<~{ World of Heroes }~> ...it begins... (LSUs welcome)

[Drusilla]

OK... finally gonna do this... Starting in third person, but will eventually switch to first, mostly because this is a difficult character for me. Love her to death, but damn if she makes it hard.

Poltergeist
Instincts of Perversion

Location: Brooklyn, NYC

Quite possibly the only thing in the underground room brighter than the TV was her smile. She wondered if the alien creature was having fun. True, she didn't enjoy the carnage and loss of life, but her mind filtered all that out to simplify it: all the goody-goods would be rushing off to stop this little instigator.

The government had yet to assign a super to "babysit" her, and technically had her under house arrest, because there was little they could do to contain her. The first dozen or so times she had been arrested, she had merely walked through the walls and gone back to her life, such as it was. So here she sat in her subterranean apartment, knowing that at least a half-dozen police officers watched the building from all angles, but didn't care. If she wanted to leave, she could. The attempt to hold her in a mental treatment facility under heavy sedation had been challenged by the ACLU, bless their little souls. The only way to retard her abilities was to keep her at a constant vegetative state, which required such a high level of tranquilizers that any normal person would have been killed.

At last, a consensus had been reached by deciding that a psychically-powered super should be given custody of her, but then the problem arose than no one wanted the job. So, it had fallen to the NYPD to keep tabs on her location as best as they could, which was just fine.

Poltergeist was in no hurry.

Things had changed now, though. The do-gooders surely could not resist the chance to show the world how useful they were; the thought made her sick.

Yes, run off to save those who would oppress you... When you should be taking care of yourselves...

Let them do what they wanted, though. She didn't care, in all honesty. They chose their paths, and she chose hers. Surely, there must be someone out there that followed a similar path...

Rising from her chair, she switched the TV off on her way through the wall.

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

Glancing at her watch, the counted the minutes as she sat in front of the burning remains of a bank. She sighed in disappointment; five whole minutes passed between her leaving the building and the faint sound of sirens reaching her ears. She stood, brushed her clothes (such as they were) off, and melted into the shadows of a nearby alley.

It took nearly another forty minutes for the news crews to appear.

"Thanks, Tammy. It appears that someone broke into the First National here and, rather than stealing, simply set everything on fire. Police aren't forthcoming with details, but fire officials seem to think that furniture and draperies were the main source of the blaze. Now, if you have holdings here at this location, you are being urged to contact..."

Drawing a knife from her belt, Poltergeist slunk from the shadows, grabbing hold of the news reporter in a half-nelson and pressing the blade to her throat. The woman made an awkward squawk, and instantly fell silent. Her camera man made to turn the camera off. Poltergeist smiled.

"Uh-uh-uh... Keep it on, buddy boy. I have an important message for all your viewers. Mind giving your fellows the heads up?" She rasped, jerking her head at the other news vans. The cameraman yelled, and soon all lights were on the woman grinning like a Cheshire and her hostage.

"One wrong move, and she just might get hurt; no need for that. Now, with all our little super friends rushing off to Washington state, I have a message for my friends who don't really give a damn: The time is now. Human kind is becoming obsolete. Without us, what would they be? Alien lunch, that's what. Protecting them will get us no where. If we are going to save ourselves, we need to cut them loose. Yes, it will be a shame to lose so many of them, they really do have an adorable little charm..." She grinned and stroked the news woman's hair. "However, if we are going to save this planet, they need to grow some balls and take care of themselves. If we weren't so useful to them, they would reject us all, no matter who we were. To them, we are freaks, we are objects to study and mutilate. We are nothing to them; why should we stand up for them if they would not do the same for us?" Here, she giggled. "The time has come, my friends, to cut this one-way umbilical chord. Time to end this farce. Time to be what we truly are. Follow your own desires, and end this slavery. Stand with me, brothers and sisters; for we owe nothing to anyone but ourselves. If you hear me, then call the name of Poltergeist..." She giggled again. "I will hear, when no one else will."

All this time, she had been backing away, both for better camera angle, and for her escape. When she found herself in place, she gave the poor news woman a kiss on the cheek, let go, and vanished through a manhole, laughing the entire time.

She prayed to the gods of revolution that her message would be heard.

[Drusilla]

OK, I figured out how to work this out, Classy... hope it's OK...

Poltergeist
I hear the sons of the city and dispossessed

Location: Brooklyn, NYC

Sleep was fitful in the abandoned building. No doubt law enforcement officials were out in force looking for her, so returning to her apartment was out of the question. All she needed was a dark, quiet place, though...

"Poltergeist... Poltergeist... Poltergeist..." Voices echoed in her subconscious. Was someone calling her all ready? Her mind raced. It could also be a trick; the government knew at least a little bit about her powers, and desperately wanted to hold her for testing to determine the extent of her mind. Poltergeist would see to it that she died first.

Cautiously, Poltergeist focused on the voice, trying to see the owner. Slowly, the image of a slender woman with long brown hair appeared. She was holding a flute, sitting on the hood of a car, talking to unseen others. Poltergeist studied her for a few moments before deciding that it was safe to make contact.

"You rang?" Poltergeist's mind-voice rang out, amused. "I apologize for the delay, my dear... Can't be too careful these days, you know. Don't worry, I won't harm you or your mind; you have sought my help, and I have answered. I'm afraid that I cannot do anything during the day, but at night..." This wasn't entirely true, but she let it be. "What can Poltergeist do for you, little one?"



Short but hopefully sweet... Gives the supers in Seattle a chance to hear about Poltergeist, should Aria choose to share. The time lapse is undetermined, so that should give B4 a chance to post without changing anything...

[Roy Karrde]

