Gods Among Us: City of the Gods (IC|Superhero|Closed)

[Dyelli Beybi]

[
A Gang of Freaks
Keeping one hand on her mace Elinor reached down and took the document. Slowly she flipped through it but kept glancing up at Alice to make sure she wasn’t doing anything dangerous. Elinor though the idea that she was being tailed preposterous, she might have been dangerous but surely she would have noticed if strange people were stalking her.

“I’m more curious why help me in the first place. You need help with something, you need me to blow up for you, don’t you?”

"No I don't want you to blow up..." there was a pause, Alice glanced about warily, "I'm really fighting the urge to rant about protecting the Constitution. I will try to tone it down a bit... Our country used to stand for something but as people became afraid, afraid of the likes of us, they gave it up. They traded their ideals for a gang of thugs and murderers who act in ways we would have though abhorrent a generation ago; increasingly, anything goes if it brings order to our streets. I don't want you to become a part of the problem and if you carry on as you are, sooner or later you'll be approached by someone who would very much like you to explode. You might be threatened, you might be offered money, you might be told its your patriotic duty, but in the end the question will be the same. I just want to give you another option."

[Remnants of Exilvania]

New York City
Sunset Park
Small Umbrella Shop
Aarav Chandran

When Johanna mentioned that she was looking for something more casual, the smile quickly vanished from Aarav's face and was instead replaced by a somewhat sad look.

"Guess I'll never get rid off the special types I made after watching the Kingsman movie..."

, he mumbled before getting a hold back on himself. Maybe he could still convince her to get something much less casual instead and so he quickly went back to the counter and started searching for the right umbrellas down there. All the while sort of absentmindedly talking about his customer from a while ago:

"Oh, what he was like? Strange fellow I tell you. He was wearing a black business suit, tailored just for him. Someone who spends time doing such things himself can see that easily, besides, it fit him extraordinarly well. Though I never got to see his face. He wore a gasmask. Initially I was thinking about calling the police when I saw him, thinking he might just be a masked robber. But he quickly took out some bucks and threw them on the table, asking for a nice red and black parasol. Apart from that he didn't say much.

Now, before you think I'm stupid, I did ask him why he was wearing a mask. He didn't say much apart from the fact that he and his girlfriend who was waiting outside in his car were into the more kinky stuff. I hope you understand that I didn't ask any further. It would've been very indecent. Though I did take a look at his car outside through the window when he left. Whoever was in the damn expensive car, whose number plate I couldn't see and what kind of car it was I also don't know because due to a general lack of money, I never was interested in acquiring one and because of that I never really informed myself about all the specific models and stuff, was wearing a completely black outfit with lots of red embroidery and other means of decoration.

Ah, here it is!"

With that he finally got up from below the counter, having a very peculiar looking umbrella in his hand. It looked somewhat heavier than a normal umbrella and the colour was matching the leather of Johanna's armour very well.

"This here is the Chandran Mk. IX, a special umbrella built by me after I got some inspirations from...unusual sources. And I can tell you, this umbrella can do so much more than just protect you from the rain. The material used is highly flexible while also able to withstand blows with blunt weaponry and to a certain degree also slashes with sharp objects, all depeding on the strength put into the attack of course. Apart from this, it also has a built in blade at the bottom and when I push this button-"

When he did push the button, the umbrella suddenly fired it's tip, which shot past Johanna's head only by mere milimetres, and penetrated the doorframe though it got stuck in there as well.

"Oh, I am terribly sorry but well, here it is, the hidden blade under a shootable cap. Would you like to acquire something like this instead of something casual?"

[Serah]

New York City
Sunset Park
Small Umbrella Shop
Aarav Chandran

When Johanna mentioned that she was looking for something more casual, the smile quickly vanished from Aarav's face and was instead replaced by a somewhat sad look.

"Guess I'll never get rid off the special types I made after watching the Kingsman movie..."

, he mumbled before getting a hold back on himself. Maybe he could still convince her to get something much less casual instead and so he quickly went back to the counter and started searching for the right umbrellas down there. All the while sort of absentmindedly talking about his customer from a while ago:

"Oh, what he was like? Strange fellow I tell you. He was wearing a black business suit, tailored just for him. Someone who spends time doing such things himself can see that easily, besides, it fit him extraordinarly well. Though I never got to see his face. He wore a gasmask. Initially I was thinking about calling the police when I saw him, thinking he might just be a masked robber. But he quickly took out some bucks and threw them on the table, asking for a nice red and black parasol. Apart from that he didn't say much.

Now, before you think I'm stupid, I did ask him why he was wearing a mask. He didn't say much apart from the fact that he and his girlfriend who was waiting outside in his car were into the more kinky stuff. I hope you understand that I didn't ask any further. It would've been very indecent. Though I did take a look at his car outside through the window when he left. Whoever was in the damn expensive car, whose number plate I couldn't see and what kind of car it was I also don't know because due to a general lack of money, I never was interested in acquiring one and because of that I never really informed myself about all the specific models and stuff, was wearing a completely black outfit with lots of red embroidery and other means of decoration.

Ah, here it is!"

With that he finally got up from below the counter, having a very peculiar looking umbrella in his hand. It looked somewhat heavier than a normal umbrella and the colour was matching the leather of Johanna's armour very well.

"This here is the Chandran Mk. IX, a special umbrella built by me after I got some inspirations from...unusual sources. And I can tell you, this umbrella can do so much more than just protect you from the rain. The material used is highly flexible while also able to withstand blows with blunt weaponry and to a certain degree also slashes with sharp objects, all depeding on the strength put into the attack of course. Apart from this, it also has a built in blade at the bottom and when I push this button-"

When he did push the button, the umbrella suddenly fired it's tip, which shot past Johanna's head only by mere milimetres, and penetrated the doorframe though it got stuck in there as well.

"Oh, I am terribly sorry but well, here it is, the hidden blade under a shootable cap. Would you like to acquire something like this instead of something casual?"

Johanna, frankly, I couldn't have expected better. Anyone else would've gone all professional, but somehow you got the information out of him without him even noticing that you were a police officer.
Congrats. You'll get some beer once you get back home. Carly congratulated the woman, as her rather un-professional way of doing things paid off rather handsomely.

However, Johanna barely had the time to open her mouth to register all the information that the man was presenting her with an umbrella.
And a rather nice one at that. It fitted her completely, and even bore some kind of defense mechanism, and even if the cap had indeed shot right past her hair, the clerk could barely fathom the amount of stars in her eyes as her mouth formed a smile that was akin to a child looking at a new toy.
She stared at it for a few moments, contemplating it, as if it was a treasured relic, after realizing that she was staring, she shook her head.

"This I like. This I really like. I honestly only half expected the store to have non casual umbrellas but now, I need that one. You can be sure I'll be telling the rest of my friends that they need to get one like that.
I'm getting this one for sure." She somehow calmly expressed her excitement, then turned to attempt to find the cap from the door frame.

"Red embroidery? Was it medals or something? I tend to have an interest in such things. Maybe I could tell you what they stand for."

[Primordial Luxa]

A Gang of Freaks
Keeping one hand on her mace Elinor reached down and took the document. Slowly she flipped through it but kept glancing up at Alice to make sure she wasn’t doing anything dangerous. Elinor though the idea that she was being tailed preposterous, she might have been dangerous but surely she would have noticed if strange people were stalking her.

“I’m more curious why help me in the first place. You need help with something, you need me to blow up for you, don’t you?”

