormant state. She had been saving this in case Supercell or another hero crashed one of her auctions and managed to corner her, but why not now instead?

______________________________

"Okay, hold the shield up right as he fires his laser. It has to be right as he does it, so no pressure, Racliff."

"No pressure my ass! I've never been good at timi-"

"NOW!"

"I'm raising it, I'm raising it- HOLY FUCKING SHIT, IT ACTUALLY WORKED! THE KING OF MAGES IS EATING HIS OWN SHIT!"

"KILL HIM! HE'S ACTUALLY WEAK!"

"COME ON, WE'RE SO CLO- YEEEEES! HE'S DEAD! OH MY GOD HE'S ACTUALLY DEAD! YOU'RE A GENIUS, VINNIE!"

"The kid's hairbrained plan actually worked?! What the hell it actually worked?!"

"We did it, Vinnie!"

"I fucking hate that's all it took. Just use the shield to bounce his attack back at him? That was it? Why didn't we think of that before?!"

"Because someone was too busy trying to unga bunga it like the little ------ they are, Racliff."

"You have no right to talk, Trident. You're just as guilty of it as I am!"

As the rest of his friends cheered and argued, Vinnie let a weak smile form on his face. To finally have beaten the King of Mages after so much trial and error, it was a victory that should have felt good for him, for him to celebrate with the others, but... it felt hollow to him, a band-aid over the past few days. He looked back over to Kala's bedroom, hoping that perhaps this time she was there in bed, sound asleep... But she wasn't. She hadn't been there for the past three days. It was only him in the house when Heng wasn't over to check up on him and update the security. Lind also occasionally stayed over with her cardinals, but... it was only him.

He moved his fork through his barely touched breakfast that Heng had cooked for him an hour ago. He still wasn't hungry. All he wanted to do was run out and look for her, look all over the city and hope beyond hope that Kala was somewhere safe and waiting for him, as herself and not as whatever it was that had taken her own that night. But, that was what that was, hope beyond hope. Where would he even begin to look around?

"Vinnie?" Hoodie's voice shook him out of his thoughts. "Vinnie, you still there? You're awfully quiet. I know you said you weren't feeling good but are you okay?"

"Y-yes..." He lied. "It's... it's just so much to take in."

There was silence on the other end, before Hoodie spoke up. "Well, I was thinking, in honor of us finally getting past this bullshit boss with no casualties-"

"But I died."

"Racliff, your death was a necessary sacrifice, not a casualty. As I was saying, in honor of us winning, I was thinking we could all meet together at the Infernal Cafe. You know, that small restaurant not too far from the Pastry Delights place, the one that's always getting robbed? We can all go there tonight and celebrate, meet up in person for the first time. It's a place that'll welcome us."

"Are you sure about that?" Gumps cleared his throat. "I do work that day there, you know."

"Oh, you work there? Nice, that means we can get free food."

"That's not how that wo-"

"If it's free grub, I'm always down." Racliff chimed in. "Beats the usual."

"I guess I can't turn it down either. All thanks to the ideas of the kid we have." Trident said. Vinnie thought he sensed some bitterness in Trident's voice. Why did he sound so mad and bitter?

"Vinnie, does that work with you?" Hoodie asked. "We can all meet up there at around 6 or 7."

Vinnie bit his lower lip. "I'm not really allowed to leave the house by myself." he admitted. "I'll get in trouble if-"

"It'll be fine." Hoodie cut him off. "Your guardian won't even know you're out for an hour or so. You're the closest one to the cafe, and you can always dip back if you need to. None of us will hold that against you, RIGHT TRIDENT?"

"Hey, why are you singling me out? I got no problems with anything. If the kid needs to be back home, whatever. No major loss. Besides, it'll be nice to see how most of you look."

Vinnie let out a low sigh. Heng would kill him if he went outside without her supervision, but... perhaps this was the only chance he could get to justify looking for Kala. He took a deep breath, and despite the pit in his stomach, he spoke up over the voice chat.

"S-sure, I'm good with that. I'll meet you all then, or maybe earlier? We can all meet up any time today if no one is busy?"

"That's fine. My shift there was going to start soon." Gumps said.

"I got nothing better to do." Racliff huffed. "Just let me get washed up and presentable."

"Racliff, that's impossible for you and you know it. You live in a sewer." Trident said.

"Oh, and what about you? Going to wheelchair yourself around in a water bubble?"

"SHUT YOUR FACE. II told you before I'm no-"

"Ladies, ladies. Please. Both of you are beautiful." Hoodie said, which made Vinnie chuckle. "Well, I guess you can be the first one there, Vinnie. Whenever you show up, just DM me and I'll let everyone else know we can head on over. We'll have fun, and I'll make sure Trident doesn't rip your head off."

"I already told you, I wouldn't do that unless the helium voiced brat puts me in a bad mood."

