Private Roleplay~ IOD

asi • 1 February 2013 at 3:34 AM

This time, she was too slow to dodge the spark, and 'Verse was struck- no, instead, she seemed to catch it. The energy gathered in her hand, but no longer the bright yellow it had been previously, it was now a dark purple. This was something called negative electricity; instead of being lightning hot, it was sub-zero cold, and instead of jolting one, it would make them instantly sleepy, a cold sleep from which few woke. It was, basically, the exact opposite. She shot him a wicked smile before tossing it straight back at him.
Meanwhile, Voeing attacked him from behind, trying to sweep his legs out from under him with a smooth kick.

"I don't think I know anyone who could really win against Inverse," Chase commented, using the girl's full name. Undoubtedly Raid could, he was an exception who goes without saying. But as for himself, Verse could stop him in his tracks, as soon as she got close enough to touch. Unless he could attack her from a distance (which he was rubbish at) there was really nothing he'd be able to do against her.
"Do you think she could beat a leader? How high?" Sest asked.
Chase frowned. "She fought the Falchion's Three once, the old one, but was forced to withdraw midway," he shrugged. "Who knows. I heard she had a vendetta against one- or rather, a second in particular," he grinned.
"A second?" Sest wondered. Chase must mean either the Two of the Falchions, or the Dia of the Glaeroes, the latter of whom Sest knew nothing of. The speed-power didn't elaborate, however, just continued to smile.

"I'm already in," Riley stated, his face blank as he listened hard. He was getting a lot of mumbo-jumbo which he couldn't understand from the hostile group's leader, and though the discussion about leader's caught his attention, none of it seemed useful, so he passed on to the rest. One unfamiliar girl had a head full of fight, fear and focused determination, he gained nothing useful there. And then...
"Raven, do I know anyone called Leon?" he pondered as he received Annabell's thoughts.
Raven slowly raised an eyebrow. "Your sister's boyfriend?"
"... My sister had a boyfriend...?" he deadpanned.

taffy789 • 1 February 2013 at 7:49 AM

Charge growled in anger, dodging both 'Verse and Voeing's attacks by quickly jumping to his right. Immediately afterwords, he slid behind Voeing, and attempted to kick her in the back, trying to force her into the path of 'Verse's negative lightning. He then scooted back quickly, and started to ready his next attack...
"Leon?"
Annabell's voice had traveled across the leveled forest, and itswhispered echo caught Charge's ears.
The quiet call of the all-too familiar named echoed in Charge's mind, stirring up angry, bitter emotions.
Even worse, he could feel a faint presence start to "wake up" in the back of his mind, not reacting to his name, but to the familiar voice.
He noticed a faint disturbance in the spreading of his electrical field, and the power allowed his eyes to flickered away from the battle to the empty space that the familiar girl occupied,
"..." Charge hesitated. He wasn't sure why, but his brain seemed to be telling him that he shouldn't blast her to bits where she stood. In fact, it was as if it was telling him that she was...a friend.
'Annabell.'
Charge was taken back at the sudden thought that burst into his head, and took a step back, a bewildered look flashing upon his face.
Of course.
He and his Pain still shared a mind. They had been sharing a mind for a little over nine years now, for Charge had still been awake all that time, even if he'd been repressed.
Now, the Pain was reacting- awaking- to hearing the familiar voice of his dear friend, like Charge had sometimes awakened when he'd been overused...
The feral power's eyes bore into the spot where Annabell was standing- he mind flickering away from the battle.
He couldn't allow his old repressor to come back.
Charge was prepared to kill anyone who was a threat to him or his newfound freedom. Deadly static crackled in his palms, and he rushed the spot where the girl stood, shooting a bolt ahead of him as he did.

Watching the lights flash and the fire spread quickly, Zach suddenly sighed. "Inviso girl's in trouble." he commented apathetically then went back to watching the flames flicker yards to his right.
He wasn't about to go get her- he could feel the pressure of the powers from where he stood. That would be sucicide. Plus, he didn't even know her. Or care.
Which applied to everyone, he supposed.

asi • 1 February 2013 at 8:54 AM

"Oh!" Voeing had the air kicked out of her and ended up face-to-face with the negative electricity, the blood immediately draining from her features as she saw there was nothing she could do to stop the deadly lightning...
It stopped just before it hit her and fizzled into nothing. Inverse glowered at her. "Don't you dare get in my way again," she told the other girl, before twitching at the sound of a new voice... More enemies to kill? Verse turned to greet the newcomers with a wild smile.

"Yeah, I'd rather sit this one out," Raven examined the light show warily. It was not something, with her power so weak, that she wanted to get caught up in.
She raised an eyebrow at Riley's question. "So you didn't know?" she asked, amused, then turned to the spot where he was standing...
Ah.
He... Was an idiot.

"Annabell!" Riley caught up to her just as the feral charged. His twin daos had already been unsheaved, and despite them being all he had, he still didn't hesitate to throw himself in the path of danger. Somehow, his left blade managed to block the bolt of lightning... But metal conducts electricity. Riley was badly shocked, knocking him straight out of the fight. But that jolt had had lethal power...
The flow of electricity was more than enough to stop his heart dead. He wasn't breathing either.
Riley was... Dead?