"No I don't want you to blow up..." there was a pause, Alice glanced about warily, "I'm really fighting the urge to rant about protecting the Constitution. I will try to tone it down a bit... Our country used to stand for something but as people became afraid, afraid of the likes of us, they gave it up. They traded their ideals for a gang of thugs and murderers who act in ways we would have though abhorrent a generation ago; increasingly, anything goes if it brings order to our streets. I don't want you to become a part of the problem and if you carry on as you are, sooner or later you'll be approached by someone who would very much like you to explode. You might be threatened, you might be offered money, you might be told its your patriotic duty, but in the end the question will be the same. I just want to give you another option."[/quote

"I'm one of those people who are afraid," Elinor said. “That Superbeast thing is still out there, I saw it tear through a pair of innocent people and bullets ricochet off it. I don’t like that people only see me as a weapon, but I can’t really blame them. I mean how do we expect them to respond when Nazi's take control of an island or something like Slaggep happens?”

"Whats that?" Elinor asked when Watcher proposed another option.

But out of the corner of her eye, Alice could see movement in the bushes behind them. A shine of glass. Binoculars? Glasses? A gun scope?

[The Flutterlands]

Andrew Marks AKA Snake Eyes

Snake Eyes smiled at Red, bearing some of his venomous fangs. He didn't at all question wither it was his real name or not. "Niccce to meet you, Red." he hissed cheerfully with a distinguishable Australian accent, before getting to work, "It would be great to have your help here regardlesss of what the bosses say."

It was indeed good to now have a helping friend on the scene now, regardless of what the bosses say. After all Snake Eyes doubted wither he had the strength and stamina to be doing this all day on his own. Andrew immediately returned to work, using his strength to dig out as many people as he could. There were a few he found dead, but thankfully most were alive. As he worked however, Snake Eyes paused and blinked as he heard the voices of a far off snake.

Dez is injured. NUMB abandoned him while taking Crimson to HQ

Andrew's glazed eyes narrowed and he immediately got up onto his feet after finishing with helping out with another poor soul. He ran towards Adrian just in time to hear Red calling out to him. "Fuck!" cursed Andrew,his voice becoming panicky and anxious, as he got down to his knees so his boa constrictor, Rango could get a better look at him, "That's Dez. He helped me fight that acidic Frog Monster. Crimson got hurt and my bossss NUMB came to help. Didn't know that Dez got hurt too, though, nor that my Bosss would just abandon him like that... We got to get him to a hospital ASSSAP along with all the others."

Snake Eyes got closer to Dez and placed his scally hands on him. "Are you awake, Dez?" he asked, "We're here and we're going to take you to a hospital..."

[Primordial Luxa]

Peachwood

The men didn’t seem to be listening to Ms. Fontana, occasionally they would nod in agreement or shake their heads when she asked about possession. They sipped their coffee and two stayed with the mother while the third wandered back towards Isaac's room. Standing next to it he listened to the commotion inside. He checked his waistband and the gun tucked into his pants before nodding to his compatriots.

In the living room, one of the men spoke up. “There’s nothing wrong with your boy. Nothing so serious, he’s probably a Meta-human but we won’t know until later. Tell me, Ms. Fontana, how well did you know your husband? Did he ever talk about his cousin Vincent? Did ever talk about his brothers?”

Meanwhile, the third man entered Isaac's room. Despite the chaos and confusion he seemed phased and leaned against the door while much of the contents of the room zoomed by. “Hello Issac, my names Jason. You don’t mind if I smoke here do you?” he said fishing a pack of cigarettes out of his pocket and lighting one.

He stood for a moment watching the chaos caused by Issac’s newfound powers with a casual and almost apathetic look in his eyes. Eventually, he spoke up in a rough voice, “Quit your fucking crying kid and get up. Stand up like a man and stop your sobbing you're what almost an adult. Start acting like it.”

[Granis]

Andrew Marks AKA Snake Eyes

Snake Eyes smiled at Red, bearing some of his venomous fangs. He didn't at all question wither it was his real name or not. "Niccce to meet you, Red." he hissed cheerfully with a distinguishable Australian accent, before getting to work, "It would be great to have your help here regardlesss of what the bosses say."

It was indeed good to now have a helping friend on the scene now, regardless of what the bosses say. After all Snake Eyes doubted wither he had the strength and stamina to be doing this all day on his own. Andrew immediately returned to work, using his strength to dig out as many people as he could. There were a few he found dead, but thankfully most were alive. As he worked however, Snake Eyes paused and blinked as he heard the voices of a far off snake.

Dez is injured. NUMB abandoned him while taking Crimson to HQ

Andrew's glazed eyes narrowed and he immediately got up onto his feet after finishing with helping out with another poor soul. He ran towards Adrian just in time to hear Red calling out to him. "Fuck!" cursed Andrew,his voice becoming panicky and anxious, as he got down to his knees so his boa constrictor, Rango could get a better look at him, "That's Dez. He helped me fight that acidic Frog Monster. Crimson got hurt and my bossss NUMB came to help. Didn't know that Dez got hurt too, though, nor that my Bosss would just abandon him like that... We got to get him to a hospital ASSSAP along with all the others."

Snake Eyes got closer to Dez and placed his scally hands on him. "Are you awake, Dez?" he asked, "We're here and we're going to take you to a hospital..."

"I'm... Fine..." Adrien said, making an attempt to stand up, but failing, as more blood began flowing from his mouth. "Don't worry... about me... Help... the normal peop-"

He began coughing again, blood splattering the ground around him.

"Ah... Shit..."

And then he rubbed some of the blood from his mouth, running his bloody finger across his scarf.

"Diz, take over."

Yeah, man. Don't worry. I got this.

Just as the scarf began to grow, engulfing his entire body, Adrien turned to the others.

"Don't look at me now. I don't want my power to start affecting you and get myself into a fight."

And then his head was covered, the scarf beginning to shift and warp to take on Diz's form.

"Alright." Diz said, looking at the two. "Like Adrien said, avert your eyes. Don't want you going berserk on us after all...

It looked to Andrew.

"Do you know where we can find a specialised doctor? One of Adrien's snapped and got shoved through his lung when he hit the streetlight. If we don't get him some elaborate surgery very soon, he's probably going to die."

Diz looked down, an expression that might have even concern on its face, as it mumbled to itself.

"Why'd you have to try and stand by yourself, you stubborn idiot... You just made it worse..."

[Primordial Luxa]

The Streets of a Post-Frog Attack

More red lights flashed signaling both the teleportation of NUMB to the scene again and the appearance of ambulances and firetrucks. The Knight strolled over the group clearly on edge and concerned about something. "Snake Eyes!" He called out to get his allies attentions. "We need to leave the local authorities will be here soon to take care of what's left and Calamity's asking us to regroup."

The fungoid red mass twitched as it spoken. Beneath its liquid and slime coated exterior, the metal cannister could be seen jutting out from one of the mushroom heads and black and white electricity sped up and down his body. Snake Eyes could tell something was seriously off and unsettled about NUMB. His body never looked this way and his voice had a strange amount of emotion in it. Almost like worry or concern. Which was strange given how NUMB never displayed any kind of emotion before.

NUMB was worried about the nature of the attack. It almost seemed as though someone had deliberately gone out of their way to target the Knights. Which meant that there would likely be future attempts. It meant not only could they be at risk right here and now, but there could be other knights in danger that only swift action might save. It also didn't help that Crimson was beginning to seem more and more like a familial figure to NUMB. Their bodies shared so much in common and NUMB couldn't help but find in him a natural ally just like The Sailor.

"I would also suggest you criminals flee the scene before you get arrested too," NUMB called out directing himself at Red and Diz.

[Dyelli Beybi]

"I'm one of those people who are afraid," Elinor said. “That Superbeast thing is still out there, I saw it tear through a pair of innocent people and bullets ricochet off it. I don’t like that people only see me as a weapon, but I can’t really blame them. I mean how do we expect them to respond when Nazi's take control of an island or something like Slaggep happens?”

"Whats that?" Elinor asked when Watcher proposed another option.

But out of the corner of her eye, Alice could see movement in the bushes behind them. A shine of glass. Binoculars? Glasses? A gun scope?

