Heroes

[starmark2k]

The cells of Jaydon, Malin, William and Jacob slowly began to fill with a clear gas through small vents all around the wall. The Gas was Quick acting and all four fell to the Floor and then into an unconscious state.

 

When Jacob awoke he found himself inside a room looking through a pain of one way glass into a room where Jaydon, Malin and William were still unconscious. His arms leg and forehead were all bound to a chair and making it impossible to turn away from the Glass.

 

The effects of the Gas wore off on the three captives in a room were the walls, floor and ceiling were all padded with a dull grey cushion. In front of them stood the Agents Known as Brute and Enigma.

 

Before the three knew what was happening Brute charged at Jaydon and punched him hard in the square of the stomach causing the young man to fly backwards into the wall. Mean while Enigma ran a few steps then leapt into a Flying kick and hit Malin in the Shoulder, As she landed the silent women Turned and punched William in the face before turning invisible.

 

((OOC-K guys You’ll be escaping pretty much after this fight, but it won’t be an easy one so don’t end it to quickly, and consider other players.))

_________________________________________________________

 

 

Jason walked into the Lobby of the Triple Helix Labs where he agreed to meet Kevin, although the equipment at his home was good compared to those used in the Triple Helix labs they were a child’s Chemistry set. It was perhaps a little unethical (and illegal) to use the Globe-Net Labs for some personal research but providing he was careful no one ever noticed. This wouldn’t be the first time he had done some personal research at work, he remembers testing the first 6 blood samples he ever found here, including his own.

 

He awaited Kevin in the Lab.

 

((OOC- OK If any of the Mall people are still around and Interested in continuing please state so in the D&R thread… I don’t think we have enough to continue that line so I’ll bring you in another way.))

[Master_Archon]

((Do we knock them unconcious? You never really specified; especially considering how hard it's going to be to knock Brute unconcious. Just wondering.))

 

The first thing Jaydon thought when he woke up was, '...I'm hungry.'

 

The second thing he thought of was, 'Oh wonderful, another te....' But his thoughts were cut short as a large man decided to send him back into unconciousness, not to mention the wall.

 

Jaydon made a dull thud as he hit the grey padded wall, and then fell to the floor, his semiconcious mind working itself back into reality. The large man trudged over to Jaydon, and easily lifted him up, holding him as if he were a piece of cloth. The man balled up his fist and prepared to end Jaydon's short life.

 

But Jaydon was quick to revive, and his eyes snapped open, his mind was working in overdrive now, because this was neither the time nor the place to be lazy, or secretive, this guy could easily snub the life out of him. 'This guy's going to smash my head like a grapefruit!' Jaydon thought as he saw the man's fist move towards him. But Jaydon had already planned ahead...well, actually it was more luck than anything else, as Jaydon had already increased his skull's density during the events with the white room and the uber dentists equipment. But Jaydon didn't trust his own abilities against an unknown opponent, so with his fast reflexes he barely moved his head to the side as the man's fist planted itself in the wall behind him with a thud.

 

Jaydon looked over his shoulder at the wall, if padded walls could dent, then that's what happened, and that could have been his head. Jaydon quickly looked for a way to get out of the man's vice grip, and found the answer with relative ease. Jaydon wiggled a bit and began pulling his arms into his vest; after that he easily slipped out of his vest onto the floor, as the big fellow had only been holding him up by his vest in the first place.

 

Jaydon gave the juggernaut of a man a crooked grin and then bolted for it, he didn't have anywhere to go, but atleast he knew he could outrun the guy...until he got tired.

[JasraLantill]

Looking over at Milly, Elisa then commented, "Well, that was rather brief. Still, you think we'd get any other pressing concerns answered for the next part of his speech?"

 

Taking one of the business cards, Elisa looked it over briefly and placed it in her pocket for safe keeping.

Milly nodded. She had been a bit floored by the Australian girl's questions and then sudden departure, and equally shocked at the revelation that Dr. Hawk was trying to gather together these 'specials' he was discovering. She didn't quite believe that he was really trying to do this for the specials' benefit, but neither he really didn't seem the type to be working for the government. He looked too laid back.

 

"I don't know if I want to hang around for that long," Milly said to her. "That Aussie girl sort of gave me the creeps. Besides, I've got what I need for my extra credit." She held up the pamphlet for the talk, and then grinned at Elisa. "Maybe we should have gotten Dr. Hawk's autograph, huh? Just to prove that we were participating in the discussion? Could have got us some extra points."

 

She looked over Elise's shoulder. "So, you wanna ditch your bodyguard for a bit? Grab some coffee? I still have a lot of work to do on my biology research project. I've got water samples to categorize, but my study group partners are so lazy. But I'm not getting a mediocre grade on this thing. I want to go to med school, and if I can't pass Biology with at least a 'B', there is no chance I'll get accepted as a med student." Again, she looked over at Officer Tommy, who was actually trying to make his way through the crowd towards them. "C'mon, let's go," she said to Elisa. "You look like you could do with not being watched for a while. Besides, if there's a problem, I'll have my brother smooth things out with him. He's a detective on the force."

 

The pair left the hall, deftly weaving in and out of the milling crowd, while Officer Tommy tried in vain to follow them.

[stingerhs]

Heading to the local coffee shop on campus, the two girls went up to the counter and ordered some coffee. Finding a table somewhat near the back of the place, they sat down to talk for a while.

 

"So, you know what I'm taking Biology for, but what about you?" Milly asked

 

"Me? Well, I'm taking the class as for my preveterinary course stuff. When I'm done, I'm wanting to work as a vet for a zoo or something," Elisa replied as she took a sip from her coffee. Gagging slightly from the heat of the latte, Elisa waved over her mouth. Seeing Milly smile, Elisa then said, "Its hot."

