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

[Random Fella]

Jim followed Nick as he stumbled toward the bartender, a few faces peered over toward them as they left the woman's bathroom, but thankfully Nick drew attention to himself as he called out to the bartender. They seemed to know one another quite well, so it seemed this is how Nick intended to get a drink.
Ciri came from behind them toward the counter, interrupting their conversation to order something.

'This one is on you, Nick. Going through the Ciri Express costs, you know'.
Jim covered his face with his palm as he joined her at the counter, the area around his body wasn't as cool as it was before, it was easier to control in such a smaller area.
The way the two he met seemed to talk about their abilities so freely was strange to him, but that's probably why they were the only ones he'd met on chance, other meta-humans were probably a bit more secretive about it, like him 'Well if it wasn't so obvious sometimes anyway' he thought to himself, thinking back to when Ciri had jumped on his cold body.

He still wasn't sure about taking off his hoodie anyhow, so he just lowered his hood to expose his face, there was probably some rule about that. He rested his hands on the bar before realising how strange he looked wearing his gloves and quickly retracted them into his hoodie pockets. He then waited for the others to finish there conversations before ordering, keeping a low profile.

 

[The Funslinger]

And why the hell are you in the girls' shitter?!"

"How'd the burglar break into the house?" asked Nick. "Intruder window!" The corny grin on his face made it obvious that the bad joke was a blow off. He'd showed off his powers to impress Ciri, and she wasn't quite the first, but for some reason he'd long ago decided not to show Charlie his ability. He couldn't have said why.

'This one is on you, Nick. Going through the Ciri Express costs, you know'.

Apparently Ciri just didn't give a shit in general. Leaning in close, he said quietly, "she's a teleporter." Straightening back up, he produced his wallet. It was full of bills. You might have assumed Nick came from a wealthy family, though in fact his adoptive parents lived fairly modestly. Nick made his money by selling pot to various high school students, and even college kids on occasion. It was either that, or get a real job. This way, he could save up for a motorcycle, and preserve his free time at the same time.

Putting down a twenty, he said, "she wants a surprise, give her a long island iced tea. I'll have a beer." He glanced at Jim. "What're you having, ice-hole?"

 

[ToxicPiranah]

Seb watched the conference with skepticism, it all sounded like the usual spiel to calm the general populace when the authorities had little to no control on the situation. He drank from his new beer and almost sprayed the bar and Charlie with the mouthful as three youngsters came out of the ladies loo, two of them looked to be male.

Seb caught what, Charlie had called him Nick, said "She's a teleporter". Seb's eyebrows rose in surprise that he had freely shared that one of his group was a meta, what with the risk presented to them all. Seb edged along the bar, trying to put a bit of space between himself and the newcomers.

 

[NinjaDeathSlap]

If Cipher had been possessed of any wit, he might have made some kind of quip relating to public transport, in relation to the sudden concentration of meta-human activity in this one space and time. What's was possibly even more surprising to him than their sudden arrival, was that these newcomers did not appear to be being particularly discreet at such a fragile time. It was enough to arouse his suspicions; and, in a few moments where Cipher neither moved or acknowledged the youngsters in any way, he had run background checks on all of them. None proved as difficult as Charlie. The new girl was unregistered, so Cipher could find no record as to the nature of her ability. However, considering their sudden appearance in the ladies bathroom, and with no footage of them on the CCTV network that watched the street outside, Cipher could extrapolate that she was capable of teleportation.

"she's a teleporter."

Their honesty was making Cipher's sleuthing skills feel, weirdly, upstaged; and Cipher was quickly taking an irrational dislike to the trio because of it. A muscle twitched at the corner of his eye, but otherwise he appeared to take no notice of them. There was one morsel of information, however, that he found intriguing. The ringleader of this little group appeared to know Charlie, and he in turn had been making new friends of his own kind. In no small part due to their scarcity, but also for other, less passive reasons, groups of meta-humans networking with each other was a rare phenomenon. If Cipher could penetrate this group, then he would have access to more of exactly the kind of minds he had been searching for than he had ever hoped for. Get enough of them together, and surely one, or perhaps just the combined power of all of them, would hold the key to saving himself. The risks to this plan were many, and Cipher was acutely aware of all of them, but the momentum of the way things were progressing before his very eyes, made the opportunity too good to pass up.

