Private Roleplay~ IOD

asi • 26 May 2013 at 5:59 AM

Could it really be possible that Two was behind the rebels? While the evidence definitely looked that way, the mind-reader found that he didn't want to think so. Even though everything about Two was emblazoned with, 'dark' and 'suspicious', he had been the person to find Riley and help him get his memories back. He'd been the first person he'd seen when he'd really woke up, and Riley wanted to trust the leader. He couldn't, but he wanted to.
His power broke off his reverie by cocking his head and saying, "Well, it's been nice knowing you."
Riley started. "What do you mean?"
"I think you're about to die- painfully," Raid said dubiously. "Some kind of fire?"
"Wait, I'm going to die? What about you?" This had been puzzling Riley for a while; even though his power had independent thoughts, was an entirely different person, they still shared a body. Why did Raid act like what happened to his user didn't affect him?
Raid only smiled enigmatically. And then, vanished.

Inverse walked with a slight stagger as she pressed her hand hard to her wounded side in an effort to slow the bleeding. It wasn't fatal, but it was definitely painful, and she had completely drained herself of energy reversing that explosion around her. Inverse could feel herself going lightheaded.
"Weak," she accused herself angrily, and forced herself forwards.
She stopped before a large, rectangular box. Her comrades, Chase and Hale, had taken cover behind it from the explosion. They'd clearly been luckily and and got barely any of it, because the wood was only badly scorched. It seemed like the speed user was out, and the kid looked exhausted. Inverse spared them very little attention, however. It was preoccupied with the blood on the floor. Some, she recognized by scent, was Voeing's. But the rest... She knelt down and trailed a finger through it. The fire had dried it but luckily not caused evaporation.
From Chase's pocket she took a syringe, already three-quarters full with a transparent liquid. To the contents of this she added a pinch of the blood. It slowly turned a bright, nearly glowing cobalt color. This, she figured, would probably be a lot like a blast of pure adrenaline.
Inverse injected it straight into the heart of the Riley lying unconscious in the coffin.
Three seconds passed.
'Riley' jolted straight up as if shocked by lightning, gasping for breath. His eyes were the very same cobalt, though as he began to settle down, they grew greener.
"Welcome back," she said idly.

taffy789 • 26 May 2013 at 3:31 PM

While suddenly getting tackled by your purser was frightening, the sweltering fire Annabell felt next was absolutely terrifying.
A blanket of pure flame and fire seemed to surround her, cover her, and choke her. With the pure heat blasting her face and roaring in the inferno around, Annabell couldn't help but think that she was baking in an oven, or perhaps, a victim of some cruel witch burning.
Although Annabell wasn't aware of this, Voeing had done a pretty nice job of blocking the fiery blast, and had protected both the girl and Riley from the blunt of the flame while even splitting the blast down the middle, and away from the two. This still didn't stop all the fire, however, and Annabell, being the furtherest away from Voeing and facing outwards, towards the inferno, had to pull her knees and arms over her face to protect it from the burning wall of flame. The girl was forced to bite down on her shirt collar to prevent herself from screaming out in agony. The blaze licked and scorched the tops of her forearms, and seared her pants legs below the knee, leaving the skin blistered, and a sickening, throbbing red color.
The heat wave dispersed as quickly as it had come, but Annabell couldn't possibly unlatch her burnt limbs from around her body until all the heart pounding fear left and allowed her to once again move her muscles. Slowly, she regained control of her body, and lifted her head from her knees to scan the area around her.
The entire corridor around her seemed to have melted into a puddle of hot, metal liquid, a puddle that was spreading to the area where she squatted and was slowly melting her shoes. She could see the spots where the walls had melted away, revealing the- now abandoned- bedrooms of others she hoped had managed to escape the explosion.
Annabell looked down and examined herself, numbly registering the screaming of her burns, and noted that her hair, clothing, and most likely her face too, were coated in a thin layer of black soot.
Oh, and, she realized that the raging inferno bearing down on her had frightened her enough to revert to becoming visible once again, but she couldn't find the willpower to correct this at the moment, and allowed herself to remain unobscured.
Her mouth felt strangely dry and her head still spun, making the entire world feel as if it set on vibrate. Remembering Riley, she turned to look backwards, and felt relieved to see that he had been sandwiched between her and the rebel, and seemed to be safe...

asi • 26 May 2013 at 9:01 PM

Arms trembling, she slowly released her tensed muscles and let them flop to her sides. Voeing blinked rapidly, trying to adjust to the sudden darkness of the corridor in contrast to the shocking light of fire. Hesitantly, she lowered her eyes to see if she could really be unharmed. Her skin was still soft and untouched, but her clothes!
Voeing took a deep breath. She wasn't a human, she was a being of pure, raw power! Why should she care about petty human modesty?
... No! It was too embarrassing! She squeaked and clutched the smoldering remains of her garments to herself, hurriedly patting down the parts which had caught alight, blushing furiously.
"Are y-you okay?" she turned and asked the now visible girl worriedly, quickly forgetting clothes on remembering the others' vulnerability.

Raven took no notice of him, however, as the tremor reached its climax, a loud roaring sound, reminding her a little of the sea, and a sudden heat came over the room. But as quickly as it came, it passed. When nothing seemed to happen, Raven slowly lightened her grip on a second chair.
"... What on earth was that?" she said, eyes wide. Still ignoring the sharp pain of her arm, she walked over the hole Six's feral had left and looked around. A fair distance away, she could see walls oddly blacked.

Raid lay back down and closed his eyes, the excruciating ordeal of switching bodies had clearly drained him. Inverse turned back to the sorry-looking pair of male powers. Hale was gently shaking Chase, trying to bring him round. She, however, wasted no time such pleasantries and ruthlessly kicked him in the stomach.
"Is the teleporter ready? And where is that little evo-girl, anyway? She's the only one who seems of use around here," she said disdainfully- although her own pixie-like proportions were in reality much smaller than Voeing's.

taffy789 • 26 May 2013 at 10:28 PM

 Annabell turned to the strange Power upon hearing her speak, but didn't say a word. Instead, she just stared at the rebel from under her charred blonde locks, wondering why in the world the Power would even care about her well-being. The girl acted different from the other Powers, that was for sure.
 Maybe not all the other rebels, however. This "Voeing" and Blaine's Power shared a common trait- they were the only ones who seemed like they wouldn't take great pleasure in maliciously killing her... 
Well, the green-haired girl had chased her, but she had also done a great deal of apologizing about that, which showed way more regret than a Power like Venus had when carrying out mass murder... 
 Annabell shook the thoughts from her head, and tried to ground herself back to the happenings on Earth.
 "...I'm... fine." she barely managed to choke out, her breathing still uneven. "A few burns, but-"
 She stopped once more, finding the fact that she was conversing with Voeing, the "rebelling Power", a bit silly. Still, it was much more pleasant than a death match, she admitted. 
 "...Do you need another shirt, or...something?" Annabell changed the subject away from herself, noticing the state of the Power's clothing, before respectfully diverting her attention to the top of the girl's head. 


