Gothic City [CVnU: Living Location]

@sweetsnowbell:

Admittedly thankful she didn't seem to be recognised, Abigail nodded as she listened to Snowbell's assessment of the area. Even as a "veteran hero," she couldn't help but be somewhat impressed, even if the subjective, relatively uninformed thoughts brought her a degree of worry for Ana's condition. Only for a moment, though, as she remembered the healing.

"That's...pretty impressive," she remarked with a genuine nod. "And...have you considered contacting the authorities?" With her apparent skills, she could probably work with them and fit right in. "They might have gotten a call, and maybe they'd know something...And, well, if they happened upon us standing here, they wouldn't assume we're the culprits of whatever happened here."

@arquitenens:

"But I'm a superhero!" Snowbell protested. "We don't get a long with cops. That's obvious." The cat-themed hero chewed the inside of her cheek, worrying a little at the newcomer's words. What if they had gotten a call? What if they'd be here any second? And Snowbell caught red-handed at the scene of the crime?! "We should get out of here before they do come, if they do. I can smell a few traces of blood headed in that direction--" she pointed the way the new girl had just come from. "--So it seems possible that the trail may continue."

The teenager huffed, looking restless and anxious. She really didn't know what she was doing, or even what she'd do if she caught whoever had done this. A murder case, a real villain? It was out of her scope of reality. Whoever this was wasn't going to be some dashing, handsome extremist who just wanted to flirt with her, exchange one-liners, and then escape to fight another day. If she found some vicious villain out there, some villain, he'd try to kill her.

@pyrogramyou don't have to respond, just leaving it open for now)

The Lady of Death continued her stride, not missing a beat. The path of carnage behind her still remained, uncared for, and done with no remorse.

Suddenly, sirens were heard, and a police car skittered to a stop in front of her, before two officers jumped out, hastily grabbing their pistols and lifting them, having been told of a massacre by an unknown caller.

"FREEZE!" yelled one of the officers, his hands shaking nervously, beads of sweat dripping from his brow.

"Put your hands up!" The other officer looked a little more experienced, however it was still obvious to see that he was unsettled by the messed up stuff behind the lady in the cloak.

She lifted her head to stare at the officers before her. She raised one hand, and the nervous officer fired, the bullet soaring towards its target. However, it was abruptly stopped by the pillars, which blocked it, and unlatched themselves from her shoulders. They hovered around her, spinning around her and blocking the next line of fire.

"John call for back up!" said the second officer, as the young man rushed to his car. The other officer looked back at the woman, who was now much closer than before. He raised his taser and fired, however they bounced ineffectively off of her. The pillars rushed this officer, slicing him in half as spinning saws. She then looked towards the other officer.

"We need immediate back up! Suspect is a meta of some sort we..." he didn't have time to finish, as the car window burst, and an arm came forth, grabbing him and dragging him out, raising him into the air.

He looked into the nonexistent eyes to the being that lifted him like a ragdoll. But as he looked at her, he heard whispering voices within his head, as they slowly became louder, causing him to shout, pleading for them to stop. And they did, only to be followed by another, more softly spoken voice within his mind.

"You are nervous. The cold embrace of death frightens you, as you squirm beneath my grasp," the hand squeezed tighter. "Do not fear me. I shall liberate you from you cell, and release you from a fate worse than death. Life."

The voices within his head erupted, splitting his skull with the cries of agony from within him. He felt his ears begin to bleed, and his eyes rolled into the back of his head, leaving him as a lifeless husk, which she dropped to the ground without care.

"Your Journey, is now complete."

@sweetsnowbell:

The inexperience was clear in her every action, in ways like Anya. Sweet. "I think....you may be right, sorry." She shrugged and smiled sheepishly. "You're the super hero here." This was good. If they could split, one or the other from the scene, she might be able to get some work done.

"But...maybe it'd be better if you went on ahead. You're the hero, and you've got the senses. If you go on, you can continue investigating and I can hang back here. If the police arrive I can hold them off and relay what you've gathered. They wouldn't hate me." She offered a reassuring smile.

@arquitenens:

Lindsay opened her mouth to reply, then closed it for a moment. For all of her senses, she had absolutely no intuition, least of all social. She could tell that the woman was trying to get rid of her as little as a fly could tell that it wouldn't be able to get off of a flystrip whenever it liked.

Still, despite her lack of smarts, Lindsay stubbornly tried to take the other girl's hand into hers. "They won't hate you, but what if they suspect you?" She said thoughtfully, biting her bottom lip. "All alone at a crimescene like this, waiting, and without calling... won't it look suspicious?" The inexperienced heroine shook her head, pouting. "You should come with me, I'll get you to safety and take you home. That's what heroes are supposed to do."

