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

[NinjaDeathSlap]

"Wouldn't you already know, if you are how you claim?"

Before Cipher could answer, the enthusiastic young woman gave the game away by assigning power-based nicknames to everyone.

"My affinity for detecting Meta-Humans is a passive one, at first." Cipher continued, unabated. "Beyond that, I did not wish to invade your privacy unless you permitted it."

The last part was what is commonly known as 'a bare-faced lie'.

"If you still require a demonstration..." Cipher internally reviewed all of the active electronic devices in the room. His attention was drawn by a quiz machine over in the far corner, offering a cash prize. "go to that machine over there, and deliberately answer every question incorrectly. See what happens."

Such a task was child's play for Cipher.

"So network,"

"My name is Cipher." Cipher interrupted, grimacing a little in annoyance.

"Are you constrained on how much data you can process at one time?"

"At a level of passive data gathering, there is no limit that I have discovered." Cipher answered, partially truthful. His attack would regularly interfere with his ability, but he saw no reason to let any of them know anything about that yet. "For me, that takes about as much effort as breathing. More active tasks: Hacking security systems; uploading or altering information; and operating machinery, require far more effort."

 

[ToxicPiranah]

At a level of passive data gathering, there is no limit that I have discovered. For me, that takes about as much effort as breathing. More active tasks: Hacking security systems; uploading or altering information; and operating machinery, require far more effort.

"I'm guessing it's too late for me to wipe my browser history?" Seb joked "Damn Cipher, I'm guessing the CIA or NSA would love to get their mitts on you, I'm Seb" he offered a hand in greeting.

so you're like Quicksilver? You can go really fast? blink asked. Turning to the young woman. Seb thought about her question for a second.

"I don't know who that is, is he a friend of yours?" Seb looked confused before continuing "To you I will move really fast even seem to disappear and reappear if I slow time enough but really I can't travel any faster than the next person" Seb explained. He decided to demonstrate, focusing he gripped time with his power slowing a single second to 30 for him. He reached into his glass of coke grabbing an ice cube and walked over to the girl. He thought about dropping it down her top but thought that would be inappropriate so placed it on top of her head. He then returned to his seat. As he sat down he slowly released time like a trickle of sand from his palm until it returned to normal flow. It had taken him just under a minute to do the whole 'trick'.

Turning to Blink he grinned "tada" waving his hands openly like a phoney stage magician. He winced in pain as a headache spiked into existence from using his power. Seb reached into his bag and pulled some paracetamol he took 2 capsules swallowing them with a gulp of coke. Noting blinks interest in the stranger sat near them he turned "Got any secrets to share with the group?"

 

[Random Fella]

"go to that machine over there, and deliberately answer every question incorrectly. See what happens."
Jim turned his attention toward the machine before a couple seemed to approach the machine, one of them laughing at the other when they put in the answer, before noticing the answer was registered as correct, causing the two to begin arguing over this, it couldn't be a coincidence "Ahh, interesting" he responded quietly.

The British man also flexed his abilities in front of them, in a slightly more obvious fashion.
The whole ordeal was very fascinating to him.

 

[NinjaDeathSlap]

"I'm guessing the CIA or NSA would love to get their mitts on you, I'm Seb"

Returning a somewhat non-committal handshake, Cipher had to agree. Not that he'd ever let them of course. In fact, compared to some of the enemies he had made, the CIA and NSA were strictly small time.

Watching Seb's demonstration with interest, Cipher caught on to the tell-tale wince that Seb quickly masked from the others. Cipher however, had become to used to the same experience himself to not pick up on it. He made no comment, but continued to watch the other man for further signs of distress. It could be nothing, but if this Seb was falling prey to the same ordeal as Cipher, then it was more solid a lead on getting to the bottom of their problem than he'd ever had before.

 

[TheIronRuler]

Ciri felt a wet-spot on the top of her head - the demonstration was over, so it seems, and the power had already been used without her even noticing. He was just like Quicksilver, she had to admit, though she wondered what his limitations were. She held the cube in between her thub and finger, placed it down on the counter and watched it continue to melt. The water ozzing from the cube made it ideal to slide it down the bar - past Sebastian - and right into Ciri's hand behind him. She jumped even before anyone could notice, waiting for the cube for a moment before grabbing it in her hand. She handed it back to Seb, grinning.