Jason Landrew
~~~[Sentinel | 2:00 in the afternoon | Highway approaching Washington State ] ~~~

By the mile markers I was getting closer and closer to Washington State, but with each passing mile I continued to rethink my decision as to why I had decided to travel all the way out north.

Just a few hours before I had been getting ready for school, when I caught a glimpse of the news on television. At the time it seemed like the hero like thing to do, travel to Washington, fight the big evil monster that was most likely going to threaten the planet, and be the hero.

Alas there was just one problem: The alien was in Washington, and I was in Arizona.

I should have told myself to head on to school, I should have told myself that some one else could handle it. But no, I got outside and decided to do the one thing I had never done, to use my power in a way that I had only guessed would be possible. I was going to try to fly.

The results were mixed at best, I found that I could use my power to create a small field around myself in which gravity did not exist. I was essentially weightless. The only problem is that I had to swim like a fish just to move a few inches.

So at that moment I should have called it quits, but I didn't. Being weightless meant I had nothing to slow me down, I would continue at one speed for until I released my powers. So that meant if I grabbed onto say a passing car, I would be able to keep up the speed of the car even if I let go.

So for the past few hours I glided my way toward Washington, grasping on from one car to the next, building up speed as I went. The wind would whip past me, stinging me as it lashed out at my face and hair, threatning to dislodge my swords as I held on tightly to the bumper of the car.

"Next time I am taking the bus." I grumbled, digging my fingers into the underside of the bumper as a car passed close to the one I was currently riding. Inside the man and a young girl glanced out the window at me in bewilderment.

I gave them a short wave, and then pushed off the car I was currently riding and grabbed onto the back of their's. Maybe they were heading to Washington, and if so it couldn't hurt getting there just a little bit faster.

[Mew Master]

Name: Steven Wiles
Alias: Demon
Gender: Male
Age: 17
Nationality: American
Alignment: Chaotic Good
Powers: His body. Steven’s body has undergone a drastic mutation. No longer human, he’s much more reptilian and saurian. He has a long tail, sharp claws that can tear through armor and metal, and teeth. While being reptilian, he’s also dexterous to a point that makes him difficult to hit in combat, able to jump, slide, dash, and get around his opponents. He is stronger than an average human, able to survive being buried under nearly a tone of rubble (of course in that instance he’s using his entire body as a brace, not just his arms). Strong, fast, dextrous, he can be a whirling dervish of destruction and blood in combat. Being fast and athletic, he can scale the sides of buildings quickly, often a blur of scales and black as he leaves the scene.
Power Source: Natural (Mutation)
Weaknesses: Himself. Steven's transformation has altered his brain in a few fashions. While he still has control over language, and hasn't lost any higher brain functions, the hormone imbalance sometimes drives him into a more... "instinctual" or “animalistic” state. This can have a variety of triggers, from combat he becomes a raging whirling dervish, when aroused, he can view everyone as a rival for someone's affection. Such actions truly make him seem... like a "Demon" and there is a constant battle between his human and animal sides.
Personality: Steven is quiet, not like he was before his mutation came forth. He slinks from the shadows, watching everything. Deep down inside, we wants to make friends, and have fun like he used to. However, his current condition makes him shy away from others, only appearing in a flash of scales, claws, and blazing red eyes to help others and then disappearing just as fast. He’s alone, and makes himself such because he’s afraid of what he’ll do, when his instincts are unleashed…
Appearance: Steven’s transformation drastically altered his physical state. No longer human, he stands at a little over seven feet tall, weighs 512 lbs, and is 20 feet 10 inches long from snout to tail. His arms are muscled, but thin, with some boney scutes protruding from his biceps. Along his back are jagged, boney dorsal spines, recurved forward. These spines get larger around his shoulder, then become reduced constantly until the tip of his tail. Steven’s legs are digigrade, with three digits on the ground, and a fourth vestigial “hallex” like structure on the outside edge of his leg. His head is rectangular, slightly wedge-shaped. His has no lips, so his teeth are crocodilian, bursting from the edges of his jaws and resting against the outside edge of the opposite jaw. Covered in thick, charcoal black scales, Steven looks like something out of hell itself. With blazing red eyes that sometimes glow and pent-up energy seems to emanate from them as he fights and loses himself to his animal instincts.
Weapons: Teeth, claws, strength, dexterity, speed. Steven IS a weapon.
History: Steven Wiles has always been a little off. Despite his general well rounded physical abilities he had a massive appetite that nearly forced his mother to go broke feeding him and his brother, Robert. Even with his massive craving for food of any type, he never seemed to gain a pound of fat during his life looking like a human. What no one could guess, however is that his body was preparing itself for the energy needed for when his mutation finally started to surface.

One morning, Steven had skipped breakfast, which lead that day to go from bad to worse. Starving, and agitated, his body underwent a transformation. Changing his human form to that of a seven-foot reptile with sharp claws and a long tail for balance, Steven nearly went into a feeding frenzy due to the energy released during the awakening of his mutant powers. The school was sent into a craze, and it was reported that Steven himself had died in the following publications of a monster loose on the school. Others would have suffered if he hadn’t snapped out of it, running away from what he had done.

He spent his life running away, hiding in city alleys and scrounging for food. He would have reverted to an animal, if it wasn’t for a fight.

Two supers had broke out into a fight. Super villans having a power-struggle, a hero against a villan, Steven didn’t know, and he didn’t care. His humanity shot back as he dashed from the alleys and protected a mother and child from the rubble falling above them. The saurian stopped the rubble, causing them to be trapped like that for nearly half an hour. Steven’s anger started growing and he was able to push the rubble off of himself and the people he had protected, emerging with a terrifying roar.

Spectators were surprised, and scared as Steven ran off, climbing up the side of an apartment building and disappearing as a black blur. Even as he ran, he heard one of them say “He was a demon!” So he took his new name.

Steven, Demon, now spends his time patrolling the rooftops and back alleys. He’s garnered a reputation as the Demon of Seattle with the locals, and both been the reason the streets are safe and why the populace doesn’t want to go out at night.
Theme(s): Brain Stew (The Godzilla Remix), Godzilla: The Series Openning (just to see how athletic a saurian can be ^^U), Get offa my Back!, One Step Closer (Linkin Park), Animal I've Become
Relationships: Has a brother who thinks him dead, and blames his Alias for his death. Yeah… complicated there. He’s shy around others because of his appearance, because people usually run from him, even as he tries to help.
Other: He knows several languages, and can track by scent. His senses are extra sharp and can pick up a voice among hundreds. His current “home” is a lair with some old drawings, not done by him, some family photos he managed to save, and old blankets he stole from clotheslines. It’s large enough for three people to stand in, but just barely big enough for himself.

TPM Comics Presents...
DEMON
Morning Sickness
Steven Wiles ~*~Demon*~*Male~*~Seattle, WA
Time: 11:56 AM
Location: Back alleys along Seattle's residential district.

Seattle’s streets were bustling with their normal activity. Everyday citizens were getting from point A to point B as fast as they could. The news of Supers as they had been referred to for so many years, was becoming common place. Sure, Seattle had its own Supers, and were thought of as either gung-ho guns or vigilantes, the normal humans of the city had their own lives to worry about.

Far from the hustle and bustle of the street, down a maze of alleys and discarded litter, something made its home.

The giant hole in the wall, surprisingly large wasn’t easy to spot. An optical illusion of sorts hid it from all but the most perceptive of people. The ruined building was part of an old apartment complex and a mistake when the building was constructed back in the 30’s or 40’s. Right now, it was somethings home.

After the entry way, there was more of the alley before approaching the actual mouth of the entrance. Rubble and brick had fallen down after some of the West Coast’s earthquakes in past years, showing the little enclave within. Inside the rough “arch” of the abode, pictures were tapped to the wall. Dirty images of three humans, an old female and teenage boys. All were smiling. Next to them were some pages from an old sketch book, of two young boys, similar looking to those in the photos.

Across the concrete floor, were several large blankets, all different in color, design, fabric and size. They lay over something as it started to stir. Something started moving in tired motions under the blankets, curling over itself. A rectangular shape popped up, and in a manner similar to a head, started to look around, confused. Slowly, sleep drained, a black clawed hand reached up and pulled the blanket off.

Or tried.

The blanket was further along the body, and it started to pull it as the thing started to stand, nearly filling the enclave with his presence. It was reptilian, tall, long, with charcoal black scales. Standing on two powerful legs and recurved dorsal spines along the backbone. Finally pulling the one long blanket he had, Demon looked around, sleepily with his glowing red eyes.

The saurian let out a long yawn. He had only been asleep for a few hours, taking a little nap like any big predator after a meal. Looking down, he could see and smell the remains of what he had been forced to catch for food. The bones of several stray cats and dogs were in the corner, and Demon felt disgusted with himself. He felt his stomach lurch suddenly and dropped to all fours, while he hocked up some stomach juice covered bones.

I don’t even remember that one… he thought to himself, unnerved as he caught his breath and felt his stomach settle down.

Pushing the bones into the pile in the corner, the saurian stretched himself, getting feeling back into his muscles. The nap had been needed, as had food. Getting food, however, was the difficult part of any day.

Demon never went out of the alleys during the day if he could help it. Too many people were afraid of him, or would call Animal Control at the sighting of a “large lizard” running around downtown. At night, he could sneak around better, his black scaled hide blending in with the shadows and only his glowing red eyes giving away his presence. So he scrounged around for food. Discarded hamburgers, half eaten dinner rolls, anything he could get some nourishment from, he didn’t care.

Even after the Change, he still had an enormous appetite, and hunger was a powerful force. Sometimes he lost himself to it, and saw missing pet posters up later.

He was ashamed of himself, and the fact he couldn’t control himself.

Demon’s nostrils flared and he caught the scent of something on the wind. Carefully he turned his head out of his “cave” and looked. No. No one was out there, but something was coming.

Territoriality was starting to rush forth in his thinking. His territory. His area. His home. Demon shook his head, trying to clear his thoughts. Clearly it wasn’t that easy to lose himself to the animal inside. Was it?

The sun was still up, and dusk was several hours away. He didn’t want to go outside during the day. Too easy to be spotted. But something nagged in the back of his mind.

And Demon, quickly leaving his den, climbed up the side of one of the buildings, as silent as a shadow and twice as fast…

Name: Robert Wiles
Alias: Hellfire
Gender: Male
Age: 17
Nationality: American
Alignment: Chaotic Neutral (capable of great good and great evil)
Powers: Robert has the ability to manipulate fire. However, unless he is summoning his own art through the flames, he cannot manipulate other fire, natural or supernatural. By setting fire to a piece of art of his own by will, he can summon forth the image, as life-sized as possible, after the entire piece is burned. However, others are not protected from the flames, and neither are property, so using the powers always causes collateral damage and some injuries. Once his need for the fire summons is over, the flames dissipate, and the piece of paper reforms from the flames, drawing and all, into his hands. He can also create energy fields that function like force fields around objects, people, or himself as an buffer against an attack. One other ability, is a set of flaming wings that sprout from his back, but don’t damage or burn his clothes or self. The wings act like major versions of propulsion and can be expanded to increase drag for a landing, or condensed into cones of force to shoot himself forward at high speeds. His body has changed to survive the strain of flying at high speeds, including an increased reaction rate, reflexes, and vision.
Power Source: Natural (Mutation)
Weaknesses: His powers. Using his powers takes a toll on Robert through mental strain. Flying around or using the fire summoning hurts slightly, but he’s been able to compensate for that. What really puts the strain on his mind is when the force fields he produces come under attack, a fraction of that force is also inflicted on his mind and mental state.
Personality: Robert is quiet and aloof. He doesn’t care much for people, and doesn’t seem to show any emotion. Despite this, he does care, he just doesn’t want people to know it. He’ll let others talk and recap others on the situation. If they weren’t paying attention before, why fill them in now?
Appearance: Tall, thin, he has long black hair that stops at his shoulders. A black trench coat that is almost to the ground, the collar always up. He has glasses that he tries to keep high on his nose but keep sliding down. Instead of any normal color for his eyes, his eyes are a crimson red. Robert wears baggy, lose pants, and generic tennis shoes. He has a satchel he keeps with him, and inside is his art supplies and anything else he might need, such as food, water, or a laptop.
Weapons: None besides his powers.
History: Robert was the younger of the Wiles brothers. While Steven was more athletically clined and ate like a horse, Robert leaned towards art and intellectual pursuits. Even while he and his brother joked around, he wasn’t jealous of his brother’s accomplishments, because his brother was also jealous of his.

However, their relationship was torn apart.

Robert and Steven’s school was attacked by a reptilian monster, leaving several students injured and scared. The only person missing, was Steven. Robert had seen the thing as it tore out of the class where his brother had been, and proceeded to snap and slash at the students and teachers as they ran away. Robert was knocked back, and watched as this thing, this dinosaur-like monstrosity tore its way through the school, only finally disappearing as it looked at him, with those glowing red eyes.

Robert’s mom broke down at the news, and Robert started hating the thing that took his brother away from the family. Anger boiling up inside of him, he accidentally found out he could summon his drawn creations to life, and control them.

Packing some of his things and leaving his mom, Robert went out to do what he thought was best. Kill the reptile that killed his brother, and hopefully give his family some solace.

If only he knew the truth…
Theme(s): I am (All of me), No Future (Akiawa Nanase), What I'm Made of (Crush40)
Relationships: Despite his drive to kill the one known as Demon, what Robert fails to realize is that he’s trying to kill his own brother.
Other: When he’s not flying across the city and hitchhiking, looking for Demon, he’s drawing and sketching. His sketchbook has a few pages torn from it, and he’s never been able to find the missing pages. Images he drew of himself and his brother…

TPM Comics Presents...
HELLFIRE
Prospect
Robert Wiles~#~Hellfire#~#Male~#~New York City, NY
Time: 11:34 AM EST
Location: New York's performer square

New York City. The last place you’d expect to find a person who didn’t care for people.

Robert Wiles, however, didn’t care for people, but he needed them to survive. He glanced up at the young woman sitting before him before going back to the drawing. Through patience, practice, and more than enough erasers, Robert’s art had gotten very good, and he was using this one talent to make him a decent living.

Decent if you thought about how little you could survive on in modern times.

He looked up at the woman one more time, his pencil and hand flying over the paper. He captured her features, her hair, the shading from the sun and buildings. If he really cared, he would consider it a decent piece of work. The woman wasn’t exceptionally pretty, but she was paying him, so it didn’t matter.

“Here,” he said, carefully tearing out the page and handing it to her.

He saw the look in her eyes as she looked over and held it to her chest. “Thank you!” Quickly the woman dug out a twenty and handed to Robert as she ran off. Watching her for a second, he put the new funds into an inner compartment on his satchel. Taking a quick mental inventory of his funds he picked up the satchel and slung it over his shoulder as he walked off. He was in the artist walk in the middle of Manhattan Island, and was trying to make his way towards some run down apartments. He could afford rent today, that was good. Not something he would have expected after leaving his home, after… Steven disappeared.

The apartment wasn’t much, but at least now he could afford it. If only for a month at best. He hated having to resort to drawing people for money. It was disgraceful, and a waste of his time. But, he had to eat sometime, and sleeping on the streets wasn’t any helpful either.

He talked the landlord into letting him have the place. Robert may only stay here a month, two at best, but he needed a place to operate from for the time being. New York City was a magnet for Supers, many doing odd jobs helping out the populace or police. Several times he had tried to find someone with information on the thing that attacked his school and took his brother away.

Pictures didn’t help, and most Supers were gone or had left before he could find out where they had gone. The internet wasn’t any help either. His last leads had lead him to New York City, which of course was another dead end.

Now he needed to stay somewhere and think, and plan his next action.

Setting his stuff down in his new apartment, Robert went downstairs to get something to eat, satchel slung over his shoulder. His left over money wouldn’t buy him much, but at least it would get him enough to survive the next few days if he spent it wisely. Walking down, he headed for some of the fruit venders and quick shops in the city. Of course some of them were hiding behind bullet proof glass and bars. Each of them had a gun nearby, but Robert didn’t act threatening. He calmly picked out his selection and then headed back to his apartment.

As he walked home, he took a bit out of the apple he had bought, chewing it thoughtfully. He weighed his options as he walked the path back to his new “home.”

[Crystal Tears]

Name: Sigil-038
Alias: Sigil
Gender: Female
Age: Appears 26
Nationality: Canadian
Alignment: Neutral / Neutral
Powers: Super-fast regeneration, Super-sight, Sigil is rather hard to kill by shooting/slicing/etc. Her entire bone structure is made of a powerful, yet super-light metal (meaning don’t punch her, or she’s split you in two). Her brain, for all intensive purposes is a combination between alien and human technology (forming a high-tech computer) and there are numerous hidden ports under her skin that allow her to direct link with computer systems, she can also remotely access many electronic machines like cars, planes, etc. The metal in her system (along with her brain) is constantly evolving on its own, so new powers might come later (and others might leave).
Power Source: Alien / Technology
Weaknesses: Powerful Magnets, oh… She can be reprogrammed to follow another being…
Personality: Sigil, for being an A.I, is quite curious about human nature and being a ‘person’. She does not experience anger, happiness, or misery like we do, in fact she sort of lacks in the entire personality compartment. Her answers are short and to the point, and she often does not need explanation for others, she also can’t grasp humour or sarcasm very well… Taking everything as seriously as she’s programmed too… Oh, for being a computer, its insanely hard to gain her trust.
Appearance: Dark Brown hair dyed blond (the roots show), her hairs goes down just below her shoulders and is often tied back into a ponytail. Her eyes are brown for the most part, but turn blue and glow when using one of her powers (save for super strength). Sigil appears as an athletic, attractive late twenties woman who always looks serious. She’s usually wearing some sort of t-shirt, with a black trench coat and blue jeans, so she fits in.
Weapons: Most electronics, and super strength.
History: Sigil was discovered by a man who lived out in northern Ontario, he contacted the authorities who were immediately overthrown by a secret branch of the Canadian government who took Sigil-038 into their custody. The woman was for all intensive purposes dead, when performing an autopsy, it was discovered that she was a crude combination of alien technology and a human. Her bones were a never before seen metal that, if cut in half, were reform into its original state quite quickly. The Canadian government implemented their own technology (no doubt imported from somewhere….) and soon enough Sigil-038 was mess of blood, flesh, wires, metal, and an advanced alien computing brain.
One of the lead scientists accidentally activated Sigil, but because of the human reprogramming, she did nothing. Soon after that she disappeared, escaping from the facility and entering the real world where she wanders. Keeping her distance from those who would try to reprogram her for their own wishes (meaning she keeps away from mostly everyone).
Theme(s): Criminal By Disturbed
Relationships: Tis open…
Other: If you need to compare her to something, she’s a terminator of sorts…


* * *

Sigil-038 sat quietly in the back booth of a diner. In her and was a small cup of coffee and sitting before her was a plate with half finished eggs. She had never been one to eat as much as the rest, she, unlike so many other humans, didn't require it. Sigil looked up curiously as the waitress put down the bill, and that's when it caught her eye.
It was an overhanging television screen that was displaying a video of a strange, blurry image of a black beast with wings attacking a control station. Sigil-038 frowned, to her knowledge there was no creature on Earth that even resembled that image. Shock should've run through her but it didn't, only a mild, secret curiosity to see exactly what it was.

"Scary isn't it?"
Sigil-038 looked up at the waitress, she seemed more than a little worried. "Scary?"
"That monster that attacked the control station."
Sigil wondered if this woman knew she gritted her teeth with frightened. "It is just an animal." She replied, acting her beast to be human. "It will be killed."
For whatever reason, that comforted her. The waitress smiled as Sigil paid for the meal. "You're right."

Outside of the diner was mildly hot; Sigil could see the heat rising off of numerous vehicles. Children were playing in the park nearby, and seemed to not mind the temperature as much as their adult counterparts. Sigil-038 frowned, she needed to leave this place, and find a way to get to that creature.
Curiosity killed the cat. Was the thought that popped into her head as she browsed the numerous vehicles sitting in the lot. Ah, but, I'm not a cat. So the entire logic of that warning was thrown out the window as far as she was concerned. Sigil frowned, fixing her coat somewhat as she set her eyes on an automobile. To her knowledge it was an Audi A4, good enough for her purposes. Quietly she walked up to the machine.
Sigil's eyes began to glow a bright, aqua blue as the car's alarm shut down and the driver side door, unlocked.
"Hello." She spoke, sitting down comfortably as she shut the door. The car immediately switched on, and a little more search through its systems resulted in the GPS in the machine to suddenly, and so sadly shut down. "I need you to take me somewhere if you don't mind."
The car's electronics further activated as the engine gave a happy rev.
Sigil-038 smiled only a little. "I didn't think you'd mind."

The car pulled out of the parking lot and began down the road. Sigil, for the moment, had a new best friend as she proceeded to reprogram the car for her own liking...
And the car, newly reprogrammed and made to her liking, began to drive off towards Seattle.

* * *

[Blademaster]

OK, I'd say it's about time for some character interaction.

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

Ivan and Enigma

"OK, lemme get this straight." Enigma said, analyzing what his acquaintence had just finished telling him. "You overheard a few guys talking about an attack, asked them what was going on, and they told you a fucking ALIEN was attacking?"

"That is correct." Ivan replied. "By now, at least a dozen people are likely dead."

"Shit..." Enigma muttered. "Are you SURE they said 'alien?' Like, the grey ones with the big black eyes?"

"They told me that the creature was black, with sizeable claws, fangs, and a body larger than a mature male human."

"Sounds like a Xenomorph..." Enigma commented.

"That is not important right now." Ivan said. "People are dying, and there are no Supers combatting this creature."

"I know! But what the fuck are WE gonna do about it?" Enigma responded, annoyed. "Washington is over 2,000 miles away! Even if I could turn into a fucking supersonic JET, it'd be two hours or more before we got there. The place would be a graveyard by then!"

Ivan held his chin in his hand, trying to think of a solution.

"I could teleport us there." he mused. "But the spatial relationship between us and the planet makes that highly dangerous."

"Huh?"

"If I'm unable to see our destination, we could be transported into space. Or miles beneath the ground."

"Oh. ...Fuck." Enigma looked up. "Winding up in space would be a bad... thing......"

Enigma stopped and squinted. Miles above his head, he could make out a tiny shape heading west.

An airplane.

Enigma blinked, then smiled to himself.

"Ivan... You ever flown first-class before?"

Ivan looked puzzled; he followed Enigma's gaze.

"...An airplane?" he said. "It is still a gambit, but it is possible..."

"Do it." Enigma urged.

Ivan nodded and looked up at the plane, concentrating on it... Size... Speed... Trajectory...

"I have it." Ivan said, grabbing Enigma's shoulder. The duo turned jet-black, then sunk into the ground and vanished; simultaneously, the process reversed itself atop the plane, in front of the tail.

Ivan and Enigma were instantly greeted by ear-piercing roars and frigid wind blasts, sending them both tumbling back and grabbing the tail for dear life.

"AAAAAAAAGH!!! WHOSE STUPID-ASS IDEA WAS THIS?!!?" Enigma screamed over the roars.

"IT WAS YOUR IDEA!!!" Ivan yelled back.

Enigma instantly shut up.

*****************

After at least four hours of riding planes, switching planes, and flying by their own hands (or wings), the duo finally spotted what could only be the famous Space Needle.

"Seattle!" Enigma yelled. "Ivan, take us down!"

Ivan nodded and closed his eyes, trying to pinpoint a desireable landing site. The height... The direction...

Shadows once again enveloped the duo, who reappeared a few hundred feet above the streets of Seattle.

Unfortunately, hours of frigid cold temperatures, brain-jarring turbulence, and thin air supply had left even the usually-unflinching Ivan a bit weary, and as a result, he forgot one factor:

The plane they were one had been flying at roughly 400 miles an hour. The ground below... was not. As a result, the instant Ivan and Enigma rematerialized, their momentum came back, flinging them nearly a third of a mile over the city! The duo screamed, bracing and shielding themselves as best they could, before finally crashing down on a rooftop, stumbling and bouncing to the next, and finally crashing over the side and bouncing down the outer walls before coming to rest in an alley between the buildings.

Not the most graceful entrance for a pair of Supers.

"Fuck me..." Enigma snarled, rubbing his head. "What is WRONG with you, dumbass!? Can't you even use your own powers properly!?"

"Ohhhh..."

Ivan pulled himself up slowly. Being made of flesh and bone, unlike Enigma (sort of), he had REALLY felt that. He'd probably have broken his spine had his wings not curled out and shielded him from some of the shock. That, and he'd landed on something a bit softer than concrete...

And warmer... And moving...

"Get... OFF ME!!!!"

With a yell that sounded almost like a roar, the mass Ivan had landed on sprung to life, flipping Ivan off its back and leaping to its feet. Disoriented and battered a bit, Ivan only barely managed to somersault out of the creature's way, spinning on his knee and getting up beside Enigma.

Standing in front of them, blocking the street, was an imposing black creature with red eyes. It looked almost dinosaurian in its build, but despite its fierce appearance, something seemed... strange about it...

"Is that the alien?" Enigma asked his partner uncertainly. "It looks like a raptor!"

Ivan stared at the creature intently; it just stared back.

"Alien?" it asked, sounding confused. "Me? I'm no alien - I'm just as much an Earthling as you two are!"

"Bullshit!" Enigma snapped, his forearm extending into a machine gun with barrels where his fingers had been. "How many other ugly black monsters have crawled out of the woodwork since this morning and started trashing the border?!"

"Enigma, hold on." Ivan warned. "If this creature is truly responsible for what has happened, why is it here? There is no wreckage anywhere in the vicinity, so it obviously has not attacked this city yet."

Ivan turned his attention back to the creature, slowly drawing his sword.

"You. I do not know what you are, but several people are already dead. They were killed by some sort of black alien on the northern border of this state. You are obviously capable of human speech; if you have any sort of alibi, I suggest that you relay it to us now."

The reptilian creature looked at its instigators for a moment, evidently considering what it was being told.

Ivan and Enigma tensed up a bit.

What would the anthro-lizard say...?

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

OK, Denny. Whether you wanna fight these guys or take the peaceful way out, I'll leave up to you.

[Prof. Jb Wolf]

TPM Comics Presents
THE ASTOUNDING PSION
With Guest Apperance by Resonance
Issue #14 - Psychadelic Sound

[San Francisco]

"Good job as always kid." The large cop said as he handcuffed the robber from the car.

"Thanks Cosgrove." I grinned at the heavy-set, elderly cop. Edward Cosgrove was the oldest member of the force and was as clean as they come. Despite his years in service, he never really made it above seargent, preferring to remain a boy in blue. I had met him when I first started as a sidekick and he'd proved a staunch and reliable friend in the police. "Just doing my civic duty."

"Yea, and almost puttin' us outta the job!" Cosgrove chuckled as he marched the handcuffed man up the precinct stairs. "Stay safe kid."

Sketching a vague salute at the departing officer, I turned as a voice called out. "Hey, you - flying goggles guy!"

"Flying goggle..." I muttered under my breath as I turned to face the speaker, a rather scruffy looking fellow in a fedora. "Can I help you sir?"

"Yea, been chasing you half-way across the city." The light from the sinking sun seemed to glint off something around his neck. "Your a Super right? I just wanted to ask a few questions."

"Sorry, I already told the Chronicle I don't do interviews."

"I'm not lookin' for an interview. I'm-"

His voice was drowned out as the sound of sirens and gunfire. A car came streaking by followed by two patrol cars. A man was leaning outside of the car window firing at the chasing cars. "Sorry sir, but duty calls."

I took the air and as I sped towards the car, I heard a loud "HEY!". Something crashed into the fleeing car's back end, causing it to skew sideways. Swooping down, I landed before it and kept it from flying into oncoming traffic and the sidewalk. As the patrolmen in the cars came out to secure I turned to see the scruffy man walking calmly towards me.

"Let me try this again. You can call me Resonance." As he spoke, he took off his glove showing a shiny metallic cover and I felt a slight vibration flow over me. "And I just want to ask you a question or two hero."

==================================

"Sorry, the only other Supers I've met were my mentor and some villains that pop up every now and then."

After helping to secure the criminals, Resonance and I were grabbing some coffee at a nearby cafe. He explained his powers and about his search for his father. I sympathized with him, knowing what it's like to not have parents around. Unfortunately it seemed like I couldn't help him with his problem.

"Damn, well it was a slim chance as any..."

He looked somewhat glumly into his mug of coffee. As I searched for something to say, the nearby TV caught my eye. "...cident at the Canadian border is still sketchy at best. Based on the footage we have obtained, an unidentified creature has attacked a base near the outer limits of Washington state as seen here in this video taken earlier today." On screen a black creature with claws and fangs sprouting from its bodies attacked a couple soldiers, slaughtering them easily.

"Maybe you should check out there." I said, pointing at the screen.

"What? Ask the nice monster if he knows where my old man is?" He gave me a look that screamed 'what the hell have YOU been smoking?".

"No, but judging at how easily it took out those soldiers, it'll probably attract a bunch of supers. For all we know, one of them might know who your father is."

"Huh, guess that's not such a bad idea. What about you hero? You goin' to fight the big, bad alien?"