"You won't do it regardless of what mood he puts you in." Hoodie's voice dropped back down to a deeper and colder tone, before it returned back to her normal voice as she shifted her focus back to Vinnie. "I'll get ready myself. Peace!"

"Peace"

"Peace"

"Peace out, bitches"

"Peace"

Vinnie closed out of the voice chat, and hopped off of the laptop. He rubbed his forehead. This definitely was his best chance to look for Kala, but...

Cursing mentally to himself, he pulled out his phone. There was no way he would be able to sneak out and get back without Lind or Heng noticing. It was better to simply inform Heng and hope she approved...

____________________________________

Deep in the sewers beneath Los Diamantes, several large rats scurried along the edge of the putrid water that ran through a pipeline. Down here, few predators existed that were a threat to such rodents, and they were allowed to grow large and powerful off the resources available. Any stray cats or dogs that found their way down into this underpart of the city were quick to find themselves in over their heads as these rats could kill even the largest of dogs with ease. In recent times, however, their numbers had started to dwindle as a new predator was spending most of her time hunting down in these sewers and feasting off the rat population. To survive this predator, the rats had made themselves scarce, fitting into places where the half snake woman could not...

For these rats, however, there was no escaping from this predator no matter where they fled.

A living shadow engulfed the rats and devoured them in an instant. There was no fight back, there was no resistance, no sound of agony, but a quick and instant death as their bodies were drained of blood and their flesh and skin dissolved beneath the shadow. All that remained of them were bones. The shadow continued on its way into a larger more open section of the sewers, and then it stopped. It began to take shape, solidifying itself into a human form... into the form of Kala.

Her eyes were bloodshot as she looked into the murky water beside her. She could barely see her own reflection with how dim the lighting was, but what she did see was her own unsightly, nearly feral form. Her clothes, normally solid in form and pristine, were instead hazy shadowy wisps that changed at a constant rate. Her skin was bruised and lacerated, and she felt her chest hurt with each breath. Her nails were cracked crimson claws, and her eyes a light golden hue.

She didn't know how long she had been out, how long it had been since she had gone from trying to sleep in her bed to now somehow being in the sewers and stinking of copper and blood. If it wasn't for the voice in her head, she wouldn't have known what had happened, yet it made what had happened far too clear for Kala.

"Regain your strength, and smite the sinners! Make yourself stronger, girl, and pay them back for what they have done. The fast one especially will pay for what he has done!"

She knew she couldn't show herself on the surface, if she had gotten into a fight with Supers and... killed again. She had promised Vinnie and Heng she wouldn't. She had promised that Celine lady... Yet, she had gone out to eat and... There was no going back. If she tried to go back up, she would be hunted down, she knew that. But Vinnie... He was no doubt up there, worried about her, looking for her. If he wasn't there for her...

"No, ignore the child!" The voice in her mind snapped. "Consume and gain your reve-"

"SHUT UP!" Kala screamed, her voice echoing through the sewer in all directions. She grabbed at her own forehead and stared back down at her own reflection. "I won't lose all I have left to you... I will only punish the bad people, not everyone you want me to!"

Her reflection, though also grasping at its head, narrowed its eyes. "I am you, worthless girl. I am what you really are. Deny as you might, you cannot reject the truth. I have already taken over once, and I can and will do it again if you do not do as I say. The sinners who stopped your feast will pay first, then the abomination will fall as well, but first will be the one who reeks of the Heirophant, the one who did this to us!."

"Shut up, shut up, SHUT UP!" Kala shouted again, shaking her head. She dissolved back into a shadow and began to slither off through the sewers. She wasn't going to let this other self take over her again. She needed to find Heng and hope she had a way of getting this evil presence in her mind out. She needed to find Vinnie to make sure he was safe...

_________________________________________

Hutistrend was bored. She sat on the bed, one arm slowly rocking the cradle back and forth. The baby inside, one with jaded emerald eyes, cried and reached to grab her, and she allowed for the infant to hold onto her arm.

She hated being stuck in her mama's bedroom. The sixteen eyed blanket was unnerving for her to look at, and the numerous figures of multiple eyed winged lizards weren't helping to make her feel at ease. She looked out the window into the city that was outside. So many people were out there, so many things she could experience and enjoy. The bright blue sky, the clean air, the tales of a serial killer who was targeting children and killing them in horrific and brutal ways, she wanted to see it all for herself. She wanted to go back to being outside of this stupid house in this city...

But, she couldn't. The baby's cries only grew louder, and Hutistrend grabbed the baby's bottle and jammed it into her mouth. The baby suckled on the end of the bottle and finally stopped crying, and Hutistrend grumbled. Wasn't this supposed to be what mama was supposed to do? But then, she was always with the other baby... Hutistrend had never seen mama even so much as acknowledge this baby even with her creation. But... why?

She sat up and got off the large bed and ran out of the room. She knew mama was downstairs and was talking with some important people, but this was also important. It was a question that had been burning away at Hutistrend's mind for weeks, yet she had never been able to bring herself to ask mama about it, but now her curiosity was overwhelming her anxiety and what she knew she was getting herself into. She just needed to know, why two babies when she only cared for one?