"Back in the day we would never have had Nazis take over an island. The police are increasingly indolent, hoping for someone in a big cape to come and do their job. If you disagree with what I'm saying, feel free to go back to your life for as long as it lasts." Alice remarked, sounding slightly disengaged. She took a couple of steps towards the glass, putting herself between Elinor and the object, "You don't stress-explode do you?" she asked, "If someone makes a move against you while we're out here I would rather not get blown up."

It was almost invisible but Alice had thrown a barrier up between them and whatever it was. If it was a sniper she wasn't sure if they would be shooting at Elinor or her so best to protect them both, though that did mean that she wasn't protecting herself from Elinor anymore...

[Confederation of imperial states]

Brooklyn Street Gang safehouse, South New York City
7:30pm

"You know I don't get it" a small patsy said, sitting on a wooden crate in the corner of the room.

"What now murray?" an older, gruffer gang member said, leaning back on his chair, his face obviously preparing for whining.

"The Knights, Police, and now random heroes have been popping up like damn lemmings nowadays? Why the hell are we still here?".

The older man, along with some others raised an eyebrow. "The f*ck do you mean? 'why are we still here'?".

"I don't mean like alive, we've laid low so they don't f*ck with us...." standing up off the crate he continued, "But like, Chicago, Atlanta, f*cking VEGAS. Out of all the places we could go, we decide to stay here, in the middle of the den". The young man paced around the ratty, second floor studio room of the small safehouse.

"Because this is where our heritage is at" the older man, who was obviously now the leader stated coldly. "Man f*ck heritage, when a guy with a supercharged javelin is swiggitying to shove it up my f*cking A**, then I'd like to get the F*ck out as soon as possible" the young man stated aggressively.

"if you want to have this discussion" the leader said standing up, who noticably dwarfed the kid in height, muscle, and straight up intimidation, "sit the f*ck down and show some respect". There was a moment, many of them looked around, sighing, the boy sat down, "Alright, but you've gotta see my point".

The man sat down, taking a swig from his gin, he stated, "When the Germans invaded France in World War 2, did the french people simply give up so easily?". He earned a look from the boy, "Well?", the boy sighed, "No".

"And neither will we".

---

Outside however, the two men standing guard were seemingly guarding a boarded up and forgotten building. Looking around at the abandoned, and desolate industrial ghetto street around, one sighed.

"Great, another night freezing my a** off guarding this place",

"Come on, it's kind of cool" the other guard gestured.

"Bro, let's say some Meta appears the F*ck out of nowhere, what are our ghetto asses gonna do, get down on our knees and Pra-".

Just then, from his right out of the dark Alley, a figure in black was armed with 2 combat knives. One went right for the jugular of the man talking, sinking in the man slid down to his knees, back pressed up against the brick of the wall. Before the other man could react, the figure took the other free knife and slashed it, cutting open the guard's mouth,him falling to the ground as blood splurted out. placing his boot on the neck of the fallen man, as he started to choke on his own blood, he took the knife and finished off the man leaning against the building.

He paused afterwards, 2 fallen, bloodied men by his sides, sheathing his knives and looking at the watch.

"26 seconds" slightly impressed by his agility in his age.

Quickly reaching back behind his longcoat, he pulled out his Seige Shotgun. Loading it with buckshot rounds, he kept the strap wrapped around his right arm.

Quickly reaching inside his coat, he placed a small, compact breaching charge on the door. This thing was wooden plywood, he knew he could easily but his foot through it.

Taking his place to the door's right, he pressed the button on the trigger as it detonated.

The breach charge exploded, causing the old door to explode, shattering into fragments of sharp, hot wood, and rusted metal. On the ground floor there were a few in the first room, about 5, however as the door set off, 3 were caught in the shrapnel, 2 badly injured, with the third only taking some graze wounds. The other 2 quickly ducked for cover behind a counter and sofa. Reaching for his bandolier, he pulled out a homemade flashbang. pulling the pin and chucking it in, it exploded, catching 2 on the ground floor, and 1 coming down the stairs in the shock.

The Revenant moved in, heading straight in through the smoke, he shot the one coming down the stairs in the gut, the buckshot catching him hard, throwing him back onto the steps. 'Seven'. He then turned his gun to the surviving man from the breach charge, easily cutting him down on his knees. 'six'. Taking position at the sofa in the middle of the room, he flanked the hiding thug, hitting him right in the spinal cord, sending him somewhat flying from behind the sofa. 'five'. "COME AND GET ME!" a guy behind the counter yelled firing his 9mm pistol, as the man messily fired round after round, he quickly ejected his clip, The Revenant popped up, firing off a buckshot, it partially caught the man causing him to fall and crack his head on the counter. 'Four', heading over to the entrance of the counter area, he fired one more making sure he was dead, 'Three'.

The Revenant move to the stairs once again, taking position of cover at a wall just at it's entrance, he could hear the three men upstairs yelling. "GIVE UP NOW, AND DIE WITH SOME F*CKING SANITY!". The Revenant stayed quiet, waiting, he waited as they shouted slur after slur. 'Stairs are 2ft, 9 inches. Perfect for bottlenecking' he thought to himself. "Is he gone?" a younger man asked, "I'll go check" the third man headed down, armed with a small, cheap, sub machine gun. The Revenant quickly turned the corner, firing the shotgun, it hit the man's forehead with most of the shot, red mist covering the area as he banked back around the corner.

'two'. He thought.

"JOSEPH.......YOU F*CKER!".

'There's 2 left in the room, this stairwell leads up with an open ceiling, too exposed. He then turned and looked at the ceiling of the room he was in. Hearing the creaking floorboards. He tracked where he heard the creaking, there was no walking, only slight, strained ones. Standing, or possibly kneeling. He was able to pinpoint it, aiming his shotgun, he fired a round through the weak ceiling. A scream followed, the older man who'd yelled at him from before. 'One'. Hurrying up the stairs, he quickly scanned the room as it was revealed, the older man was holding his knee, doubled down in the middle of the floor, a younger man looked in shock from behind a turned over end table. Quickly aiming and firing his shotgun, the last round hit the boy horizontally, eviscerating his chest and neck. The boy fell back onto a lounge chair behind him, blood coming from his mouth.

Revenant took position behind a small corner wall of what was the kitchen of the studio apartment. Putting the shotgun back on the main sling in the back, he then took out one of his Automatic Pistols, prepping it.

"MURRAY! MURRAY! You son of a B*TCH!" The Revenant turned the corner, he looked around, aiming his pistol at the head of the boy, firing one last round, making sure he stayed down.

'damn kid, could've been a doctor, football player' he thought, disapproval sinking in, 'All you had to do was stay out of crime'. He turned his attention to the man hissing and screaming at him.

"I'll Kill you, you Hear him" The Revenant stood over the man, "I'LL KILL YOU!".

The Revenant remained silent as the man caught his breaths, "No". He answered coldly. "You don't" finished it off by firing a burst of rounds, as the Old Man's world went dark.

[The American Commonwealth]

"Well, Mr. Roberts. I've never had a job like this. I hope you can pay well."

"Please, Dragonfly. I need you. I'm willing to pay. Millions."

"But a prison break? In a top security prison? I hope you know that's not my forte."

Dragonfly, an infamous assassin-for-hire in New York City, sits before his computer in the secret floor of the Black Tower. He is currently speaking with Cole Roberts, CEO of Veril Corp. Cole's job proposal is a jailbreak for his friend and former colleague. This kind of work was out of Dragonfly's sphere of expertise, assassination. This would be a dangerous job.

"Please. I knew Mark since grade school. And I'll pay more than your last two jobs combined."

"How much are we talking about?"

"Fifty million."

"Well, you weren't exaggerating. Okay. I'll consider it. I'll call you back with my decision."