For now, he remained quiet. It would look suspicious to approach them now in front of Charlie. Cipher could wait calmly, until the opportune moment presented itself.

 

[Daystar Clarion]

"she's a teleporter."

Charlie looked between Nick and the new girl, raising an eyebrow. Was this supposed to be funny? They probably snook in through the window or something.

"Very funny, Nick." Charlie rolled her eyes as she sighed the words in exasperation, preparing herself for the song and dance that was to follow.

"she wants a surprise, give her a long island iced tea. I'll have a beer."

And there it was.

Charlie crossed her arms over her chest as she looked at the three newcomers. "Unless you've had a birthday since the last time you were in here, I ain't serving you shit, Nick." The woman nodded at the boy's two companions. "And your friends ain't getting anything either unless I see some ID, come on man, you've gotta stop trying this shit, I could get Bennie in serious trouble." The man had given her a job, she owed him at least a little respect.

"And use the damn front door next time, last thing I need is you making a habit of coming in through the window and scaring off the frankly pitifully low ratio of women we get in this dump."

 

[The Funslinger]

"And use the damn front door next time, last thing I need is you making a habit of coming in through the window and scaring off the frankly low ratio of women we get in this dump."

"Hey, I'm serious, but whatever," Nick replied. "Anyway, fine, I'll take a 7-Up, you boring limey." Another teenager might have been sulky about being denied alcohol, but Nick didn't mind overly much. He had all the weed he needed, and in fact a lot of the older people he knew who smoked it had stopped drinking entirely. Nick just wanted the opportunity to start.

"Must have been great growing up in England," he said. "You guys actually have a fucking reasonable drinking age. Seriously, I know twenty one year olds with grey hairs showing up, it's insane!"

 

[Random Fella]

"she wants a surprise, give her a long island iced tea. I'll have a beer." He glanced at Jim. "What're you having, ice-hole?"
Jim scowled back at Nick as to tell him to not announce to him like that.

"And your friends ain't getting anything either unless I see some ID, come on man, you've gotta stop trying this shit, I could get Bennie in serious trouble."
Hearing this just bolstered what he thought about the guy, he was just a show off, and now it had backfired on him, he was probably just trying to impress the girl. He lightly chuckled at the realization.
'Maybe this wasn't one of my, best ideas...' he thought as he glanced around the bar.

"I'll have a coke with no ice, thanks." He asked at a time where he would not be interrupting the two.

 

[TheIronRuler]

"And use the damn front door next time, last thing I need is you making a habit of coming in through the window and scaring off the frankly pitifully low ratio of women we get in this dump."

Ciri frowned at the bartender as she slapped Nick with her harsh language. Ciri wasn't planning on getting drunk today, she still had her work to do. She looked down at her thin wristwatch and noted the time - she had a few more minutes to spare.

'A smile won't hurt either', Ciri shot back, 'Mix a virgin then, I'm still on the clock'. Ciri got off her chair and spun around, taking in the landscape - she had seen worse places, but the crummy pub didn't look like it was worth her time.

'So...', she said with an evil grin, 'How do you two know each other?', she asked the Bartender.

 

[Dogmatic99]

The confrence hadn't offered Adrian any kind of comfort, just the douchey reminder that his DNA had chosen the worst possible time to go haywire. Maybe this would pass, maybe he'd just ride it out and get over it? But right now, with a psycho killer on the loose, he couldn't risk hoping for that. Tearing himself up like this wasn't helping any, hell, me may as well have been hunkered up in his room going through Web MD and driving himself crazy hypocondriac style. Time to start doing something.

Not signing up with anyone though heeeellll nooooo! No if turning into a human campfire wasn't bad enough then Adrian wouldn't add spooky goverment feds to the list until he had no other choice. At least... not until he was sure. Or told his folks for that matter. So swung by the councillor's office and picked up a few pamflets on the down low. This day was a bust anyway, he could call in sick for his last lecture. Maybe for tomorrow too.

The walk home was hot as hell and Adrian savoured any cool gust of wind that would come his way. Not that he was feeling it as badly as before though. He wasn't even sweating, not that he noticed that little detail at the time. He made it back to the diner and pocketted his copies of 'SO YOU THINK YOU'RE A META-HUMAN.' and 'SCALES, BEAMS AND YOU.' before anyone could see them. There was the usual noise coming from One Eyed Merry's across the street that left Adrian wishing he was old enough to drink. But that might make things easier he sighed and went in through the back. Hopefully he'd have some time to himself before he got roped into kitchen duty.

