Catching Rays (Silver Scion)

Bliss could walk with all the confidence she wanted. She should probably tone it down a little, but Bliss was not dressed to tone it down. Not when the remaining two members of whatever team stole the serum from her still wandered the streets looking for her. A constant beating sun bore down light- soul sapping and energy draining light. How she ever once loved it was beyond her- and that was literally beyond her.

Most of the shade kept her brain from feeling less like a frequently pounding gong, but it also kept her a little too close to the sides of alleys for her own comfort. Taking a stroll down the middle of the sidewalk would feel a little safer- mind splitting pain maybe not so much, but at least the sun would feel warm.

One of the stolen messages gave her a heads up about a meeting location situated in the lower section of the city docks district. It would be a little bit of a walk, but Bliss did not feel like grabbing a cab- and also needed to actually think of something of a plan before getting anywhere near the danger of this situation.

Well, right until the danger of the situation came right into her chin. The sudden blow from the titanium knuckle punched Bliss against a street sign, saving her from rolling out into the sunlight. "You aren't dead." A fist clinched around Bliss' shoulder as Golem pulled Bliss in closer. "Let's make you broken though."

"This ends badly for you." A swell of ice began to form around Golem's hand. With a focused blast of telekinetic force raging through her hand, Bliss shocked the frozen flesh enough to cause it to burst. The street began to clear to a safe distance as no one wanted to stand between two powered fighters going at it, but still wanted to watch said event.

Twisted metal began to sprout from bone, pushing up the forearm and eventually molding new appendages, joints, and finger. "Nice try."

Another one? Already? Israel thought to himself as the new (presumably) metahuman revealed himself. He was able to convert his body into metal so it seemed, or, Israel reassessed, He is able to convert metal into his body...

Israel ducked into an alley and parkoured up the side of the building, utilizing his controlled electron adhesion to assist him in a quick assent whilst keeping his eyes locked on the newcomer through his expanded EM perception. He then ran over to the edge and looked down, without actually peering over the edge, since he could just look *through* the building to keep his cover.

His hand went to one of his locked pouches, and he pulled out some white powder and some black powder, swiftly enclosing them in a small ceramic shell.

Just in case... He thought.

Two walls of ice shattered in front of Bliss. Neither one by her own act of force. The very hand she shattered only minutes ago grasped her by the throat, lifting her from the ground and turning her back towards the streetside. Bliss began summoning ice to fill around Golem's shoulder joint. She might grow it back, but it would not hold her in the air in the mean time.

"You don't like the sun much?" Golem stepped forward, lifting Bliss higher. Rays of sun basked against Bliss' face, halting the generation of ice in her wake. "So this is going to be a bad day for you."

A bead of sweat with a minor chill broke down Bliss' brow, generating a closer resemblance to ice than her current will to invoke her power. The heat in the air continued to swell, but the ice around Golem's arm still remained a juicy target. While Golem held Bliss in the air, cutting off her air flow, Bliss shoved her leg into the Golem's shoulder. One swift kick cracked the ice. The second kick cracked Golem's shoulder.

Enough of a slip opened, letting Bliss get out of Golem's grip- and out of the sun. Bliss rolled into the shade, pressing her back against the wall, she generated cones of ice around both of Golem's ears before detonating them with a telekinetic blast. "Let's see how quick you can regenerate from a concussion."

Israel watched as this girl continued to show her own formidability against the Meta, he considered using the improvised smokebomb, but refrained from doing so.

Looks like I might not need this after all... He thought, but palmed it anyway.

He remained where he was, but readied himself to leap down, should he need to.

The fight ended well enough for Bliss. She dusted off a speck of debris from her skirt and popped her back. A heavy sigh rang out through her lips. "That could have gone worse." The quick moment of relief would be her last for a while.

A violent force sent Bliss flying into the side of the wall. "I can recover pretty quickly." Before Bliss could recover, Golem lifted her gargantuan hands over her head and dropped them on Bliss' back. Golem continued to heavy the load placed upon Bliss' back with another shot. "You don't look so good. Maybe I can help you take the edge off."

Concrete broke from the pavement as a street sign emerged from its planted state. Golem bent the metal and wrapped it around Bliss' upper body. A small bend in the bars made for a perfect handle to allow Golem enough grip to grab Bliss and toss her into the sunlight of the street. Two cars slammed there brakes to avoid contact with Bliss as Golem stepped into the street to take possession of her prize. "Now, what is it I'm supposed to stab through your heart?"

Can't afford to wait any longer... Israel thought, as he flung out the improvised choke bomb, waiting until it got just close enough to Golem's head to cover the widest area around her, then hit it with a tiny bolt of electrostatic energy, causing it to burst into a choking cloud of finely powdered sugar and gunpowder, whilst releasing a sound akin to that of a large back of flour hitting the pavement at terminal velocity.

He then darted into the smoke silently, absorbing his own force and sound to muffle and mask his movements through the choking cloud as he attempted to grab onto Bliss, hefting her, if he succeeded, and propelling himself back through the cloud to his original perch, still cloaking his sound and air movement through the cloud, so as to prevent them from leaving a powdery trail through the air and leaving the cloud practically undisturbed.

