Heroes

[Rogue Nine]

Cass bounded up the stairs to his floor in threes, only pausing for a second at the top to take a breath before he sprinted down the hall towards his apartment. He needed to know if Milly was all right. Having arrived at the scene and taking in the total mess of what had happened, he was informed by a uniformed officer that his sister wasn't there and that no one had seen them leave the scene. Cass tried calling Milly on her phone, but there was no answer, and that worried him greatly. He immediately rushed back home, surmising that she'd retreat there and wait for him.

 

As he neared the door, the phone in his hand rang, the distinctive ringtone that he had for his sister. Flipping it open, he held it to his ear. "Milly?"

 

“Cass? It’s Mil,” she said. “Hey look, I’m really sorry for worrying you. Something happened at the….”

 

The door opened and Milly and Elisa both jumped with surprise as Cass entered the apartment.

 

Milly stared at him for a moment, phone receiver still in hand. “…coffee shop,” she finished. “Erm, I’m hanging up now.” And she did. “Oh, boy….” Cass did not look happy.

 

Cass flipped his phone closed, strode over to his sister and caught her in a hug, pressing her head to his chest for a few moments. "Geez Mil, I was so worried. The scene at the coffee shop was so awful and I had no idea where you were or if you were okay."

 

“Well, I’m fine,” she said, her reply muffled as he hugged her. “Elisa’s fine. I’m fine.” She glanced at her friend sitting on the couch. “We’re fine.”

 

Cass sighed as he released Milly from his embrace. "Yes, and thank God for that." He pressed an index finger to his temple and rubbed. "Now would you mind telling me what the hell happened?"

 

“Erm….” Milly exchanged looks with Elisa. “Well, erm… some… guys… came into the coffee shop, and then… they… freaked out, waved their guns around, people screamed and then… they sort of… died?”

 

Cass blinked. "Y'know, I thought I'd taught you better with crime scene descriptions," he said, arching an eyebrow at her. As she opened her mouth to respond, his phone rang again. He held a finger up. "Hold that thought." Putting the phone to his ear, he said, "Detective Cheveyo."

[starmark2k]

“Ah, Hello Detective…” Jason greeted after getting through. “This is Professor Hawk, You gave me your card and asked me to call if I could help with your investigation into Mr Jays death, well I’ve got something for you.”

 

Cass's eyes widened. "Really?" he asked, pulling his notepad out of his pocket and taking a seat on the couch. "What've you got?"

 

“About three weeks ago I acquired seven blood samples and tested them.” The geneticist explained a little nervous. “I found all seven sample to contain markers that I believe are unique to these special people I write about in my research. Now Mr Jay was on this List, one of five with names, numbers and other facts attached… The other four are all missing.”

 

"'Missing'?" Cass repeated. "What do you mean, 'missing'?"

 

“I mean they’ve finished, gone, disappeared.” Jason explained as if he was reading from a thesaurus. “They’ve all not been seen or heard from since late yesterday evening.”

 

"Right," Cass said as he scribbled in his notebook. "Dr. Hawk, how do you know this?"

 

“Look, I was on the list too, I used myself as comparison, they came after me too.” Jason explained urgently. “I think I’m safe for now, but there’s another guy on the list, I picked up his blood in a Insurance company archive, If they found me they could find him too… it’s a Alexander Stanfield.”

 

"'They', Doctor?" Cass asked. "Who's 'they'?"

 

“I don’t know, but the person who came after me is like me, special, she was at the Lecture I gave this morning.” The Doctor tried to explain. “who ever they are they are using my research to find these specials… and… well… Make them disappear.”

 

"Okay, Dr. Hawk," Cass responded, not quite sure what to make of these new developments, but he was sure if someone was going after 'specials', then it probably didn't bode too well for himself or his sister. "Here's what I need you to do. Give me the rest of the list that you have, then make your way to the police precinct. I can have a uniformed cop come and escort you there."

 

“Okay, The four who are missing are a Malin Ellison, Jacob Wallace, William Fleetwood and Jaydon Hoshi.” Jason Paused for a few seconds. “Look you have to find Alexander Stanfield before it’s too late.”

 

Cass finished jotting down the names, cradling the phone in the crook of his shoulder. "Why is this Alexander Stanfield so important, doctor?"