 

[Daystar Clarion]

You guys actually have a fucking reasonable drinking age. Seriously, I know twenty one year olds with grey hairs showing up, it's insane!"

"I'll have a coke with no ice, thanks."

"Eh, it's not really that big a deal, but yeah, the drinking age here totally blows." Charlie's expression barely changed from one of resignation as she glanced at the girl.

'A smile won't hurt either'

'How about you suck my dick, ya cheery ****.' Charlie forced an unconvincing smile. Were these new friends of Nick's? She couldn't recall ever seeing them around before. 'Christ, I need a smoke.'

'Mix a virgin then, I'm still on the clock'

"Righto." The girl mumbled, fumbling around as she began to prepare the ordered drinks. "Shouldn't you be at school, Nick." Charlie grunted as she reached into the refrigerator cabinet under the bar.

'How do you two know each other?'

"Your friend there thinks I have short term memory loss apparently." Charlie sighed as she began placing glasses on the bar. "Still have to ID him every bloody time." The girl deepened her voice in a frankly terrible impression of the boy. "'Just to make sure.'" She shook her head as a small chuckle escaped her lips. "Pain in my arse."

 

[The Funslinger]

"Shouldn't you be at school, Nick."

"Ah, they took us to that conference," Nick replied, gesturing to the TV, which was still playing the local news station. "Rest of the day was just gonna be some 'you better have prospects next year, or you'll have to go to community college like a dumbass' B.S. Not a better time to fuck off early, if you ask me."

"Pain in my arse."

"Be honest," said Nick, grinning and taking a sip of his coke. "It's the highlight of your day."

Looking around at the others, he asked, "so did that whole thing seem like a steaming pile of shit to you guys, or was it just me?"

 

[NinjaDeathSlap]

"so did that whole thing seem like a steaming pile of shit to you guys, or was it just me?"

"Public announcements during states of emergency are tailor made to give the appearance of being in control of the situation, without revealing the lengths and limits of said control." Cipher piped up in a drab monotone, only just loud enough for the others to hear, keeping his pale, slightly bloodshot eyes fixed down on the bar. "The execution in this particular instance was... clumsy, but the reasoning is sound. Reveal too many specifics, if you have them, and you risk panicking affected parties; reveal that you know nothing, and you panic everyone. In either event, all that you achieve is giving your adversary a clearer picture of their boundaries."

His hands had more or less stopped shaking by this point, and raising the glass to his lips, Cipher took a small sip of his drink, while adjusting the rim of his baseball cap slightly to reveal more of his face (though the thought of eye contact still disquieted him), before he continued.

"Out of interest, the local authorities know nothing. According to private correspondence, the main priority of the Governor seems to be palming off as much of the investigation as possible to higher powers, absolving himself of blame in the event of failure, and so not damaging his prospects of re-election. Though, a larger concern on that front may be e-mails sent between a locally based biographer, and three... make that four, of his mistresses. What headway the MHRB is making in their investigation is... harder to discern."

 

[TheIronRuler]

'...What headway the MHRB is making in their investigation is... harder to discern.'

Ciri tried to formulate an answer, but she was dumbstruck by the torrent of words and information coming from the once quite asian man sitting in the back. She thought of an answer, then thought otherwise. Something had to be said to break the tension in the air, and she had the right idea in mind.

'So... are you like, always like this? You're like... err... Ultron, with all of that stuff floating about'.

 

[NinjaDeathSlap]

'So... are you like, always like this? You're like... err... Brainiac, with all of that stuff floating about'.

"The information exists outside of myself." Cipher replied calmly. "Electronic pathways are now our primary form of discourse. All over the world, secrets that you cannot see are released into the wind, like fragile butterflies. I simply reach out, close my fist, detect and disseminate... I am not clairvoyant; and, in this process, my intellectual capacity, is largely irrelevant."

Cipher took another delicate sip, before turning his head slightly, to (almost) appear somewhat personable.

"Does that answer you question?"

 

[TheIronRuler]

Spoiler: OOC

I edited the post.

"Does that answer you question?"

Ciri awkwardly smiled back at the strange man, knowing fully well she hadn't understood a thing he had just said. There was just one thing she knew for sure - either he just escaped from an asylum or he's a meta, like her. She cocked her hear to the left, staring at the man with a cheerful expression.

