The Goldmar Incident: A Superhero Role-Play { Accepting Applicants via PM }

[CounterAttack]

Lisette's phone buzzed in her pocket, but she ignored it, focusing on staying in the air. She flew onward, tweaking her direction slightly so that she flew over the roofs of buildings instead of the open street. After a minute or so she aimed to land on a shorter building's roof; tilting herself down, she overshot and tried to flip over in midair. This was to aim to land on her feet instead of face-planting into the neighbouring two-floor café.

However, she still had a bit of a rough landing. She crashed hip-first into a ventilation system on the café's roof, leaving a shallow dent the size of her torso in the metal - and probably bruising herself in the process. "Agh..." She dusted herself down, but felt something hurt when she touched her side. Yep. Definitely a bruise. Lisette took a moment to check her phone:

Do you think that's safe?

Dominic must have seen her in mid-flight.

I can't exactly test my wings in my apartment.

she responded. No sooner had she tucked her phone back in her pocket than someone - several someones, more accurately - began to yell at ground level, and she heard running footsteps. Peering over the roof's lip, she spotted someone in a black hoodie running into the alley below her, a handful of dollar bills trailing behind him. Daylight robbery.

"Experiment number two..." she said to herself, pulling another pouch of water from her bag. Wingspan fully extended, she hopped from the roof and glided slowly downwards, using her wings as a parachute to reach the ground without an issue. Once she touched down she was away after the thief, freezing the water in its pouch as she ran.

He didn't have far to run before he was blocked in. The alley was essentially a dead end; Lisette's quarry was attempting to scale a chain-link fence with his hands full of wallets and phones. Lisette smiled. He would be easy to bring down. She took the ice she had frozen and stretched it into a giant U shape, then took one end and threw it like a boomerang. Under her improvised gesturing, the U slipped around the thief's waist, then tore him down from the fence and flew back to Lisette. Flat on his back and winded by the crash, the thief's hood had fallen off to reveal a plain white headband. He didn't get up; she must have briefly stunned him.

"Huh, you're not just a common mugger. Looks like I caught a Titan," Lisette noted, shaping her ice back into a sphere as it hovered at her shoulder. A knife had clattered out of the Titan's hoodie; she kicked it aside and began to collect the dropped items to return to their owners. As she straightened up, half a dozen in hand, she heard more footsteps. A teenage couple, both looking rather badly shaken, approached the scene. Their jaws dropped in identical shocked expressions. "Oh - oh my god. Are you an angel?"

"No, you dummy, she's one of the people we saw in the magazines a couple weeks back," the girl chided her boyfriend. "And she took down the guy that stole from us!"

"Yep, here you go." Lisette offered the Titan's attempted plunder to the teenagers; they each took one of the stolen wallets and the girl tucked a phone into her bag. "There's a fair bit left... do you know who they might belong to?"

"There were some people looking mighty pissed about something just outside the café... probably this guy - He's getting up!" The boy pointed behind Lisette, and she spun to find the Titan thief getting back to his feet, knife in hand. Lisette directed her sphere to hover before her, flattening it into a wide shield in case he tried to attack her. But the rookie just ran, wrenching his hood back up over his headband. Lisette watched him go.

"You're just gonna let him run off?" The girl was indignant now.

"He could have friends in the area, or a hideout not far away. I think it might be safer to just let him run away; I don't think he'll try that again," Lisette explained. "Not now he knows it's not safe. Let's get out of this alley, yeah?"

"Yeah, of course. Thanks, miss...?"

Lisette paused: should she give away her name, or come up with an alias? She decided on the latter. "Angel oughta do it. No, wait." She got an idea, a slightly silly grin on her face. "Snow Angel."

 

[Pm0n3y]

[b]"I can't exactly test my wings in my apartment."[/b]

Dominic mulled over the message Lisette shot back. He let out a little sigh.

"Just...play it safe, Liz. Keep your eyes open."

He replied with concern. Yet, as he sent out the text, his phone went off once more. "That was fast." He thought, expecting another reply from the girl. Instead, it was a message from another individual.

[b]"Hello, this is Amanda, from the police station earlier this week."[/b]

"Amanda?" The name kinda rung a bell. She must've been another one of the students he exchanged numbers with that day. Seemed like this message just came out of the blue.

[b]"Sorry for not getting in touch earlier but strange things have been happening and I wondered if you could meet me somewhere to discuss them?"[/b]

By the way the message played out, she too might've manifested some special abilities. This made him a little curious, just to see what exactly grew in her.

[b]"I'm currently near lake Alabaster."[/b]

"Seriously? Geez." That was a ways out from his current location. Like, on the other side of town. But, he still wanted to meet the girl. And he had nothing else planned, and was already out of the house. "With all this nonsense going on, a little support would make all the difference." He walked off, dialing in the number of his favorite artist. As soon as she picked up, he proposed a proposition. "Hey, Chris? Wanna go down to the lake today?"

[hr]

Chris had spent the last few days mostly honing her skills with her powers when she could. She wasn't exactly sure how she could make her home safer, so all she could do was hope things would go well and no one would break into her house to take her away or attack her. There wasn't much time for drawing, but she drew whenever she wasn't training her powers.

[hr]

Chris wasn't up to much when Dom called her. Before she could say so much as hi to him, he asked her a question. "Yeah, sure. What for?" she asked him back. "I dunno, I haven't been down to the lake in a long while. It'll be fun, something to take our minds off of all the shit that's happened. We could take off our shoes, roll up our pants, dip our feet in the water, that whole ordeal." He explained, letting out a bit of a sigh. That sort of outing actually would be pretty relaxing, and could help clear his mind. "That, and one of the victims from the incident texted me just now. We'll meet her there and introduce ourselves." He quickly added.

She giggled at his first reasons to want to go down to the lake before he added the last part. "Sure, sounds like fun. Wanna meet up and go there together?"

"Well, yeah. S'kinda why I called you. I'll be on my way, i'm not too far from your house." Dom replied. Through all the walking and talking, he hadn't realized just how far he walked until he actually surveyed his surroundings. "I'm like, at the corner. So like, get ready."

"Alrighty, see you then." She hung up, went downstairs to put on sneakers and headed out. On her way to him, she almost bumped into him, but stopped herself before she did. "Hey there." she said and hugged him. "Mornin'. You look ravishing, as always." He replied with a smile, hugging her back. "C'mon, we gotta catch the bus. The number four should take us to the lake."