Protect the innocent before seeking out the guilty. The trail was cold, anyway -- she'd be far more safe getting the girl somewhere out of harm's way. Of course, Lindsay couldn't be more ignorant of the situation at hand... but naturally, she didn't know that.

@sweetsnowbell: For all the bother the girl was causing, Abigail hadn't found it in herself to be mad. Her heart was in the right place, and that she considered one of the most important parts of being a hero. Though her relative lack of social smarts and newness to that world, for all the benefit it served Abby in that moment, might backfire on Snowbell in another. For the present, though, she would use it.

"That's very sweet of you, but I assure you I can handle it. How could I be in trouble if I haven't done anything? At worst, I'm a witness." Of course this wasn't true in the slightest, but she'd say almost anything to assuage the girl's fears at the moment. She was also reasonably certain there was nothing for her personally to worry about.

Not to lose sight of the goal, she let out a sigh and shrugged. "But if it seems really necessary, I guess I'll let you take me to safety."

@arquitenens: [ OMG I replied to this and CV ate it and never told me D:D:D: ]

Snowbell fidgeted awkwardly, shuffling her feet on the pavement as she considered the other girl's words. What she said made sense, and despite her stubborn desire to be heroic, it was increasingly clear that this woman wasn't really in need of help. Snowbell herself was the one who was out of her depth here.

"O-okay... I'll go on ahead, alright? And I'll try to see if I can get any more info. But I won't go far! So if you need anything just call me, okay? I'll stay close enough that I can get back to you." Stretching her back out, the cat-themed heroine moved past Abigail, moving in the direction the other mutant had just come from. Before turning the corner and vanishing out of sight, however, she paused -- popping her head back and holding up a single declarative finger. "Anything! Okay?"

That was funny.

@gladiatrix: Thanks. :) I've had a lot of fun writing Lindsay so far.

@sweetsnowbell: [Aww! Such a nice sweet kitty. I think we can top that one off for now.]

Oh, thank God. Abigail cheered internally, but even still, she realised she wasn't completely out of the woods with the situation. There was still a lot of work to do, and many things which could've gone wrong.

"Alright, I'll call you if anything comes up," Abby reassured, smiling. Then, turning with a shake of the head, she returned to the alley and waited.

Anya might have to wait, she thought. I don't know how cat-hero politics go, but I'd hate to introduce that lion to a tiger and cause any sort of trouble.

[Hint: Anya is the tiger. ~_^]

@arquitenens: [ Le gasp. :O

Thanks <3 I had fun. ]

@sweetsnowbell: [Thank you. I'm glad. And I too. She's a fun character to see.]

Cat-hero politics. I lol.

@gladiatrix: @arquitenens: @sweetsnowbell:

@necrommander:

8D

@necrommander: Hah!

I'm all about them bats. Right guys? *crickets

@dark_vengeance_: No.

@_glacier_

That's cold.

@sweetsnowbell

Thanks for covering me Joy, I'm on mobile.

@pyrogram

The woman without a name stared at the body bellow her, having come one step closer to completing her goal. She then looked back at the police car, reached in and grabbed the (insert of name of walkie talkie, timey wimy thing), and brought it to her, hearing static on the other end.

"Hello, hello? John, what's going on down there?!"

She crushed it in her hand, and continued on her way. They would be here soon, and she was not there for confrontation....yet.

Kessler's First Move (The Terror Bus)

"And, here. we... go."

At first, the vehicle was merely a regular bus. However, after a brief thievery by Kessler, and with the effort of some Kessler's minions, the bus had been heavily armored, and equipped with artillery that some of the minions would be firing at the civilians. This was all apart of Kessler's first move to arouse pandemonium, and most certainly not the last...

Down in Kessler's warehouse, where his bas was located, the bus was almost ready for deployment. Certifiable as he was, Kessler had nontheless refrained from having utilized immediately. No, he wanted to add some 'finishing touches' as he had told his incredulous minions...

Elliot was out making his runs after he had equipped himself. Right now he was in his civilian guise, but still wearing body armor, but the helmet was off and guns mostly in the trunk. He was content as he drove. Something to his left did catch his eye and caused him to step out of the car. Showing the tan skin tone of his face

He saw a bunch of kids gathering in the alley, ganging up on someone, trying to hit someone. He walked over "Hey hey HEY!! Whattaya guys think your doin' knock it off." Elliot's height and build alone were enough to make them decide to walk off, one kid, their leader, nodding down the alley to goto another area of the street. Feigning boredom with the kid. Elliot walks over to the kid, sitting on the ground with his legs tucked and knees on chin, and extends his hand as he then helps him up. "You alright kid?" The kid dusts himself off and nods.