 "Whatever it was, it's gone now, and didn't hurt us. So I guess it doesn't really matter that much." Zach replied to Raven from his spot on the floor. He dropped his glare from the girl, and instead began to  scowl at the floor as if it had somehow offended him. 

asi • 27 May 2013 at 2:10 AM

"..." Riley indulged himself in a moment of rare swearing when he found himself floating alone in this dreamlike manifestation of his subconscious. His own power had turned on him and then told him with complete confidence that his enemy was in fact the strongest person he knew among the Falchions, and also that Riley was about to die... And there didn't seem like much he could do about it, not stuck here! How was he supposed to leave? There weren't any of those neon green exit signs about...
That's when he heard it; a loud, sucking sound, like water going down a drain. When he saw the water level dropping, Riley realized that was EXACTLY what it was. Except the water was going upwards.
But gravity was still going downwards.
The air was so cold it practically burned his skin as he broke through the water and fell into blackness. The blackness of closed eyelids. Cautiously, he opened them and stared ahead in confusion at a puzzling form...
Was that a girl half-naked?
When she noticed him and practically shrieked, he realized he'd kind of been staring and hurriedly averted his gaze.
"Pervert!" the greenhead yelped, hugging her arms around her chest as if to shield herself from masculine eyes.
"I didn't mean to-" he started, but stopped as another girl walked onto the scene. Her dark, navy blue hair was tomboy-short, and her eyes glowed yellow. She wore a shirt which looked strangely fluffy, brown and speckled with white, reminding strangely Riley of a fawn. Her expression was anything but kindly, however, as she addressed Voeing; "Great, you're alive. Now kill the spares and come along; it's time to go." Inverse turned her back to leave.
"E-eh...?" The adaption power looked unnerved by this order, and for a second, she hesitated.
But Chase had told her she'd have to be prepared to kill for their revolution. It was to free the powers.. The users would never stop trying to enslave them.
"Freedom comes at a price, Voeing..." Inverse said, before walking away.
If this was the price... So be it. She'd saved their lives, but it was time to revoke that favor.
Voeing drove her knife home into the boy's heart, and didn't dare watch him go but grabbed a second blade from her belt and looked at the girl.

Shrugging, Raven couldn't blame him for lack of curiosity after that fight. She returned to the room and collapsed on a chair, hoping vaguely that nothing particularly bad had befallen Riley, Annabell or the rest. Nah, she reassured herself. They were probably fine.

taffy789 • 27 May 2013 at 4:20 AM

Forget it. 
Annabell decided to forget everything she'd just thought about the rebel. She decided to permanently wipe every small judgement she'd made about the Power from her head. The assumptions withered away to husks of meaningless ponderings in an instant.
 Gone. Zip. Nada.  
 Nothing left. Nothing left but Annabell's now icy stare boring holes into the top of Voeing's skull. She hadn't been prepared for the Power to have such a sudden change in attitude, though she was throughly kicking herself over and over in her mind for not thinking it possible. The rage she felt towards herself travelled outwards, directing itself at the green-haired girl and leaving a dry, bitter taste in Annabell's mouth. 
She couldn't possibly injure the rebel with her knife, and since the Power had now shown it could hurt others, a fight seemed imminent.
 Really, Annabell was only left with one option, which had been her first choice of action to begin with- running. 
 Her silently boiling anger served as motivation enough to allow the girl to once again disappear in a blink of an eye. She shot up, making sure to throw a rough, invisible elbow towards Voeing's nose in the process, spun around on her heels, and took off in the first direction she saw- she knew anywhere she ended up would be good as long as it was away from the rebels. 


 Zach pressed a hand against the thin line of blood forming on his neck- the spot where the sickle had barely dug into. It hurt about the same as a paper cut would, so the Leader wasn't too worried about the wound. On the other hand, he was concerned over the entire "my intuition is picking up on Raven" crisis he had during the battle. 
 Zach sighed, still grimacing at the floor.
His power took cues from him; this he knew. There had only been one person he had really cared enough about to look after before- as if he really had a choice in wether he'd wanted to or not- and his power had always kept close tabs on them.
 The point made clear, there shouldn't have been a reason for his intuition to help Raven, not at all. Just because he sometimes chatted with the girl didn't mean he was even the slightest bit friendly towards her! 
 In fact, Zach thought to himself, reverting back to glaring at the girl, he even hated her! God, she was annoying enough for him to despise! Five hoped that his power would pick up on his emotions and correct whatever problem it was currently having...and fast at that.

asi • 27 May 2013 at 7:30 AM

Time was up. Slowly, in threes and fours, rebel powers began to emerge from different directions and regroup around Chase, Hale, and their sleeping leader. Inverse rejoined them in no hurry.
"Where's Voe?" Chase, now apparently having finally overcome his... Injury.
She looked back over her shoulder. Still no Voeing. "God, how long does it take her to deal with a couple of kids," she scowled. The girl was only a small ways down the corridor from them.
"Well, we're going now. I'll fetch," Chase said, and vanished in a flash.
She rolled her eyes at the speed-power's obvious attempt to do something useful and mend his pride. Men. Inverse eyed the proof of her own defeat, and admitted to Two having won that round. But next time; next time she'd have the satisfaction of seeing him dead. She grinned viciously at the thought.
And that had only been one fight; looking over the rebels, she felt like they'd won this battle. They'd lost less than twenty, by Inverse's count, but there at least thirty Falchions flung unconscious over shoulders. And most importantly, they'd got Raid. Their leader.
"Great job, guys," she smirked. "Mission successful."

