Meta: A super power RP with lore! Closed/Started

[TheIronRuler]

'I'm Nick, by the way...If you wanna get a real drink, I was gonna head out to this place I know, after the press conference'.

'Oh dear, he's even braver than I thought.' Ciri rolled the idea of spending the rest of the day drunk in a pub. It would have taken her mind off things, but she didn't had the cash. Then again, if she was with someone else, money wasn't going to be a problem.

'Nick, what did you say about a press conference?', Ciri asked curiously. 'You can call me Ciri', she added nonchalantly.

 

[Evrant-Knight]

"Agent Garland." A voice from in front of Reno spoke, prompting him to look up from his data-pad and saw that it was Lieutenant Bueller, a no-nonsense agent like many of the others in the Bureau who followed protocol to the letter. "Step inside. We got a job for you."

"Yes sir." Was all Reno said in response as he stood up from the chair he was sitting in, making sure to slip his data-pad into one of the side pockets of the jacket that he was wearing. He then followed the Lieutenant into the office and took a seat opposite Bueller who was in the process of pulling out a number of dossiers from a filling cabinet behind him, searching for the one to give to Reno.

 

[NinjaDeathSlap]

"What can I get you?"

"Coke please." Cipher relied in a hoarse whisper, depositing a small handful of change on the bar (he had a thing about always paying the exact amount). While he spoke English fluently, Cipher, through a combination of travelling frequently and speaking little, had no discernible accent to place him. As the girl behind the bar continued to chat with the Spook (and Cipher was sure he was a Spook, or worse), Cipher tried to remain calm, simultaneously reciting Pi inside his head to five hundred decimal places (and to the tune of Concerto No.5) while he reviewed various avenues of escape in case things were about to take an ugly turn. Their was a crossroads not two hundred yards from the bar. If he could disrupt the traffic lights and cause a pile-up outside, it might b enough of a distraction for him to slip away unseen...

A high-pitched buzzing in Cipher's ears, was the first tell-tale sign that things were going very wrong indeed.

'No! Not now! Why did it have to be now!'

His peripheral vision began to blur, while the rest was disturbed by lurid spot of colour. Sound were much louder and thicker than they had been a moment ago, and Cipher felt faint. There was little hiding the trembling of his hands now, nor his short, ragged breathing. However, Cipher tugged his cap even lower, in the hope that he might at least obscure the trickle of blood creeping out of his left nostril.

The attacks were getting more frequent. If he didn't find a way to fix it soon...

 

[Daystar Clarion]

"Coke please."

"No problem." Charlie cooed as she shuffled down the bar to the large fridge under the counter. Sliding open the glass door, she plucked a bottle from its cool depths. The woman felt a crackling sensation in her hand as her skin came into contact with the icy glass. It had taken her time to get used to the way her skin reacted to water, or rather what her skin contained, but it was a pleasant enough sensation.

"Well I'd recommend New York, or Toronto, come to that. I wouldn't mind heading to Canada soon as I'm done here, actually. The trip out here was a fuckin' waste of time. Typical California."

"New York is overrated." Charlie chuckled. "And I say that as someone who's been to London, which is even more overrated." Using the bottle opener built into the bar, she removed the cap from the coke, placing it gently on the counter. The last time she simply handed someone a bottle while still touching it, that individual felt a rather unpleasant electric shock. Easy enough to pass off as static, but she definitely wanted to avoid it happening in the future. The last thing she needed was unwanted attention. "Here you go, enjoy." She smiled at the Asian guy, not that he could see her from under his cap. Removing the change from the counter, she moved up the bar grabbed the money CIA reject had placed down.

Moving to the till, Charlie rang up the two drinks. "I hear good things about Canada though, nice people, mind their own business." She smirked as she looked at the man, sliding his change across the counter.

 

[The Funslinger]

'You can call me Ciri'

David grinned. "Isn't that an app on my phone?" Hand waving the cheap joke, he said, "anyway, yeah, we all got dragged down to this bullshit conference they're putting up 'cause of this serial killer. I'd have bailed, but it's mandatory for Meta-Human students, even if they do keep us all anonymous."

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

"I hear good things about Canada though, nice people, mind their own business."

"Yeah," he said, pointedly ignoring the jibe. "And while I'm over the country line, I don't get dragged into so much bullshit, I find. It's a peaceful place."