"Alright...why don't you go on and get outta here, alright? Stick to crowds." The 12 or so year old kid nods as he runs off. Elliot might have offered him a ride if he didn't have a squad's worth of ammo and guns in the car and that more importantly he could get a call. But, free time was free time. Probably better to lay low for now. A good 370k was more then enough for him to sit on.

But as he got in the car, he couldn't quite put his finger on it, but there was a sort of...malicious air about the city. The safest thing to do would be to go home immediately.

But Elliot wasn't exactly one who liked to lounge around and do nothing. Otherwise, he wouldn't have gotten where he is today. "Bit of...drivin' around wouldn't hurt..."A lot of people run away from danger. Elliot tended to be one to go to it. Besides, he felt like he had a bit of bad karma for smash a cop's jaw with a metal case and electrifying one into submission to get away. And he did believe in Karma....

@awesomekill15:

Snowbell let out an exhalation. Something still felt wrong to her about that case, that crime scene. If she had been a little smarter she might have realized that the woman was trying to get rid of her, and been appropriately suspicious. Then again, Lindsay wasn't a little smarter. Nonetheless, feelings that she was neglecting her heroly duties plagued her mind, to the point where the catgirl dropped to a crouch atop the rooftop of Gothic Jeweler. She turned her hyper-sensitive ears to the alley she had left, listening extra hard for any sign of a--

Pale jade eyes widened. It was only seconds before Snowbell heard something, but it wasn't what she had been listening for. Sirens. Screaming. Shooting. Dying. A battle -- a firefight -- cops -- crime.

This was a job for Snowbell!

Who cared if it had been a real hell of a night so far, filled with ice-creatures and crime scenes and savvy young women trying to get rid of her? This was what she had been waiting for! This was her calling as a hero, where she was supposed to be! She extended her claws, letting out a predatory, yet forced, "nyeow!" as she leapt from rooftop to rooftop, making her way constantly closer to the source of the sound....

@sweetsnowbell:

Once more, the woman continued moving. Her mission was still a priority. Perhaps with the arrival of the policeman she had managed to garner some attention...

Suddenly, she felt something. She looked to her pillars, smoothly running her hands across, them. They moved, zooming wildly around her.

Something was coming.

She had the pillars once more form a cloak around her, and she stood there, remaining still in front of the scene behind her. Her head down, she would stay put where she was. Her mission could wait, she would soon have company. It would be rude to keep a guest waiting.

@awesomekill15:

"Look out, crime!" Snowbell bellowed when she finally arrived on the scene, doing a graceful swandive off of a nearby rooftop and, like her namesake, landing on her feet in a 3-point landing. "Snowbell's on the case! Rawr!"

As soon as she arrived, however, she noticed that she may have been too late. The stench of corpses and gunsmoke filled her nostrils, her heightened senses picking up the scent so strongly it made her want to gag. There wasn't a single policeman left alive, here. Someone had... Jesus Christ....

Snowbell dropped into a predatory crouch, extending her sharp talons and narrowing her eyes, looking around for the culprit. Between the burned-out cop cars and the dead bodies, she could only make out some kind of... weird cluster of maybe-organic something-or-others amidst the fog and the gloom of the Gothic sky. "Hello...? Is anyone there...? My name's Snowbell, I'm here to help!"

@sweetsnowbell:

"Hello...?"

The cloaked woman remained still. She heard the voice. Someone had come indeed. The sound of the voice echoed in her head, as she stared blankly ahead of her.

"...My name's Snowbell, I'm here to help!"

She hung her head low, and slowly the darkness around began to seem not quite as dark around her as before. She made herself revealed, however she continued to look forward, her back to this new visitor.

@awesomekill15:

Butterflies filled Snowbell's stomach, jitters of fear. The silence, the dark, the echo of her own voice, it all felt like the kind of horror movies Lindsay tried to avoid. She bit her bottom lip nervously as a shape made itself clear in the dark, and she started to slowly creep forward, skulking to the side to put a shell of a car between her and the mysterious cloaked figure. "Excuse me, are you hurt? Are you okay? Do you n-need help?"

@sweetsnowbell:

The fear from this the one called, 'Snowbell' was quite literally radiating from her. She could feel it, hungered for it. She heard the nervousness in the girl's tone. While not perhaps fun, this would indeed be.....enlightening. For who however, was the question.

"No child. I do not need help..."

