Dawn of A New Age - Roleplay Thread

Ciro was with the others at Twin Hills, currently sneaking a glance at the crowd of onlookers. After their little discussion Zia and him had gone back to the study hall, and from there followed Benjy to their current location. It felt good to have more than just the two of them on this, but they were still stuck on how to actually get to Ruth.

"I could probably sneak in fine, but there's still the paramedics inside the house... Or maybe I could play distraction while the rest of you get Ruth? They're less likely to focus on the house if their belongings start magically floating around." Then again, that hinged on him using a power that he'd not even touched since this morning. He'd need to put some time to the side for practise.

He peeked out from behind the bush, this time focusing on the cars parked around the place. Truth be told, he felt a little bad about doing this; he'd been accused of sneakiness and thievery while just mulling around stores, so acting covert now left a bad taste. "Neighbours and reporters... the latter might have cameras. They could be a problem regardless of what we do."

"...I kinda agree with Zia though." He finished surveying and turned back to the group. "We know she's comatose because of the fire, but there still might be physical problems that she needs to go to the hospital for. Don't want to make things worse while trying to help her."

Blake frowned as he noticed that he was still glowing but chuckled slightly when he figured out what had happened; it felt like his mystical powers were pouring energy into his body, not only keeping it upright but giving him the ability to act as if at full capacity, despite the draining effort of their transport. Evidently, he'd discovered the power to enhance his physical ability, in this case stamina. The fact that he was glowing was a potential issue but they were far enough away that it shouldn't be a problem as he ducked behind a third tree, noting the convenience of the hiding spot. He reached out to all the others mentally and linked them together, allowing them to talk to each other through him so as to not risk being heard.

Quiet. Don't want the fucking cops hearing us.

Separately, he reached out with his powers and searched for the mind of the robber. He sent out a thought, being sure to keep the robber separate from the teen's conversation, and tried to pick out any unintentional replies if they didn't immediately catch on to him.

You really thought this was a good idea? There are... a whole fucking bunch of cops here now, it isn't ending well for you.

edited 20th May '15 8:39:03 AM by TenebrousGaze

Taking in the area, feeling for metal with his power Cornelius silently plans. Metal casually floating over to his body, the first things that happen are his hands being enveloped and his elbows being covered. Next his shins and his shoes, a plate of metal forms over his heart as well. Finally, a helmet forms on Cornelius' head, completely covering his hair and mouth whilst leaving only a hole for his ears. On the front, a small plate of metal forms over his nose leaving only a small opening so he can breath. Of note, little of the surrounding flesh around his eyes are exposed and bits of metal hold down his sleeves & leggings so none of his limbs become exposed.

"Thank you Blake, I was going to ask you to do something like this anyways. However, tell the others their plan won't be needed. I'll just bind the officers so they can't interfere." With that thought, Cornelius suddenly extends his power towards the Police officers, their cars bursting apart binding their limbs together and blind folding them. Metal covering their mouths and blocking their ears, more metal floats to Cornelius' body as he approaches the building. The metal completely covering the upper half of his chest and back in addition to protecting his neck, the metal before his mouth splits open.

Searching the robber with his power to determine their possessions, Cornelius calls out in a deep voice different from what the others have heard "You, do you know what fires I had to go through to prove myself worthy of that feat you just saw? The fact I'm here means you're important, so come with me and my associates if you would like to avoid dealing with the police."

Welp, I hope that was okay. Kind of curious to see how many decide to attack Cornelius despite the non-lethal takedowns and the prior warning he gave.

Anna and any of the students looking into the scene of the crime would see a gristly scene like something directly lifted out of the likes of Hostel or Cabin Fever, except very, very real. Only Trent's face and one of his arms had been spared from the violence, as if to allow people to see who it was that had been murdered. The rest of his body looked as if it had been utterly imploded.

Crushed together in a horrid mangled mess, one of his legs sticked outward from his bisected shoulder blade, his ribs broken into pieces and his torso apparently blown open and flesh and underlying tissues and organs pulped, as if they were crushed into a paste.

One of his arms apparently was thrust through his chest cavity and touched the ground, impaled by a few broken rib pieces. Only his heart was mostly whole - and even that had visible bite marks, at some parts human, at others looking like a very large scorpion had bitten in.