[hr]

The ride to Lake Alabaster was a fairly lengthy one, but the two arrived in time. Chris had to nudge Dom awake as they approached their stop. Surprisingly it was most sound sleep he's had in the past few days. Probably because he was sleeping next to Chris or something. The two proceeded off of the bus, and Dom took a second to take in the impressively sized body of water. "Seems even bigger than it was the last time I was here."

As he looked out, he didn't immediately spot a figure along the coast. "Guess we should go down a little closer." He held a hand out for his friend. "C'mon Chris, we should bump into her soon." She took his hand and walked with him down closer to the lake. "She should be here somewhere. Let's just keep our eyes open for her."

 

[Baldrek]

Amanda had started to walk along the lakeside as she pondered if she had done the right thing contacting other survivors from the Goldmar attack. For all she knew they could be knee deep in their own problems by now, if they even had manifested abilities similar to her own at all. What if she'd misunderstood the messages from earlier? What if this ability wasn't a result of the attack at all? Then she'd just be imposing on them wouldn't she?

She found her gaze drawn to the sparsely clouded sky above, as she looked over the messages again in her mind's eye. No, they had to be about similar things, right? She couldn't be that wrong, not in this situation, they were affected as well, she just knew it. But were they all? There had been many students in the lecture hall that day, did that mean that there would now be an equal number of people with powers? She found herself pondering the consequences of this, but couldn't reach any kind of conclusion about it. That it would change things in Silverhollow was apparent to her though, given her own trouble controlling her power she was a bit relieved that more accidents hadn't happened yet if there were half as many people with powers as she was starting to suspect.

A sudden cold ascended her spine as she came to the realization of why there might not have been more incidents, Acker, or whoever he worked for, seemed to have an interest in her for some reason. If that reason was her powers... Then what if there were other people who had fallen for one of their traps, like she nearly did? What Acker's plan had been she had no idea, but she doubted that it would have been to her benefit, and there were possibly others in their clutches at this moment. She started to feel vulnerable out here in the open now, just walking along, slightly deprived from sleep, looking at the sky and paying little heed to her surroundings. It wasn't a very good position to find herself in if Acker, or someone else, came after her. Sure, the lake was nearby, but she hadn't been able to control more than a small portion of it at any one time, it was a meagre defence.

The sounds of footsteps behind her made her jumpy brain react with more spirit than what was needed, startling her and making her turn about like some frightened animal in the process. All this did was earn her a questioning look from a lone jogger as he kept on going past her, taking care to make a little semi-circle around the odd woman. Amanda's heart rate stabilized slowly as she realized her idiocy, jumping at insignificant noises and making more of a fool out of herself than usual. The shame spread to her cheeks as she drew the hood of her hoodie over her head and walked off again, with her worn clothes and bloodshot eyes she probably looked like some kind of addict or bum right now, a thought that really didn't appeal to her.

Suddenly aware of her appearance, she stopped at the water's edge and looked at her reflection, willing the water to lie completely still giving the liquid a smooth mirror finish. While she didn't look good, as expected from being out for nearly two days, she didn't look as bad as she had imagined. Her clothes looked as worn as usual, a pair of loose jeans with two small holes near her right calf and a grey hoodie, but her hair was a complete mess, probably from entering the lake earlier and drying off in a hurry. She looked at the tangles and tried to straighten out the worst with her fingers, which kind of worked. She startled as she once again heard something behind her, voices, two of them, and footsteps. Not thinking clearly she let her flight instinct take over and with two steps and a plunge she dived into the lake below to 'escape'.

Once down there she mentally cursed herself for her stupidity again, more so because she couldn't see who the voices belonged to from her hiding place, so she would at some point have to surface. She found herself hoping that whoever they were they had just passed by and wouldn't notice her when she came back to the surface. She'd already received weird looks from people who had seen her swim fully clothed before, as well as questions to match. Oh, how she hoped that they'd just passed by.

Swimming back up she broke the surface of the water with only the top half of her head first to get a look at whoever the voices belonged to. There appeared to be two people, somewhere around her age from the looks of it? Perhaps they were Goldmar students who had come to the lake for a day off since the university was closed? A thought hit her through her slight daze, maybe they weren't just students, one of them might be the person she messaged earlier. To further back up her sudden revelation she thought she recognized them as well, from the police station that day, and from when she had been released from the hospital as well.

Finding that there had been even less reason to hide than what her snap decision had determined, she felt doubly sheepish as she ascended from the water and up towards the lakeside. She'd tried to do so with a bit of cover, a slight chance that they wouldn't notice her until she was back onto dry land. With her immediate surroundings being somewhat devoid of such however, she at least found some solace in the fact that she could just vaporize the water to avoid being all drenched and dripping once they did see her.

Once completely out of her watery hideout, and with her cheeks red with sheepish shame, she addressed the two other students. "Ah... Hello." Well that went splendid.
Her gaze drawn to the male among the two figures in front of her she willed herself to speak a somewhat more sentence-y sentence before she further embarrassed herself. "... Are you Dominic? I'm Amanda. We met briefly at the station after the... When we got back our belongings." Well, that was improvement at least, she'd remembered his name from her contact list at least. The other woman seemed familiar as well, though. She tried to recall the rest of the names from the contacts. Was she Lisette? No, she'd been taller hadn't she? Christine? She seemed to remember that she had red hair. It was worth a shot. "And you're Christine, right? Sorry, I'm not that good with names."

 

[Lost In The Void]

Someone running had to work a lot harder to keep up than someone flying Joe decided as he ran after the flying figure. He kept losing sight of her as he had to change streets and duck through alleys to keep pace with her. While he was in shape, he wasn?t in as good of shape as he used to be and he could feel it even in the few blocks he had sprinted.

Finally he saw her fly down into an alley not too far from where he was and he changed direction to get there as soon as possible. As he entered the thin alley a goon appeared to dart out of it and bump against, almost knocking Joe off his feet. The guy looked like he had seen a ghost. Made sense really, he would?ve freaked too with all the shit that he?d seen today if he hadn?t been going through it himself. He saw the girl talking to a couple of people, he caught the name Snow Angel and figured it had to be her handle or something. He got the Angel part ok, but wasn?t sure about the Snow prefix.