Chase, from his viewpoint on a toppled pine, was the only one of the rebel group with the right angle to completely see, and the right knowledge to understand, all of this. He froze, his expression hardened. "Retreat!" He called out to the rebels, who had no choice but to back off.

taffy789 • 1 February 2013 at 6:28 PM

"Wha- Riley!?" Annabell's eyes widened as Four fell to the Earth in front of her with a thud.
Oh no. Oh no. Her mind started to race with new found panic. What was she supposed to do? He didn't look like he was breathing- was she supposed to start CPR? Could that even work?
This new panic that welled inside her was partly due to the fact that Charge was now towering directly over her and Riley's seemingly lifeless body.
"...You don't have to keep up the invisible thing, I know where you are."
Annabell heard Charge's purring voice but didn't dare to look up. He had been powerful before...but now his very presence was consuming everything around him.
Her heart beating like a drum in her chest, Annabell slowly complied with Charge's request. Swallowing her fear, Annabell forced herself to meet the power's eyes.
He surprisingly did not look that very different. Despite the remaining brown streaks being completely gone from his golden hair- which was now messier than ever before-, the cruel way his eyes now glinted, the tanner look to his skin, and the sharp face and slightly sunken eyes that suggested malnorishment- everything else about him remained just as Leon had before the takeover.
The girl gulped, and took in a quick breath of air.
"Leon...I know you're in there, please- please listen to-"
The feral cut her off with a bark of laughter. "Seriously? You're going to try that on me? Nice try, but the Pain is too far gone for those cheap tricks. Too late."
Charge smiled, ignoring the prick in the back of his mind that was shivering with anger. He glanced down for a moment, checking to see who he'd just killed.
...
Weird, he now felt... Sightly confused. As if he just received a bad case of deja vu. Considering the emotion not important enough to look further into, he turned his attention back to pondering a way to kill "his" old friend...

Zach gave Raven a glance that clearly told her to get her butt moving before heading towards the battle himself. Although he still considered it suicide, he knew there had to be a way to save the other half of his team before he got blamed for the loss- being the only other Leader in the group. Five appeared at the battle scene, sword in hand, and glanced around, surveying the area. When he caught sight of the rebel group, his power informed him that they were extremely powerful- even the weakest of them. That strength of power certainly wasn't normal...

asi • 1 February 2013 at 7:20 PM

It had been a long, arduous journey but finally, the girl pushed back several loose spikes of dirty- but still as fiery as ever- hair out of her face, her purple-blue eyes now looked down upon the famously beautiful sight of A-G, the huge lake which was pooled just east of where her companion had claimed the Glaeroes's base lay.
The sun was just starting to set on the horizon, casting a stunning golden glow on the water's surface and bringing out more of the ashy-red tones in the canyon rock. It really was stunning.
The little nine year-old stumbled up the hill behind her, exhausted but still determined. When she reached the top, the scenery brought a smile to her face, until Guithe noticed how gloomy the older girl looked.
"Are you okay, Xela?" she asked hesitantly.
Xela wasn't given a chance to answer, however. She whirled around, blade drawn, and stared down at the figure who had just materialized below.
"Who is it?" she questioned directly, not wasting any of her breath.
"Hello, Xela, Guithe." They stepped forward out of the canyon's shadows to reveal a young, slim boy, aged somewhere between sixteen and eighteen, with mid-length fluffy midnight black hair, a cool, mischievous smirk and dark eyes, the kind that were dead and showed no emotion.
Xela frowned, she didn't recognize this person at all, and with a glance she could see Guithe didn't either. "Are you one of those rebels?" she demanded to know. "For the last time, I'm not looking to join anyone."
The male shrugged carelessly and replied in an easy-going drawl, "Oh, and here I thought, with you coming all this way, that you wanted to get into the Glaeroes," he held up two shiny black Glaeroes uniforms, each the perfect size for the two rogues.

Though very reluctant, Raven followed her team to the scene, and arrived just as the rebel group were leaving. However, her eyes zoned in on one in particular's back and her eyes widened with recognition.
"You!" she yelled out, not sparing it a moment's thought but sprinting over and tackling the person to the ground. In doing so, she separated him from the other four who directly vanished in a blinding flash of violet, and were gone.
"It's you!" she hissed furiously. Sest looked up at her, surprised and confused, but from the stranger's expression he gathered that she was intent on ripping him into tiny pieces. She didn't give him a second but ruthlessly attacked with a dagger, he just barely raised his bo in time.

taffy789 • 1 February 2013 at 9:45 PM

Zach took in the reluctant Raven now hissing and tackling the rebel for a split second, before turning his attention to Annabell and the cadaver of Riley.
The boy cornering his now-visible team mate was clearly feral. Ferals...he had a personal hatred for them. They killed for fun, without meaning, it seemed. Monsters would be a fitting term for them, but Zach liked to call them vultures- picking off people at IOD at complete random.
This one, however, seemed to be a lot more powerful from the rest... He faintly remembered Annabell once asking about a boy with electrical powers...he had replied with the old story he once heard about a guy with the same power going feral and killing his team, yet, this couldn't be the same one from the story- that was months old. Most ferals, even the strong ones, wouldn't last months on IOD alone...
Zach sighed, and focused back on trying save Annabell. His power was informing him it was too dangerous, and to wait for an opening...
Seconds ticked by.
Finally, one came. Swooping in towards the feral, Zach swung his sword towards the power's spinal cord.