'You lost your cube'.

 

[Daystar Clarion]

It was probably a good thing that Charlie had something to make her appear to look busy behind the bar. As she absent-mindedly cleaned several surfaces, she kept her eyes and ears on the strange group of people at the bar. Where they all metas? It seemed ridiculously unlikely, yet here they were, showing off without a care in the world. Even Cipher had taken to revealing his power. Most surprising of all was that Nick was also a meta, Charlie had never recalled him saying anything, or even hinting at it, was being surrounded by similar people enough to loosen his tongue?

'Him maybe, but I ain't about to go around telling anyone about what I can do any time soon.'

"You guys should probably keep all that stuff to yourself." She mumbled as the saccharine girl appeared to teleport halfway across the damn room. "I don't got a problem with it." Charlie shrugged her shoulders, "But some people don't like that kinda stuff on display, and I don't want trouble in my bar, especially if it drags the MHRB to my doorstep." She glanced over at Cipher, before he could put a word in. "Yes, you said, there's nothing watching this place, or anything being monitored, or whatever, but that don't stop other people in the bar using their mobiles when they get outta here." She raised an eyebrow. "Or have you already thought of that? I dunno, just, you all should keep it to yourselves." Charlie turned to the back of the bar, pinching the bridge of her nose as she quietly groaned in frustration.

"Really don't need this shit right now." She muttered to herself.

 

[NinjaDeathSlap]

"Or have you already thought of that?"

Cipher had. Sitting here at the bar, he could monitor and block cell activity at around an eight block radius without even trying. However, even what little social graces he had told him that informing Charlie of this would be unlikely to make her more comfortable. She wasn't being forthcoming about her own abilities, after all. Cipher had been doing this long enough to know he had little to fear from these students, but Charlie lacked that kind of insight.

"In a location with a naturally high level of ambient noise, it would be difficult for anyone to eavesdrop on our discussion without making themselves conspicuous." Cipher commented, before glancing over at Ciri "Still, perhaps more visual displays are inadvisable."

 

[The Funslinger]

The conversation carried on for some time, albeit a tad awkwardly. Ciri was the first to leave, drawn away by the job she had offhandedly mentioned. Nick wasn't sure exactly when Adrian left. He just kind of fell quiet and faded away.

As for Nick himself, his mind was racing. Although Ciri could have told him about it in painstaking detail, Nick had no idea what the X-Men were. If he had, he would have been able to put a finger on what exactly was going through his head. Here they were, a handful of Meta-Humans, thrown together by random chance, while there was a killer actively stalking their kind. He found this prospect incredibly thrilling. If they all pooled their collective abilities, who knew what they could do?

Something awesome, no doubt. By the time he left, he had just about everyone's cell phone numbers except for Adrian's and Cipher's. The latter, he assumed he wouldn't need it, given the man's ability. That, and the guy was a little unsettling. But still, he could always ask him to help get a hold of Adrian. Nick wasn't sure why he was stuck on that; Adrian wasn't even a Meta-Human, so far as Nick knew. But he felt as though everyone present made up the collective whole. He wanted to keep them together, and see what happened.

Later that night...

"Hey Nick, are you just getting in?"

Nick looked around to see his foster father peering out at him from the living room. He'd taken his sweet time coming home, stopping to enjoy a joint along the way. All in all, it had shaped up to be a pretty good day.

"Yeah dad, why?" He replied, expecting some kind of reprimand for staying out so late. It had never been an issue before, but it was the only thing he could think of.

"That's weird," his father replied. "I thought I heard you moving around upstairs, and when I was taking a piss earlier, your door was shut, and the light was on. I kinda just thought you were hanging out in your room for the night."

"Weird," replied Nick, heading for the stairs.

"Yeah, I'm gonna go call the cops," his father said. "You go and make sure all your stuff is where it is."

"Sure, dad."

Nick approached the door to his room, creeping quietly. Looking down at the gap between door and floor, he saw a line of darkness. The light was off. His heart was racing. That wouldn't have been dad; he'd thought Nick had been in there the whole time.