The surviving arm limply connected to the rest by a few tendons had the finger nails ripped clean off, placed around the body in a circle. The wall had been painted, in Trent's own blood, WELCOME TO A NEW AGE

The ground was stained with blood, as if it all exploded out of him, along with black liquid that might well be bone marrow.

Many students were running out of the room to vomit, one of “The Richford Girls”, Trent's personal squad of cheerleaders, were either screaming or falling to the ground and sobbing pitifully.

"Tonight marks the end of construction on the new White House in Washington DC, being built on space previously occupied by private property. It's been a long, five year journey, which began on that fateful night in July of 2016 when the original White House was destroyed by the still unnamed assailant, who then procceded to end the live of several hundred workers and innocent passerbys, including then-president Barack Obama. Present on the celebrations were several important figures of our world, including the President, her family, and the Director for the Centre of Superhuman Studies, C—"

"Turn that off, will ya, babe?" Larah's round figure stepped in front of the plasma television, her loose white shirt and complete lack of pants prompting trillionaire David Harmit to turn off his TV with a blink. She smiled, brushing her blonde hair back with a grin. "No need to get yourself all sad tonight... we should be celebrating, remember?"

"Yeah. It's not every day you turn 30 and get to your first trillion dollars, huh?" David said, removing his tie and kicking aside his shoes. "What do you have in mind for us to celebrate, honey?" He asked, his finger touching a holographic display, turning off the television.

"Oh, I was thinking we have a couple of sips from that expensive wine your old boss sent ya. Old coodger doesn't really know when to give up, huh?" Larah asked, sitting on David's lap as she felt his hands wrap around her behind, over her underwear. "Uh! You want to skip right to desert?"

"You're no desert." David responded, playfully kissing Larah's skin. "You're my main meal."

"Hold on, hold on! A good meal..." Larah raised her fingers, the holographic display coming up in front of it as she activated the house's speakers. Through the 250 million dollar penthouse, the dulcet tunes of Katrina & The Waves' ''Walking on Sunshine'' filling the house as the AI taking care of the place automatically dimmed the lights. "... needs to be savored. You always said I could make it on Broadway..." She stood up, daintily walking back a bit as she started to move her mouth along the lyrics of the song.

Larah started to dance as she leaned forward, giving the already excited David a nice view of the fact she also wasn't wearing a bra. As he squirmed on his seat to hold something back, she started unbuttoning his shirt, wiggling her posterior and causing some visible strain on David's part. Once he was shirtless, she sat on his lap again, giggling as he started kissing her like a hungry dog.

David was halfway through removing his pants and Larah was halfway through removing her shirt when she saw something. A pale, red dot, in the window... aimed at her lover. The dainty, ditzy expression of a girl meant for nothing but eye candy disappeared, and in its place came the cold nature of a killer. She wrapped her arm around David's neck, who yelped, thinking that Larah was finally warming up to his idea of trying something a little bit rough, right before two sniper rounds pierced him in the chest.

Larah jumped off David and the couch, as the man realized he was bleeding out, before another sniper round got him right in the head. Landing on a nearby table with cat-like prowess, Larah kicked it across the room, and it hit the glass windows with a loud crash, creating enough of a distraction for her to dive to safety as gunfire started to pour upon the apartment. She landed behind a desk, pressing a button on the back and pulling out a pistol from a secret compartment...

She fired four times at the sniper on the opposing building, before the door to David's apartment was kicked down. Men of size and bulk marched through the door, as Larah ordered the AI to boost up the volume to drown out the ensuing fight. Wielding machine guns, they started to shower the priceless apartment with bullets, ripping David's body to shreds and destroying all of the trophies he had won over the years as he amassed his fortune. But no Larah.

Not for long, anyway. She sprouted out from around the corner, pulling one of the soldiers by his arm and twisting it around, using him as a meat shield before her own hand pierced right through his chest, clutching his heart. That trick always scared off any assailants, but this time it didn't work. Kicking the dead soldier at his comrades, she jumped over them, one of her feet suddenly rippling into a sharp blade, which she quickly used to stab the nearest soldier in the face. Landing with a thud, she spun around effortlessly on her feet, turning her other foot into a blade and slicing another soldier in the neck.

