The Enabled (Role-Play)

dada_dragon • 26 January 2017 at 11:06 PM

Verity stared, frightened.

"I can't turn against him... he has my younger brother... If I do anything to betray him, my brother will pay the price..." she said.

"If it was just about me, I would help, but I would rather be killed than have any harm come to him... I won't tell him what you are planning... but I need to protect my brother..."

"Again... I am sorry..."

@bunnyshadow

bunnyshadow • 26 January 2017 at 11:24 PM

@dada_dragon

~~~

"I'm not telling you to turn against him, dear." Vladan said, a brow arching sharply at those words. "I'm just asking for you to keep me informed...nothing important. Just the way he's been treating other Enabled. Any signs of emotional or physical abuse. That sort of simple stuff."

He smiled now. "For my own personal research."

dada_dragon • 26 January 2017 at 11:43 PM

Verity hesitated. If she began meeting with him regularly, Lee would take notice, and he would no doubt record their conversations. She couldn't risk passing along information like that, unless...

"I can't tell you any pertinent information but-"

"Verity, Lee is looking for you. You need to leave now."

She turned back to Vladan, looking him in the eye.

"If you think that I would just tell you that kind of information, you should think again, and I won't be controlled by the likes of you."

She left, hoping he understood her message.

@bunnyshadow

bunnyshadow • 27 January 2017 at 12:18 AM

@dada_dragon

~~~

Vladan glanced down at his lap as the soldiers led Verity out. The small smirk on his face was undisputed. This certainly would speed up the process by quite some time...

---

"Should we make a video?" Willow asked Coco as she clicked away at her laptop. The blonde had created a website with some help from Teiv(who was much more technological than she was). So far they had nothing on it except the words 'We are human too.' in all caps, all bold across the top of the home page.

"That sounds dumb." Dawn said. "No one has time to watch videos."

Willow looked up, clearly hurt by Dawn's harsh words.

"I mean seriously. What would you even put on it anyway..." She trailed off, snapping her fingers suddenly. "If only we had a way of hacking into the facility's system. We could find some clips that certainly would cause an uproar."

"We can't do that." Willow said like it was the most obvious thing in the world. "They probably have like five hundred pass codes. What do you think Teiv?"

The man shrugged off the question, before looking at the other inhabitants of the room for an opinion.

dada_dragon • 27 January 2017 at 12:47 AM

Coco smiled, looking up from the laptop that she had smuggled back into the room from one of their gang's nearby safehouses. She knew for a fact that it was not used very often that they used that safehouse, so she would have it back long before they noticed.

"I'm already working on a code to decipher their encryption. I've been testing it against the internet connections of the businesses nearby, and it's going well." She said. "And just so you know, they have 87 passcodes, over half of which were obviously made by people who don't understand the internet. I mean Password123? Come on..."

James sat with them, but was keeping to himself, typing intently in the flip phone he'd purchased. Every once in a while, there would be a quiet 'ding' as someone replied to him. The longer he sat there, the more frequent they came and the faster he typed.

@bunnyshadow

bunnyshadow • 27 January 2017 at 12:53 AM

@dada_dragon

~~~

"James at least put your phone on silent. I can't focus with that annoying ring every five freaking seconds." Dawn complained with a large frown.

"Dawn that's not nice." Willow said, crossing her arms across her chest. "Leave him alone."

"I'm just saying that he should help us with this stuff."

"You're not even doing anything." Willow said with a eye roll. "You're so..."

"I dare you to finish that."

"SHHH." Teiv grumbled from his solitary spot by the wall.

dada_dragon • 27 January 2017 at 1:24 AM

James frowned not looking up from his phone.

"I'm kind of busy putting out a dumpster fire here..." he said. "I can disable your eardrums if it bothers you so much."

Coco looked up from her laptop.

"Oh man... Nurse has got to in a bad mood if he's getting an attitude." she teased.

James looked up. "Sorry... I've just been talking to some of the gangs in the area and they are not happy about their members being taken away. They're planning on rioting. Also, stop calling me that."

Coco sat up.

"Oh crap..." she said. "That's not good."

"I've gotten them to hold off for now, but some of them seem more willing than others..."

@bunnyshadow

bunnyshadow • 27 January 2017 at 11:15 AM

@dada_dragon

~~~

Dawn pursed her lips at James's words, then broke out into a wide smile. "I love riots. Count me in." She said energetically. "We should totally do it."