Annabell instinctively backed away as Charge reached forward and tightened his hand around her wrists, grinning wickedly.
"The funny thing is, I doubt my little Pain even has the will to protest your death even a little, now." Charge purred while starting to send a small shock coursing through Annabell's body, "He's way too frightened of me to do anything, I have you know. Or maybe you can even call it shame..."
Suddenly, Charge dropped Annabell's wrist, and jumped to his right, wincing in pain as he did.
Annabell herself fell to the ground, trying to recover from the voltage that had been causing her heart to beat at a more-than-abnormal pace.
"You should get that corpse out of here." a voice suddenly ordered her. The girl glanced upwards to see Zach, falling into a fighting stance with a bloodied sword grasped in one of his hands.
A few feet away from him, Charge staggered, not yet used to the physical pain that came with owning a body. His palms were holding his side, trying to stem the flow from the wound on his side- an attack he almost had completely dodged.
Annabell glanced from the Five to Charge and back, before she nodded, flashed invisible, and started to drag Riley and herself out of further harm's way.

asi • 2 February 2013 at 12:44 AM

"Xela... Can we really trust this guy?" Guithe whispered anxiously to her, once they were alone inside nearby cavern where the mysterious stranger had led them to change in privacy while he waited outside.
"Of course not," Xela promptly replied. "But we don't have any better way to get into their base, do we?" she examined the Glaeroes jacket carefully. It didn't seem to be rigged with anything, but she was alarmed by how perfectly it fitted her. He had even known their names. It wasn't likely to be something as harmless as some stalkerish crush, now was it?
The little girl nodded. "Okay."
Just then, Xela felt a shocking pain, like an electric shock. She was too stunned even to scream, could only freeze up and wait for it to pass.
"Xela! Xela, are you okay?" Guithe shook the older girl worriedly. Only yesterday something similar had happened; without explanation, Xela had fell suddenly into a dead faint. After waking, she had said her shoulder had been aching painfully beforehand, but had just ignored it. Guithe was afraid that Xela had developed some kind of illness, but she had no idea what it could be.

What they didn't know was that right outside the cavern, the stranger had also suddenly felt his legs give out, having to grab onto a rock shelf for support, his expression dazed, like he had just been hit hard on the head. It was as though a huge chunk of his energy had just been ripped from him. He slowed his panicked breathing as he realized what had happened. The stranger concentrated his remaining power and dark energy gathered and began leaking off his hands like steam or smoke...

"Riley!" Raven saw him being dragged by Annabell during her brawl with Sest, out of the corner of her eye. She simplified things by swiftly knocking the rebel out cold and running over to her friends' side.
The very first thing she did was grab Four's wrist and look for a pulse. Nothing. Absolutely nothing. He lay there completely still. Riley wasn't breathing, he had no heartbeat. It was too late.
He was definitely, unmistakably and irrevocably dead.
That's when his eyelashes fluttered ever so slightly. It wasn't the wind.
Raven's expression darkened; strangely, it seemed she wasn't surprised at all. She turned to Annabell and whispered; "Whatever you do, don't tell anyone about this." Riley's chest rose and fell. He was breathing again. But there was still no pulse. "Especially Riley," she added, her expression unreadable.

taffy789 • 2 February 2013 at 5:43 AM

The girl's eyes widened ever so slightly, but was unsurprised to find herself...not caring? Between everything today, her priorties felt a bit scrambled, she really needed some time to think everything out.
"... Well, this explains a lot." was her only comment on the subject, before making the silent gesture of zipping her lips as to Raven to show she would not speak a word.

" You know, if you have a field around you that detects movement, you really should be paying attention to it." Zach couldn't help but taunt the wounded feral.
There were only a few yards and some melted snow between him and the- very, very angry- Charge.
It was a small distance, really- Charge could easily zap him, if he could, and Zach wasn't sure if hd would be able to fully dodge. However, the power was now huffing with effort- between the newfound pain in his body, and all that energy he spent knocking down trees during the battle, he wasn't sure he had any energy left to fight.
Charge's eyes flickered to a space in the trees behind Zach- an escape route, due to the route behind him already being closed off by flames and felled trees.
The two had a quiet standoff, which was broken as soon as Charge made the decision to rush for the route.
Firing an electrical bolt near the spot back Zach's feet, Charge attempted to throw the boy off balance, but his plan failed as Zach jumped dodged the voltage completely by sliding backwards. Five flew forward as Charge passed him, barely dodging another one of the feral's attacks...
This attack, a sphere of cackling energy, caught Zach's attention. He turned instinctively, realizing that his power was pushing him to go warn his team about small sphere now flying towards them.
Right as he turned, however, the butt of a knife whipped fiercely across his face, completely flooring Zach to the wet, melted snow-covered ground in a sudden combination of surprise and pain. He noticed that Charge was escaping into the forest before little black dots filled his vision, making Zach wonder if that was a symptom of a concussion.

asi • 2 February 2013 at 8:04 PM

The four rebels arrived back at base, their faces all of them looking annoyed, disappointed or just plain tired.
"Ohh..." Voeing sighed miserably. "Sest..." she mourned for the loss of two of her friends.
"Just as things were getting good," Inverse said sourly.
"And now we have two rogue powers to worry about," Chase grimaced, the fiery Xela coming to mind. "Oh, well. You win some, you lose some. We'll have to stay away from A-C and M, since the Falchions saw us there, so I guess that means recruiting in A-E for the time being. Get some rest, everyone."

Raven nodded, relieved that Annabell understood. She knew Riley would have to find out sooner or later, but she couldn't help but try to delay it as much as possible. It would be utterly devastating for him.
Now that she knew for certain what was happening, Raven found herself faced with the scary question of HOW. How could this be possible? It was definitely not Riley's doing, his power was mind-reading. As frightening as the conclusion was, she had to assume it was the doing of someone else, someone new, someone incredibly powerful, someone with the ability to bring the dead back to life... She shivered. There had been no such person among the rebels when she had met Raid, and it was none of the Falchions. And it was already strange enough that he had been chosen to revive, it couldn't be be the work of a Glaeroes, could it?
Well, whoever it was, they had to have had a reason for this. A very good one.
She tried shaking, slapping and dumping snow on his face, but since it looked like Riley wasn't going to wake up any time soon, she sighed and slung him over her shoulder in an awkward fireman's lift- it looked like she'd be the one carrying Riley, instead of the other way around. Stupid idiot, getting himself killed... Oh my god, he was heavy. If only being dead made him lighter. She straightened up with some difficulty. "So, will I be getting a new boss already?" she joked to Annabell, nodding in Zach's direction. She was a little annoyed that she couldn't cross her fingers like this.