More soldiers streamed into the room, but Larah just grinned. Kicking the machine gun from one of the dead soldiers up, she grabbed it in mid-air, changed to explosive rounds and fired it at her enemies, watching as they were blown to bits by their own weapons. But one of them survived, coming out from behind a riot shield, before pulling out an electrified baton. Charging at Larah, the soldier yelled at the top of his lungs, trying to strike her in the neck, clearly going for a knock out. But Larah wasn't aiming to knock out anyone. These dumbasses fucked with her, and they were going to pay for it. Her hand gripped around the soldier's arm and she twisted it around easily, chuckling as she heard the sound of bone snapping.

Finally, she got a good look at the sign behind their back. CSS. Centre for Superhuman Studies. Which meant that otaku fuck was behind this. Using a nearby machine gun to spray hellfire at any incoming soldiers whilst keeping the soldier she had just fought as a meat shield, she got closer and closer to the window. And once she was close enough, she grabbed a grenade from the soldier's belt, ripped off the pin and stuck it in the soldier's mouth, kicking him towards the door. Her hand grabbed a cellphone on the floor, and typed a quick, but brief message. I'M COMING TO YOU LUNA. She took a deep breath, snapped the phone in two and jumped out the window.

The CSS commander watched from a nearby building as the half-naked woman grew wings in the span of a second, flying away from the now destroyed penthouse. "Don't shoot." She ordered the sniper, gritting her teeth. "He wants them alive. Nobody likes a dead body."

Blake didn't receive one reply. No. He received thirty seven replies, all of them exactly the same, happening at the same time... which sounded a lot like a ship's horn. "WHO ARE YOU? HOW ARE YOU IN MY HEAD? GET OUT!"

The police officers took a while to react to their cars suddenly acting on their own, since they had been one hundred percent focused on the robber. They initially yelped, before realizing that the metal was moving on their own, which was the go-ahead for them to start freaking the fuck out. And when Cornelius just strolled into the situation, they didn't even consider helping him, and instead tried to roll and crawl and run as far away from whoever that was as possible. One black officer even got on his knees and started praying once he saw Cornelius, mistaking him from something straight out of the Bible.

Cornelius' voice turned the thirty seven voices into forty two, as five men wearing brown trenchcoats and black balaclavas walked out of the corner store, all of them wielding the exact same pistol and possessing the exact same stance as they started firing upon the Metal Monster. They had the same height and same lithe frame- anyone taking a glance at them could make an educated guess that they were at least eighteen.

Johnathan rushed out from behind the tree, stepping in front of the bullets and smiling as they clinked off his chest harmlessly. "Give yourself in!" He yelled to the five men, before they looked at each other and pulled out shotguns from... from... well, actually, from nowhere. The shotguns just appeared on their hands, like magic. The shots once more clinked off Johnathan's chest harmlessly, but they still had enough force to push him back a little.

"I mean, yes, that is a thing Xavier can do... essentially make it so people ignore him, act as if he's not there. Like putting a censor bar over your entire body and telling the brain, subconsciously, to just not look at it." Benjy explained, before shaking his head at Zia. "But you're not Xavier! You tried to wipe out Shooter's memories and you probably gave him enough fuel for an existential crisis. God knows what you'd end up doing to a bunch of people... and let's not forget there's cameras here. We don't want anything on tape, alright? Tape's bad."

"As for the hospital thing, I don't think that the medics are ready to deal with whatever happened to her. Plus... well, I can already list a thousand things that could have happened to her to put her into a coma. And a lot of those involve really, really dangerous superpowers. Like, blow up a city block dangerous. So it's best that we deal with our own kind, right?" Benjy tapped his chin. "I do like the steal the ambulance idea. Much more easy... can you telepathically knock out the driver and the paramedics? I think I can teleport us inside after I take a look at it."

"Plus, Ciro, you can go invisible! Which means we might not even need to knock out the driver. Just sneak in there... punch him real hard and drive the van. No one will notice you, anyway."