 

"Well, you did order a latte afterall. What were you expecting?" Milly replied rhetorically as she sipped lightly on her frappe. Looking over at the counter, Milly noticed something out of place. "That's weird. Ever see two burly guys straighten each other's ties in the middle of the street?"

 

"Not really. Are they gay or something?" Elisa asked not understanding what Milly had said.

 

"No, they look like they're going to a funeral or something," Milly replied as she shook her head. "Totally weird."

 

"Well, this is Seattle. Lots of business types around, you know?" Elisa replied as she sipped very lightly from her cup.

 

"Ye--ah...." Milly frowned. "But I don't think their business is quite the legitimate type, if you know what I mean."

 

"What makes you say that?"

 

Looking as closely as she could at the two men, Milly then observed, "Well, unless they have very fat wallets in their jacket pockets, I'd say they are packing. Guns, I mean. Shoulder holsters to be more specific." Frowning a bit worriedly, she then quickly added, "And I know this because... my brother is a cop and he wears a holster like that, too."

 

With her face suddenly draining of color, Elisa then asked, "Wait a second, they're not, you know, hispanic looking or anything, are they?"

 

"Erm... yeah. Why?"

 

Leaning over the table, Elisa then said in a hushed voice, "Oh, that is so not good. I did tell you why I had the Police with me, right?"

 

"No. I just assumed that you had an overprotective parent or something. Why?" Milly asked cautiously.

 

"My pappy is under a Protection thing because he's a witness against the mob back in Miami. Do you see where I'm going with this?" Elisa replied.

 

"Sort of," Milly stated as she squinted to see the men more clearly. "But I see more of where they're going. They're coming this way."

 

Cursing under her breath, Elisa quickly came up with an idea. "Ok, well, if I can, I'll meet them in the bathroom. They're after me, so when they follow me, get some help," Elisa stated quickly as she slid her cell phone across the table to Milly.

 

Without waiting for Milly to say something, Elisa quickly got up and went to the bathroom like it was an emergency. Once inside, she quickly entered a stall and locked it. Huddling back in the corner of the stall, Elisa quickly stood hunched on top of the toilet so her feet couldn't be seen by looking under the stalls.

[Quist]

As Malin stirred back into consciousness, the first thing that she became aware of was that the floor was a lot softer than she had remembered. Pulling herself into a sitting position, she managed to open her heavy lids just in time to become aware of the second thing, which was a woman aiming a kick right at her. Malin's reflexes were slow, but she still managed to twist her body enough so that the woman's foot landed on her shoulder instead of her chest. The force of the blow was still enough to knock Malin backwards, and she tumbled across the padded floor. As she rolled to a stop, she was just able to see the strange woman whirl and strike a man in the face, then completely disappear from view.

 

She blinked twice, as if not believing her own eyes, before shaking her head and slowly rising to her feet. A crash caused her to look to the side where she saw another couple of men, one of them very large and imposing looking who was chasing the other, who was rather young. Malin quickly darted towards the first man she had seen, the one who had been punched in the face. As she neared him, she knelt down. Just as she was about to reach over and prop him up, something hard struck her bare side, sending her flying off. She crumpled to the floor, clutching her ribs.

 

As she looked up, she saw the mysterious woman appear out of nowhere and stride purposefully towards her. Malin's first instinct was to call out, try and reason with her assailant, but something told her that this woman would not listen to reason. Gritting her teeth, she willed her body into another morph, changing the skin beneath her skin. As the woman stepped forwards and pistoned her leg forward in another kick aimed at Malin's head, the firefighter moved her arm up to block the blow. Instead of flesh on flesh contact, the woman's leg impacted the heavy steel of Malin's arm. The woman's eyes grew wide as she observed Malin's skin falling away to reveal a sheen of shiny metal.

 

Malin didn't wait for the woman to pull her leg back. She grabbed it and swung the woman full force into the wall.

[Writer]

He awaited Kevin in the Lab.

 

 

But Kevin was not the first person to arrive at the lab. Using a little bit of persuasion, Lara worked her way into the building and was given directions to the lab. As she headed for it, her phone buzzed. With a frustrated roll of the eyes, she answered, "Yeah?"

 

"We are sending someone else to help you bring Jason Hawk in," the voice on the other end informed her. Lara's eyes widened.

 

"But, no!" she protested. "This is my assignment. I'm going in right now."

 

"Is there something about this assignment you aren't telling us, Ms. Caldwell?" the man asked. "Some... personal interest in the subject? How many times have we told you that you can get any information you desire from us? Training too. At any time."

 

"A lot easier in the recruiting speech," Lara grumbled. "I ask, you all say, 'Oh, come back later, do this now.' I just... I want to understand exactly what happened to me. And I'm almost positive Jason Hawk knows. Don't worry. When my questions are asked, I'll bring him in. You have my word."

 

"That's what I'm worried about," the man replied, "that your word may not be enough. We're sending someone to your location. Her name is Kate. Wait for her before going to Dr. Hawk. And don't do anything rash. You may be an American citizen by law, but what is that citizenship more than a piece of paper and some computer entries? We can get you deported back to Australia if you don't play by the rules. Keep that in mind."

 

The line went dead and Lara muttered. "Like hell, I'll wait..." And she pushed open the lab door and entered, approaching Jason Hawk.

 

"Hi," she said softly. "Sorry I was so abrupt on the phone... class started... umm..." She extended her hand to him. "Lara Caldwell."

 

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

 

Kevin wasn't far behind Lara, actually. Jason had told him where the lab was, but it was behind a few security checkpoints. No big issue for Kevin Waters. He simply held a plastic card to the scanner and sent a valid code. The scanner picked it up, and he was golden.

 

But it was after he got through the first three checkpoints that things got a little odd. He overheard a phone conversation, heard the name "Jason Hawk" and decided to listen in.