Dragonfly ends the secure call. He rises from his office chair and prepared for his next deployment. His job was a local politician, Mark Walker, Treasurer for NYC. Not his most extravagant assassination, but it pays. Rumors were spreading and Dragonfly worried of superhuman intervention, but then he thought, "a dead hero would look good on the résumé." Dragonfly leaves for the roof and boards the helicopter to the sniper post.

[The Flutterlands]

Andrew "Snake Eyes" Marks

Snake Eyes frowned upon seeing how damagaed Adrian looked, cursing NUMB for leaving without him. However, Andrew cocked his head curiously at Dez and his unusual behavior. If he didn't know better, the way Dez talked made it seem like he had two different personalities or something. He tried helping his new companion onto his feet just in time for NUMB to reappear in a flash of light.

Snake Eyes had Rango look up at NUMB before blinking at his astonishing change in appearance and great concern in his voice. Something big was up and obviously the giant frog is involved. Andrew Marks nodded at NUMB, but held Dez closely as he summoned all of his snakes in the area. "This man helped usss fight against the frog and got seriously hurt in the processsss." he hissed, all of his snakes staring directly at the fungi canister, "His bones are broken and he's bleeding. We owe him our help. It'sss not right to leave him."

[Remnants of Exilvania]

New York City
Sunset Park
Small Umbrella Shop
Aarav Chandran

Now Aarav was not getting suspicious about the lady's questions. He was merely fearing, that she would not buy the umbrella once he had told her the price. He really had to sell this one for a good sum. Not only had he spent countless hours and litres of his sweat and blood on it, but it had also cost him quite a bit to get the necessary materials. Not to mention that he was low on money right now. So maybe he could strike a deal? It was obvious to him that she was not here because someone had recommended this shop to her. So she clearly wanted something else. Well, no harm in asking, right?

"Medals? No, I believe not. Those were more depictions of flowers. What do you call them again? Ah, right, Roses!

But that aside Ms. Wyvill, let's not play around. You can not fool me! You are definitely not here because this place was recommended to you. So what are you really after? Who are you really with? The Mafia? Or are you the newest tax collector?

I already told you bloody bunch that I have no money. But your masters probably won't accept it if you return without the money, right? So, how about a deal, eh? You buy this umbrella for the sum I name and I will immediately hand out the cash you are ordered to take from me. And you may just ask for a favour from me. How does that sound?"

[Serah]

New York City
Sunset Park
Small Umbrella Shop
Aarav Chandran

Now Aarav was not getting suspicious about the lady's questions. He was merely fearing, that she would not buy the umbrella once he had told her the price. He really had to sell this one for a good sum. Not only had he spent countless hours and litres of his sweat and blood on it, but it had also cost him quite a bit to get the necessary materials. Not to mention that he was low on money right now. So maybe he could strike a deal? It was obvious to him that she was not here because someone had recommended this shop to her. So she clearly wanted something else. Well, no harm in asking, right?

"Medals? No, I believe not. Those were more depictions of flowers. What do you call them again? Ah, right, Roses!

But that aside Ms. Wyvill, let's not play around. You can not fool me! You are definitely not here because this place was recommended to you. So what are you really after? Who are you really with? The Mafia? Or are you the newest tax collector?

I already told you bloody bunch that I have no money. But your masters probably won't accept it if you return without the money, right? So, how about a deal, eh? You buy this umbrella for the sum I name and I will immediately hand out the cash you are ordered to take from me. And you may just ask for a favour from me. How does that sound?"

"Flowers huh." She spoke to herself, however, she didn't have time to go back into her thoughts.

"What are you doing getting all paranoiac? I am going to buy it anyway.
I'm not here for money either, I'm just investigating a murder case. I'm with the NYMD." She responded calmly, finally finding the cap.

"Aha! The cap. I found it." As she held it for the man to take, she still smiled.

"If you're getting so paranoiac about the mafia, that means they're lending a hand in that. And the latest mafia group that came around were the Italians.
So that's the next trail. As for your shop... Tell you what, those umbrellas are awesome, you should really make more. I can ask around to see if you could get employed by the government to get us those umbrellas of yours.
You don't lose your shop, and we get weapons against gangs. Win win, isn't it? But in return, you'll have to tell me who exactly wants money from you, and where I could potentially find them. Aside from Little Italy."

[Primordial Luxa]

---

-----Issue 5: Turf War-----

---

Post Frog Attack

NUMB’s appearance didn’t change but Andrew got the sense that he was about to give him a stern rebuttal. But that conversation never came. Instead NUMB bleated a sharp binary chatter and motioned for Snake Eyes and Diz to come closer. As the two meta’s gathered around him he spoke very clearly and directly to Diz, “When we get there don’t say a word until someone ask you a question.”

There was then another red flash and Diz experienced the horrible sensation that everyone experiences when they first Ghostwalk. The body turned insubstantial and then hurled faster than light towards another destination. It was not pleasant to say the least.

When they arrived the three were standing in one of the Knights underground medical bays. A medium sized room outfitted like a medical hospital with the addition of numerous strange esoteric machines hanging by robotic arms from the room. Some were clearly X-Ray’s and scanners but others appears to be gigantic needs and tesla inspired rings of energy.

In the center of the room on a steel table Crimson lay in a near liquid puddle of bubbling red slime. Bubbling it was clear that the creature’s biology had been compromised by the effects of the acid which NUMB was strongly beginning to think was not simply mundane but perhaps hyper-scientific in nature. Next to Crimson stood a man in a black hazmat suit with a trio of silvery canisters strapped to his back. Andrew as immediately uncomfortable the room was impossible cold and he could feel his cold blooded body slowly starting to shut down. Even Diz would begin to shudder

The man in the center of the room appeared to be inserting small needles with large blue bulbs on their ends into Crimsons body. A strange sight there appeared to be both an electrical and a chemical component to whatever this process was. Calamity was standing nearby the new figure and both of them turned to look at NUMB and the two other arrivals.

---

Yha-nthlei, Largest Deep One City on the Eastern Seaboard

Botatho watched as Aacha moved up the currents towards the floating globe of the Soul Symbol. The doctor stood with the 24 other soldiers in his platoon in the Coral suburbs of city which stretched fifty feet towards the surface and down almost twenty miles each below the surface of the ocean. The massive ocean vent behind the soldiers illuminated the dark slime soaked underbelly of the sea where many legged crustaceans skittered and weaved. In the distance Bothatho could hear the high-pitched crates of enslaved Shoggoths pleading and moaning.

Aacha looked like a spec of silvery light moving closer to the ball of holy water suspended above the city. Like oil it floated on its own, a product of deep understanding of how salt could be used to rearrange the structure of the water around them it sat alone as the mobile palace of Dagon. As he approached Aacha was lost among the other glowing and shining bodies of the Deep Ones that sought and audience with their Soul Symbol.

After a long wait the line of thronging worshippers and pilgrims had dwindled and Aacha stood in the inner sanctum. White liquid gold spun through the air creating the most beautiful and horrible patterns the Sergeant had ever seen. In front of him stood another Deep One, a priest, an oracle, the medium through which Dagon spoke. A dozen other such Deep Ones stood around the dome each with a massive line of there own. The Deep One in front of Aacha was a fat toad like specimen with a prominent glowing lure in front of his face and a set of spikes running down his back. Cloaked in suit of slime his eyes glazed as his mouth opened and croaked out in the voice of Father Dagon.

“Why do you seek me out child? What do you want from your father?”

---

Brooklyn

The Hound stood over the shattered skull of the Old Man. “This is why things are so fucked up now.” The Old Man hadn’t been a friend, he had been a Columbo, a poor partner at best and a rival at worst. But he was still Italian, and that made this unacceptable. The Hound knew this meant he needed to move fast, reorganizing the five families was hard enough without a masked thug killing off bosses. Already they were terribly organized, weak, fighting off the Cartel, and being shut down one block at a time by the Knights.