"Anna, hold on!" Sarah grumbled, following her against her own will. She didn't have anything to do with this. Whoever killed him clearly wanted attention, so the right thing to do was to get the fuck out of here. But her interest got the best of her, and the writing on the wall was enough for her to connect the dots. "It was that Cornelius fuck!" She hissed at Anna, clenching her fists as water started to drip slowly from the sleeves of her jacket. "Look, it's the exact same language!"

Coach Jackson was one of the people currently pucking his guts out, an admirable feat for the almost fifty year old white man. Principal Shooter was doing his best to get the kids away from the body whilst making a call to the police. "Everyone, step away, please, stay out of the office— yes, please, call the police, there's been a murder at James Madison High!"

"NEIL! What are you...!?" Terry went running after Cornelius, fully intending to rein him in before anything else happened, before he seriously hurt anyone. He watched as the officer collapsed and started praying, apparently mistaking Cornelius for some sort of metallic devil or angel.

Get used to that look. Bob got it a lot.

Well I'm not Bob.

Terry was just about ready to do something about all this when people started coming out of the store, firing at Cornelius and Jonathan. He was relieved that Jonathan wasn't being hurt by any of the fire.

Terry concentrated, focusing the golden glow, the aura power that Robert used so often, at first it was simply his usual light, but then it became more solid. A construct of some kind. Darting forward, Terry realized he was moving extremely quickly and barrelled forward, managing to stop himself at the side of the five armed men.

He released the golden aura, a large blast of energy blasting forward - utterly unrefined and barely shaped into anything but a generic blast of power - but packed with intense force.

Terry intended for it to knock the five men down and disable them from continuing to threaten people.

Noticing the pistols, Cornelius focused on maintaining his armor's durability- And didn't have to try controlling the bullets when Johnny slipped in front of him. One little happy smirk on his face, Cornelius stays behind him as he begins focusing. Making sure the police officers' binds, blindfolds, gags and ear coverings hold, he seals the barrels of their guns as well so nobody can fire them. The metal on his own body spreading a bit to protect more, Cornelius suddenly calls out with a light almost feminine voice "So very naughty, you don't shoot guns at your friends! Guess we ought to teach ya a lesson. Course, Ironwall really shouldn't of said that."

The metal over his mouth sealing, Cornelius tries to exert control over the robber's weapons, to mold them into binds and hand envelopments. In addition to that, Cornelius searches the actual bodies of the robber for metal, as well as pulling in more metal to protect his body as well as forcibly ensuring they'll withstand the bullets. Though hearing Lord Sentry's words, Cornelius thinks at the Void. "Please tell your host that screaming out people's name isn't smart. Besides that, are you searching for another wicked soul near here? I do advise you pick a more thoroughly wicked person this time, as to eliminate any possible sympathy people could have for them."

Anna's first instinct, too, was to throw up upon the grisly sight. She quickly turned her gaze, hand covering her mouth. Hot, acidic bile threatened to break through, some of it dribbling through her fingers, hissing and seething as it ate through the carpeted floor. She forcibly gulped it down her throat, barely wincing. She cast a surreptitious look around - fortunately, everyone was too fixated upon the ruined carcass.

"Shit..." Anna hissed back, fear wrestling anger for dominance. Cornelius was strange... but to actually go this far? "...You're right. Should we... should we tell them?" She said uncertainly. But if they were capable of such horror, what good would spilling the beans do, but lead the cops to their deaths? "...Or handle it ourselves?"

edited 21st May '15 9:28:01 PM by HazzyHaz

Luna-arriving late

Like the others Luna was leaning behind the tree, with her arms crossed as she watched the others attacking first.

Not wanting to be left behind, she approached the group.Unfortunately , she she noticed too late that she made the mistake to put herself near Johny. As she also received a lot of gun fire.

She closed her eyes in fear and put her arms infront as for a moments she was sure she would die "Shit!"... Only to notice the bullets were also bouncing from her harmlessly.

"It tickles," she taunted them, with her arms crossed while sporting a satisfied smile.

She walked slowly infront of one of them to try to punch them... But then Terry used his light before she could touch them.

edited 21st May '15 9:04:26 PM by RPGLegend

Riot Control

Alex brought up the rear of the group, keeping an eye out for threats that the others may have missed...they seemed to have the five handled, and his current moveset wasn't very...refined.