 

"... personal interest in the subject? How many times have we told you that you can get any information you desire from us? Training too. At any time."

 

The response was a female voice... Australian accent. "A lot easier in the recruiting speech," she grumbled. "I ask, you all say, 'Oh, come back later, do this now.' I just... I want to understand exactly what happened to me. And I'm almost positive Jason Hawk knows. Don't worry. When my questions are asked, I'll bring him in. You have my word."

 

"That's what I'm worried about," the other voice answered, "that your word may not be enough. We're sending someone to your location. Her name is Kate. Wait for her before going to Dr. Hawk. And don't do anything rash..."

 

Kevin's pulse was racing. That didn't sound good. And in his moment of distraction, he swiped his card... and access was denied. He flushed bright red. The security guard came over.

 

"Can I help you, sir?" he asked. Kevin grinned and swiped his card once more. This time, it worked.

 

"Thanks, man," he said, "but I'm good."

 

"New face," the guard observed. He shrugged. "See a lot of them during the day, I guess... not so much on my shift."

 

Kevin shrugged. "Somebody's gotta keep busy," he said dismissively. And with a wave, he passed the guard, trying to tune in again to the phone conversation he'd been listening in on earlier. All he got was, "... by the rules. Keep that in mind."

 

And then, after the call ended, the microphone on the girl's cell phone was active long enough for Kevin to catch, "Like hell, I'll wait..."

 

In a blind panic, Kevin broke into a run, heading for the lab to prevent what sounded to him like a kidnapping...

 

((Chat with Lara a bit, SM... Kevin doesn't get there just yet ))

[stingerhs]

As she stood there on top of the toilet, a thought suddenly crossed Elisa's mind. Outside the stall, Elisa could hear the door open to the bathroom followed by the somewhat familiar sound of a safety on a gun flicking off. The feeling of being trapped reminded her of what some animals would do when cornered, and her thoughts drifted to that of the snake enclosure back in the Miami Zoo.

 

As she could hear the footsteps of the two men searching the small bathroom, Elisa's body quickly began to almost meld together. Dark, grey scales covered her body, and her body collapsed into the corner in a tight coil. Feeling the instincts of the animal, she then realized what she had become: a Black Mamba.

 

Slithering through her clothes, she used the strength and speed of the animal to quickly remove herself from her clothes. In front of her, she could see the shoes of the two men through the snake's eyes, and she could feel a sense of panic and fear from the snake. It felt trapped, and it had triggered the snake's sense to fight.

 

In what seemed like less than a second, the snake very quickly slithered out and struck the closest man, and Elisa could feel the poison sacs draining slightly as it injected highly toxic venom into the man. Finally, the man screamed in pain as he felt Elisa bite him, and he instinctively pulled away as Elisa let him go.

 

Tripping over his partner as he backpedeled, both men fell flat on the floor. The snake, however, was not one to just run away. Afterall, it still felt cornered, and it struck the same man yet again. Inside, Elisa herself felt no remorse, and she made no attempt to override the instincts of the animal.

 

As the two men fumbled around trying to leave, the snake targeted the second man, and bit him in the arm as he tried to brace himself on the floor to get up. The first man, however, was struggling as the venom quickly began to work inside of him. The mamba's venom attacks the nervous system, and already, the man's breathing was becoming labored and erratic as the venom disrupted the signals from the brain to the lungs. His heartbeat was also becoming more erratic, and the extra dose of venom from the second bite was making it all the more potent.

 

Struggling to get to the door, both men finally made it to their feet as the snake rose up in a threatening gesture by spreading its small hood and hissing loudly. Running towards an exit in the crowded coffee shop, they managed to stumble out into the parking lot. As they tried to reach their car, they quickly began to lose strength in their body, and the first man collapsed on the pavement. The second man stumbled past him and got into the driver's side of the car.

 

The car started up quickly, and the rear tires screached on the pavement as the car jerked backwards. With a violent two bumps, the first man was run over by the left side of the car. Then, the tires screached yet again as it moved forwards, and the first man was run over yet again as the car sped outwards. The car didn't get very far, though. With the venom working hard on the driver, he could barely focus on his driving, and as he tried to turn out of the University, the car slid out of control, hit the curb, and flipped over several times. Both men had died.

 

Elisa however, realized that people would be looking for her in addition to the reason why the two men had stumbled out of the bathroom in such a way. Thinking quickly, Elisa morphed out of the snake and back into her normal human self. Feeling the rush of adrenaline, Elisa tried to hold back her own tears as she struggled to get her clothes back on. The snake had frightened her in its display of pure aggression, and she was more frightened of the feeling she had felt whenever she let the snake attack the men so viciously.

 

Sitting down on the toilet, Elisa finally let it all out, and she sat their weeping as she waited for whatever fate would bring.

[JasraLantill]

Milly had seen the two men barge purposefully into the coffee shop, scan the tables, and then head towards the bathrooms. And then, Milly had immediately phoned her brother, Cass.

 

She had only gotten through to his voice mail though, and she had only just started to leave a message when she heard scuffling coming from behind the bathroom door.

 

"Crap!" she uttered, just as the beep to record sounded. "Got a major problem here, Cass. My friend, Elisa's in big, big trouble. We're at the coffee shop, and these two men are...." She heard a scream, not from Elisa but from one of the two men as they stumbled out of the bathroom. Milly yelped. "Oh, my God!"

 

She dropped the phone on the floor, and ducked down along with the rest of the panicked coffee shop customers. One of the men had his gun out, waving it around crazily in the air, but he seemed more concerned about getting out of the coffee shop as quickly as he could, stumbling over chairs and knocking over a plant stand as he scrambled for the side door.

