ViAdvena
Schrödinger's cat
Ha, I'm contemplating between that and Raven Hair, Ivory Skin - TV Tropes or Eerie Pale-Skinned Brunette - TV Tropes, depends on whether you know her true nature or notwelian said:
as for the rest:
OOC Discussion
- Thread starter welian
- Start date
as for the rest:
Captain Hesperus
Harbinger of the End Times and Apostle of Ghan
Get the chips and drinks, it's a long one. 3757 words long:
Danny sat in the simple steel chair, behind the simple steel table in the featureless interview room. The walls were a matt gray color, as was the floor. The wall in front of the table featured a one-way mirror, heavy rivets around the frame indicating that it would take more than a normal person's strength to penetrate it. The door was the only other interesting feature in the room, opening inwards, it's inner frame was angled so that once closed, there was almost six inches of contact between door and doorframe on three sides. Danny sat silent, his cuffed hands resting on the table, eyes fixed on the mirror.
They'd come for him as he was leaving school. Of course, it'd been the middle of the day, since he'd been sent to the Principal's office for fighting again. His opponent had been sent to the school nurse with a concussion. Rather than go to the office, Danny had just bypassed the usual process and 'expelled' himself. He'd walked down the front steps and there it was, the black sedan with its blacked out windows. A man in the 'Commonwealth Uniform' of black suit and tie, white shirt was leaning against the car and he was watching.
"Hello Danny, we need to talk.", was the only thing the Suit said.
Then, before Danny could reply or even think about running, two other Suits stepped out from the shelter of the school steps and clapped handcuffs on him. They hustled him into the back of the sedan, one sitting each side of him, while the speaker got into the driver's seat and drove smoothly away. The journey downtown was quick. Traffic lights seemed to be always green as they approached and road junctions clear of jams as they traversed them. It was as if someone was making sure Danny's trip to wherever was quick and unlikely to allow him a chance to bail. The car made a swift left turn and entered an underground parking structure, pulling up right next to the secure elevator.
The three men hustled Danny out of the car and into the elevator with only a moment of fuss from the young boy, which was ended by the expedient act of the two Suits from the back seat hooking their arms under Danny's armpits and lifting him bodily off his feet and carrying him into the elevator. From there it was a quick transfer to this room and here he'd been since. It was at that moment that the door opened and the driver Suit walked in. He carried a dossier folder under one arm and a laptop in the other. The manilla dossier was bulging with paper and the cover had Danny's full name on it.
"Daniel Travis.", the suit said as he sat down on a chair opposite the boy brought in by another Suit who hung back by the door. It was a statement, not a question.
"What the fuck do you want?", he replied sullenly, "And take these fucking things off, it's not like I'm going anywhere."
"I know that far better than you do, Daniel. This building is designed to counter the efforts of the vast majority of your kind and is staffed by people able to suppress anyone beyond this building's capabilities."
He fished a small key out of his jacket pocket and unfastened the cuffs, tossing them to his associate.
"As I'm sure you're smart enough to know right now, we've been watching you for some time. Since early last year, in fact. Since shortly after your eleventh birthday.", he said, then paused as he considered something, "We offer our condolences on your father's death. His records indicate he was a fine, upstanding officer."
"Fuck you and fuck your condolences.", Danny growled back, "They're as worthless as you are."
The Suit sighed and flicked open the dossier. Danny could see pictures of his house, his old schools (many, many schools), his mother and his brother in uniform. The Suit saw Danny react slightly to the pictures of his family.
"It's okay, Daniel, your mother has been contacted by our office and is on her way here. She'll take you home once we're finished. Your brother would have come, but he's doing his annual firearms competence assessment and can't get out of it. But they aren't of interest to us. You are."
The honest tone in the Suit's voice relaxed Danny's mounting concern. He sat back in his chair.
"I need a drink, I missed lunch."
The Suit nodded and his associate turned and left the room. HE returned minutes later with a slightly cold can of diet soda and a packet of vending machine sandwiches. Free food was not something to turn his nose up at so Danny set about it without worrying if it was laced with poison or some other drug.
"You aren't living at home any more, are you? I'm sure your mom is worried."
"I live at the Y. Mom's constantly on the phone to me, but I don't want to go back."
"Why is that?"
"None of your fucking business, that's why."
The Suit nodded again.
"Daniel, we're interested in and concerned about you.", he said, opening the laptop and letting it spin up, "We've been interested since you first came to our attention , three months after you know."
He turned the laptop around to show a video window. A tap of the keyboard and a shaky cellphone video started up. It showed a teenage girl videoing herself as she walked down an urban street, complaining about 'Cassandra being a bitch' but suddenly lurched around to the sound of car tires screeching. The video showed a grey two-door unsuccessfully trying to grind to a halt mere feet from a toddler in the middle of the road. Moments before the inevitable impact, a kid in a hoodie raced out and grabbed the toddler and put his own back to the swiftly moving car. The impact was strange. Instead of the young boy and toddler getting hurled through the air, nothing happened other than the car coming to an abrupt stop and the driver's airbag deploying. Then there was a rumble and the paved road shattered into a crazed pattern centered on the boy. Alarsm in cars parked alongside the impact went off in a cacophony of wails, bleeps and whoops, even as the videographer swore profusely. The boy stood up and the toddler laughed and ran to her obviously distraught parents. The father of the kid ran to the boy and what appeared to be a discussion took place. It quickly devolved as the boy shouted, "Asshole! How much is your kid's life worth to you?"