taffy789 • 2 February 2013 at 9:00 PM

Zoning out, Annabell barely caught Raven's joke about the currently collapsed Five.
"Hmm? Oh, yeah, I'll go get him." she absentmindedly answered Raven, getting the joke confused with a request. She took a step towards the Charge-created clearing, pausing in surprise when another tree a bit to her left suddenly exploded into wood shavings.
"..."
She sighed, and kept calmly walking along her way. Yep. Nothing could faze her at the moment, and she was sure of that.
Meanwhile, Zach still laying face-first on the wet ground, not wanting to even attempt to get up.
His power had alerted him to the electric sphere, even though it had been going to hit nowhere near him... That was plain stupidity. If the feral had used the blade instead of the handle to attack, he could have easily been dead- or at least horrible disfigured- by now.
Zach trusted his power. He had to. Reacting to his intuition, without any hesitation, was the only way he survived most out-matched battles without fatal wounds. His power wasn't "acting up" on him, and he was positive about that fact. Mostly because something similar had occurred before, but that was only because-
"The forest is burning. I think we have to leave now."
Five groaned as one of his many team mates that obviouslycould not take care of themselves interrupted his train of thought.
"Good. You can all burn for all I care." Zach replied, a scathing tone entering his voice.
Annabell glanced down at the Leader, wondering what had made him more bitter- having to actually fight, or getting floored by Charge's attack. In whatever the case was, she was too tired to take offense at his comment.
"You would burn too, you know." the girl simply sighed, her eyes wandering around the burning clearing. There were two other bodies on the ground besides Zach- the rebel Raven had knocked out, and another rebel boy-dead...and he probably wasn't going to magically pop back to life anytime soon.
"Even better."The Five tentatively raised a hand to his throbbing forehead, and grimaced upon finding a large gash above his right ear. He wiped the blood on his pants and slowly picked himself up from the snow.
"I'll get the prisoner. ...It will be interesting to find out what he has to say." Zach also knew of someone else who most likely had plenty of interesting things to say on the topic of the rebels, but he wasn't going to grace that person- cough, Raven, cough- with a glance in their- cough, her- direction.

asi • 2 February 2013 at 10:23 PM

"Don't!" Raven yelled in alarm, when she heard what Zach had said. She jogged over as fast as she could, considering Four's weight, stumbling a few times over the wreckage of trees- once nearly falling over, but she managed to catch herself and keep going.
"We can't bring him back to base," she told them breathlessly. "No way. Two will torture him, and-" Raven stopped, eying the others warily, and silently cursing herself for attacking Sest, though there was nothing else she could have done, on seeing him...
"This person is evil," she said flatly, looking down on the unconscious rebel. She ought to just grab one of her daggers and do it right away; but to do that, she would have to drop Riley. She hesitated. She didn't want to let Zach anywhere near Riley, it was bad enough that Annabell knew. She had gone through everything to save Riley, everything. He was her best friend and she owed him the world. Even if he really was dead already, he was still there, and there was no way she could give up now.
She glowered at the rebel. And this guy... For what was happening to her other friends, that was his fault. "You don't know- you have no idea what he's done. He has to be killed here and now," her eyes met Zach's, the person with the highest authority here.
If they took Sest back to the base, Two would get everything out of him.
That meant the location of the rebel base.
If the Falchions attacked, there would be a massacre.
And though she hated the powers that called themselves "rebels" to the core, she had to believe that somewhere, her friends were still in there. She couldn't give up on them, either.

taffy789 • 2 February 2013 at 11:34 PM

Upon hearing her plea, Zach turned to meet Raven's eyes- his face unreadable.
"You know what Raven? You're right. I have no idea what this guy has done. Please...enlighten me." The Five rubbed his still throbbing temple, a sharp edge creeping into his voice. "While you tell me that, you can also fill me in on why you were ever affiliated with a group of what I assume- and my power confirms- to be ferals. If I get all my own questions answered, perhaps I won't feel the need to get our torturer to force them out of the prisoner here."
Zach glanced from the unconscious Sest on the ground to back at Raven, a look of annoyed anger clearly present on his face.
"Start talking or we're taking him back."
Five couldn't help but think that things like this weren't doing anything to improve his headache. However, getting answers from anybody about the feral group they had just seen was important... Those things...they'd been way too powerful. Being in the dark about them was the last thing he wanted.

asi • 3 February 2013 at 3:46 AM

"Fine," she snapped at Zach, not forgetting to be annoyed at everything he said. But there wasn't really any harm in talking, and if Raven could convince them to get rid of this scum right now, well.
This could take some time though, so she flopped herself down onto the cold snow ground, and gave herself a rest from Riley, as well as checking to make sure he was still out. Then she turned to Annabell. May as well start at the beginning.
"You remember what happened, that day? I was taken away by the government because I was too, well, unstable for Super School. They put me in one of those labs..."
She drifted off here. 'One of those labs' wasn't really the right way to put it. There were no labs like that. None could compare to how horrible that place was, the 'scientists' so sick and twisted they would probably make Two look like a freaking kitten. "With a little help- from someone you know, actually, Blaine- I got my power back under control and we wrecked half the place trying to escape.... I was too much of a handful after that, so they decided to simply things by dumping me here.
About thirteen months ago, I arrived at IOD. It was on my third mission that one of my team went Feral. They killed the rest before I managed to stop them, and that's when a rebel patrol- that's what they call themselves, rebels- came across me. The way things were laid out, they thought I'd been the one who turned Feral and caused the destruction. Well, most of it was my fault, but yeah," she hummed, remembering how amazing so much power had felt, how easy it had been. "And because my power was so overbearing on the senses, they couldn't tell the difference; so long as I pretended, I was safe.
The rebels are different from ordinary Ferals in one way. They don't have users. At all. Ferals are constantly at war with themselves, the struggle for control drives them crazy, they are consumed with anger and hatred, become nothing but animals... But when we're out of the way," she shrugged. "Well, you saw them. They can work together. They're still extremely powerful. And most importantly, smart. So smart that they found a way to get rid of us..."
Raven watched a single snowflake as it drifted towards the ground.