 

The second man quickly followed, and Milly watched shocked, along with the rest of the shop's patrons, as the two men staggered towards their car. The first man seemed to collapse to the ground before he could make it there, but the second jumped into driver's seat.

 

The wheels spun out as the car took off wildly in reverse. Milly and the rest of the customers gasped and shrieked in horror as the first man was run over, and then shrieked again as the car moved forward and ran over him a second time. But, it didn't get far before it smacked the curb and went careening out of control, flipping over several times.

 

While the other customers were panicking and pointing out the window, Milly ran toward the bathroom. "Elisa?!" she screamed out for her friend.

 

She crashed through the door and scanned the room, seeing Elisa's image in through the walls of the end stall with her X-ray vision. "Elisa!"

 

She hurried over to the stall, and flung open the door. Elisa was sitting on the toilet, half-naked and crying. Milly's eyes flicked over Elisa's body, as her eyes scanned the girl for broken bones. "Oh, my God...," she said as she knelt down beside her, picking up Elisa's shirt from the bathroom floor and handing it to her. "W-what happened? Are you okay? Did they hurt y...?"

 

Milly paused mid-sentence. What she saw frightened her even more than what she had seen happen to the two men outside. With Milly's X-ray vision she could see Elisa's bones and organs were... moving--as if they have been previously rearranged and were now putting themselves back into order.

 

Her eyes widened and although she wanted to comfort Elisa, she involuntarily found herself shrinking back. "Oh, this can't be...." She swallowed hard. "You're... you're a 'special,' aren't you?"

[starmark2k]

Jason Looked up at the young Australian student and met her extended hand with his own. “Yeah, Hello.” He broke the hand shake. “Maybe we should talking my office.” Jason suggested as he turned around and walked over to the office door.

 

He opened the door and let Lara walk in first before he followed, it was then he realised that a strange, but attractive, women was sitting in his chair at his desk. She was wearing an open lab coat with a low-cut shirt beneath and glasses, her hair long hair was tied up into a bun over her head.

 

“Dr Hawk.” The women announced with a southern Accent. “I’ve been waiting for you.”

 

“Well I’m here now.” Jason replied. “Who are you?”

 

“I’m sorry, I should introduce myself, Kate Cameron.” The lady informed standing from the chair and slowly walking around the desk to Dr Hawk. “I’m your New Assistant.”

 

“I get an Assistant now?”

 

“The higher ups feel you have a heavy work load and need someone to help you with it.” She said sensually looking into the geneticist’s eyes. “I see you have company, so I’ll let you see to her.” She looked at Lara and walked began to walk out of the room. “I look forward to working under you.” As she walked out of the room she winked at Lara then closed the door behind her.

 

“Well that was… interesting.” Jason stated as he walked around his desk and sat in his chair. “So what would you like to discuss?”

[Rogue Nine]

"Find anything out from the professor?" Esmé asked her partner as Cass came into the squad room and sat down at his desk facing hers.

 

He shook his head. "Nothing conclusive," he replied. "Guy's pretty young too, looks like one of those nerdy overacheiver types. Says he contacted Jay and obtained a blood sample from the old man for his research, but that was apparently the extent of their contact." He rubbed his chin. "Faculty alibied him at the university all day, so he can't have been our killer."

 

Esmé murmured in agreement, picking up a newspaper photo off of her desk. "This is him, right?" she queried, indicating a man standing at a podium.

 

"Yeah, that's him," Cass confirmed, squinting at the picture. "A real boy scout too, got this crazy theory that there are people with 'special powers' all around us, like the X-men or something."

 

She arched an eyebrow at Cass's observations, but said nothing on them. "Don't think he's our perp, then," Esmé said, reaching over and grabbing a cart with a TV and VCR on it. "Take a look at this. Surveilliance video from Jay's apartment this morning."

 

Cass scooted his chair forward and stared at the screen intently. The footage was of the front of the millionaire's apartment. "Of course they're not going to have cameras actually inside the apartment," he mused.

 

Esmé chuckled. "That would make things too easy." She sped the tape up slightly.

 

A tall figure dressed in black appeared down the hallway and approached the camera and the apartment doors. It sidled up to the lock and inserted a key, then pushed the doors open slowly and shut them once inside. "I guess that's our boy, then," Cass surmised.

 

"Just wait for it," Esmé said."

 

A few minutes later, the same figure emerged from the apartment and closed the doors. Before taking off down the hallway, it looked around, revealing the face of a bearded man. "Hello Johnny..." Cass murmured.

 

"We don't have a positive ID on him yet, but we're looking," Esmé informed him.

 

"I take it we're not releasing this to the press just yet."

 

His partner snorted. "As if. We don't want every greedy SOB in the city dragging in the bearded homeless guy they found on the street, looking to cash in on a reward."

 

Cass shook his head. "I didn't think so. So he's our only lead?"

 

Esmé rubbed the side of her temple. "Maybe not. Did you say that he sent off a blood sample to this Dr. Hawk?"

 

"Yeah."

 

"Had to have gone to a medical professional for that, and recently too. Let's see what we can dig up." Esmé grabbed her coat.

 

Cass did the same with his, shrugging it on, then putting his hands in his pockets. "Huh," he said, withdrawing his vibrating cell phone. He dialed voicemail and put it to his ear, wondering what Milly had wanted. As he listened, his eyes widened. "Oh Lord," he mouthed, snapping his phone shut.

 

"What is it, Cass?" Esmé asked, knowing there was something wrong from the expression on her partner's face.

 

"There's been an incident at a coffee shop where my sister and her friend are," Cass explained breathlessly, pocketing his cell phone. "Near the campus, sounds like an accident, possible armed suspects."

 

"Need me to come with you?"

 

"No, you go dig up whatever you can. I'll join you as soon as possible." He whirled and headed for the door.