The father then swung a punch at the boy's chin which had little effect. The response however, a punch to the gut staggered the grown man and put him on the ground in the fetal position. The boy shouted more abuse, then ran off as he realised people were starting to gather. The video ended by lurching back to the teen girl, a shocked expression on her face as she declared, "This shit's going on MyTube, biiitch!".
"You never told your mom about that, did you? Why not? Did you not want her to be proud of both her sons?"
"I didn't want her to know her youngest son is a freak."
The Suit was the one to flinch as Danny used the term that had become so synonymous with Supers these days.
"So you don't like your powers?"
"Fucking hate 'em.", Danny replied, before taking a slurp of the barely-cold soda, "Why does this shit all happen to me."
"It's not just you, Daniel. Others have these powers and go on to make a positive contribution to society."
"And some of the motherfuckers get jacked up on some shit or other then murder a cop doing his duty."
The Suit frowned, "Yes, Lightning Volt. It was unfortunate that he turned to drugs to help him cope with his responsibilities as a Vigilante. He-"
"HE KILLED MY DAD!", Danny snapped back, slamming his fists down on the table so hard the laptop jumped and the soda can fell and rolled off onto the floor, spilling its contents everywhere.
"FUCKING ASSHOLE TASED HIM TO DEATH!", Danny continued, standing and kicking his chair away, "All my dad did was respond to an 'armed robbery alarm' and when he arrived that buttfucker walked out and electrocuted him. He was so badly burned, we couldn't have an open casket!"
Danny was breathing heavy now, his eyes glancing sideways to the Suit by the door who had a hand inside his Commonwealth-issue jacket. The Suit sat at the table was unmoved, instead he had moved the dossier and was mopping up the soda spilt on the table with a pocket handkerchief.
"Sit down, Daniel.", he said calmly, unfazed by the teen's outburst, "This is what worries us. Your powers are growing, expanding. We're worried that soon you might not be able to control them."
"I can handle it. I'm not a freak."
"Can you though? Can you handle it? This is video footage from the First National Bank on 18th. You know it, it's where you collect the money your mom and brother deposit for you."
He turned the laptop around again and started another video. This time it was security camera footage, along with date and time data along the top edge. It depicted a standard bank interior, as seen from an elevated position, perhaps fifteen feet up the wall, teller booths along one wall, benches in the middle with their little pens on chains, desks and seating areas around the edges. By the door was a security desk complete with an armed security officer who looked to be in his fifties. As the footage rolled, Danny could be clearly seen walking in, wearing his usual attire of cargo pants and a hoodie. He started to approach the tellers when two men bearing assault rifles and wearing masks and body armor rushed in. One of the men clubbed the old security guard in the face with the butt of his rifle and the old guy hit the floor hard while the other aimed his gun at the patrons of the bank. All the panicked bank patrons hurled themselves to the floor. All except Danny. Danny was watching the second gunman who was continuing to kick and beat the security guard, who writhed on the floor in agony. Danny could be seen pointing at the guard and the two robbers paused in their acts. The one suppressing the patrons pointed his gun at Danny and gestured to the floor. Danny turned and flicked him the bird before advancing on the one stood over the injured guard.
That robber then turned his gun on Danny and raised it threateningly. Danny threw his hands wide, daring the gunman to shoot. The gun flared silently, but Danny did not respond. Instead, the stone floor of the bank rippled and both gunmen staggered. Danny then started to rush the man stood over the guard, but the armed man recovered before he'd got close. The gun opened fire again and again, but Danny continued advancing. Once he got toe-to-toe with the robber, his hand snapped up and connected with the man's jaw. The gunman's feet left the floor. He flew upwards, out of the camera's field of view and moments later landed on the floor in a shower of plaster and ceiling tiles. The other gunman also started shooting but this time Danny ran at him. He shoulder-charged the second robber and the guy was catapulted through the air to slam into the armored windows of the bank. The glass cracked and crazed behind him and the criminal hit the floor hard, apparently unconscious. The video ended as Danny ran from the bank.
"Do you ever go back there? To that bank?", the seated Suit asked, "The security guard recovered okay, but took that as a sign he needed to retire. He moved upstate to be closer to his grandkids. The crooks got hard time. Once they got released from the hospital. Lot of people's lives were saved that day. You were a hero."
Danny didn't respond, instead he picked up his seat and sat back at the table. The Suit by the door also relaxed.
"Two things are going to happen today, Daniel. One you have no choice whatsoever over and the other you do. First, you and your powers are going to be assessed and rated. This will lead to you being fitted for a Limiter, a higher-level one I'll be guessing. The second will be up to you. Either you will be sent to a secure facility where you and your powers will not be a risk to others or you'll submit yourself to one of the AEGIS training facilities, 108 in fact, to learn how to control your powers and gain your Blue Card."
"I don't wanna Blue fucking Card."
"Fine, that's a choice you can make, if you complete your training."
