Fantasy City of Heroes (Bettsyboy & DramaKween)

[DramaKween]

Michael was her rock. Someone solid and sure, firm and knowing. Not only was his experience in this world hopeful and promising, but his kindness was reassuring and supportive. Adeline didn’t see a bad bone in his body. She didn’t imagine that he was in any way selfish or evil. He just wanted to survive. Just like she did. There had to be some reason that she’d lived when her entire family had just perished in a matter of 60 seconds. There had to be some reason that Michael had been there to lead her away and to give her strength. It had to be because he was her rock.

Adeline’s eyes were all sleepy and confused for several moments when he’d woken her up. She’d had a deep, dreamless sleep. It had been….wonderful. Who’d imagine such a thing after the events of the previous day? “Hmm? What? Huh?” Much like any teenager, Adeline was not a fan of waking up early. Actually, she wasn’t a fan of waking up at all. She groaned. That groan told him that she wanted to lay in that bed and lounge around for the whole day. She wanted to stretch out and curl up and sleep more. “No….I’m up….I’m up ….” She sat up and rolled her neck back. She ran her hands several times through her hair so that it wasn’t quite as wild and disheveled. She straightened out her dusty, torn, dirty clothes and then wiped her face. “I’m up!” She was a little cranky….But she did manage to pull it together.

Adeline followed after him, but as they got towards the door Adeline was still in a sleepy daze and quite a few steps behind Michael. She’d wondered why he stopped and then she saw Grams. She woke herself up a bit and straightened up. Michael had said that Grams woke up early, she couldn’t imagine why anyone would wake up this early.

Adeline’s pretty eyes widened as Grams spoke. There was so much she didn’t understand, there was so much that she needed to learn. She had a young, pliable mind that started to memorize the things that Gram said. A Black Sun. Fire. Fog. A golden veil. What did all of that mean? Were those things really real? Or….where they…What was it called? Metaphors? It was the last part of what Grams had said that made Adeline feel rather….cold. At it’s end is ruin for all?

Adeline saw Michael’s expression as Gram’s held his hand. She wanted to reach out to him. She wanted to pull his hand out of Gram’s hand and pull him in close to her. She wanted to protect him. She’d put a blazing, burning shield around them so that no black sun and no fog, no golden veil could hurt him. She didn’t like seeing Michael scared. She didn’t like seeing Michael hurt. She wanted to put an end to it.



She felt her blood get hot.



Adeline took a breath once Gram’s let go. It was right on time. Adeline nodded to Michael. He needed a moment to collect himself. She needed a moment to cool down. She watched him dart into the kitchen, her heart lurching to go with him. She wanted to be near him. But she stayed. She took a breath and turned, suddenly realizing that she and Grams were alone together.

Grams was so sweet, though. It made Adeline smile, just a little bit. “Good morning Grams…” She’d returned the sentiment gently. When she’d asked for Adeline’s hand, she hesitated. She wanted to go see Michael. She wanted to make sure he was okay. She wanted to tell him that she wasn’t going to let anything ruin him…

But her hand was already in Gram’s darker, more wrinkly grasp. Adeline glanced down and saw her young, slightly dirty, but adolescent contrasting with Grams’ darker, more mature fingers. When the convulsions started, Adeline glanced up quickly. “Grams!” She reached for her but she’d lurched forward and then back and started talking. Adeline wasn’t as ‘receptive’ this time as she’d been, trying to hear Grams but at the same time wishing that Michael was there. Scorched souls and black skin didn’t sound good. Before she could react further, Grams was smiling again.

Adeline was shaking her head, though, looking at Grams with a mix of concern and determination. “What? They’re coming here? No….No then you can’t be here….We’ll take you….We will take you with us … I can carry Michael’s bag and he’ll take you and….and we’ll take your friends and…and we’ll go…Michael said West is safe…Michael said we need to go West….”

Adeline glanced towards the kitchen, where Grams had told her to go. “Hold on…Let me get Michael….”

Adeline headed into the kitchen. “Michael? We are going to take Grams with us! We all have to go…Did you get what you needed?” She was a determined little thing. She was determined to burn, but she was also determined to save.

 

[bettsyboy]

Michael was hunched over the kitchen table, panting, how whole body was in a cold sweat. When Adeline came in he collected himself, pulling his gas mask back on he turned to her, handing her an apple "breakfast" he stated. Without a word he moved past her "we gotta go, c'mon, the sooner we get the fuck outa here the better" when they came to the door Grams looked to Michael "she wants to take me with you" michael responded instantly and sharply "no... and you don't wanna go, right" grams smiled and nodded "true" she looked to adeline "sweet little thing.. i'm pushing a hundred years, folks weren't meant to live this long, I made peace with my mortality years ago, i'm gonna die today, and that's my choice, and no matter how you feel about it, its my right to choose... but... thank you for caring sweetie.. oh!" Grams turned around in her chair "one more thing, Bruce was here yesterday, you don't know him, don't worry. But well, he got in a fight with the boys outside and got himself killed, i think you should have some of his gear, it'll help keep you two safe" she handed Michael a long wrapped up cloth. Michael unfurled it to reveal it's contents. An AK-47 without a stock but with a sling and a 9mm handgun and holster. Michael breathed deeply as he attached the holster to his belt and put the sling around his shoulder. Grams pulled out one last bag, a backpack "if there's one thing we have tol much of these days, it's ammo. Take it, i don't want this in my house, seen too many young boys killin eachother with these damn things, take 'em!" Michael took the bag of ammo. He took a magazine for the rifle and the handgun and handed the bag to Adeline "mind carrying this? I got the food and other supplies"

Once that was taken care of Michael leant down "are you sure Grams?" Grams nodded "I'm sure, you just promise me you won't look back" Michael stood back up straight "i promise, goodbye Grams" "goodbye... goodbye sweetie, you take care of him now, fool thinks he's invincible just cos he can't die, and you take care if yourself too hmm?"