 

"Don't worry about it, Cass!" she called after him. As he waved and exited, she sighed then picked up the phone on her desk. "Dispatch, we have a report of a disturbance at the Starbuck's on Stevens Way near the U of W campus. Be advised, possible armed suspects with a vehicle. Detective Cheveyo en route, please send backup."

[Writer]

Having Kate already there was a serious distraction to Lara. So much so that Jason had to ask his question again. Then, Lara's eyes snapped to him.

 

"Umm..." she stammered. "Oh, yeah. Paper..." Collecting her thoughts, she took a deep breath. "This may sound overwhelming, but... I want to know everything."

 

"Well, it started with the Big Bang..." Jason joked.

 

Lara smiled faintly and added to his joke with words right out of his own mind, "... and then there were some dinosaurs, a few scattered apes and ape-men about..." Her smile faded. "You are speaking with the next step up from Homo sapiens," she said, a hint of threat in her voice. "Do be so kind as to explain why this is happening."

 

"Natural selection, spontaneous mutation, to be honest, I haven't discovered the cause, whatever's causing it, mankind appears to be evolving." Jason said thinking about the girl's statement. "So you believe you're one of the specials I wrote about?"

 

With a curt nod, Lara explained, "I hear peoples' thoughts, and there's this..." The chair next to the one in which she sat suddenly rose into the air, passed over the desk, and settled back to the ground on Jason's left.

 

"Telepathy and telekinesis," Jason stated, trying but failing to keep a cool head. "That's pretty impressive."

 

Lara offered him a tight smile. "Thank you," she said stiffly. "Now to another matter... one that's a little more troublesome..."

 

At that moment, the lights flickered and went out. In the darkness, Lara spoke: "On the other hand... this could prove to be worse..."

 

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

 

Kevin ran full-speed through the halls, desperate to get to the lab before that Aussie girl, whoever she was, could run off with Dr. Hawk. When he finally reached the lab, he was confronted by another woman. Rather than take any risks, Kevin grabbed her neck and slammed her back against the wall.

 

For her part, Kate was not expecting any attack and had therefore been unable to use her power against him. She slumped to the floor, unconscious. Then, Kevin reached out and touched the wall. Reaching his perceptions out further and further, he found the time-delay at which the lights were set to turn off. He set it to zero... and the lights went out.

 

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

 

 

"What's going on?" Jason exclaimed jumping up from his chair. "Are you doing this?"

 

"No," Lara answered slowly. "Not me..."

 

Suddenly, they heard the door pulled open. Lara whirled, but in the darkness, she could see nothing. She reached out with her mind and felt only a dark intent before something crashed into her head and she knew no more.

 

"So," Kevin Waters' voice came through in the darkness. The lights came back on and he stared across the desk at Jason. "Seems you enjoy a little trouble now and then. I intercepted a phone call from this one... this young lady was here to kidnap you, Doctor."

 

"What? Why would she want to kidnap me?" Jason asked in disbelief. Kevin shook his head grimly.

 

"I don't know," he answered. "But that's what she promised over the phone to do. Do you have anything to tie her up with? When she wakes up, we can find out... but we should leave this building. They sent her, they know where you're at, they could come after you again."

[Master_Archon]

Jaydon was in another sticky situation, the man was faster than he had ever guessed, and had run Jaydon down like a wild animal, and now he had him pinned in a corner. The man swung hard at Jaydon, who in turn ducked down, avoiding the punch, and with instinctive reaction, and a desire to survive, he curled up his fist and brought it up at the man, what happened next would have surprised most normal people, but this large fellow, with his super strength and everything, was not quite so normal.

 

A long sharp protrusion ejected from the top of his wrist, like a bladed dew claw. It didn't come out all the way though, it remained in his flesh, and attached to the bone it was produced from.

 

Jaydon brought it straight up into the man's jaw, where he thought he would do most damage, and against Jaydon's better nature, he might kill the man. But it was not so, as the bone spike struck the man's chin it stopped, it didn't even pierce his skin. Jaydon looked shocked, and the man smiled a cruel smile at him. Jaydon tried for the man's chest, but to no avail, the guy was invinsible. The man chuckled tauntingly, and then grabbed Jaydon's arm and lifted him up easily.

 

"If it's bones you control, then it is bones I will break," the man said in a low menacing voice. And with that the man grabbed Jaydon's arm in both hands and with great ease he snapped Jaydon's arm at the elbow. The man waited for the scream but received none. Jaydon looked down at his 'broken' arm and blinked, the man let Jaydon go, he didn't understand. Jaydon grabbed his forearm, and with a simple tug snapped it back to normal.

 

Jaydon looked up at the brutish fellow and smiled innocently, "are you kidding, I was doing stuff like that when I was eight, look." And with that indication he bent his other arm at the elbow all the way back, and then back to normal.

 

"Besides, there's no real major bone at the elbow, mostly cartilage," Jaydon told the man who only looked at him blankly, before grabbing Jaydon again and tossing him across the room into the wall. Then the thug came over to him, planting his foot on Jaydon's chest, he began pressing.

 

"Then I will crush you," he responded to Jaydon finally. Jaydon gasped, the man's strength, not to mention his weight, was immense, even with his rib's flexibility decreased, and the density increased, it was still like a literal ton of bricks pressing down on his chest. Jaydon struggled frantically, his mind racing, more than usual, to find a way out from under the man's foot, but how? The man was completely invincible it seemed, his skin was like a sheet of titanium....that was it, the man's skin, Jaydon was thinking too broadly about this guy, he was human, like himself, only different, like himself, even at his strongest Jaydon could still be hurt in some ways, so this guy had to be the same.

 

Jaydon held his arm up weakly, his bone spike still protruding from his wrist.