He jogged up to her and immediately interrupted any conversation that the woman might have been having, ?Hey you, we need to talk. Those things on your back have me curious and I figure you might have some answers I?m looking for.?

 

[CounterAttack]

Lisette glanced over the heads of the teenagers to find a rather bulky-looking individual approaching her from the alley's entrance. A few years older than her, and he probably spent a lot of time at the gym by the look of him. Another of Nefarious' minions? She swept her hand and her ice shield flew over to hover between herself and the newcomer. Just in case. Seeing the standoff, the teenagers fled the scene; they took the rest of the Titan's spoils with them, presumably to redistribute to their owners.

"Sorry, bud, but you'll be providing the answers first. Who are you, and why are you interested? Did someone send you to find me? If so, who was it?" The questions were rattled off quickly, leaving a brief pause. "Sorry, it's just that there have been some rough patches this past week or so. Can't take strangers like yourself at face value: need to know more before I tell them anything."

 

[Lost In The Void]

Joe put up his hands and offered a wry smile in return, "Rough week huh? I know the feeling. I mean first I melt a spoon, then I break a cheap, but really useful table and then some guy tries to kill me."

He stepped towards the woman, "So what I'm saying is no, no one sent me, but I'm guessing you ran into the same folks I did for the same reasons I did," he was standing beside a steel dumpster and he was struck with an idea to convince her he was in the same boat as she was.

He put one of his hands on the dumpster, cast iron, carbon, nickel, moly... and closed his eyes slipping his fingers between the grains of the steel, pushing them aside and slowly scooping a piece of the dumpster off of itself without making any real noise.

Smirking, he dropped the piece of steel to the ground and put his hand back up with the other, "Like I said, same boat as you."

 

[Pm0n3y]

"Ah...Hello." Dominic spun to see a tall, dainty girl announcing herself to him and Chris. "Okay, I remember you now." He just had to get a good look at her. He remembered her distinctive body type and distinguishing disposition. "She's about as tall and skinny as I am!" He thought, smiling as she proceeded to say her name. "Amanda. It's good to see you again." He replied as disarmingly as he could, his smile warm and inviting. He stepped in a bit closer, offering a hand. "How's your week been? Exciting, right?" He asked.

Dom turned towards the expanse of water, taking off his sneakers. He beckoned for the two to follow before sitting at the edge, dunking his feet into the water. He plopped back into the grassy ground, letting out a satisfied sigh. "Aah, I needed this. Seriously. After what went down last week, it's been getting harder and harder to sleep." His gaze floated over to the taller girl. "Did you have any sort of dudes try and abduct you or kill you or something?" He asked, the heavy queries contrasting his casual tone.

Holding one hand to her arm, as she was somewhat wont to do when she didn't know where to place them, Amanda's gaze went low towards the grass and the water as she pondered how to answer the question. In the end she chose to just answer it honestly, as even though it wasn't a subject she liked, she had found herself returning to it in her mind often. "Yeah... An officer came and offered me a chance to get a check-up at the station, since apparently I could have adverse effects from Goldmar." She raised her gaze and looked at the lake stretching out towards the city in one end and the more rural part of the district in the other. "I hadn't been feeling very... Well since the attack. So I took the bait. Eventually he got violent, and I got smart enough to run for it." She looked at the slope running along where a section of road ran by the lake. "I tried to escape right over there, and he tried to stop me, it was silly to think he wouldn't." She drew breath, her fatigue seemed so much more pronounced now, like her lungs just didn't hold enough air. "I eventually escaped, thanks to the lake. That's why I'm still here."

Deciding not to acknowledge the way her chest had tightened and her thoughts had started to cloud, she willed herself to try and focus on something else, even as her head was telling her to push for answers. His sleeping was erratic, wasn't it? She composed herself a bit, remind herself that they were in much the same boat, that they probably had worries too. "Is that also why you're not sleeping well? Or does it have to do with those... Odd things?"

Though she hesitated to shake Dominic's hand for longer than what would be polite, she did so more due to the relief that Dom didn't appear to have seen her get out of the lake moments earlier. Avoiding that awkward line of questioning she reached out and shook his hand briefly, but still firmly, as her blush receded from her features. A moment went by before she realized that he had asked her a question with the handshake. It had been presented in a tone that she found understanding, but the subject was still one of mixed unease and exhilaration. Exhilaration? Yes, probably since she'd been right that she wasn't the only one affected, that she wasn't the freak, or at the very least not the only one.

"Exciting is one way to put it..." She started, a part of her wanted to put words to her unease, bringing up the fear, uncertainty and exhaustion of the last days, but ultimately she refrained from doing so. Whether due to fear from alienating the people in front of her, or just because she wasn't comfortable airing out her troubles? Well, a little of both probably. "... It's almost been too much honestly." She finished with a tiny smile, still slightly high on the feeling that she didn't have to keep her guard up at this moment, around these people. "Yeah, know what you mean. And yeah, you were right about my name, though I prefer going by Chris, if you don't mind." Chris said, stepping forward to give the girl a hug. Partly as a hello of her own, partly because of how Amanda felt about the week."Yeah, know what you mean. And yeah, you were right about my name, though I prefer going by Chris, if you don't mind." Chris said, stepping forward to give the girl a hug. Partly as a hello of her own, partly because of how Amanda felt about the week.

He let the question hang in the air, letting the gentle breeze of warm wind occupy the space before answering. "Just like your cop buddy, a bunch of impostors tried taking us on. And it wasn't the fact that they did it that got to me, rather, it was how fast they found us after we tried to get away from them. Y'know? And I'm just like...are these people watching us? What if they know where they live? And because the school's closed, I'm currently back with my mom until they open the dorms back up." He sighed again. "So as you can tell, the thought of these guys existing is putting me on edge a bit. S'been making it hard to sleep. I don't want something to happen to my mom because of this shit. I don't know how I'd handle myself if she were to get caught in the crossfire." He tried to chuckle, but his weary expression cut it short.

Chris took her shoes and socks off and sat beside Dom with her feet in the water. "I'm sure she'll be alright. Though of course I worry about it too, but I just try and distract my mind with drawing." She looked back to Amanda. "Come and sit with us, the water's fine." She smiled towards her.