No matter how hard she concentrated on a certain spot of the wall, Raven couldn't help but be incredibly conscious of the fact that the fifth leader was still fixedly staring daggers at her, as if he thought looks really could kill. Or maybe that was just his default ezpression, she thought with some amusement. It was actually starting to get to the point of creepy, but she couldn't deal with another stupid argument right now. Raven just sighed and tried to relax anyway.
The longer she stayed still, however, the more her focus fell to her now throbbing arm. It still didn't feel as bad as it looked, thankfully, because it looked dreadful. Raven could only grimly hope it would stay that way.
Eventually she recalled that since the original breakiing of this arm, she had determined to carry elastic wrap about with her at all times. Withdrawing it from her pocket, she proceeded, with much difficulty, to preoccupy herself with fixing her shattered arm tight across her stomach in the style of the anicent Egyptian pharaohs.

smilies • 30 May 2013 at 12:09 AM

Bliss and Zan both looked at the girl with exactly identical expressions.
"Er, maybe you're correct..." Bliss sweatdropped. It really did seem this person was a mental case!
"In any case, I need to go, now," Zan said darkly. "And I need you to come with me."
Bliss sighed. This had definitely not been in his plans, he'd came here for his friend... But this power seemed to need him more.  Sometimes you just needed to roll with the flow, go with the punches. Or whichever way around it was. "Alright, just leave the girl and I'll come willingly. I'll help you get your user back."
Zan nodded. It wasn't in his nature to ask nicely or say thank you. Once Blaine was back, he could do those things for him.

Too slow; the blonde vanished in a flash, and Voeing could do nothing to prevent the sharp hit to her face. Was her nose broken? It sure hurt like it. She whimpered slightly; she'd just taken damage by blunt force, and now was open to knives and fire again. Voeing heard a slight sound and whipped around, expecting another attack; but it was just Chase.
"They're gone," he told her, and she felt a wave of relief wash over her, that the girl had gotten away. Her user had been forced to kill before, but this was the first time she'd... She stared down at the dead Riley, numb.
"I think we should take this one with us," the speed-power said cautiously, while pulling off his shirt and wordlessly handing it to her. Voeing blushed slightly and quickly pulled it on.
"H-huh? Why?" she asked, as he hefted the dead body over his shoulder and then offered her his other arm for support, which she accepted gratefully.

asi • 30 May 2013 at 12:12 AM

They walked until they could see the other rebels ahead before he replied. "Well," he said with uncharacteristic hesitance. "Back on that last feral collection mission, I thought I saw-"
Chase was interrupted when without warning, a blade slid through his chest. His white singlet was slowly soaked red as the two stared in shock.
"I-" he gasped, the blood draining from his face, leaving him white as a sheet.
"No!!" Voeing screamed, stumbling backwards, with hands tearing at her green hair in horror as the blade was retracted and the speed-power left to collapse on the floor, dead.
"Noooo!" she wailed again and charged at the attacker, only to be batted aside like a fly. Her head hit the metal with a sickening crack.
"Two!" Inverse shouted in rage at the arrival. In her hand, she was clenching tightly the teleporter, which was pulsating with a cold, alice-blue glow.
"Two?" From amongst the rebels, Bliss echoed the title, staring with an expression of confusion at the leader.
A pair of impossibly black orbs glanced over the healer's face, and Spike seemed for a moment at a loss to recall this person. "... Bliss..?"
To Two's surprise, for he had hit the girl with enough force to knock her dead, Voeing got straight back up and ran at him again, knife aimed at his throat... He blocked the attack and froze her on the spot, but before he could give the rebels the same treatment, the powers vanished in a bright ice-blue flash, and Bliss with them. They were gone.
"..." He was left with only two dead males and the time-locked greenhead. Among the former, he recognized Four. Spike sighed, turned and left. Time to assess the rest of the damage, he thought with the slightest sensation of a sinking stomach.

taffy789 • 30 May 2013 at 6:29 PM

Annabell raced down the hallway, only to tumble to the floor when her half-melted shoes slipped on a puddle of cooling molten metal. 
 As soon as the raw, blistered skin below her knees made contact with the still-warm floor, shockwaves of pain flew up her body, and she cried out, suddenly aware of the agony her legs had felt as they carried her farther away from the rebels. Gritting her teeth, she pulled herself into a sitting position, scooted herself towards a wall, and laid her back against it to rest. The shock was wearing off by now, and it started to become more difficult for Annabell to think through the burning sensation in her limbs. She could focus on one thing, however, and prayed that the rebels had chosen to leave Riley's body alone. If what had happened the last time he had died happened again, the boy could still be alive-or, well, at least as animated as he could get. 
 With this little hope in mind, Annabell slowly willed herself to stand, and started back down the hall which she'd came from, crossing her fingers that she would find Riley's body where it had been left... 
  After a minute of stumbling down the corridor, the girl was surprised to not discover the body of her dead friend, but somebody else traversing the halls who seemed familiar...
 "...Oh. Two?" Annabell blinked, the realizing who the black hair belonged to. She then remembered herself, and revealed herself visible to the Leader. 
 "You're here..." the gears in her mind turned, recalling her original mission, before she'd learned about Riley's kidnapping plot...
  "...You haven't found Eight yet, have you?" she questioned the Leader, not positive if he'd found her, given her up for dead, and had left. Better to assume he was still searching, of course. 
 "I found her; she's in her office, but-" she trailed off, suddenly not sure how to finish. Was the peppy Leader even alive or dead? Had Bliss been able to save her, or perhaps the girl was still a statue...? 
Really, how does one even begin to describe Eight's predicament? 

asi • 1 June 2013 at 12:39 PM

He looked at the girl. "Unless she is currently in the process of dying, number Eight is not first on my priority list. Tell me, is she in any immediate danger?" Two questioned, eyes glinting coldly. If she was being attacked, then this girl should not have left Eight- or injured, the same. And did he look like a healer? While they still had many wild Ferals wrecking havoc on the base. This girl had better not be wasting his time.
Abruptly, he said; "And also, who exactly are you?" Two didn't think he recognized the person at all.

"Thank the gods you were there," One breathed in the clear, fire-free with unconcealed relief. "If it hadn't been for you, I'd have been toast!" she collapsed onto her bed, sinking deep into the ridiculous heap of pillows.
"...." The teleporter girl made no indictation she had heard the thanks. "Just don't count on it a second time," she finally said, before vanishing in a flash.
One sat up and blinked at the spot. That was one very strange girl. She wondered what was up with her- Telly had used to be a very kind, friendly person...
But that was IOD for you...
She sighed and flopped back down. For instance, she wondered, and not for the first time; what on earth had happened to Two...?