Willow slapped Dawn's arm with a small frown. "Dawn that isn't going to solve any problems. They're just going to kill and destroy and that's going to make us look even worse than they make us sound..."

"Just send Vladan's thugs to go talk some sense into them then." Dawn said with an eyeroll.

"We can't do that. They're gonna hurt us if we try talking to them."

"Yeah you're right. For all we know they're probably running rampant with Vladan being held away in that facility."

Willow ignored Dawn's statements, before turning to James. "How much time do you think we have? Is there any way we can get them to hold off for a little longer? Maybe even actually talk to them face to face to make sure we're all on the same page?"

dada_dragon • 27 January 2017 at 11:55 AM

James sighed, flipping through his messages.

"Most are giving us a week. Two haven't replied yet. There are a handful who are on the same page as us and agree that rioting isn't the best choice and are willing to help us in any way they can, but the ones I'm concerned about are the Nightmares. They were a rival gang, and if I tell them to hold off, they'll be all the more willing to go..."

"Aren't they the ones you were fighting when you got arrested?" Asked Coco. "I hate those guys. What's-his-face would always sneak into our turf and torch my garden back when we lived downtown."

James sighed. "So the predicament is do we talk to them and risk encouraging them, or do we not say anything and hope that they don't instigate anything in the meantime?"

@bunnyshadow

bunnyshadow • 27 January 2017 at 12:41 PM

@dada_dragon

~~~

Willow elbowed Dawn now, giving the other blonde a pointed look. "Now doesn't that name just sound so familiar?" She asked, cupping her chin with her thumb and forefinger and a smirk covering her face. Dawn narrowed her eyes, brows arcing downwards in annoyance.

"Shut up Willow." Dawn said in annoyance.

"Dawn knows a member in that gangvery well." Willow blurted out, saying the word very with extra emphasis. "She could totally help with talking to them."

"I'm not going near that creep again."

"He is so into you, Dawn. That guy is all over you sort of into you. He would do anything you wanted him to do." Willow said exaggeratedly.

"I swear to--"

"Do it." Teiv said, cutting off Dawn before she could begin her string of profanities. "Just talk to him."

"I'll do it if Coco says so, and I know Coco has very high morals and would never allow a friend to meet up with a sleazy thug." Dawn said, giving Coco a very pointed look.

"One of them that are yet to reply." Teiv jutted in suddenly. "Is it the Onyx Dragons?" He cleared his throat now, taking a short breather as he thought through his next words carefully.

"If so..." He trailed off, looking over at Dawn. "Vladan has esteemed relations with those thugs. Those guys are the worst of the worst." Teiv said. "Extremely violent, cruel, over the top and egotistical."

"Wow, reminds me of Vladan." Willow joked, before going silent as Dawn continued.

"No doubt they've heard that Vladan is being held in the facility. They'll get him out, and they will kill anyone in their way." Dawn added. "I've interacted with a few of them...they are certainly something else. Handpicked from the worst of the worst by the worst."

dada_dragon • 27 January 2017 at 1:02 PM

Coco's eyes went wide. "You have a boyfriend in the Nightmares? Which one is it? It it the one who can turn his hand into a rock? Dude is fiiiiiiiine." She said excitedly. "Come on, I need details, girl!!!"

James rolled his eyes and turned to Tiev. "Yes, they are one of the two that hasn't replied. The other is the Phantom Cobras, but they aren't a terribly powerful or violent group, so I'm not too concerned. If you have any sway with them, I would really appreciate it if you could talk to them."

"Coco could go with you as backup if she wants to." he added. "We were on fairly neutral terms with them and Coco could provide backup if things go south..."

@bunnyshadow

bunnyshadow • 27 January 2017 at 1:49 PM

@dada_dragon

~~~

"Not that one." Dawn said, scooting away from where James and Teiv were having a serious conversation. She edged closer to Coco. "Though I do admit, the guy you're talking about has a rock hard body to match with his powers yaknow..." She ignored Willow's hefty eyeroll, before continuing. "Firstly, just to clear it up, he is not my boyfriend. We just went on a couple of dates. And secondly, it's the guy that's angry all the time."