Opening his schoolbag, Nick produced one of the telescopic batons he'd bought from the internet after realizing exactly what he was capable of. Thumbing the pressure button, he silently pulled the end of the baton out as far as it would go, being careful to go slowly enough that there wouldn't be a telltale clicking.

Channeling a line of energy through the baton, he threw open the door to his room. Light from the hall spilled into the darkness and he peered around wildly. Nothing happened. Turning on his bedroom light, he walked into his room and looked around.

Nothing exactly appeared to be missing. He thought a few odds and ends might be in slightly different places than he'd left them, but there was no way to be sure. Closing the door behind him, he retracted the baton and propped it against the wall, along with his bag, and sat down on his bed. Jesus, this shit was freaky.

Rooting out a shoe box under his bed, he opened it and pulled out a joint buried amid the weed and rolling stuff, and fished the lighter out of his bag. He needed something to take the edge off and let him think.

Once he had sparked up, and taken a few soothing tokes, he stubbed out the half smoked joint in the ashtray on his nightstand, and sat at his desk. Powering up his laptop, he tabbed onto Facebook and posted a status.

'C, we need to talk.'

After a few seconds, he deleted the status. Hopefully that had been long enough.

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

"Well shit," said Isiah as he and Violet strode through the lobby of the Merlot hotel. "Say what you want about the hours and the danger and the bureaucratic bullshit, but they sure do put you up in nice digs for meets like this."

Turning through a door into the restaurant area, the two of them were immediately accosted by a waitress.

"Good evening sir, madame. Table for two?"

"Actually we're expecting someone else," Isiah replied. "It's a business thing. They'll ask for the Green-Mart legal counsel. That's us. And if you could seat us somewhere further out, we'd appreciate that."

"Of course, sir," she replied. "Right this way."

 

[Random Fella]

Jim had been listening intently to the conversation, it was slow, but still very interesting to him. He himself however had not much input, he didn't enjoy discussing his 'abilities', even to the few people he could trust back home.
It was getting late and the bar was beginning to shift to a later night schedule, he knew they would be told to leave soon and he thought he shouldn't keep his mother waiting.

Taking a bus home he thought more about this supposed killer, he suddenly came to speculation about how it could be anyone, perhaps even those at the bar... He had controlled his powers well, but they still knew thanks to Ciri's attitude about the situation.

There were only a few people on the bus by how late it was, he became very cautious as he got off the bus and began walking home, any rustling bush or whistling wind bothered him, he arrived at his front door to be greeted by his mother.
"Hey honey, you're home late, but right on time for dinner" She smiled to him.
His father was always working away from home, rarely being around to visit, he seemed to get this job shortly after discovering his son's problem, coincidentally. So Jim was the only one around to look after his mother.
"You didn't have another 'accident' did you honey?" She asked in a slightly demeaning tone.

"I was out with some friends" he replied in his usual soft tone, before realizing the questions this would spark.
"Friends!?" his mother said in an excited tone "Oh were you with a girl?" she quickly followed up with a grin on her face.
"Just some people I met at the conference I told you about, there were girls there, but not like that Mum."
Her facial expression became slightly more disappointed "Oh well, maybe someday you'll find a girl who can 'warm' you up" she laughed, Jim wasn't amused by the comment.
"But you know what the conference was about right Mum, we need to be really careful talking about that stuff" he said as he removed his hood, placing it on the rack to the side of the door, his arms seemed to reveal shimmering blue streaks, his mother after all was the only person he could completely trust since the change.

A saddened expression came across her face as she looked over her son.
"I know you tell me not to say it like this son, but you need to know that what you have makes you special, think of all the things you cou" he interrupted her there "All of the things I could hurt"
"I'm just saying son, once you learn to control your abilities, it's like that nice man Trebone said" She smiled looking upon Jim picking at his food, she brought her hand to her lips simulating a zipping action, "But enough about that".

Jim finished his meal and later returned to his room, he worried about this supposed killer, what if he hurt her trying to get to him? His room didn't look any different and yet he speculated on the location change of certain belongings before eventually shrugging off the idea and returning to his computer, what else could a boy like him do to pass the time?