 

Jason sighed. “He’s the only one that has been seen since last night, his life is in danger.”

 

"Right," Cass said, circling Stanfield's name in his notebook. "I really need you to get somewhere safe now, Dr. Hawk. I'll have a uni pick you up now, all right?"

 

"That's fine." Jason replied. "But you should know I’ve got the person who attacked me here, she's unconscious."

 

Cass arched an eyebrow. "Really. Right, keep her that way if you can. Where are you right now?"

 

"My apartment. It's the Darwin building on 49th street... Apartment 42, forth floor." Jason stated.

 

"Good. Stay there, I'll have a uni pick you up within fifteen minutes."

 

“I’ll do that.” Jason explained. “Bye.” He said hanging up the phone.

[steven]

William breathed heavily as he felt a strange tingling sensation in the lower part of the body, and almost instinctively, he knew what it was. It was left over energy that was generated during the short time period when William's body became living energy because of the tests performed upon him by the companies scientists. Then an idea came into mind. Usually he'd have to spend a second or two to charge energy inside his body before directing it at his oppenents. This would give them warning and time to prepare. But now he didn't have to charge because there was already power inside his body. This way he could catch his enemies off surprise as he enemies would already know his flaw.

 

He pushed himself from the wall and looked around the room, picking two targets. He choose the two that looked like bad guys. One was a large, muscular African American male with a very unpleasant face, William hoped that his dark appearance was a reflection of his personality and he wasn't another captor. The other one was defiantly crooked. He learned that much when he watched her smiling a twisted smile as she rendered him unconscious last night in his own garage. One word William would use to describe this woman would be 'freak', even though one could argue William falls into that category.

 

Once his targets were locked, he held his arms in front of him in such a style almost mocked Palpatine. He took a deep breath through gritted teeth and he redirected the energy scattered around his body to a certain place. The two kidnappers who too busy dealing seven kinds of crap to two unknowns to notice him, which was perfect for him. He growled in pain as the energy disbursed from his hands and towards the target, this was defiantly much more painful than the traditional way of using his power. However it was not only William who felt the pain. The blast of the electricity was enough to send both flying and crashing into the concrete walls. Both laid on the floor, not making a move. It was uncertain whether they were dead or just knocked out, but they were certainly out of action.

 

(SM has given me permission to do this(in fact it was his idea).)

[Quist]

After trading blows with the large, seemingly invincible black man, it became apparent to Malin that she'd have to figure out another way out of this. Her current diamond form was more than enough to match him in terms of imperviousness, but unlike him, she had a time limit. She figured she had at most another fifteen minutes before she'd have to revert to her own skin, having taxed her abilities greatly over the past half hour. She would have to have him and the invisible ninja woman beat by then, or else she would be at their mercy. The young man who had spoken to her was now contending with the woman and was not fairing very well. As for the other man...

 

Malin heard a crackling sound behind her. Having had to deal with the electric balls earlier, she instinctively threw herself to the ground, just in time to see a concussive stream of electricity lance out from the far wall. It impacted the large man and threw him against the side of the room. She cringed as she saw the wall spiderweb with cracks as the man crashed into it. After a few moments, the stream dissipated, dropping the man to the ground where he lay, unmoving.

 

"Whoa," she breathed. Turning her head in the direction the blasts of energy had come from, she saw the previously unconscious man standing there, his arms outstretched. "Now that's a wake-up call," she muttered under her breath as she pulled herself up from the ground for what seemed like the millionth time. As she straightened up, she looked across the room and saw that the Asian woman had met a similar fate as the large black man, slumped against the wall, body slightly smoking from the force of the electricity.

 

Focusing on the electric man again, she took a few steps towards him, her hands held up in front of her lest he think she was another enemy. "Hi," she called out. "Thanks for the assist there. I was starting to think your power was narcolepsy, but boy am I glad it wasn't." She smiled at her own joke, hoping that he would too. "My name's Malin."

[Master_Archon]

Jaydon looked half consciously at the fellow Asian hovering above him, ready to end his life in a split second, when suddenly, as if by some miracle, an arch of electrical energy streamed above his head, pommeling into the woman's chest, she was sent flying into the opposing wall. Jaydon looked with a drunken gaze of confusion at the now sizzling woman. He would be surprised if she were still alive. Jaydon looked over at where the large man also lay. He would be surprised if he were dead.