Her arm secured, if a bit.... 'artistically', Raven was once again left unoccupied with Five still STARING. It was then that she smelled a strange scent in the air; was that blood? It drew her attention to Zach's cut, though curiously, in her experience, she should not have been able to smell so little...Whatever. Armed with more bandage wrap, she advanced on the hostile leader, and said threateningly; "Struggle and you will get strangled."

taffy789 • 1 June 2013 at 8:33 PM

"I'm Annabell- from Sector Six." Annabell introduced herself to the Leader, bewilderment spreading across her face. She hadn't properly told him her name, she supposed, but Two's confusion made it seem like he didn't recognize her at all...
 "Eight- uh, well, number Eight..." Admittedly, it felt silly to address the off-the-wall  Leader even the slightest bit formally, especially considering the spunky girl had dubbed Annabell "Annie", but there was something rather intimidating about Two that demanded formality. Then again, it could've just been Annabell's first instinct telling her to avoid stepping on any toes whenever possible- particularly when the owner of the toes was a torturer.
 "She and I sought you out, but she ran off and you went to go look for her, just a little while ago." she reminded the Leader, wondering if he had forgotten. Maybe he'd become a victim of Eight's memory tricks? Who knew could really say?
 "However, I eventually found her, and discovered that she..." Annabell trailed off, trying to remember what Bliss had said about Eight's condition. Good thing she still retained her spy memory from all that training... 
"In the words of a healer who was there also, the Leader had been frozen in time, and with a sword in her vitals. I think it might have been a feral attack. The healer stayed with Eight while I left to go... help others in the base, so I don't know what became of the Leader exactly. I've just seen you, and wanted to see if you'd seen her yet, or-" 
 Annabell paused, not sure how to continue, and aware that if she would keep talking, she'd most likely start blabbering. 


 Zach took in Raven's threatening warning, the bandage in her hand, the cut on his neck, and quickly pieced together what was about to happen. 
 He retreated from the approaching girl, pressing his back closer against the wall behind him. Even as he prepared the possible escape routes in his head, Five knew there would be no chase. The battle with the life-stealing Power had drained him, and after getting clocked with the chair, he didn't even know if he had it in him to stand. 
 This didn't stop him from using his legs to scoot him across the floor and away from Raven, however.
 "Truthfully, I'd much rather you just strangle me." Zach frowned, his hand tightening protectively around the wound on his neck. 

asi • 3 June 2013 at 8:24 AM

She's... Worse than Three was before. (Though she couldn't hold a candle to Eight, he had to admit). However, it wasn't like her speech never held interest, though he didn't show it. Even when he heard what the 'healer' (who was almost certainly Bliss) had said, and his gaze inadvertedly drifted downwards to the sword he held, his expression didn't change. Two was the only one among the Falchions with power over time, and this blade was more than just unique. It didn't take his IQ to work this one out. He was vaguely interested to see how long it would take her.
"... Annabell," her name sounded slightly sarcastic. He hadn't been asking for her silly name, but her number and power... Whatever. "Are you suggesting that Eight's situation is more important than a baseful of wild, murderous ferals? That there's anything I could do to change whether she lives, or she dies?" he paused to let that sink in, then stalked past her, a hundred ferals on his mind.

"Are you serious?" Raven was disbelieving. "Trust me, it's not like the mummy-wrap WANTS to preserve something as ugly as you," she rolled her eyes, scornfully told him to quit being a baby, and lobbed the stuff at him. She only had one arm anyway, while Zach had two; he could grow up and do this crap for himself.
She knew after all she'd been through today, Raven should be tired as death, but it just hadn't hit her yet. It probably had something, alright, a LOT to do with the creepy starey leader in the room. How was a girl supposed to relax with that around?
"You know what?" she said after a quiet moment. "I AM going to go look around after all. The view may be just as boring, but at least walls don't also glare at me," she quipped, careful not to let the slightest bit of hurt mar her tone, and turned to leave.

taffy789 • 3 June 2013 at 7:28 PM

The Leader of the Second Division left Annabell slightly perplexed. 
It wasn't if she had been on her knees, pleading with him to go "save Eight" or anything. He'd asked if the Leader had been in any immediate danger, and she reported what she knew. The only reason Eight had been brought up in the first place was because the last time Annabell saw Two, he had set off to go look for the girl...
 With a sigh, Annabell brushed off all the confusion as a problem with memory. Most likely, Eight caused, as it made perfect sense for the girl to mess with Two's mind once he cornered her asking about the serum... 
 Speaking of the power-repressor, Annabell should've mentioned it to Two, but seeing as he now seemed concerned with the ferals, she decided to leave that long explanation for a better time. Besides, she still needed to find Riley, and she set off down the hall once again with that goal in mind. 

  A little further down the hall, she finally found what she'd been looking for...and a little extra, in the form of one frozen and one dead feral. 
 Seeing the powers threw her off, but upon realizing neither of them were currently threats, Annabell rushed over to Riley to see if he showed any signs of awakening.



Zach caught the gauze as it was thrown at him, and he pocketed it as he started to scoot across the floor again. He managed to propel himself a few feet and to a far corner in the room, where he leaned his head against the wall in a vain attempt to make his position more comfortable. 
 "Have fun fighting off the ferals scouting the halls." he called out to the leaving Raven. 
 "I'll be here still, with the rotting dead people." 
 In all seriousness, the blood of the dead was beginning to settle, dry and crust, which nobody wanted to be in a room with. However, the highly exhausted Zach couldn't move or follow Raven even if he wanted to, which he didn't, so taking a quick nap in a slowly stinking room seemed to be the only option available to him. It was either that or ask Raven to carry him, which he didn't plan on doing in a million years, especially since he remembered that decision about hating her. 
 Five took out the gauze Raven had thrown at him and began to wrap his own wounds- even the one on his head that he'd obtained prior to the feral lockdown- as he continued to speak to the girl. 
  "If you die, can you at least have the class to name a new assistant in your place? I really don't want to deal with that drama."

asi • 3 June 2013 at 10:37 PM

"You look so much like your father," he said sincerely, staring deeply into Xela's eyes. "And you have your mother's voice; I heard you sing at the funeral. It was beautiful."
"Alex has much greener eyes," she said, looking away. "The purple's me. Wait... What do you know about my-HER mother's singing? She never sung."
Lich looked mildly surprised. "Really? She used to be famous, didn't you know?"
Frowning, she said; "No, I-"
"Anyway," he interrupted, "I wasn't talking about your eyes. He had warm eyes, like a cosy fireplace. Yours are those of cold flame."
Xela looked at him and deadpanned; "...So you were talking about my hair."
Silence stretched awkwardly.
"Xela has very pretty hair when she washes it!" Guithe put in cheerfully, not understanding the conversation at all.
"Oh. How rude of me, I should give you two some time to settle down..." Lich stood up abruptly to go.
"No, it's fi-" Xela stared as he fell flat on the floor. Uh... Had he somehow slipped or something? Was he okay?
At the same time, she felt a sharp pain in her chest, as if she'd just been... Stabbed in the heart. Was this... The human emotion called shock, or was it worry, or fear? It felt so much more physical than she'd ever imagined...
"Ehhhheheh," a few seconds later, a giggle came from the floor. "Sorry. I black out sometimes..." he hopped straight back up and gave her a wink. "Anyways, catch you later!" he was gone.
Xela and Guithe exchanged equally estranged looks.