 

[TheIronRuler]

Was I dreaming?

Ciri left the pub with a swoosh, and found herself back in her job. She was running late for the past ten minutes, but she didn't care one bit. The meeting she had before was something she couldn't ever had conjured up herself. Ever since she was a child she dreamed of being a superhero. Ciri remembered herself spending hours under the bed-sheets with a flashlight, reading her brother's discarded old comics and trying to block herself out of her parents bickering downstairs. She would dream of a time when Xavier would come to their doorstep and take her away to his school, where she would be special and everyone would pay attention to her, and then her parents could come visit, and her friends could help cure her brother. They were all old fantasies, dreams of a little girl long forgotten, yet not entirely so. She found it again, under a great heap of bad memories, that fantasy to be special, to be a part of something bigger, and to save the world, so her parents would be proud of her, and her brother would still be with her.

She was standing in the same room with Gambit, the Cajun trickster, and Network, the master hacker. She found herself staring at Iceman, with his frosty breath, and Quicksilver, who she couldn't even notice moving. Everything was coming together, everything was becoming like what she had always dreamed of. She was one of them, one of that group, she was Blink and a part of the X-Men, a real live superhero.

The day passed by and Ciri followed though with her job - taking the time between deliveries to start reading a book about aerodynamics. The cook kept babbling about Dresden, and Ciri was certain he was mixing it up with Kurt Vonnegut again, but she didn't have the heart to tell him. The day was coming to a close, and so was her shift. She took a short nap and woke up at midnight, ready for another night of excitement. Ciri wore comfortable snickers, a short pair of jeans and a tight blouse. She wasn't going clubbing tonight - it was a good night for wind-surfing, and she had to practice for the future.

Wind-Surfing was a recent invention by a woman name Ciri Jinx, and utilized primarily by her. The free-flowing movement reminded her of parkour, while she was always struck with images of physics - it was all in the angles, after all. Zipping around from place to place, Ciri noticed she kept her momentum when she jumped elsewhere. Gaining speed by falling off heights made her a fast projectile, and she found out later she could have just jumped forward in different directions, gliding through the air and going places. She was swinging off invisible webs, just like Spider-man, but she had better control over it - or so she thought. In the dark nobody could see her flying through the air, though a few might hear the joyous screams of a girl in paradise.

 

[Daystar Clarion]

It had been a long day, but Charlie's shift was finally over. After handing over the bar to the night shift guys, she had left through the back entrance, taking a moment to light a cigarette. Flicking her lighter closed and placing it in her jacket pocket, the girl took a long drag, holding the smoke in her lungs for a few moments as she leaned her head backwards. Closing her eyes, she blew a plume of smoke skyward, sighing in relief. "Fuck me, that's good." She whispered to herself, her face softening as she eased a long day of nicotine withdrawal.

Shoving her hands into her jacket pockets, Charlie made her way out the narrow back alley out onto the street. Cigarette hanging loosely from her lips, the girl kept her head low as she made for her apartment. What a crazy day it had been, the first day Charlie meets someone like her, and another three metas show up out of the blue. This wasn't a set up right? Because this felt like a set up. Regardless, Cipher had the common decency not to out her in front of everyone else, so she supposed she should be grateful for that, not that he could prove anything even if he did.

Pinching the bridge of her nose, Charlie groaned slightly. She was drained, both literally and figuratively. She needed some juice. Casually glancing around to make sure the coast was clear, Charlie puffed smoke from her nostrils as she pulled a hand from her pocket. As she came up to a lamp post, the girl gently brushed her fingers over the metal casing. The light dimmed ever so slightly as Charlie pulled a trickle of power from its inner workings. Without breaking her stride, she continued walking down the street, doing the same to the next several lamp posts. If she wanted to, she could have pulled the power for the entire street through just one of the lamp posts, but that wouldn't have helped on the staying incognito front. No, the small sips from several different sources would do just as well, albeit less satisfying.

Feeling significantly less thirsty, thirsty being the best way she could describe being low on electricity, but a bit more... tingly? Fuzzy? She was unsure of the correct adjective. Charlie walked a couple more blocks before she made it to her apartment building. Dropping her keys on the coffee table, the girl tossed her jacket over the back of the coach. Running a hand through her hair, Charlie stepped into the small kitchenette, picking up a mug from the drying rack next to the sink.