(Assuming he succeeded in doing so), he then unbent the sign from around her, still muffling the sounds of his actions and held it above her to shield her from the sun. (Out of sight from those beneath the building.)

He then observed her organs to assess the damage sustained by them during the fight, as well as to assess if they had begun to heal.

Everything looked bright and shiny for Bliss. "Need to cut that out right now..." Every beat of the sun continued to rain down a never ending reminder of why bright places and her did not match. "I don't know, have you ever thought about driving somewhere that isn't my heart? Literally anywhere else is fine with me."

Before Golem could smash or bash or crash or slash any part of Bliss, gas began to fill the air. As smoke blocked the vision around the immediate area, Bliss felt herself pulled away from the scene of the about to be murder and into the shade. "Much better. "

The metal pole pulled away from her arms, letting Bliss get up a wall of ice to block out the direct light from the sun. Sitting against the brick wall, Bliss began to try and remember exactly what it was she hoped to accomplish from this debacle. "Give me a minute and I'll be right with you. Try punching Big Bertha over there for the mean time."

Pinnacle nodded and, assuming that she appeared to be altogether alright, glanced back at the area where Golem once was, peering through both building and smoke to observe her.

Provided that Golem was in the same place, he leapt silently to the ground on the opposite end of the building, circling around quickly to behind her position in an attempt to both sneak up on her as well as draw her off the trail of the girl, should he be noticed.

However, if Golem was no longer in that location, he would stay by the girl's side to provide her with backup in the event of Golem somehow sneaking up on them, eyes and ears scanning the area swiftly and without error or inattention, whilst feeling the vibrations of the building and air to also locate her, if she was much closer than he'd anticipated she could get in such a short time.

In either case, he would take things as they came from there...

Everyone wanted to punch Bliss. Some people wanted to punch her a little harder, but that is the price paid when someone goes around making a difference in the world. People will try to make a difference in your face.

Golem staggered through the smoke with a newly enlarged hand taking up the mass of a wrecking ball. "Your pretty little face is going to Hell!"

Sometimes they even wanted to change the zipcode of where your face could be found.

"Okay, here's the plan. I'm going to make lots of ice and-" Bliss found the problem with giving a plan during a fight culminate when giant women start running. And, a giant woman started charging, and Bliss needed to make some ice. Now the city of Rio would probably not be super excited about what Bliss was about to do, but Bliss needed to make sure her face remained unpounded.

Taking advantage of the local sewage system, Bliss decided to pour her ice into the subterranean crevices to give her an unexpected foot up against the charging behemoth of a woman coming to dismantle her. Yet, again, Bliss put up an ice shield. Everone expected Bliss to put that up. It made Bliss so predictable and easy to beat- except for when Bliss had something up her sleeve. And two times out of five, Bliss had something up her sleeve.

Golem commenced the beatdowm of Bliss' shield like Bliss assumed the dumb giant would. Each punch compromised the shield, but gave Bliss time to prepare her defense. She never did get to fill in her partner on the plan, but he never really talked to her, so Bliss decided to run communications. "Hey! Things are about to get frigid! Watch out!"

Pinnacle nodded, then went still as a statue, not because he necessarily needed to, but he figured that he should, just in case, as he phased his submolecular structure so as to avoid any physical repercussions from whatever the girl was planning to do.

In the meantime, he simply watched and observed what was about to go down. He was indeed curious to see what she had planned. It appeared as though she was utilizing the sewer system in order to create a gigantic, if not disgusting, burst of ice from underneath her assailant.

As soon as whatever cold wave she was about to unleashed had been completed and run its course, Pinnacle would unphase, prepared to rush over and help if required.

Truly, the day had become much more interesting than he had ever expected that it would. (There were too many free radicals involved to be able to predict anything of this sort, anyhow.)

Bliss served her revenge the way it should always go. Each icicle to break through the street further incapacitated Golem more in place. She could regenerate, but she would not be able to move any closer to breaking Bliss' face, and at the end of the day, Bliss would always write that down as a win. "Have I used the 'cold feet' line yet? I feel like I have, but I'm not quite sure."

A snarl of a remark shot back from Golem. Bliss raised a hand, freezing a glob of spit in the air before suspending it with her telekinesis. "Hmm?" Ice began to cake over the rest of Golem's mouth, making dealing with Golem much easier for Bliss. "Now for a quick shakedown..." Metal began to jingle around in Golem's pockets as Bliss applied a telekinetic pull here and a push there. Finally, she came across a clank. Keeping her distance from the brute, Bliss levitated the vial out of Golem's pocket and into her hand.

"Perfect, and now for the next trick, I leave Brazil for- is that your phone?" A ring began to emanate from Golem's pocket. "I'm going to do so a solid. That's probably your boss wanting to talk to you, so I'm gonna take it for you. Alright?"

The phone shot out of Golem's pocket and into Bliss hand, allowing her finger to gently slide over the 'accept call'. "Hello, this is Ugly's phone. Bliss speaking."

Bliss! Just the person I wanted to speak to.