"Very specific." Willow said. "They're all angry all the time."

"Emotional embodiment is his power. Actually, not quite sure. That's what he told me but I honestly wasn't paying attention." Dawn shrugged. "Something about how he can become a physical manifestation of the strongest emotions near him. And for him, it's wrath and anger."

"I can go." Willow volunteered towards James. "I don't think Teiv wants to talk much especially around people like that."

"No. It's fine." Teiv interrupted. "I go with Coco."

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah. They will have respect at least because of..." He motioned at the scars lining his face, before giving her a thin smile. "May sway their decision."

dada_dragon • 27 January 2017 at 2:02 PM

Coco smiled. "I'd be happy to go with Tiev. I've always kinda wanted to check out their hideout. Lots of really powerful enabled there."

James nodded. "I'll stay here and try to get ahold of the Phantom Cobras. I don't think I'd be much help otherwise."

Coco grabbed her bag, slinging it over her shoulder. "This'll be fun! I'll leave the code running for a while. I think it's only got twenty or so security measures to break through and it's figuring out the encryption still."

"Come on, Tiev!" she said, grabbing his wrist and moving towards the door. "And Dawn, we will be talking tonight about that boyfriend of yours!"

@bunnyshadow

bunnyshadow • 27 January 2017 at 2:48 PM

@dada_dragon

~~~

Teiv seemed duelly unfazed by Coco's energy. He had to deal with Dawn on the daily, and along with the younger twins, he'd have enough experience to not let noisy people get to him. The man started up the car--it had been one of Vladan's that he had stolen quite a bit ago. Luckily for him, it had been months and the latter man had yet to notice the incognito vehicle.

Once Coco had cleared the way out of the woods, the drive was smooth. Smooth that is, until he turned off road and onto a dirt path through the forest. Several miles in, the sharp splashing of water could be heard echoing around the trees.

A little further up was a river bank. Teiv followed the water for quite a while, stopping only when he neared a cave deep set into the overhanging cliff. He parked near the entrance, noisy engine revving obnoxiously against the rocks. He pulled up his hood, taking in a deep breath before putting on his mask. "We're here." Teiv said. Almost as if to echo those words, several loud clicks resounded around the tiny clearing.

"Show yourself." A masculine voice sounded.

"Matt that's Vladan's car."

Teiv turned to face the two men, cocking his shadowed face to the side. "Vladan is still in the facility." He said bluntly. "I want to speak to whoever is in charge here."

"What makes you think we're gonna let you in?" Matt said.

"Vladan's orders." He said. "We're here to talk about how we're going to get him out."

The one holding the gun hesitated, before lowering it. "We will shoot if you try anything. Let the others know we have visitors, Thuan."

The one named Thuan complied, ducking inside the cave. Matt motioned for Teiv and Coco to follow. He led them inside the cave, bringing them further into the darkness. A torch was lit. After a dozen or so minutes of trekking around, they reached what seemed to be a solid wall. Matt stepped through it, before motioning Teiv and Coco to follow. "An illusion." He explained.

Behind the illusion was what seemed to be a regular room. It was almost as if they had never been in the cave at all. There were several long corridors leading to who knows where, and the trio went down one of them. It took a bit more walking, until they reached a set of double doors. Matt pushed them open, revealing what seemed to be a conference hall. He motioned the two of them to sit.

"Wait here." He said, before shutting the door.

Teiv turned to Coco. "Just a small heads up." He muttered. "Everyone here has a temper...meaning that one moment they're all patiently discussing a topic, and the next someone could have a knife in their throat."

dada_dragon • 27 January 2017 at 3:18 PM

Coco smiled. "Makes ya wonder why James would suggest someone as vexing as me, eh?" she said, a mischievous grin on her face. "Don't worry about me. If it comes down to a fight, I've got'cha covered. Just remember to hold your breath if it does."

She didn't elaborate on this, but instead looked around the room, taking in the room. She had the look of a kid at Christmas, not wanting to miss any detail.

@bunnyshadow

bunnyshadow • 27 January 2017 at 4:20 PM

@dada_dragon

~~~

The doors opened, and four men walked in. One of them stood behind Teiv's chair, and he turned to face the man in confusion.