Amanda felt stupid asking him such a question, it was after all much the same as her own situation, the reason why she hadn't been back to her apartment and Maria for so long. Because they knew, and they could come at any time, and it was just the same for them, both Chris and Dom. Following their lead, and Chris' encouragement, Amanda walked up and sat beside them, removing her sneakers and socks first. The water felt nice and cooling against her skin, dispelling some of the darker realizations about their combined predicament. "I'm sorry." She uttered to Dom and Chris to apologize for delving into the subject, not considering that Dom had the opening question of that conversation. "So, you draw?" She found herself asking the more colorful girl, wanting to steer the conversation somewhere else for a short while. It didn't seem right to dwell right now, with the soft water there she felt protected, even more so since there were others here with her.

"Yup. Been drawing for most of my life. Even applied for the art course at Goldmar so I could become a better artist. My drawings are good, but they could be better." Chris splashed around a little with her feet. "I usually bring my sketchbook and pencil with me wherever I go, but I haven't done as much of that lately." Playfully, she splashed some water at the two of them and giggled. "Sorry, couldn't resist."

Listening to Chris talk about something she clearly enjoyed managed to cheer Amanda up as well, though she wasn't the type to get visibly exited or elated, she found herself smiling as Chris talked. The splash of water came as a surprise though, and the water soaked into her jeans and hoodie as a result. She didn't mind however, she'd just come from a 'swim' in the lake after all. Chris playful behavior did have the effect of making her giggle along with her, if only for a moment. Seeing as the girl next to her was splashing around she thought about joining in. She hadn't really relaxed at all in what felt like ages, and well, it might be a good change of pace. Just for a bit.

Standing up she held out her left hand and made an unnecessary flourish, prompting some of the water to rise from the lake in front of them in thin ribbons of water, slithering through the air and refracting the sun's rays into both dull and bright spots around it. Temporary mesmerized by both the water above them, as well as the feeling of the watery giant responding to her wishes again, she managed to lose her footing. Falling unceremoniously on her bottom the water saw its cue to do the same, raining down on the students at the lakeside. Now more wet than she had planned on becoming, Amanda could only let out a "Sorry..." at her display backfiring as her cheeks reddened.

Dominic let out a more hearty laugh as he and Chris got doused. "So that's what you can do, huh? I was just about to ask..." He admitted through a chuckle as he sat up. "You should show her what you can do, Chris." Chris just giggled as she got doused with the water from Amanda's powers. "Sure." she said to Dom and took a moment to think of how to show Amanda her powers. She gave the ground beside them a punch, and a spike came up out of it. She broke it down with her powers, then let the pieces of rock float by them, making sure they weren't over anyone's head. She shot them over the surface of the water, making them skip a few times before sinking to the bottom.

The display had Amanda looking in awe, she wasn't aware that their powers would be so different, though it might possibly make sense, or as much sense as all of this made anyway. In truth it had made her forget about her little mishap earlier. Chris' power was fascinating to her, though the spike had initially startled her. After the display was over she got up from her impromptu spot in the water and got back to the lakeside, drying off her clothes and in the process willing Dom and Chris' clothes dry as well. "So is your uhm... Ability? Is it different from both of ours?" She asked Dominic, it was odd how comfortable she felt now that she had met Dom and Chris. Usually she didn't take quickly to people, Maria being the exception since she'd been forced to live with her by circumstance, but it was hard not to like these two.

"Well, I can't control the elements like you two, but uhh..." He reached into his shorts, and brandished a closed butterfly knife. "I picked this off a goon this morning. Before I ran into the guy, I would've had no idea how to use one of these things (or that it could be called a Balisong or Batangas in Filipino). But once I got it in my hands, I knew everything about it, and I could use it at its highest potiential. Instantly!" As he explained, he performed a speedy little flourish, a serious of manipulations that flipped the handles every which way. He smiled a bit as the knife flawlessly twirled betwixt his fingers. "And it's been like this with every weapon i've come in contact with (in which, unfortunately, i've had to come in contact with a bunch of them lately.)." With one flick of the wrist, the knife was set back to it's closed position. "There's that, and I can heal myself and others." He added unceremoniously, as there wasn't much of a way to show that particular ability off.

Amanda nodded to Dominic as he showed off his skills with the knife, usually she didn't find weapons very interesting, but there was something in the way he handled it. It just seemed to fit with his story, he didn't look like the sort of person who would have practiced with weapons like that to flawless perfection, so to her ears his story rang true. At the mention of healing powers Amanda felt slightly uncomfortable.

"Yeah, uhm... I think I might have something like that too." She withdrew her left leg from the water and held it close to her body, pointing to the small holes where the bullet went through her calf. "I know that I got well, shot, by the officer I told you about when I tried to get away from him. It's all healed up now, it's like the blood just gets absorbed back." She realized how odd that sounded, but went on as she'd already borne witness to more oddities already. "Water works too for some reason. I don't know if I can do it to others, like you can, and I'm not eager to find out honestly." Because that would mean someone getting wounded enough to need it... With a wry smile she added, "It's still painful though, but I guess I'm lucky enough for wounds to be temporary."

Dominic raised an eyebrow. "Mind if I give it a looksee? I can heal wounds. You couldn't tell now, but I actually got shot in the shoulder when we were confronted last week, and had third degree burns all over my legs when another one of our friends had a meltdown." As he explained, he patted his lap, gesturing for Amanda to put her leg there. "Another one of the guys with us, Marcus, also got shot. But as we were getting ready to drop him off at the hospital, I started healing him. Pushed the bullet out, and closed up the wound, good as new." He paused a bit. "It did hurt like hell, though, pushing that bullet out. So uh, proceed with caution." He warned with a bit of a chuckle.

"I see..." Amanda wasn't sure what to make out of that last remark, but assumed that it had been made in concern more than anything else. At Dom's concern she shook her head gently though, "I'm fine now, really. I just meant that getting hurt still, well, hurts. So my powers are best used sparingly. Sorry, didn't mean to make you worry about that." She looked down at the water in front of her, before adding. "Thank you for offering though." It sounded like the rest of the survivors, the ones that had banded together at least, had been having a rough time as well, much rougher than her by what she heard at least. "How are you all doing now? I mean, there are more people sticking together than you two right?"