Putting a twenty down on the bar, he said, "call that a tip." Finishing his beer, he turned and headed to the door. "Oh," he said, as an afterthought. "And you might wanna bust out the first-aid kit. Looks like one of your customers is bleeding."

With that, he left, getting back into the rental Buick. Switching his phone back on, he called the proxy number that quickly redirected him.

"Yeah, it's me."

"Mikey, good to hear your voice," came the reply. "Did you look into that little thing I asked you to handle?"

"Yeah."

"And? Is the girly one of you?"

Definitely, he thought. Nobody gets a visible static charge off of a dusty glass bottle. "Nah," he replied. "Outside the accent, she's plain as rain."

"You sure about that?"

"Of course. Now how about we get down to brass tacks, and you tell me why the fuck you really dragged my ass down here. I know it wasn't to check out some illegal with weirdly low electric bills. You've got fields of mindless drones in standard black to handle that shit."

"Believe it or not, Michael, I'm trying to do you a favor."

"Oh yeah? What favor's worth me pulling my ass outta retirement on pretext, and driving hundreds of miles to somewhere I hate?"

"Because you've got a kid."

"I also had athlete's foot last year, but the doctor gave me a cream that cleared that right up."

"I'm serious. I was running the usual cross checks, and your files popped right up next to each other."

"And how is that my problem?" Michael asked.

"Don't you care that you have actual family?" the man on the line replied.

"Why the fuck would I?"

"That's cold, man," came the response. "You know this is gonna get official soon, and once that happens, your little bastard's gonna get snapped up just like you did."

"World's smallest violin, Frank. Now fuck you, I'm going home. Don't call me again."

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

"Yes sir."

"Now Reno," Bueller said, setting a thick file down in front of him. "I know you're one of them all wrapped up in your little glowing screen types, but I bet even you've heard about the serial killer in California. The one targeting Meta-Humans."

 

[TheIronRuler]

'Isn't that an app on my phone?',Ciri wrinkled her nose at the jab on her expense, but didn't have time to think of a comback. She was more interested in what he said about being a meta-human. '...but it's mandatory for Meta-Human students, even if they do keep us all anonymous', Ciri had to force herself not to laugh. She thought she was doing a good job of hiding her freak-powers, yet there were kids who couldn't stop talking about. Besides, it explained why she felt so cool before when she was suffocating that kid - he must have been a metahuman as well.

'Huh, so you're all specials?', Ciri looked around the crowd, thinking to herself they were all ant-people a few minutes ago. 'You're not scared of the serial killer, then?' she added, then immedietly regretted saying afterwords. 'Damn it, Ciri, think! - of course they don't want to get murdered!'.

 

[Daystar Clarion]

"call that a tip."

Her eyes widened, as the man slapped a twenty down on the bar. "Cheers, that's really nice of you." She smiled, her fingers twitching as she fought the urge to swipe the money before he changed his mind.


"And you might wanna bust out the first-aid kit. Looks like one of your customers is bleeding."

"Huh?" She followed the man's line of sight to the other guy at the bar. Leaning forward to get a better view of the Asian guy, she furrowed her brow. "Hey, mate, your nose is bleeding, are you okay?" Glancing up, the other guy had already left. 'He seemed nice enough, so why did he make me feel so anxious?' Internally breathing a sigh of relief, she turned her attention back to more pressing matters.

'Probably a fucking crackhead' She knew the type, and this one had that glazed over look like his thoughts were a million miles away, but as long as he wasn't causing any trouble, what he did in his own time was none of her business. "I'm gonna grab some tissues okay?" Walking quickly to the end of the bar, the girl snatched up the twenty left on the bar, shoving it in her pocket. Turning around, she reached over the sink and pulled several sheets of hand towels from a dispenser before moving back to the bleeding man. "Here, clean yourself up." She smiled warmly as held out the paper towels to the man. "Can I get you a glass of water or somethin'?"

 

[Random Fella]

"but it's mandatory for Meta-Human students, even if they do keep us all anonymous."
'ignorant twat' He couldn't stand others announcing their Meta state to others, it just seemed like bragging to him, one of the things we aren't supposed to be doing is going around giving people more information than they need to know, that is how he understood it anyway.
And with the recent reports, he would imagine the other students wouldn't want strangers to know about them.