"Don't worry about me, I'd live just to deny you the satisfaction," she muttered under her breath, sauntering out of the room and into the strangely sultry corridors of the base. It still felt easier to breathe for Raven than that of the room.
In a crazy random happenstance, she came across two, no four figures, though half were down... Wasn't that Annabell? And wait, wasn't that Riley? He was lying motionless... No doubt he'd get up any second, right?
"Annabell!" she called out to get the girl's attention.

taffy789 • 4 June 2013 at 12:23 AM

"Raven?!" Annabell jumped a foot into the air, not expecting someone to call out for her so suddenly. She stood up from where she knelt by Riley's body to meet the girl as she approached. 
 "Raven, you scared me a bit there, to be honest." Annabell admitted while quickly glancing an eye over her friend. "...Are you alright? What happened to your arm...?"
 Her worry over Raven reminded the girl of her own appearance, and she tried to imagine how she looked with her singed hair and clothing, burnt skin, half-melted shoes and soot covered face. ...Probably not "Cover Girl" material, unless they were doing a issue about burn victims. 
 "...The explanation for myself, in short, is that it has not been a good night- not at all." Annabell forced herself to lightly laugh. "The worst part of everything might just be the fact that I took a shower before all of this..." 
 She shook her head slightly before moving onto their mutual, currently dead, friend on the ground.
 "There's a lot to this story," Annabell said quietly, her gaze shifting to the Riley at her feet but thinking of the other dead doppelganger, the one in the coffin, "but I can sum it up by saying the rebels did this. He hasn't... come back yet, but I just got here, so..."
 She trailed off, now shifting from foot to foot uneasily. How long was Riley's re-animation suppose to take anyway? Was it different each time? ...Was it even going to happen this time?!
 

asi • 5 June 2013 at 1:04 AM

"Feral," she grimaced, gesturing with her free arm dismissively. Taking in Annabell's and the general surrounding's state of disarray, Raven deduced that some kind of fire must have taken place here. Luckily, her friend seemed okay, even in decent spirits. Riley, on the other hand...
"I haven't a clue what's going on," she slid to the ground with a sigh. The metal was actually nicely warm. "Not with Riley or anyone. Just that he's died and returned twice already, and that he doesn't know a thing about it... It's not natural, Annabell. I think... Someone else is behind this. But I've never heard of anyone who could bring back the dead. A power like that, it seems like the only solution, but it's not possible... Ugh, just thinking about it makes my brain hurt," she blew out her breath in an irritated huff.
Instead, Raven turned her attention to the other two in the corridor. "Wait, I don't think the powers did this. I remember these two from that last mission; they're rebels!" she said, eyes wide.

Septa slammed the bathroom door behind him and stumbled backwards until he felt the reassuringly hard, cold and straight wood behind his back. His reflection across the room stared back, alarmingly pale and shivering. Slowly, he raised a hand up to eye level and watched as his mirror image did the same. It was an ordinary hand, and no matter how much he strained and exerted himself, Septa couldn't seem to summon the energy he needed.
"Damit, Riley!" he cursed, realizing this. "Try dying a little less?" Stuffing himself with chocolate wasn't going to replenish the kind of strength Lich required anytime soon. But Riley had a time limit...

taffy789 • 5 June 2013 at 3:38 AM

 Not possible? 
 Annabell thought back to everything she'd seen over the past few years. The powers, the fights, the missions...and even IOD. 
 The girl sighed and seated herself back on the floor, next to Raven. She gave another small laugh, hoping it didn't sound as bitter as she feared. "At this point, I think anything is possible. I mean, I've seen a guy summon giant, monstrous clay bunnies from the ground!" she exclaimed, and then sadly shook her head. "At this point, I wouldn't doubt it if somebody told me they had the power to make me immortal." 
 Annabell shifted her focus to the unmoving rebels as Raven noticed them. 
 "Yeah. As I said, long story." she frowned, and wondered if she could do a better job explaining things to Raven than she had with Two.
 "I believe the rebels were behind this entire plot." she informed her friend, trying to decide what was worth talking about.
"They'd slipped that user-repressing drug you mentioned earlier into the water supply, which turned people feral, and that was what the lockdown had really been about. I guess the rouge Powers wanted recruits, and to reduce our own numbers, but most importantly, I think..." Annabell trailed off, her eyes drifting to their dead mutual friend laying in front of them.  
"They wanted Riley."
 She held her breath for a moment, thinking and allowing her own words to register in her mind. If the rebels went through such great lengths to kidnap Riley, why did they suddenly decide to kill him? Perhaps it had something to do with...
 "Raven." Annabell said suddenly, turning to face her friend, completely serious.  "Don't call me crazy when I say this, but the rebels had... another Riley. An exact clone, except somehow deader than our Riley. The body laid in a large coffin they were carrying around. I'm not messing with you here." An intense, yet somehow fearful look formed Annabell's expression. 
"I don't think that there were triplets, and I'm pretty sure cloning doesn't exist. I have no clue to what any of that was about." She continued to talk, the realization of how much the appearance of the second Riley had unnerved her rushing into to her, and because of this started to feel a bit hysterical. If she didn't get it together soon, she was sure she would join Eight in whatever state of madness the Leader resided in-!
 Taking a deep breath, Annabell concluded, once more with a quiet laugh, "Basically, the entire thing honestly freaked me out."