The Suit closed his dossier and picked both it and the laptop up.
"Wait here and someone will be along to take you through your tests."
With that, the two Suits left the room. Danny sat and watched them as they left. He was determined that he wasn't going to submit to any tests they put him through.
He was sat waiting for several minutes, concocting a variety of insults for whoever came to take him for testing. It was only after five minutes that he noticed a slight shadow at the door. He'd not really noticed it before, since he'd been glaring at the window, but as time had gone by he'd paid more attention to the door. There was a definite shadow, along the long edge of the door. It was open! Only slightly ajar, but open. Obviously the Suits hadn't pulled it fully shut behind them and the locks had not engaged. Danny paused, suddenly unsure. This had to be a trick. He'd go to the door and they'd be stood outside waiting. He decided to wait. Ten more minutes passed and he continued to glance at the door. He couldn't hear anything and no one had come yet. Cautiously he approached the door and listened at the crack. Nothing, no sounds of anything that might betray the presence of another person outside. With a single finger, he gently pulled the door slightly more ajar. It moved easily but there was still no indication that anyone was there. He took a breath then pulled it open. He was confronted by a corridor. It stretched away both left and right, lined with identical unmarked doors. There was no one to be seen. Danny snuck out through the door, expecting all the doors either side of him to spring open and a horde of Suits to come pouring out like that old sci-fi movie with the guy in the computer-generated world. Nothing. No one. danny started to move down the corridor, looking for anything that looked like an escape route. A green sign at the end of the corridor pointed the way to the emergency exit. Bingo.
Danny picked up the pace, jogging as quietly as he could. He was almost at the end of the corridor when he heard the whine of a small motor. He looked up to see the glass dome of a camera. A moment later, a klaxon went off and a female voice came through the PA.
"Unaccompanied Super in Sector B. Containment teams move to Sector B and secure. Activating internal defences in Sector B. All personnel activate personal IFFs."
Danny could hear other noises over the klaxon, the sound of clipped shouts and heavy boots. He gave up on the stealthy approach and started to run in the direction the sign pointed. Behind him, he heard a voice, "That way! Subject heading east!"
He didn't risk a glance back and was grateful for that as a pair of heavily-armored men turned into the corridor ahead of him from one side. One of the men carried a shotgun which he levelled and fired at Danny. The beanbag round would have normally floored or staggered a normal human, but for Danny it was like a tap on the chest. He responded by sending a shockwave through the ground, knocking both men over in the narrow corridor. The teenager then jumped over the confused jumble of bodies and kept running. Another beanbag hit him in the back of the leg, but he didn't stumble. He kept running, feeling the stored energy from the hit fade over the half-minute or so. He couldn’t stop running, ducking down corridors whenever his route was blocked by the armored security men. But they seemed to be closing in and getting more violent. There was a crack inches from Danny’s left ear and as he glanced back over his shoulder he saw one of the men now carried an assault rifle. In front of him, the signs indicated the emergency exit and, indeed, the door did have a push-bar opener similar to those on fire exit doors. It also had a solid steel bar holding the doors shut with a large padlock fixing the bar to the doorframe. Danny ran at the door in a dead sprint, without ducking or dodging. The shots of the assault rifle zipped past a couple more times and then he felt the familiar sensation of bullets hitting his body. He held onto the energy, willed it to stay within him and not dissipate. The door was only feet away so he threw himself into the air and punched out at the steel bar.
The bar, door and doorframe hurtled outward from the side of the building in a cloud of pulverised brick and cinderblock. Through the dust cloud, Danny staggered. He was cradling his right hand and forearm which was already swollen and bruised. He looked around, trying to orient himself and figure which was the quickest and easiest to effect his escape proper. Then his eyes fell upon the woman. She was tall for a woman, five feet nine or five feet ten. She was athletically shapely and her silver-dyed hair was asymmetrically cut with the right side shaved almost an inch above her ear and the left side with a longer cut that hung down to her jawline. She was dressed in something similar to a tactical combat rig, close-fitting fatigues with webbing carrying various items of equipment. She nodded at Danny, a nod of acknowledgement, then ran at him. Something inside him told him that she was an extreme threat and he tried to run, glancing back over his shoulder to see what she was going to do. He saw her suddenly take flight, a cloud of hissing steam replacing her legs and trailing from her arms. She flew over him and landed ahead of him, taking solid form as she touched the ground.
“Kid,”, she said in a smooth voice with a familiar accent, “You can’t outrun me and you sure as hell can’t outfight me. Let’s go back inside and finish your testing.”
Danny didn’t stop running, he closed the distance to the woman and tried to throw a left hook. His hand flew straight and true, but the moment it made contact with her jaw, she became smoke and he passed through her. He barely managed to keep his balance, throwing out his wounded right hand to steady himself against a dumpster as the woman reformed again.