She waved tgem out the door, Michael opened it and waited for Adeline. Once she was out he closed the door and went out to the street and once again started walking. The street was worse than even the day before, the side wall of a house next to grams had completely collapsed and on the side of the road a pack of feral dogs ate a cat. They looked up to the two humans passing by before going back to their kill.

On the horizon a distant orange glow was seen,the light flowed like water into the clouds above like a painting. But other than that all was dark. The streetlights had long since lost power and no houses dared have their lights on. Even those with generators. But across the block sounds could be heard, footsteps and murmuring. Fighters likely switching shifts, those scheduled to sleep instead of resting, beginning their long trek westward or at least to a good hiding spot where they can get some sleep.

Michael thought about where to go next "... you need some equipment, a gas mask, some new clotges with more pockets, and i reckon a helmet would do us both some good, when i first moved to the states I worked at a dealership next to a preppers store, place might be empty but it's worth checking out"

They kept walking for what felt like hours. Till finally, high up on an overpass over sone train tracks the orange light of dawn crept up to the horizon. Michael stopped, looking back at the orange glow from before "... that's not dawn... the hills are on fire"

 

[DramaKween]

When Adeline came upon Michael, she reached for his shoulder to comfort him. She saw he was pale and sick looking, sweaty and cold. Before her hand could reach him, though, he had collected himself and put his mask on. Adeline took a breath. Did he really think that mask worked on her? She nodded a little bit when he handed her the apple. She’d forgotten how hungry she was with the events of this morning. She’d forgotten how hungry she was when she’d been worried about Michael. “Wow….” She was rather astonished. A fresh apple was a rare gift. A treat. Had he eaten breakfast? Was he hungry? Before she could ask, he’d moved past her…..

She decided she was so hungry, that she started to eat the apple. After one big crunch, they were caught by Grams who instantly told Michael what she had said about taking Grams with them. Her jaw dropped a little bit, but she quickly closed it to swallow her bite. Adeline hadn’t realized that Grams was 100 years old…And she also hadn’t realized just how open and honest Grams and Michael would be with each other

Adeline had just finished her apple, including the core, when Michael held the bag out to her. “Mmhmm…No problem….” Afterall, she wasn’t carrying anything at all except for herself all this time. And then, it was time for goodbye. Adeline wasn’t very good at this part. She felt something dull and heavy in her chest. She and Michael had slept here safely, and she had an apple, and Grams had told them the future and now they were leaving Grams to die? It didn’t seem right. Then again, goodbyes never seemed right.

Adeline took a breath and tried to smile to Grams. It was a pretty pathetic attempt, as there were tears in her eyes and more of a grimace on her face than her attempted smile. Adeline had just started to nod when Grams told her to take care of Michael. Of course she would! …As soon as she figured out how.

“Bye Grams….” Adeline choked near the end of the word and pretty much ran after Michael. She was an emotional little thing. An emotional little thing that was now attached to Michael.



As they walked down the street, Adeline kept turning back to look at Gram’s house. When they got too far to see it, Adeline still turned her head to see if she could. And when they got even further, Adeline just kept looking back longingly with puppy dog eyes.

Finally, there was a point where Adeline had stopped looking back, but now she was looking around. Feral dogs, hungry cats, and the dark streets. Adeline quickened her steps so that she was right beside Michael. Her mind was so wrapped up in everything she was seeing, it almost startled her when he spoke again.

He mentioned her needing things, and Adeline had just kind of shrugged. “Okay….Let’s go….” She’d promised Grams she’d watch out for him, and she’d go wherever he asked her to go. As they walked, her ankles kind of hurt, and then a certain part of her toes, and then her calves. She was about to complain until they saw the sunrise.


It was prettier than any sunrise Adeline had ever seen. Honestly, she hadn’t seen one in a long time, she was usually sleeping. It was bright and powerful, it made her eyes glow. She was smiling since the first time they had left Gram’s as the orange illuminated the world around them. What a beautiful, deep orange glow. She wondered if Grams would see it. If she liked it. If she’d feel the same warmth and wonder that Adeline saw. It was the most beautiful thing she’d ever seen in her life.

And then, Michael told her that it wasn’t the sun. She stopped and turned around to look at it. It wasn’t the dawn. It was the hills on fire. Adeline stared for several long moments before she turned to look at Michael again. “Grams?” She asked, unsure if she wanted to know the answer.

 

[bettsyboy]

Michael shook his head "nah, not her place, hers is a bit..." he pointed out into the distance, his habd moved left to a pitch black area on the horizon "there. We could see the glow when we left Grams's place, its a ways off her place" he adjusted his bag, turned around and kept walking "forget about Grams, you're only torturing yourself by lingering on her, besides you heard her, it's her choice. She doesn't wanna risk slowing us down just so she can live maybe a year longer, needing other people to wipe her ass and eating through a tube, she chose to die today 'cos she wants to die with dignity, not coughing and shitting herself on some bed a few months from now, neither you nor I have the right to take that from her, now honor her last wishes and put her out of mind, we can't afford any distractions today, we're about to walk into undisputed resistance territory, make no mistake, this is hostile territory" he adjusted his backpack as he continued walking, making sure his mask was adjusted propperly. In the distance against the light of the rising sun the silouette of a hanged man came into view. A naked and broken body, even from a distance it was clear it was a young man. His mangled legs told of the beatings he suffered before being hung from a streetlight. Michael fixed his gaze on this grizzly visage as he walked down the street, but to their sides otger scenes of brutality were evident. Bloodstains and bulletholes against the front wall of a "soul food" shop, pale and bruised dead feet poking out behind a garage to their left. From the hanged man's neck hung a sign, it read a single word.