 

Jaydon smiled a meek and very puny grin, in his book, this was a job well done. The bad guys were down, and none of the captured folk were dead, even if he didn't finish the job, it was still done, and that's all that mattered to him. As for injury, that was another thing.

 

Jaydon fell forward, face first into the floor. He gave out a groan, it hurt way too much to lay on his chest, so he turned over onto his back where he felt less pressure and pain.

 

Jaydon glanced to his right at something on the ground. Lucky him, he'd ended up right where he'd started, and next to him was his green vest. Jaydon reached over and clutched it, but he felt too weak and tired to pull it towards him. Jaydon started coughing again, more blood came up from his lungs, hitting the walls of his esophagus with it's searing heat, he swallowed it down. Jaydon noticed something moving in the direction of his feat, and looking down the length of his body at them, noticed his fellow 'inmates'. The diamond woman was talking to the, 'electric man,' as only he could have been the one to shoot those bolts of electricity.

 

"Hi," he heard the woman say the the electric man. "Thanks for the assist there. I was starting to think your power was narcolepsy, but boy am I glad it wasn't." Jaydon heard, which made him chuckle a bit. "My name's Malin."

 

"My name's Jaydon," he called out groggily to the two as he lay on the floor. "Don't mind me, I'm just taking a nap," he joked, trying his best to sound funny, which he failed at, at the moment, as his mind was in such a haze. Jaydon tried to laugh, but only ended up coughing more.

[steven]

William took a moment to look at his handy work. He looked at the smoking bodies of the Asian freak and African-American giant as they unpleasantly rested against the hard concrete walls. He then looked at the lifeless prison chamber his was trapped inside. "This can't be good for my mental health," William mumbled before being pulled back into the real world by the approach of what could only be described as a walking diamond. She thanked him for doing what he did, and made a joke at which he smiled at out of politeness. From the outline of her face he could guess she was young and fairly attractive, possibly blond. Then he heard another voice accompanied by loud coughing.

 

It was more than clear that this man was Asian decent, possibly he or a family member was from Japan. He also didn't appear very old either. Couldn't be older than twenty, however it was more than likely he was younger. Unlike the walking diamond in front of him, his power wasn't as obvious. "Hey mate, you going to be alright?" William asked, looking over the shoulder of the mysterious woman diamond statue.

[Jason Skywalker]

It had been a long day of never-ending dragging to shops against his own will but he had finally made it. He had made it to his home managing to buy nothing with HIS paycheck. He laid down on the couch to rest for a little bit and turned on the TV. Nothing good as usual. Then again, he only had basic channels and he couldn't afford much more.

 

He grabbed a notebook and a pen and wrote down his schedule for the next day. In it, was the following: "Try to meet with Jason Hawk." He then put them back into the small table and took a little nap.

[Quist]

Malin turned her head at the sound of coughing, settling her gaze upon the young man who had identified himself as Jaydon. He lay on the floor in obvious discomfort, clutching at his chest. She walked over and knelt beside him. "Do you think you'll be okay?" she asked. Running a trained eye over his body, she couldn't spot any obvious injuries, but one never knew, especially with the abilities that each of them had just demonstrated. "Anything broken?"

[Master_Archon]

"Do you think you'll be okay?" The diamond woman, Malin, asked. "Anything broken?"

 

"My ribs," he stated bluntly, but then he smiled. "I can deal with that myself though," he said, forcing himself into a sitting position with a wince.

 

Jaydon looked at Malin. She looked awesome, and not because she was an attractive woman either. She was a walking statue of diamond, her entire body was clear, but it glistened with compressed carbonated minerals. It was pretty cool to see how a body made of the hardest substance on earth articulated, how it looked as a detailed figure, and not some fancy shaped rock.

 

Jaydon blinked as he realised he was staring, "sorry, you're pretty cool you know that. Wish I could do that, all I've got is this." He motioned with his hand, which still had the bone spike sticking out of the top of his hand. He looked around, then back at Malin, "thanks for the concern, but I'm okay, honest."