This time, she didn’t reform. Instead, the smoke cloud rushed around him and changed from an ashy gray color to a violent yellow. Danny cried out as his eyes and nose suddenly started to burn, then choked as his throat tightened up. Tear gas? He stumbled out of the cloud, blind, breathless and disoriented. Through tear-filled eyes he saw the woman take form again. She seemed unsteady herself and when he threw another left at her, this time it connected. But it was weak. It struck her shoulder and she caught his arm before he could pull it back. She twisted it around and got him into an easy armlock, then threw her free arm around his neck and applied enough pressure to choke out the debilitated teen. Danny cursed and swore and struggled for a few moments before his strength and his consciousness escaped him and he went limp. Once he stopped resisting, the woman gently lowered him to the ground. She checked him for a pulse and breathing, then sighed with relief as she found them. Moments later, the security guards caught up to her, along with the Suit who’d driven the car and interviewed Danny.
“Thanks for the help, Vape.”, the Suit said with a nod, “Though, last time I checked you were in Washington.”
“That’s why I was here. Came to renew my Baltimore Blue Card”, Vape, the woman, responded, “With Mom getting sicker, I figured I should stick closer to home. Especially since you never visit her.”
“Jessica, you know things are complicated for me-”
“Bullshit!”, she replied, stepping back to allow a couple of medics to carefully lift the unconscious Danny onto a gurney, then caught the arm of one of them, “Careful, I think his right hand is broken.”
The medic looked over the injured hand and nodded his silent agreement, before they wheeled the gurney back through the hole in the wall.
“So anyway, I’m back in Baltimore for the duration. Looking for a job, you know, in between jobs.”, she continued, looking back at the Suit, “The kid’s a B. His powers rely on external forces and he’s only invulnerable to direct physical attacks. He’s easily overpowered by gas attacks and anything that doesn’t offer extreme force. And the broken hand is evidence that he is not protected from his own strength.”
“Okay, B rank it is.”, the Suit replied, writing in a notebook, ”What’s your cell number? Is it the one I have? I’d like to catch up with you.”
“If you want to contact me, I have a new cell number. The only way you’ll get it is if you get it from Mom’s address book. At the care home.”
The challenge in her voice was explicit and before the Suit could reply, Vape took on her steam flight form and soared up into the air on a plume of hissing steam.
They'd come for him as he was leaving school. Of course, it'd been the middle of the day, since he'd been sent to the Principal's office for fighting again. His opponent had been sent to the school nurse with a concussion. Rather than go to the office, Danny had just bypassed the usual process and 'expelled' himself. He'd walked down the front steps and there it was, the black sedan with its blacked out windows. A man in the 'Commonwealth Uniform' of black suit and tie, white shirt was leaning against the car and he was watching.
"Hello Danny, we need to talk.", was the only thing the Suit said.
Then, before Danny could reply or even think about running, two other Suits stepped out from the shelter of the school steps and clapped handcuffs on him. They hustled him into the back of the sedan, one sitting each side of him, while the speaker got into the driver's seat and drove smoothly away. The journey downtown was quick. Traffic lights seemed to be always green as they approached and road junctions clear of jams as they traversed them. It was as if someone was making sure Danny's trip to wherever was quick and unlikely to allow him a chance to bail. The car made a swift left turn and entered an underground parking structure, pulling up right next to the secure elevator.
The three men hustled Danny out of the car and into the elevator with only a moment of fuss from the young boy, which was ended by the expedient act of the two Suits from the back seat hooking their arms under Danny's armpits and lifting him bodily off his feet and carrying him into the elevator. From there it was a quick transfer to this room and here he'd been since. It was at that moment that the door opened and the driver Suit walked in. He carried a dossier folder under one arm and a laptop in the other. The manilla dossier was bulging with paper and the cover had Danny's full name on it.
"Daniel Travis.", the suit said as he sat down on a chair opposite the boy brought in by another Suit who hung back by the door. It was a statement, not a question.
"What the fuck do you want?", he replied sullenly, "And take these fucking things off, it's not like I'm going anywhere."
"I know that far better than you do, Daniel. This building is designed to counter the efforts of the vast majority of your kind and is staffed by people able to suppress anyone beyond this building's capabilities."
He fished a small key out of his jacket pocket and unfastened the cuffs, tossing them to his associate.
"As I'm sure you're smart enough to know right now, we've been watching you for some time. Since early last year, in fact. Since shortly after your eleventh birthday.", he said, then paused as he considered something, "We offer our condolences on your father's death. His records indicate he was a fine, upstanding officer."
"Fuck you and fuck your condolences.", Danny growled back, "They're as worthless as you are."
The Suit sighed and flicked open the dossier. Danny could see pictures of his house, his old schools (many, many schools), his mother and his brother in uniform. The Suit saw Danny react slightly to the pictures of his family.
"It's okay, Daniel, your mother has been contacted by our office and is on her way here. She'll take you home once we're finished. Your brother would have come, but he's doing his annual firearms competence assessment and can't get out of it. But they aren't of interest to us. You are."
The honest tone in the Suit's voice relaxed Danny's mounting concern. He sat back in his chair.
"I need a drink, I missed lunch."
The Suit nodded and his associate turned and left the room. HE returned minutes later with a slightly cold can of diet soda and a packet of vending machine sandwiches. Free food was not something to turn his nose up at so Danny set about it without worrying if it was laced with poison or some other drug.
"You aren't living at home any more, are you? I'm sure your mom is worried."
"I live at the Y. Mom's constantly on the phone to me, but I don't want to go back."
"Why is that?"