TRAITOR

"what do you think classifies someone as a "traitor"?" He asked Adeline off-handedly in the same tone one would ask "have you seen any movies?" In casual conversation. He didn't linger long, soon turning to the left and following the road. The area was littered with broken shop windows and abandoned vehicles. Some had been stripped of parts, others were just burnt out husks, and everywhere, more scenes of murder and brutality. Charred skeletons within burnt cars, their wrists still handcuffed to the steering wheels, bodies lined up and abandoned. This place likely only a few nights ago must have been a scene from hell. A night of fires, torture, murder and rape. While there were no clear signs of rape, when men rampage, it's guaranteed to happen. And they certainly rampaged. Michael guessed the resistance had recruited all those who wanted to join, conscripted and otherwise forced the rest of the able bodied to fight, but when the locals sided with the military, while the recruits from here were sent elsewhere, the local resistance presence exterminated or repressed the locals with a campaign of terror. To their right a man could be seen looking out the shattered shopfront, a bald head gave him away as he peeked over the bottom edge of the front window to a porn shop. Michael raised his rifle and aimed it at the man who quickly cowered. He lowered his weapon and kept going.

Behind them the distant crackle of gunfire began. The fighting had resumed. While he tried to put it out of his mind he knew any one of those distant cracks could be the shot killing Grams, any burst of them could be the army or resistance moving in on her 'hood' meaning its her boys dying. He muttered a silent prayer that she told them to leave too, they were good guys, rough around the edges but good guys.

Ahead of them, a rumbling approached. A vehicle, a heavy vehicle... the resistance.

 

[DramaKween]

Adeline's eyebrows kind of furrowed together when Michael told her to 'forget about Grams'. How could she ever? How could she ever forget such a wonderful, eccentric, kind person? And....how could she ever forget the fear the woman forced out of Micheal, the indestructible man? In the short time that she had known him, she'd seen him get nervous, a little scared, and even a little worried. What Grams had said to him, though, it had terrified him. And Adeline didn't think that Michael was the type of person to be so shaken by something as....indefinite as the future. What was definite? Was that they were alive. It was that she was alive....Because of him. Because of Michael. She owed him everything. Not just saving her life (a few times), not just getting to meet Grams, and not just the safe night on the soft bed beside him in his old bedroom. She owed him more, she just didn't know how to tell him that.

Adeline was so deep in thought as they walked, that she saw the hanging man rather....late. She gasped suddenly and stopped, reaching for Michael's shoulder. Some of the pretty, silky hair fell in front of her eyes and she nearly tripped. She sighed when she realized that....whatever had happened here had already happened. A lot of death and bullets, fire and bodies. Adeline didn't realize it, but she was digging her fingertips into Michael's shoulder. The future was inflexible, just like Gram's had said. Was this all they'd see for the rest of their days? Bodies and bullets? Death and destruction? Adeline swallowed. No. She was still thinking about what Gram's had said to her, and something that she'd always known deep down about herself. About her true self.

She could burn things away. She could burn them clean. She could be the fresh start. The new dawn. A new day. And Michael....Michael would be there with her. If....he still had his shoulder attached. Adeline realized how hard she'd been clinging to him, now that her thoughts had been burst by his words. "S....Sorry...I...I didn't realize I was...." She pulled her hand back and opened and closed her first a few times. Her hand cramped up she'd been squeezing so hard.

Traitor.

"I suppose it means...betrayal....Or....Taking advantage of trust of.....going back on a promise to a person or a cause....Like...How you told me ...you know....your worst fear....About living forever and rotting inside....If I used that against you...Or...If I gave that secret away....After you trusted me....." There was a faint hint of a smile, the faintest smile possible all things considered. "I wouldn't, though...I'd never betray you...."

That didn't mean she'd follow him blindly anywhere. She heard the vehicle, and she felt the ground rumble and she stopped.

"We should go the other way....We can go around....We should avoid them....." She'd seen what the little village had turned into. Were she and Michael....traitors? For a moment, she saw a flash of the gas mask hanging in pieces from a pole, a broken body with a perfectly functioning mind inside....And Ice. For some reason she saw ice. "Come on....We can run....."

 

[bettsyboy]

Michael just turned his head a bit "you run, I got business I gotta settle with these guys" the vehicle rumbled closer, it was a repurposed armored car, the kind of truck banks used to ship cash and gold between branches, nly now with the symbol of the resistance spray painted on the side. Behind it were two more vehicles, Toyota pickup trucks with mouted machine guns on the back, loaded with soldiers. The vehicles came to a stop, the armor car in the middle and the pickups pulling up to the sides. The men piled out quickly, spreading out and raising their weapons to the pair, Michael just fixed his eyes on the one climbing out of the passenger side of the armor car. A tall man with arms like oak tree branches, strong and solid. Bald with a great blonde beard braided to his chest and his head covered in colorful tattoos. Michael unslinhed his rifle, dropping it to the ground.