Then again, Alex thought as he watched Terry blast the gunmen with a golden beam, the others didn't a whole lot better than him on the "restraint" department.

Alex stretched out a hand towards the thugs, and a black tendril shot out and wrapped around them. With a quick jerk of his arm, the five airborne youths were slammed back into the ground.

That's gonna leave a mark... He thought to himself as the tendril receded back into his suit. Still, didn't hear bones breaking, so that's a plus.

edited 21st May '15 9:28:00 PM by svenorzokarkoff

Blake, not willing to test how durable he had become, jumped from cover to cover as he moved closer. The others took care of those which came out but he knew there was more trouble inside. Multiple man maybe? He reached out to the other New Ayers, sending another message.

Good. Keep those fuckers from getting out.

He was surprised by the huge mass of voices but it wasn't really any worse than a loud noise, so he responded, again taking care to keep his message private.

I'm just your friendly neighborhood sorcerer. You going to stand down or are things getting aggressive?

Like a Somebody Else’s Problem Field, heh. I’ll keep this in mind if I ever need to sneak into concerts… Zia thought to Ciro with a wink, The Hitchhikers Guide To The Galaxy was her favourite series of books and she couldn’t help but draw a parallel. She wasn’t terribly confident in her ability to affect all those people in any kind of accurate way; Benjy had a point regarding the cameras too. That being said, she hadn’t meant to nearly wipe Principal Shooter’s entire brain or give him some kind of nervous breakdown. But Zi didn’t feel like risking that again. “Yeah, I guess the hospital might provoke some kind of reaction or figure out she’s not quite… human anymore.” She admitted, wondering if she should tell them about the Ruth talking to Neil. “Better if we try our way first – but if she isn’t looking good healthwise we have to take her to the hospital.”

“I could almost definitely knock out the driver and stuff, but then they’ll probably crash.” Zia pointed out, “I was thinking more along the lines of making the driver stop first. But Ciro’s invisibility might be the safer bet. Also, you can teleport? Nice.” Suddenly she had an amusing thought, barely containing a grin, “Your invisibility… It doesn’t extended to your clothes, does it Ciro?”

Ciro smiled back at Zia's quip- he felt less nervous about doing this when she joked around. "Shooter was an accident. And he seemed completely fine when he went to the nurse's office on his own." Besides that, Benjy did have a point; trying to control the entire crowd was a bit too risky.

Moreover, had he actually told Benjy he could turn invisible? Well, no matter. Benjy seemed to know a lot of stuff, and he was nice enough. Certainly one of the safer people to be partnered with. "Well, luckily I've driven before. Don't have a license, but I guess that's the least of our concerns."

He didn't want to knock the poor driver out, but he'd go through with it if there wasn't an alternative.

Zia's question, naturally, made him flush red. "Uhm, uh, I-I dunno." He was wearing the same stuff as last night, barring a fresh blue T-shirt; would they turn invisible? He hadn't thought of that, nor would he have wanted to. "Guess I should try now, before the ambulance gets taken by magical clothes..."

He brought up his hand to look at, concentrating on the thing that'd been subtly nagging him all day. It was like a pressure, very lightly pushing on him, and he imagined diverting it away. Like he was in his own little bubble...

And then his hand was gone.

It took all of a second for his mind to crash into ohgodsomethingiswrong territory, and hit him with such intense vertigo that his concentration instantly snapped. To the others, it'd look like Ciro vanished completely- except for his shirt, which absurdly hung in the middle of the air- before he re-appeared with a queasy expression.

"Wow. Wasn't nearly as easy as this morning." He took a few sharp breaths before continuing. "Okay, quick recap while my brain sorts itself out. I sneak into the ambulance, wait for them to load Ruth in, then I... take care of the driver while you two teleport in. That right?"

"And, um, how were my clothes? I couldn't really see- er, no joke intended."

Zia respected that Ciro didn’t want to bludgeon the poor ambulance driver, or anyone else trying to help Ruth, “Once you’re on board and ready to take the wheel I can try to knock them out a little less violently if you want, Ciro.” She offered. She tried not to giggle as he flushed red from her ‘observation’, biting her lip as she regained some composure. “At least the cops would be unlikely to believe they got mugged for a patient by a magical shirt.” Zi pointed out but then let her friend concentrate.