'Huh, so you're all specials? You're not scared of the serial killer, then?'
"Not all of us" Jim interrupted in a deep tone from behind them "Some of us chose to come along"
"For instance, me and a large portion of the science students have chosen to come for some extra credit" He pointed toward the part of the crowd of other students he knew. He wasn't technically lying, so you wouldn't gather from the way he talked that he was.
"It's a pretty big part of genetics study in biology, with more Meta-humans coming out the need for Meta-human scientists has only grown"

"And as for the serial killer" He look at the other boy, a scowl came across his face as he said
"I'd imagine a large group of Meta-humans in the same place is something you wouldn't want to talk about too loudly"
The other boy seemed so laid back about it, it quite frankly astonished him. Even with them being watched over, you never know what this killer is capable of.

 

[TheIronRuler]

'Some of us chose to come along...', Ciri stopped listening to Jim's awkward reasoning and twisted excuse to try and come out of this conversation not a meta-human, but she knew better. He was a walking AC, a cold as ice meta-human... She crept from behind and lunged at him, moving her hands over his shoulders and down to his chest, feeling the sweater he was wearing. 'No ice-cubes' she grinned and pressed herself even harder, making him mighty uncomfortable.

'Ice-man... That's how they should call you, Jim. Like in the comics. Ice-man was my favorite' she blew some air in one of his ears and chuckles. 'You're a bad liar' she finished the kill, then turned to Nick with her carefree smile, 'So what's your shtick, special boy?'.

 

[Evrant-Knight]

"Now Reno," Bueller said, setting down a big file on his desk. "I know you're one of them all wrapped up in your little glowing screen types, but I bet even you've heard about the serial killer in California. The one targeting Meta-Humans."

"Hmph." Reno muttered with a small smirk. "Well when your job normally involves looking at glowing screens of all shapes and sizes sir, you tend to get used to it. And yes, I have heard of those murders you spoke. The ones being conducted by the person that the media has dubbed the 'Meta Murderer'. Poor souls, shouldn't have happened to any of them, though there's not much we can do for them now except find the one that did this, and bring them in, one way or another." He then remarked as he began flicking through the folder.

"Most recent one have been taking place in and around Westlake City correct?"

 

[NinjaDeathSlap]

"And you might wanna bust out the first-aid kit. Looks like one of your customers is bleeding."

Cipher's panic at being noticed by the man manifested as several cell-phones inside the bar calling each-other at random. His palpitations were followed by a long sigh of relief as the other man left (a CCTV camera outside served as his eyes, as Cipher watched the other man get back into his car and drive away), while several other patrons at the bar were confusedly talking into their phones, trying to discern who was calling oblivious to the complete stranger on the other end of the line just a few feet from them.

"I'm gonna grab some tissues okay?"

His attention was brought back to the girl behind the bar, Cipher nodded awkwardly as she went to get some towels. At first, he thought he'd really just prefer it if she left him alone. However, something else spoke to him in that moment. She was a Meta-Human, like him. Perhaps this time, Cipher would make a breakthrough.

He just had to get her away from the crowd. Back to her home perhaps, anywhere where they would be alone would do...

"Can I get you a glass of water or somethin'?"

"I'm fine. Thank you." Cipher croaked, accepting the towels and dabbing at his lip. Pushing his cap up off his face, he met her eyes for the first time. At that precise moment, her cell-phone buzzed with a text message alert from an unknown number...

Spoiler: OOC

Message reads:

'u r like me. meta-human.'

 

[Random Fella]

'Ice-man... That's how they should call you, Jim.'
"You don't even know the half of it" Jim replied in a saddened tone
Ciri could feel her hands getting colder, far too cold, far too quickly, the discomfort would cause her to want to move them away, but if she tried, there would be no way they would budge. A layer of ice had enveloped them, beyond his control.
"Why is it always the pretty ones who have no sense of boundaries" he sighed in a load whisper
He looked at Ciri, hoping she wouldn't attract any attention
"Look, just don't freak out, this stuff happens, I can control it just... Stay still and please don't make a scene..." He said as calmly as he could.

 

[Daystar Clarion]

"I'm fine. Thank you."