The man marched up to them, stopping right in front of them and putting his hands on his hips "Remove your mask" Michael leaned back "how about... no?" The man's eyes narrowed "you got any idea who you're talkin to?... the mask, lose it, last warning" Michael sniffed under the mast "let me guess... Eighth batallion? Uhh... fifth division? Around there? Sorry, dunno what goup popcicle's running now" this time it was the leader of the group who took a step back "your next words better be good mask-boy" michael shrugged "meh, i'm not good with words, i'm good at other stuff though" he reached up and slowly pulled his mask down, the man's eyes bulged open "I'm pretty good at getting back up, for one" the men behind him started shouting. Rocket launchers were unpacked from the truck and hastily aimed, machine guns were trained directly on Michael. The man before them now spoke in a lower, gravely voice "... well, holy shit... no suicide vest this time? No jumping into our lines with poison gas grenades in each hand?" Michael shook his head "nothing so fancy, i figured this time i'd just beat ou to death, not give you a chance to run away this time Sammy-boy"

Sam's glare turned to Aveline, Michael laughed "careful with this one mate! It's better for your health to focus on me" Sam grumbled "good call" in a fraction of a second his hand show out, gripping Michael by his throat, lifting him clean off the ground. Michael gurgled and kicked in vain, his eyes bulging out of their socksts as his fave turned to a deep red and began to swell. From his throat a blue hue began to appear, and it spread. As it did so Michael's kicking stopped. Ice began to form from inside his body and crept out the pores in his skin, his eyes became frozen over and the last twitches ceased. With a mighty roar Sam thrust him to the ground, his body shattered and splintered onto thousands of tiny pieces across the ground, spreading out across the street like shards of red glass. Sam then turned to Aveline, his body encased in a layer of ice, he shouted back to the troops "Stay on him! Fucker's not completely dead yet! Get a flamethrower out here! Turn those shards to ash!"

He looked back to Aveline "I'm sorry you had to see that, but... you're a smart girl, deslerate I wager hmm?.. look, that guy, he's a butcher, massacared a lot of innocent people, when he ran with the resistance he left scenes like this whole street wherever they went, that's why we kicked him out... look, we're hunting the group who did all this carnage, why don't you join us? We won't drop you like he was going to and unlike him, we can keep you safe, what do you say?"

 

[DramaKween]

Adeline was already shaking her head. "I'm not going anywhere without you....." And she meant it. And Michael would know that she meant it. He was her person. The one that had saved her. The one that had kept her alive. The one that had kept her with him, when he didn't have to. Adeline saw what was sprayed on the side of the vehicles....And now she knew what the symbol was...And...what it meant. Her throat felt dry. Her mouth felt like cotton. Her tummy kind of hurt. She missed the apple she'd eaten for breakfast. The apple Michael had given her. Had he had anything? Had he'd eaten? Was he hungry?

There were a lot of people coming from the vehicles....Adeline's eyes darted back and forth several times until her own gaze fell onto the one that Michael had zeroed in on.

The man was scary. Besides the fact that he was bald and had that scary and oddly braided beard....He was ....big. Granted, most people were bigger than Adeline....At the same time, this man was .....bigger. Really big. She missed Gram's boys....She wished they were there....They'd been big too. Adeline tried not think of Grams...And she tried to concentrate on what was happening in front of her. As Michael talked to the tall, big, eccentric man...Adeline found herself behind his shoulder. She felt safe near him. She felt safe behind him. She felt safe with him.

Adeline watched Michael take his mask off. She'd seen his face before. She rather...liked it. But....The man with the beard looked so.....shocked. So very astounded, stunned, and appalled at the same time. She didn't think Michael's face was that bad. She was more than aware that compared to someone....well....someone like her...He might be considered....disfigured. Well, that was putting it nicely. Grisly. Unseemly. Unsightly. That didn't matter to Adeline, though. She thought he was absolutely wonderful. His personality made him handsome, his humor made him lovely, and the way he'd taken care of her up to now made him....beautiful. He was beautiful.

Adeline glanced at the rocket launchers, guns, and weapons that were fixed on Michael. None of them really seemed fixed on her. Afterall, she was beautiful. Petite. Small. Behind him. She fast, too. They didn't know she was fast. Michael would be able to feel just a little heat behind him. Just...a little. She wanted to be ready. She was ready. Was this the burn that Grams had talked about? Was this the dawn? Already? She just kind of imagined that she had Michael would have more....time. Why couldn't they have more time?

Adeline was pretty well focused until the man she now knew as Sammy had looked at her. Her eyes suddenly went wide. She ...she didn't know anything. She didn't know who he was or what he wanted or why he was there. She didn't know why he recognized Michael or what he stood for or....what had happened in the past. Not knowing was.....crippling. She hadn't realized it until then. She'd had a full night to pick Michael's brain....To ask questions....To get answers. Now? She only knew that he made her laugh. That he made her smile. That she enjoyed his presence. That wasn't going to help. That wasn't going to save their lives.

Michael had drawn Sammy's attention away from her. She looked at Michael with eyes that could only be described as....doting. She knew he had fear but....he was just so....brave. Michael was truly and honestly brave. She was about to reach out to him, to touch his shoulder, so that he would know just a little bit about how she felt. And then, she'd tell him the rest after this. After all of this....

But just before her hand could land on his shoulder and touch him....He was out of reach. He was suspended in midair by one of those strong, bulky arms that belonged to Sammy and....Adeline simply didn't react fast enough. She did a fair job of feeling heat, finding heat, and controlling heat. She knew nothing about the cold other than that she hated it. By the time she actually realized what was happening, there were red shards all around her feet, rolling and crumbling and shattered all around her. Adeline's hands were up to her mouth.

It was her family's death all over again. She was frozen and paralyzed, terrified and....alone. She was alone again. Until Sammy said that he wasn't dead. That's right. There was a chance....It was all she needed....A chance....Before there were any flamethrowers or fires Adeline thrust her hands out in front of her. "Wait!....Wait....."

She took a breath. She thought about her family. She thought about Grams and Michael. She thought about the body that hung and the village that was terrorized. "Wait.....Let me....." A smile that Adeline didn't know she was capable of came over her features. It was rather....wicked. She was acting. She was acting for her life. And Michael's life. Atleast, she hoped that he still had one.