She slowly turned, and she looked up at the young one's face, staring into her soul.

"But perhaps you do..."

@awesomekill15:

Villain alert!

Snowbell staggered back, settling into a lower crouch and hissing, awkwardly extending one hand to show off her claws. She felt violated by even the smallest moment of eye contact, like whatever this... whatever this thing was could look right into her, penetrate parts of her that even Lindsay herself didn't have the heart to explore. "H-hey, you! Stay back! I'm not afraid to fight you!" She was afraid. God, she was so afraid. "Just don't do something that you might regret! Come quietly, and we can... we can get you to the authorities and settle this out!"

What was she doing? Even if she did fight, and win, what would she do with this... whatever it was? Sounded female, from the voice. But the scent was... something she'd never encountered before. Something vile and impure and awful that made her stomach quiver.

New Lobo sucks so bad. Horrible inner dialogue, a parody of non-badass 'pretty-boys', he lost all the fraggin' bastich's persona and became a lamer version of Gambit. Totally not buying him being the original Lobo instead of the Main Man, I grew up reading that shiznit and they want me to buy this f*cking lame-ass version of him... Ridiculous.

It's not like parodying the new era's 'badasses' is something bad, but he can't simply pull it off. He is not funny, he fights one of Galaxy's unbeknownst 'greatest assassins' per issue, and it's always a one or two page battle. He is better as Supergirl's punching bag. I mean, look at Dante, he is, basically, like nowadays pretty-boys and he's all sorts of badass.

Disappointment Comics, you fail me once more -_-

@arnold_layne: [ We gonna make Gothic the poor man's Avalon? :P ]

@sweetsnowbell:

"Oh, young, I fear nothing, for I am fear itself," she spoke once more, using her mind to speak with the woman.

"But you fear me. Do not young one, I will guide you, for I will help you see the truth, the darkness, the light holds no truth, only lies."

She stepped closer to the girl. Slowly approaching.

@awesomekill15:

Eeeeeek! Ew ew ew ew ew ew ew ew!

Lindsay put her hands on either side of her head, trying to shake the voices out. Whatever this thing was it was inside of her and it was like, so gross! "Get outta my head, lady!" she shrieked, lifting herself up onto one leg and lashing out with a side kick, one of the few moves she could say she'd really "mastered" out of her continued tae kwon do classes. Whether the attack connected or not, she recoiled immediately afterwards, tilting her posture to the side, trying to remember what little about combat she knew. Make a small target, that was it. Not that her bustline exactly helped with that.

"I don't want your truth, lady! Or your darkness! Or your anything! You messed with the wrong superhero!" she lifted one knee slightly, preparing it to kick again, while lifting up both clawed hands in an anticipatory fighting stance, ready to block or attack or whatever it was she'd end up needing to do. Though, with the woman's seeming mental powers, it seemed like she may not have the skills required to bring this one in.

And cue the division of the RP section :P

@sweetsnowbell:

The kick connected against the woman, however, she did not stumble, falter or any sorts. She simply went back, as though she was hovering above the ground.

With that, the deathly woman's guise lifted, and her pillars raised from shoulders, as did her cloak, revealing herself to her new opponent. The pillars at her sides glistening with darkness.

"Oh but you do. You do, but you simply do not know. I must teach you," the lady's voice went from her mind once more, as she looked at the woman before her.

"You journey shall begin."

@sweetsnowbell: Gothic is inherently poor.

@awesomekill15:

Snowbell's eyes narrowed, her muscles tensing as her powerful kick simply sent the floating, cloaked figure drifting away. "You gonna bark all day, little doggy?" she said, quoting a movie to try to forget how scared she was. "Or are you gonna bite!"

She charged forward this time, doing a quick series of flips before springing off the ground, launching herself at the multi-segmented feminine monstrosity with both claws. She attacked with both, one in a row, sharp slashes that were strong enough to shred through a truck if they connected. Even if she didn't know what she was facing, even if her stomach was in knots from fear, she wasn't gonna let her own weakness get in the way of being a hero. This thing had killed countless policeman already, for who-knew-why... and Snowbell wasn't gonna be the next victim.

@sweetsnowbell:

The Pillars of Darkness slammed made themselves known, screeching a high pitched cry, before ramming into the cat themed heroine, abruptly stopping any charge.

The Lady of Death shot forward with a wave of her hand, sending a kinetic wave to push the girl back, hoping to simply display a short amount of power. She then began to slowly make her way forwards once more, her image distorting with darkness swirling around her, and the pillars dead green glow constantly circling around her.