It was still hard to get used to being in someone else’s head but in this case it gave her more insight into how he controlled his power. He vanished from sight, aside from his shirt which hung comically in the air where he stood. Then Ciro's thoughts descended into a panic, fighting against his powers and he became visible once more. Zia clapped and grinned, “Bravo! Houdini eat your heart out!” She laughed, then added with a smirk, “Most of your clothes were fine but I’m afraid you’re gonna have to show us your best Ryan Gosling impression as far as shirts are concerned…” She pinched a corner of his shirt to make her point.

“I think I know why it wasn’t as easy as this morning – your brain went into panic overdrive as soon as you realised you were invisible.” Zia pointed out, frowning thoughtfully and taking another glance towards the crowd, “Not looking at your lack of, uh, anything might help but you have to learn to be calm and keep your concentration. I might be able to help you from here, kinda like with Johnny.” She offered then decided to check up on Ruth’s brain. A pair of fingers went reflexively to her temple as she entered the comatose girl’s mind – there was nothing. Ruth had well and truly left the building. “Ruth’s brain is totally empty. Her mind has gone, well, somewhere.” Zia informed the others, not sure how much she should tell them.

Far across town Trent’s body, or what remained of it, had been discovered – a cluster of panic surrounded the corpse as she watched through a proxy’s eyes. The Void was bad news, no matter how confident Neil was in his manipulation. Terry couldn’t control that other voice in his head but that presence still accompanied his powers, “Benjy, Terry’s powers… In the comics, do they come with any, uh, downsides? Just been checking in on everyone around town is all, heh.” Zia asked, trying to relay her worry. “Actually, nevermind – you can tell me after we get Ruth.” They had to focus on their mission for now. “Ciro, it’s probably better if you get on the ambulance before they come back with Ruth.”

Amy flinched, letting out a squeak. She put a hand to her chest, panting, "I think I found a use for your teleportation. I think I just had a heart attack." She hung her head for a moment, trying to breathe the adrenaline out of her system, then looked up and-

"Dude, holy shit, your hand!" It was bleeding really bad, and had...glass in it? "Did you...did you punch a window or something?" She cringed, then went to grab his arm. "C'mon, we're going to the nurse's office or some-"

Just then, there was a commotion in the halls. She couldn't make out anything clearly, but there was a lot of screaming and running. Was it something like what happened last night? She wanted to investigate, and she was shaking a right now from nerves, but... "Yeah, c'mon." If Victor bled out, he couldn't be her assistant/companion/safety buddy, and then where would she be? Tim or Luna or any of them weren't around.

"S-Sure. I'll be fine. Just punched the bathroom mirror when I saw my face...You want me to teleport there?"

He was shaking a bit, clutching his bloodied hand, looking around at the chaos unfolding around him.

"What's happening anyways?"

The queasiness finally subsiding, Ciro managed to reply to Zia. "You sure that'd be okay? I appreciate it, but it might be better to save your power for dealing with Ruth..." He did have some knowledge on how to safely knock out a guy- taught to him by the same slightly-nutty neighbour who gave him driving lessons, no less. All things considered, a strike to the neck might be the safest way to take care of them.

Of course, he also had a less serious problem to deal with. His cheeks turned red again as Zia (far too happily) told him the bad news. Not that he had anything to be sheepish about- he kept himself fit enough- but that didn't stop his embarrassment. "Well... that's great. On the bright side, I have better incentive to stay invisible now."

"And, um, thanks a lot for the offer, but I think I might be alright. It's weird, it kinda feels like... I dunno, growing pains? Just need to break it in." It was like his headaches, which had now regressed to just a dull thrum in the back of his head. His attention switched from his powers to Terry's as Zia brought it up, prompting a worried frown. She had to be talking about the voice in his head. For now he could only hope that Terry, and all of the others, were doing alright.

"Anyway, yeah, I'll head over now. Er..." He sighed, then focused his powers again while he shrugged off his shirt. How lucky that it was a warm day today. Another wave of nausea hit him, but he was able to tide this one out and remain invisible by the end of it. "This is so weird. Please, um, please take care of my shirt."