taffy789 • 3 February 2013 at 9:50 AM

"...Get rid of us?" Annabell repeated, the gears in her mind turning like clockwork. "Completely? Completely get rid of us..." She drifted off for a few seconds, getting lost in deeper thoughts.
Zach did nothing to fill the empty void of silence that Annabell had left, and was at the moment completely engrossed by what Raven had to say...although that was mostly because that was how he was able to tell if she was lying or not.
"...We did that before too, right? We were able to get rid of them before..." Annabell asked Raven, before quickly remembering that she hadn't been with them at the time of the said incident. "Oh. Well, I remember that Alex once lost her power...scientists, not fun. Then...she managed to get it back somehow. Maybe the serum failed..."
Not being able to help it- Zach bitterly laughed at the girl's comment. "That would be a stupid idea on the government's part. They just love torturing us dangerous people." Five shook his head, a sardonic note creeping into his voice, "The kids on this Isle would line up to get that drug-if it was a one-way ticket off this place."
"...It killed a lot of the testers. And the lab that created it doesn't exist anymore...the place got blown up by... An angry worker." The was the only way Annabell found herself being able to describe her insane, short-term roomate.
"Then I guess it isn't worth mentioning then, and here you were getting my hopes up." If there was a bit of truth in the second part of his sarcastic comment, Zach didn't show it. Five turned back to Raven, knowing that her story was true, and not showing any visible worry, if he had any at all.
"Smart, rebellious powers with a way to get rid of us. Please, you may now continue with this delightful story."
This all really wasn't helping his headache.

asi • 3 February 2013 at 1:31 PM

"That was Leon back there, wasn't it?" Raven said to Annabell, as the latter seemed deeply effected by her words. "Or rather, his power. It seemed like he was fighting against the rebels. That probably means Leon's still there. Things could be a lot worse..." she smiled slightly. "In fact, right now, being a rogue might be the safest place.
I've never heard of that," Raven frowned at the idea of a drug which would get rid of powers. Knowing those kinds of people, they would probably sell it for millions of dollars... There was no way they'd just give it out for free. "...I'd guess from the fact that Alex got her power back that it was more like a temporary restraint or something, like those devices the government used with the same effect..." It was some dream to imagine they could all be freed from powers, but Raven needed to keep a tight grip on reality.
She turned back to Zach and where she'd left off. "Alright. I was too worn out to fight them, and before I knew it..." she swallowed. "Of course they planned to use this thing on me directly. I would be Feral right now if it wasn't for one person; a girl who happened to be taking the treatment at the same time. Her power was to... Reverse effects."
She recalled clearly the person who had guided her to the room. He had smiled so mischievously as he showed her the chemical they would use, then pointed out the girl in the other bed bed, saying; 'Careful. Don't get to close to Inverse. During this stage of the treatment, her power spikes unpredictably, and could end up warping things imbued with power if they get too close," he'd winked before closing the door gently behind him.
With those casual words, Raven had been given all she needed to know.
"Instead of losing me, what I lost was my power. All I have left is a slight affinity for darkness; I can sort of still sense them around. For instance, fifteen meters behind me I can tell there's a small squirrel sitting on the pine's twelfth branch from the bottom, because of the shadow it casts," she explained quietly. "I told them I was merely suppressing my aura because it was too strong, but of course they started suspecting me..."

taffy789 • 3 February 2013 at 3:28 PM

"Leon's body, Charge's mind." Annabell confirmed, sighing.
"A suppressant? That would make more sense. Although it seemed pretty effective..." Annabell drifted off again as Zach spoke up.
"If the effects of the drug were reversed on you, doesn't that mean whatever happened to your power happened to the users also? If it didn't completely get rid of it, and just left a shadow- no pun intended- what does that mean for the users?" Zach questioned Raven, and then glanced over the unconscious feral, sighing. "What I want to know is how they even developed this drug anyway. But I suppose you will finish explaining all of it in a second." The last statement was clearly a hidden command, but a command never-the-less.

A disoriented figure stumbled amongst the pines, crashing into the thick bark of a tree every once in awhile. The sight of his own blood on his hands was relatively new, as was the sharp pain running up his side with every step he took. Charge pressed his hand against the bark of the tree to catch his breath, and accidentally smeared it with his red vital fluids. The feral took a deep breath, and then another. With every breath he took, his pain slowly started to exit him and was instead replaced with rage. Fury at being wounded, that gang of rebels turning his own electricity against him, and at his darn Pain reminding him that this body's old inhabitant was still ever-present in his mind...

asi • 4 February 2013 at 6:04 AM

Raven nodded in reply to Zach. "Exactly. Though I can't feel any presence from my power, and she was never a silent one... How can I possibly give up on these people, even if there's only a shadow of a hope? Annabell, do you remember Angelina and Stella? They were in our year at Super School. And Blaine's disappearance in France, I'd bet anything it was something to do with the rebels." She was also secretly relieved how no one seemed shocked or anything at her revelation of weakness, and wouldn't start treating her like a liability in battle. She'd been genuinely scared about telling anyone, though she had wanted to. Even though Riley was her best friend, he would definitely start acting like she was some helpless damsel in distress.
"As for how they developed this drug, it was this person's fault!" she kicked viciously at the unconscious rebel. "He was one of them, on the team which created it. For all we know, they could be completely impossible to restore. For all we know, he as good as killed them...
More than anything we can't take this person back to base. If we do, he'll tell Two where the rebel base is... Well, the fight would be disastrous. They may have half our numbers, but each Feral has nearly twice or even thrice the strength," she explained cooly.