asi • 5 June 2013 at 7:26 AM

Raven frowned. "Yes, but... There have to be limits, right? I don't want to think that any one person could be so powerful as to defy death. It's supposed to be the one thing in life that's unconquerable. Otherwise... Otherwise I don't know what to do."
If offered eternal life, would she take it? Raven hoped not. But even she wasn't sure what her darker impulses were capable of. Immortality could never lead to anything good, she knew. But everyone was afraid of death, including her. And there was nowhere like IOD for that...
While Annabell explained about the rebels, she considered coming clean about her role in the drug transport. However, she decided in the end that it was insignificant; the fact would change nothing, and even if it weren't for her, the rebels would have just sent something else.
"I know why they wanted him," she said slowly. "It's because the leader of the rebels," she jerked a thumb in the boy's direction, "was- is- his power.... I don't understand why or how there seem to be two Rileys though. Maybe someone has a power of body duplication or something?" she shook her head hopelessly. Raven wasn't sure if anything would surprise her anymore... She and Annabell would so get duped bad on April Fools; luckily, that danger had passed. "But this is the real Riley, I'm sure of it. Maybe... Maybe somehow they really found a way of really separating the two?" she wondered aloud, shock jolting her at the consequences of this idea.

taffy789 • 5 June 2013 at 11:27 PM

"Riley's power was leading the rebels..." Annabell allowed herself a moment to absorb Raven's information.
 "...Separating person and power? Is that even...possible?" she continued, glancing at her friend, her mind immediately switching to a certain creepy mansion... 
 The girl blinked the memory away, and decided to turn her attention away from Raven and onto the two unmoving rebels. 
 Upon closer inspection of the bodies, she realized that the stone-cold power bleeding on the ground had been the vaguely-familiar speed-power. Now that she had time to think, she remembered that Zan had told her that he was the power to a guy called "Ren". Annabell barely remembered the name, or the person. Either way, the death of anyone could be considered a loss. Although too bad she hadn't known him properly, because it was hard to exactly mourn over the death...
 The next rebel was all too familiar. Just seeing the green-haired girl made a scowl form on Annabell's face, but she couldn't help but feel a sudden case of deja vu about the power's current frozen state. Even from her seat on the floor, it was clear to Annabell that the rebel wasn't breathing, even though she looked alive, for the most part. The entire thing reminded her of Eight's own predicament...
 "... Also, do you think it would be a good idea to move Riley anywhere?" Annabell suddenly questioned Raven, turning back to her friend.
 "I need to go check on something. It's pretty important, so do you think we can carry him there? It won't...upset anything, right?"  She motioned to the boy's body, referring to the reanimating process.  

asi • 13 June 2013 at 4:46 AM

"That guy," Raven said, looking at the speed-power, "was on the team that picked me up after the rebels..." she had barely known him for five minutes, but she was angry at what the so-called Team Freedom had done. They'd stolen the boy's life, given it's control to his wild power who'd ended him up dead.
"I don't see why not," she answered, frowning curiously at Annabell's strange desire. "What is it you want to do?"

Septa sat cross-legged on his office floor, surrounded by an ocean of candy- no! These were different kinds of pills, powders, tablets; every single one of them a dangerous euphoria-inducing substance. The fact that he knew all the scientific and slang names for each one only scratched the surface at how bad he was.
"But even these, they aren't enough for this," he muttered under his breath discontentedly. There was only so much energy you could gain through stimulants without serious repercussions; although admittedly he already paid this little attention...
Click, click, clack.
His eyes were closed and he didn't even hear the noise, the sound of high, thin heels.
"Oh, Lich~y? What'cha doing?"
He opened his eyes at the unmistakeable voice to see the girl's face hovering over his, except... Upside down.
"What does it look like I'm doing?" he asked mockingly. "I'm trying to get high... A quality with which you are obviously overloaded..."
She pouted and jumped down. "Lich~y should of told Mau-Mau earlier! She's happy to share..." Penta leaned forwards and before he could react, her lips were on his. Septa immediately kissed her back, hard and dominating, tangling his hands in her hair. She tasted sweet, so sweet that the experience was akin to a sugar rush. It wasn't long before Lich had gathered enough power for it to rise off him like black smoke... She didn't even flinch, however, just clung to him tighter, until he pushed her off.
"Maureen, I want you to stay away from here tonight; I have a date," he told her carelessly.
She revealed a very put out expression and stamped her foot childishly. "Fine, as do I! But tomorrow is OUR day, got it?"
Lazily, he waved her off; "As long as you don't forget to empty your pockets before you leave, Morphine," he said knowingly.
With an irritated huff, she dropped the heap of drugs she'd nicked by the door as she quitted the room.

smilies • 13 June 2013 at 4:58 AM

"Voeing....! We have to go back for her!" Zan snatched the TELI right out of her hands.
Inverse paused before coldly stating; "The device takes two hours to warm up, even if you had enough power left to charge it again. And he killed Chase. Even if the girl had the slightest chance of still being alive by that time, I still wouldn't let you risk it. You aren't thinking straight, Zan. Forget it."
She was right of course, about all those things, but still, the ice-power couldn't think it right to just give up on a comrade without trying... However, all the powers here were now staring at him. With hostility in their eyes... They didn't care about Voeing. They didn't just think it right to abandon her, they didn't even think about it! With that kind of outlook, they definitely wouldn't wonder whether it was right to turn on him...
"But..." He swallowed and just stared at the orb in his hands, until she easily removed it and walked away. The rebels all diffused after her, leaving only the ice-power and the healer.
Bliss appeared to still be in sone kind of shock. "I-I don't understand," he was muttering to himself. "How was that even possible... He's Two... Unmistakable, but..."
"... What are you on about?" Zan finally asked, having got tired of the cryptic murmurings which after almost ten minutes showed no signs of ceasing. "Yes! That was Two, and the rumors are true. He's a master swordsman, controls the very fabric of time, unbeatable in battle, and merciless in victory," he said, sulking. It truly was disheartening to think that someone like that had so much strength, but it was fact. "You better believe it!"
"That's... That's not what I have trouble accepting at all!" Bliss yelled. "That's bad enough, but I think I always knew him capable of that... What I don't understand is how he seemed at least EIGHTEEN YEARS OLD... When I last saw him, three years ago, he was only ten!!"

taffy789 • 13 June 2013 at 1:51 PM

"Well, I kind of left an injured Leader behind back there- you know the one, Eight." Annabell informed Raven, walking over to Riley's body and slowly, painstakingly lifting him onto her back. She managed to get the boy half hanging off her shoulders, and then started down the hallway, motioning for her friend to follow. 
"I wouldn't be too excited about going to see Eight normally, to be honest. However, she took something important to me..." she paused, not sure whether or not to confide the existence of the drug to Raven. It wasn't something you should go out and blab to half of the base, and her judging who to trust abilities seemed to be lacking lately. Raven could be considered her friend though- one of the very few Annabell had left. If she couldn't trust a friend, who was there to trust? 
 "You see, I have this power-repressing drug. It came from a government lab, and I found it before I came to IOD. I think if we can somehow mass produce it, or recreate it, maybe we have a weapon to use against the rebels? I'm not sure how effective and I think it may be a bit dangerous, however..."
She ceased talking for a moment, allowing a moment for the new information to settle in. 
 "I had...two full needles. Eight took one of them, and while I don't why, I don't think she meant any harm by snatching it. But really, I need to get the drug back- and see if Eight is okay too, of course." Annabell hurriedly tacked on the last statement, even though her mind wasn't all too concerned about the Leader, if she was forced to admit it. 