"Well, aside from Marcus, most of the others seemed to escape without harm from what happened. I got fatigued while making waist high stone walls all over the place in preparation, but didn't get hurt at all." Chris let a few more rocks float before making them skip across the water. "Oh right, almost forgot about my second power. I seem to have enhanced agility, as I seem to be much more agile now than I ever was without ever training for it. Come on, try it. Throw something at me, I promise I'll dodge it. And throw it good, real fast. Don't be afraid of hurting me."

 

[Lambi]

It sounded like they were still going strong and sticking together from the sound of things, at least that was good news, it wouldn't have been good for anyone to have been captured by whoever was after them all. Chris wanting to prove her ability by making Amanda throw something at her didn't seem like a good idea though. "Oh, eh..." She hesitated, but Chris' look made her reconsider. At least Dom, and possibly her, could heal her if things got out of hand. Reaching out to the water in front of them she willed a sphere of the stuff to hover clear of the surface. "Alright. Ready?" She asked before willing the ball of water to hurl itself at the girl as fast as she could make it go, or well, as fast as she dared make it go.

The water ball was going fairly fast towards Chris, but she still managed to dodge it quickly when it was close to her. "Heh, not bad. Do it again, but try to throw a few in a row." She hadn't really gotten much of a chance to even test this ability of hers, but dodging the initial ball of water had shown her just how good she was at dodging. Plus, it'd help for the future.

Alright, that seemed to go well. Amanda was relieved in fact, she would have had a hard time forgiving herself for hurting Chris, even if she did literally ask for it. Being asked to make more of the spheres and throw several at her at once really didn't seem like a smart move, but again her look made her relent, she did appear to know what she was doing after all. Concentrating and imposing her will on the lake she made several of the watery spheres and launched them in succession at Chris. It was fairly easy with so much water handy, but she could feel her power starting to take its toll on her after a while.

As the two girls exhibited their abilities, Dom interjected. "This is kinda what we were doing before we got cornered. One of the established heroes, Ghost, approached us and suggested we started practicing with our abilities. Which is fine, I admit, but I just don't think we should do it to much. Don't want to get any unwanted attention, like last time."

Amanda kept the spheres coming until one of them hit Chris in the chest, the resulting realization that she had hit her made the rest of the formed spheres drop down harmlessly as her mind severed the contact between them. Chris managed to avoid most of the water spheres, aside from the last one which hit her chest. It hurt a bit, but she didn't let it get to her.

"That was some good practice there. For both of us. And I am so lucky I didn't wear white today. Seriously, second time this has happened and I wasn't wearing white." When Dom was done talking, she nodded to it. "And yeah, that's probably enough practice with that. I mostly just wanted to see how well I can dodge." Amanda had been about to ask if she was alright before Chris had remarked that it had been a good practice, so it seemed like she wasn't hurt at least. "Yeah, you're right Dominic, sorry. I'm usually more careful not to be seen practicing, continuing now wouldn't be very good."

"It's fine, really. Ghost was right. We need to hone our newfound skills. 'Specially if these guys end up coming after us again. It would be the best defense against them, and anyone else that'd step to us. We just...need to find a more secluded place to train, is all. Somewhere that isn't in the city, preferably..." He pondered a bit. The space grew quiet again, if only briefly. Dom exchanged glances with Christine as she attempted drying her clothes. "She saved my life, y'know." He told Amanda in a soft, grateful tone. "Back on the day of the incident. One of those soldier guys knocked me out of my seat. And I would've bled out right then and there if Chris wasn't there to stop the bleeding." He smiled warmly.

"And, I feel like I don't say it enough, but...Thank you, Chris, for saving me that day. I'm like, forever indebted to you." He smiled at the artist as he rose to his feet. "...that seemed like it came out of nowhere, but I say that to say this:" He approached Amanda. "The incident may have changed our lives in several different ways, but not every one of those ways are bad ways (if that makes any sense). Not to sound melodramatic, but the deaths of those students would be in vain if we utilize them in some way. The incident may have brought us insurmountable levels of grief...but its also brought us all these extraordinary abilities. It's brought me to Chris...and it's brought you...to us. You're not alone, Amanda. Not anymore. You got us (if you'll have us), and we got you. Hell, I personally gots your back. If something goes down that you can't handle on your own, hit us up. If anything me and Chris'll get there first."

She felt partially stunned as she nodded in understanding to Dom, her gaze drawn to the other girl while she contemplated the fact that even bad events have their pros. It was a thought that made her feel a bit guilty, especially for those who weren't around anymore, but it made sense to her nonetheless. Dom and Chris seemed glad at least, could she prioritize someone who couldn't feel anything anymore over those who did? It wasn't an easy thought, and not one she'd grow comfortable with overnight, but it did make a certain amount of sense. To look forward a bit.

A smile spread across her features, looking at Chris and on to Dominic, there wasn't much she could add there, nor anything that needed to be added. Grateful couldn't even begin to describe her feelings that she'd have someone else to rely on, and hopefully also help. Her mind just wanted to break down and cry, partially due to elation and joy, but also due to relief. Deciding that she owed them a more composed answer than crying on their shoulders she kept it in, she hadn't been one for crying before the incident, and now that the incident was finally over for her she'd return to that status quo. "Thanks, Dominic, Chris. I, I... Thanks." She had difficulties keeping her words composed, but she needed them to know how much she appreciated it. "I couldn't be happier with that... It's like, I've been at a loss the last days, with everything happening. I hoped that meeting you could help me find some, something to do about it." She had to pause, a mixture of fatigue making her draw her breath and her words catching in her throat. "I'm just so grateful, thank you."

"You're more than welcome." Chris said to Amanda, then walked over to her and hugged her, still a little red in her cheeks over what Dom had said to her earlier. "We're here for you, and like Dom said, if there's anything, give us a call." She smiled to her to reassure her. "Group hug!" Dom joined in with a laugh, wrapping his arms around the two to the best of his ability. "Ooh, we need to properly acquaint you with the others. I'm sure they wouldn't mind knowing of another victim's been doing their best to survive." With that, he brought forth his phone, and opted texting Lisette.

"D'you remember Amanda? From a few weeks back? Tall girl, another victim of the event? She's got powers too. Where you at?  We can reintroduce you to her."

He sent out the message.