Charlie was glad she didn't get visitors, she imagined the awkward conversation that would follow when someone noticed that none of her appliances appeared to be plugged into an outlet. Flicking on her water kettle, Charlie grabbed the plug and gripped the metal prongs between her fingers. The red LED at the base of the appliance immediately came to life as Charlie fed it power.

Sure, this meant she couldn't do anything else while she waited for the water to boil, but on the other hand, her electricity bills were next to non-existent.

 

[Evrant-Knight]

By the time Reno had reached Westlake City, it was early, possibly even late evening when he pulled up in the underground car-park of the Merlot Hotel. At this point, all he wanted to do was sleep, but he could throw off it's embrace a little while longer yet; after all, he had a job to do first. On his way to the elevators, Reno dispensed with the gathered assortment of coffee cups and empty bottles of water in a nearby trash bin. He noted that the car-park was sparsely populated at this time of night as Reno rode the elevator up to the lobby.

After the elevator stopped several times, Reno finally found himself at the lobby level, where things were surprisingly more active for such a late hour, guess the night was still young in Westlake. Following directions supplied to him through the dossier, he entered into the hotel's restaurant and had to admit that the décor of the place was exquisite. As he entered, Reno was greeted by a waitress.

"Good evening sir. Dining by yourself tonight?" She asked, holding a menu underneath her right arm.

"And a good evening to you as well. Actually I'm expecting to meet with the Green-Mart legal counsel. I don't suppose they've arrived yet?"

"As a matter of fact, a couple came in not too long ago bearing that title. They are seated by the windows along the far wall over there. Would you like me to take you too them?"

"Actually yes that might be a good idea madame. You see this would be my first time meeting with them, and I wasn't provided with descriptions. So yes, a guide would be helpful."

"Very good sir, right this way." The waitress said, then headed towards the table, with Reno following soon after.

 

[NinjaDeathSlap]

'C, we need to talk.'

A flare at the back of his mind that rose above the general background noise, interrupted Cipher as he stood in the shadows outside Charlie's apartment. He had been wrestling with whether or not he should go and announce himself for about half an hour. Doing so risked scaring her (she hadn't after all invited him to follow her home). However, leaving her alone gave her time in which she might change her mind about accepting his offer. Cipher was just about aware enough to know he was probably nowhere near aware enough to know how much today had given her to think about.

Nick's message gave him something else to focus his attention on. Even from the limited contact, it was clear that the subject matter was urgent; and if he was contacting Cipher of all people, above friends or family or any authorities, it had to be very serious. In the time it had taken Cipher to decide to reply, he had already recovered Nick's email address, and temporarily blocked any programs that were monitoring it.

'This is C. What is it?' was his reply.

 

[ToxicPiranah]

On leaving the bar, Seb had grabbed his bike from the bike rack. He had decided to head home via the climbing center he used regularly. Weaving through the heavier than usual traffic, from the conference, Seb flexed his power gently everynow and then giving him an extra second or two to choose his path past the slow moving vehicles safely. The ride allowed him to warm up and clear his head of the alcohol he had had at the bar.

Most of the climbing center staff knew him on sight, a couple of them had worked with him acting as belayers when he wanted to climb the walls. Tonight Seb fancied a session of bouldering to work on his technique. Locking his bike up he pulled his climbing shoes on and attached his chalk bag to a loop on his shorts. He nodded in greeting to some of the staff as he entered the matted bouldering area. As he began to work through the short but technical routes Seb thought through the events in the Bar. The chance of 5 Meta's, possibly 7 if you included Charlie and the other guy at the bar, was a mathematical impossibility. Even with the conference and a higher number of Meta's attending the probability of a large group gathering like they had must be insane. Maybe Cipher could tap into a super computer and get it to run the figures? Could a Meta have a power that could influence odds? Seem to be really lucky but able to alter the odds in his favor like he could time? Another one for Cipher, maybe he could access the MHRB files?