 

With that, Jaydon turned to his vest, he had to have some food in it, he almost never went anywhere without food in his vest. After some time he came across a premade, plastic rapped submarine sadwich in one of the larger pockets. He tore the bag open, and was about to tear into it with voracious vigor, when he stopped, he looked at his fellow 'prisoners,' they were probably just as hungry as he was....actually, that would be improbable, considering how hungry Jaydon could get at times, but that didn't change the fact that they were hungry too.

 

Jaydon tore the sandwich into three even pieces, handing one to Malin he said kindly, "here, eat, we all need it. And whether we're just going to sit here, or try and get ourselves out of here, all depends on how much strength we have, so eat." With that he rapped another piece in the plastic wrap and tossed it to the 'electric man.'

 

"You too, friend," he said in the same friendly manner.

 

He tore into his piece like someone in a famine. "That was good. Now, for those with weak constitutions, please look away," Jaydon said, pulling his shirt up, he reached over to his ribs, and with an almost unnerving calm, began popping bones around. It didn't take long however, to refit all his broken and fractured ribs, and any that gave him overly large amounts of trouble or pain, he simply removed by growing new ribs in their place, and pushing the old ones out through his skin.

 

With that, Jaydon pocketed his excreted [sp?] bones, and patted his stomach with a frown. "I need to start excercising more," he said with a pout. It was true, Jaydon was rather skinny, not having any excess fat, or any major muscle mass denied him the privilege of strength or attracting the opposite gender. "Oh well," he sighed, pulling his shirt back down, and slipping his vest on.

 

He attempted to get up, only to end up falling over on his side. "Um, okay, nevermind that. So, electric dude, what's your name? You never told us," he stated, trying to lighten the mood, as his companions didn't seem too high in spirit after all.

[Quist]

Malin couldn't help grimacing as Jaydon pulled up his shirt and began literally popping his broken ribs out of his torso. She knew that he had some form of bone manipulation power, but didn't know that he had such an extensive control of it. Her own power could be a little unnerving to observe as well, but this was the first time she was seeing someone else's power manifest itself in such a way.

 

It was then she realized that she needed to morph out of her current skin, as she'd been in it for quite some time and the dull ache that accompanied such extended use was starting to permeate her body. Unfortunately, she had ripped her clothing back in the first room she had been imprisoned in. She handed the sandwich piece back to Jaydon and took a short step back. "Um, guys? Do you think I could possibly borrow one of your shirts?" At their confused looks, she sighed quietly. "I need to husk back into my real skin and I don't have any clothes because whoever is keeping us here ruined my good dress. It would be just until we figure a way out of here."

[steven]

"Ermm yeah, you can use my shirt," William said before pulling it off and holding it out for Malin, "I'm William by the way. Please don't call me Will, I've had dramatic experiences with someone called Will that resulted in several sessions of therapy. Ever since I've despised that name." William waited for her to take his shirt before clapping his hands and began to rub them together as he turned around to look at the room. "Okay.... How to get out?... Don't suppose either of you two have any clever ideas cause breaking out of prisons isn't my specialty. I mean I fix cars for a living. I don't spend my time breaking out of prisons."

[Master_Archon]

Jaydon blinked and smiled at Malin, "you could use my vest."

 

"Ermm yeah, you can use my shirt," he heard the other man say.

 

"That works too," he said with a chuckle.

 

"I'm William by the way. Please don't call me Will, I've had dramatic experiences with someone called Will that resulted in several sessions of therapy. Ever since I've despised that name." Jaydon grinned at William.

 

"Completely understood, William," Jaydon responded with an almost contageous enthusiasm [sp?].

 

"Okay.... How to get out?... Don't suppose either of you two have any clever ideas cause breaking out of prisons isn't my specialty. I mean I fix cars for a living. I don't spend my time breaking out of prisons."

 

Jaydon paused in thought for a moment. "Well, if you can figure out what the walls are made of, I can tell you how we'll get out.....hopefully," Jaydon said, testing the tip of the bone spike that still protruded from the top of his hand.

 

Jaydon looked over at Malin, glancing at her in William's shirt. "Um, you sure you don't need any pants? I'm sure you could use mine. I've even got a belt if they're too big," Jaydon offered, motioning to his amazingly over-baggy jeans, they had multiple pockets, and they were held tightly to his waist by a black leather belt. The belt was rather big itself, but it went well with Jaydon's form fitting black shirt, and was surprisingly fashionable, like that mattered in a situation like this; and it held the large pants perfectly to his surprisingly small waist.