 

"Smile cheese head," Jaydon gasped, the man only grinned a toothy grin.

 

"What will you do? You can't...." But before his sentence ended he had a shard of bone shoved into his mouth. The thug stumbled backwards from two things, the surprise, and the pain. Jaydon rolled over, and then with some struggle, he pushed himself up.

 

Jaydon wobbled a bit, but steadied himself rather quickly. The thug grabbed the bone piece, and snatched it from his mouth, and after it came a torrent of vomit, with blood mixed in. Jaydon watched with a look of 'ew, gross!'

 

"How....How did you?" Was all the large man could gasp out as driblet of blood and vomit came from his mouth.

 

"Easy, I recalled the fact that you, like the rest of us, including me, are human, not some super powerful extraterrestrial, like superman. You can be hurt just like anyone else, I figured your strength was natural, or close enough to it. And I figure you burned like us, maybe not your skin though, I figured your invincibility, as I thought it was, had to do with your skin, so if you were hit by a flamethrower, your skin would be fine, but your insides would cook, all roasty toasty like," Jaydon told the gasping, and somewhat confused fellow.

 

"If you're wondering what fire has to do with bone, or anything else for that matter, it's this, your insides will cook if fire hits you, so your insides will bleed if I hit them, your mouth, namely your throat, is apart of your insides, so with the personal experience I gained from goofing off with my powers, I simply launched that spike of bone into your mouth, unfortunately my aim was off, and I hit your right tonsil, not the back of the throat as intended, but I still made ya puke at least," Jaydon said with a grin, the large man, hands on knees, only growled, he was too unstable from the whole ordeal to beat Jaydon's head to a pulp.

 

"Toodles," Jaydon said with a grin and a wave, and then he ran off across the room. He thought he would get some distance between himself and the big thug, when he hit something heavy, metal, and quite solid. Jaydon shook his head, and looked up. He thought he'd escaped trouble, now he had to deal with.....(Jaydon glanced down at the sleek figure, which didn't quite fit his first impression; he felt blood rush to his head, and he literally felt his heart murmur).....A metal, woman!?

 

He paused, his mind, which was always racing, even when Jaydon was at his laziest, was at a standstill. He didn't quite know what to do, first off, he didn't fight women regardless. Second, he had no clue if she was even against him in any way. Third, he was hungry. Fourth, it could be a statue....a scantily clad statue. Fifth, there was an unconscious man near her, so that had to indicate something, whether good or ill. Did he forget to mention he was hungry?

 

Jaydon raised a fist, but held it at waist level, 'what do I do?'

[Quist]

Malin had just set herself into a defensive stance, eyeing the silent Asian woman struggling to stand, when something ran into her side. As she was currently composed of steel, the impact affected her very little. Turning her head only slightly, she spotted the young man who had been running at the far side of the room now sitting on the floor, looking up at her incredulously. "Stay back," she cautioned. He didn't seem to pose a threat, as he could have easily harmed her when she wasn't looking. Besides, he was too young to be part of whatever crazy criminal organization had kidnapped them.

 

The Asian woman stalked forward swiftly, arms up and ready for attack. Malin took the initiative this time, stepping towards her and cranking a steel fist forward, aimed that the woman's stomach. To the firefighter's surprise, her fist actually passed through the woman's stomach, coming clear out the otherside through her back. Malin stumbled forward, the inertia of her swing propelling her past her enemy. She managed to catch herself and whirl back around, but the woman had disappeared from view again.

 

Great. She looked towards the young man again. "Hey, you!" she said. "Wake that guy up over there." She pointed to the still-unconscious man lying prone on the floor. "We're going to need all the help we can get."

[stingerhs]

Her eyes widened and although she wanted to comfort Elisa, she involuntarily found herself shrinking back. "Oh, this can't be...." She swallowed hard. "You're... you're a 'special,' aren't you?"

Alarmed, Elisa snapped her eyes up at Milly. Shaking her head, Elisa quickly said, "What!? No! I-I can't!"

 

Hanging her head, Elisa then said, "I was only protecting myself. I-I couldn't help it." Then, it suddenly dawned on Elisa about something. "But how could you know? I had finished changing back when you first came in here."

[starmark2k]

Jason and Kevin arrived back at the scientists apartment, outside the door SJ and Byron awaited them while. Jason wasted no time in rushing all four people in and he explained the resent events to the Gymnast and his former professor with Kevin’s help.

 

“So why are they after you?” Byron asked.

 

“My research into these specials, they must be looking for them or something.” Jason explained thinking. “Mr Jay.” He exclaimed looking over at his desk and walking over to it.

 

“Who?” SJ asked curious over the Geneticists outburst.

 

 

“It was a name of a man, a special I wrote his name on a list, now he’s dead.” He explained looking through piles of files. “The list, It’s gone.”

 

“What do you mean it’s gone?” Byron asked walking up behind Jason.

 

“They must have taken it, used it to find Jay and kill him.” Jason Booted up his computer and opened up a file, the file was a backup of the list with phone numbers and places of work on it.” Jason quickly grabbed the phone and began to dial one of the numbers. “Hello, I’m looking for Malin Ellison… Didn’t show up for work?… Erm no It’ll be fine, goodbye.”

[JasraLantill]

Alarmed, Elisa snapped her eyes up at Milly. Shaking her head, Elisa quickly said, "What!? No! I-I can't!"

 

Hanging her head, Elisa then said, "I was only protecting myself. I-I couldn't help it." Then, it suddenly dawned on Elisa about something. "But how could you know? I had finished changing back when you first came in here."

"Changing back from what?" Milly asked, avoiding answering Elisa's question.

 

Elisa gave her a look, obviously not accepting Milly's avoidance.