taffy789 • 4 February 2013 at 7:25 PM

"Stella was one of Alex's friends," Annabell recalled, "and if I remember correctly, Angel..." She glanced towards Riley, not bothering to finish her sentence. Oh. Poor guy. She continued her statement."Anyway, I had wondered what had happened to Blaine."
"If you say this rebel helped to create the drug, that means that he must know more about it." Zach brought up, sighing, "Also, it might be a better decision to fight the rebels now, instead of when they recruited an army the same size of ours, and are four to five times as powerful as us."
"Yes, but then it would be a massacre on both sides." Annabell quickly interjected, "If we waited, perhaps we could find a way to stop them without using mass murder. It's possible! Raven thinks so, and I'm sure if Riley was awake, he'd agree also."
The girl's comment made Zach sigh, very awarethat all of his team mates had some bias to want to not kill of all the rebels in one swoop. It made him wonder if mutiny against a Leader was possible.
"Look, I honesty don't give a freak either way. They both lead to mass causalities on both sides. I'm just telling you what's the better option for us." Zach sounded tired, exasperated even. He turned to Raven. "You just said it yourself that it's possible that they could be completely impossible to restore."
"-It's possible, but there might be a way to save them." Annabell fought back, her fists clenching, "Besides, I doubt if we brought back the rebel, finding out about how to reverse to effects of the serum would come second to figuring out a way of attack, and destroy everyone with the drug inside of them. Finding a cure would be a moot point to the Falchions."
Five was starting to feel a bit light-headed from the smoke-and it further escalating his pounding head. Day one and his new position was already getting to him. What he really needed was a long nap back at base...too bad crazed fangirls had destroyed his office.
"Well, I guess I have no real opinion towards this fight." he sighed, and pulled a knife from his belt, holding it out to Raven between two of his fingers, "And honestly, I really don't mind if mass causalities happen to any side, truthfully."
Annabell blinked, not sure how she felt about a Leader of the Falchions saying that he didn't care if that said side was killed off. However, she didn't voice her discomfort, considering that Zach was allowing the rebels to walk away free.

smilies • 5 February 2013 at 1:31 AM

"We'll ask him about the drug then, but I guarantee every word will be a dirty lie, if he'll talk at all," Raven scowled.
There was also something else they had to worry about; the Glaeroes. If they were to wipe out the rebels now, and the Glaeroes seriously attacked them, they wouldn't survive. If things continued the way they were, though, this thing could spiral into a three-way war...
"... Hundreds of deaths are inevitable any way you look at it," Riley said quietly, scaring Raven so badly she leapt to her feet. How long had he been awake? And had he been reading her mind just now?!
He addressed Zach. "And you probably should mind. No one's going to be sitting on the sidelines, you know." Then: "I've already redirected the teleporter to here."
"Riley," Raven said in a warning tone, looking pointedly at the rebel.
"You captured one. I'm sure Two will appreciate it," his tone seemed no less mild than normal, but there was something about the way he said it that made it clear he wasn't taking questions.
Raven fell silent. He'd heard everything, even about Angel, and yet he was insisting on this? Why? She trusted him, but this was too strange. Riley was never this bossy, he was one of the most agreeable people she knew. However, he couldn't be under the influence of his power, firstly because she felt she would recognize it, and secondly because Raid would definitely not want Sest to be taken by the Falchions, she couldn't think of any possible motive for him doing that.
The teleporter appeared just a few meters away. She had made the decision to to snatch Zach's knife and use it, but before she could act on this Riley grabbed her hand to stop her, and shook his head ever so slightly. "No, Raven."
She looked at him, but he stared her down. She couldn't exactly win this fight...

asi • 5 February 2013 at 1:37 AM

Guithe shifted uncomfortably in her black Glaeroes outfit. "I feel little out of place," she admitted eventually, looking around her.
That was probably because they'd been walking through the base for ten minutes and NO ONE was wearing the uniform. Everyone was going around in casual. A few paused to stop and stare at them.
"You're doing fine," the stranger, to whom Xela refused to rise to the bait and ask his name, didn't exactly reassure them with his insidious smile, which grew more pronouncedly wicked as Xela glowered at him. "I didn't promise to help you mingle, only that I'd get you in." He made a show of looking about him. "Well, look at that. You're in!" he clapped his hands together. "Magic. So why are you two still following me?" he sounded puzzled.
The two girls just stopped and looked at him.
"Oh, go on then, shoo! I'm busy, walking and things," he waved them off. They still didn't move, so he simply shook his head in bemusement and wandered on off.
"... I can't believe that," Guithe was stunned. "What do we do now?"
"..." Xela slowly pivoted on the spot and began back in the way they had come, as she had seen some friendly-looking corridors that way, likely leading to Glaeroes living quarters.
This attracted many more odd looks.

taffy789 • 5 February 2013 at 6:30 PM

Shrugging, Zach slid the knife back into the sheath. He didn't mind not being on the sidelines. It was always possible to find a way to save himself, and even if it wasn't, he honestly didn't mind dying. He wasn't looking forward to it, but it was not smart to not be prepared for it- since it was inevitable considering where they were all at. Dying was going to happen at some point.
The fact that Riley had stopped Raven didn't bother him a bit, as he told the group, he felt as if he had no qualms in the fight. There was an obvious difference between unbiased and a lack of caring. Five had the latter- so he didn't feel as if his opinion was even that important, or even needed. The final choice belonged to the people who it mattered to.
...It didn't matter to Zach.
With that note in his head, Five strolled up to the teleporter and started to explain that they had a prisioner that they needed to take back.