Adeline kept her hands where all could see them, and then she very carefully turned them upwards. Flames that were far more intense, and far more severe than any flame thrower shot straight up into the sky. Each man, including Sammy, could feel the warmth of her power. They could feel just the potential of it. "Let me finish what you.....what you did for me....You saved me...." She was stunning. Beautiful. Sweet. She was everything this world was not. She was a rare gem. A jewel that belonged to Micheal, and no one else.

"Give me my revenge....Give my my chance....And I'll ....I'll swear myself to you...To your....to our cause...." She was still smiling, she was so convincing. "Go on....I'll meet you at the next stop....And....Now that I've seen what you can do...I'll show you what I can do....And we can find the rest of the butchers and and killers and we can....get to know each other....You can tell me all about the wonderful cause I'm going to join now that I have my freedom and.....and I can tell you more about me...." The small, beautiful blonde stared directly at Sammy. She held her breath....And she waited....

If Sammy left her with her wish....Adeline would wait until they were out of sight and turn. "Oh....Michael...Oh...God....Oh my gosh....What do I do? You didn't....you didn't tell me anything....you didn't tell me what to do ....." She got down on her hands and knees and started to try to gather all of the red shards she could into a pile with her bare hands. Her hands would start to bleed but she didn't care, she got all of the pieces she could. She waited for a moment. She paused.

She'd promised him. She'd promised him she wouldn't let his mind go on without his body. She promised him she would do what she could to end him if there was no chance of him existing as anything other than a trapped mind. Even Sammy had said it, though. He was going to come back. She had faith in Michael. And faith was....well....it was what she had.

"Should I....Should I put you in a pile? In a flat pile? In ball?" She sighed again. "You didn't tell me Michael....You didn't tell me anything....Why didn't you tell me anything?" Her eyes were all teary, and she was on the bring of sobbing. She took a deep breath. Michael would probably give her a good whop if she cried. He'd also be telling her to cut it out, get it together, etc...etc....

"A jar....What if I put you in a jar? I can take you with me...I can take you with me until I can figure out ...what...how...what....you know....You know what I mean...You always know what I mean...." She scrambled over and found a dirty wooden cup with no lid. It would have to do.

 

[bettsyboy]

scrambling to gather up the unmoving, quickly thawing gobs of red goo around her. After such a show of force and power to now see her do this. It was pathetic. He looked at her with pity, he'd seen this before, all too many times. A young girl loses her family, a lover, children, whatever. Then the first person who shows them any kindness, they project all their pent up emotions onto that person. Sam sighed, shaking his head. This girl was emotionall broken, no ifs ands or buts about it. He knew "Michael the undying" better than she would, at least more than he'd ever tell her. And besides him pitying the girl's grief, he didn't regret what he just did. Not for a second. He raised his left hand and waved it, from behind him two men covered in fireproof suits with large canisters on their backs came running. Sam turned away and started walking "Don't burn the girl, get what you can, if he can pull himself back together after that, make sure there isn't a full body to put back together"

Then men rused around Aveline and put their flamethrowers right down to the ground and started burning, like with pressure washers, careful to not let the billowing flames burn Aveline. In only a few seconds the chunks of meat around her were burning away, and the meat in the cup already had begun to rot, unnaturally fast. The men ran back to the trucks and piled into the backs. With that they started moving again, passing Aveline while keeping their weapons trained on her. From the armor car Sam called out "My offer still stands girl! You can help a lot of people by joining us! Think about it! And don't fall for the next random guy to cross you path again!"

________________________________

Michael's eyes opened beneath a turbulent overcast sky, beneath him was a soft, loose ground of small wet rocks. He raised his head then forced himself into a sitting possition "ugh... goddamnit, not again" he looked around, he sat on a small island, barely above the surface of what seemed to be an endless black ocean without currents. Other small islands visible in all directions. "Okay... where are you!?" He called out into the distance "Look, i know, i hit a snag, but I haven't abandoned our deal!" The answer came from only a couple feet behind him, the voice of a child, a young boy "I know" Michael spun around so quick he almost lost his balance "so, got pushed a bit futher than you'd let me come back from eh?" The voice was disembodied, but it came from the same location, a few feet now in front of him at his eye level "Yes, you were shattered into 2,354 pieces, the girl you were with tried picking you up, but most of you is burning away now" Michael sighed "what happened with her?" "They offered for her to join them, but she refused, for you" "stupid girl..." he grumbled under his voice, he continued "I tell you, that girl's gonna cause problems for us, i just know it" "why? She's rather obsessed with you, in love perhaps?" Michael snapped back "Exactly! It's not healthy! Eventually the shock of her family's death will wear off, she'll accuse me of manipulating her into feeling that about me and I'll be right back here!"

There was silence, the word "here" echoing across the endless space, even causing some mild ripples in the water "tell me..." the voice began "do you know what "here" is?" Michael shrugged "last time you said it was the Deadlands, some kinda purgatory?" "You know it by a name, one of billions, spoken by one of a billion tongues" "what does this have to do wi-" Michael began but the voice interrupted "Everything!... and nothing, Remember where you are and who you're talking to" Michael sighed, sitting back down on the stones "so... you gonna let me return? You've been watching, you know i'm still on target" the voice semi-manifested, a roughly human form of indeterminate gender roughly his height, it seemed to move only half of the mist around it, it came to sit next to Michael "In a few hours we can, but till then, let's talk" Michael nodded "and the girl?" "She'll be alright, some hours without you, either she'll cope, or have a psychotic break, not like you have a say in the matter" Michael shrugged "Fair enough"

 

[DramaKween]

(( I think maybe the first part of your post got lost? But that's okay I think I can figure it out ))

She was far outnumbered. Way out numbered. And...considering she'd lost her only partner left in this life....Outmatched. The last thing she remembered was looking into the little wooden cup and seeing whatever had been in there, whatever was left of Michael just.....disappear. She blinked a few times. She didn't really move when the men in suits surrounded what was left of Michael and started to burn every little bit of him away. She felt some of the heat, but it didn't bother her. She knew heat, and this was nothing like what she could do. Even if they aimed right at her, besides burning her clothes away, she didn't think those flame throwers would do much of anything to her. It didn't matter if they burned him or not. He was gone. Adeline closed her eyes. She just hoped that he was really gone. Afterall, she'd promised him.