[steven]

"Mate, I honestly prefer if you kept your pants on," William replied to Jaydon's suggestion, before walking to the wall, which he examined closely, "Wall looks like it's made of concrete which means I'm not going to have any luck blasting my way out. Our best bet is the door. If it's the right kind of metal, then I can pump enough electricity to cause it too become an electro magnet then it might cause everything metal to either to attract all metal objects and that will include the locks and bolts, and everything will collapse when the power runs out... or it'll oppose the metal and things will come flying out... or both could happen, I didn't pay much attention in my science lessons."

[Master_Archon]

"Mate, I honestly prefer if you kept your pants on,"

 

"I'm not going to running around nude, I've got boxers.....though I'd call 'em shorts considering how big they are on me. I can never find anything that fits....bummer," Jaydon retorted.

 

"Wall looks like it's made of concrete which means I'm not going to have any luck blasting my way out. Our best bet is the door. If it's the right kind of metal, then I can pump enough electricity to cause it too become an electro magnet then it might cause everything metal to either to attract all metal objects and that will include the locks and bolts, and everything will collapse when the power runs out... or it'll oppose the metal and things will come flying out... or both could happen, I didn't pay much attention in my science lessons."

 

Jaydon thought this over for a moment. "Well, if I'm reading what you're saying right, you want to magnetise the door, and cause it to attract all metal objects in the vasinity, thus causing the 'locks-and-bolts' to collapse in on themselves and open the way. Am I right?" Jaydon asked, with an upraised eyebrow.

 

"But a downside would be that the polarity would be the oppostie effect, and cause the door to repel metal. Well, my friend, I can honestly say that's a risky plan. If you're not sure how the metal will react to your electric discharge, then you shouldn't risk it. Second, this is a large, highly funded place, the door would be developed against such things as electric surges and shortcircuits," Jaydon said, evaluating William's plan.

 

"Lastly....I don't see a door," Jaydon said, looking around for one. "Though, I'm sure they have one - or I just don't see it from my vantage point - just like my room did, but, just like my room, this room's door dissapeared, probably to prevent damage, and/or esacape. Besides, the obvious route of escape is often the most dangerous," Jaydon finished up.

 

"And they say I don't qualify for Yale," Jaydon muttered to himself, though he said it loud enough that the others could catch what he said if they tried. "You said the walls were concrete, right?" Jaydon asked, but he continued before anyone could respond.

 

"Hm, well, looky there," Jaydon said pointing to the cracked concrete wall where the large black man lay, still imbedded in the wall. "You may have little ability towards concrete for one reason or another, but I can make really dense bone spikes, I mean really dense, and Malin, if she's able to 'husk,' as she calls it, could turn into a material stronger than concrete. Either way, that point in the room is the weak spot. Why waste energy on a strong-point like the door, when we could just dig in a hole that's already halfway done....Or something like that," Jaydon said, scratching his nose.

 

"What do you two think, should we go for the wall?" He asked the other two.

[Quist]

Malin walked over to where Jaydon had indicated, William's shirt draped over her shoulders but still in her diamond form. Indeed, the wall behind the large black man was cracked, spiderweb patterns radiating out from the point of impact. Running a finger over the breaks in the concrete, she frowned. "This is reinforced concrete," she pronounced. Casting a glance over at William, she said, "You must've hit him pretty damn hard to get it to crack like this."

 

She took a step back from the wall. "This is probably our best way out. I don't know what's behind the wall, but I'm pretty sure we can take whatever it is." She gave her companions a brave smile, then shed William's shirt and handed it back to him. "Looks like I won't be needing this just yet. In order to bust through that, I can husk into a dense alloy, probably osmiridium. Should we do that?"

[JasraLantill]

((OOC:joint post... sorta. ))

 

"Good. Stay there, I'll have a uni pick you up within fifteen minutes."

 

As Cass hung up his phone, Milly cast a quick but hopeful glance at Elisa. "So, you've got to go now?" she asked her brother.