 

[CounterAttack]

"Rough week huh? I know the feeling. I mean first I melt a spoon, then I break a cheap, but really useful table and then some guy tries to kill me. So what I'm saying is no, no one sent me, but I'm guessing you ran into the same folks I did for the same reasons I did."

The guy tore a chunk of steel out of one of the dumpsters in the alley, letting his piece of metal lie on the ground. Just to prove a point? "Like I said, same boat as you."

"I see... my friends and I had a similar experience with people attacking us, four days ago. We managed to hold them off, with some help from Kara Sterling... otherwise known as Ghost," Lisette explained. "You know the one? The woman who can turn invisible, works with the police? Anyway... I haven't heard much from the others recently. Just generally checking in, making sure no-one else's had any repeats of that particular day."

She realised she was rambling. "Sorry. Introductions. I'm Lisette. And you are?" She flicked her hand and the shield of ice between the two students morphed back into a sphere, hovering near her shoulder. She wasn't entirely sure if this guy was okay - what if Nefarious had decided to step up his attacks? - but she wasn't going to get any information out of him if she had a weapon readied.

 

[Lost In The Void]

Joe's ears perked at the sound of someone in the police force having some sort of superpower but he tried to hide most of his surprise, "Oh really? The cops have someone like that on their field too eh? Well that is interesting."

As he lost himself in thought he realized that the woman had introduced herself, "Lisette was it? Not Angel? Suppose that would be too convenient, comic book stuff or something," he smirked, "My names Joe. Joe Harder. I know what your'e thinking and no I didn't think of that name off the top of my head, I assure you it is actually that lame."

He moved his hand in the air as if shaking her hand from across the alley, "Now that we're introduced I wouldn't mind meeting the rest of your group. If anything it would do something to alleviate the headache and the paranoia that maybe we are the only two ones with powers and you're just taking me for a ride. Who knows right?"

 

[CounterAttack]

Lisette simply laughed. "If we were the only ones with powers, you'd think there might be a bit more to them. But yeah, I can introduce you..." Her phone buzzed in her pocket again. "Speak of the devil." Another message from Dominic:

[b]D'you remember Amanda? From a few weeks back? Tall girl, another victim of the event? She's got powers too. Where you at? We can reintroduce you to her.[/b]

"Seems some of them want to meet up. Might as well bring you into the fold, as it were," she explained to Joe. "One sec." She quickly tapped in a response:

I think I remember. Found another survivor: Kayla's got competition. We're a few streets down from my apartment, couple minutes out from Goldmar. If you're coming to us, look for a café outside an alley. Still gonna check with the new guy for his transport situation tho. Where are you guys?

Lisette fired off the message. "Hopefully they aren't on the other side of the city. Unless you've got a car or something, 'cause I'm probably gonna use mine a lot less these days." She stretched her wings to emphasise her point before settling them back into place.

 

[Pm0n3y]

"Hopefully they aren't on the other side of the city..."

"We're on the other side of the city."

Dominic began his reply.

"We met up with her at Lake Alabaster. Took us like 45 minutes to get here. We'll see you there, though. If you're gonna wait."

He turned back to Amanda. "You remember Lisette, right? She wants to meet up with us in the city." He took a look around, and spotted the vacant sedan nearby. "You drove here, right?" He asked, thumbing towards the vehicle.

Looking at where Dominic was pointing, Amanda spotted a familiar car by the shoulder of the road, a deep green Mondeo with its hood open just a tad. The car seemed to be in dire need of a wash at this point, apparently abandoned at the wayside as it had been several days ago. Frankly, it was a small wonder that it was still there at all, went to show that as far as theft went, Lake Alabaster was a fairly calm district.

Amanda's mind used a full second to process this information, where she had seen the car before, until it hit her. Acker... It was Acker's car! Why was that still here? She looked upon it slightly wearily until she determined that it was in fact unoccupied, and then visibly relaxed. Apparently Acker hadn't been back to his derelict ride since the incident, or maybe it hadn't been his at all?

Remembering that Dom had asked her a question she looked at the vehicle that the still probably at large officer had used to transport her here in the first place, before shaking her head. "No, sorry. I don't have a license actually." She looked closer at the car and approached it, feeling the remaining coolant under the hood and even the small amount of water inside it from the drink can. "I know it though, it's the car that the person who tried to abduct me used, he's probably abandoned it now."

Staring intently through the side-window she could see the key in the ignition. It was abandoned now, right? Nobody would mind. Reaching out with her powers she got the drink can to perform its trick once again, disabling the central lock and opening the car. "I guess we can use it though?"

"Huh. I don't have a licence either, but it hasn't stopped me before!" Dominic replied, slamming the hood shut as he walked over to the driver's side. Usually he would've been a little more hesitant towards blatantly driving a car that wasn't his (y'know, with it being a crime n' all), but after hearing Amanda's story involving the green sedan, he had a sudden change of heart. "Don't think our friend would mind if we borrowed his car for a bit." He added, climbing in and starting the ignition. "Alright girls, Liz wanted us to meet her...somewhere. Not to far from her apartment...well, I know how to get to the apartment, at least."

"Uhm... Alright." Amanda was feeling somewhat uneasy getting back into the car for a second time, considering what had transpired the last time, and perhaps also a bit due to the fact that they were essentially stealing a car. Due to the fact that Acker was nowhere to be seen, and that she was in the company of friends, she soon got over her hesitation and got into the back seat. Despite the fact that she had initially suggested that they could use the car she felt a little guilty sitting in it now, but another part of her felt that with what Acker had done this was the least she could allow herself. Once Chris climbed into the passenger's seat, Dom sped off, quick to get to their destination.

 

[NeoAC]

The mall was a welcome respite from the events of the day. After all the following and murdering, it was nice to be just another face in the crowd. The blood on Izzy was explained away as a prank gone awry, and it lasted long enough for her to get some new clothes. After that, it was just a hang-out session. It was a throwback to the rainy days lounging around Oakridge on the south side, and damn if Kayla didn't need one of those. They didn't accomplish much. That was never the point. Still, it helped to be able to mine the Silverhollow native's knowledge of the city, and the off-chance mention of a scrapyard near the Brightfields' border with Lake Alabaster gave her something to do later that evening.