I sat quietly for a moment. I had never considered the rest of the world when I had first got my powers. Back then, I was still filled with rage and grief, and even after Prophet died I hadn't considered the rest of the world as part of my protectorate. Maybe it was time to step on to the global stage and become a real hero, like the first generation of supers.

"You know, I just might."

"Well, I hope you don't mind long trips, cause it'll take awhile to get to Washington." Resonance laughed. "Unless you wanna fly us there."

=============================================

"I can't believe we're flying there."

When Resonance had first suggested it, I too had foudn the idea laughable. But after giving it some thought, I found it was probably not as bad as originally thought. Borrowing a hot-air balloon basket from its owner, I now carried Resonance in the basket as I took to the air. While I was considerably slower than when I flew on my own, we were still moving faster than any car or train especially without the traffic.

"Just hold on!" I said with a grin as I sped up a little.

[Bulbasaur4]

[ Just a note: Shengmingli does not cut herself willingly, due to what she went though. Let's just say she cut herself on accident and that is how he found out? ]

Shengmingli AKA Blood
[ Female | Location: Los Angeles- leaving]

The two of them were well-fed and the wind rippled through their hair. They didn't exactly plan where they were going, although Shengmingli was rather too quiet to make plans and had refused to come to any sort of decision. But the unsaid between them was enough, and Alex had rather 'willed' the improbable fact of a vehicle landing in the parking lot for him to use. It turned out to be a Toyota Tundra- not exactly the most fuel-efficient car, but it would do.

The two of them were now on the road, exiting Los Angeles and heading up north to Washington. The California freeway was a thing of wonder and it was a very quick trip- never a busy highway, always able to speed with little worry of cops. The windows were down and the wind was playfully manipulating their hair, and Shengmingli had closed her eyes to feel the strange sensation of it brushing against her face. She had caused Alex quite a scare when she had dropped the knife and it had lashed against her hand. She hadn't flinched at the pain, much to Alex's horror but when he went to inspect it- it had gone. He still seemed to not notice the rejuvenating feeling he got whenever he touched her, but he seemed like an energetic person. The effects were not as useful during those times.

"Are you alright with this, Shengmingli?" Alex asked, eyeing her nervously as he began to realize that he was indeed bringing a girl who looked no older than 10 to some dangerous, unknown object in Washington. It was insane...it was something very.. ironically, improbable.
"Yes, I am fine." She said boldly, looking at him with her striking gaze of crimson, virtually nor fear or apprehension shown in her eyes.
"I feel silly bringing a little girl with me..." He said quietly, but she shook her head.
"I will not die." She said plainly, which startled Alex and perhaps disturbed him a bit.

Silence entered the truck, until Alex cheerfully asked, "Would you like to listen to music?"
Shengmingli blinked for a moment, "Music? This is...?"
he laughed as he reached over and flicked to the FM radio. A country twang song was playing pleasantly, and immediately Shengmingli seemed to sit up straighter as she peered about the truck for the source of the sound. After a while of this, she then began pressing buttons upon the FM radio- delighted to find that different music played with different buttons.
"This is magic!" She said with a grin, no music staying on a channel for more than a minute until at least a half an hour had passed. She finally subsided her button pushing and let it remain back upon the country station, leaning into her chair.
Time passed slowly and her eyelids grew heavy as sleep gradually took her to the dreaming world.

[classy_cat18]

Nia Windfall ~ Aria ~ Seattle, WA

"What the hell?" I asked myself as I decided to look up and saw a couple of falling/flying objects. My heart stopped as I thought about the thing that had attacked the border. But then there were two, and I swore I could hear screaming. Whatever it was would have to stay a mystery; I had a plane to catch.

The streets were more quiet than usual but people were still out and about, mostly somewhere watching TV and waiting for more news. Bars and cafes were packed with nervous drinkers. Crowds were parked in front of electronic stores. I walked in one and watched a big screen, staring at the enhanced picture of the reporter and her captor.

The visitor looked like a madwoman, but I hung onto her every word.

"Right on, sister...preaching to the choir..." I whispered. I knew of the stories of my ancestors that paid the price for their uniqueness...my fate would be no different. Instead of the ax or noose, it would be injections and dissections.

"I will hear, when no one else will."

If I had to team up with someone, I'd rather do it with someone with common sense than some goody-two-shoes. My hand clenched around the flute that I wore on my side. It was probably a bad idea...but it was definitely better than facing the creature alone.

I licked my lips and called out after a little hesitation. "Poltergeist."

[Mew Master]

TPM Comics Presents...
DEMON
Mistaken Identity
Steven Wiles ~*~Demon*~*Male
Time: 1:25 PM
Location: Seattle, Washington. Rooftops across the residential district.

The saurian scanned the cityscape, crouched behind an old water-tower. Demon clutched several items of food, mostly fruits, vegetables, and one package of steak he had to steal from an inattentive shopper as she left her grocery bags on the ground to answer her cell phone.

He didn’t like it, but he had to.

Taking one melon, he tossed it into the air as his neck curled back. In one lightning fast snap the melon had disappeared into his mouth, and he moved his jaws in a crude chewing fashion. The ryne didn’t taste that bad honestly, it just had a strong taste to it, which is why he could never stand it as a human. As he was now, he didn’t care.

The chewed fruit disappeared down his gullet as he swallowed. His eating habits hadn’t dissipated, he still had a large appetite, but the cravings are what he felt right now. For the last few days, he’s had a craving for sweet stuff. Not chocolate or sugar, he couldn’t keep it down any more. No, he wanted fruits, vegetables. Something in his physiology was telling him he needed more greens in his diet, and so he had to change that. The most disturbing craving was that of fresh, red, meat.

Demon sat there, under the water-tower, eating his stolen food, saving the meat for last. Something inside him desired the taste of fresh meat, and the thrill of a fresh kill. Ashamed of himself, and afraid, he quickly snapped down the meat he had obtained, swallowing it down. The taste both disgusted him and excited him.

It’s a hard feeling to explain, even when you’re the one experiencing it.

Something was bothering Demon though. There was something on the air, his instincts told him to be active, awake, to hide if he could. The combination of his newfound instincts and his human logic made him restless and on edge.

He heard the sound of a plane overhead, and he peaked out from under the water-tower, watching it fly by.

No… that’s not it, he thought to himself. Planes landed in Seattle every day, if what was causing his unease was that, he would have felt better as the planes left.

Yawning, the saurian stood up, cracking the joints of his legs after resting on his haunches under the water-tower. Poking his head out, he looked around for anyone that might see him, before he exposed his body. The sun felt good on his scales. He didn’t need the sun like a reptile, but it still felt good.

Something caught his senses and Demon’s body went still. There was… screaming. One… no two individuals screaming. His head turned, arching his spine as he did, looking around, trying to hone in on the yelling as it started to get closer.

And closer.

And louder.

From… behind?

Demon turned, just in time to see two men falling from the sky for a split second before they slammed into him. Taking him off his clawed feet.

For the saurian, his world became one of pain, confusion, and hard knocks as his body, and the two individuals who had slammed into him. The jumbled mess of bodies, scales, tail, wings, and machine bounced along a rooftop, breaking up concrete and plaster. Skipping like a stone across a calm lake to the next rooftop, kicking up more plaster and brick, before slamming down into the middle of a Seattle street, buckling the street asphalt into a large impact zone.

His world was still spinning, in pain. Demon was sure some of his ribs had broken, and one of his limbs had a fracture. Some of his vertebrae were dislocated, and his jaw was throbbing like had been hit with the side of a bus. His eyes were closed against the pain, even as he felt his body repairing itself. Anger and confusion burned in his mind, and he could feel something on him.

No. Not something.

Two someone’s.

Voices, he heard voices, one of them obviously upset, while the other was quiet. And they were sitting on him! A low snarl escaped his throat as he used his arms and legs to start pushing himself up, in too much pain to just use his legs.

“Get…. OFF MEEE!!” a roar of rage and pain melded in with the last vowels as he pushed himself up to his full height, and throwing off the two who had fallen onto him. One had gotten off just as Demon was moving, and he had managed to give the other the momentum to flip off and land on his feet.

Demon shook his head before turning to face the two. One was about a foot shorter than he was, of course most humans were. The odd thing was, the short, thin one gave off a confusing mix of smells, almost maddening and disorienting. The other was almost as tall as Demon! Imposing, large and with a serious look of confusion and determination. He gave off the scent of something that hadn’t seen the light for a long time. Not quite dank or moldy, just, devoid of light.

“Is that the alien?” the smaller one blurted out. “It looks like a raptor!”

Demon looked at the tall quiet one, staring into his dark eyes with his glowing red ones.

“Alien?” Demon said, confused about the whole thing. What alien? He didn’t exactly keep an eye to the news and didn’t have a TV in his den. Wait.. did they think he was one? “Me?” he pointed to himself with a clawed hand. “I’m no alien, I’m…” he stopped himself for a second. Human? No he wasn’t that anymore. “An Earthling just as you two are!”

“Bullshit!” Demon was cut off by the short one, who also seemed to have a temper. The mixed scents got stronger as his arm morphed and contorted into a machine gun-like structure, the tips of his fingers becoming barrels. "How many other ugly black monsters have crawled out of the woodwork since this morning and started trashing the border?!"

Demon’s mind stepped back, fear racing through his mind. They were going to kill him. They were actually going to try and kill him because he didn’t look… human.

"Enigma, hold on." The tall one warned. "If this creature is truly responsible for what has happened, why is it here? There is no wreckage anywhere in the vicinity, so it obviously has not attacked this city yet." He turned towards Demon, a serious and steady tone to his voice. As he turned, he unsheathed a long sword, curved slightly. A Katana? Mabye, it was really big and Demon could see it was still sharp.
"You. I do not know what you are, but several people are already dead. They were killed by some sort of black alien on the northern border of this state. You are obviously capable of human speech; if you have any sort of alibi, I suggest that you relay it to us now."

Alibi? Alibi?! He had been sleeping for three maybe four hours, and awake for about an hour, hour half! No matter what he told them, the one called “Enigma” was already hell-bent on killing him, while the taller one was ready to listen to him, then cut his head off.

Demon stood there, staring at them, his tail waving back and forth as he considered his options. He was still injured, his body repairing itself. He was outnumberd, by two Supers, who probably worked as a team. Demon had taken out street-thug gangs before, but it was never easy, and most of them ran in fear from him. Now people were starting to gather, in fear, in awe, or just yelling at him.

Not good… Not good… NOT GOOD!

So Demon did the only thing he could think of.

Spinning faster than his size would suggest, he whipped out with his tail, turning so that the majority of the tail hit Enigma’s new gun arm. He felt the force of the impact and dashed off, but not before he felt cold metal bite into his tail. Holding back a snarl of pain and rage, he dashed away from the two, jumping onto a car, before using the bounce of the shocks to give him a little extra clearance to the side of a building.

The sounds of Enigma cursing met his ears and he heard a rapid fire of bullets follow in his wake.

Grabbing onto the bricks with his claws and feet, Demon climbed up quickly, keeping his movements random, climbing for a bit, before jumping to another spot, changing direction, and then jumping or climbing until he got to the roof. His momentum sent him sliding, and he dug in with his claws to change his orientation before running and jumping over the alley and away from the two now after him.

Dark energy flew by his head, and the saurian glanced at where it had come from. There was the tall one, standing on top of the water-tower, unleashing bursts of shadows. Demon kept dodging.

One of his good abilities was his reflexes and natural dexterity. Using his tail for balance, he’s able to alter his direction, turn on a dime, and any other number of acrobatics that would make Olympic athletes jealous. However all of his current abilities were being put to the test. To dodge the tall one’s attacks he had to move closer to the edge of the building, where a volley of bullets would meet him from Enigma, forcing him back to the center of the building. And to the taller one’s target range.

He came close to the corner of the building, starting to slow down because even he couldn’t make the jump across this wide street. Demon turned, trying to find a way out, but there was the tall one, wings flapping, blocking his escape route.

“You had your chance,” he said coldly.

“What?” Demon said, fear mixing into rage. “Not like you would have believed anything I had to say. You already planned to kill me from the start…”

“Actions speak louder than words,” he said before rushing forward with the sword drawn back and ready to slash.

Demon stood straight up, not the most comfortable thing to do when you have a tail, but the decision saved his life, at the expense of his balance. On the edge of the building, he could feel himself start to fall backwards. Of course he could catch the ledges in the building and stop his fall, but then he saw Enigma there, aiming his transformed “gun-hand” at him, and brace himself for the recoil.

Quickly, the saurian pushed off with his feet, already mostly extended, Demon couldn’t get much distance, so he slammed his tail into the side of the building for some extra push. He narrowly escaped Enigma’s barrage, as the ammo hit where he had been and zinging past his body as he fell backwards.

He had saved himself from getting shot and stabbed, but now he was falling. Falling backwards.

A high-pitched roar of fear and confusion escaped the saurian’s throat as he fell backwards.

Demon crash landed onto the hood of a car in the middle of the street, denting and deforming the metal frame, causing the back end to fly up into the air, nearly flipping the car along the front fender. The force wasn’t enough, and it landed back down, the front two tires now flat. Landing on his back, his spines had punctured through the hood and pierced through the fan belt, air filter, and three cylinders. Pain flooded his mind, so much so that even his instincts didn’t kick in to go into a frenzy and run anymore.

Disoriented, dizzy, nearly unconscious, and in pain, Demon was on his back, his hands flexing at the air and legs trying to move reflexively. His tail was off the car, barely moving, and his eyes were half open, his world shifting from the fall, the pain along his entire body, being “pinned” now, to the hood of a 2008 Audi A4…

[Houndoom_Lover]

New York City, NY
Time: 11:34 AM EST
Location: New York's performer square

Nazerith liked to think he owned this city. Like an ant hill, the people were his ants- and he the bully who enjoyed using a hose. He casted a shadow down below, like a cloud moving infront of the moon- however, New York was well lite, this area most of all, where mimes could mime, and fire throwers throw. People out on the cold heartless streets, preforming! What a treat for him, yes, this place would do nicely.


But what would a show be without a dinner? A justified dinner of course, only animals hunt and eat without cause. Nazerith looked down at the city below, assuming he was where he wanted to be, and descended downwards at bullet speed, much like- well, a rock plummeting through the air.

[Heald]

I hunger...

[Location: Somewhere between Vancouver and the US Border]

It landed in a large wooded area and collapsed, coughing. With the final assault of the human with the torches, he shifted himself two wings and took to the skies, heading due East. He had gained some useful information from the humans he had assimilated, namely the prosperous nations that lie East of Siberia, and the powerful weapons that they have.

He heard a loud roar and turned around. Across a small stream was a black bear. He would certainly be a useful disguise. The alien formed a tentacle and launched it down the throat of the bear, breaking its neck. He then assimilated the body by shifting his own mass inside the bear, wearing it. The proverbial wolf in sheep's wool, come to life.

After an hour of wandering South, he encountered a road, and a gate of some kind. It was quiet, and he could make out the words with his new found intelligence.
"US-Canada Border: Now entering Washington. Prepare to stop."
He ignored this and wandered towards the barriers. A couple of uniformed men wandered out and drew their guns. They spoke in an unfamiliar tongue to him, but he could hear what they were saying.
"It's just a loose bear. Should be call animal control?"
"He's looking hungry. If he comes after us, we'll just shoot the damned thing."
The alien started to charge the men. They drew their guns, one of them quipping,
"Sorry, Smokey, this just ain't your day."
Both men unloaded several rounds into him, but only penetrated the skin; the alien is not affected as such by mere bullets. Suddenly, ripping out of the bear skin, he became a ten-foot tall monster, six arms emanating from his body. He lunged at the two men and strangled them in his grip. More armed men poured out of the building, drawing their weapons. Undeterred, the alien threw his captured humans at them, then lunged at them, teeth-first, ripping them to shreds. One man quickly slammed a button at the side of the building, causing an alarm to ring out and red lights to flash. Obviously, this meant more humans would come, possibly in the thousands, and with more than pitiful firearms. Plus, if he encountered more of these 'supers', then he might be in trouble. With an almighty fist, he summoned his strength and ripped straight through the building, reducing it to rubble. The lights and klaxon continued to be on alert, so he formed two wings and took to the skies again.

He continued South, noticing a large light source coming from a huge settlement, a city. Suddenly, two objects swooped straight past him, knocking him from the sky. He regained control and looked up. Two fighter jets had been deployed to take care of him. They turned and came for a second pass. They were far too fast for him to keep up, but as one headed towards him, guns ablazing, he stretched out his body, latching onto the jet. He shifted back into a smaller form and smashed a hand into the cockpit, strangling the pilot. The jet began to enter a tailspin and the pilot, still in the alien's claws, attempted to eject, but the alien, his legs wrapped around the nose, held onto him. The pod detached and ripped away the lower half of the pilot's body, leaving the head and torso in his hands. The pod fell away, the parachute deploying uselessly. The jet had begun to fly over the city itself. Suddenly, a shock impacted the jet, and the alien, pinned to the underside of it as it begun to descend, braced himself. The second jet had hit the wing with a missile and it was falling straight into the city itself. Like a meteorite, the jet, and alien, tore through a few buildings before crashing into a street road at great speed, exploding on impact, and destroying a good portion of the street with it as well.

A small crater had formed around this smouldering wreck and black smoke billowed from it. A nearby police car had driven up to the edge of it, and worried civilians had begun to gather round. The alien, somewhat stunned by the attack, stood up dimwittedly and crawled out of the smoke. People began to scream as he summoned the strength to stand up and gaze at this crowd. They began to flee, and the two policemen drew their guns. Forming wings, he launched himself at the two police, grabbing them and flying through the streets, his wings flapping knocking over cars and smashing windows and lamps. At an intersection, a truck crossed his path and he smashed into it, knocking it on its side and he ripped through the side of it, landing inside it. Fruits and vegetables smashed around him as wooden pallettes fell on him. In a rage, he screamed an unearthly scream and emerged from the wreckage. He surveyed the scene, and then something called out to him.
"Hey ugly! Get a piece of this!"

---

Okay Blade, or Mew Master, if Demon gets up, take it from there. The alien is indeed in Seattle. A couple of points.

1) He seems almost unstoppable, but is prone to making mistakes and can be slowed down, as seen in his fight with Red Bear.
2) However, fire and heat in general only serve to strengthen him. An explosion can knock him down, away or even stun him, but if he is on fire or being heated up, he'll be much stronger. Just something to bear in mind. However, your characters don't know that, but they might pick it up on their own.

If anyone else reaches Seattle before I post the next update, feel free to join the melee, even if you end up trying to beat each other up.

[Crystal Tears]

Sigil-038

//REBOOT
12% 34% 67% 100%

Sigil-038 didn't know what she had hit, but there hadn't been anything on the road according to her scans. In fact as she reviewed the situation it became clear she hadn't hit anything, something had hit her. Slowly she raised her head up, and reached up and touched her forehead. As her hand was brought down, her brow raised a bit. Blood, something she hadn't seen for a long time. Perhaps this was something humans would worry about, but she could feel the wound closing up, and then it occurred to her.
The air bag hadn't kicked in.
How wonderful.
Of course further examination revealed that an air bag didn't kick in, it kicked out. Much to her dismay as it shot into her face and slammed her head back into the seat. Anger, it was a tempting emotion, something she longed for at times.
Like this.
She tore the air bag out and stared out onto her hood.
Have you ever just looked up and seen something you never expected?
Sigil thought that she was unable experience shock, but her jaw dropped just enough for her mouth to open, and no reasonable explanation came to mind as she stared at the creature lying on her hood. She was a logical thinker, obviously there HAD to be an explanation for this.
Why was there a two ton lizard lying on her hood?
Slowly she attempted to open the Audi door, and found that it was stuck. Emotionlessly she kicked it and watched it go flying across the street. Sigil-038 stepped out and looked over her car. The tire on her side had been shot out of the wheel well and was on the sidewalk now. Was that possible? Maybe, how often do reptiles fall from the sky?
For a split second, she thought it was the monster from the television, but it wasn't. There was a distinct difference, it had wings, and this did not.
It groaned, and somewhere in that groan Sigil heard a word. "Are you alright?" She questioned.
"I...uh... eh..." The sound turned into a pained growled.
With little effort she grabbed the reptile and tore it and the hood off of her car. She placed it on the ground, watching it growl some more before slowly opening its eyes.
"Are you alright?"
It stared at her, rising up to it's full height. "Wha...?"
Perhaps it doesn't understand that particular question... "Are you injured?"
It seemed surprised at something. "I'm... Fine."
She looked down at the vehicle and blinked, the engine had holes in it she assumed were not supposed to be there. "I do not think insurance covers this..."
"Right..." It hissed; Sigil assumed it was a he. "Sorry about your car."
"It's not mine." She turned back to him. "I am Sigil-038."
"You're... Serious..."
Sigil would've frowned, but it was unnecessary. She was unable to be anything but serious, especially to living organisms. The woman blinked. "I an unable to be anything else... What is your name?"
He paused, as if wanting to say something else but instead replied "Demon."
"Demon..." She looked him over before reaching behind and tearing the hood from his spines.
Sigil turned suddenly, vision zooming in on a blur of black that had knocked a truck completely on its side before it careened out of view. Only a moment later a scream that did not register on any level of normal echoed through the air.
"It is here." Sigil spoke, determination on her face.
"It?"
Sigil looked over at the reptile. Was it possible it hadn't seen the news? Well, actually that would make a lot of sense. She imagined no one was gathering here because the monster had screamed down the street. In fact getting involved would probably be the worst possible thing this Demon could do and...
And he was running off.
Sigil watched him, finding it easy to keep up. Perhaps running had been the wrong word. Yes, in fact, Demon was low to ground, quietly moving...
Slinking. Yes, Slinking was what he was doing.
She paused for a moment. Sigil-038 does not slink. Not that she needed to, she had the benefit of looking relatively normal. In fact as she travelled behind a few meters, she found herself picturing her new acquaintance turning into a darkly coloured toy that flops down the stairs and provides infinite entertainment to any human of nearly any age.
She highly doubted that was the sort of slinking he did on the regular basis.
Because of her scans, she could still 'see' Demon, but he was to many others well hidden, Sigil-038 stayed well hidden behind a couple of cars across the street. She watched intently, gathering as much information as she could.

[Mew Master]

TPM Comics Presents...
HELLFIRE
Out of the Blue
Robert Wiles~#~Hellfire#~#Male
Time: 11:46 AM EST
Location: New York's performer square

Robert bit into the apple another time, as he walked along the sidewalk past the performer’s square, where he had been earlier. Time was not a luxary he had, and to even consider stopping and making money just so he wouldn’t have to sleep on the streets sickened him. He had better things to do, but he didn’t have a choice at the moment.

Continuing his walk back to the apartment he had just rented, Robert caught the sound of people screaming and glanced back.

Falling down from the sky was a large figure, with wings and a long tail. Tilting his head so he could see better, it looked as if it was made of rock. A creature, made out of rock. Interesting…

But none of his concern.

Yet, Robert watched the creature as it landed, softly, despite the velocity it had traveled. It was tall, odd that such a large thing could land gracefully. It was twice as tall as he was, and bulky, built. Red eyes seemed to glance around the artist’s square as the people scattered like cockroaches when the lights came on. Robert stared. This wasn’t the thing that had attacked his school and took his brother away, no. This was something else. It was more like… a gargoyle. Gothic style, similar to those seen on large cathedrals in Europe, with large, bat-like wings and a tail from it’s rear-end. The face was semi-elongated, with a parrot beak. It wasn’t wearing any clothing, while the physique seemed masculine, there was no real way to tell.

As it looked around, and everyone else was running. It turned and locked eyes with Robert.

The two stood there, for a moment before Robert took another bite out of his apple and turned to walk away. It wasn’t his concern if this thing decided to terrorize the general populace, he didn’t care.

The sound of clinking gravel and rock rubbing against rock met his ears. He stopped and glanced backwards.

The gargoyle-thing was behind him, and had stopped.

Robert looked it over for a bit before turning and continuing on his way home. Once more the sound of rock scraping against rock, and a clattering of teeth.

He stopped and glanced back once more, silent as the gargoyle was still behind him. The thing scraped around, dragging its tail on purpose, looking at him with interest.

“I am being followed… by a walking statue…” he said calmly.

“You are being followed by a great work of art, like the shadow you cast,” it seemed to cackle gleefully. “Can you justify this?”

Robert looked at the gargoyle, looking into the red eyes. “I’ve seen a dinosaur tear apart a school… can you justify that?”

The thing was silent for a moment. “A school is such an ugly thing. With little thought of beauty, no loss.”

“My brother was in that school.. and died,” Robert stopped, thinking about what he had just said. Why the hell was he talking with this thing? This thing that had the red eyes and dark coloration of the thing that killed his brother, it wasn’t worth his time. He rolled his eyes, “Now I’m being annoyed by a walking statue.”

“There are billions of people upon this earth,” it said as it folded it’s wings closer to its back. “You have parents, they could have made another. His death- that also must be a wor…” The thing stopped, as if a realization had come to it. “Aren't Dinosaurs dead?”

Frustration, anger, and annoyance started to flare up in Robert’s reactions. “Hard to make another brother when your father left your family to fend for itself before you were born…” He held himself back from revealing too much about himself or his family. Robert didn’t want anyone to try and attack his home to get at him, so he switched the subject. “Dinosaurs have been dead… unless you count birds.”

It seemed to rock about itself, thinking out-loud. “Birds are beautiful. Your struggle, is also beautiful,” it spread itself open, the wings brushing against the building to its side, making itself look impressive, imposing, charismatic, or all three. “So much beauty in the world, do you wish to contribute to it?”

Oh, Robert thought. The thing’s on an art kick. So concentrated on art, that’s all that matters to it. I can play that game…

”Depends,” he said. “Do you consider yourself beautiful?”

The gargoyle looked shocked, which surprised Robert as well. Then it started to look at him with more intent, curious to the human’s motives. “I was once told that I was. By a man who made beauty far greater than any man I have ever seen. So, yes.”

Robert let out a snort as he looked towards the terrified and scattered artist square. “Beauty ... is a subjective condition. If you consider yourself beautiful, then that is that.” He looked up at the gargoyle. “What I consider beauty will not be your definition nor anyone else’s. Someone may find it beautiful, but not why it is beautiful to me... You want me to contribute to beauty... will it be by your definition... or mine?”

The question seemed to anger the gargoyle, as rage built up within the blazing red eyes. Its jaws snapped, like a spider before biting its prey. “It will be MINE!!” it roared as it lunged for Robert.

Concentrating, the artist’s eyes burned bright red, fire reflecting in the middle of the black pupil. A red energy dome encircled him, and reverberated with the impact of the gargoyle smacking into it. The burst of pain in his mind caused him to wince a little, and he could feel blood starting to come out of his nose.

“I’d be careful who you attack,” Robert replied as he rebounded the thing backwards.

The thing bounded and skidded across the ground, confused, amused, it was all of these things while its claws dug into the sidewalk. “How..” it was confused. “Did you do that?!” The tail twitched like an excited cat, anticipating another surprise.

Carefully, Robert lowered the dome, pleased with himself. Wiping the blood from his nose he replied, “I’ve been able to do it…”

[Dr.McNinja]

Alex sighed as the young boy pulled himself into the bed of his truck. Supers were just falling out of the woodwork. This one seemed to have some sort of flight or floating powers. He was wearing armor too, young as he was he had some sense about him. No sense in being rude but still…he was not one to trust that quickly, he had ended up putting away more than enough supers that had seemed innocent in the past. One hand came off the wheel and he moved his eyes forward for the moment it took him to activate his powers, hiding the static glitter that fluttered through his eyes.

Weapon, handheld…armor piercing

As he felt his fingers close around the handle of his newly formed Desert Eagle, Alex flashed a smile at Shengmingli, “Can you open the back window for our new friend? Just unlock the toggle and pull it.”

It took the girl a few minutes to manipulate the window but finally the wind of the car’s movement entered the car along with the young man. The boy grinned and plopped himself in the back seat, “Thanks! I was getting tired ofulp!”

Alex’s hand came up and around, the barrel of the ridiculously huge .50 caliber pistol at the boy who’s sentence ended with a startled yelp, “What do you want. Where are you going, and if you move your hands any closer to those blades I swear I’ll blow your head off….Shenmingli close your eyes.”

The girl did as she was asked even as the boy’s eyes narrowed in a combination of anger and some degree of fear, “I didn’t do anything to you, and you point a gun at me?”

A crooked grin appeared on Alex’s face, “You grab on to my car at 70 mph and swing into the back wearing armor and blades. That’s nothing?”

The boy met Alex’s gaze for a second longer before sighing, “Fine fine. I’m heading to Seattle to fight that monster.”

The laugh that escaped Alex as he lowered the gun placed a scowl on the boy’s face, “What? You don’t think I can?”

Alex flicked his hands and the gun flickered unstably before vanishing altogether, “That’s not it…it’s just…these last few days have just been…improbable.”

Shengmingli, to whom Alex had explained his powers, gave a tiny giggle and removed her hands. The boy frowned, wondering if they were laughing at him, “What the hell’s so funny?”

Alex shook his head, “You’ll get it eventually. Welcome to the road trip, buckle in.”