 

"Yeah," Cass replied as he redialed and held the phone back up to his ear. "But that doesn't mean that you're off the hook, young lady, for causing me to... hello, Esmé? Cass. I need you to do something for.... Yeah, she's fine." He looked at Milly. "For the moment. Listen, I need you to find an address for a Alexander Stanfield. S-t-a-n-f-i-e-l-d. Yeah. Then call me back."

 

He looked at Milly. "Ok, so where were we? Oh, yeah. Coffee shop, freaking out, waving guns, people screaming...?” He waved a hand in the air, motioning for her to continue the story.

 

Milly shrugged. "Yeah, that's pretty much all that happened," she agreed. She exchanged looks with Elisa. "Anything you want to add?"

 

Elisa shook her head slowly. "Erm... no?"

 

"Yeah, me neither. Just a couple of crazy, gun-toting guys stalking around a college campus coffee shop and... you know."

 

Cass stared at his sister. "And you expect me to believe this?"

 

"Well...." Again she glanced at Elisa. "Yeah."

 

Cass' eyes narrowed. "Ok. You don't want to tell me, Mil, fair enough. But something's going on here, you're involved, your new friend here is involved, and I'd just like to know what it is."

 

Milly chewed on her lower lip, then looked at Elisa again. She didn't like not telling Cass, but she also didn't want to betray Elisa's secret. "Can I tell him?"

 

Elisa looked decidedly uncomfortable, but then slowly nodded.

 

"Tell him what?" Cass asked.

 

"She's a 'special'." Milly paused and gave Elisa a reassuring look, before looking back at her brother. "Like us."

[Writer]

((JP w/SM))

 

A loud, frantic knock on Jason’s door made his heart skip a beat, he walked over to the door quietly and slowly not knowing who was on the other side. The scientist looked through the hole and sighed noticing it was his old teacher. He quickly opened the door to allow the older man to rush through holding a pharmaceutical bag then closed it just as quick as it opened.

 

 

“Three different places but I found it.” he stated taking a small bottle from the bag and handing it to him.

 

“Good.” Jason congratulated taking the bottle and walking into his lab where the girl had been tired up. “Let’s get this in her before she wakes up.”

 

"So... is it a pill or what?" Kevin asked, worried. "Are we gonna have to force her somehow? I mean..." At that moment, Lara stirred a little and Kevin stared at her. "Am I gonna have to knock her out again?"

 

“Give me a sec.” Jason stated as he took a syringe out of his draw and stuck it in the lid of the bottle, he pulled the plunger down filling it with liquid then it put the bottle down. As walked he pushed the plunger slightly letting the liquid spray out, then he pushed the needle into the side of Lara's neck and pumped the girl full of the drug. She moaned faintly.

 

“It acts fast especially when placed directly into the jugular," Jason explained. Lara moaned a second time and sluggishly put a hand to her head.

 

"Wh..." she mumbled. Her eyes opened slowly, as if she'd been drugged. Then, they snapped wide open.

 

"What's... what..." she stammered. "Where..."

 

“Who are you?” Jason asked looking down at the woman. “Why come after me?”

 

Still disoriented, Lara blinked up at him. "Lara Caldwell... because they told me to..."

 

Kevin glared at her. "And who are 'they', exactly?"

 

"They... they're..." Lara frowned. "Who the hell are you?"

 

"Well, she's not lying about her name," Kevin said, ignoring Lara and turning to Jason. "Unless the people she works for are hella good at giving their agents alternative identities..."

 

“What do you want with us?” SJ asked interrupting the others. By this point, Lara was in full panic mode.

 

"Where am I? Why can't I... what's... what have you done to me! I can't... can't hear... can't..." She stretched her hand out, as if trying to shove her interrogators away and Jason and Kevin felt the slightest nudge, not even enough to make them stagger.

 

“I gave you a little something, to keep you out of here.” The Dr replied tapping the side of his cranium. “Now answer the girls question.”

 

Frightened and feeling very small, Lara sat up and backed herself into a corner. "I-I only do what they tell me!"

 

“And they are?” Jason asked. “Who is killing and kidnapping people like me, him and her? Who the Hell do you work for?"

 

Lara's jaw dropped. "K-killing?"

 

“Yes, Peter Jay,” the geneticist informed. “The man you somehow killed.”

 

Lara fell into a shocked silence. Then, "I-I-th-that wasn't me. I... they killed him?"