"You're sitting in my seat." The man said. Teiv stood, allowing the man to sit in the chair. There had been an empty seat to his right anyway...

He moved over, taking a seat in the new chair. Teiv opened his mouth to speak, but was interrupted as one of the men waved at Coco.

"She's in Kyun's seat." The guy said bluntly.

"Who cares?" Another answered. "Kyun's dead."

"You're always making a big deal out of everything, let's get started. I don't have all day." A third answered impatiently.

"What do you need Teiv?" A fourth said, words harsh and to the point.

"I know somebody that sent a message a few days ago. I heard you guys have yet to respond." Teiv said, fingers tracing the gold engraving of Vladan's name on the table.

"What about it? We haven't made a decision yet." The first said.

"We've tried, actually. It's a 2 to 2 vote, and we have no way to break the tie."

Teiv leaned backwards, pursing his lips past the mask. How could he word it properly without being looked at as weak? "I think you guys should refrain from attacking the facility." He said, before trying his best to explain Willow's plan.

"What you want to do could take months." One of the men said with a scoff. "We can pillage our way through in a third that time."

"I think we should listen to Teiv." The second said.

"I agree with him. Fighting them will only cause more losses than we already have."

"And this is why we're stuck at a standstill." The fourth said irritably.

"Can't I vote in Vladan's place?" Teiv asked.

"What makes you think you have the right to? He has earned his space at the table, you've done nothing."

Teiv took in a heavy breath. "How do I earn my own spot at the table?"

"Either kill one of us or start from the bottom."

dada_dragon • 27 January 2017 at 4:43 PM

"That's cute." Coco said, toying with a small rock, spinning it around the table. "Although I have to say, it's not a very stable power structure."

She made a gun with her fingers and pointed it at the man doing most of the talking.

"Bang." She said, a smirk on her face, prentending to holster her finger gun. "Now we have one less member and the power dynamics of the group shift, creating confusion. It's a flawed system..."

"And you don't seem like the kind of group to let outsiders climb the ranks, so let's just call a spade a spade, friends... You're looking for a fight."

@bunnyshadow

bunnyshadow • 27 January 2017 at 5:12 PM

@dada_dragon

~~~

The guy scoffed. "If we were as easily killed as you think, none of us would be here." He waved Coco's comments away condescingly, acting like her words held no sway in his opinion.

"You already have one dead." Teiv pointed out. "Can't one of us duel him for the seat?" He questioned hesitantly.

One of the other men let out a thoughtful hum. "I suppose you can." He said, with nods from the others. "Would be just like killing one of us wouldn't it? Saves all four of our hides anyway."

"Have a go at it." The man to his left said. "We can fetch Matt. He showed quite a bit of interest upon hearing of Kyun's passing."

One of them waved at the thug standing by the door. "Go get him."

Teiv leaned over, whispering lowly to Coco. "This is our only chance." He muttered. "I believe I would be the better one out of the two of us, but it's up to you. I'm not much of a fighter, but we can't tell anyone. James would destroy me if he found out I sent you into a death ring."

"Might cause some complications if you still have ties in your other gang..."

dada_dragon • 27 January 2017 at 5:48 PM

Coco smiled teasingly.

"As if I'd let you go out there and have all the fun. If James didn't want me fighting, he wouldn't have sent me into a place like this, would he?" she said with a pointed look. "James is no idiot. He knows that I'd jump at any chance to test my skills against these guys..."

She cracked her knuckles, a look of excitement barely concealed.

"Kita and I were considered the strongest in our gang... She was unpredictable and adaptable with quick instincts, which gave her an edge." she said. "But not even she could match me in sheer power... In other words, she's a wildcard... I'm a tank."

@bunnyshadow

bunnyshadow • 27 January 2017 at 6:30 PM

@dada_dragon

~~~

The door opened, and the man that the duo had encountered first stepped in. Matt gave a small head nod to each of the four men sitting around the table, before giving a stiff greeting. "Hello." He said thinly. "I'm ready." The man said, turning to face Teiv.