"None of your fucking business, that's why."
The Suit nodded again.
"Daniel, we're interested in and concerned about you.", he said, opening the laptop and letting it spin up, "We've been interested since you first came to our attention , three months after you know."
He turned the laptop around to show a video window. A tap of the keyboard and a shaky cellphone video started up. It showed a teenage girl videoing herself as she walked down an urban street, complaining about 'Cassandra being a bitch' but suddenly lurched around to the sound of car tires screeching. The video showed a grey two-door unsuccessfully trying to grind to a halt mere feet from a toddler in the middle of the road. Moments before the inevitable impact, a kid in a hoodie raced out and grabbed the toddler and put his own back to the swiftly moving car. The impact was strange. Instead of the young boy and toddler getting hurled through the air, nothing happened other than the car coming to an abrupt stop and the driver's airbag deploying. Then there was a rumble and the paved road shattered into a crazed pattern centered on the boy. Alarsm in cars parked alongside the impact went off in a cacophony of wails, bleeps and whoops, even as the videographer swore profusely. The boy stood up and the toddler laughed and ran to her obviously distraught parents. The father of the kid ran to the boy and what appeared to be a discussion took place. It quickly devolved as the boy shouted, "Asshole! How much is your kid's life worth to you?"
The father then swung a punch at the boy's chin which had little effect. The response however, a punch to the gut staggered the grown man and put him on the ground in the fetal position. The boy shouted more abuse, then ran off as he realised people were starting to gather. The video ended by lurching back to the teen girl, a shocked expression on her face as she declared, "This shit's going on MyTube, biiitch!".
"You never told your mom about that, did you? Why not? Did you not want her to be proud of both her sons?"
"I didn't want her to know her youngest son is a freak."
The Suit was the one to flinch as Danny used the term that had become so synonymous with Supers these days.
"So you don't like your powers?"
"Fucking hate 'em.", Danny replied, before taking a slurp of the barely-cold soda, "Why does this shit all happen to me."
"It's not just you, Daniel. Others have these powers and go on to make a positive contribution to society."
"And some of the motherfuckers get jacked up on some shit or other then murder a cop doing his duty."
The Suit frowned, "Yes, Lightning Volt. It was unfortunate that he turned to drugs to help him cope with his responsibilities as a Vigilante. He-"
"HE KILLED MY DAD!", Danny snapped back, slamming his fists down on the table so hard the laptop jumped and the soda can fell and rolled off onto the floor, spilling its contents everywhere.
"FUCKING ASSHOLE TASED HIM TO DEATH!", Danny continued, standing and kicking his chair away, "All my dad did was respond to an 'armed robbery alarm' and when he arrived that buttfucker walked out and electrocuted him. He was so badly burned, we couldn't have an open casket!"
Danny was breathing heavy now, his eyes glancing sideways to the Suit by the door who had a hand inside his Commonwealth-issue jacket. The Suit sat at the table was unmoved, instead he had moved the dossier and was mopping up the soda spilt on the table with a pocket handkerchief.
"Sit down, Daniel.", he said calmly, unfazed by the teen's outburst, "This is what worries us. Your powers are growing, expanding. We're worried that soon you might not be able to control them."
"I can handle it. I'm not a freak."
"Can you though? Can you handle it? This is video footage from the First National Bank on 18th. You know it, it's where you collect the money your mom and brother deposit for you."
He turned the laptop around again and started another video. This time it was security camera footage, along with date and time data along the top edge. It depicted a standard bank interior, as seen from an elevated position, perhaps fifteen feet up the wall, teller booths along one wall, benches in the middle with their little pens on chains, desks and seating areas around the edges. By the door was a security desk complete with an armed security officer who looked to be in his fifties. As the footage rolled, Danny could be clearly seen walking in, wearing his usual attire of cargo pants and a hoodie. He started to approach the tellers when two men bearing assault rifles and wearing masks and body armor rushed in. One of the men clubbed the old security guard in the face with the butt of his rifle and the old guy hit the floor hard while the other aimed his gun at the patrons of the bank. All the panicked bank patrons hurled themselves to the floor. All except Danny. Danny was watching the second gunman who was continuing to kick and beat the security guard, who writhed on the floor in agony. Danny could be seen pointing at the guard and the two robbers paused in their acts. The one suppressing the patrons pointed his gun at Danny and gestured to the floor. Danny turned and flicked him the bird before advancing on the one stood over the injured guard.
That robber then turned his gun on Danny and raised it threateningly. Danny threw his hands wide, daring the gunman to shoot. The gun flared silently, but Danny did not respond. Instead, the stone floor of the bank rippled and both gunmen staggered. Danny then started to rush the man stood over the guard, but the armed man recovered before he'd got close. The gun opened fire again and again, but Danny continued advancing. Once he got toe-to-toe with the robber, his hand snapped up and connected with the man's jaw. The gunman's feet left the floor. He flew upwards, out of the camera's field of view and moments later landed on the floor in a shower of plaster and ceiling tiles. The other gunman also started shooting but this time Danny ran at him. He shoulder-charged the second robber and the guy was catapulted through the air to slam into the armored windows of the bank. The glass cracked and crazed behind him and the criminal hit the floor hard, apparently unconscious. The video ended as Danny ran from the bank.