Seb spent two hours at center before heading home. His parents were both out when he got back, they we're attending a dinner party with his Fathers boss and would be back late. Hungry from his work out he dialed through an order for pizza before hitting the shower, sluicing off the sweat and grime from his day's activities. Once dry and changed he fixed himself a protein shake grabbed his laptop and dropped in front of the TV. The local news was covering the conference so he flicked to a random channel that was showing reruns of family guy. Using his laptop he browsed through Facebook checking in with some friends back in Britain and generally just browsing random crap.

 

[The Funslinger]

After about a minute, an alert came up telling Nick he had email, of all things. The account was just a string of numbers. Opening it, he read Cipher's response.

'This is C. What is it?'

Marshaling his thoughts, he typed a response. 'Someone was in my house while I was gone. Nothing has been taken, so they were waiting in my room for me, I think.

Hitting send, he got to his feet while he waited for Cipher's response and went to look out the window. Putting his hand on the glass, he swore as he suddenly stumbled forward as the window swung out with no resistance. Looking closer, he found that the lock was loose and rattled at the touch. Reaching around the frame, sticking his hand outside, Nick felt a small round hole.

Whoever this was had broken in from outside, through Nick's window.

 

[NinjaDeathSlap]

'Someone was in my house while I was gone. Nothing has been taken, so they were waiting in my room for me, I think.'

The kid wouldn't have gone to such lengths to contact Cipher had he been kidding, and so Cipher had no reason to question Nick's story. There still could be a thousand culprits, some less innocent than others, but it was still more than worthy of investigation, if only just to see how seriously Cipher should consider abandoning his plans and quitting this town for good in the face of a new threat.

He was just about to reply, to reassure Nick that he'd be right over, when it occurred to him... Charlie may still need much convincing to go along with Cipher's plans. Seeing the suspicious goings on directly affecting one of the few meta's she was close to, might help in gaining her co-operation.

'Don't leave the house. Someone could be waiting to follow you...' he replied. 'Don't wait alone either. if you have family around, stay near them. If not, call someone. I'll be there as soon as I can.'

When the message was sent, Cipher made his way up the concrete steps to the door of Charlie's apartment building, keeping his hood up, cap low, and hands jammed into his pockets. Blocking the CCTV on the door from getting a view of him, instead forcing it to play a loop of the empty street as of two minutes before, he activated the buzzer for Charlie's apartment.

 

[Daystar Clarion]

With one hand on the plug of her water kettle, Charlie emptied the dish rack next to the kitchen sink, moving around the small kitchenette as she put away the dry plates and cutlery. As the water in the kettle came to a boil, she released the plug before pouring herself a cup of tea. Resting her back against the counter, she absent-mindedly stirred the hot drink as she stretched her other arm above her head, yawning loudly.

Today's shift felt longer than usual, apparently spending most of the day in a state of anxiousness made the minutes crawl by. On top of that, she had to buy a new phone, which wasn't too much of a big deal now that she thought about it. The only person who needed to get in touch with her was Bennie, and her last phone was a disposable cell anyway, easily and cheaply replaced.

Charlie had learned that expensive electronics were not a wise investments in her position. The only thing she had allowed herself was a laptop, which she took special care not to fry, mostly involving her wearing rubber washing gloves, while having the detriment of making her look like a crazy person, it did dampen her powers enough to use the piece of tech relatively safely.

Plopping herself down on the couch, she placed her drink on the coffee table and was about to pick up her laptop before the buzzer from the front door sounded. "Shit." She muttered to herself. "Bet it's the pizza guy again." Groaning as she got to her feet, Charlie pushed the intercom. "Hello?"

 

[Dogmatic99]

Violet couldn't argue with him there, the agency did not skimp on looking after their people. Damn if they didn't make hell on those who had to try and watch their waistline though. The two of them had been shown to their table and handed a pair of menus to browse while they were waiting for their contact.

'Don't you do it, Violet. Don't you look at that sultry steak section and its tempting ways.'

But she had been driving for almost the entire day... and she had tagged a dangerous killer with toxic pinkie claws. Really, hadn't Violet's inner foodie earned a treat. 'The rooms they got us better have a fancy ass bath.' With all her time spent on the road Violet's bathroom at home was almost exclusively stocked by supplies pilfered from hotel rooms.