Adeline was almost sure that "Sammy" was going to force her to join him, or kill her. Isn't that what Michael would tell her would happen? She wasn't sure anymore. She wasn't sure about anything. She turned her head and looked past them, beyond the horizon, where Michael had pointed to earlier where he said Gram's was in relation to where they'd traveled. She couldn't go back there. She looked just a bit the other way, to where the town they had just crossed through was. "I'll think about it, okay?" Adeline shook her head and smiled "I...haven't fallen for anyone...and...I won't.....I'll find you when I make my decision.....You'll know...."

She watched the men roll by. Weapons. Protection. Shields. Armor. They were all a fair match against her, she supposed. Afterall, they'd been matched again Michael, and Adeline had thought that nothing could take him away from her. Atleast, not one day after knowing him.

----

Adeline waited until the sound of tanks and vehicles was gone and she headed back to the town she and Michael had passed through. She started to sift through what was left, just like Michael had taught her, finding any kind of food that she could. There was hardly anything. She did manage to find and Olive green shirt that fit her much better than the over-sized, dirty black long sleeve shirt she had been wearing. She also found something she could tie her long blonde hair back with so that it was out of her face, and a water bottle that looked like it had fresh water inside.

As Adeline wandered through the dead town alone, she'd started to gather bodies. She took what as left of mangled children from their beds, charred women from their cellars, and the men that had been beaten, burned and hung. She brought all that she could find left of any bodies and put them in a big pile in the middle of the town. She'd gone through almost every single house, pocket, and cabinet. She had a little pile of 'things' and a big pile of bodies.

Adeline sat down on the ground several feet from the bodies. She'd found a crumpled up package of cigarettes. There were three inside. She had the little wooden bowl beside her as well, the one she'd tried to use to scoop up Michael. She lit one of the cigarettes (in her own natural way of course) and started to puff on it lightly. The smoke still felt good in her lungs. "I wish you were here....." In the bowl, she put a cigarette and a little bag of green smelly stuff she had found. She knew it was the green smelly stuff that Michael liked. She took a deep breath and glanced over at the pile of bodies. The sign with "Traitor" was on top of them all. She read the word over several times, trying to figure out what it meant . Michael had asked her what she thought about it, but he'd never really told her what he thought. He didn't tell her anything. He didn't tell her what to do, where to go, or what to find. She sighed. She wished he'd atleast told her what he thought a traitor was. Was she one? Should she have gone with Sam? Should she have fought for him harder?

There was really only one thing she knew how to do. Burn.

When the cigarette was nothing more than a filter , she flicked it towards the pile of bodies. A mushroom of fire engulfed the pile so suddenly that the bodies were gone in just seconds. She was far hotter than any silly flame thrower. All she wondered now, was if there would have been any way to help Michael. Or....Was she a traitor now too?

 

[bettsyboy]

Michael sat on the rocky shore, casually tossing stones into the black oily waters, trying to skip them but the water was somewhat viscous, and dragged down most after only one skip. He sighed, looking back to the figure standing over him. They'd chatted mostly about theology, philosophy and specifically, the what the philosophy of god might be, concepts natural to humans yet alien to the being standing behind him. It was alone here, Michael had been it's only company in aeons, yet only in short bursts. He figured perhaps it was lonely? Yet knew it couldn't keep him here forever. Michael had long since given up on finding what the motivations of such a being may be, yet high in the grey skies above, a distant glow of red, purpke and green, with red dominating the otgers could be seen, and when the being looked up at it, the waters trembled. He sighed again "so..." "so?" Asked the being "gonna let me go?" A single pulse rippled through the waters as the creature turned and walked to the other end of the island "very well" and after this. Silence, Michael looked around, getting to his feet ".. no doorway?" The being looked back at him and raised an arm, pointing out into the waters around them "in the water, just go in, and stay under, let go of your fears and instincts, you'll awaken again" Michael closed his eyes, he knew there was no arguing with it. "Alright, but this better not be some twisted joke" the being tilted it's head "... joke?" Michael rolled his eyes "nevermind, see you soon i guess" with that he walked to the shore. The water was thick like walking into jelly, jelly that was heavy, every part of his body that went under became heavier, like he was putting on training weights as he went down. No need for survival instincts, once his head was under he doubted he could swim back up if he tried. It got to his waist, after another step he dipped till it was at his shoulders, one more step and he was under.

He opened his mouth underwater and let it flow into his lungs and stomach. As he began to drown the spasms and panic began, despite his willpower he tried to escape it, he kicked and flailed, his eyes bulging, his heart racing, every second felt like an hour. But eventually, finally, he accepted his fate, he went limp and passed out. For a few minutes he lay there unconcious till finally. Death.