"Do you ever go back there? To that bank?", the seated Suit asked, "The security guard recovered okay, but took that as a sign he needed to retire. He moved upstate to be closer to his grandkids. The crooks got hard time. Once they got released from the hospital. Lot of people's lives were saved that day. You were a hero."
Danny didn't respond, instead he picked up his seat and sat back at the table. The Suit by the door also relaxed.
"Two things are going to happen today, Daniel. One you have no choice whatsoever over and the other you do. First, you and your powers are going to be assessed and rated. This will lead to you being fitted for a Limiter, a higher-level one I'll be guessing. The second will be up to you. Either you will be sent to a secure facility where you and your powers will not be a risk to others or you'll submit yourself to one of the AEGIS training facilities, 108 in fact, to learn how to control your powers and gain your Blue Card."
"I don't wanna Blue fucking Card."
"Fine, that's a choice you can make, if you complete your training."
The Suit closed his dossier and picked both it and the laptop up.
"Wait here and someone will be along to take you through your tests."
With that, the two Suits left the room. Danny sat and watched them as they left. He was determined that he wasn't going to submit to any tests they put him through.
He was sat waiting for several minutes, concocting a variety of insults for whoever came to take him for testing. It was only after five minutes that he noticed a slight shadow at the door. He'd not really noticed it before, since he'd been glaring at the window, but as time had gone by he'd paid more attention to the door. There was a definite shadow, along the long edge of the door. It was open! Only slightly ajar, but open. Obviously the Suits hadn't pulled it fully shut behind them and the locks had not engaged. Danny paused, suddenly unsure. This had to be a trick. He'd go to the door and they'd be stood outside waiting. He decided to wait. Ten more minutes passed and he continued to glance at the door. He couldn't hear anything and no one had come yet. Cautiously he approached the door and listened at the crack. Nothing, no sounds of anything that might betray the presence of another person outside. With a single finger, he gently pulled the door slightly more ajar. It moved easily but there was still no indication that anyone was there. He took a breath then pulled it open. He was confronted by a corridor. It stretched away both left and right, lined with identical unmarked doors. There was no one to be seen. Danny snuck out through the door, expecting all the doors either side of him to spring open and a horde of Suits to come pouring out like that old sci-fi movie with the guy in the computer-generated world. Nothing. No one. danny started to move down the corridor, looking for anything that looked like an escape route. A green sign at the end of the corridor pointed the way to the emergency exit. Bingo.
Danny picked up the pace, jogging as quietly as he could. He was almost at the end of the corridor when he heard the whine of a small motor. He looked up to see the glass dome of a camera. A moment later, a klaxon went off and a female voice came through the PA.
"Unaccompanied Super in Sector B. Containment teams move to Sector B and secure. Activating internal defences in Sector B. All personnel activate personal IFFs."
Danny could hear other noises over the klaxon, the sound of clipped shouts and heavy boots. He gave up on the stealthy approach and started to run in the direction the sign pointed. Behind him, he heard a voice, "That way! Subject heading east!"
He didn't risk a glance back and was grateful for that as a pair of heavily-armored men turned into the corridor ahead of him from one side. One of the men carried a shotgun which he levelled and fired at Danny. The beanbag round would have normally floored or staggered a normal human, but for Danny it was like a tap on the chest. He responded by sending a shockwave through the ground, knocking both men over in the narrow corridor. The teenager then jumped over the confused jumble of bodies and kept running. Another beanbag hit him in the back of the leg, but he didn't stumble. He kept running, feeling the stored energy from the hit fade over the half-minute or so. He couldn’t stop running, ducking down corridors whenever his route was blocked by the armored security men. But they seemed to be closing in and getting more violent. There was a crack inches from Danny’s left ear and as he glanced back over his shoulder he saw one of the men now carried an assault rifle. In front of him, the signs indicated the emergency exit and, indeed, the door did have a push-bar opener similar to those on fire exit doors. It also had a solid steel bar holding the doors shut with a large padlock fixing the bar to the doorframe. Danny ran at the door in a dead sprint, without ducking or dodging. The shots of the assault rifle zipped past a couple more times and then he felt the familiar sensation of bullets hitting his body. He held onto the energy, willed it to stay within him and not dissipate. The door was only feet away so he threw himself into the air and punched out at the steel bar.
The bar, door and doorframe hurtled outward from the side of the building in a cloud of pulverised brick and cinderblock. Through the dust cloud, Danny staggered. He was cradling his right hand and forearm which was already swollen and bruised. He looked around, trying to orient himself and figure which was the quickest and easiest to effect his escape proper. Then his eyes fell upon the woman. She was tall for a woman, five feet nine or five feet ten. She was athletically shapely and her silver-dyed hair was asymmetrically cut with the right side shaved almost an inch above her ear and the left side with a longer cut that hung down to her jawline. She was dressed in something similar to a tactical combat rig, close-fitting fatigues with webbing carrying various items of equipment. She nodded at Danny, a nod of acknowledgement, then ran at him. Something inside him told him that she was an extreme threat and he tried to run, glancing back over his shoulder to see what she was going to do. He saw her suddenly take flight, a cloud of hissing steam replacing her legs and trailing from her arms. She flew over him and landed ahead of him, taking solid form as she touched the ground.