"You're facing her, not me." Teiv said coldly.

A small smile lifted Matt's features. "Should be easy then."

"Regular rules." One of the men sitting at the table said. "Do not destroy any furniture, and most importantly, keep us out of the crossfire. Touch any one of us with anything and we'll kill you ourselves."

Teiv pursed his lips, giving Coco a good luck tap on the arm. Matt headed towards the front of the room, where the heavy walls rounded out several dozen feet past the table. It formed a half circle, and was completely devoid of all furniture. A thick red line split the room from the table and the makeshift arena.

He moved stood now, head tilted slightly as he awaited Coco. "Ready when you are." The man said arrogantly.

dada_dragon • 27 January 2017 at 7:05 PM

Coco grinned, stepping into the arena.

"Oh this should be good... I've been wanting to try this one out for weeks now."

She tossed the rock that she'd been playing with on the table into the air and caught it in her palm, where it immediately grew, sprouting a long, thick vine that wrapped around her arm to her shoulder, where it split, some wrapping around her torso, and some moving like snakes around her.

Coco stretched, the vines mimicking the same movement. She had complete control over the plant.

"Alright. Now let's see what you've got, punk."

@bunnyshadow

bunnyshadow • 27 January 2017 at 10:41 PM

@dada_dragon

~~~

Matt knelt on the ground, hand pressing harshly against the dirt. He drew three large circles around him now, before stepping back and standing. "Rise, undead." He said gruffly, raising his hand stiffly. Cracks formed on the ground on the inside of each circle, the cracks soon widened enough until a skeletal hand reached through each.

The skeletal hands moved quicker now, and soon enough crawled out three undead humans. Rotting flesh stuck to the bones, one even having bits of organs sticking inside their rib cages.

He stepped back now, standing a long distance to the rear of his revived soldiers. Matt smiled now, eyes flashing with dark power as the skeletons began inching towards Coco.

The man knelt down again, placing his hand against the dirt as he probed the ground with his mind for anything else he could reanimate. Hopefully the skeletons could keep the woman preoccupied for long enough until he had the chance to summon more.

dada_dragon • 27 January 2017 at 11:11 PM

Coco smiled. "Death vs. life... I like it."

She stretched out her arms and the vines began to wrap themselves around bone, grabbing ahold of anything they could. She managed to grab two, though one managed to slip past.

"Oh no you don't..." She said, moving vines in front of her like a shield, blocking the monster's advance.

While the third one worked at tearing apart her shield, she focused on the other two. The vines had wrestled one to the ground, their python-like grip crushing the skeletal creature, but the second was fighting back, tearing huge chunks out of the vine holding him.

She raised one arm, and the skeleton was lifted up, until she brought it back down, slamming it into the ground. She repeated this until the ugly thing stopped moving.

She turned to the third skeleton, who had just torn through the last of the vines holding it back. She laughed.

"Now... where were we?"

@bunnyshadow

bunnyshadow • 27 January 2017 at 11:28 PM

@dada_dragon

~~~

Matt felt something tugging at the back of his mind, and he began drawing another circle, this one significantly larger than the first three. As his last remaining skeleton charged angrily at Coco, he raised his hand once more. The ground cracked, and a large skeletal claw tore through the earth.

Another large claw came not soon after. It took nearly twice the amount of time his first three undead had taken to reanimate, but the end product was worth it. A large skeletal reptile roared angrily in the air, feet stamping impatiently as it charged towards Coco. It's bony jaws snapped swiftly as the beast lunged at the woman.

Matt took several long seconds to revel in the glory of the monster, before he edged even further away from where Coco fought. He maintained an unusually far distance, and the man once again knelt down on the ground, searching for more fossils he could bring back to the living world.

dada_dragon • 27 January 2017 at 11:55 PM

Coco had just finished tearing the third skeleton to pieces with her vines when she saw a giant skeletal dinosaur climb out of the ground. Her grin became even wider.

"No way!!! Oh that is SO cool!!!" she yelled, reaching into her bag. "I get to fight a DINOSAUR!!! Thanks, Tiev!"