"Looks like we might have our guy." Violet nodded casually towards the waitress who seemed to be making a B-line for their table. "Is it me or have they sent us an intern?" She lowered her voice for that part so only Isiah could hear. Time would tell if they'd be like the usual intelligence agents they had to deal with. At least he didn't look like the basement dwelling kind they'd been stuck with so often in the past.

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

Adrian had faded out of the bar situation soon after finishing his drink. Luckily the assembled metas were too wrapped up in flexing their different abilities to notice him too much. Granted he hadn't gone totally unnoticed but he managed to dodge some questions or just shrink away from them.

What was up with those guys? Adrian had always heard it as if metas did their best to keep themselves under wraps and never use their freaky powers in case - y'know - the government decided to come along with a black bag and put them in a van that'd take them away to the farm like the family dog or something. That was how things were supposed to be right? They either lived with it like their secret shame, or they went crazy with it and got put down, like that time in Chicago. At least, that was how things had always seemed to Adrian.

He was up in his room right now, browsing random youtube videos and generally trying to keep his mind distracted. It wasn't working too well, he'd always been a terrible patient. It was after his latest trip to get his hundredth glass of water that Adrian came back to his room to notice how bright things still were.

That was weird, even on a summer night it should have been dark by now right? He'd even left the curtains open. Yep, black as night. And he'd forgotten to turn a light on.

'Where the hell is that light coming from then?'

He took an absentminded sip and noticed that his ice cold water had gotten unpleasantly warm. Adrian looked down to see a light shining through the glass. In fact it was shining through his hands. His skin looked the same way it would have if he'd held his hand really close to a light bulb. It wasn't so hot now but it had spread up his forearms and was appearing in random little patches along his torso.

"Aw crap..." Adrian's voice came out as a tiny whisper, his eyes going wide and a shiver going down his spine. Suddenly. he felt very, very cold.

 

[NinjaDeathSlap]

"Hello?"

"It's Cipher." he announced, to the point. "May I come in? It's important."

"Cipher?" Charlie raised an eyebrow. "How'd you-" Then she remembered, of course he knew where she lived. he was probably hooked up to her wifi right now, or whatever the hell he did.

Hesitating for a moment, the girl bit her bottom lip. 'You could at least hear him out.'

"Umm what happened? Are you okay?"

"I am fine, but we may be in danger." Cipher replied calmly. Or at least, as calm as he was capable of sounding. "I can explain inside."

"Okay, come on up." Pushing the button that released the door, she stepped away from the intercom and ran her hands through her hair. Danger? What kind of danger? Was this a trap? It couldn't be, if Cipher wanted to get in that badly, he could could have probably manipulated the door anyway, asking was probably a courtesy, axe murderers don't ask before entering your home.

Probably.

The horrible metallic buzz told Cipher that he had been admitted, and without further delay he pushed the door open and ascended to Charlie's apartment. When he arrived, he knocked twice on the door, with a muted, hurried tap of a single knuckle.

"Hi." Charlie forced a smile as she opened the door. "Um, come in, you want a drink or something?" She chuckled nervously as she stepped aside to let Cipher enter.

"Just water. Thank you." Cipher answered, not making eye contact with Charlie as he brushed past her into her front room, before pacing back and fourth across her carpet, occasionally muttering under his breath.

"Your friend, Nick..." Cipher said eventually "How well do you know him?"

Closing the door behind Cipher, Charlie headed over to the kitchenette, grabbing a glass from the cupboard, she shuffled over to the sink, leaving on the cold tap for a few moments before filling up the glass.

"Eh, I wouldn't even say he's my friend, not really. It's not like we hang out or anything, he just comes into the bar every so often." Charlie made her way over to the man and offered him the glass. "Why, what's up?"

Cipher took the glass and downed almost all the water in one go. Even for someone who had been using his ability as long as Cipher had, trying to hold an effective physical conversation, while running so many digital tasks, was no easy feat. It was very easy for him to get dehydrated.