“Kid,”, she said in a smooth voice with a familiar accent, “You can’t outrun me and you sure as hell can’t outfight me. Let’s go back inside and finish your testing.”
Danny didn’t stop running, he closed the distance to the woman and tried to throw a left hook. His hand flew straight and true, but the moment it made contact with her jaw, she became smoke and he passed through her. He barely managed to keep his balance, throwing out his wounded right hand to steady himself against a dumpster as the woman reformed again.
This time, she didn’t reform. Instead, the smoke cloud rushed around him and changed from an ashy gray color to a violent yellow. Danny cried out as his eyes and nose suddenly started to burn, then choked as his throat tightened up. Tear gas? He stumbled out of the cloud, blind, breathless and disoriented. Through tear-filled eyes he saw the woman take form again. She seemed unsteady herself and when he threw another left at her, this time it connected. But it was weak. It struck her shoulder and she caught his arm before he could pull it back. She twisted it around and got him into an easy armlock, then threw her free arm around his neck and applied enough pressure to choke out the debilitated teen. Danny cursed and swore and struggled for a few moments before his strength and his consciousness escaped him and he went limp. Once he stopped resisting, the woman gently lowered him to the ground. She checked him for a pulse and breathing, then sighed with relief as she found them. Moments later, the security guards caught up to her, along with the Suit who’d driven the car and interviewed Danny.
“Thanks for the help, Vape.”, the Suit said with a nod, “Though, last time I checked you were in Washington.”
“That’s why I was here. Came to renew my Baltimore Blue Card”, Vape, the woman, responded, “With Mom getting sicker, I figured I should stick closer to home. Especially since you never visit her.”
“Jessica, you know things are complicated for me-”
“Bullshit!”, she replied, stepping back to allow a couple of medics to carefully lift the unconscious Danny onto a gurney, then caught the arm of one of them, “Careful, I think his right hand is broken.”
The medic looked over the injured hand and nodded his silent agreement, before they wheeled the gurney back through the hole in the wall.
“So anyway, I’m back in Baltimore for the duration. Looking for a job, you know, in between jobs.”, she continued, looking back at the Suit, “The kid’s a B. His powers rely on external forces and he’s only invulnerable to direct physical attacks. He’s easily overpowered by gas attacks and anything that doesn’t offer extreme force. And the broken hand is evidence that he is not protected from his own strength.”
“Okay, B rank it is.”, the Suit replied, writing in a notebook, ”What’s your cell number? Is it the one I have? I’d like to catch up with you.”
“If you want to contact me, I have a new cell number. The only way you’ll get it is if you get it from Mom’s address book. At the care home.”
The challenge in her voice was explicit and before the Suit could reply, Vape took on her steam flight form and soared up into the air on a plume of hissing steam.
Captain Hesperus
Harbinger of the End Times and Apostle of Ghan
As an aside, I want to write up Vape as a character. But she's easily an A rank veteran Vigilante. Ergo, I shall never be able to create her.
Sadness.
Captain Hesperus
Sadness.
Captain Hesperus
Swoob
listen here bucko
i shall read the prompt responses and respond to it myself tonight o7
Last edited by a moderator:
Gus
Justice RIDES AGAIN!!!
That was great stuff, cap. Nice end to a late night.
King Of Imagination
Jak, The Third J of the Apocalypse
@welian I am only waiting on a Morgan post now, and my posting window will be small after tomorrow. No rush though, love you 
Lemon Boy
~Brilliantly Bitter~
Possible allusion to a character that I made alongside Jesika that may or may not replace her as my E rank faculty member. < _ <
in other news, indigo is still an indecisive piece of shit on characters
Also, post will be up soon right after dinner!
Handicapped Badass - TV Tropes
Genius Cripple - TV Tropes
Gadgeteer Genius - TV Tropes
The Smart Guy - TV Tropes
Sarcastic Devotee - TV Tropes
Blind Seer - TV Tropes
The Cynic - TV Tropes
in other news, indigo is still an indecisive piece of shit on characters
Also, post will be up soon right after dinner!
Handicapped Badass - TV Tropes
Genius Cripple - TV Tropes
Gadgeteer Genius - TV Tropes
The Smart Guy - TV Tropes
Sarcastic Devotee - TV Tropes
Blind Seer - TV Tropes
The Cynic - TV Tropes
Gus
Justice RIDES AGAIN!!!
Coming soon? I have been loving all the back stories. Ready for more...Swoob said:
welian
#BlackLivesMatter
I have no backstories for Morgan, alas. He is a plain, plain boy.
Swoob
listen here bucko
sry, it may take a long time ;-; i have a swim meet today and I've been planning other stuff but i shall do my bestoGus said:Coming soon? I have been loving all the back stories. Ready for more...
welian
#BlackLivesMatter
Also, everyone is REALLY close to getting an extra CCP. Just keep posting!!
Captain Hesperus
Harbinger of the End Times and Apostle of Ghan
Will the backstory/testing days be added somewhere so people can re-read them without having to trawl through like a million pages of OOC?