 

"Tell me who you work for?" Jason repeated himself, shouting this time.

 

"The same people you do!" Lara screamed frantically.

 

Jason took a step back in total shock, when he heard that it was Triple Helix doing this everything fell into place. He knew how they found the people who were missing, they had taken his research without his knowledge. “It’s my fault,” he said in disbelief. “I led them to these people.”

 

Tears flooded Lara's eyes. "They told me..." she stammered in an unsteady voice. "They told me that I... that I had to do what they wanted... or they... they wouldn't teach me how to restrain my powers... and that..." She broke down, crying silently, her head buried in her knees.

 

Kevin frowned. "She could be faking," he muttered. "Get me close to Triple Helix HQ and I can get into their systems easier... we can find out."

 

"No!" Lara exclaimed frantically. "They'll catch you! You could be the next one dead."

 

Kevin glared at her. "What do you care? You work for them!"

 

"Not after this," she answered, her voice wavering. "They'll delete my US citizenship records, I'll be sent back to Australia..."

 

“We have to stop them.” Jason stated turning to Kevin. “Me and you are going back to Triple Helix.”

 

"I can help!" Lara exclaimed. "Please... in telling you what I have, I've erased my chances with them."

 

"Not on your life," Kevin growled. "Here's how it'll work. We're going there. If I find any information on you that confirms what you're saying, I'll make sure you stay a US citizen."

 

Lara's eyes lit up with hope. "You can do that? What are you, a hacker of some sort?"

 

Kevin grinned. "Only the best."

 

Jason walked over to Byron and SJ. “You two stay here and watch her, the drug should last two hours if we’re not back by then, dose her.”

[Rogue Nine]

"Like us, huh?" Cass echoed. He knew he needed to get moving and pick up the person the professor had told him to, but things had just taken a turn for the strange and he wanted to be sure that his sometimes carefree sister was telling the truth. Besides, Esmé hadn't called back yet.

 

With keen detective eyes, he looked Elisa over, sizing her up and trying to pick out anything obviously superhuman about her. Finding nothing out of the ordinary, he cocked his head to the side. "So, tell me Elisa. What is it that you can do?"

[Quist]

The two men didn't respond immediately when she asked, so Malin decided to make the choice for them. Concentrating her power one more time, she willed her body to shed her diamond skin, the material now sliding off of her and clattering to the ground, revealing another shiny metal form underneath. She was morphing now into osmiridium, one of the densest metals known to science. She just hoped that it would be enough to get them out of there.

 

Pulling the last bit of husked skin off of her abdomen, she faced the cracked wall and sized it up. "The best point of impact would probably be where it's already at its weakest," she reasoned aloud, tracing her fingers over the center of the large spiderweb pattern. "This should do nicely," she pronounced, balling her hand into a fist. She beckoned Jaydon and William back with her other hand. "Stay clear, I don't want to inadvertently hit either of you," she warned.

 

Malin stepped squarely in front of the crack and set her feet. Cocking her fist back, she pistoned forward, generating power with her hips as she lay into the wall with all her strength. There was a tremendous groan and the sound of concrete and metal giving way as her fist impacted, slamming through several layers of reinforced concrete. The wall buckled, then collapsed completely, kicking up a tremendous amount of dust. Through the haze, Malin could see that she'd managed to bust right through it, into what looked like a corridor.

 

Straightening up, she looked back at her companions. "Well, I've made the door. Let's go."

[Corinthian]

Peter had watched the whole exhibition slack-jawed. A lunatic with incredible strength and some kind of whacked-up body armor that deflected rather than just stopping bullets was one thing. But this...this was something he couldn't rationalize. People throwing around lightning, turning invisible, turning into diamond...he shook his head.

 

I'm losing my grip.

 

He wandered around the new cell he had found himself in. This one was larger, although emptier, dominated by a large window. Probably a one-way mirror, now that he thought about it. It had proved quite impervious to any efforts by him to crack the glass - or whatever it was. Just like the doors in his old cell.

 

He resisted the urge to search the room again. He could see the whole thing perfectly in his mind's eye, and there was no plausible way for him to escape without suddenly gaining Super Strength.

 

I'm out of my league here...