As the man's eyes met her's, Charlie felt her phone vibrate in her pocket. "Okay, well, I'll be here if you need anything, just gimme a shout." She tapped the bar as she moved down the bar, removing her phone from her pocket as she picked up the glass left my the CIA reject.

An unknown number? Probably junk mail. Opening the message, she quickly scanned its contents before fear gripped at her throat.

'u r like me. meta-human.'

Was this a joke? The only person who knew her number was Bennie, and he wasn't one to play tricks. 'Oh fuck, oh fuck!' Running a hand nervously through her hair, the girl looked up from the bar. Several people had their phones in hand, most of them with confused expressions on their faces. 'Could they have gotten the same message? Was this just one big prank? There's no way anyone could know about me, I've been super careful, there's just no way!'

Against her best judgement, Charlie clenched her jaw as she began replying to the message, holding her breath as she thumbed the send button. She felt sick to her stomach.

Spoiler: OOC

Message read:

'Who is this? Is this a joke?'

 

[TheIronRuler]

"You don't even know the half of it, Jim started, tightening his grip. The cold grew fiercer, and it enveloped the two, forcing Ciri stuck to the frightened Jim. "Look, just don't freak out, this stuff happens, I can control it just... Stay still and please don't make a scene...", he pleded, his eyes darting left and right. "If you're Ice-man, you can call me Blink", Ciri smirked, then jumped four inches backwards, her arm free from Jim's grasp. It was hardly noticeable by anyone nearby, and even if someone was looking at her the event would have registered like the malfunction of an overflowing imagination. She turned to Jim, her finger pressed against her lips. "Sh..." she whispered. "It's a secret".

 

[The Funslinger]

"Most recent one have been taking place in and around Westlake City correct?"

"Eh, close," Bueller replied. "There haven't been any murders within the city limits yet, that we know of." He scowled at this, the admission that even they couldn't be up to date. That there might be a fresh corpse waiting to be found. "But one of the towns on the city's east side have been hit. It was the first body to be found away from a major urban area. That, combined with the fact that more murders have happened in California than any of the other three states, and in a shorter time frame would make Westlake City a fair assessment for the future. You'll be flying out tonight, and meeting two field agents in the city center. You'll be assisting their investigation."

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

Nick opened his mouth to answer Ciri's questions, and Jim's sour comment, when their conversation seemed to pick up pace, preventing him getting a word in.

"Sh..." she whispered. "It's a secret".

Shelving his wonder at Cir's teleporting for later, he took the opportunity to speak.

"Pretty much the entire school is here, plus an entire college campus. We had to come, but everyone tagged along anyway." He frowned at Jim. "Anyway, I didn't out you. I was talking about me. Everyone's here anyway, so you did that to yourself, man."

Turning back to Ciri, he said, "anyway, that's awesome. Never would have guessed you'd be a Meta. But if you think Mr. Freeze over there is cool, watch this."

Pulling a dime out of his jeans pocket, Nick lay it in his open palm. "I'mma make this one a tails," he said. A close observer would have seen the tiny crackle of blue light that infused the coin before it leaped through the air as though flipped, spinning through the air several times before miraculously losing all of its momentum halfway through its arc, and plummeting straight down into Nick's outstretched hand.

Grinning widely, he pinched the coin between the tips of his index and middle fingers, making his hand into a finger pistol. Aiming his pointed fingers in the air, Nick again tapped his power. A slightly more substantial spark of blue danced around the coin, and it shot off into the sky like a bullet. The only sound was the faint hiss of the coin's momentum.

 

[TheIronRuler]

'Everyone's here anyway, so you did that to yourself, man', Ciri smiled when she heard the banter between Jim and Nick. 'But if you think Mr. Freeze over there is cool, watch this', Nick was showing off like a good boy, doing parlor tricks with a coin. He finished his magic-trick with a thrust of the coin to space, which lit up a few lightbulbs in Ciri's head.

'And you're Gambit!' she said with glee. Back home, there wasn't much to do all day in the farm. She couldn't read the books her parents gave her - she had an abysmally short attention span, but the comic-books her brother owned and later didn't even have the energy to read were something made just for her. 'A few more and we'll make the X-Men', she added.

 

[Evrant-Knight]

"Eh, close," Bueller replied somewhat abruptly.