He jolted back to life, lying on a patch of grass a few hundred meters from where Sam shattered his body. It was a patch between the canal the bridge they crossed earlier came across and the fence of a hardware store, now covered in graffiti and blackened by fire. He checked over his body, he was naked. "Oh... bloody perfect!" He grumbled, getting to his feet. Being careful not to scrape his junk he scaled the fence and ran towards the old store. He peeked around the corner, a clothing store was across town, and it looked like it wasn't completely looted! But he hesitated, he was naked afterall. But then the thought came to him, would a naked madman wandering the streets be that out of place in L.A or a warzone? And both?.. nah. So he sauntered out from behind the shop, making his way down the alleyway. But out front of the shop was a group of people. Thankfully they weren't fighters but they jumped to their feet, drawing knives and bats, but he just raised his hands and thankfully they hesitated when they saw his nakedness. On the spot he came up with a story "Easy, easy!... yeah got caught in a fire back there, pants got rorn to shit on the fence back there, I don't want no trouble! Just wanna get some new uhh... digs? From there" he pointed gingerly at the shop. The leader of the group, a middle aged asian woman with burn marks on her face and arms waved her knife between him and the store "alright... go on, go!" Michael hurriedly backed away, keeping his hands up "okay i'm going! Yeasy with that thing!" He ran across the road and through the door to the store, no way was he climbing through a broken window in bare foot, again, while naked.

Inside he was able to muster a full outfit, although not exactly fashionable, he never cared much for fashion anyway. He got himself a pair of blue jeans with some boxer-briefs, a beige button up shirt, a grey hoodie with a cartoon of a boy pissing on a radio on the back, a pair of 10 dollar sneakers, black socks and even a watch.

He exited the store just in time to watch a shower of rockets arc overhead, going the way he came. In the distance he could hear the rattle of gunfire, the thunder of explosions. The survivors across the street didn't even raise their heads, it seemed clear they wanted nothing to do with the fighting and would just surrender the second the troops came into view. He made his way towards the bridge he crossed earlier with Aveline, in the distance he could see where he got killed, and a sigh of relief escaped him as he saw there wasn't also a dead young woman lying next to the wet puddle and little bits of rotting meat that was his body. He ran to the site, it was eerie, seeing your own remains. Aveline was nowhere in sight and the bag Grams had given him was gone. With a heavy sigh he weighed his options. He could meander aimlessly for awhile, looking for the girl, or he could continue his mission. After another glance around he figured there was no helping it, she was long gone by now. He sighed, turned and once again, started moving West.

 

[DramaKween]

After dwelling on the word "Traitor" and the events of the day far long than she'd meant to, Adeline decided it was time. it was time to get up. It was time to move on. It was time to go. Go....where? That was the million dollar question. That is, if money had any value anymore. At this point, it didn't seem to. It was all about power and influence, what you had and what you wanted....And safety. It was about safety. Where could she be safe?

Besides having no good ideas, no real clue of what to do, and being alone, Adeline was just so disoriented. Where was she? Her father had always taken care of where and when, and her mother had always told her not to worry about the logistics. She realized now, after meeting Michael, that her parents had her in some kind of bubble her whole life. Hiding her, cloaking her, masking her from everything and anything. Speaking of masks, she had the gas mask that Michael had always worn beside her. She picked it up and put it in her lap and stared down at it. He was just like her parents. He'd let her follow him around without teaching her, without preparing her, without even thinking about the day that she might not have him.

Adeline closed her eyes. That was a bit over the top. She'd only just met him. They hadn't even had much time besides scavenging, finding a place to sleep, and then trying to travel West.

"West!" Adeline stood up suddenly, the mask falling to the ground as she did. She then realized she was talking to herself. Michael had given her things that she hadn't really considered. He'd taught her more about survival and where to go and what to do in one day than her parents had in many years. "You're coming with me..." Still talking to herself, of course, Adeline picked up a bag that sat on her back and after putting a few of the things she had picked up from around town inside, she hung the mask from one of the straps so that it dangled down by her hips.

West.

The only problem was, Adeline didn't know which way was West. She glanced around...Remembering the direction of Gram's house, the direction they were going, and then she glanced up at the sun. "I hope this is West...." And then...Adeline started to walk...On her own...She was going to find out whatever was waiting for Michael where he'd been trying to go. If he wasn't going to make it there, at least maybe she could.

 

[bettsyboy]

Michael walked with a slouch, his back had been killing him ever since he woke up naked behind that hardware store, and he was hungry, damn hungry. He guessed it would have been too much to ask to wake up with at least something in his stomach. He glanced back east, looking at the great black plume that foretold the coming of the front lines. He had to keep up the pace, how long till the resistance's front line crumbled and the Army broke through. Ahead of him, west, were another series of explosions, rumbling through the airwaves, the shockwaves strong enough feel. He knew what it was immediately, the navy had begun bombing the coast, just like the early hours of D-day. But they couldn't have hoped to land troops down there!? That was where the strongest Supers were, waiting in reserve for when they were most needed. If they began a landing, their men would be slaughtered on the beaches under a counter-attack tge likes of which no trainibg could prepare them for.

While he wandered he wondered, how many men did the resistance still have? During it's hay-day they numbered 50,000 armed fighters and almost 120,000 in reserves with almost 10,000 Supers. How many was that now? He figured they must be pressing (forcing) civilians into the weapon and ammo factories as well as many to the front lines, all doubt, resistance and thoughts counter to orders wiped from their minds. He'd seen it happen, and he'd seen how those with no fear or doubt fought. Like madmen. He kept to the sidewalk but walked with purpose. Less likely for the resistance to stop and suspect him if he looked like he had nothing to hide and had no fear out of doing something the resistance didn't wsnt him to. It got him past the snipers so far. It was clear as he got further that this was the next line of defense he was coming to. In the hills around the town sniper nests and machine gun emplacements were being set up, behind them were AA guns, some even looked automated. Ahead of him stood a roadblock quickly being converted into a barricade. Men and women dressed in all black with balaclavas, black helmets, red armbands and assault rifles barked orders to those building it, some of whom were in plain clothes. He came to a stop when one raised a weapon to him "freeze!" The man cried out "been there done that" michael muttered under his breath as he raised his hands "what's your business!?" The man asked, tge others were getting into possition, all sights trained on him. "Just trying to get away from the fighting" he called back, the men looked michael over ".. strip!" Michael sighed "seriously!?" The men turned on the laser sight on his weapon, shining it at michael's eyes "Did i just fucking stutter!? Strip and turn around!"