Things needed to change. Crime was stagnate it was mundane and weak. Cops busted up drug rings when they slipped up, the Knights dragged superpowered terrorists into the street to curb stomp them and the FBI hunted down scheme after scheme. The days of pocket politicians and weak judicial systems were over. The public wasn’t scared when people who could punch mountains apart were on their side. Things needed to change.

“Sir?” Said the plain clothes police officer that had tipped them off. “We pulled that street camera footage you asked for.” The police had their eyes down at their feet barely looking at the elderly Mob Boss. “There’s a face, looks like he’s wearing a hockey mask.”

The Hound signed. “A fucking punk? A nobody? Some guy with a mess of guns in a hockey mask who think’s he’s Nevermore?” He turned quickly and the cops jumped back fear and terror covering their faces as the Italian thundered. “You see this is what happens when a bunch of punk kids get genetic handouts! They start to think there important and then the people get to thinking their important. If some nutjob in a Halloween costume with a birth defect can mess with the mob, why can’t anyone!”

“You two,” The Hound said pointing to the cops. “You’re going to go back to your boss and tell them about this whole thing. Tell him about how some new vigilante is running around killing folks.”

---

A Gang of Freaks

“No I figured out how to blow up the first time. It’s not just random,” Elinor said as she turned to look where Alice was looking. As soon as she did the softened but still brutally loud sound of a silenced gun filled the clearing as a shot struck Alice’s shield. Then another series of bullets rushed towards the two women. A fully automatic rifle, heavy caliber and cloaked.

But even as Alice focused on the person firing in front of them she heard the crack of branches as a second figure appeared from behind them. Dressed in black military gear and a face concealing mask its rifle was pointed straight at the back of Watchers neck.

[Granis]

Diz sighed in relief.

"Thank you, fungal being, for bringing us here. When my power reaches the same level it used to be at, you shall have my favour, and my assistance, should you require it."

Diz then looked around the rest of the room, before sitting down and reverting back to Adrien again, a short burst of blood spraying from his mouth again.

"I don't suppose you have enough doctors here for both me and Red, do you?" He asked, straining to keep the smile on his face. " 'cause I don't really think I have much longer at this point..."

[Serah]

Yha-nthlei, Largest Deep One City on the Eastern Seaboard

Botatho watched as Aacha moved up the currents towards the floating globe of the Soul Symbol. The doctor stood with the 24 other soldiers in his platoon in the Coral suburbs of city which stretched fifty feet towards the surface and down almost twenty miles each below the surface of the ocean. The massive ocean vent behind the soldiers illuminated the dark slime soaked underbelly of the sea where many legged crustaceans skittered and weaved. In the distance Bothatho could hear the high-pitched crates of enslaved Shoggoths pleading and moaning.

Aacha looked like a spec of silvery light moving closer to the ball of holy water suspended above the city. Like oil it floated on its own, a product of deep understanding of how salt could be used to rearrange the structure of the water around them it sat alone as the mobile palace of Dagon. As he approached Aacha was lost among the other glowing and shining bodies of the Deep Ones that sought and audience with their Soul Symbol.

After a long wait the line of thronging worshippers and pilgrims had dwindled and Aacha stood in the inner sanctum. White liquid gold spun through the air creating the most beautiful and horrible patterns the Sergeant had ever seen. In front of him stood another Deep One, a priest, an oracle, the medium through which Dagon spoke. A dozen other such Deep Ones stood around the dome each with a massive line of there own. The Deep One in front of Aacha was a fat toad like specimen with a prominent glowing lure in front of his face and a set of spikes running down his back. Cloaked in suit of slime his eyes glazed as his mouth opened and croaked out in the voice of Father Dagon.

“Why do you seek me out child? What do you want from your father?”

The line was long as usual, however given his rank, Aacha allowed himself to pass over many.
After all, who would refuse such a powerful Hero Of the Deep an audience with the Father itself?

While Aacha liked the fame, power and rank it all gave him, it still remained bittersweet. The last victory against those gene defective humans had been beyond humiliating.
They hadn't even proved worth his time. The rumour however went that one of these defective and heretically powerful humans remained, for a few years it had piqued his interest, but as the rumoured one never came out, he abandoned the search. After all, why care about a single human? The only threat was The Fool.
That foolish human that dared to stand against the might of the Deep Ones, just thinking about him unnerved Aacha to the highest degree.
A degree maybe beyond Father Dagon's disregard for these human threats.
While Dagon disagreed somewhat with the title of The Fool, and instead respected him to some degree, Aacha, or better known as The Sergeant on the heretical dry land, would do anything to kill him without remorse, he would even dare cast away his honor of Deep One to kill him.

However, those thoughts had to be halted as he found himself in front of the toad like creature that served as Father's placeholder so that he wouldn't share the same space with lower beings such as the Shoggoths, mentioned only by such a name under bitter and rage.

"I will not go around my point, I want to end the heretical menace that are gene defective humans.
So I request the right to move up to one of their most populated cities to slaughter the highest number of those inferiors so that they may once again rightfully fear our might.
The humans have no right to live with such power."

[The Flutterlands]

---

-----Issue 5: Turf War-----

---

Post Frog Attack

NUMB’s appearance didn’t change but Andrew got the sense that he was about to give him a stern rebuttal. But that conversation never came. Instead NUMB bleated a sharp binary chatter and motioned for Snake Eyes and Diz to come closer. As the two meta’s gathered around him he spoke very clearly and directly to Diz, “When we get there don’t say a word until someone ask you a question.”

There was then another red flash and Diz experienced the horrible sensation that everyone experiences when they first Ghostwalk. The body turned insubstantial and then hurled faster than light towards another destination. It was not pleasant to say the least.

When they arrived the three were standing in one of the Knights underground medical bays. A medium sized room outfitted like a medical hospital with the addition of numerous strange esoteric machines hanging by robotic arms from the room. Some were clearly X-Ray’s and scanners but others appears to be gigantic needs and tesla inspired rings of energy.

In the center of the room on a steel table Crimson lay in a near liquid puddle of bubbling red slime. Bubbling it was clear that the creature’s biology had been compromised by the effects of the acid which NUMB was strongly beginning to think was not simply mundane but perhaps hyper-scientific in nature. Next to Crimson stood a man in a black hazmat suit with a trio of silvery canisters strapped to his back. Andrew as immediately uncomfortable the room was impossible cold and he could feel his cold blooded body slowly starting to shut down. Even Diz would begin to shudder

The man in the center of the room appeared to be inserting small needles with large blue bulbs on their ends into Crimsons body. A strange sight there appeared to be both an electrical and a chemical component to whatever this process was. Calamity was standing nearby the new figure and both of them turned to look at NUMB and the two other arrivals.

Diz sighed in relief.

"Thank you, fungal being, for bringing us here. When my power reaches the same level it used to be at, you shall have my favour, and my assistance, should you require it."

Diz then looked around the rest of the room, before sitting down and reverting back to Adrien again, a short burst of blood spraying from his mouth again.

"I don't suppose you have enough doctors here for both me and Red, do you?" He asked, straining to keep the smile on his face. " 'cause I don't really think I have much longer at this point..."

Andrew "Snake Eyes" Marks

Still helping Dez keep on his feet, Snake Eyes had gathered all his snakes together as he got closer to NUMB at his gesture. He could tell that NUMB wasn't happy about this and grimaced at his threat towards the injured meta. Nonetheless, Andrew glanced at his companion with Rango and smiled weakly, glad that NUMB has finally come to his senses. It just felt wrong to leave behind some one like in Dez's state to just die of his injuries.

He has gotten use to Ghostwalking, but it still felt akward traveling from one place to another like this. When they arrived at the medical bay, Andrew found the place quite cold and uncomfortable. However, as his snakes looked around, creeoing out some of the doctors, the serpentine man's attention was brought to a puddle of red slime that was obviously Crimson. He saw that Crimson was most certainly not a position to speak and so looked for at Dez.