asi • 25 June 2013 at 4:52 AM

After pulling herself up off the ground with some effort, Raven did as she was bid by her friend and followed the blonde through the Falchions' base, eyes on Riley the entire time, watching for signs of revival.
"This is... Great!" her expression brightened immediately after listening to Annabell's confession. "With this repressant, not only would we be able to solve the rebel problem- if not cure them, then at least restrain them- we also wouldn't have to fear any Ferals anymore!" she smiled hopefully, then added, "Well, so long as it works, you say. There's only one way to find out..."

Zan stared at the healer in disbelief. "But... He's a time-user, right? Doesn't that mean he could go back in time or something? Gain a few years living in the past?"
"Back in time?" Bliss gave a twisted smile. "Trust me, it's not that..."
The ice-power blinked at the assurance in Bliss's reply. "You... You aren't saying that that was a thirteen year old back there," he appeared unsure whether to laugh or cry. "And did that to Chase? That's just impossible. He must have, I don't know, slowed down his own time or something? C'mon."
"... You're probably right, that must be it," Bliss nodded slowly. "I can't really pretend to understand the rules of time-bending, they seemed ridiculously complicated... He once mentioned a clause, that jumping only focussed inwards, so I assumed it's twin would do the inverse..." he trailed off into muttering. 
When the healer continued showing no signs of stopping, Zan spoke loudly; "Was that your accent, or just truly incomprehensible? I'm kind of glad I'm just ice then," and shook his head in amusement.
Bliss recalled the present. "Er... Since I'm a user, aren't you going to pretend to drag me somewhere for 'liberation', or whatever Team Freedom calls it?"
Zan was about to answer, when he was startled by a loud yell nearby. It was coming from... That way. Face twisting in realization, the leopard grabbed Bliss's hand and pulled him along with uncharacteristic haste.

taffy789 • 26 June 2013 at 2:38 PM

Annabell agreed with Raven, and continued the search for Eight's office. Thankfully, her mental map of the base was now permanently burned into her memory... Speaking of burning, the farther away they got from ground zero of that explosion, the less seared and melted the walls started to look. That looked like a good sign, as that meant that, despite the sheer power of the wall of flame, it didn't kill as many people as Annabell had originally feared.
 Minutes of journeying later, they all arrived at Eight's office door, which still laid on the floor, so Annabell just stepped over it as she entered.
Right off the bat, the most noticeable thing about the room had to be the colors. The painful shades of neons that splashed the walls, the Leader's own identifying dark blue hair, and the large pool of red that crept across the ground, settling into a circle around the Leader's body and painting her torso like a canvas.
Something immediately lodged itself in Annabell's throat, and she laid Riley safely away from pooling blood before rushing to check on the fallen girl.
She squatted near Eight's head, to avoid kneeling in the red liquid and covering her burnt knees in the stuff. Looking at the Leader's face, it was hard to tell whether or not the girl had already died. Her face looked the part, being pale and colorless; her eyes were eerily glassy and forever staring- but they were always like that. That left only one way to decide if the girl had passed, so Annabell pressed two fingers against Eight's clammy neck and felt for a pulse.
...A faint, weak pulse, but she was alive. 
Annabell gave a sigh of relief. It didn't look as if Eight was bleeding anymore, and in fact, her wound seemed to be closed. That must've meant that Bliss had gotten to heal her, despite him and Zan pulling a disappearing act and leaving the room... She frowned, hoping Bliss was okay, where ever he was. 
 "Raven. Eight's okay." Annabell called to her friend from her place next to the downed Leader. "I think she's fine. Hopefully she doesn't go into shock or anything. Really, I'm not a doctor..." She glanced back down at the Leader's face, biting her lip. She waited another moment before rising from her squatting position.
 "I think we should start looking for the power-repressor while she's still-" the blonde cut herself off when she felt a small tug on her arm.
 Annabell glanced down, eyes widening when she saw Eight's pale hand grasping her arm, and promptly screamed.

randomness • 26 June 2013 at 11:06 PM

 From her place on the floor, the Leader frowned at Annabell's sudden shriek, and wouldn't remove her hand from the girl's arm despite the latter's desperate pulling.
 "You're being loud." Eight told Annabell pointedly, eyes still fixated upwards but now scowling a bit, as if thinking hard. "I just want to talk~" Without waiting for her reply, Eight began to chatter about who knows what, as Annabell wasn't in any mood to pay attention to the crazy girl.
 The captive girl shot Raven a desperate look, and attempted to pry Eight's fingers from around her wrist, to no avail. On the brightside, Annabell noticed that the Leader seemed more out of it than usual, and didn't seem to grasp all that was happening around her, and thus didn't know they were planning on stealing back the power-repressor. In fact, the ex-spy went as far to assume that the only reason Eight knew she had been near enough to grab was because she'd spoken.
 "...Raven, can you check around the office for the drug?" Annabell called to her friend, and squatted closer to the Leader once again. "It's a needle. It should be around here somewhere, hopefully. ...I'll watch after Eight." A reluctant frown followed the last sentence, but Annabell decided that she couldn't really do a thing about her current situation except tough it out. 
 As she left Raven to search the office for anything that may be helpful, the girl turned and half listened to Eight's endless blabber.
The Leader talked about what seemed like completely random, out of the blue topics, but slowly and surely, Annabell started to realize there may be a connection between the things she mentioned, a method to the madness. When Eight started saying the food smelt greasy and delicious, all the swirling, blinking colorful lights were very pretty, and how all the rides and laughter sounded happy and "fun~!", it dawned upon the tired blonde that something else was going on.
 "You know," Eight continued to say,  smiling up at the ceiling, "I should really come to these carnivals more often~"
Annabell stared, dumbstruck and throughly unnerved, at the giggling Leader on the ground. She realized the obvious had now been proven: Eight had no idea where she was. In fact, she was convinced she was somewhere else entirely.