"There haven't been any murders within the city limits yet, that we know of." There was a slight scowl as he said this.

"But one of the towns on the city's east side have been hit. It was the first body to be found away from a major urban area. That, combined with the fact that more murders have happened in California than any of the other three states, and in a shorter time frame would make Westlake City a fair assessment for the future. You'll be flying out tonight, and meeting two field agents in the city center. You'll be assisting their investigation."

"Understood Sir." Reno remarked as he finished giving the dossier a quick read through, no doubt he'll be going over this a few more times before tonight though. "Guess I'll have a little light reading to do in the meantime." He then added to reaffirm this notion, after all, if he was to be any help to these two field agents he'd be meeting with, it'd pay to know the ins and outs of what was going on. Besides, he wouldn't be doing his job if he didn't, after all, knowledge is his business.

"Anything else I need to know about this assignment before departure sir? Or will everything be covered in the dossier?"

 

[Random Fella]

Ciri's escape from Jim's unintentional grasp was more than surprising to him, let alone how calm and relaxed she remained despite the extreme temperature change she must have felt in her hands for the brief moment.
She moved so quickly he couldn't even notice it, 'Teleportation?' he thought.
His body began to return to it's original state, maybe if he focused enough on it he could keep it at room temperature, but it was too much for him at the moment.

Nick finally being able to enter the conversation replied to Jim's earlier comment
"Anyway, I didn't out you. I was talking about me. Everyone's here anyway, so you did that to yourself, man."
Before pulling off a magnitude of tricks with a coin before shooting it into the air, impressive he supposed, but he was still a show off to Jim

"So are you two done with the freak show?" he scowled
"and as you said" he turned back to Nick
"All of us registered were forced to come, I didn't have a choice" he whispered pointing his finger toward him
"...whatever" he grunted "When is this thing going to start, it feels like we've been waiting forever."

 

[NinjaDeathSlap]

'Who is this? Is this a joke?'

The reply was sent to the phone that Cipher had co-opted for the silent conversation. He read it, deleted it from the phone's memory, composed and sent his own reply, then deleted that too. By now, this sort of thing was child's play to Cipher, even when his brain was trying to spazz out on him.

A moment later, much faster than any human fingers could have composed a reply, the girl's phone buzzed again...

Spoiler: OOC

Message:

'Thank u 4 the towels.' (Cipher had found himself to be slightly more confident and eloquent when communicating in ways like this, as opposed to face-to-face) 'That man was bad news. Also meta. I can tell. U bank online? No. Now you do...' (what followed was a list of relevant account details, for a brand new account under a false name, with a balance of $5,000) 'That's my tip 4 u. Don't worry. THEY can't trace it.'

 

[Daystar Clarion]

Mere seconds after Charlie had sent her reply, another message appeared in her inbox.

'Thank u 4 the towels. That man was bad news. Also meta. I can tell. U bank online? No. Now you do...'

"Paper tow..." She quickly glanced up from the phone to the man sitting at the bar. His hand hands were on the counter, there was no phone to be seen, what was this? Trying her best to look calm, she scrolled through the message, there were details for an online bank account worth $5,000. Underneath it was another sentence.

'That's my tip 4 u. Don't worry. THEY can't trace it.'

"I don- I don't understand." She mumbled out loud. Who were 'they'? The grip on her stomach tightened, how did he know she was a meta? How was he doing any of this without a phone? Turning to face the man at the bar, she shook her head, a fearful look on her face.

"I'm not who you think I-Shit!" Unfortunately for Charlie, her powers manifested more dominantly during periods of heightened emotion. She winced as the screen of her phone exploded, she had accidentally overloaded the battery with a surge of power. A plume of acrid smoke raising gently from the device. Charlie's eyes widened as she looked at the phone from out the corner of her eyes, then back down at the man at the bar.

'That was pretty damning.' Placing the broken phone on the counter Charlie took a deep breath as she tried to regain her composure. 'It's fine Charlie, it's fine, don't stress out, you know what happens when you stress out." Shaking her hands gently as she felt the tell-tale tingle of electricity, she glanced around the bar. Nobody has noticed, as far as she could tell.

Quickly leaning forward towards the Asian man, she rested her hands on the bar. "What are you doing?!" She whispered through clenched teeth. "Why are you doing this to me?"