"Red issssn't here. He's doing much better than you are at the moment." hissed Andrew, returning similar weak smile a chuckle, "I'm ssure the people here will take great care of you."

Snake Eyes then shivered a bit in the cold and frowned deeply before walking over to NUMB, Rango seeing that he's with Calamity and a new person. "How is Crimson doing?" asked Andrew with grave concern, "I ssuggesst you alsso get Andran looked at immediately. Why was he left behind like that to begin with boss? Did you know that he was quite injured like that?"

[Confederation of imperial states]

Southern Brooklyn
7:45pm

A thug, what once was a common street thug who was promoted, sent by his bosses(One of many in New York) to kill the vigilante, now hung from a rusty pipe in the damp, dank basement of an abandoned apartment complex.

Through the broken blood vessel painting his right eye, the various broken bones, and his wrists, raw and sore from hanging him from the pipe, He could see what was infront of him. Through the darkness, tools, hardware, a display of raw and cruel power laid on it. He started to breath heavily, his heart starting to race. He looked around at the empty room, struggling, the chain only clinking slightly from his struggling. He looked around, and that's when he saw him. to his back right, the Revenant seemingly, suddenly appeared, looking down at him.

"Good to see you're awake".

Walking past him, The Vigilante pulled a chain light, lightly illuminating the room. That's when the man could see the dry blood painting the floor under him. He looked up.

The "Hockey mask" the running joke was, was far from the truth, as the Vigilante looked away from him, the seemingly skull like mask, which had dry blood painting part of it, sent a haunting feeling into the mind of the thug. "You mobsters never really learn...." the revenant muttered more to himself than the thug, though he heard none the less. "All you are, are thugs, petty crooks, vermin playing dress up because you got lucky while robbing an ATM and have a bit more money than the other gang bangers and muggers".

After sharpening a bone saw at the table, the thug watched as he put on a strange thick leather-metal glove.

"Tell me what brought you to work with fat, sluggish, and greedy meisers like the ones who reap over brooklyn boy?" this time the Revenant addressed the boy as he remained chained up.

"It dosen't matter" he interrupted him before he could talk.

The Revenant took the top off a sort of small furnace type of object in the far corner of the room, the amber colored flames lighting the area around them up. He then placed the glove onto the hot metal surface just inside, not burning himself, but causing the metals on the glove to superheat.

"You want to know what I learned after fighting for years?".

"W-What?" he asked terrified.

"There's a reason all superheros have some gimmicky symbol. A calling card, some as some phoney inspiring message, others as a 'I was here' parting gift.....".

The Revenant took the glove off the metal surface, "I realized that After all this time, I need a good symbol. Something to scare all of those petty criminals if I'm to finish my mission". He turned to boy.

"You're going to tell me everything you know...." he stepped towards him,

"I'm not gonna kill you. This time I think I need your bosses to know they'll no longer be untouchable".

Grabbing the man's right side of the head with his free hand, he paused.

"You won't say anything.....you won't be able to". Lifting his right hand up, the outside of the building, and the blocks and blocks of either abandoned or quiet city streets of brooklyn could hear the faint scream of the man.

[Shadowwell]

Giovanni D'Angelo
New York City

In one of the more rundown parts of the Big Apple, there were whispers, whispers of a mysterious doctor, a miracle worker. No one quite knows who he is or where he is from, he just showed up in the area years ago. He helped some of the less fortunate people in the area, the elderly and those with other afflictions. There were no changes to start, no real changes, but after several treatments they would be fully cured, even the elderly would be able to do things that had not been possible since their youth.

These miracles made the locals treat him with reverence, though as always things that are capable of good are sought by the greedy. In this case, it was the local gangs, once one of the larger unaffiliated gangs sought this mysterious doctor. When he refused to join them, they tried to enlist him with force. The Leader and the men brought with him were fought off, and afterwards a series of mysterious attacks happened and the gang vanished. Since then the gangs all left him alone and whenever events permitted they came to him for his services.

That doctor is a young man, Giovanni D'Angelo, a former member of the La Cosa Nostra. He left them years ago, and his current actions are in an effort to make amends for his past. Currently he was in what served for his house, it was a small somewhat rundown apartment. He was helping a regular client, an elderly man who had osteoporosis. It was a condition which made ones bone extremely porous and they were prone to breaks. He had one of his hands to the elderly mans back, subtly changing his bones while making it seem like he was merely doing a routine check. Giovanni was doing wha he had been for a while, not knowing that his past was about to catch up to him.

[Primordial Luxa]

Yha-nthlei
The mouth piece sneered at Aacha’s hubris. Even a venerated one like him was not more worthy in the eyes of Dagon than any other Deep One, all of the Dagonites where holy and sacred in the eyes of the Great Father and the Grand Mother. To each other, they might make all kinds of judgments and ranks, but to the Patriarch and Matriarch, they were family and equal.

But it was not the priest’s place to pass judgment. Instead, he opened his mouth, and the sound of the void spilled out into the Sergeants mind. It was a deep thing, an impossible bass note that made even the sternest of minds reel at its touch. A shiver shot through Aacha, and he could barely imagine the power behind such a psychic sense impact.

“You waste your energy child,” thundered Dagon’s voice from the mouth of the priest. “You over estimate the power wielded by the defects of the humans. Mere protoplasmic traces left in their genes elder race and strange residue of the Outer Gods when they gaze on out Tomb World. Nothing more, nothing to threaten us.”

“You wish us to be feared by a race no more technically advanced than the coral we build our houses with. Would you wage war against the flounders who stray too close to our cities? Or the sharks we breed with for sport? No, my son, your energy is best retained here, one day the Sleeper will rise, and then the seas will rise as they mix with the blood of all land creatures. But do not let the humans occupy your thoughts any more than the dust beneath your feet.”

---

Knights Fortress
NUMB turned to Adrien and shivered as the Fungus began to retract into the canister. “I thought I told you not to speak.”

As the canister returned to normal size, it spoke to Andrew. “Snake Eyes pick me up and set me on the table. You shouldn’t dawdle here too long Doctor Heat Death requires things to be quite cold for his special sciences; it will quickly damage your circulator system if you remain.”

Once on the table Calamity spoke up, “NUMB, Snake Eye’s what is this one doing here? There not an officer or agent I know.”

“That’s because he’s a vigilante,” NUMB replied as the Doctor continued to insert needles into Crimsons seemingly solid form and to playing with a serious of boxy electronic devices nearby. Occasionally he would glance up at another medical device through the gas mask or at one of the Knights. When NUMB said this, he reached out towards a nearby medical knife while watching Adrien.

“They why is he here?”

“Snake Eyes insisted.”

Calamity looked at Snake Eyes for a long moment, and it was clear she was not happy. “Doctor, is Crimson done?”

“He should be,” came the aged and muffled voice through the filters comm. “Do you want me to take this vigilante into another room for treatment?”

“Yes, but don’t kill him just yet,” she said, and the Doctor remained quite as he let go of the knife. Doctor Heat Death motioned for Adrien to follow him into the ajoining room which was a very similar medical room. The doctor motioned for Adrien to sit on a table and produced a large syringe of cold fluid before closing the door.

“Andrew what were you thinking!” Calamity said with a raised voice. “We can’t be seen engaging with those kinds of people!”

“Calm down Sydney,” NUMB interjected “I don’t think Andrew has been properly informed about the danger civilians pose. It’s a complex issue, but the Knights has a very simple policy if a person is going around taking the law into their own hands and they are not a Knight of America or a member of the government then they are a criminal and should be arrested. After this will we sedate your friend and turn him over to the police for questioning.”