~~~~~~~

Seattle was a mess. Supers were everywhere, some fighting each other, some fighting some dinosaur looking thing, and a winged monstrosity ripping apart cars and police was looking for all the world like something out of a nightmare. Chaotix stood atop a skyscraper taking it all in, weighting his options, checking his plans in his head. Should he try to recruit other supers to fight what was obviously the true threat? Would they attack him instead? Without even thinking about it he fell into his normal patterns, the realization that the scale of this conflict was far far beyond anything he had ever experienced not yet sinking in. Beside him, Shengmengli looked curiously over the side of the skyscraper, carefully to always keep a hand on the encircling railing. She was wearing a new qipao, this one of a blood red so deep it was almost black, bright red makings tracing the shoulders and a few of the seams, an elaborate red dragon decorating the front. A blank faced white mask, only two black eyes decorating its front, hung from her free hand, despite that fact that it could hide her identity from any prying cameras, she had refused to wear it.

Chaotix felt confident in his plan and turned to Jason to explain it to him, it had no garuntee of working and indeed only ensured they could get close enough to the thing before it met them. His mouth gaped open as he saw the boy missing, “Where…where…oh lord please no.”

A voice echoed across the city, a familiar voice, a voice full of youthful surety, confident in its ability, “Hey ugly! Get a piece of this!”

Chaotix calmly told Shengmengli to cover her ears and then let out a ferocious curse under his breath. Grabing the girl’s arm he called out to her as he leapt from the skyscraper, “Stay close but stay hidden, I don’t know how good your regeneration is but I don’t want to test it too far!”

He was crazy to pull her in with her but…his powers had never failed to grant him what he needed at the time and it had certainly selected her as the answer to his unintentional wish. To leave her behind just seemed….wrong. As the ground rushed up he closed his eyes, the enormity of the situation suddenly overwhealming him.

You can do this…you can…you will make mistakes but that will not matter as long as you do everything in your power to protect those around you. Just....god this is insane.

His eyes opened ten feet from the ground and light danced through them.

Safe landing for two

Rolling off the giant marshmallow that appeared to catch them, Chaotix streaked to where Jason was facing the monster, his power always had a way of interrupting him whenever he became too serious.


Roy, hope you don't mind your young brash hero being the one to confront him first, it seemed in character.

[Blademaster]

Ivan and Enigma

Ivan's head was spinning.

A moment ago, the situation was clear: He and Enigma were chasing after what Enigma assumed was the alien, when it, rather than fight back, chose instead to plummet from a building.

And now, the creature had crashed onto a car, which was being driven by some sort of superhuman woman, who spoke to the creature as if it were a random person walking down the street.

"What the FUCK!?"

Ivan turned to Enigma - for the first time in his life, the spiky-haired shapeshifter had summed up Ivan's thoughts perfectly.

"Who is that? Is she in kahoots with that thing?"

"Enigma..." Ivan replied, flapping his wings, allowing him to land softly on the edge of the building. "Answer this question for me: If this creature is allied with that... woman... What is the reason for it?"

Enigma blinked. "Whuh?"

"The beast described on the news... It is not subtle. It was reported to be mindlessly attacking everything in its path. And yet, when we confronted it, it ran from us. Furthermore, it only encountered that woman by chance. It is suspicious that she herself is a Super, but there was no way she could have known where we were located."

Ivan paused.

"I think that we have mistaken this creature with the alien."

"WHAT!? You can't be serious! What in the Hell makes you think that!? If that THING isn't the alien, then where the fuck IS the alien!?"

Almost on cue, a roar ripped through the sky overhead. Ivan and Enigma looked up just in time to see the remains of a fighter jet (?!) scream overhead and crash into the heart of the city, several blocks away.

"HOLY SHIT!!"

A roar that sounded infinitely less human - less EARTHLY - than anything their former quarry had uttered reached the duo's ears. It came from the crash site.

"...OK, I'm convinced." Enigma admitted, reshaping his Finger Shot into a single-barreled bore. The Hand Cannon. "Guess we got here just in time, then."

"Enigma, hold on."

Enigma wouldn't listen - he regrew his wings and took off towards the crash site.

'So impulsive.' Ivan thought, shaking his head and flying the other way - he had to check something.

****************

Somewhere between the car wreck and the alien crash site, Demon had stopped to rest. He healed more quickly than humans, yes, but he'd taken quite a bit of damage. He couldn't just continue his day as though nothing had happened - he had to rest.

As he rested, he mulled over the day's events so far... Aliens, a pair of Supers (one of whom was more than a little trigger-happy) chasing him, that strange woman...

"And to think... I was having such a nice day up until that nut with the gun-hand barged into it..."

"I can understand that plight very well..." a familiar voice said.

Demon pulled himself up in an instant, looking up: The dark, tall figure from earlier descended, landing gracefully in front of him in the alley.

"You again." Demon growled, ready to run again. "What do you want? I already told you I'm no-"

"You are not the alien." Ivan interrupted. "I figured that out by myself very quickly after our initial engagement."

Demon narrowed his eyes.

"Then why did you attack me?" he demanded. "You and that thick-headed, foul-tempered friend of yours..."

Ivan looked at Demon thoughtfully.

"I apologize, both for Enigma's behavior and for my own. He is brash, impulsive, and reckless. He would not have listened to me... I will admit, I was suspicious of you at first, but your actions contradicted those of the creature mentioned in the media. It mindlessly attacked everything it encountered; you did not. You chose to run instead."

"I'm feeling like running again right now..." Demon responded. "Are you here to fight me? Try and lull me into a false sense of security so that that Enigma guy can blast me when my guard is down?"

"I am here because you were badly injured." Ivan responded, lowering his head slightly. "You fell from a building."

"You're real observant." Demon growled. "What's your point?"

Ivan closed his eyes, then looked straight at Demon, his eyes jet-black. The reptilian suddenly felt something frightening - his entire body was paralyzed! He couldn't budge!

"What... is this?!" Demon cried out.

"I have powers over darkness." Ivan responded. "We are in an alleyway, in the shadow of buildings. The shadows all around you are holding you perfectly still, so you don't injure yourself any further by struggling."

Demon tried to say something, but he suddenly noticed something: His pain was fading. The injuries he'd sustained earlier... They were healing themselves at a rate even his superhuman regeneration couldn't fathom. Within a few moments, he was entirely healed, down to even the tiniest cut. Instantly, he felt himself loosen up again.

Ivan's eyes returned to their normal colors. "I apologize for startling you. But the injuries you sustained earlier were partially my fault. Enigma likely is indifferent to that fact, but I don't make it a habit to harm innocent people."

Demon just looked at Ivan for a long time.

"I've done all I can for you." Ivan finally said, wings spreading again. "I apologize for the trauma you've had to endure today. But I cannot stay here: I have to find my partner before that alien kills him."

Ivan lifted off the ground, ready to leave the evidently dumbfounded Demon alone, but before Ivan could take off, Demon finally spoke:

"Hold on..."

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

Sorry for the no-doubt MASSIVE OOC, Denny.

NEXT!

[Mew Master]

TPM Comics Presents...
DEMON
Leap of Faith
Steven Wiles ~*~Demon*~*Male
Time: 1:33 PM
Location: Seattle, Washington. Street level, pinned to the hood of a car.

Demon was disoriented, but he was aware of the pain in his back and his inability to move. There were voices, and a slight movement of whatever he had landed on. His head was spinning, and the pain, despite his regenerative powers, the pain was taking its damn sweet time.

He tried to mutter a word of pain, but the enunciation caught in his throat, coming out as a slurred combination of English and a reptilian growl.

“Are you alright?”

What? he thought. They talking.. to me? Demon didn’t think it was possible, they must have been talking to someone else. However, in his current state he was confused, disoriented, in pain.

So he tried to respond anyway.

“I… uh…. eh…” Demon’s stomach lurched as he felt his body be lifted, the sound of wrenching metal as he was yanked from what he had landed on. He could feel his dorsal spines try to repair themselves, but something was keeping them from doing so. Gently he was lain down on the asphalt, the heat from the sun had cooked it, but the heat wasn’t unbearable. Slowly Demon opened his eyes, looking up at what and who had moved him.

It was a woman, with blonde hair. Dyed blond, the roots were brown. She stood over him, looking down at him, but looking up at something on the roof of the building next to them. She was attractive, probably three to four years older than him, and had a long black coat.

“Are you alright,” she said again. The same voice as earlier.

“Wha?” he replied, pain still flooding his mind as he started to stand up, wobbling slightly.

“Are you injured?” she asked.

“I’m… fine,” he said, forgetting that he was a seven foot tall saurian in a world of pain and the hood of a car stuck to his back.

She turned away from him and looked at the car. “I do not think insurance covers this…”

“Right,” Demon said in a hiss of pain, lowering himself to a more crouching position to ease the pain in his back. He saw her car, the hood gone and the engine slashed to ribbons. “Sorry about your car…”

“It’s not mine,” she replied, before turning towards him, tilting her head down. “I’m Sigil-038.”

“You’re… serious…” he said, scratching the top of his head where there were some scars healing. His hand bumped against something metallic, and he looked. There was the hood of the car, stuck to his back. He tried to reach back and dislodge it, but his arms couldn’t get the leverage, so Demon’s head twisted back and tried to bite the hood and get it off his spines.

“I am unable to be anything else…” she paused for a moment, watching Demon toy with the hood on his back. “What is your name?”

My… name? Demon stopped fighting with the hood on his back to think. He started a reply, but stopped himself half-way. No longer was he Steven Wiles, he was a reptile, a creature, he was, “Demon.”

“Demon,” Sigil said, seeming to contemplate the name before she reached over and tore the hood off of the saurian’s back. His balance restored, he could feel his spines start to heal again.

His eyes widened and his nostrils flared. Something. Something was coming. Something… not from here. Not natural.

Demon could smell smoke, fire, blood. He turned his head, as did Sigil.

Something black, gelatinous, gleeful, and snarling went flying through the air, holding a pair of human police officers in it’s grip. It zoomed past before crashing into a semi-truck, sending wooden crates into splinters. Then Demon heard a roar, a roar that seemed to paralyze his logic, but send his instincts on high alert.

“It’s here,” she said, narrowing her eyes.

“It?” he asked. He had been on edge. Something was wrong. The feeling was intensified now. So strong that he had forced himself to ask a question, but now he was going off without waiting for an answer.

He left Sigil behind as he dropped to all fours, using the various cars as some type of cover. His back arched down low, his head was a few feet from the asphalt, his tail kept low. Anyone watching might think him acting analogous to a cat, or large predator. He wasn’t thinking. He was hunting. Something was in his territory, something not of his will, or his kind. The humans? They were fine. This city was theirs, and he had no intention of harming them, despite how they acted towards each other. The Supers? Annoyances at best, dangerous at worst, and too chaotic to think about, and worry about.

This thing. This alien was something else though. It was an intruder. It wasn’t a natural thing of this world. Demon’s senses were on overload as he stalked it, ducking into an alley and watch as its attention was diverted to two more Supers who had shown up on the scene. The saurian sniffed the air, and he snorted. A maddening mix of scents and sounds. The alien was not of this world, and Demon could smell the blood of humans, some Super or two, a bear, and who knows what else that made it up.

He wanted to pounce upon it, slash it to bits, kill it, then roar in victory over it. But now was difficult, with so much chaos coming about. And he was still injured. His spines had dislocated from the impact and his spine was still trying to realign itself. The other damages to his scales and body were minimal and had already healed, but his body wasn’t at 100% either.

“And to think,” he growled to himself. “I was having such a nice day up until that nut with the gun-hand barged into it…” Of course nice day it wasn’t to start with. Not when you’re a giant saurian.

“I can understand that plight very well…” Demon tensed up and spun towards the voice. The tall one from earlier, with the sword descended down with a few flaps of his black feathered wings. He landed in front of Demon, blocking the saurian’s view of the alien and the fight.

“You again,” Demon growled, tensing his legs to jump onto the building and scamper up. Both to get away and to get a better view of the alien and the best place to strike. “What do you want? I already told you I’m no-“

“You’re not the alien,” the man interrupted. “I figured that out very quickly after our initial engagement.”

Demon wasn’t amused, or reassured. His glowing red eyes narrowed at the tall figure. “Then why did you attack me?!” Demon snarled. “You and that thick-headed, foul-tempered friend of yours…”

The man was silent for a few seconds.

"I apologize, both for Enigma's behavior and for my own. He is brash, impulsive, and reckless. He would not have listened to me... I will admit, I was suspicious of you at first, but your actions contradicted those of the creature mentioned in the media. It mindlessly attacked everything it encountered; you did not. You chose to run instead."

Demon let out a snort. "I'm feeling like running again right now..." he responded. "Are you here to fight me? Try and lull me into a false sense of security so that that Enigma guy can blast me when my guard is down?" Seriously.. I want to kill that thing before dealing with these guys…

"I am here because you were badly injured," he replied, lowering his head a bit. "You fell from a building."

Anger burned in Demon’s mind. “You’re real observant,” he snorted. “What’s your point?”

The tall man had closed his eyes, then opened them and stared right at Demon. He almost stepped back in surprise, the offsetting look of someone’s eyes going from white, to pure black. He tried to scamper back… but couldn’t! His body was frozen in place.

“What… is this?!” Fear started to claw it’s way into Demon’s mind. Fear enough that he wanted to run, as far away from this person and place as his clawed legs could go. He couldn’t move, he could barely speak! He could breath but…

"I have powers over darkness. We are in an alleyway, in the shadow of buildings. The shadows all around you are holding you perfectly still, so you don't injure yourself any further by struggling."

Struggling?! From what?! his mind was almost to a frenzy now. Trying to move while his body was stuck, hurting and throbbing.

Wait.

No they weren’t.

As he was held there, he could feel his internal injuries start to heal and mend. His back popped back into place, his spines realigned, even his legs and torso felt better. After a few seconds he could feel his body back under his control, and he wavered a bit, surprised, and looking at the man with distrust and reserve.

The man’s eyes returned to their normal state as he looked at Demon. "I apologize for startling you. But the injuries you sustained earlier were partially my fault. Enigma likely is indifferent to that fact, but I don't make it a habit to harm innocent people."

Demon just stared at him. Was he serious? Would he just leave him alone like that? After scaring the saurian half-way to death and falling a few stories and totaling someone’s car, then heal them? The hell is going on today?!

The man spread his wings, starting his preparation for take off. "I've done all I can for you. I apologize for the trauma you've had to endure today. But I cannot stay here: I have to find my partner before that alien kills him."

The saurian watched as the man started to take off. Something was wrong. Something was itching at the back of his mind. The alien. So many Super’s here. So many people. The fact that Super’s were running around, without unity, without a plan.

“Hold on,” Demon said before the man could fly off, which the man did stop and look at him. “I… I can fight it. Just get people out of the way.” The saurian narrowed his eyes. “Because I don’t think I’ll be able to stop myself if I go all out…”

“That is not sufficient,” came Sigil’s voice. Demon and the man looked at her as she remained hidden, behind a car, but close enough to hear them. She was staring at the alien, watching it, trying to study its movements. “One Super alone cannot do this on their own. Even a team of two,” she motioned to the alien and the two Super’s now fighting it. “Is not enough. The alien is learning, developing, advancing. Unless we work as a unified group, it will just be all of us fighting for who gets the kill, instead of acting like a cohesive unit.”

The man looked at her, and nodded. Even Demon had to agree. He was used to working on his own, but this thing, this alien was tearing apart the residential district of Seattle like a broiled roast. Even the Supers would have a difficult time with this on their own.

“Hey! Stop fighting!” a young man shouted running up to them, rage in his eyes. He was dressed in common clothes, nothing to distinguish him from the surprisingly lack of humans around, except for a leather jacket. “Why fight each other when there’s that thing,” he pointed to the alien. “Tearing up the city?!”

“Actually, we were discussing that,” the angelic one responded, taking the man off guard with his remark, while Demon looked out with his red eyes.

“Our plan of attack…” Sigil started.

* * *

The alien was taking a beating from the three, now four Super’s on it, and it was dishing out its fair share of damage as well. Cars were overturned and Demon was slinking behind them, using them for cover as he assessed the situation. Sigil’s plan was good, logical, but Demon knew that logic and instinct clashed in stressful times. Right now, he was using all his mental fortitude to keep himself on task, rather than just run in and plow the thing down.

He was on all fours, peeking between cars to keep up with the flow of the battle. Enigma was in with the other four Supers, one dressed in armor using swords, another blasting out sound waves that nearly made Demon’s ears bleed, and another that seemed to distort the very space around him. A mismatched group they were, they lacked a plan other than attacking at every open spot, sometimes hitting each other with their attacks.

The predator in Demon would laugh at the situation and let them die, while the human in him shook his head in frustration. He continued to keep his body low, looking for an opening, something to get the alien away from the Super’s fighting it, to get it into a “pincer move” as Sigil had suggested.

Demon watched. Waited. He could feel his instincts tell him the time was getting closer, much closer. Every second, every heartbeat he could tell that it was getting closer. The hunt was on, and Demon could feel his control start to slip as his hips started shaking back and forth slightly, poising the spring in his step for his attack.

He waited.

He watched.

He attacked.

Seeing a break in the alien, Demon started running. First on all fours to give himself the momentum to go from a crouch to a dead run. Then he was running much faster on two legs, his arms kept close to his chest. He twisted his body and jumped, legs spread, hands wide over a few cars that had separated him from the alien. With a roar he pounced on the alien, taking them both tumbling away from the other Supers.

The tumbling and fighting mess of claws, scales, teeth, and tentacles skid to a stop, with Demon on top and his teeth dug into the alien’s side. Pulling back, he managed to rip out a chunk of the now confused and disoriented alien away from it’s body. The thing tasted disgusting, like rotted meat mixed with stagnant blood and left to sit for a week. Demon would have started eating anything else, but he just spat out the chunk and roared.

Something shifted under him, and the alien had formed a solid thing to slam into the saurian from below, between his legs. Demon went flying from the impact, pain from the contact, but he twisted himself in mid-air, and dug his claws into the ground to stop his backwards momentum. Standing up, the saurian roared as the miss-matched alien formed itself, staring at it before hissing.

For anyone watching, this would look like a scaled down version of an old Giant-Monster movie, complete with cheesy battle at the end. With the two adversaries roaring and challenging each other to make the first move. It’s probably why the other Super’s didn’t interrupt. Just too Movie-like to be real.

Then they both charged. Demon roared as he slammed into the alien, teeth and claws flying. They slashed along the things head, or maybe head, drawing black ichors from the thing. It lashed back, claws raking against the side of his gullet, which he retaliated by biting down again, and pulling, ripping out another mouthful. The attack made it step back and Demon eyed it, animal instinct in controll now. He wouldn’t talk to anyone, save for a snarl or growl to keep them back.

Tentacles whipped out, taking Demon by surprise. They latched onto his skin as he let out a shriek of confusion before he felt them start to bite and dig their way through his flesh. Bulges started forming where the alien started to penetrate his skin and deform his flesh. Pain filled his mind as the leeching effect tried to overtake him. Demon struggled, pulling back, which delighted the alien with the fight, pulling against Demon to draw him in.