[hr]

Kayla took a route through the City Center to try and avoid most of the Brightfields infighting. Luckily this place wasn't too deep into the sector, closer to the Center then most of the yuppies would like to admit. She managed to avoid a run in with one of the gangs roaming the area before she found her target, just as Izzy said.

The Ross Brothers Scrapyard was certainly as big as Yelp had claimed. There was a veritable smorgasbord of battered cars, smashed bed-frames and...whatever the hell that charred husk was supposed to be. A fridge? Could fridges be set on fire? Apparently they could. Kayla tried to be as quiet as she could as she observed the buffet of metal that the scrapyard had to offer. This would be a good chance to see what these...powers extend to. Stopping bullets is a pretty good start. Means I have most of the major alloys covered. Would love to see what else I could do with-

"Hey! Care to explain yourself?"

Kayla slowly turned around and found herself staring down the second least amount of guns she's looked at in her life. A portly fellow, somewhat underdressed, but understandable at this time of night was standing there, brandishing a shotgun in Kayla's general direction.

"I'm sorry," she tried to explain. "I was hoping I could find something I could use here. At least for practice purposes."

"Well this ain't the time for that," the man stated. "So get out of here before I have to use this thing!"

"I'm sure we can come to some sort of understanding here..."

"Get out!" The man was moving into threatening territory now. "I'll use it now!"

"No you won't," Kayla informed him as she started to grow annoyed at the situation. She focused on the man's weapon and bent the barrel back so that the end of it was now pointed at the mans head. "Not if you don't want to blow your own head off."

The man just stared at the gun in his hands as he dropped it to the ground. "What...what are you?"

"I'm just someone looking for a place to train my...talents," she answered, with a lack of a better word for what she just did to the mans firearm. "I admit, this was not the time to come out scouting, but perhaps we can come to some sort of arrangement."

"Oh we'll be arranging something, damn it!" The man was pissed but also knew he had no power in the situation. "That was my only line of defense against those damn Titans!"

"Really? Then you aren't going to be defending anything," Kayla laughed. "Again, perhaps I can help. I mean, you see what I can do. I just need a place where I can improve my skills. I'll just practice by building you some better defenses out of the scrap metal that is worth less to you. Maybe then those gangbangers won't be in here stealing your...copper? I'm guessing? Can't see them looking for cars in here."

The older man stood back, thinking about the prospect of having some stronger defenses in what amount to a war zone at the moment. "Whell, if I say no, I'm guess you're going to come in here anyway and muck some stuff up, huh?"

"Think of it as having won a little mini-lottery over your competitors. You get my services around this place for a constructive nature rather than a destructive one."

"All right, fine, I'll let you come in here, during the day mind. Don't need you running round here in the dark. And if you build up my walls a bit, stop them damn Titans from ramming them down with their damn hot rods, then I think this might work out." He offered his hand out in a old-school contract signing.

Kayla took the offer and shook the hand, surprisingly not as sweaty as she'd thought for a man who just witnessed what he did. "I look forward to working with you on this, mister..."

"Ross. Jim Ross. Like on the sign. You can call me JR though."

"Right, JR. I will be back in the morning then."

[hr]

Over the next few days, Kayla headed back over to the scrapyard during the day to toss some metal around. JR's fence got some much needed reinforcements, as Ford frames found themselves disassembled and wrapped around the semi-strengthened chain link fence that had surrounded the property. Eventually the ripping apart process got a lot easier. Marines bragged about being able to take apart and reassemble their gun in 2 minutes? Kayla could do a 1993 Honda Accord in that time. Just minus the seats and rubber tires and all.

She was even getting better at molding the metals to do what she wanted. One toaster was held in a liquid ball for half an hour while Kayla made various spikes and swirls made of the different elements pop out of it. It was remarkable the kind of control that she could have over something seemingly so rigid. But it was happening.

On this day, Kayla was exploring a little deeper into the lot trying to see if there wasn't anything that wouldn't make for a more challenging disassembling job when she saw it. It was hard to notice, buried in the far corner of the lot, near the shoreline of the river. But once Kayla spotted it, she had to know about it.

"JR!" she shouted into the office as she came dashing back towards the head man.

"Yeah girl, what are you worked up about?"

"I need to know about that thing you have in the corner by the river!"

"What thing? You best show me it."

"Well I can't very well bring it in to you, but just come on."

Riding on the golf cart JR had to make mobility less of an issue, it still took a few minutes to get to the shining hunk of metal that Kayla was referring to. It had stuff piled on it, but it still looked to be in remarkable shape. "What is that, JR? I know it's a plane, but it doesn't look right."

"Shoot, I forgot I had that kicking back here," JR admitted as he scratched the back of his head. "See, this was some sort of experimental plane this Bowden guy had back about 10 years ago. Said he was workin' with some special new age titanium alloy that was super flexible and still strong as hell. But he ran afoul of the Watchers on some streetfighting bets and they got salty. So they were coming after him for some payback. So I bought the plane off him for scrappin'. I couldn't figure out what he did with it, but it was stronger then my tools, so I just left it. He said he'd be back for it, but I guess the Watchers took him to the mines, so to speak. Ain't seen him sense. Why, you think you might be able to do something with this?"

Kayla gleefully rubbed her hands as she studied the plane, all sorts of ideas running through her head. "You know, I think I might have a plan or two. If I can pull this off." Let's see what Lisette thinks if I can get off the ground with this...

 

[Lost In The Void]

Joe thought about his poor car in the parking lot where he had been attacked, "Yeah I have a car...but it's gonna need some time in the shop first I'm afraid. So if you could just keep yourself on the street for my sake that would be excellent."

He said that with a smart grin, but he was still calculating his options. He still needed answers after all and she was his best bet. If he let her fly off without warning he would lose his opportunity at those answers and he would not allow that. He was a little annoyed at her lack of information at the moment but he supposed she was hiding it until she had her little group that apparently existed. Regardless all of this started and ended with whoever attacked him and if she or someone else knew, that's where he intended to be. For better or worse.

 

[CounterAttack]

"Well, either way people are gonna be staring, I suppose," Lisette noted, leading the way out of the alley and back onto the street. "I just wish I had some sort of sign reading 'no flash photography'. Oh well. I'll text the others to meet us at my apartment building: I make a point of finding shelter from the tabloids whenever possible." Her fingers were already flying across her phone, firing the message off quickly. Lisette led the way along the street down which she'd flown, shielding her face from the occasional camera-phone. The ice sphere that hovered in her wake drew more than one eye, but she couldn't melt it as long as it was under her control.