He took a few practice steps, realising that it wasn't too bad if he just kept his attention straight ahead. Like Zia said, just don't look down at my not-self. Sneaking past some of the crowd was the hardest part, especially when one bumped into him and nearly broke his concentration. It wasn't even worth the pure bafflement on her face.

Finally he was able to hop up into the back of the ambulance and tiptoe over to the front seats, attention now split between keeping his invisibility up and trying not to knock any of the medical apparatus. So far, so good... you two need me to do anything else while I'm over here?

Terry's blast was successful, but it did not knock down the five men. No, it passed right through them, and all at once they dissipated like shadows in the fog. The weapons disappeared as well, although for Cornelius it had felt like they were made of real metal, not illusions.

"YOU ASKED FOR THIS. I ONLY WANTED MONEY." The forty plus voices responded, suddenly growing louder and louder. The door to the corner store opened, and Johnathan took a step back, bracing himself. The same men as before streamed out of the place, some of them wielding pistols, some of them wielding machine guns, some of them wielding shotguns. At first, they were five. Then ten. Then seventeen. By the thirtieth man, they were launching themselves at the New Agers, the others' bullets passing through them to hit the other kids. It didn't seem like he would stop, more and more kept coming out. Forty two. Fifty eight. Sixty three. Seventy one.

"You're doing just great, Ciro." Benjy replied mentally, as he watched the paramedics take the comatose Ruth out of the house in a stretcher, her weeping mother right behind her. "Oh crap. Mother's gonna be there. I think I've met her once?... might be a big problem." He glanced offhandedly at Zia, raising an eyebrow. "The Sentry? Oh, boy, Zia, it's a long story. Basically, there's this thing called the Void. And he's really bad. There's a possibility he came along with the Sentry package..."

Shaking his head, he brushed his hair out of the way. "Okay. They're loading her up. I need to concentrate." He closed his eyes, placing his hands next to each other as if holding an invisible ball. Gritting his teeth and applying some strain, a ball of pink energy popped in and out of existence in the middle of his hand, just as the ambulance driver was turning on the engine. "Hold onto... my shoulder!" Benjy strained to say, as the ball kept popping in and out faster and faster.

Once Zia touched his shoulder, there'd be a loud POP, followed by the sensation of being thrown around with the intensity of a rollercoaster, before being unceremoniously dropped inside the ambulance. Benjy instantly turned around and threw up on the lap of one of the two paramedics in the back of the ambulance, as Ruth's mom started to yell out of fear.

"Tell who?" Sarah hissed back. "Principal Shooter?... you know what, it doesn't sound like half of a bad idea. If we got him on our side now, when Cornelius came back we could put him against the fucking wall and force him to assume to others how much of a sick fuck he is!" She groaned, before clutching her neck. "If I stop talking, I think I'm gonna puke... and I don't want to know what someone made out of ice pukes, you hear me?"

...Well this just got interesting. Alex thought, before turning his head towards the police officers.

"I do not think that collateral damage can be avoided for very long...Please evacuate the nearby area. We will do our best to deal with him." He rumbled, before approaching the horde, cracking his knuckles as he did so. A gunman charged at him, but was quickly sent reeling by a vicious high kick.

Tch. Guy's just abusing his power for his own gain. Alex scowled behind his helmet as the occasional bullet hit him. Luckily, the symbiote had increased its density, and the bullets failed to penetrate his suit. Doesn't even give a shit about others...you alright, Bobby?

Uhuh! Feels weird. The symbiote replied. So how are we gonna beat them?

Alex hummed as he knocked away another clone with a roundhouse. Winging it this time.

Summoning 2 tendrils, Alex began spinning them like chains and lashed out at the horde, taking out 3-4 enemies with each swing. On occasion, he would glance around to check on the efforts of the other New Agers, or if the police officers had pulled back or not.

Terry shot off a few more light energy blasts, having gotten the hang for the consistency and force behind the light, but completely caught flat footed when he saw so many more of them flowing out of the store. Forty...

Terry swung his arms through one copy after another, watching as the people dispersed into shadows and mist. Breathing in sharply, he tried to keep going, to stop the original somehow.