It was a monstrous tug-of war, with the alien starting to win as he used the tentacles to dig further into Demon, and pulled him down to the ground at its feet. It smiled, a sickingly disturbing smile, before Demon’s hand reached up, grabbed its head and slammed it down onto the concrete.

Disoriented, the alien had released a bit of his hold, which Demon used to tear free of it, standing over it and roaring before snapping at it. The alien was learning however, and it deformed its neck to avoid having its head bit off. It screeched, calling forth a bladed weapon that sprung forth and punctured Demon’s torso. He let out a shriek of pain, before the alien threw him off.

The alien was hurt, in pain, and annoyed. It wanted to lash out. It was going to lash out. It turned, and saw someone standing. A young human girl, standing next to a building and out of the way. Then it grinned.

Demon pushed himself off, shaking away the pain. He saw the alien, saw it wasn’t coming for him, but saw it was going after a young Chinese girl.

NO! his mind screamed.

The alien burst forth its wings and lunged for the girl, claws bared and grinning with it’s sharp teeth. But it stopped short, in mid air, but still unable to reach the girl.

“No. You. DON’T!” Demon shouted as the thing looked back. The saurian had the alien by the tail, clutched in his clawed hands. As it tried to flap its wings, it found itself slammed onto the concrete by the saurian holding it. Then Demon slid it up and into a car engine block, before turning and throwing it right through the windshield and then into the cab of a four-door sedan.

Roaring, Demon started running towards the now ruined sedan with the alien inside. He jumped onto the top of the cab, his weight deforming the metal. Just as he landed, however, the top of the cab shot off, knocking him off and throwing him back. Demon landed hard and rolled himself back onto his hands and feet, snarling at the alien.

The alien glared at him with a sick smile of distorted fangs and bright red eyes. The body started to bubble, churn, and then a large mass of the alien burst forward, right at Demon. Demon was in a near-rage state, so he charged the mass just as it slammed into him, ramming his back into the side of a building. The mass the alien had sent out was strong, sticky, and felt like raw meat was holding him to the wall. Demon struggled, roaring in defiance. Tilting its head, the alien smiled before spikes, distortions of Demon’s own, started erupting along the mass from the source near the alien’s stomach, before getting larger and larger, more jagged as they erupted closer to Demon.

The mass of alien flesh erupted with the spikes around Demon, turning him into a saurian pin-cushion. A screech escaped Demon’s gullet as he felt jagged bone protrusions pierce his torso deep. The pain shut his mind down, and he stood there, jaw dropped. The alien let him go, and he fell to the sidewalk, his blood pooling beneath him.

His eye seemed to wobble in its socket as he saw, but didn’t recognize the alien get double teamed by the other Supers. The eye started rotating, seeing the young Chinese girl walk up to him, afraid. He didn’t know what to do, he could feel the life leaving him. The alien was still alive.

As Demon felt himself dying, the glow faded from his red eyes as the eyelids started to close…

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

And Demon, now lays dying on the streets of Seattle… Hope I weakened it enough for you guys! ^^U

[MToolen]

[Patrick Langley/Resonance|Male|early morning|north of Seattle, WA]
Again Patrick was awoken by the rhythm of the rails, a constant reminder of his father. Where that man could be, if he was even alive... it was all a mystery.

He felt he was getting closer to a solution, though; with his powers eventually tiring, the goggles-man, Scion as he liked to be called, had agreed to switch to Patrick's preferred mode of transportation.

Resonance called out from his pile of rice to the other's. "Hey goggles, you might wanna wake up. I think we're almost here."

In the dim light, there was a rustle on the other side of the car. "I've told you before, man, it's Scion." He moved toward the car door and, with a slight glow around it, slid it open. Seeing only a flurry of the city, he asked, "Are you sure this is headed the right way?"

No sooner had he said that then a clearing had emerged- the U.S./Canada borderline. In the same instant, though, the car's entrance was filled with a large black entity, smooth and yet almost amorphous. The most distinguishing feature was his eyes. Those eyes! Red and glowing, staring straight into one's soul. Patrick was just left standing there, entranced, helpless, as the beast let forth a terrible, piercing shriek. It then readied a limb to strike.

"What the hell are you just standing there for!?" Scion yelled. His glow already warmed up, he shoved the other side's entrance open and pulled himself and Patrick off of the speeding train, just in time to avoid the swipe. They both haphazardly tumbled off of the elevated rails onto the pavement. After recovering from the fall, Scion repeated his query: "What the hell were you just standing for? You could've been killed!"

"I... I don't know..." Patrick mumbled, not feeling very heroic. That... that thing... it wasn't of this world. Still, the train rumbled down the track and the car that housed the... thing... was soon chased after by a man with a sword and another man with what appeared to be a small girl. The former charged at what seemed to be an inhuman speed as the latter moved his mouth. Though he couldn't read lips, Patrick thought it might have had something to do with the crane truck that passed by that had crashed through the railroad platform, effectively stopping the train.

In the other direction, though, Scion saw a few other supers were fighting... themselves? Almost simultaneously, he and Resonance pointed at opposite directions, saying, "I gotta go, there's-"

Understanding the difference of missions, though- Resonance for his father, Scion for justice- they stopped and parted ways, maybe not on the best of terms but necessarily on the basis of their directives.

[As always, I'm easy to please, so if you want any changes, be sure to tell me.]

[Houndoom_Lover]

(That was beautiful, Mew Master!)

"Always?" It questioned, its jaw snapping together like a cold metal door of a freezer room, "That seems an unnecessary trait for a child to posses." The moving gargoyle flexed it claws into the sidewalk, feeling the artificially created rock underneath. It felt nice- it could almost feel the shoes that walked on it, the chalk that drew on it.

"But that...is not art," The stone monster gave a roar- an awful roar that sounded like an avalanche of rocks down on to the artist district . What ever this was...is wasn't natural, or right. Its red eyes that burned somewhere far within it narrowed, the beam of red becoming concentrated as it looked over this creator of force fields...maybe it could do more. That was impressive, but it was not art.

Now usually, Nazerith would pass judgment quick, but this night had put it in such a good mood, and it was rare that someone offered him up something fun to do. The gargoyle would give him another chance.

"One Chance!" It announced gravely, flapping its stony wings all the way, it created enough wind force to push an average human back, and lifted itself up in the air. It came down with a great gerlump, bits of sidewalk spraying from underneath it, "True art! Show it to me or you will have your fate sealed!"

The gargoyle turned its head elegantly on his stone neck, glancing around at what was once the bustling art district. Now full of fear and panic, people ran- After this fun, it would chase each and everyone of them down, and decide whether or not they were worthy. Like it did every night.

Nazerith's tail twitched in anticipation.

[Roy Karrde]