[Master_Archon]

"Well, I've made the door. Let's go." Malin said.

 

Jaydon got up from the floor, he was much better now.

 

"Uh, I was going to suggest we take a more subtle approach, something that wouldn't waste too much of our already drained energy," Jaydon said, moving over to Malin.

 

"Let's go, I suggest you rest though Malin, even though you're made of metal, I can still tell you're at your breaking point," Jaydon said, flashing her a smile, which quickly faded into his regular lazy stare.

 

"Guess I'll go first," Jaydon said, lifting his arm, which was now covered in a carapace of bone, with a bone blade in place of where the bone spike used to be, protruding from the top of his hand.

 

"I was preparing to break though the concrete, sorta like a tree root, but you went at it before I could finish my handy work," Jaydon said, motioning to his arm. Giving Malin another smile he went through the opening in the wall. Jaydon called back to William, and Malin, "don't daudle, I wanna get out of here, get some food. I'm starving!"

[stingerhs]

"So, tell me Elisa. What is it that you can do?"

"Well, I-I can change who and what I am," Elisa replied somewhat nervously. "I don't know exactly what my limitations are, but I can change into other animals."

[JasraLantill]

"A snake," Milly blurted. "She changed into a snake, Cass."

 

"A black mamba," Elisa quietly clarified.

 

"Yeah, well...." Milly shrugged. "I didn't actually see it, did I? I mean, you were almost normal by the time I found you in the bathroom." She gave her brother an incredulous look. "She had like... extra ribs, Cass. I was looking inside, you know...." She shrugged a shoulder in a knowing gesture as her brother knew full well about her ability to see through certain materials. "... to see if she was hurt, and I saw them, like... melding back together. It was weird."

 

Milly turned to Elisa and gave her an apologetic look. "Sorry," she said quickly. "I'm not saying that you're weird. I mean, I suppose I'm just the same. But... the bones moving and melding... it looked really weird."

 

Again looking at Cass, Milly said, "So... those guys at the coffee shop, Cass. They were after Elisa--something to do with her dad and all, but... we've got to get her back home. I mean, we sort of 'ditched' Officer Tommy who was watching her." She glanced askance at Elisa. "If Tommy's told your dad you're missing, he's probably worried sick by now."

[starmark2k]

Jason stood across the street opposite the Triple Helix building with Kevin, the geneticist turned to look at the other man. “O-K they shouldn’t know we are on to them let so we should be able to just walk in…” Jason informed “We’ll go to my lab, hopefully that’ll be deep enough for you to access all wireless communication and hack the network from my computer. Once we’ve got what we came for we get out and report it to the police.”

[Quist]

Malin followed Jaydon through the wall and into what looked like an empty corridor. There were two doors along the entire length of the hallway, but she was only interested in the one that had the bright red 'EXIT' sign above it. She wasn't sure how she'd gotten here or who was behind all of this insanity, but she knew she'd feel better once she was back in the real world and could actually tell the authorities about it.

 

She had only taken a few tentative steps toward the door when a sharp pang of pain flared up in her side, causing her to double over. "Ugh," she gritted out, clutching at the sore spot. She'd pushed her powers for far too long and taxed them to their limits; if she didn't husk back out now, she risked becoming unconscious and possibly worse.

 

Turning to William, Malin mustered up a weak smile. "Hey, I think I'll be taking your shirt now, if that's okay?"

 

The tall man nodded as he handed it over. "Sure thing. Are you okay?"

 

"Thanks," she replied gratefully, clutching at the fabric. "And I will be in a moment, I just need to husk back into my own skin." She had barely uttered the last word when a large piece of osmiridium sloughed itself off of her arm, clattering to the floor. Husking from metal back to skin could be a tricky prospect, since metal tended to be sharp and could possibly injure her. She'd become proficient enough with her powers to control her shedding to the point where she could keep the edges of the metal dull as she husked, but she was near exhaustion and didn't have as fine a control on it as she usually did. As a result, she ended up nicking a few spots on her arms and legs as she rid herself of the osmiridium. She settled William's shirt over her shoulders once she finished, slipping her arms through the sleeves and buttoning it up. It was big on her, and she pulled the bottom of the shirt down to the middle of her thighs.

 

"Sorry about that," she said, blushing slightly. "Let's get moving."