 

Put on the spot now, Milly acquiesed. "You hadn't 'totally' finished changing," she admitted, shifting her weight uncomfortably. "At east, not on the inside." She cringed slightly, not really wanting to tell Elisa about her special visual capabilities, but feeling like she should.

 

"I think I might be a 'special', too," Milly finally admitted. "I see stuff other people don't. I saw... well, I saw you sort of had extra ribs that shouldn't be there, shifting about inside you and melding with the ones that should be there. It kind of freaked me out. Sorry."

 

She picked up Elisa's shirt from the floor. "Here. Let's get you dressed before someone comes barging in here." She paused for a moment. "Are you sure those guys didn't hurt you?"

[stingerhs]

Taking her shirt back, Elisa quickly put it on. Wiping her tears from her eyes, she shook her hair back as she calmed herself down. "No, I'm fine," Elisa replied as she attempted a light smile.

 

"At least I'm not the only one that can do these weird things. That was the third time that I've, well, changed into another animal. I can explain it later," Elisa commented. "Should we wait for the police, like your brother?"

[starmark2k]

“So you have no idea where he is… Thank you.” James placed the phone back on the hook and closed his eye and in a rage punched his desk hard. “Damn It!”

 

“What’s wrong now?” SJ asked.

 

“Out of a list of five names, four are missing and one is dead.” James quickly searched his pocket and found the card the policeman had given him at the opening ceremony. He picked the phone up once again and began to Dial that number.

[steven]

Due to the recent alteration in his body matter, the sleeping gas worked differently on Williams. Not only did it have a delayed reactions on him, it also caused a delayed effect so he didn't rise alongside the other captives when they woke to find the cooperate mercenaries. As the captives and captors fought each other, William slowly came back to the world. Eventually he was ready to stand, and despite his lack of full awareness, he used the strength and stood. He was soon to stumble backwards, quickly regaining his balance to stop himself falling. As he became more aware of his surroundings, he felt someone kick him which caused him to stumble back into a wall.

[JasraLantill]

"Should we wait for the police, like your brother?"

"We could," said Milly. "In fact, we probably should. I phoned Cass right before those two guys came howling out of the bathroom and waving their guns arou...." She squeezed her eyes shut tight. "Oh, crap! I dropped my phone under the table! Cass is probably freakin' out by now! Crap. I am in so much trouble...."

 

Then she gave Elisa a panicked sort of look. "And what about your 'Officer Tommy' that we ditched at the seminar?" she asked. "He'll be looking for you by now, I would reckon. And he won't be happy about finding you here. Especially with Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum dead and lying in the street outside."

 

She shook her head. "No, let's just go. Lemme just grab my phone, and I'll take you to my house. Cass will find us there and he'll know what to do next."

[stingerhs]

“Well, this is it,” Milly said to Elisa as they approached the door to Milly’s apartment. Milly unlocked it, and the two went inside.

 

It was a cozy, modern apartment, with the living room decorated with Native American accents reflective of Milly and Cass’ heritage. Everything was neat and tidy, except for a pizza box that sat on the coffee table.

 

“Make yourself at home,” Milly said, dropping her keys on the small table by the door and her backpack on a chair. “You want something to drink?”

 

"Sprite, if you have it," Elisa replied as she carefully looked for a good place to sit. "If you don't, water's fine."

 

“7-up?” Milly said, rummaging in the fridge.

 

"That works," Elisa called back from the living room as she sat down gingerly on the edge of the couch.

 

Milly took out two cans of soda and then returned to the living room. She handed Elisa her drink, and then sat down herself on the other end of the couch. “So…,” she started, as she popped the tab on her can. “You and I… we’re different from other people. I told you that I see stuff other people don’t. You said you change. Change into what?”

 

Breathing in a bit deep, Elisa paused for a moment. Then, she replied, "Well, as far as I know, I can change into other animals." With a crisp pop, Elisa opened her can and took a sip. "I've only done it three times, though. So, I really don't know exactly what I'm capable of."

 

“So, what did you change into this time?” Milly asked frankly. “Those guys looked panicked when they came running out of the bathroom. And they didn’t look the type to lose their cool.”

 

"I changed into a type of snake that I used to see when I worked down at the zoo in Miami," Elisa replied somewhat gingerly. "The snake that I changed into was a Black Mamba. Its one of the most aggressive and extremely venomous snakes from Africa."

 

Milly paused mid sip, then slowly swallowed. “Wow. Remind me not to ever get on your bad side, okay?”

 

Smiling, Elisa then said, "Well, it’s a bit odd, actually. In the three times that I've changed, there was only one time that I actually changed out of my own will. The other two times..." Elisa's voice trailed off as she remembered the times that she had turned into the Mamba and the Cougar. "I think the other times I changed, I changed because I was threatened with my life. My mind equated the situations with what it was like for an animal, and I just changed without really thinking about it."

 

“So… you can’t really control it?”

 

"I don't really know," Elisa admitted. "That's what has me concerned. I mean, I think I can change when I want to change, but I don't know if I can stop myself from changing during, well, extreme situations."

 

Milly took a sip of her drink. “Well, for the most part, I can control what I see. Sometimes I don’t *like* what I see,” she nodded at Elisa’s ribcage, “but… I don’t usually have a problem breaking it off if I want to.”

 

"What sort of things can you see?" Elisa asked out of curiosity.

 

“Well….” Milly shrugged. She hadn’t really thought about how to explain it to someone, mainly because the only other person who knew what she could do was her brother. “Anything I want to really. I mean, I’ve never really measured the distance stuff, but I try I can see microbes, or if I go the other way, a couple of miles down the beach.” She grinned. “But the absolute, coolest thing… is seeing inside stuff. I don’t know *how* I do it, but… it’s pretty neat. Oh, and then there’s the stuff I can see at night, like heat tracks and stuff, but I don’t really have a need to use that very often, so it’s not as cool.”