Jason Landrew
~~~[Sentinel | 2:10 in the afternoon | Highway approaching Washington State ] ~~~

Minutes seemed like hours as I remained sitting perfectly quiet in the backseat, my hands placed squarely in my lap. It was quite unnerving to be sitting in the same car where just a minute ago I had a gun pulled on me. He had to be a little bit crazy, and who knows what he would do next in front of the kid?

“So are you two related?” I finally spoke up, the two turned to look at me before the older one turning and whispering something to the little girl who burst into a fit of giggles. I guess what ever I said was funny but I still could not figure out why she was traveling along with him, or why the two were heading into battle.

“No, no we’re not.” He finally replied, turning back to face the road leaving me to ponder as to how they met up, and if there wasn’t a amber alert or something going off right now.

I tapped my foot for a minute or two, glancing out the window before leaning forward between the seats and turning to the little Chinese girl. “My name is Jason, so are you from California?” I asked as she gave me a blank look in return.

I glanced back over at the driver, wondering for a moment if she were deaf or something. “She’s Chinese.” He responding, only deepening the mystery, a mystery that one day I had to know the answer to. How did a little girl from China and an American meet up to go fight an alien monster?

I glanced back at the girl wondering if she had any way to protect herself. I mean she was going into what looked like it could be a really really bad battle! “So do you have something like this?” I asked, pulling out one of my swords and swinging it forward, accidentally stabbing the leather of the dashboard as the girl reacting in shock.

“Put that away.” The driver hissed as I quickly sheathed it again.

“Well she has to have some way to defend herself.” I mumbled.

[Crystal Tears]

Sigil-038

Sigil watched as Demon dropped to the ground, the other supers attempting to coordinate an attack that was falling apart at the hinges. Sigil-038 mind raced, she needed to save the one called Demon, and she needed to help the others. She stepped forward, feeling no fear as she got closer and closer to the limb body of the reptile and, with the alien distracted by the others, picked most of it off the ground.
A young girl looked up at her, fearful but curious. Sigil stared back at her. "Will you watch over him?"
The girl paused, and then nodded.
"Follow."
The tail dragged behind her as she moved Demon back, away from the lethal enemy until she encountered a young man. Boy rather, he had been the one who had challenged the alien and the rest of the uniques had to save. She put Demon down and watched as the little girl sat next to the reptile.
"Do you have a skill?" Sigil questioned with a strong voice, the boy looked at her and nodded.
"Yeahh..." He spoke nervously, like he had bitten off more than he could chew.
"What is your skill?"
"I can mess with Gravity and Physics, make things weightless, make a punch feel like a pro wrestler's, you get the idea"
"Follow me." Sigil stared at the monster, which seemed to be having a problem with a winged individual and another who Sigil didn't recall quite clearly but that was alright. Her eyes began to glow as a large Ford truck pulled up next to her and boy. "Do you see that overturned cab?"
"Yeah..." He paused, looking at her curiously. "Why?"
"When the truck is just past it, make it weightless."
"HEY!"
Sigil turned, seeing a man dressed in what she could relate to the stereotypical superheroes suits. Particularly Superman. Sigil-038 blinked as he neared.
"What the hell is your plan?!" He seemed rather angry, something Sigil wanted to react to but couldn't.
"To hit that creature," She looked over at the black mass that was defending itself well, but not paying attention to them. "With this vehicle." Sigil paused. "If you wish to hit it hard, get on the vehicle and deliver a blow while it's down."
"You're fucking crazy."
The truck's engine roared, and it reversed down the road a bit. Sigil stared at the man, unaffected by his attitude. "My plan will work, but if you wish to stand here and argue with me instead," The Ford raced forward, faster than before as Sigil had shut down it's speed limiter. "Than you may do so."
"Fuck you." He snarled, but as the truck neared them he managed to jump into it's back and climb onto the top.

The boy waited just as the vehicle passed the cab before using his powers. The Truck lifted off the ground, flying forward with the momentum Sigil had calculated in her mind. The other heroes saw it coming and moved out of the way, but the black mass was slammed with the truck and forced onto the ground as the weightlessness disappeared and the hunk of metal came crashing down and pinned it.
The man in the suit leapt off the truck, poised to strike, and the other supers were now reacting. Sigil-038 came as close as she could to hoping that they could work together.


Hope thats alright, hope I didn't step on any toes.

[Blademaster]

Ivan and Enigma


Enigma landed across the street from the creature, sweating heavily. He'd fired his limit of bullets - any more, and he'd be endangering his life. He was at least smart enough to draw from different sources of his body this time, though. No losing a kidney for no reason this time.

His Hand Cannon reverted to normal; with a quick thought, his hands were instantly plated with titanium.

"OK, you ass-faced FREAK!" he taunted. "You think you can take me?! Come and try - I dare you! I DOUBLE-DARE you, motherfucker!"

The alien... Enigma didn't know if it understood English or not, but it seemed annoyed by his taunts; with a roar, it raised its spiky tentacles and skittered across the street like a spider, lashing at Enigma. He spread his wings again and leapt up, dodging the sweeping appendage and dropping, his fist smashing the top of the alien's head. It howled and flung a tentacle upwards, catching Enigma and smacking him into the air. Both of them flew back, the alien crashing into a building and Enigma plunging onto a parked car, the windows and hood blowing out.

"Uuuunghhh... That hurt a lot..." he groaned, flopping off the car and stumbling to his knee. "This is... fucking nuts... No matter what I hit it with, it keeps getting back up... Where's that fucking emo Sephiroth cosplayer when I NEED him!?"

"If you're referring to me..."

Enigma looked up as Ivan landed beside him, sword drawn.

"YOU TOOK YOUR SWEET FUCKING TIME!!" Enigma yelled. "WHERE WERE YOU?!"

"I had to speak with someone." Ivan responded, sword glowing with black energy. "Rest for a while."

"HEY!" Enigma yelled his protest, but this time, Ivan didn't listen, instead choosing to dive-bomb the creature sword-first, impaling it to the hilt and smashing it THROUGH the wall of the building.

Enigma gasped for air, his emotions and adrenaline rush starting to fail him. Just then, he heard a noise behind him: a woman talking. He turned around, seeing her and a few younger Supers that had taken stabs at the alien on and off, in between Enigma's and Demon's relentless onslaughts. As she spoke, he heard her mention a plan...

"Hey!" he called, walking over shakily. "What the Hell was that about a plan?"

"To hit that creature," She looked over at the black mass that was defending itself well, but not paying attention to them. "With this vehicle." Sigil paused. "If you wish to hit it hard, get on the vehicle and deliver a blow while it's down."

Enigma looked at the truck, then at the woman.

"You're fucking crazy!" he responded. "That thing has been taking blow after blow! How will hitting it with this make a difference!?"
The truck's engine roared, and it reversed down the road a bit. Sigil stared at the man, unaffected by his attitude. "My plan will work, but if you wish to stand here and argue with me instead," The Ford raced forward, faster than before as Sigil had shut down it's speed limiter. "Than you may do so."

Enigma shot a glance at Ivan, then her, then the truck.

"Fuck you." he growled. "This better work..." With that, he jumped up; the truck roared past, but his titanium fists easily grabbed into and scaled it, pulling him to the front of the trailer. He dug his hands in; his feet elongated into steel spikes that he drove into the roof, then split open like grappling hooks to secure his hold. On cue, the truck lifted off the ground just then, screaming at the alien.

"IVAN, MOVE YOUR ASS! GO, GO!"

Acute senses picking up his loudmouthed companion, Ivan instinctively jumped and rolled to the side, wings vanishing as the truck roared past and smashed the alien out the side of the building and nearly ran it over; it shrieked in agony as the half of it pinned under the truck was scraped to shreds along the ground underneath, trails of ichor and torn bits of flesh stretching for a good 100 feet before finally the wreck came to rest. The alien groaned weakly; Enigma saw his chance. He pulled out his clawed feet and jumped down on the beast's chest, holding his palms out to his sides. A faint vacuuming sound filled the air as small holes appeared in his hands, sucking oxygen into his palms.

"Time to die, asshole." he growled, palms glowing. "Thanks for playing, though."

"Wait!" the woman who'd come up with the plan suddenly shouted behind him. "No, don't do it!"

"SHUT UP!" Enigma yelled. "I've wanted to say this for a long time, anyway..." He put his hands out in front of him; the air around them began to warp as though gas were in the air.

Unseen by Enigma, the alien seemed to smile to itself...

"FINAL FLASH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

Enigma's palms exploded with light as a titanic blast of fire ripped through the air and slammed into the monster point-blank. It opened its mouth, screeching and writhing under the onslaught. Enigma grinned, confident that he'd won...

That is, until something uddenly lashed out from behind him and wrapped itself TIGHTLY around his neck. His eyes bulged; his hands flew to his throat, the fire blinking out barely late enough to scorch the underside of his chin.

The other Supers looked on in horror: The blast of fire hadn't even scrathed the alien. It had actually increased in size, new tentacles bursting through its torn flesh and flinging the truck aside. The monstrous menace planted itself and got in and upright position. Perched atop a sea of writhing, spiked tentacles, with a pair of wings, two great clawed forearms, and a head resembling the gaping maw of Audrey II from Little Shop of Horrors, it looked more nightmarish - and deadly - than ever.

"ENIGMA!" Ivan yelled, lifting off the ground and flying at the alien, sword ready.

Bad idea: The monster flicked a second tentacle, slapping Ivan fifty feet across the street and through the window of a building across the street.

Enigma wheezed and struggled, his face red. He tried turning his Adam's apple to titanium, but he couldn't concentrate. He was helpless. Another couple of minutes, and he'd meet the fate he should rightly have met years ago...

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

OK, Enigma is helpless and in the alien's clutches, Ivan is stunned inside an office building, down but far from out, and the alien got hit by a huge blast of fire and thus is now meaner than ever. GG, Enigma.

Next!

[Bulbasaur4]

Shengmingli
[ F | Location: Seattle ]

Shengmingli did not have to indulge into her will power to keep her from running out and joining the other humans and... creatures... in their fight against the horrific black monster. She knew plain well that she would only get the in the way and that she could do little, if anything to aid them in their plight.

So instead, she remained far away upon the ground where Alex had told her to wait. He had run off and soon joined up with others with powers to aid the rather reckless one with swords. She had also noticed a large, scaled creature also join in the fray. At one point however, the alien had lunged towards her- why it had gone to her, she did not fathom. She had not looked at it oddly, she had not provoked it... unphased and with little fear, she calmly watched it lunge to her but she cautiously took a step back.

The reptilian creature had grabbed the alien, preventing it from seizing her. Yet the price was dear, for the alien soon had attacked so viciously that the black tailed-one's life was flickering away. Sensing the battle was no longer near her and that the evil "alien" (she had heard this word many times not from the supers) was back to fighting with the others, she took small tender steps towards him. A woman soon stepped forth, one whom she noticed seemed to behave slightly differently then the rest, said some odd words to her. However, upon motioning to the fallen humanoid, Shengmingli could tell what she was asking and thus the girl nodded.

The crazy man with swords soon began talking with the woman, and Shengmingli knelt down by the scaled one. There were still many ebony pin-like needles in his body, but she sensed that she wouldn't have the time to pick them out before he died. So, with a first pang of willpower, she used as much strength as her little body could muster to pull forth a pin. The thing sizzled slightly against her flesh, but the wound it caused was only minor and her skin swiftly healed itself at a faster pace then the pin could hurt. Frowning, she swiftly positioned herself over where the wounds were deepest- near his heart, where the beats were incredibly weak.

With a hesitant breath and closed eyes, knowing what was to come, she drove the pin with both hands, into her tender abdomen.

It delved in deeply, the sharp pin not needing as much force as she had thought. Swiftly she began twisting the needle around- swirling it around like one would in a mixing bowl. The pain was immense and would have been beyond her, if not for the years of ingrained and unruly testing she became accustomed to in China. Her motions were with purpose and quite forceful, as the tissues immediately began healing at an astonishing rate. However, her deliberate motions were enough to prevent one small section at a time from healing, thus allowing the blood to pour freely. The spot of 'damage' kept shifting with the healing tissue, so the blood was left in individual streams upon her chest. Eventually there was enough blood so that it began to pool at her feet.

Flinging the needle out of herself with hurry, she scooped up as much of her own blood that she could in handfuls. Dripping and applying the blood upon his torso, she watched as the potent effects quickly began to heal his body. She then swiftly plucked out the needles with great effort, so that his body would not heal with them still inside. The whole process was done rather swiftly- Shengmingli was surprisingly swift and decisive in all of her movements.

When the needles were out, she then managed to rub her hands in the remainder of the pool of blood upon the cement. Swiftly she applied this to other areas that she deemed 'needing' of it. She saw his eyes stir and finally she allowed herself to sit down for a moment. His eyes fluttered open and he looked at her and for a moment, there was silence between them. A loud explosion however shattered it, as flames roared to life not too far off. The reptilian man sat up quickly, checking himself over and then flickering his gaze over to Shengmingli.

She was covered in her own blood, her qipao slashed open around her stomach from the needle. The blood had begun to dry already, but she seemed unphased and merely looked at him blankly with a crimson-eyed gaze. He said something to her, the tone filled with slight confusion and grattitude, and she smiled in response. She then pointed to the explosion with a nod, knowing full well that he would want to head over there.

Soon she too, would delve closer. She had finally realized what her purpose in this world was.

[Mew Master]

TPM Comics Presents...
HELLFIRE
Fire and Brimstone
Robert Wiles~#~Hellfire#~#Male
Time: 11:52 AM EST
Location: New York's performer square

The burst of wind from the gargoyle’s wings didn’t knock Robert down, but it did blow his groceries for the next week out of his hands and down the street. The moving statue let out a challenge for Robert to provide true art, or seal his fate. Which would likely mean having his guts wrenched out by a dozen-foot tall statue.

The thing wants me to give it art?

“I have nothing to prove to you,” he said. “Art, if by your standards which you haven’t stated, would be like leading the blind into a slaughterhouse.”

“Bah!” The thing roared again, the sound of a massive landslide echoed throughout the district. “Art! Or blemish this world no more!”

“You get nothing from me,” he said, staring at the hovering gargoyle.

“Then I shall make you beautiful,” it said before folding its wings and diving down, claws forward and a sadistic glean in it’s eye. “By drawing a portrait with your blood!”

Robert’s eyes glowed with the flames of the inner earth before he seemed to disappear in a burst of flames. The gargoyle’s velocity and air-current blew through the flames, causing them to disappear. It slammed into the sidewalk, causing the slabs it landed on to buckle, crack, and break, and the other slabs and parts of the street to break and tilt up from the impact.

The gargoyle looked in surprise. It’s prey had vanished! Such a feat. How artful was this? Is it art? No. Teleporting was just like force fields. Barriers to Art, and running away from true beauty. This was no art! These were avoidances of it!

“Oh user of flame, caller of the earth’s core,” it chuckled, now that it could do what it wanted to him. “You run, but you will not escape my artistic endeavors.”

“Who said I was running?”

The stone creature titled its head up, just in time to have an used apple core hit it on its bird-like nose. Splitting on impact the core hit the ground in two pieces. Wiping the fruit pulp from its red eyes, the gargoyle looked up.

There, hovering with wings of fire and flame, was the human who scoffed at it! He was floating above the gargoyle, arms crossed, the wings burning with a slight sound, both moving and unmoving as fire made into a shape could be.

“Wondrous,” it cackled. “You have passed my first test, caller of flame.”

Robert narrowed his gaze. Test? he thought. This thing is a lunatic.

“I’m not interested in your tests,” he replied. “I hardly care what you do.”

“Do you now?” it cackled gleefully. “Well then, angel from hell, let me show you what I can do.” It seemed to concentrate, and water percolated down from it. Parts of the sidewalk buckled, twisting, turning into a string of a dozen individual blocks, attatched together, making a noodle of segmented sidewalk concrete. “Perhaps your perception can better be aligned to mine. This is MY art! Do you not approve?”

“No, I don’t. You made a noodle…”

Anger flushed through the gargoyle’s voice as he replied in a roar. “Then, lord of Flames, feel my beauty!” And the gargoyle willed the thing to attack, lashing out at Robert.

~#~#~#~#~#~#~#~#~#~#~#~#~#~#~

Houndoom, I leave the battle to you. Have fun with it. ^^U

TPM Comics Presents...
DEMON
Death’s Door
Steven Wiles ~*~Demon*~*Male
Time: 1:37 PM
Location: Seattle, Washington. Street level, unconscious, dying....

Dying. Somehow Steven knew he was dying.

Pain ripped through his body, pushing his mind to the brink. It was shifting, churning. He could hear and feel his own muscles rip, tear, mend, rip, tear, mend once more. His vision was blurring, mixing into a blood red haze that fogged his world. Clawed hands that seemed to follow his direction held his head, and he could feel it elongate, the cracking of bones and the shredding of ligaments.

Scents, sensations blasted his mind as pain rocked through his body. His own heart sent shots of pain through his mind with every beat. Rage, anger, pain, fear, confusion, challenge, prey.

An inhuman bell-like roar escaped from his mouth as he unleashed his frustration. The eyes of his fellow students wide with fear.

Ba-DUM

Ba-DUM

Ba-dum

Ba-dum

…

Demon felt pain. He didn’t feel it like other Supers. Well, maybe a few.

The saurian was in a world of pain of course. Not only did his entire body ache and burn, his heart, his soul, was breaking as well. He felt his life slipping away, and the only memories that came, where of when he became Demon, and started a rampage that only ended when he saw his brother, huddled in fear from him. Remembering nothing from between when his eyes were covered by the red haze to looking at his brother, cowering in front of him, Demon was frequently tormented by this memory.

Often it was a dream.

Only this time he couldn’t wake up.

Ba-dum

Thumping.

Demon felt something pulse along his body. In his detached state, the instincts of the thing he had become were silenced. He still had will, he had his mind, but the instinct to lash out was quiet, not gone, but wasn’t pushing as much towards him to act out. He felt the thump, the sound, the …

Ba-dum

The darkness around him started to slide away with every thump.

Ba-dum

Ba-dum

The feeling was coming back, but it was slow in coming. Then faster, and faster.

His heartbeat, he could feel his heartbeat again. He could start to feel other things too. Laying down, on something hot and hard, the smell of blood in the air, the sound of fighting.

Blood?

He started to stir, taking in deep breaths through his nose.

Blood. His blood. Someone else’s? Human?! No. Not quite human. Something different.

Demon was awake now. His body was sore, but full of energy, healed. A clawed hand raised up, before slamming down into the concrete, his claws puncturing the artificial stone. Eyes snapped open, glowing bright red, like a flare on the highway. He could see around him, the fighting far off to the right, and the Chinese girl he had saved, sitting just off to his left.

He could see, and smell the blood on her, on himself, mixed in with his own. Slowly he pushed himself up, more and more feeling returning to his body. He wanted to roar. His life was his again. To roar to the world the he hadn’t died, despite being skewered through by an alien monster. Instead he was quiet as he pushed himself up onto his legs.

Still on all fours he looked at the girl. She had done something to him. Done something with her blood, he could smell it on himself, mixed with his own, and even see she had some on her, and a raged tear around her stomach.

There was silence between Demon, and this girl as they looked at each other. He hadn’t expected any kindness from anyone. Humans just ran in fear from him, or tried to shoot him, take his picture for the newspaper, or use any videos of him for whatever purpose. However today he had been helped by not one, but three individuals. This last one, must have injured herself to save him.

Such an odd moment for them both, as the reptile looked at the girl, was shattered by the sound of a massive explosion with fire and smoke rising into the air. Demon’s head turned, his instincts coming back running 100 miles an hour. Prey, danger, intruder, dangerous. He needed to go back there, but… could he leave this girl alone?

Sitting on his haunches, he looked himself over, trying to remember where he had been stabbed. As he did, he saw several pin-like and spine-like objects laying on the ground beneath and around him. He could see blood on the ground around him, and on him. The scent of the girl’s blood was strong, almost making him hungry, but the drive for territory and killing a threat were higher on his instinctual brain’s priorities right now.

“Did…” he said. Afraid to scare the girl off. “You… save me?”

The girl, smiled at him, her eyes a mahogany shade. He couldn’t tell whether she could understand him or not. Sure he could speak Chinese, but he’d have to find out later, after this entire threat to his territory was taken care of.

She raised a hand, pointing towards the explosion, and he turned his head towards it. He turned towards her and without thinking offered her a “thank you” in Chinese, before standing and starting to slink his way towards the source of the explosion. The Alien was there, only now it was larger, stronger, and had Enigma latched on by a tentacle.

He watched the scene.

Sure, Enigma was the first to draw a weapon on him, but Demon’s humanity told him to just let the shapeshifter die was being selfish. He couldn’t be selfish, not when there were lives on the line that he could help. Demon was crouched behind a line of cars, still a distance from the fighting, when he heard light foot steps.

Turning his head, the saurian looked back and saw, of all things, the Chinese girl, making her way towards him. Towards the fighting!

What… his mind said before he heard more scuffling and felt the shift in the air.

Cars were being thrown up into the air, flying towards Demon and the girl. Snarling, he spun and raced to the girl, picking her light body up in his clawed arms. He felt a slight spurge of energy, and jumped. Cars, automobiles, and random trash hit the sidewalk where he and the girl had been seconds ago, their frames becoming a massive distortion of metal, plastic, and glass.

Now, Demon was hanging, one handed with two foot holds, a good 30-35 feet in the air. Even he was surprised with himself. Not even with the boost of a car or running start had he been able to jump that far, or that high. The feeling of energy started to fade, and he tilted his head so that a crimson eye could look at her. She didn’t look afraid, but he could feel her holding onto his arm, nails grinding against his scales.

“Don’t be afraid,” he said, getting her attention towards him. “You want to head to the fighting as well?” he motioned with his head towards the fighting.

She looked at him, silent, before nodding.

“Hold on,” he replied, a growl in his voice.

If a reptile could smile.

Crawling along the side of the building, Demon used three limbs to get closer to the street level. Sure, he could jump down, land and be fine. But he had a passenger, and he always made sure that the sudden decrease in velocity from a 30 foot fall or more wouldn’t injure them. So using his claws, he found handholds that would have made human climbers envious. Moving parallel to the ground, Demon dropped a bit, making his way towards the fighting before jumping down to the sidewalk.

The force of the impact caused concrete to buckle around his feet. His knees and ankles bent, slowing the force of his descent. Much of it was so natural that Demon didn’t even think about it. It was instinctual.

With the girl in his arm, clinging slightly to the base of his neck, he ran along the side walk, jumping over a line of rubble and cars before skidding along the asphalt of the street. They both looked at the Alien, larger now. A shifting mass of flesh and half-conceived indications of what it wanted to be.

Scents shifted on the air. He could smell blood, his and the girl’s, the other Supers, smoke and cinders, burning oil, burnt ozone, and… chicken wings?! He shook his head as he leapt over to the other side of the street. As he did, he landed just beyond Sigil, skidding to a stop with the girl in his arms.

“Demon,” the woman said, an even tone in her voice. “What are you doing with her?”

Demon looked at her for a second, then looked at the girl still in his arms before replying, “She’s my little buddy,” He looked at the woman.

Sigil was quiet as Demon let the girl down gently.

“What happened?” he asked.

“The alien appears to gain strength from flames and explosions. As the reckless loudmouth demonstrated,” she replied looking at the fighting as several Supers tried to go after it, but were being held back. “Such a thing makes explosive warheads and other heavy artillery useless. Hitting it with vehicles is annoying it, however.”

Fire makes it stronger…

“What about water?”

Sigil turned towards him.

“If fire and heat make it stronger, wouldn’t water weaken it?”

“Possibly,” her eyes started to glow aqua for a second. “There are four City Water hydrants along the street, however, the alien is in range for only two of them. At its current course, it will be pushed away from the other two hydrants.”

“So we need to get it back, this way…”

“Precisely.”

Demon thought for a moment. If hitting it with vehicles was making it annoyed, then getting it enraged might get it there faster.

“Can you distract it?” Sigil asked.

“Um… maybe.”

“Good. Distract it and lure it back here. In order for all hydrants to be in range it has to be,” she pointed at the mangled frame of what used to be a luxury car. “Right there.”

“Why do I have to be the bait?”

Sigil looked at him, and as calm as anyone could ever say, replied with, “You’re a big target.”

Well, she’s right in that… he admitted. “Okay,” he looked at the girl who still stood by him throughout the whole exchange. “If you see anyone hurt, help them like you helped me… okay?”

Sigil looked at the saurian quizzically.

“Time to get the ball rolling.” Sigil had a new plan, and Demon was going to go with it. Running into the middle of the street, the reptile found a car that hadn’t been completely demolished. He grabbed onto the hood, piercing the metal with his claws, before breaking the front latch, and then ripping it from the rest of the frame.

Spinning, the saurian hurled the hood like a giant, metal, discus. Putting enough spin into the slab of metal that it acted like a flying buzz saw. However, throwing something not meant for being thrown made it awkward for the saurian to hurl it in the direction he wanted. The hood flew like a saucer, turning in mid-air along it’s trajectory and turning lower in its flight.

But it hit the target.

The hood sliced, digging itself deep into the alien’s flesh at the base, near where it was planted along the street. Shrieking, the alien arched its head up, before looking at the foreign object, now lodged into it.

Demon roared at it, and it stared up, glaring at the saurian.

He lowered himself, cocking his leg muscles to move. Whatever the alien would try, he would be sure to not get hit by it. And if he did, fight tooth and nail to get out of it.

“Come and get me…”

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Yeah.. some plan huh? Anyway.. I did a sketch of Demon a while back and just NOW finished it *hugs the RPG* Here it is…

Demon vs Venom

It’s not finished, and, well… I just wanted to finally deal with an image that’s been in my head for a while. Demon vs Venom (Demon was actually thought up for an X-Men campaign… believe it or not…) Anyway…

Neeeeeeext?

[Dr.McNinja]

Okay, this uses a few people's characters so if you have objections just call me on it and it will be edited so as to fit the wants of the individual creators.


Chaotix had been watching the battle as best as he could, weighing the options, watching what worked and didn’t. And it finally occurred to him that he could stare and watch all day but in the end he had to do…something. He watched the fire strike the creature and strengthen it, and even as Sigil moved away from Demon the idea struck him. Sigil moved away from the giant dinosaur like thing and Chaotix formed his thought.

Move to her.

This time it was simple. A lurch, the disorientating feeling of seeing two places at once, and then he was just…there. Sigil jerked a bit at his presence but Chaotix spoke almost immediately, “Water! We have to try water….um…Chaotix by the way.”

Sigil nodded, “Sigil. So we thought as well. There are four hydrants that can strike at the monster if we lure him back to that wrecked car.”

Chaotix looked at where she was thinking and turned back to the rampaging monster. His whitened eyes then looked back once again, at Demon moving away from Shengmingli and throwing the hood at the monster and a smile creased his face, “You! Dinosaur boy! You want to take that sonofabitch down?”

Demon looked asiede at Chaotix before nodding carefully. Chaotix’s grin widened and in an instant he was beside of the Saurian, “Then give him hell and I’ll do my part.”

The two locked eyes a moment longer before Demon nodded and turned back to the monster. One of the thing’s tentacles streaked fasted than the eye could see, lashing across Demon’s chest before he could prepare, sending blood flying once again. The monster laughed and reared back again. This time, Saurian was ready and with a twist to the side he, impossibly, grabbed the fleshy member between his clawed arms and held as the thing tried to pull back. Muscles strained and Demon’s legs dug rifts into the street as the alien slowly pulled back, overhwhealming even the saurian’s great strength. Chaotix was there though, kneeling and placing one hand on the trailing whip’s end. Static trailed across his eyes.

Mine

His grip around the tentacle tightened and he could feel muscle and blood vessels in it snap and bend. Chaotix turned and felt the strength flowing through his body. With a scream of exertation and pain as ever with his increased he strained and tore at his muscles, Chaotix brought down the whip with all of his might. Demon felt the tension and released his grip but the tentacle being part of the monster, it could not. It stumbled a few steps towards the two and began to fall, the tentacle holding Enigma held high above its frame. From the building to the right, a young form pushed off, defying gravity as he streaked across the street, twin sword flashing to sever the trapping member. Turning in mid-flight, Jaso..er..Sentry grabbed Enigma as he fell and, his mass changed, veered diagonally and crashed through the windows a few floors down. Hopefully the two were safe.

Demon did not watch the high-flying antics however and was already running to the falling monster, his legs digging craters in the street. Halfway through its fall, the creature’s vision was filled with angry saurian as Demon opened his maw and bit terribly into its amorphous skin. Alien blood streamed into his mouth and he could feel its scream almost better than he could hear it. Bracing his feet, the saurian twisted his neck. Muscles buldged, bones creaked, and Demon threw the monster, releasing his grip at the last moment in a spray of gore. Chaotix watched the things flight and gritted his teeth.

Not far enough…he won’t be in range. Damn…here goes nothing!

His cloak flew out behind him as Chaotix took the ten steps forward he needed to stand where the thing would fall. Its horrible eyes locked onto his as he stopped and stared. It’s mouth was already open, fangs bared and Chaotix made his target on them. Light flashed through his eyes as he did something he rarely ever did. He gave all control over to his power, only holding some vague intention in his mind.

EAT THIS, ASSHOLE!

Two M32 Grenade launchers appeared in each of his hands and his fingers tightened around the trigger. The six barrels fired in the space of a second, launching twelve canisters into the monster’s maw. Instead of an explosion however, a concussive blast issued forth as they detonated, stronger than any grenade developed by man. The monster rode the blast, a few shattered fangs raining out of his mouth, and seemed to hover in midair, continuing his flight. Chaotix knew immediately that it still wasn’t enough, the monster would fall short and, worst of all, fall ON him, crushing him into nothing more than a paste. As that dire thought passed through his mind, a blazing light from behind the beast drove his mind back to the present. Standing in the shattered window, bloody, wounded, and gasping for air, Enigma held out his morphed palm, his other tattered arm holding the gun from which he had fired a shell very much the same as Chaotix’s grenades. The alien roared as the second blast rocked its body and forced it to complete its flight, landing with a ground-shaking crash on the target car, perfectly framed in between the four hydrants. Chaotix gasped for air, his own body rattled by his blast. He figured one or two ribs had cracked under them, and maybe one of his arms as well. He twisted to his feet however and turned to look at the alien as it struggled to gather itself after the combined attacks of the Supers.

Its now or never…Sigil

[Heald]

Power overwhelming...

[Location: Seattle, WA]

The Supers had surrounded the stunned alien and he began to survey the scene. Each hero then aimed their assault at the four fire hydrants surrounding him. Instantly, four bursts of highly pressurised water shot straight at him, surrounding the alien in a torrent of water. Such was the intensity of the simultaneous blasts that he could not be seen through the water. As the pressure died down, the alien became visible again, looking undeterred by this trap. The Supers began to look at him in utter disbelief. Could anything take him down?

Suddenly, two missiles screamed down from the sky, blasting the alien and destroying much of the surrounding infrastructure, or what was left of it. Some Supers were knocked back by this, whereas others had leapt or flown out of the way. Bright spotlights shone on the alien as several helicopters appeared out of nowhere, their rotor-blades deafening to the human ear. At the same time, tanks and APCs rolled over the rubble that was that part of Seattle and aimed their guns at the alien. Troops poured out of the APCs and aimed their guns at the alien. Some also pointed their weapons at the Supers.

"Washington State National Guard! Stand down citizens!"
A couple of the Supers put their hands up. Some more were more defiant. One pointed his gun straight into the face of a particularly defiant Enigma.
"I said stand down citizen!"
This portion of the National Guard had maneuvered into position and each had a gun pointed squarely at the alien. If he so much as blinked, the Supers guessed that several billions of dollars worth of military hardware would rain down upon him, and many, anticipating this, retreated to a safer location.

The alien stared blankly at the largest tank, eyeing down the barrel, and then began to indraw breath until its lungs were full to capacity. The commanding officer's voice yelled out over the radio,
"Weapons-free! Fire at will!"

Not a single bullet or shell or missile hit the alien. At the sound of the first trigger being pulled, it let out a scream of such pitch and magnitude that it blew away every projectile. Many of the helicopters were knocked into buildings by this sound, tanks were flipped over, everyone was knocked many feet away onto their backs and every piece of glass within a 500 metre radius shattered as this soundwave screeched throughout the city. Anyone who was unlucky enough to have been within a kilometre of the alien had ringing ears, those nearest being unable to hear for several minutes. However, upon standing up again, everyone stared at the epicenter of this epic scream and were astounded to see that the alien had disappeared. There was no cheering; there were no celebrations. Everyone shiftily looked at each other. Fear, panic and confusion had gripped the people here. As for the alien: wherever he had gone, Seattle seemed safe...for now.

---

Well fought gents. If your character happened to be in Seattle, then it may very well have very sore ears. However, the battle, for now, is over.

[Blademaster]

Well, this makes MY job a bit easier, at least...

Ivan and Enigma

Ivan groaned and got to his feet, his back stinging. He was in pain, but Enigma was still in the clutches of that alien, being choked. Strangled to death.

Ivan burst out of the window, seeing the alien had moved further down the street, but it still held Enigma in its tentacle...

SNAP!

Or... It HAD been holding Enigma, but the tentacle suddenly went limp, severed by a flying figure weilding two swords; he caught Enigma as he fell, the weight of the latter sending both of them careening into the building behind the alien, which had turned its attention to the lizardman and a newcomer weilding... a whip?

Ivan couldn't be bothered to check - he vanished into the shadows, warping across the street and inside the hole Enigma and his savior had made entering the building.

"Enigma...!" Ivan called as he reappeared, running to his partner's side. Enigma coughed weakly, his trachea still struggling to recover.

"That was... too close..." Enigma wheezed, coughing up a small amount of blood.

"Are you injured, Enigma? Can you stand?"

Enigma grunted, wiping his mouth.

"I'm fine..." he replied, ignoring Ivan's hand and getting up. "I'll live, anyway... But who the fuck caught me? I know you're not as shitty a flyer as whoever it was."

"Hey, gimme a break!" the dual-swordsman responded, sitting up across the room, rubbing his head. "I'm not used to flying!"

"You saved him." Ivan said, glancing from Enigma to the stranger, then walking over and offering his hand. "You saved my partner... Thank you."

He took Ivan's hand and was pulled to his feet.

"Don't mention it." he replied. "All in a day's work, y'know."

"What is your name?"

"Call me Sentinel."

"Sentinel... Thank you, Sentinel. My name is Ivan. And that... is..."

Ivan paused, realizing Enigma was gone.

"...Enigma." Ivan sighed, running outside again, just in time to see Enigma blast a grenade at the alien... from one of his hands!

"No, Enigma! You're body-"

"SHUT UP, IVAN!" he snapped, blood dripping from his lips. "IT'S NOW OR NEVER!"

The grenade hit the alien dead-center, blasting it away from its current quarry, sending it crashing down on a car.

"The water!" Sentinel shouted, running up behind him.

"What?"

"The water! Those hydrants!" Sentinel explained. "Fire strengthens that thing; blast it with water!"

It suddenly clicked in Ivan's head - he had missed this plan, evidently, but he instantly understood; he drew his sword and swung it, sending an arc of black energy at one hydrant, slicing it open; at roughly the same time, Demon ripped open another hydrant, and Sigil kicked a hole in the third.

"I got that one!" Enigma said, jumping down to the ground and sprinting towards the hydrant, his fist morphing into a spiked cudgel that crushed the hydrant like a can, spraying water on the alien.

Ivan and Sentinel jumped down behind Enigma, waiting for the water to subside. It finally did...

Nothing had changed. The alien didn't seem fazed in the slightest. Except for being wet now.

"Oh, you gotta be fucking KIDDING ME!!!!" Enigma screamed in fury, charging the alien again.

Bad idea - a pair of missiles going off sent him flying across the street again; Ivan and Sentinel just barely avoided being knocked into the building behind them again.

Within seconds, the street was flooded by tanks and soldiers; several choppers had appeared in the sky.

"Hey, fuck off!" Enigma snapped at a soldier behind him. "This is MY fight, fuckface!"

"Stand DOWN, citizen!" the soldier ordered, gun aimed at Enigma's head. He started to open his mouth again, when suddenly he turned jet-black and melted into the ground, reappearing in front of Ivan.

"What the FUCK is your problem!?" Enigma yelled.

"Do you want to get shot?" Ivan asked flatly.

"Those assholes have no right to bust in on this! WE'VE been taking hit after hit, WE'VE been coming up with the ideas, and now THEY show up when the shit's all said and done to steal OUR glory?!"

"This is NOT a competition, Enigma. It is a battle for survival."

"SURVIVAL?! LOOK AT ME!!! I LOOK LIKE I'VE BEEN TO HELL AND BACK!!!"

"If you were less IMPLUSIVE, you could have avoided those injuries...!"

The duo's banter was suddenly drowned out by what sounded like a sonic boom; Ivan and Sentinel covered their ears, ducking down; Enigma, on the other hand, was knocked flying again.

"I am NOT a fucking PINBALL!!!" he screamed, seconds before flying through a shattered window and crashing into some poor guy's desk.

"What happened?"

"It's GONE!!"

"How could it be gone?!"

"It just vanished!"

Ivan slowly uncovered his ears, realizing what had happened.

'The alien disappeared?' he thought.

"Hey, what happened?" Sentinel asked, one finger in his ear. "I can barely hear anything!"

Ivan frowned - his ears were ringing, too. Not too loudly, but they were still irritating him. He didn't answer; he was busy surveying the scene.

Everything was wrecked - tanks were overturned, soldiers had been knocked down or into buildings, several already dead from the impacts, what looked like the back half of a helicopter stuck out of a building that hadn't been knocked over yet... It was a mess.

Ivan sighed mournfully, bad memories flooding back to him as he laid eyes on the dead soldiers and wreckage; he shook his head and looked for the Supers.

The woman from earlier was holding that young girl tightly, shielding her from every damage source she could; surprisingly, the woman herself looked relatively unharmed.

Closer to Ivan and Sentinel, the man who had been weilding the whip earlier was lying on the ground, obviously in pain but still very much alive.

And down the street, looking more than a little stunned, was the lizard-man.

"Where did it go...?" Ivan asked him, figuring that he was currently the most coherent of the impromptu team.

"I don't know." he growled back. "It just... disappeared into thin air."

'It disappeared... But how...?'

"Hey, you!"

Ivan and the reptilian turned towards the battlefield - who Ivan assumed was the general of the National Guard wad talking to the Supers. And he didn't look happy.

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

OK, that was pointless, but... ...No, it was just pointless.

Enigma is off-limits right now.

NEXT!

[classy_cat18]

Nia Windfall AKA Aria ~ Seattle, WA

"Figures that woman couldn't come here," I grumbled as I stepped outside. My ears were still ringing from whatever caused that...sound. I wasn't too far from whatever happened, and I had a pretty good idea what happened. "At least I managed to stay out of the fight."

I followed the commotion to a mob of civilians and National Guard soldiers. Figuring that I should at least get some info about the situation before splitting, I headed through the mob until a soldier stopped me. "Off limits, ma'am," he told me.

I giggled and stayed where I was. When he started to push me back, I started my special lullaby. The poor man dropped to the ground within ten seconds, fast asleep. Everyone around him followed suit. I kept singing until I reached the intersection where several people stood, including a raptorlike creature. Ten bucks say they're Supers.

No one seemed to notice me so I set down my duffel bag and sat on a trashed car with my flute. The song I played was slow and light, not meant to have any effect but to get their attention. When heads finally turned I smiled. "What a mess. Did I miss anything?

Damn, short post.

[Bulbasaur4]

I will edit this with a post in a few hours or so. Just am currently low on writing fuel, but wanted to letyou guys know that I'm work'n on a posty.

Should be up in the morning, CST.

[MToolen]

TPM Comics newly endorses...
RESONANCE
Issue #1 - Visibly Jarred
[Patrick Langley|Resonance|Male|Seattle, WA]
Time: 2:03 pm

Again, that shriek...

This time, it was louder, more piercing, more deadly. Like its eyes, the alien's cry went not just skin deep but through a person, into their very bones. Resonance's bones weren't all bone, though- a good chunk were a special resonant metal. Skin stings and muscles ache, but bone burns- and the pain brought Patrick to his knees.

That was, until he felt himself being raised up by some force. A force that was distinctly... blue. Sure enough, Scion had made his way back over. Fighting off the pain, Patrick muttered, "I thought you had to go, goggles."

Though tempted to drop him on the spot, Scion responded in stride: "Nah, it seems they solved their problems on their own." Spying the gathering crowd of what appeared to be supers, he offered Patrick a shoulder and they limped across the street to the group.

"Another wounded?" one asked.

"Just jarred," Patrick answered. Shrugging off of Scion's shoulder, he looked around the group. There was an obsidian giant, a fit blonde with glowing eyes, a man in a green cloak, and a kid with some huge swords. Also incoming was a small child next to what appeared to be a dinosaur. Had this been another day, this would've seemed odd. Now, however, Patrick's thoughts turned back to asking about his father.

Just then behind him, though, was played a haunting flute melody that, similarly, was augmented in his bones. Compared to the shriek, it was soothing, but normal music wasn't this effective. Something must've been different. Turning around, he saw a brunette in a long skirt sitting on what may at some time have been a car.

"What a mess," she said, smirking, "Did I miss anything?"

"You mean besides the whole damn alien being blown up?" another of the group blurted out.

"Relax," the flautist retorted adjusting her skirt against the wreck. "I'm just trying to ease the mood is all. Looks like that big beastie is gone now, though."

Patrick spoke up: "That begs the question, though- do we go after it or wait until it strikes again?"

[Sorry I've been lax on posts lately. I take all responsibility for my actions. Also, it's now evening CST, but I did my best to leave Shengmingli and Demon well enough alone.]

[Roy Karrde]

Jason Landrew
~~~[Sentinel | 5:20 in the evening | Flying above the street in Seattle ] ~~~