She stopped at the top of the stairs. She could see down at the entrance to the building, and she saw mama was there, with her long blonde hair with the cute pink tips and the black suit she liked to wear so often. She was busy talking to someone she couldn't see, but Hutistrend could only assume it was the important person mama had mentioned before.

"So that makes 73 total victims of this murderer." Mama sighed, a hand on her chin. "And Titania has yet to find any concrete evidence as to who the culprit is?"

"Affirmative." The other person said, their voice like that of a boring old man who likely was to drop dead any day now. "Though, we are finding a pattern to all of these killings, and not just that they're young girls and boys being mutilated. They all seem to be within thirteen blocks-"

"Of the capital building, I assume?" Mama cut the man off. "Then it seems the culprit is rather obvious, especially if Titania is failing to solve this problem. It's someone in her inner circle, if not Titania herself. Captain, I suggest you begin looking at her and everyone associated with her, hard. Otherwise who knows how many more people will die to this murderer."

The captain cleared his throat. "I hope that isn't the case. We're supposed to be a perfect people, lead by a perfect leader, and yet... It's not the possibility I want to entertain, but it is looking to be like that. You are one of her advisors, so I came to you first to see if you had anything to do with it."

Mama shook her head. "Me, a murderer? Oh heaven's no. I actually haven't been doing any advising for a few months, to let you in on a-"

Huti felt one of the floorboards squeak beneath her weight and instinctively stepped back. Another squeak. "I-is someone in there with you?" The Captain asked. "I thought you lived alone."

"I do live alone, Captain." Hutistrend could tell mama's voice had changed ever so slightly, a hint of annoyance and irritation present that hadn't been there, and she realized she had made a horrible mistake. "Just, a bit of a vermin issue I'd hate to say. Now, I'll catch up with you later, Captain. I need to take care of this vermin issue." She closed the door before the captain could say anything, and Huti was about to make a run back to the bedroom, when in the time it took for her to blink, mama appeared right before her, a darker skinned infant in her left arm. Mama's emerald eyes bore daggers into the much smaller Hutistrend, and a hand reached out and grabbed Hutistrend by the neck and lifted her up off the ground.

"When I tell you to stay in the room and not leave until I tell you to leave, I expect you to do as I say." Mama hissed as she walked into the bedroom. Her grip only tightened around Hutistrend's neck, and her nails dug into her skin and flesh, drawing black blood from Hutistrend's neck. She wanted to cry, the pain was overwhelming, but she couldn't even breath with how tight the grip was. "I have a trillion more important things to do than be annoyed by your worthless whims and interests, so you better have a damn good reason to interrupt my meeting!"

She slammed Hutsitrend's face into the wall, and Hutistrend felt her nose break and blood drip down. She was then tossed into the opposite wall with enough force to knock the air out of her lungs, and Hutistrend gasped for air, her arms around her stomach. A high heeled foot stepped down onto her back, and Hutistrend began to scream, only for a hand to slap her across the face. The marks left from the nails burned at her.

"Stop screaming like a dog and answer me. What is it that you so desperately needed from me? Well Huti? Or are you just going to cry and waste the oxygen in the air? I'm waiting."

Despite the pain she felt, Hutistrend pointed up toward the crib, toward the infant there who stared and watched back. "Why... a second child, mama?" Hutistrend weakly gasped. "You already have... one child and me-"

The high heeled foot stomped down even harder, and Hutistrend felt her back crack and struggle to not break beneath the kick. Mama's face now twitched constantly, and all pleasantness in her voice was gone.

"That's what you wanted to know? Are you questioning me, Hutistrend? Are you questioning my plans, you worthless idiot? You do not question my plans and my ideas. That is not your place or your role! You do as I say and nothing more, you worthless dumpster fire of a child!"

The foot kicked her over onto her back, and Hutistrend could only watch as mama brought the heel down onto her face...

Celine sat up in the bed. She was covered in sweat, and the hotel bed was soaked. She reached a hand up to her face and felt it. She felt nothing wrong, nor when she moved her hand to her neck, then to her stomach and back. She looked around, heavy pants coming from her. It was a nightmare... just a nightmare. A nightmare she no longer had to worry about until the next time she went to sleep.

But, at least she was free from that hell with her current life. Hutistrend was no more, so Celine could live.

She looked over at her phone. It was morning. She had rented a room at the hotel next to the room that Marina was at, to keep an eye on her, both in case the monster that Franklin had become or someone else wanted at her, and for her own safety. She rolled out of bed and shakily made her way over to the shower after she took off her night garments.

And yet, she felt herself shaking even as she opened the shower door. It was always a nightmare like that. If not that exact nightmare, then another one of similar nature. Every night, ever since she had become freed from her influence, once she had been set down the right path... Would the nightmares ever end?

Toho Kingdom

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