Captain Hesperus
Captain Hesperus
welian
#BlackLivesMatter
Captain Hesperus]Will the backstory/testing days be added somewhere so people can re-read them without having to trawl through like a million pages of OOC? [/QUOTE] Yes! I just... Hmm. [URL="https://www.rpnation.com/profile/31063-gus/ said:
welian
#BlackLivesMatter
@Giyari @too much idea @Aldur @DJ MagicHat Yoouuuu guys need to update your character profiles, you're all still using the old layout.
Aldur
Memory Dealer
You said it was optionaaaal
welian
#BlackLivesMatter
Not anymore, scrub.Aldur said:
yoikes
The (Not So) Evil Mastermind
sadface.jpgwelian said:
will do asap
Lemon Boy
~Brilliantly Bitter~
Wweeelllpp, after wandering through the internet, there's literally five Wheelchaired character arts I could find which were good.
Time to go for Plan C and go for a Teacher role. An E rank teacher whom you shouldn't fuck with even though they aren't even a fucking D rank.
Knights of Raguel should have a fucking ball meeting her.
Apron Matron - TV Tropes
Badass Preacher - TV Tropes
Hidden Badass - TV Tropes
Incorruptible Pure Pureness - TV Tropes
Combat Medic - TV Tropes
Time to go for Plan C and go for a Teacher role. An E rank teacher whom you shouldn't fuck with even though they aren't even a fucking D rank.
Knights of Raguel should have a fucking ball meeting her.
Apron Matron - TV Tropes
Badass Preacher - TV Tropes
Hidden Badass - TV Tropes
Incorruptible Pure Pureness - TV Tropes
Combat Medic - TV Tropes
welian
#BlackLivesMatter
[QUOTE="St Indigo]Knights of Raguel should have a fucking ball meeting her.
[/QUOTE]
Raguel will attempt to save her from the subjugation of the demons.
[/QUOTE]
Raguel will attempt to save her from the subjugation of the demons.
Lemon Boy
~Brilliantly Bitter~
I'd be really interested in them two meeting.
She's a legitimately canonized saint given that she "died" on the battlefield serving as a Combative Medic who associated herself with the Church and stuff very heavily. Basically a Medical Nun.
Safe to say, lots of Cybernetic, Scientific and Robotic shenanigans and she rose from the grave like the fucking messiah.
In basic, Living Robo Female Jesus. it really doesn't help that she has a fucking entourage of robot cherubs, a glowing mechanical fucking halo and her weapons are basically glorified floating cannonballs that look like supersized prayer beads.
She's a legitimately canonized saint given that she "died" on the battlefield serving as a Combative Medic who associated herself with the Church and stuff very heavily. Basically a Medical Nun.
Safe to say, lots of Cybernetic, Scientific and Robotic shenanigans and she rose from the grave like the fucking messiah.
In basic, Living Robo Female Jesus. it really doesn't help that she has a fucking entourage of robot cherubs, a glowing mechanical fucking halo and her weapons are basically glorified floating cannonballs that look like supersized prayer beads.
Lemon Boy
~Brilliantly Bitter~
GAZE UPON THE VISAGE OF A LIVING SAINT
AND KNOW THAT THE LORD SEE'S ALL THROUGH HIS HOLY CHILDREN.
AND KNOW THAT THE LORD SEE'S ALL THROUGH HIS HOLY CHILDREN.
MEISEL,M.
Aspect Scale COUR ????????? 09 ALTR ????????? 09 ORDR ????????? 07 KIND ????????? 08 PRCT ????????? 08 DIPL ????????? 08
- Full Name
Maryam Meisel
Nicknames
Robo Nun
Codename
Saint Meisel
Gender
Female
Age
56
Rank
E
Limiter
N/A
Role
First Aid Instructor
welian
#BlackLivesMatter
Fact 1: In my spreadsheet, there is a tab for keeping track of when each RPer last posted in-character.
Fact 2: I just had to remove someone for not posting since June 8.
Fact 3: We are now down and out a Community Service teacher, which means we definitely have at least one person who is going to die at the zoo.
Fact 4: Some of you fuckers need to post.
Fact 2: I just had to remove someone for not posting since June 8.
Fact 3: We are now down and out a Community Service teacher, which means we definitely have at least one person who is going to die at the zoo.
Fact 4: Some of you fuckers need to post.
King Of Imagination
Jak, The Third J of the Apocalypse
I WILL MAKE THE COMMUNITY SERVICE TEACHER, I HAVE A REALLY GOOD IDEA. GIVE ME LIKE 30 MINUTES.
welian
#BlackLivesMatter
[QUOTE="King Of Imagination]I WILL MAKE THE COMMUNITY SERVICE TEACHER, I HAVE A REALLY GOOD IDEA. GIVE ME LIKE 30 MINUTES.
[/QUOTE]
HOLY SHIT WAIT A MINUTE GIVE ME A FEW DAYS TO FIGURE OUT IN-CHARACTER REASONS FOR SWITCHING OUT ALL THESE CHARACTERS
[/QUOTE]
HOLY SHIT WAIT A MINUTE GIVE ME A FEW DAYS TO FIGURE OUT IN-CHARACTER REASONS FOR SWITCHING OUT ALL THESE CHARACTERS