She pulled out more seeds as the thing charged at her. She threw three of them into the growing cracks in the ground and raised up her hands. Two huge trees burst from the ground in front of like a wall, hopefully buying her some time.

"Bring it on!" She yelled, smiling.

@bunnyshadow

bunnyshadow • 28 January 2017 at 12:50 AM

@dada_dragon

~~~

Coco's commentary certainly struck a cord in Matt. In fact, it was an angry one. He moved from spot to spot, placing a hand over the sturdy soil as the man searched for potential targets of reanimation. The man drew one last circle, this one bringing some sort of large cave snake up from the dirt.

Matt pulled out a short knife now, staring intently at the trees as he waited. His undead had probably tired her enough so that he could fight her easily.

dada_dragon • 28 January 2017 at 1:36 AM

Coco grabbed another seed.

"So cool!" She said happily. "My turn!"

The vines fell away as she lifted up the new seed, which sprouted quickly, wrapping its roots around her like armor as a giant venus fly trap-like plant grew, its large mouth dripping with acid.

"I really like your pets!!! Here's mine. I call her Audrey."

'Audrey' opened its mouth to reveal a row of sharp thorns that looked almost like teeth.

As the dinosaur broke through the trees, Coco ran forward, and Audrey stretched out, clamping its mouth on the thing's shoulder, the acid beginning to slowly dissolve the bone.

She just had to keep it up long enough to do the damage needed to take down the two beasts... Then she could focus her attention on her opponent.

She looked down at the crack in the ground from which the two trees had sprouted. There was a third seed down there, and it was growing more slowly than the others, since she had to focus on keeping the prehistoric beasts at bay, but it would be the most important plant in this fight...

Just a little more time...

@bunnyshadow

bunnyshadow • 28 January 2017 at 2:25 AM

@dada_dragon

~~~

Matt darted forwards, blade extended forwards as he readied an attack. He ignored the large plant, as it was preoccupied with his skeletal dinosaur. Years of training had prepared him for moments like this.

He dropped to the ground, sliding forwards as he slashed towards the woman's legs. The vines are formed a thick rooty armor around her upper body, but they were certainly a lot thinner at the bottom...

dada_dragon • 28 January 2017 at 3:00 AM

Coco saw him diving towards her, but her movements were slowed by the large plant, which was almost done "chewing" its way through the dinosaur's torso and the blade sliced into her leg, causing her to stumble.

She turned her attention to the man, diverting some of her energy into the vines at her feet, causing them to whip in his direction.

The large snake had wrapped around Audrey and was slowly crushing it. She watched as the dinosaur's skeletal remains broke, separating the upper torso and lower body into two separate, stinking pieces right before Audrey burst open from the pressure, spilling foul-smelling acid all over the giant snake and one of the trees.

She was beginning to tire, and the plant was not quite yet complete. She let Audrey's roots fall off of her as she grabbed hold of one of the thin, hard thorns, holding it like a dagger.

"Time to end this." She said, smiling.

@bunnyshadow

bunnyshadow • 28 January 2017 at 4:12 AM

@dada_dragon

~~~

Teiv watched with interest as the fight progressed. It certainly was entertaining, especially how the duel consisted of two worth foes with powerful abilities. He could see the matching smirks on the four men at the table, all having expected it to be an easy match in Matt's favor. However, as the battle progressed, their smirks dropped from their faces one by one.

It was an unsure battle to say the least.

Though Matt's knife had marked Coco, the woman seemed unfazed by the attack. He could see Matt rolling away to put some distance between Coco's thorny weapons.

"That's enough!" One of the men at the table called out.

The man besides the one that had just spoke, nodded his head agreeably. "Yeah." He jutted in suddenly. "That was more than enough, actually."

A third spoke. "Matt, we'll see you around..."

"And you there." The last finished, pointing at Coco. "Don't think you've beat one of our best men." He said gruffly. "We've discussed and decided that you've earned a vote at the table..."

"But only today."

Teiv bit his bottom lip behind the mask. These sleazy dogs.. To afraid to risk one of their men lose, so instead relying on an unfair compromise. Changing the rules of their own game....