“Vigilantes are bad,” Calamity cut in, “He might have helped fight that creature but did he do it in a professional manner? We have put you through days of military grade training, we’ve talked to you about appropriate levels of violence for each encounter, and we always focus on civilian rescue. You remember when we fought Sun Spots, and you and NUMB focused only on bystanders? Vigilantes don’t do that, there glory hounds, undisciplined, and reckless. They will start meaningless fights, will go after common criminals, and cause more collateral damage than they would have prevented. They act as judge, jury, and executioner. They rarely offer criminals the chance to surrender, use more force than necessary and rob them of the right to a fair trial. Who’s to say the person there hurting actually committed the crime?”

“She’s right, and that’s before we talk about how vigilantes affect us. They inspire other Meta’s to behave poorly, and their actions are seen as part of meta-human culture. Like any time an extremist kills people there is a backlash against those who are similar. The fact we are the only official group that employs Meta-humans in the way we do has made people feel safer around Meta’s. If people like this go around, they will ruin that image. They will also cause escalation among smaller criminal elements, we try to only fight the largest of threats and leave the normal stuff to the cops, but these vigilantes don’t limit themselves as we do and human crime becomes more violent in response.”

“But the most important reason is that it weakens our power. We have a monopoly on Meta-human warriors, and any outsiders threaten our system. It threats the safety we create, the political power we’ve amassed and our paychecks.”

“You can choose any of these reasons,” NUMB finished. But we don’t allow vigilantes any more than the government allows civilians to kill others without a permit.

Meanwhile, the Doctor turned around and showed Adrien the needle. “This is a highly powerful healing compound that uses entropy manipulation, cooling chemicals, and other substances to stabilize the body. You will feel incredibly cold. That is normal.”

And that was no joke. A second the needle touched his flesh Adrien felt as though he was nose deep in ice. It was unbearable and painful beyond anything, but he couldn’t feel the pain of his wounds, it had been blotted out by the pain from the cold. But looking down Adrien could see his body was changing, his skin had turned light blue, but the wounds were no longer dripping blood, and his skin appeared less tender.

As he writhed in the pain of frost, the Doctor produced another set of tools and began rearranging the areas around his wounds with knives, clamps, and needles. The flesh was stitched together and molded together; nerves were pulled together like shoelaces and veins were reattracted. The speed and skill which Doctor Heat Death work was impossibly fast and detailed. It was as though he was watching a sped up surgery video. In only a few minutes Adrien could see all his wounds were perfectly healed and the doctor was motioning for him to lay back on the table while the cold serum wore off.

---

Southern Brooklyn

Faint screams did not go unnoticed in a city already on alert for crime, and it was not long before a squad car pulled up to investigate the sounds. They snooped around the outside of the building for several minutes and knocked repeatedly waiting for an answer. They weren’t new officers by any stretch of the imagination, but Officer Romero and Officer Nicholas had no idea what they were in for. Romero banged on the door of the building for the second time. “This is the Police open up now!” She howled trying to make herself heard.

Raide, the man having his face burned was holding on well for a kid. He had a lot riding on this. He was making five figures peddling illegal pot to college kids, he had a wife who was trying to get pregnant, he had a whole gang who would get his back or kill him. He had plenty of support even though he was in more pain than he had ever felt. But he had also seen this sort of thing before. MS-13 and the Crips were not schoolyard bullies, he had seen friend go through horrible things for the same reasons. The Italians may be sedentary but they were not weak, they’d reward tight lips and loyalty even if it meant rewarding his family. All of that gave him good reasons to keep his mouth shut, especially when he knew he was going to live even if he needed surgery. He screamed but he wasn’t going to give in.

“You hear me in there? This is the police open up!” Romero called again as Nicholas held his gun down at the ground.

Meanwhile Gandolfo “Angle Eyes” set up across the street and took up positions on the roof so he he could through one of the dirty windows to where the Revenant was. He could see either of them well but he could see the entrance room and the door the police were knocking on. His phone sat next to the his rifle a video from a nearby camera which gave him a poor view of the officers and the side of the building. The Hound might be bringing back the old country drive, but he was not ignoring the present. Passive interceptors were being set up, apartment near 911 stations were being filled with high tech gadgets which intercepted calls and allowed men like Gandolfo to act quick.

Gandolfo was on of the Hounds personal soldiers. Brought over from Europe, Gandolfo had spent a long time in Italy with the original families and had taken a short trip to the middle east where he picked up a few things. He was only one of the dozen made men The New Don was bringing with him. No more soft gangsters like Raide, soon they would be phased, and the new models would be let on the street. Men used to violence and who could keep their heads cool.

---

Downtown Manhatten

His next customer rolled in with a swagger. His arms wide and a brotherly grin plastered across his face. “Hey Giovanni!” he said in a warm voice. “Long time no see, why didn’t you call you big lug?”

It was Clinio 'The Calm' Severini. They called him the calm because of an incident in a dinner a few years back. A gang of Russians had jumped him while he and his kids were eating downtown. An Ex-GRU thug had put a gun to his head, and Clinio had told his kids to look away before beating the man to death with his chair. He then off course finished his meal with his kids as though nothing had happened.

But despite that Clinio was an okay guy. He never hurt anyone who he didn’t need to and specialized in gambling and illegal betting. A fun guy who Giovanni could have called a friend before.

“I didn’t know you were in town I would have thrown a party. I had to hear it from Ralphy who said he saw you skulking around? But your back and it’s great to hear. Boy, I’m glad you are, things are about to change, and I know my favorite muscle man gonna wanna get in on the action.”

[Dyelli Beybi]

A Gang of Freaks

“No I figured out how to blow up the first time. It’s not just random,” Elinor said as she turned to look where Alice was looking. As soon as she did the softened but still brutally loud sound of a silenced gun filled the clearing as a shot struck Alice’s shield. Then another series of bullets rushed towards the two women. A fully automatic rifle, heavy caliber and cloaked.

But even as Alice focused on the person firing in front of them she heard the crack of branches as a second figure appeared from behind them. Dressed in black military gear and a face concealing mask its rifle was pointed straight at the back of Watchers neck.

"Get down!" Alice yelled. She couldn't shield them both, not from multiple angles, not unless Elinor was hugging her and she doubted the other woman trusted her enough to do that. Instead she drew the shield tightly around herself only, levitated a foot off the air, as she glanced around for the second gunman, then flung herself at him, head first, like a human javelin, and with enough force to knock him off his feet.

She had never done anything like that before. Alice had, often used her telekinetic powers to fly but had only ever used them against another person remotely. That, however, was not an option now - if she dropped the shield to throw one of the attackers the other one would shoot her in the back. The collision was hard, harder inside her bubble than she had anticipated, sending a shock-wave through her already badly-injured body. The gunshot wound in her shoulder exploded in agony, her concentration slipped and the shield puttered out of existing, sending her sliding across the grass for several yards like a plane making a crash landing.

It only made the pain worse. She felt something warm on her chest - she'd torn a stitch. She knew what happened next in this story. She got shot in the back and left to die and Elinor got whisked away to God-knows-where. She dug deep, from somewhere managing to pull together the strength to draw up enough strength to draw a weak shield across her prone form. Hopefully it would hold long enough for the pain in her shoulder to go fade back to a manageable level. Hopefully the men attacking them would keep shooting at her and wouldn't realise her shield would crack like an egg-shell if they threw something big and heavy at it...

[Shadowwell]

Downtown Manhatten

His next customer rolled in with a swagger. His arms wide and a brotherly grin plastered across his face. “Hey Giovanni!” he said in a warm voice. “Long time no see, why didn’t you call you big lug?”

It was Clinio 'The Calm' Severini. They called him the calm because of an incident in a dinner a few years back. A gang of Russians had jumped him while he and his kids were eating downtown. An Ex-GRU thug had put a gun to his head, and Clinio had told his kids to look away before beating the man to death with his chair. He then off course finished his meal with his kids as though nothing had happened.