~~

"Hey, hey! I wanna talk!" A familiar voice once again pounded on the doors outside of Two's office. Eight once again forget to use the button to call for the Leader, but everyone with ears could agree that her pounding on the doors was more than enough. "Come on! Let me in~!" The girl was clearly shouting with great annoyance now.

asi • 5 February 2013 at 8:56 PM

He'd just been returning to his office when his music was drowned out by a loud racket. Spike pulled his earphones free so he could at least understand one of them; it sounded like Eight yelling at something. Which definitely wasn't as nice to hear as Niccolo Paganini's 24th Caprice, no matter how he looked at it, but whatever. He'd forgive the interruption.
Once he'd turned the final corner, he brushed some of his messy black hair out of his eyes- it was getting quite long- and looked up to see what was going on. Sure enough, it was her trying to get into his office, again.
Two leaned against the wall and allowed Eight to bash on the doors for a while longer. They were made of metal, like the rest of the base, so it wasn't like they were going to suffer for it. And this was kind of entertaining to watch.
"Looking for someone?" he ventured after a time, when she started getting irritated. "You know, I'm not a complete shut-in."

They were at the West Gate in a flash. The teleporter went on with the prisoner, and then it was four.
Raven was mad at Riley. He hadn't given even a word of explanation, and it didn't look like he intended to now. She gave up and simply stormed off down the corridor in a huff.

taffy789 • 5 February 2013 at 9:29 PM

The Leader wheeled around to give Spike a look of utter disbelief.
"You're NOT?!?" she mouth gaped open, as if she couldn't believe it. "I thought you were like a vampire! But not of the sissy sparkly variety, of course!" The way Eight smiled after that statement made it difficult for anyone to tell if she was joking or not.
"Anyway, I just finally remembered something I should tell you..." She took on the demeanor similar to a child asking an adult if it was okayif they'd mixed the red and white clothes in the washing machine- one of knowing something might be wrong but not completely sure if it is.
"I sent that one new Leader guy on the mission- the one with the amnesiac memories. Although, I think they should be back soon, maybe in a hour or so, unless they found something interesting." The girl rocked back and forth on the heels of her feet, looking very much like a fearful child awaiting a response.

It was when they arrived back at base that Zach remembered that Leader's usually had to write a report about missions they lead.
...
No, he was tired. His head still was in pain, and that was the LAST thing he wanted to do. A plan already forming in his mind, he followed after Raven as she stormed angrily away, not caring that it probably wasn't the best time to ask his assistant to get started on her first task.

Annabell gave a slight nod towards Riley before also leaving on her own way. Her pace was less brisk than Raven's, but it was filled with more urgency. She headed back to her room, her mind literally racing with something she hadn't been able to stop thinking about since she saw Charge, and more so with the news about the rebelling powers...

asi • 5 February 2013 at 10:39 PM

Sissy sparkly vampires? He wasn't at all sure what she meant, but she wasn't calling him sparkly or sissy, so he supposed it was fine.
"That's it?" Two asked slowly, revealing a bored expression. If anyone else had come to bother him for something so insignificant, he probably would have had them at least placed on toilet cleaning for the next three weeks.
He walked past her into his office, which opened with a touch from him.
The dim green strips which were the only light source in the room slowly turned on, but all you got was a vague impression of a large space and a desk at the far end.
"I already got a memo," he said, "saying that I have a new 'patient'. So they can't have failed completely."

"What do you want?" Raven snapped, not bothering to turn around as she marched down the corridors in the direction of the workspace of Second D. The last thing she had wanted was her new boss around, but lately it seemed like someone had been stealing her luck and pouring it down the drain...

Riley lingered at the gate a while longer, before slowly wandering back to his rooms.
He knew that Angel was with the rebels, and now he was one step closer to saving her. The next person on his list was his sister, and knowing her, she was going to be a lot more difficult to find.

taffy789 • 5 February 2013 at 11:37 PM

"A new patient? That's pretty cool, when did you become a doctor?" Eight questioned, her previous demeanor fading as she followed Two into his office.
"Anyway, what is it? The patient, I mean. Do you know?" Eight started to wander around Two's office, and stopped at his desk. She paused, and then curiously picked up a stapler off his desk, bending it open and holding it to the wall as if she was holding a gun. The Leader then clicked the device rapidly, shooting out a lazy succession of staple-bullets that barely made it a centimeter before falling towards the floor.
"Anyway~. Do you need my assistance for the new person?" Eight asked, now crouching on the floor to retrieve the spent staples.


"I'm tired and, as the main authority that remained conscious the entire time, I'm sure I'll be stuck with writing a report. So...there's your first job." Zach informed Raven, and then turned to walk away, sighing. "I'm going to go take a nap."
He then started to walk towards his office, hoping the floors were comfortable- his office was still wrecked and Zach felt desperate.

asi • 6 February 2013 at 12:20 AM

"Patient; as they won't mind waiting a while. And no, not yet." He ignored her offer of 'assistance'. She could do as she pleased. He, on the other hand, would do what was required of him.
"Would you rather talk about work or play Halo 4? I'd much rather play Halo," Spike sighed, looking at the mess staples on his floor. "But I guess I'll be doing work."
He frowned unconciously as he breifly scrolled through his computer's mail; there was nothing of particular importance there, but with every new message he appeared more and more troubled. Finally he closed it shut with a loud click. He supposed he ought to go and check this new person out now. Eight seemed to think they were interesting.