Glass exploded all around me as the fellow super and I broke through the window of some building, the taste of copper or warm blood filled my throat as I skidded across the floor, slamming into the desk with enough force to send my head cracking back against it. "Dang it.." I moaned, spitting out blood as I got onto all fours, outside the battle was raging on but all I could hear was the ringing inside of my head.

"Next time I am going to school." I moaned, blood dripping from my mouth as I used the desk as leverage, rising to my feet as the room continued to wobble and spin around me. I took a few more breaths, shaking my head to clear my vision only to have pain stab through my chest as well as pierce my brain.

The sudden shock of pain brought about another gurgled cry of shock, blood spewing from my mouth. "Great, a cracked rib" I rubbed my side, one of the Alien's tentacles had swatted at my side in mid battle just a few minutes earlier, that and flying through a glass window had probably cracked or broken a rib.

"You saved him." A male voice brought me back into reality and away from the pain as I wiped my mouth with the sleeve of my costume. "You saved my partner... Thank you."

Even through the pain I couldn't help but give a embarrassed smile, I wasn't really used to being congratulated. "Don't mention it." I laughed, doing my best to clear my head of the pain, I was no good if I let the pain overwhelm me. "All in a day's work, y'know."

"What is your name?" The man called out as I walked over to the edge of the window, gazing down at the battle.

"Call me Sentinel." I replied bluntly, my voice trailing off as I tried to understand what was happening.

"Sentinel... Thank you, Sentinel. My name is Ivan. And that... is..." The man named Ivan said as I turned back to look at the two, or really it was one. "...Enigma." He added, noticing as well that his... partner? wasn't there.

Ivan rushed back to the window, swearing along the way, a blast rocked the building, signaling that "Enigma" had probably gone back on the offensive again. "Hold on." I grabbed his hand as we both lept from the window, with one hand holding onto Ivan, and the other angled at the ground, I did my best to cushion the fall, by the time we reached the concrete, it felt like we were landing on a pad of marshmallows.

Ivan rushed off to his partner as my mind flashed through the battle, the fire had made it stronger so wouldn't... "The water!" I ran up behind them, screaming at the top of my lungs causing pain to rack my body. "The water! Those hydrants! Fire strengthens that thing, blast it with water!"

By the time the words had left my mouth the others were moving quickly, following the same line of thought as I dropped to my knees, blood running freely out of my mouth. My breath was coming out weaker, more staggered as I found it harder to draw in breath. Before I could even look up to see what was happening, a pair of hands grabbed my waist, leaping both of us out of the way and narrowly missing the torrent of water.

"I think one of my lungs is busted." I wheezed, my voice coming out as a near whisper as I glanced up at Ivan to see him screaming something, at this point the pain was so loud, the ringing echoing in my ears, that I couldn't even make out a single word.

"I don't think I can fi.." Before I finished the sentence a pair of explosions rocked both of us, the shock wave threatening to send both of us flying backwards into the building we had just escaped.

"Fight.." My words drifted off as the sight of dozens of soldiers filled my vision.

[Bulbasaur4]

Shengmingli
[ F | Seattle, WA ]

Shengmingli had wandered away from the group, following the reptilian creature she managed to scamper to his tail and give it a light tug. His massive head swiveled around to look at her, and he had responded to her. She didn't know how he knew her language- but then again, Alex had known her language so she was beginning to believe that this was not an unusual thing.

"Shengmingli." She said, pointing to herself. Tilting her head to the side, she gave a light bow to him. "You?" She inquired in her native tongue, as the large creature stood up a little straighter.

"Demon." He replied, and then turned his head to continue walking his path away.
"Wait!" She grabbed his tail again lightly, and he jerked his head around once more. A slight look of aggitation perhaps filled his features, but she was unaware.

"Where are you going?" She looked at him brightly, her large crimson eyes showing her geniune interest.

"Home..." He rumbled low, his eyes gazing off into an alleyway, as if suggesting the direction of where he was about to head.

Shengmingli perhaps would have fidgeted, as she struggled to find what she was looking to say. Yet, her years of experience had her lacking in the emotional department, along with lacking a bit in her own tongue. Finally however she seemed to settle upon what she was going to say as she pointed over to the group of supers.

"Stay with us?" She nodded, as if this was only the most natural decision. Demon opened his mouth as if to reply, when suddenly a voice rang out that caused Shengmingli's head to turn.

"Shengmingli! Over here!" Alex's familiar voice rang out in Chinese, and she could recognize the urgency in his tone. Looking back to Demon, she gave a hurried bow as her delicate tendrils of black bounced with her movements.

"Please." She added politely, as she turned and dashed away.

**

"I was meaning to ask why you had brought a girl with you..." A low, perturbed voice asked, the man having a darkened aura about him.

"She's like us... and I think she healed the big green guy over there..." Alex responded in English, as Shengmingli scampered over to the group. Her eyes swiftly settled upon the guy who had earlier climbed into their truck, the one who fought with swords. He was lying out in the street, the sun's rays harshly falling upon his skin- ironic, a sunny day in Seattle.

"Can you heal him?" Alex asked in Chinese, his eyes looking over her with slight curiousity. She nodded for a moment and her eyes gazed about. Many of them looked injured. There were Jason's swords, but she knew that they would be too large for her to use them as she had used the needles. She couldn't ask Alex to stab her... she doubted that they would understand the need for her to be impaled, and then twisted consistently.

Her eyes glanced at the soldiers with their guns, the shards of the glass and other debris... but she knew it would cause trouble if she were to bother the angry soldiers and glass wouldn't do. Her eyes then raised up slightly, taking notice of a rather large, opening building that seemed to have no walls or windows, but various strange 'vehicles' were inside. (She had thought cars were monsters at first, but now was informed they were things man controlled.)

"Wait." She said to Alex, and then dashed off into the parking garage.
"What the fuck is she doing? Hijacking a car?" A voice coughed.
"I imagine it has something to do with her power." The same low tone resonated.
"She needs to melt a car?"
"Perhaps she requires darkness to gather energy."
"Well, she does seem to regenerate massivel-"


SHPLACK

A body fell not too far from the supers, blood spattering everywhere as the sickening sounds of bones cracking and tissues ripping sounded in the air.

"WHAT THE FUCK?!"

"...S-s-shengmingli?!" Alex's voice cracked, his eyes wide with shock and horror at the sight of her crumbled, bloody heap of a body. There were several comments as Alex dashed over to her, disbelief in his eyes at the gore. Her blood pooled on the ground, gathering from the uneven road side. But unseen to Alex, her body was going into a frenzy.

Her vitals were the first to be repaired, the cells working at a frenzied, hyper-active rate. Then the vital bone structure began to reconstruct itself, forming the full ribcage around the tender tissues. A strange, barely audible bubbling sound trickled into the air as her body continued to mend. Muscle tissues were torn, stretched and repaired as the non-vitals were beginning to be reconstructed....

Shengmingli's eyes blinked for a moment, her body not fully healed but she was awake. Pushing her ripped hands to the ground, she tried to rise to her feet but immediately Alex was at her side.

"Are you crazy?! You don't jump from buildings!" He said in English, and then shook his head and respoke in Chinese. He was wincing still, his face flushed as he clutched his side with one arm and her with the other. He had been hurt too.

Blood got upon Alex as Shengmingli forced herself to rise, the skin around her legs reforming at the rate one would pour syrup from a container.

"The blood... he needs..." She said quietly, breathing heavily as she motioned at Jason.
"Put his body here." Alex motioned to them, pointing at the pool that was still fresh.

"Dude, that's just gross." The large one retorted, but Jason's body was put into the pool of blood. Shengmingli sat down, told to by Alex, and motioned at the blood again.
"Injuries... in blood will heal..." She said, and Alex translated. She then motioned to Alex. "You too, before it goes away...."

Shengmingli blinked a few times, her eyelids going heavy as she tried to watch them and hear their conversation. Her head was dizzy, a familiar sensation to her, as a heavy desire of sleep began to place pressure upon her mind. She could hear Jason speaking now, but her vision blurred slightly as she closed her eyes and softly rested herself on the cement ground.





[Crap post, I know. >.>;; Sorry. But I did find it funny as I was thinking of all the ways the girl could scar Alex by stabbing herself with a katana before I gave up on that. xD ]

[Mew Master]

TPM Comics Presents...
DEMON
Twist of Fate
Steven Wiles ~*~Demon*~*Male
Time: 2:14 PM
Location: Seattle, Washington. Street level.

The little Chinese girl, Shengmingli, had stopped Demon from leaving the group, and going to his home. But what was more surprising, was that she asked him to stay, with the other Supers still gathered on the sidewalk. Even as she walked away…

“Please”

Demon, more or less, was dumbfounded. Someone was asking him to stay. Sincerely asking him, the thing that looked like a living dinosaur, a giant reptile, to stay and not run, not hide himself away.

Acceptance. That was what he had wanted for so long now. And as he thought about it, it seemed as if these other Supers were going to accept him. The tall one talked with him as an equal, Sigil, the calm one who seemed unphased by most anything, and now this young girl, Shengmingli.

Shengmingli… he thought, his mind piecing together the words of Chinese. Life force?

Carefully, he turned around and peeked out of the alley at the other Supers, keeping his body low to the ground, using his arms to help maintain his balance. His rectangular head watched them, and he could hear them.

“She's like us... and I think she healed the big green guy over there…” Demon snorted. I’m NOT green, and I’m NOT a dinosaur! his mind raced with annoyance at the one in white, black, and green cloak who had insulted him twice unknowingly.

The others were huddled around the one in orange armor, who had collapsed. Perhaps he was injured more than Demon had thought. Shengmingli dashed off towards a parking complex, asking the others to wait. Demon’s head tilted in confusion, like a cat or wolf staring at something. The others were talking amongst themselves, but Demon caught the sight of movement from the car garage…

As Shengmingli jumped from the third story.

“NO!” he roared, scampering against the concrete. His hands and feet digging troughs into the ground as he clambered for friction. Demon’s movements were frantic and he tore up a good chunk of the concrete and sidewalk as he tried to run up to catch Shengmingli before she hit.

But he was too late.

Her body hit the ground with a sickening “Shplack” that even made Demon’s instincts shrink back from the image. Demon slowed to a stop, his claws digging into the sidewalk again.

His mind shifted as the scent of her blood wafted into his nostrils. Blood. Lots of blood. A kill? Dead. Food. FOOD. Demon shook his head, even going so far as to slam it into the side of a building to stop his instincts from doing something he’d never be able to forgive himself for.

The cloaked one ran up to Shengmingli just as Demon hit his head against the building. He shook his head, bits o brick and plaster falling from his head. The cloaked one started talking to Shengmingli, saying how she shouldn’t fall off of buildings as her blood feel to the ground.

“Put his body here,” the man said. And then it clicked for Demon. Her blood… That’s why he could smell her blood and his mixed, why he could smell her blood on him. Her blood had saved him, and as he thought this, he could hear the snapping of bone and flesh of her body, similar to the way his own body repaired itself.

Turning on a dime, Demon walked up to the orange armored one on the ground. With his clawed arms he picked up the teenager and walked towards the puddle of Shengmingli’s blood collecting on the sidewalk. Carefully, he rested him on his back, before rolling him around like making a log out of clay. Shengmingli’s blood got on Demon’s hands again, and he could feel a little bit of energy return to him, but he rolled the orange-clad one a few more times before letting him rest on his back.

Demon turned towards where Shengmingli was starting to waver, looking drained. Standing up he walked towards her, his footfalls soft for something that nearly weighed two tons. Standing over her as she started to lay down, he walked around her in a tight circle, before laying down around her, curling his body around her so she would having something softer than the sidewalk to lay on.

He had managed to get a bit of his tail under her head as she lay down. Demon did as well, laying on the sidewalk, curled around the Chinese girl, his massive head looking at her, and anyone that came close.

“Uuuhg,” he heard the teenager mumble. “Wha-? Why am I covered in blood?” Okay, so he was awake now.

Demon could feel footsteps walk up behind him.

“Hey,” it was the green cloaked one again. “Dino-boy.”

He snorted, talking softly. “I am not a dinosaur…” turning his head gently to look at him, glaring.

“Okay, you’re not. But just the same… Thanks.”

Demon looked up at him, some of the other Supers muttering to themselves.

“I did what I could,” Demon replied and was silent for a while. “Demon.”

”What?” the one asked, possibly distracted.

“It’s his name,” he heard Sigil reply, standing next to the wall of the building.

“Demon… Not very imaginative are you?”

The Demon snorted in annoyance.

“Whatever the reason for his name,” the tall one said. “He has shown himself to be more than he appears..”

“Sure,” Demon muttered, finding himself more talkative than normal. “I’m just a monster that everyone runs away from, screams at, or shoots at.”

“There’s nothing to be afraid of,” Sigil stated. “You are not a monster. You are unique.”

Demon wanted to add the comment Uniquely a monster from hell, but refrained. For so many years he had wanted company, wanted someone to talk to that wouldn’t yell or scream at him. Here others seemed to be making an effort to him, and he was throwing them away at every turn. Could he gain friends again? Would it be possible? How long could he keep his instincts in check before he lashed out at someone?

Someone kneeled in front of him, and Demon looked. It was the tall one, with the black wings.

“She speaks the truth Demon. You are unique, just like everyone else is unique in their own way.” He offered a hand. “Ivan.”

Demon looked at the hand, looked at him, then grasped Ivan’s hand with his own in a firm grip, shaking.