But despite that Clinio was an okay guy. He never hurt anyone who he didn’t need to and specialized in gambling and illegal betting. A fun guy who Giovanni could have called a friend before.

“I didn’t know you were in town I would have thrown a party. I had to hear it from Ralphy who said he saw you skulking around? But your back and it’s great to hear. Boy, I’m glad you are, things are about to change, and I know my favorite muscle man gonna wanna get in on the action.”

A brief smile crossed Giovannis face as he saw the other man. He approached and gave him a hearty hug, but in the middle of it his face lost the grin. He got out of the hug and swiftly backed up and spoke. His voice was elegant sounding, many would say it had an angelic quality to it. "I Thought you guys had forgotten about me. I have been trying to stay outta that life, Clinio." Giovanni paused as he cleared off a table and sat down, gesturing for Clinio to sit as well. "I couldnt help coming back, this place is home. Anyways What did you want exactly?"

[The Flutterlands]

Knights Fortress
NUMB turned to Adrien and shivered as the Fungus began to retract into the canister. “I thought I told you not to speak.”

As the canister returned to normal size, it spoke to Andrew. “Snake Eyes pick me up and set me on the table. You shouldn’t dawdle here too long Doctor Heat Death requires things to be quite cold for his special sciences; it will quickly damage your circulator system if you remain.”

Once on the table Calamity spoke up, “NUMB, Snake Eye’s what is this one doing here? There not an officer or agent I know.”

“That’s because he’s a vigilante,” NUMB replied as the Doctor continued to insert needles into Crimsons seemingly solid form and to playing with a serious of boxy electronic devices nearby. Occasionally he would glance up at another medical device through the gas mask or at one of the Knights. When NUMB said this, he reached out towards a nearby medical knife while watching Adrien.

“They why is he here?”

“Snake Eyes insisted.”

Calamity looked at Snake Eyes for a long moment, and it was clear she was not happy. “Doctor, is Crimson done?”

“He should be,” came the aged and muffled voice through the filters comm. “Do you want me to take this vigilante into another room for treatment?”

“Yes, but don’t kill him just yet,” she said, and the Doctor remained quite as he let go of the knife. Doctor Heat Death motioned for Adrien to follow him into the ajoining room which was a very similar medical room. The doctor motioned for Adrien to sit on a table and produced a large syringe of cold fluid before closing the door.

“Andrew what were you thinking!” Calamity said with a raised voice. “We can’t be seen engaging with those kinds of people!”

“Calm down Sydney,” NUMB interjected “I don’t think Andrew has been properly informed about the danger civilians pose. It’s a complex issue, but the Knights has a very simple policy if a person is going around taking the law into their own hands and they are not a Knight of America or a member of the government then they are a criminal and should be arrested. After this will we sedate your friend and turn him over to the police for questioning.”

“Vigilantes are bad,” Calamity cut in, “He might have helped fight that creature but did he do it in a professional manner? We have put you through days of military grade training, we’ve talked to you about appropriate levels of violence for each encounter, and we always focus on civilian rescue. You remember when we fought Sun Spots, and you and NUMB focused only on bystanders? Vigilantes don’t do that, there glory hounds, undisciplined, and reckless. They will start meaningless fights, will go after common criminals, and cause more collateral damage than they would have prevented. They act as judge, jury, and executioner. They rarely offer criminals the chance to surrender, use more force than necessary and rob them of the right to a fair trial. Who’s to say the person there hurting actually committed the crime?”

“She’s right, and that’s before we talk about how vigilantes affect us. They inspire other Meta’s to behave poorly, and their actions are seen as part of meta-human culture. Like any time an extremist kills people there is a backlash against those who are similar. The fact we are the only official group that employs Meta-humans in the way we do has made people feel safer around Meta’s. If people like this go around, they will ruin that image. They will also cause escalation among smaller criminal elements, we try to only fight the largest of threats and leave the normal stuff to the cops, but these vigilantes don’t limit themselves as we do and human crime becomes more violent in response.”

“But the most important reason is that it weakens our power. We have a monopoly on Meta-human warriors, and any outsiders threaten our system. It threats the safety we create, the political power we’ve amassed and our paychecks.”

“You can choose any of these reasons,” NUMB finished. But we don’t allow vigilantes any more than the government allows civilians to kill others without a permit.

Meanwhile, the Doctor turned around and showed Adrien the needle. “This is a highly powerful healing compound that uses entropy manipulation, cooling chemicals, and other substances to stabilize the body. You will feel incredibly cold. That is normal.”

And that was no joke. A second the needle touched his flesh Adrien felt as though he was nose deep in ice. It was unbearable and painful beyond anything, but he couldn’t feel the pain of his wounds, it had been blotted out by the pain from the cold. But looking down Adrien could see his body was changing, his skin had turned light blue, but the wounds were no longer dripping blood, and his skin appeared less tender.

As he writhed in the pain of frost, the Doctor produced another set of tools and began rearranging the areas around his wounds with knives, clamps, and needles. The flesh was stitched together and molded together; nerves were pulled together like shoelaces and veins were reattracted. The speed and skill which Doctor Heat Death work was impossibly fast and detailed. It was as though he was watching a sped up surgery video. In only a few minutes Adrien could see all his wounds were perfectly healed and the doctor was motioning for him to lay back on the table while the cold serum wore off.

Andrew "Snake Eyes" Marks

Andrew nodded and bit his lip nervously as he picked up NUMB's Canister, shivering again in the cold, believing that he haf done something wrong. While putting his boss on to the table, the serpentine man signaled all of his snakes to return to his bed room. The only exception was the boa constrictor, Rango who was to wait out in the hall. Due to heat lamps that were installed since his arrival, Snake Eye's room was among the hottest, yet most comfortable for the cold-blooded, in the building.

Without his snakes, Andrew was truly blind, yet he could tell that his bosses were angry with him about his decision. Still, he suggested that they step outside into the hall to have this discussion to avoid him dying from the cold. Once in the warmer temperatures of the hallway, Andrew summoned Rango onto his shoulders. After listening to NUMB's and Calamity's lecture with his sight restored, Andrew shook his head in disbelief.

"Regardlessss, Bossses, Adrain was hurt and could have been dying. It felt wrong to just leave him like that." he said, "Besssidess, even if he iss a criminal, what differenccce does that make? Like, wasss I any different before joining you guys? I was nothing more than a criminal. A thief on the streetsss trying to survive in Australia. It was only by chance that I came upon your fight with thosse villians back then."

Andrew sulked his head in hopes of finding a way to save his friend again. Suddenly he looked back at the two elder metas with a grin as he got an idea. "Andrian said he could give uss his assistance should we need it." said Snake Eyes, hoping the idea could work, "Think we can give him a job here just like you gave me one?"

[Whalestron]

Octavian Green

After spending a few seconds staring blankly in the direction Snake Eyes had been moments before, Octavian realized he was completely exposed. He took a quick glance around the scene, making sure there wasn't anybody left in the rubble, (there were probably dozens, but the response teams could hopefully deal with that) and took off for the alley he'd come from. Octavian hadn't been expecting something like this, a frog attacked, as Snake Eyes said. It wasn't the most bizarre thing he'd seen. In fact, a giant frog was normal compared to a lady who could stop bullets with her mind.

That thought gave him a huge wave of guilt. He hadn't checked in on Alice in a long time. She never answered her phone, for all he knew she could have been dead. He fumbled for his own, unlocking it and scrolling through his contact list until he spotted 'Dartwood'. Octavian hit the call button and raised the phone to his ear, tapping his feet as he waited for an answer. Or the 'leave a message'. The ringing seemed to go on for forever. How long had it been? What would she say if she picked up? Why was he even worried? This was the woman who managed to fly around and keep herself from dying by just thinking about it! He didn't let his argument with himself sway the wait for Alice to pick up, though.