'You're kinda crazy, you know that?'

 

[Random Fella]

Jim was sitting quietly waiting for his drink as the others gossiped around him
Suddenly the asian man close to them who seemed to be very much keeping to himself began to talk about the recent conference as if he was reading off of a report on the whole thing.

"The information exists outside of myself."
The guy spoke like he was a program, clear and concise
Yet he kept his head down listening to them, this guy was interesting to say the least.

 

[Daystar Clarion]

"It's the highlight of your day."

"When you walk out that door, sure, but until then..." Charlie smirked as she shrugged her shoulders. At least the kid was fun, if not a bit of a bother.

"so did that whole thing seem like a steaming pile of shit to you guys, or was it just me?"

Charlie conveniently avoided answering the question, not that she needed to, since her new friend took it upon himself to amaze everyone with his verbose use of the English language.

"Sh- should I be writing this down?" Charlie joked, chuckling nervously as she glanced between the others at the bar. 'Of course it's always the eccentric ones who have powers, why not?'


"So... are you like, always like this? You're like... err... Ultron, with all of that stuff floating about."

'What the fuck is an Ultron?'

As Cipher responded to the girl in his special little way, Charlie pursed her lips, brow furrowed slightly.

"Does that answer you question?"

'Please say yes.' Charlie pleaded silently.

"You're kinda crazy, you know that?"

'Close enough!'

"So!" Charlie began in an attempt to move away from the topic of meta news. Pushing the three drinks across the bar to their respective owners, the girl smiled. "Is Nick paying for this? He should, kid's got more fucking money than I do."

Charlie had seen the boy's wallet before.

 

[The Funslinger]

"Is Nick paying for this? He should, kid's got more fucking money than I do."

"Yeah, I am," said Nick, once again pushing the twenty at Charlie. "So how long do you guys think this serial killer's gonna last? I mean he's not exactly going after drunk teenage girls here, he's going after people with all sorts of weird powers. There's no way I'd..." go down easy. He paused briefly. "...expect this shit to not blow up in his face, sooner or later. Hell, pretty soon we're gonna be swarming with guys in suits that get paid to handle shit like this."

 

[TheIronRuler]

'...he's going after people with all sorts of weird powers...'

...and he's succeeding as well...

Ciri sipped the ice-tea, the cold liquid turning around in her mouth, the wheels in her brain slowly turning. He couldn't take her, she would just zapp away. But he did get other metas before... maybe they all had lame powers, like milk-bending, but Ciri doubted it.

'He murdered all of those people so far... why stop now? The powers didn't stop him before'.

 

[NinjaDeathSlap]

These children were clearly inexperienced in this field. Cipher wasn't sure if he should interject, for he had the feeling he'd made a couple of them uncomfortable already. On the other hand, if he could get them to listen to him, view him as someone knowledgeable at such a fragile time, then that might be his in-road into the group. The worry niggled at him that any attempt to dispense wise advice on the subject would make him seem to them like somebody who knew too much (or worse, that somebody who really did might be listening to everything they were saying right now...). The deciding factor was Charlie. He'd already put himself into a sensitive position with her. She could out him at any time she wanted. If he at least made an effort with the others, then that might buy him some more trust with her.

Taking another sip of his drink, and a calming breath, Cipher raised his head.

"If we are safe in the assumption, as many seem to be, that all of these crimes have been committed by the same individual, then it is certain that the killer is now walking a path that they cannot turn back from. For repeat offenders such as this, the act of killing, for whatever reason, is narcotic. Not only will their predatory behaviour continue, but will also increase in frequency. They will not stop until somebody stops them, they can't.

As for how long they might remain at large? It is impossible to extrapolate from such a limited pool of data. Anyone who does have that information, is not sharing it anywhere that I can access, whatever else they may plan to do with it. What I would be more confident in saying, however, is that the only 'men in suits' that you might see, will be no more than low-level federal agents doing clean up in-between clutching at straws. More specialised, higher-level organisations like the MHRB, don't train for you to be able to see them coming. One thing we can all discern, is that the culprit is as clever and careful as they are dangerous, to have alluded the authorities for so long. If the people perusing them were to suddenly blanket this area with a visible presence, the killer would simply go to ground or flee."