"So you have some sort of power over metals... we've got one other with a similar ability. Probably saved our lives when she stopped gunfire aimed our way. Although, everyone in the group seems to have gained two powers... what else can you do?" she queried, trying to make conversation as they walked. It wasn't far, only about five to ten minutes, but learning more about the new guy, and perhaps telling him a bit about herself, seemed to be the best plan at this stage.

 

[Lost In The Void]

"Two powers eh?" So he wasn't the only one with two powers then. He had to assume hers were flying and ice control, maybe element control, he couldn't say for sure. Regardless he still didn't know enough about this group to reveal his ace in the hole, "Well I only have one power as far as I can tell and that's this metal manipulation of sorts. Its interesting I'll tell you that much, I can sense the various elements in each piece of metal and shift them as needed."

He lit up a cigarette and noted that the girl moved a little ahead of him to avoid the smoke but still seemed attentive. He decided that if he was going with the deception, he'd explore this power in greater depth so that they wouldn't have reason to suspect. If he was the only one with one power, or so they thought, he would already be an anomaly amongst them and so he had to be careful.

He spoke again, expanding on his actual plans to experiment with the power, "Now I've been wondering about this power of mine and just how far it goes. Its enough to feel the elements and shift them, but I'm wondering if I can convert them, move them into lattices and structures. In all reality, being able to affect metal at this level means that the possibilities are ultimately endless. Just as I'm sure you're finding with your ice, the more abstract thinking we have with these things, the more benefits it could reap. I mean imagine pulling diamond from a dumpster bin for example."

His mind was running wild with the options, so much that he almost lost himself. Coughing awkwardly he resumed his regular tone, "So, are we far from the apartment?"

 

[CounterAttack]

"It's about... five? Ten minutes away? 'Course, it'd be faster if you could fly too." Lisette smirked, though she continued to ponder things as Joe talked. So he only had one power... that was interesting. Everyone else she knew had two. As for abstract thinking... well, she'd already conducted an experiment involving sculpture. Perhaps if she created some sort of humanoid figure out of ice, could she control it? That would be something to try later, once she had a bit of practice in that field.

More phones were getting pulled out of pockets and held up... news of the Snow Angel was probably spreading. Lisette sighed. "Seems word about this sort of thing travels fast. Faster if teenagers are the first ones to get it." People were even taking photos from cars that were waiting at traffic lights. Desperate for a solution, even one that warranted more photography, the blonde student took her hovering ice sphere and flattened it, stretching it into an opaque shield that blocked her from view. Even with her newly formed barrier, Lisette picked up the pace, beckoning to Joe to do the same.

"C'mon. The sooner we get back to my place, the better. Hopefully the others will get there soon after we do. They were over in the lake district, so if we're lucky we won't have long to wait."

[hr]

A half-melted ice slide marked where Lisette had begun her maiden flight. She pointed out the improvised safety measure to Joe as they passed it and entered the parking lot connected to her building. Thankfully, no-one was there, which meant no tabloid attention... but also meant Dominic, Amanda and presumably someone else - Dom had said 'we', but hadn't said who - hadn't arrived yet.

With no media attention nearby, Lisette stretched out her wings to their full length and settled them back down. She felt something shift in one wing as she did so, though: were they not meant to be folded back for too long? She had to put the question aside, however, as she heard a car approach. It looked rather old... no, weather-beaten was the best way to describe it, she thought. As if it hadn't been used for several days.

 

[Pm0n3y]

The little green sedan pull around, with Dominic at the wheel. Spotting Lisette (which was fairly easy now, as those giant white wings of hers were far too hard to miss), he pulled up to a space closest to her and her mystery friend before turning off the car's engine. "We're here." He announced the obvious, stepping out of the car. "Hey Liz." He looked to the new guy. "Is this the one? The new survivor?" He held a hand out for him. "I'm Dominic." As they shook hands, he looked to the winged ice queen. "I had an idea, something that we could all benefit from. Something that could potentially keep us out of public eye and something that I..." He looked around for a brief moment. "Don't feel safe discussing outside." He added, implying they all migrate into the apartment.

 

[CounterAttack]

"What happened to the good old days when a girl was bought dinner first before she brought a stranger home?" Lisette joked, glancing over at Joe. "But yeah, inside might be a good plan. You'll have to ditch the cigarette, though. Non-smoking building." That and I don't want to have to deal with it lingering in my apartment...

Thankfully, Joe was understanding of the building's rules. With that minor detail out of the way, Lisette led the other four through the lobby and up the stairs... eliciting a look of surprise from a guy checking his mail. Once inside and on their way up to the second floor, she spoke up again. "Before we get any further, introductions. Dom, Chris, Amanda, this is Joe Harder. I assume the Joe is short for Joseph. Joe, these are Dominic, Chris and Amanda. Dom and Chris were part of the group that was attacked a few days back. And as far as I know, each of the five of us has different powers."

Lisette pulled her key from her bag as she explained the situation to Joe, soon opening the door to her apartment and ushering the others inside. The place was rather spacious, largely due to the sparse decorations. A slightly old TV and equally dated stereo each had a corner of the lounge to themselves. The merged lounge and kitchen made up the apartment's largest room, with a bathroom and two bedrooms, one of which was unused - and the door to the other was hurriedly closed - separated from it.

"Make yourselves at home," Lisette offered, indicating the chairs around the kitchen table and the couch facing the TV before she took a handful of glasses from a cupboard and began filling them. "So, Dom. That idea you mentioned. What've you got?"

 

[Pm0n3y]

He initially went to plop down on her couch, but decided against it as she went for her cupboard. "I think we should move out of the city." He stated with a heavy implication. "Or, at least out of Millenial." He added. "As much as I like the city, it's too much exposure for us. You really can't hide those wings, Liz." He kept his face flat and tone low.

"And we really can't walk the streets knowing someone might be watching. Our abilities are growing to the point that we won't be able to do anything without gaining some sort of attention." He took a seat at the kitchen table as she fixed the drinks. "It wouldn't be immediate, of course. The school's close, and some of us still need jobs. And, the thought's still pretty drastic. But, maybe we could find some sort of property out by the lake? Or something further out."