Raven glowered at the floor for a minute before turning and calling after him; "Hey! Weren't you interested in what the rebel will say?"
Knowing him, he would probably just say he didn't care... But she had wanted to try anyway.

taffy789 • 6 February 2013 at 6:04 PM

Five paused mid-stride.
"Hmm? Of course I'm interested in what the rebel has to say, yet I'm afraid sitting in while our torturer pulls that information from the rebel isn't something I really want to witness at the moment." Zach answered, not turning around. "What are you getting at?"


"Hmm, works cool, I guess." Eight replied, and stood up, the staples cupped in one of her hands. She lingered around Spike's desk, watching him as he scrolled through the emails on his computer. While the Leader most likely didn't notice the look on her face as she watched him, but had he, he might have been surprised to find that Eight was silently staring at him with more clarity than usual.
As he shut the laptop, the girl turned away, still clutching the stapler in her hand, and deposited the handful of used staples onto his desk in a neat pile.
"...Hey~. Do you know that... I've never used my power on you?"
The statement came suddenly from Eight, who was now leaning against the desk with her back to Two, and still was absentmindedly clicking the stapler.
"I mean, I've never looked through and I've never changed any of your memories. I suppose it would be a very, very bad idea in any case, but..." She trailed off, either thinking or not sure how to continue. The stapler kept clicking throughout her pause.
When she final spoke again, her voice was a bit harder than usual.
"I guess I've always known I would never like them."
There was a strange silent that followed her, and the clicks started to pace themselves to start to sound as if they were ticks on a clock.

awesomeness • 6 February 2013 at 6:09 PM

The small box felt very heavy in her hands.
Annabell sat in her bed, considering the small, black box silently.
Before she'd been taken to IOD... She had found this in her old "roomies" stuff. The Faith girl.
Recognizing what it is, she took it with her...and now here it was. She had held the key to solving at least one of her problems, and maybe even many more, in her hands...and yet she had been afraid to even think about it.
However, seeing Charge today- not to mention that bombshell about the rebels- had changed her mind about things.
She took a small breath, and quietly pulled the lid off the box.
Three needles, all lined up in a row and filled with a strange, green serum, each sat in a special, needle-shaped hole in the container.
Annabell's breath released. Good. They were still here.
She slowly closed the lid, and slid the item back under her pillow, where it would stay until she could find a better place to hide them.
Raven had described them the best when she'd called them power-repressors.
They were the very thing that could save Leon from Charge, or even perhaps the rebels, if the Falchion's could develop new drugs...
Although, there was still a problem with the drug. It still wasn't tested.
What could easily save her friend could just as easily kill him.

smilies • 7 February 2013 at 3:37 AM

"Oh, I get it, you're squeamish," Raven smiled slightly. "I just remembered something. It could be nothing... But he... They had such different mannerisms, I almost didn't recognize it... Let's just say I think there may be a lot Two'll want to leave off the record this time. And if this rebel actually does know something about how to reverse the treatment, or anything else helpful, and I'm right..." she broke off, realizing she was wasting important time. Two could start interrogating any time between now and twelve hours later, she estimated, but hopefully the rebel would be important enough to be seen without too much delay. Raven strode briskly off down the corridor.
She didn't want to miss this, even if she had to stay up all night (she now had access to coffee. Yes!).

He looked a little surprised at the sudden topic. "I don't know that," Spike answered simply. "I don't actually think I've ever given the matter any thought."
He watched the stapler, and without knowing he was doing it, began counting the clicks.
"My memories..." Two seemed to consider his past for a few moments, something which he scarcely did nowadays. He tilted his head back and stared upwards. He couldn't see the ceiling, the room didn't have enough lighting for that; just the receding blackness vanishing into nothing.
"You might be surprised," he said finally. The worst kind of hurt, he thought, was when it turned what had been good, painful. Still, that didn't mean they weren't happy memories; it just meant aren't happy memories now.
"Listen, Eight," he called her that while realizing for the first time he didn't actually know any other name for her. "...There's something I wanted to tell you."

taffy789 • 7 February 2013 at 5:47 PM

"Actually, I don't believe in prolonging death." Zach replied, watching Raven as she walked away. He considered her offer, thinking about what she'd just said. Did Shadow...know something? About Two?
If it was important enough of a hunch to want to sit through a torture interrogation, it must be pretty important. Maybe the hunch that the girl had- whatever it was- was right. He wouldn't doubt it; Zach was aware he wasn't the only one with some form of intuition, even if it was just the "pit of the stomach" feeling everyone else had.
Remebering to smirk at Raven's "squeamish" comment, the Five strode after his assistant, catching up to her fast.
"Yeah, I simply believe that playing with your enemy like that- keeping them alive until you had your fun- is something that only sadistic ferals enjoy doing." Zach finished his case, letting out a small sigh as he remembered something.
His forehead suddenly started to throb again, and he lifted his hand to the small gash on his head, frowning.
"I need to pick up gauze for this, or something..." he thought aloud.


The blue-haired Leader slightly flinched as Two spoke, and although it was hard to see, her grip tighted around the stapler with new force.
"...If I look deep enough, maybe. That's how it's with everyone here. All good memories until they get here. Or, more commonly, they had terrible memories before they even got here. But after they come here- all good memories disappear. Bad memories overtake lives, and choke out the good. And all because they're just harder to forget."
In the darkness of the room, it was almost impossible to see Eight's hand now gripping the stapler so hard that it seemed she might actually break it. Her free hand nervously rubbed at the many jingly brackets embellishing her wrist. There was a small intake of a breath before she spoke, and her whole body calmed a bit, her hands dropping to her sides.
"...Bad memories make people unhappy." Eight spoke simply, as if transitioning back to her usual, informal way of speaking, characterized by a bit of exaggerated glumness in her words. "Nobody is happy here. Nobody can be happy here."
There was a short pause.
"Feel free to tell me anything, Spike-y~."