"Got a message from him..." Cipher answered after giving himself just enough time to swallow, a few rivulets of water dribbling down his chin. "Obviously trying to be discreet. Unusual that he would contact a stranger for help, unless desperate, or perhaps bait... Says his home has been broken into, bedroom specifically. Nothing taken, suggests someone was waiting for him. Why? Too many possibilities to be sure. Why they would no longer be there when he returned? Even harder to guess. Most important question, who? MHRB; private interest; criminal? Nothing inclusive, of course. Too many variables, could be innocent explanation. However, in light of context... Killer on the loose, Meta's targets, MHRB agents arriving, so many Meta's crossing paths simultaneously. Statistically astronomical! Noted this before, all factors raise suspicion."

He said all of this very fast, before taking another gulp of water, finishing the glass and placing it down on the coffee table, a useless item that he no longer required.

"Think we should check Nick is safe. Thought you might be negatively impacted should he come to harm. More importantly, Nick is a link to both of us! If Nick is in danger, we are in danger too. Your abilities could prove useful in worst case scenario. Unfortunately, mine are not suited to physical confrontation. Also... made offer to help you disappear. In light of this, seemed prudent to extend the same offer to Nick. Would rather not deal with both parties separately. More efficient this way; also, keep things... open, gesture of trust."

Charlie blinked a few times, her brow furrowed as she tried to process everything Cipher had just said. "Wait, wait, slow down, I don't..." She cupped a hand to her brow. "So let me get this straight, Nick might in trouble, and you think we should go check it out, together, mostly because I can zap anyone who tries to cause any trouble, correct?"

"Yes." replied Cipher, pleasantly surprised that she was catching on so quickly. "Of course, violence would best be avoided if at all possible. However, it would be sensible to have the precaution."

Staring at Cipher for a few moments, Charlie pursed her lips. "Okay, I'm in." She nodded her head once before sweeping her jacket off the back of the couch.

"Good." was all Cipher had to add, as he started for the door, not really bothered by how quickly Charlie had agreed.

Charlie didn't know Nick all that well, but he was a good kid, if something happened to him when she could have helped, she'd never forgive herself. Picking up her keys from the coffee table, she followed after Cipher. "Oh, wait a sec." She hurried to her bedroom and returned with a red baseball cap in her hand. Just because she was helping, didn't mean she wanted to give herself away. Her scarf could also double for a mask if need be. Plopping the cap on her head, Charlie nodded, a small smile on her face. "Okay, let's go."

 

[The Funslinger]

'Don't leave the house. Someone could be waiting to follow you...' he replied. 'Don't wait alone either. if you have family around, stay near them. If not, call someone. I'll be there as soon as I can.'

Nick was about to send a reply telling Cipher he didn't need him to come over, when his door opened. It was his father. "Nick, the cops wanna have a word with you." He smelled the air. Or more specifically, the scent of smoked weed that hung on it. "Maybe you better come downstairs."

"Sure, dad. Be down in a sec."

When his dad was gone, Nick hurriedly sprayed himself with deodorant and shut the laptop. 'Okay, so this is happening...'

A couple of minutes later, he was sat in one of the living room's armchairs, with a police making notes and asking him questions.

"So you're sure that nothing was taken."

"Really sure, yeah."

"So, do you have any idea what they might have wanted?"

Nick was about to reply before his father interrupted. "You guys... know about Nick, right?"

"That he's a registered Meta-Human? Yeah, it came up when we checked the file tied to this address. Y'know, for any history with burglaries and such."

"And doesn't that seem like an awful coincidence?"

"Sir, we have to follow up all leads, but we can't jump to conclusions as of yet." Turning to Nick, the officer continued. "So, do you have any idea how this person got in?"

If the cops decided they had reason to check out his room, he'd be fucked, wouldn't he?

"Well I left the window open this morning. Guess he came in through there."

"You're sure?"

"...yeah."

"Alright then," the officer replied, getting up. "Well, Mister Compton, we'll be in touch."

Nick watched the police go. Just as the car turned off up the street, he saw two people coming down his driveway. Their faces were obscured by scarves and baseball caps.

'two people? The fuck?'

Casting around, he scooped up some change sitting on the coffee table. He was pretty sure Cipher would be coming alone. He didn't seem the type to have friends. If this was someone else, Nick would be giving them pennies at muzzle velocity.