 

"I'm sure its useful when you need it, though," Elisa replied. Taking another couple of sips from her 7up, she thought for a moment. "Well, I hope we can get what need to sort out done soon. I need to be down at my job soon."

 

Milly raised a finger. “Speaking of which, I’d better call Cass,” she said, picking up the phone on the end table. She began to dial. “Man, he’s going to be pissed at me for leaving the coffee shop, but… he’ll just have to deal.”

[Writer]

“Out of a list of five names, four are missing and one is dead.” James quickly searched his pocket and found the card the policeman had given him at the opening ceremony. He picked the phone up once again and began to Dial that number.

 

 

"While you're on the phone," Kevin interrupted gently, "what should we do with... her?" He rocked his head backward, connecting lightly with the ribcage of the presently unconscious Lara Caldwell. "Got something to tie her up with or something?"

 

As an afterthought, he added, "And didn't you tell me on the way over here that she's telekinetic?" He frowned worriedly. "How are we gonna keep her from using that against us?"

[Quist]

"Ugh," Malin uttered as she pulled herself off the ground. The disappearing woman was making life hell for her and her fellow prisoners, despite her best efforts. Glancing over to the side, she saw the woman plant a kick right into the formerly unconscious man's ribs and propel him directly into the wall.

 

"That's not very nice," Malin hissed as she ran up towards the woman, intent on flattening her before she turned and saw what was coming. Unfortunately, she hadn't seen the rather large man come up from behind the woman and stand between Malin and her target. Before she could react, he had hauled a fist back and slammed it right into her face. Even with her steel-clad skin, the blow still hurt. Staggering backwards, she shook her head to clear the stars out her eyes, then righted herself. The man was now standing directly in front of her, his arms crossed, his gaze imposing.

 

"I'm getting tired of this," she muttered, forcing her body into another morph. As her steel skin began to shed, she gripped a sliver of metal as it fell from her arm and hurled it towards the man's head. He brought an arm up to deflect it away and that was the opening Malin needed. Lowering her center of gravity, she stepped towards the man and churned her arm upward, planting a fist directly under the man's jaw. She grinned savagely as she felt the man's teeth clack together, the force of her uppercut lifting him off his feet and sending him toppling backward. As he fell, Malin used the time to shuck the rest of her skin, steel flakes clattering to the floor to reveal the sparkling sheen of diamond. She flexed her hand, feeling the sharp edges of her knuckles.

[Master_Archon]

Jaydon was shocked and impressed all in one, not only had the metal woman spoken, but she had knocked the large man completely off of his feet, a feat even he had difficulty doing. But beyond that, the woman had shed off her metal skin, replacing it with what appeared to be diamond.

 

Jaydon ran over to the woman, standing next to her. "Um, I've got some tips: That guy's skin seems to be impervious to almost all physical damage, look," he said, pointing at the man as he got up from the floor, rubbing his jaw a bit, but other than that, he seemed fine. "See," Jaydon reinforced his point, until the man spit out some blood and a tooth.

 

"Um, yeah, but his internal parts are vulnerable, so, uh, may I recommend beating him across his head more, the shear force and shock of the blows would harm his brain, eventually knocking him unconcious, or so I'm guessing. I'm only going off of a football documentary I saw where these...." Jaydon stopped, he was talking too much again. "Sorry. Look, bash away at him all you like, or don't, whatever you like. As for me, I'm going to..." Jaydon paused, growing a long, and very sharp sliver of bone from the top of his hand, Jaydon tested the tip. "...improvise," he said with a grin, hoping the woman would realize his intentions, as he was going to attempt to blind the man.

 

Jaydon was, yet again, cut short of his moment of brilliance, as the large man he had been ignoring had recovered and charged him and the woman, seeing both of them, the man had made the smart decision, and had decided to kick Jaydon, with the flat of his foot, directly in the sternum. This sent Jaydon backwards, and to the floor. Jaydon lay prone on the ground, he was hurting, bad, that kick had been powerful, and it had cracked some of his ribs, even though their density had been increased by a very high amount. He groaned and clutched his chest, gasping for air, the force of the kick had hurt his organs too, he began coughing, flem and blood from his lungs came up, splattering across the floor.

 

Jaydon got up, his legs wobbled beneath him for a moment before he steadied himself. Jaydon staggered away from the man and the metal...diamond woman, he needed some distance from them, he needed to recover, but he had no such luck, as he felt a well placed fist plant into his lower back, near the kidneys. Jaydon gave out a cry of pain, turning quickly, he swung wildly with his bone spike at who ever had struck him. Only, no one was there.

 

"Great, now I'm getting attacked by ghosts," Jaydon muttered, his words almost incoherent, until he was knocked to his knees by a kick to the back of his leg. Then, right in front of him, a woman appeared from nowhere, Jaydon only looked at her with a pained, and confused look as she readied herself to flatten his throat.

 

'Bummer,' Jaydon thought.

 

((steven, I'm giving you ample opportunity to post, do it! Save me! ))

[starmark2k]

Jason thought for a couple of moments still waiting for the phone to ring then his eye widened like a switch had just flicked on in his head. “Levetivacetam!”

 

“Huh?” Sarah-Jane said. “Is that supposed to mean something?”

 

“It’s an anti-seizure drug, given to epilepsy patients, it works by nullifying certain brain activity, maybe if we give her some.” Jason opened a draw and pulled out a subscription pad, one of the advantages of being a doctor in a medical field. He quickly wrote a subscription for the anti-seizure drug and handed it to Byron. “You may need to try a few pharmacies, that stuff isn’t common.”

 

“I’ll be quick.” The old professor said as he hastily walked over to the door and left the apartment.

 

Jason held the phone closer to his ear and continued to wait for the detective to answer.