@awesomekill15:

The teen hero staggered back, letting out a cry of pain as the sudden sonic pulse absolutely devastated her enhanced senses. In her moment of weakness she was barely even able to notice the shockwave that came next, sending Snowbell tumbling backwards. She smacked hard into the pavement, trying to roll with the pain and damage before finally landing on her hands and knees, catching her breath before looking back up at the steadily-advancing eldritch threat. "Alright, the tonberry thing is cool, and seriously it's really creepy, but what do you want?" She struggled back to her feet, backing away and trying to focus, trying to relax as much as she could. Her fear had been clouding her kitty-senses, giving her little to no warning before the woman attacked. She needed to relax... needed to prepare herself. Maybe if she could get a feel for whatever repertoire of attacks this thing had, she'd be able to defend against them a little better. Had to keep her talking, though.

@sweetsnowbell:

"I WANT, nothing. For need is a concept I no longer no, or wish to have.

Her stride continued, as the world behind her appeared to darken.

"I NEED the world to know, that death is truly salvation. I must make the city suffer, to truly understand that good is nothing but a shadow, and behind that shadow, is the evil. For when you realize evil, it does not lie. Good is a lie, that only covers up the darkness within."

She stopped, staring at her once more. "For death, holds no biased. It is the one, and only true truth, that one will ever know."

@awesomekill15:

So, just a psychic Nietzschean extremist maniac. Great, no big deal. No pressure at all. Nothing she hadn't dealt with before.

Not.

"Look lady, I'm sure that sounds great to you, but me and everyone else who never read Ayn Rand probably disagrees." She chewed her lip, trying to imagine her great heroines and role models and trying to think about what they'd do in this situation. Witty quips was a good start, and Snowbell was pretty sure she'd done alright on that front. But her heroes -- Hawkgirl, Cheetara, so many others -- they wouldn't leave it at that. Even cornered and alone the way Snowbell was, they'd give this creepy monotoned maniac a fight, and they wouldn't stop until they came out ahead.

With a feral "reowr!", Snowbell moved forward again, trying to utilize every bit of her superhuman speed. She shifted right, doing her best to feint before moving left again, leaping to the floating extremist's side and then pouncing, hoping to tackle and then, if everything went right, at least get her on the ground, away from those weird rotating green things.

@sweetsnowbell:

She looked at the young girl, watching her as she leaped to tackler her, as she was, being knocking her down for a bit. The Pillars of Darkness floated higher, watching with intrigue as the cat heroine gracefully leaped around.

The Dark Woman continued to look at the girl, showing no expression from her nonexistent face.

@awesomekill15:

The cat-themed girl immediately hesitated when the floating woman seemed to be knocked down for a moment, lifting one claw to strike but jittering at the last moment. What if this person was sick? If they were a normal human? What if her attack killed her? Snowbell didn't really understand her own strength, having not pushed it to its limits yet. "Don't make me do this, lady... it's not too late for me to take you in! Please!"

@sweetsnowbell:

The woman raised herself up, slowly by lifting herself off from the ground. She continued to stare at the cat heroine before her.

"Your heart is in the right place young one, or at least you think so. Soon all shall be known."

The nameless terror reached at hand forward, and suddenly, five Rhombus Shaped, deathly black figures appeared. They were about the size of a bullet, each with a pin like point.

With but a wave of her hand she sent them forward, racing towards the cat woman.

@sweetsnowbell: @awesomekill15: Not sure if I can/should join.

[ I'm game if AK15 is. ]

Crapcrapcrapcrapcrapcrapcrap--!

Snowbell slid backward, bending at the waist Matrix-style and flailing her arms out as she tried to dodge. While she had the raw speed to get out of the way of the bullet, she lacked the awareness and experience to trace trajectories in such a small amount of time -- especially for five simultaneous shots.

She let out a high-pitched, sustained "eeeeeek" as she tried to dodge, the first going harmlessly over her shoulder. The second went where she would have been if she had not bent backwards. The third she managed to catch at the very last second between her claws. The fourth she managed to wiggle away from, tilting her body and watching as it whizzed past....

And the fifth drove itself into the soft flesh of her thigh, causing the cat-themed heroine to let out a scream of pain and fall to the opposite knee, claws digging into the pavement beneath her.

@just_an_average_man:

(I am game as well.)

@sweetsnowbell:

The No named woman strode forwards, slowly moving forwards, swaying to the left and right slightly, making her way to the downed cat hero.

"Do not scream, little one. Fear is for what is not understood. And while you may not know yet, you soon shall." This time she spoke with her mind, and slowly, she began to imbued a chorus of voices into the girl's head, showing her the pain and suffering of those who had fallen before her.