asi • 4 July 2013 at 3:07 AM

Towards the end of the passage, a cluster of rebels had gathered, all standing eerily quiet, looking inwards, so Bliss and Zan could view only their backs.
The ice-power dragged him forwards, trying to find a place where they could see past the others as to what was going on.
But before that, he was hit by the smell. It hung heavy in the air, with every breathe bringing more in, the stuff felt almost solid, and every intake was more like a bite than gasp. The scent was overpowering, everything else was blocked out. Even for the healer who was supposed to be used to this stuff, the sheer mass of it was overwhelming. When they finally identified the substance which had drenched the walls, Bliss saw, out of the corner of his eyes, how Zan's knees buckled, he collapsed and instinctively his body reacted by bringing everything back up. He wasn't the only one, either. It seemed like even powers could be slave to the human body...
This made it easy for the healer to push his way through the group.
The things lying on the floor were mutilated beyond the point where they could be classified as 'bodies'. Now the most you could call them was remains. Judging by the amount of blood painting the walls, there couldn't be a drop left inside them. Even Bliss needed to close his eyes, think thoughts of bunnies and gulp air for a few minutes. It was impossible to believe that in this state, there were any survivors.
Yet there was.
'Verse was kneeling over the one thing which still weakly emanated energy. Bliss was shocked that the power was still conscious; with one of their arms completely missing, a leg only half-torn from their body, and their skin paler than ice... He couldn't even identify if it was a girl or a boy until they managed to shakily open their mouth and make a horrible, raspy growl of a noise.
"It... Es- es... CAPED."
"You mean, she." Verse said sharply. "The prisoner."
"The m-MONSTER, mo... More like," was the dark answer, before the girl fainted.

smilies • 4 July 2013 at 4:03 AM

Feeling a little like she was going to go into shock herself, Raven obediently examined the office. That leader... Eight was supposed to be really quite powerful, right? What could have reduced her to this...? She had thought her and Zach to have been incredibly unlucky to have encountered the turned Six. Was it possible that something even WORSE was out there?
From a drawer of the leader's desk, Raven pulled out a handful of pills- an assortment which appeared to range from one that helped you go to bed at night and others that killed all the feeling in your body... And also, a single syringe, filled with a strange green liquid.
"Is this it?" she asked quietly, slightly mesmerized by the odd, shiny quality of the substance, and the way it glistened as air bubbles moved through it...

"I like Lich~y!" the little girl decidedly happily as she shovelled banana and chocolate-chip ice-cream into her giant gaping mouth which had suddenly grew a size incredibly disproportionate to her tiny body as soon as the desert had been delivered.
Xela groaned into her bowl. What kind of idiot had served them ice-cream in lieu of actual food? It could only be Septa. How did one actually eat this stuff? It was killing her teeth...
"Xe-xe, don't you know how to eat ice-cream properly?" Guithe stared at her in innocent confusion. "You're supposed to lick it, not bite it..."
"... Huh?" she looked at the stuff with some bewilderment, before tentatively giving it a try. Oh; so that's how you do it... Wait a second, this way, it's more drinking than eating!! Septa, where's the real food? she cursed him internally.
"Lich~y really is the greatest! We not only have the same favourite food, but the same flavor... Xe-xe, if you're not going to, can I marry him when I'm older?" she cutely asked permission.
"..."

taffy789 • 8 July 2013 at 4:30 AM

Annabell swung her head over to Raven as soon as she spoke, happy to be looking at anything but Eight's glazed over eyes. Her eyes locked on the green serum, and she let herself give a sigh of relief.
"Yep." she smiled towards Raven, "That's it."
She allowed herself to feel relieved, as it looked as if ONE thing was going right this night... Really, after everything tonight, Annabell thought she needed a nice nap, one she wouldn't awaken from for a good two or so days. 
 Eight continued to chatter the girl's ear off, and Annabell couldn't help to think she wasn't the only one who needed to rest. The Leader's restless attitude couldn't be doing a thing for her health, which was why Annabell was happy to see the other bottles of pills in Raven's hands.
 "...What are those?" she questioned her friend, nodding to the bottles in her other hand and growing more hopeful. Knowing Eight, though, they could easily be anything. Nobody seemed to understand why the Leader acted so crazy all the time, and a pill-pushing habit seemed like a good enough explanation. Annabell knew the bottles could easily contain anything from over the counter medication to stuff she could get arrested in twenty-seven different countries for carrying on her. She crossed her fingers for it being at least the former.

smilies • 8 July 2013 at 9:15 PM

"Right," 'Verse straightened, met the surrounding powers' eyes, and instructed in a commanding tone; "Stay on alert. Move in groups of no less than six. I want all those who can power-sense here so we can track-"
"That won't be necessary," a lazy voice interrupted from the shadows.
That voice! Bliss's jaw nearly dropped onto the floor. That couldn't be!!
A boy with hair black like midnight and as untamable as the wind stepped forward. Though he could have passed for a sixteen year old, the doctor wasn't fooled; this kid was only thirteen. "Oh, hello, Elliss. It's been awhile," he smiled, though it didn't reach his eyes, eyes which reflected not an ounce of light, blacker than black.
"Spence... Evangel," Bliss felt fainter even than Zan did at this moment, and that guy was still quietly retching, though there was nothing left in his stomach.
Spence shot him a dark look. "Thought I told you, don't call me that anymore..."
"Just like I'm Bliss now," the healer replied, still staring as though he couldn't believe his eyes.
"You... Know each other?" Even 'Verse was momentarily distracted, her eyes narrowing in suspicion at the two of them. "Who are you, anyway?" she looked at Bliss.
Walking over, Spence answered easily for him; "A healer, doctor, scientist, and a friend. I invited him."
"You told me to go to the Falchion's base... You planned for me to get picked up from there? Wasn't that leaving a bit too much to chance?" Bliss frowned.
Spence huffed. "As if. Don't you trust me?" his eyes widened with feigned innocence.
"Of course," the healer smiled automatically, then remembered. "But back at the base, I thought you were... He had a time power, so I assumed you were him."
With a half-amused, half-irritated look, Spence sighed, "Yeah. If I somehow just gained five more years, we'd look exactly identical."
"So the Two of the Falchions, that's actually...!" Bliss was shocked.
Spence nodded.
"Great, the little reunion is over. On a less important subject; a murderous angel on the loose?" 'Verse growled at them. "Care to explain, Mael?"
"Mael? Is that what you call yourself now?" Bliss asked curiously.
Again, Spence- or rather, Mael, simply nodded. "That's who I am."