He heard and felt the bullets flying through the air - they barely tickled him as he was now, but he knew the others were far less durable in their physiology. "Stop! You'll kill people! Do you want to be a murderer!?"

He released a larger blast than normal, desperate to end this before things got too dangerous for the others. You won't make an impact doing this.

Terry swung through another of the men - for a moment he hallucinated the man broke apart under the sheer force of his punch, splattering the ground with viscera and blood.

You see? You screw up. That's what is gonna happen.

The vision passed, and Terry was left reeling - for a moment he stopped fighting as a thread of bright red energy crackled across his aura.

You need to make an impact? You need to stop some aberrant sinner from hurting your dear little friends? Allow me. I've done it before. I've crushed empires. Humbled their emperors and sunk their mightiest legions to an earthen grave.

The red was becoming more visible - Terry was not handling the sheer number and the stress of being under fire very well, by now trying desperately to stop the duplicates from continuing, swinging wildly through one after another.

Trust in me to get this done. If you can't do something, pray and allow a higher power to deal with the issue...

Terry knew what was coming - it was trying something. The evil thing lurking inside him. And he knew it was unbelievably powerful, a creature that had brought death for eons. He hated doing this, he hated being so useless so...so full of phobia...

What use am I if I can't fight off that creature?

Sorry, guys, the least I can do is stop the situation from becoming even worse.

Terry flew up while the red energy was pulsing, trying to gain a foothold, and then flew away from the area, far up and far away.

I have a trip I am going on today, which will last for two weeks. I am not dropping this RP, and I might be able to sign on out there. However for now I am leaving this the way it is, so as not to ghost or just drop off the face of the earth suddenly.

Growling a bit in annoyance and narrowing his eyes at the swarm of robbers, Cornelius speaks up in the deep voice again "Why do you need the money? All I wanted to do was help you, but if your reason is beyond petty then I will not feel sorry about this." With that said, Cornelius pushes the metal encased officers away before focusing on the robber's weapons- In order to crush his various arms with the mangled mess. If that fails, Cornelius slings metal shards to punch through the various copies, and nonetheless attempts to search with his power to see if the original is within the building or trying to get away.

However, in all of that, Cornelius tries calling out "Zia, can you hear me? I would like to know your progress on fixing Ruth's body."

"I... ugh, yeah," Anna grimaced, trying to dispel the scene from her memory. "But what would Cornelius do if he's backed against a wall...?" She waved her hand at the former Trent's vague direction, hoping that her meaning was clear.

Blake darted from cover to cover, ambushing duplicate robbers where he could by punching and running but leaving most of the combat to the others. He just shrugged as Terry flew away - pretty boy couldn't handle the Void apparently - and continued running and hiding until he made his way to a dumpster behind Cornelius. He looked around for a sharp object but when he couldn't find one picked up a metal bar and threw it onto the ground beyond the dumpster. He waited until Cornelius didn't have any enemies near him before sending a message.

Cornelius, gonna need a sharp point.

Using his telepathy more unconventionally he 'pointed' to the metal bar.

He then reached out to only the robber again and screamed telepathically, trying to at least distract the multitudes.

Hearing Blake's thought and his mental pointing at the metal bar, Cornelius briefly nods his head before thinking at him. "Thank you Blake, and... If I end up killing him? I will be sorry. I would prefer that he lives, but as it stands he'll overwhelm and kill us. Yet if he decides the best way to use his powers is to steal and murder for the sake of it, then I will have no regrets. So make sure the others know, I didn't want this to happen."

With his thoughts finished, Cornelius takes control of the metal bar and makes it start flying through the robbers, searching as well for blood iron in the clones. Though once more, Cornelius thinks at Blake. "How do you think the others view me? How do you view me? I hope none of them consider me a monster."

Staying behind the dumpster and face-punching any duplicates who got too close, Blake continued the conversation.

You seem kinda fucking crazy. You probably aren't but you kinda look like it; I've seen fucked-up and I'm not even the worst of our merry crew. I don't know, maybe 'bunch of assholes put me in hospital' lowered my standards. But the others don't seem very fond of you, so stopping a robbery's probably a good move.