“Yeah Dino-uh, I mean Demon,” the green cloaked one added. “I’m Chaotix.” Demon could still smell Chaotix’s blood on him, but there was also the scent of Shengmingli’s blood on him too.

The one in orange armor stumbled up, holding his head, trying to wipe the blood off. “And you can call me Sentinel,” then he stopped as he realized he was looking at a 21-foot long saurian curled around Shengmingli. He pointed at Demon before asking, “What’s a dinosaur doing here?”

Demon let out a low growl.

“It’s Demon… you know, the one that threw the alien?” Chaotix replied.

Sentinel thought for a moment. “Oh… OH yeah! That was you?”

Demon nodded. He didn’t like being termed “the freak” out of a group of people, even if they were Supers, and different by nature.

“Yeah! I remember. I saw you tangle with that thing earlier. It was like watching a Godzilla movie or something…”

Demon wanted to shrug, but he didn’t want to wake up Shengmingli as she rested on his tail.

Two more individuals came up, and Demon recognized them from the fight earlier. They had Shengmingli’s blood on them, and were starting to look better. One of them had the scent of metal just under the skin, even though he looked “normal” enough to pass for human. Oh yes, he was the one that let out enough sonic screeches that hurt Demon’s ears. The other was wearing goggles, and a purple body suit with no sleeves.

A soft melody played on the wind.

The Supers turned towards the source, and saw a woman sitting on the wrecked hood of a car, content with herself that she had gotten their attention.

“What a mess,” she said with a smirk, “Did I miss anything?”

“You mean besides the whole damn alien being blown up?” he heard Sentinel blurt out.

“Shhh!” Demon added, using a clawed hand to his mouth at Sentinel.

“Relax,” the woman replied as she re-adjusted her skirt. “I'm just trying to ease the mood is all. Looks like that big beastie is gone now, though.”

“That begs the question, though,” the screeching one said. “Do we go after it or wait until it strikes again?”

“First,” Chaotix said. “Who are you guys? The rest of us already went through the introductions.”

“Resonance,” said the one who smelt of metal. One of the ones that smelt like metal and flesh, the other was Sigil Demon had just noticed.

“Psion,” said the one with the bright red goggles.

The woman was looking disinterested with the whole thing, not giving her name.

“And you?” Ivan asked her specifically.

“Hmm?” she said, either playfully distant or naturally distracted Demon wasn’t sure. “You can call me Aria.”

“Okay,” Chaotix added. “Now we can talk about whether to go after it or not…”

They discussed their options, but Demon stayed quiet, watching them. He sniffed the air before he commented. “I… don’t smell it. I can tell it’s still out there though, but it’s far enough from here that I don’t want to rush out and kill it.”

Some of the others looked at him, whether disturbed by the saruain’s words or naturally curious.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Muwahaha… Character Interaction Powers GO! *dramatic pose* Oh… and I got nothing else beyond that <<U!

Oh yes.. and Demon Knows Chinese because he knows several languages! XD Including Sign Language. Yeah.. he liked them before the Change, and still tries to keep them updated in his mind.

EDIT: Misspelled Shingmingli's name there for a bit... sorry ^^U

[Houndoom_Lover]

(*Look up blearily from my tissue box* Urrg...posting)

The twisted piece of sidewalk art reared up on its cement body as millipede like legs erupted out of the stony piece of art. They were slate and gravel, bits of stone flung out as it metamorphic. The bits were flung into building and lamps- sounds of broken glass and beeping cars joined the stones of moving stone.

The thing that the gargoyle had made rushed at the pretentious artist with the force of five run away trains, its body sinking and soaring, and its many legs did that creepy thing millipede’s legs do.

“Do you question me now, User of the Flames?” The stone beast roared, flapping its wings as though in excitement. Nazerith’s creature suck deep into the ground right before the head of it reached its goal. But then it shot back out of the ground, its once square head now buggy jaws of doom. It held the fiery artist in its claws as the gargoyle crackled gravelly in the background.

“Feel the full pain of the suffering artists, the true suffering artists!”

[Mew Master]

TPM Comics Presents...
HELLFIRE
Rock and a Hot Place
Robert Wiles~#~Hellfire#~#Male
Time: 12:01 PM EST
Location: New York's performer square

Robert didn’t like being put between a rock and a hard place. However, the fire angel found himself in just such a situation.

The gargoyle’s creation of stone and concrete sprouted legs and manipulated itself into a withering millipede, complete with teeth after it had seemed to gather raw materials from the asphalt. It lunged at Robert, snatching him in its claws, the mandibles chattering and grinding like stone on stone, moving him closer to the crushing maw.

Robert concentrated, creating small barriers between himself and the ‘pede’s legs, giving him some leeway. His wings roared as he gave himself just enough space to slip free before letting the millipede chatter in confusion and rage. The gargoyle was upset as well, meaning to either injure him or kill him.

He flew back a ways, drawing the living stone millipede out towards the open, away from some of the buildings. Wiping a new trail of blood from his nose, his hand reached into his satchel, wings condensed into jets to dodge the next attack as the millipede continued to slither around like a giant snake. Flying up, Robert had found what he needed.

Pulling out a piece of paper with a rose drawn on it, he let it out of his hand, and it went ridged, floating in midair.

“What’s this?” the gargoyle commented, curious. “You try to show me art now? How pathetic to save your life such as this. Your judgment has already been chosen and your punishment is now delivered. Why fight such a fate?”

“Because my Fate is in my own hands,” he replied, the paper bursting into flames and disintegrating.

“WHAT?!” the gargoyle roared as it saw the destruction of the drawing. “You dare to insult me?! Caller of flame, I.. will….”

The gargoyle was cut off as it noticed a spark of flame start before it. The spark was small, delicate, before growing, forming into a rose bud. It grew larger, a flower summoned of flames and fire. The petals opening as it became very tall, the bud getting as large as an SUV, and standing nearly 30 feet tall.

“Such… wondrous spirit,” the gargoyle commented. “The spark of art made real, flower of flame. You have impressed me, Artisan of Fire. My second test you have passed.”

Robert hovered since the gargoyle’s attention kept his millipede stationary as the controller was distracted. I’m not here to pass your tests, he thought as his concentration continued on what his own summoning was doing.

The flower grew, until the center petals seemed to burn away, revealing a maw of deformed teeth. It reared back, letting out a howling, screeching roar, as tendrils of fire sprout forth from it, whipping around the area, lighting even the sidewalk on fire. Each tendril had a large bud at the end that split into another maw with teeth.

Staring at amazement, the gargoyle’s look switched from amazement and curiosity, to shock as the fire rose’s tendrils lashed out towards it! Willing its stone creature forth, the millipede slammed into the rose, knocking it into a small building. Fire kicked up, lighting along the rocks as anything remotely flammable caught fire, causing newspaper stands to burst into death traps.

The two summoned things of fire and brimstone clashed, sending their respected pieces elsewhere. Fire flew and dissipated on the air, while chunks of sidewalk were tossed to the wayside. Both beings of rock and flame latched onto one another. The flaming rose wrapped its many tendrils around the millipede, while the ‘pede used its dozens of legs to poke and prod into the rose’s flaming form.

Wrapping around it, the millipede sent both of them rolling into the middle of the artist’s square. Each was screeching, roaring, or chittering as they fought. Both structures of art, of fire, of flame, of rock, of earth battled each withering and slithering. The fight lasted long and hard, both Robert and the gargoyle kept up and out of the way as the fight burnt the concrete and carved it up with the two combatants fought with each other.

Robert could feel his influence start to waver. His little headache was starting to turn into a major migraine keeping control of his flaming rose and fly at the same time. There was also the millipede, that seemed to become sluggish in its own movements, bits of its body falling to the ground as rubble.

He felt his Monster Rose start to falter as the millipede slammed into it, causing him to lose control of it, and the rose burst apart into individual flames and the ‘pede to break into a line of rubble. Robert’s head ache was unbearable as he lowered himself down and let his wings reform into his back. Blood dripped from his nose, eyes and ears, collecting into a pool below him as he held himself up on all fours. He looked up, trying to see through blood streaked glasses as his drawing reformed into paper and came to him. Weakly he caught it, trying to slide it back into its folder in his satchel.

His headache was subsiding, but it would take a bit before the pain would leave him.

“Da-damnit,” he muttered, pushing himself up.

There was the clinking of stone on stone, and he could see the red eyes of the gargoyle coming closer towards him. The statue looked… drained, nearly dry. Water seemed to seep from it, and oddly enough, seemed just as weak as Robert felt right now.

It looked down at Robert as the human pushed himself back, resting against a piece of rubble.

“Ah, Lord of Fire, Artison of Flame. You have passed my third test,” it grinned at him.

He forced himself to talk, as much as he wanted to stay quiet and let his mind be free from pain. “How many of these… tests do you have? Or do you keep rambling on till you tell me?”

It smiled at him, the tail wagging side to side energetically, “For now… Tonight… Or always? It does not matter, either way you have pleased my senses.”

Robert sat there, his brain on fire from pain. This thing had a slight advantage, however it controlled its abilities to manipulate rock and earth, it had a bit more for it than Robert did at the moment. Which meant that Hellfire was now on his own against this thing…

~#~#~#~#~#~#~#~#~#~#~#~#~#~

Houndoom, I leave what happens next to you. Hope you start feeling better ^^

[kalad1]

Nameusan Hearthwood
Alias: Valkyrie
Gender: Female
Age: 23
Nationality: American
Alignment: Neutral Good
Powers: being a prototype full conversion cyborg, she has Superhuman strength, speed, and endurance, Jumpjets mounted in back, superhuman vision and hearing, as well as built-in equipment, a vibrosword mounted on her right arm, high output electroshock prongs in her hands, as well as interface plugs for other high tech weapons like plasma rifles.
Power Source: Various technological systems, some of reverse engineered alien origin, all of which run off of plasma fuel cells.
Weaknesses: EMPs can disrupt some of her systems, as well, she can only run in combat mode for an hour before depleting her power cells and needing to obtain new, also, she has an obedience circuit mounted at the base of what used to be her skull, which will induce pain if she defies orders.
Personality: While she'll be friendly when she can, she is often forced to be cold and distant, and she bears a lot of remorse over making the decisions she has made, and wishes she'd never gotten involved with Project Einherjar.
Appearance: She's about 5'8", with a body clearly made of metal, while retaining a classic female shape. The only part of her that appears made of flesh is her face and hair, and even that's artificial, bearing tan skin, blue eyes and short blonde hair. On her right arm, clearly visible, is her vibroblade unit. On her back, situated near her shoulders are two protruding nodules with downward pointing holes, her jumpjets. She doesn't really wear clothing anymore, as she doesn't really have anything to cover up.
Weapons: Her vibroblade and shocking systems, as well, she can be outfitted with weaponry such as plasma rifles and such.
History: At the age of twenty, Susan ended up in a car wreck, which left her body mangled and her permanently on life support. A month later, a man from the government came, offering her the opportunity to volunteer for a 'Revolutionary New Treatment' which would free her from the constraints of the hospital. She accepted, and was inducted into Project Einherjar, a top secret government project whose purpose was to find a way to create effective, affordable, and controllable shocktroops for handling superhumans. Now, three years later, she's ready for field testing.
Theme(s):Another Timediver
Shippu Jinrai
Relationships: She has had little to no contact with her family, or anyone she's cared about for three years.
Other:


Susan Hearthwood
Valkyrie
Following Orders
Time: 2:10 PM
___________________________________
I frowned, double-checking my systems in silence as the APC rushed to the epicenter of what the military was already calling the "Seattle Incident". I remembered my orders, the beast had already fled, but I was to rendevous with the supers that had fought it, and obtain any information from them that I could, and if they decided to pursue the creature, I was to accompany them. Most importantly, I was to obtain as much data on the creature as possible, all but myself were expendable towards this end. I was issued a plasma gatling gun, a spare power cell, and a pistol that was to be used if slaying the beast proved impossible, it would send a special tracking dart that would, hopefully, stick to the creature, and allow bombardment trajectories to be calculated.

I sighed, wishing for the millionth time that I hadn't accepted the devil's deal the government had given me, but it was too late for that, the most I could do was do my best to protect people the way I was. I then felt the vehicle screech to a stop, and slung the powercell canister and gatling gun over my shoulders before popping the side door and stepping out to see an odd assortment of people, including a young child, some guy in armor with swords, and a multi-ton lizardman.

I spoke before they could, approaching them as I held my face and voice as cool and steady as ice, "Greetings, you may call me Valkyrie, and if I could have a moment of your time, I have been sent by the United States Government to debrief you on the nature of the creature you encountered. Do not worry, you will be monetarily compensated for your time."

[Heald]

Ok guys, I'm going to be offline for a while (see post in the Away thread) so there will be no activity from the alien (who is in hiding recuperating and surveying) or from Red Bear (who is having his arm reattached). So feel free to disperse from Seattle, since he isn't going to reappear there. Timewise, it'll be a few days in-game before he rears his head again. Hopefully I'll be back within a week.

[classy_cat18]

Nia Windfall ~ AKA Aria ~ Seattle, WA

It was shortly after I started speaking with the Supers that I got an answer from the mysterious Poltergeist. Her manner of speech was smooth and relaxed, something that captivated me when I heard her on the news. After a moment of silently debating on how to talk to someone that was speaking in my mind, she spoke to me again. "You don't have to say anything out loud, dear. Just form the words in your mind."

Damn, this is creepy. Um, first I wanted to tell you that I liked your little speech on the news.

"I'm glad you enjoyed it."

I interruped our internal conversation to give one of the Supers my name. "My ancestors were hunted down like they were dangerous beasts. I feared my fate would be the same. These supers seem to be okay but I think they're more concerned for the little humans than for their own safety. We could...support each other."

I heard her giggle in my mind. "I think that's a splendid idea. Unfortunately I'm unable to leave Brooklyn so you'll have to come here."

"Beautiful," I sighed. "At the other side of the country. The big problem is separating myself from the others."

I temporarily snapped to attention as a strange metal woman stood before the group, a cyborg that seemed too advanced to have been designed by humans. "Greetings, you may call me Valkyrie, and if I could have a moment of your time, I have been sent by the United States Government to debrief you on the nature of the creature you encountered. Do not worry, you will be monetarily compensated for your time."

Great, the government. Poltergeist would have to wait for now. "I'm all ears, but only because I'm curious about this creature I happened to miss. And because I'll be paid. But after your debriefing I have somewhere to go."

[Mew Master]

Um, just a notice. This isn't for my character or anything. I'm posting this on behalf of Houndoom Lover, who's net connection has been... less than favorable.

Nazerith felt its joints stiffen, but to leave a battle when it was this hot- this passionate! It would gladly give up all movement just to see this man flutter across the sky like a mighty moth. And he would, it would make this man dance across the sky for all eternity, along with it. His fire reminded Nazerith’s of its own- and of the artist it once knew. The idea stuck it so hard, like a baseball through a frail window that you just could not repair!

Now, only to make him come follow. Nazerith would refill, and then!

Nazerith gave a joyful leap, which was much more difficult then need be. It was drying, much too fast. Estimating based on other times of dry spells; it figured it had one good creation left in it.

“…No,” Nazerith started, over-dramatically, its voice getting more and more like slate against stone, eyes glowing feverishly, “A final test, a final test-!“

It spread its stony bat wings like an avenging condor of Hell and took to the air with one grand flap, sloshing water down as it lifted itself up.

That’s not all that was lifting itself up…

The ground beneath Robert, that rubble, started to shake like a mighty earthquake was ripping through New York. (Fun fact: This Earthquake could be felt right along all of New York, shaking water glasses all around.) If Robert had any fears about what he was sitting on was about to transform, they were soon alleviated, for hands- massive molten rock one, tore a hole in the earth.

Water raced from the gargoyles holes at top speed, making a whirling hissing noise as his molten rock giant rose from the earth.
“Stop my beast!” It roared above rocks, the shifting, and the smelting above, “Your final grade will be known!”

In a great flap he disappeared into the clouds. If Robert wanted to, he could easily catch up to him, but…

The Molten Golem smashed its hand through the Ku-Po Discount store. Glass smashing-screams-wall tearing. It was like a scene from a Marvel comic.

[Mew Master]

TPM Comics Presents...
HELLFIRE
Washout
Robert Wiles~#~Hellfire#~#Male
Time: 12:12 PM EST
Location: New York's performer square, destroyed

Robert felt the ground shake under him as the gargoyle blabbered something about another test. The concrete under and around him buckled as he felt the shift in inertia. Such a brash movement caused his head to hurt even more, keeping him from even calling forth his wings to get away. A set of molten hands burst forth, ripping apart the concrete and brick of the performer’s square.

What could best be described as a golem comprised of molten rock and lava pushed itself up, knocking Robert down, grabbing onto the edge of the hole it had made as it pulled itself up with a rumbling roar. The artist’s head was burning and hurt, unable to keep a hold of the edge of the pit-fall, and he feel down below to where the now walking mass of concrete and rebar that had been there.

His landing was hard as he ended up soaking wet and three feet down in water. Kicking himself up, even with the weight of his satchel and coat, he broke the surface, gasping for air, his body being carried away by the current.

Robert struggled to keep his head above the water. The combined weight of his clothes and satchel were making it difficult to keep his head up. His feet kicked against the water as he struggled to get to the side, reaching for a ledge. Fingers brushed against stone. A ledge! He kicked harder, against the current.

Grabbing the edge, he reached for a piece of piping, giving himself some more leverage and pulled himself out of the rushing water. His glasses were in his hands, they would have been swept away if he hadn’t grabbed them as he fell. Pulled out of the water, soaked, exhausted and head still hurting, Robert tried to look around to where he was.

Not in the sewer, he thought. Doesn’t smell that bad. He pushed himself up, using the wall as a brace. Flicking the water off his glasses he slipped them on. Water droplets distorted his vision, but he could still see somewhat. Must be the water works.

Robert looked back to where the water was running from, and where he had been. He couldn’t hear the sounds of the gargoyle or its summoned golem. Just as well, he really didn’t want to deal with it anymore.

Using the wall as a brace he started walking along the flow of water. His clothes were heavy and he was soaked to the bone. Robert was even sure that his art supplies and drawings were soaked and might be destroyed. When his headache was gone, he could dry his stuff off and then find his way to his home, if it wasn’t destroyed by now.

First he needed to get out of the water system.

He walked for ten minutes, following the path of water, looking for a way out. The water on his glasses had dried, but through the water caked lenses he could see what he was looking for.

A grate.

His headache was subsiding, and he jumped up, letting his wings out to jet him up for a little extra push. The grate gave with a loud creek, turning out and away from him. He dropped back down, smirking to himself. One more push… he jumped, letting his wings out again so he could grab onto the edge of the ledge.

Taking a bit to swing himself and haul himself up and through the grate, which luckily he could fit through. Pulling his satchel up, and resting it on the level he was climbing up to, Robert managed to get up and out of the water circuit. Moving away from the grate, he stood up, letting his satchel drop to the floor with a wet slurp.

He rolled his shoulders and peeled his trench coat off, and started to wring it out, small torrents of water splashing on the floor. Glancing around, the floor seemed dusty, and the dust would come off when his stuff dried. So he tossed his coat down on the ground.

Robert grabbed his satchel, and could feel water moving around in it. So he held it by the edge, and tipped it, pouring the water down on the ground.

“And who are you, praytell?” he heard a woman’s voice behind him.

He glanced back at the voice, learning that he wasn’t alone. There was a woman standing there, her arms crossed and looking at him, interested in the artist. Great, he thought. Someone’s home or something. Oh well. Five minutes and I’m gone.

Calmly he stood up, taking out his various wet drawings. Holding them out-front on the palm of his hand, he started turning, causing individual pages to stay, and floating in the air. His movement caused them to float around him, surrounding him like a floating dome of drawings on paper. He could still see through it, and she could see him.

He replied as he concentrated his fire, causing the paper to dry and straighten out. Steam rose from the paper, floating around and dropping to the ground. “Hellfire.”

The woman looked at him for a bit, watching him, almost taking him in. A smile came over her face.

“That’s not a very polite way in which to introduce yourself… Robert.”

Robert’s eyes widened from his concentration, the papers wobbling before he regained his composure. Narrowing his eyes at her.

“Telepath?”

What is a telepath but one who can see through the windows of the mind? he heard her voice echo in his mind, like she was finding him amusing.

“Telepath,” Robert replied, keeping his concentration on drying his work before they were all ruined. “Who are you?”

“Poltergeist,” she said vocally this time.

“Poltergeist?”

The dead have no names.

Robert didn’t like this. Facing an art-themed gargoyle with rock and earth was one thing. But he didn’t have much of a defense against anyone manipulating his mind left and right.

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There ya go Dru. Enjoy.