With a heavy sigh michael complied, stripping down and slowly moving around all the way, the resistance fighters looked at eachother and nodded "alright you're clear" grumbling Michael got his clothes back on and continued towards the checkpoint. As he passed however one of the fighters grabbed him by the arm "hold on!..." the man looked Michael over, looking over the healed over bullet holes, stab scars and burn marks "... you've taken a lotta damage huh?" On the spot Michael thought up a lie "Soldiers... not Resistance, they were going house to house back East, killing everyone, i held out with some others, including a few doctors in a mall with a few pharmacies, got patched up as soon as i got shot, ever kept firing while someone takes a blowtorch to your asscheek to stop the bleeding?" The resistance fighters looked at eachother "... goddamn homie, y'know we could use some tough motherfucker like that... what you say?" Michael pinched the bridge of his nose "do i have a choice?" The fighters chuckled between them "nope" "will i at least get a uniform?" "Oh yeah" seeing no other real option michael aquiesced "... fine, but if you want your money's worth, i'm gonna need more than some nerf-shooter, y'hear?"

_______________________________

Soon in her own travels, Aveline would come across a girl, maybe 16, kneeling on the edge of the road over a corpse, twisted and mangled, with bulletholes in the stomach. The girl was dressed in a full nun's habit, quietly praying with a chain of rosary beads in her hand. The girl looked up at Aveline, got up and scurried behind a nearby liqour store . On the other side of the street sat another, dringing a machete over a whetstone, her Habit was pale, stained and torn, clearly old. From the front of her habit bristled her honey-blonde hair. The woman was pale and her face characterized by a large burn mark going horizontally across her face over her pale white eyes, her lip had been sliced open and healed poorly, leading to a disfigured mouth, leaving her top-front 2 teeth exposed. She stood up and held up the Machete towards Aveline "no sudden moves, Sinner... tell me, have you accepted the lord Jesus Christ as your lord and savior? Do you have the love of our lord and savior in your heart? Or are you another Heathen?"

 

[DramaKween]

While Adeline felt like she'd been traveling forever, she really had no idea how much time had passed. Her feet had started to really really hurt a few miles back so she had found a pile of bodies, picked a pair of old run down sneakers that looked most her size, checked the bodies for anything (cigarettes was what she mostly wanted) and then....she burned them. She burned the bodies. She seemed to do that with every body that she found...She wasn't entirely sure why she was doing it....It was just something she had started. Maybe it had to do with Michael, and him being burned away. Maybe because when she burned the flesh and bones and useless organs to ash, she didn't have to see the twisted faces of pain or the distorted positions after death. When she burned the bodies away, she felt like she was burning the pain and memory away as well.

The next corpse she came upon, someone was kneeling over it. She saw the twisted limbs, the mangled innards all over the street, the bullet holes, and the sheer look of pain and terror that remained on the deceased's face. She could help. She could erase it. "Here let me...." Before Adeline could say much more than a word to her, the girl had scurried away. She watched the girl go with a confused expression on her own face. She'd walked by a cracked, damaged mirror a few hours back and while her face was dirty and her hair was pulled back and her clothes so completely tattered and torn, she didn't think she looked that scary. Especially compared to others she'd come across, so why was this young girl so afraid of her....

Adeline was about to roll up her sleeves to burn when she heard someone shouting. She turned to see who it was and.....she gasped. She hadn't meant to gasp but....She couldn't help it. "I....I...Oh....My....You're...." Adeline put her hands up carefully and slowly, the way she'd seen Michael do it. "I'm not here to take anything or hurt anyone, I'm just here to pass through...." She used the same tone of voice Michael had, similar words. She couldn't help but stare at the woman's face. It took her several moments to realize why she was staring. She was disfigured. Like Michael. She missed him.

"I....Don't...know what you're talking about....But...I don't think I'm that last thing either? How about you put that big big knife down and we can talk.....?"

 

[bettsyboy]

The nun scowled "It'll stay up, profligate... the godless and blasphemers may kill one another, bathe in the gore of each other and christian alike but not us! You hear me!?" The woman moved out from where she stood out into the middle of the street, a gust of wind blowing the tattered edges of her long dress, all the while she kept her machete raised. The young girl from before came out of hiding, scampering over to go past the woman. She got to where the woman was before, to tge cooler she was sitting on. She opened it and reached inside, pulling out a 9mm handgun and turning to raise it at Aveline.

The woman scowled, her pale eyes burned with some righteous fury "the time of the rapture has come, sinner, the book of revelations told it to be so.." but then the girl piped up, her voice was high pitched, shrill even "Mother!... perhaps we need not kill this one" the woman paused for a moment "why?" The girl swallowed some saliva and cleared her thought "the bible teaches us to bring the sinners into the flock, perhaps she is merely ignorant?... we could cleanse her of her sins" the woman thought for a moment, all the while focussing on Aveline "maybe... tell me, girl. Would you be willing to leave your life of sin and vice behind? Would you be willing to side with the Lord jesus against the anti-christ in this end of days?... there are no two sides to this, either you stand with the lord, or you stand with satan"