"Probably not. You see you ruined a lot of what I was doing down here-"

I captured your team. I want to make a trade. Give me the serum, and let me take a blood sample, and you can-

Bliss rubbed the bridge of her nose. "Can we not? This is going to end bad for you, and be a real hassle for me. Just let everyone go- I'm even going to assume you aren't lying, and then, I don't know, don't contact me ever again? Sound good?"

I'm sorry, Bliss. But, that's not how this is going to play out. I've got a car coming for you.

"People are going to get suspicious of a large frozen- he hung up." Bliss tossed the phone towards Golem. "Your boss is rude."

She walked past Golem, keeping to the shade. She wanted to find the guy whom kept disappearing on her, but felt a sudden honking of a horn pull her attention. "He is pretty punctual. I'll give him that." Bliss walked towards the car, preparing to get inside and take a stroll to the dark side.

Israel was not entirely certain what was playing out before him this day, but it was not the kind of thing that you could just ignore, and so, he floated up high into the air with the intent to follow the car, his enhanced grasp of the electromagnetic spectrum and other aspects of his sight allowing him to keep track of the car before him from a great distance.

From above, he would follow the car, changing his appearance to match the color of the sky through his amorphous autokinesis and projecting the light that hit his back through his ventral surface, further masking his location to those below, as he would not cast a shadow this way.

He would also enhance his hearing so as to keep tabs on the car's conversation.

Where are you going... I wonder... He thought.

Gravity moved Bliss along a straight trajectory from the outside to the seat of the car. No goons. No bombs. Nothing out of the ordinary to threaten or menace her. And the seat gave decent lumbar support. "All in all, not the worst limo ride I've ever had."

"That's good, Bliss." A voice came from the corner of the chamber. Shadows kept the man cast in a figure less form, but a hand emerged swishing a wine glass.

"It just fell on that spectrum immensely." Bliss prepared to take the limo out. Ice over the interior in a band, cause it to erupt, rip the vehicle in half. Then, Bliss could get to business.

"There's that wonderful Bliss snark." The glass rose to his nose, filling his nostrils with the rich aroma of the make. "I think it's overrated."

"Better be talking about the wine." Ice began to curve around the crevices of the vehicle, beginning Bliss' plan.

"I'm not." His glass touched the side of the console, locking it in place with the lip of a cup holder. "Let's talk brass. I don't have your friend..."

"This is going to make this a whole lot easier." Bliss cracked her knuckles preparing to expand the ice through the under carriage of the vehicle.

"But, there's a bomb-"

Her ice stopped. "Well, that's cheap and annoying."

"There's more." Moving from the shadows, the man from the prior evening held up a small device with a red button situated in the middle.

"That's a pretty simple detonator." Bliss wanted to grab it from his hand with telekinesis, but he would expect it. She needed to continue with her plan. If she could incapacitate him, it would keep everyone- herself included- safe.

"It's not a detonator." He pushed the button. "It's a modification I made to the sunroof."

A dumbstruck feeling came over Bliss. The only mechanization she could hear came from the other side of the limo. A burst of sunlight peaked through, but nowhere near the vicinity of Bliss. Stray dust mites fell and danced their way to the seat of the limo. Then, the light diverted from the seat. The light bounced off the seat, brilliantly reflecting the rays directly onto Bliss.

She lost grip of her ice. Trying to control a telekinetic blast only drove a migraine through her head. One blast could shatter it though. Bliss did not know fully how the seat was mirrored, but she needed to break it. She pulled back on her telekinesis. Again, the pain shot through her head. Power surged through the tips of her fingers, but her eyes blurred. Instead of a single blast, she focused on creating a field capable of vibrating any molecules around her in hopes of reaching out far enough to destroy the seat.

With her eyesight almost gone, she closed her eyes. A little more focus. And, then a shatter. Bliss fell back into the seat, still basking in the sunlight.

"Well done, Bliss." Two hands clapped together six feet from her. "You shattered my glass. Whatever will I do now?"

It did not matter what he did. Bliss felt her eyes roll back, and all she saw was darkness as the limo pulled through the gates of a chemical factory



"I never told you my name." A voice began to bring life to Bliss. "It's Umber."

Bliss focused her eyes in front of her. Lab tubes and burners lined a few empty tables while gas lines all ran from the central hookup to each of the lab stations scattered across the room. Umber moved from his station with red vial tucked between two of his finger. "Your blood isn't what it used to be. Too toxic. Not a surprise." Umber tipped his head back to allow his eyes to gaze over Bliss. "I need to purify your blood before I can see if the necrodium responds."

Bliss sat with her hands tied behind her back. Rays of sunlight continued to pour down on Bliss, keeping her vision blurry and powers in check. She tried speaking, but a black bandanna tied around her mouth refused to give her a syllable.

"I'll need to keep you around to make me more of that special blood of yours." Umber placed the vial in a tray, filled with ten other samples he took from Bliss. "Once I have what I want, I can figure out what to do with you. Until then, sit back, and enjoy the marvels of science."

Pinnacle watched from far above the limousine as the man that sat before bliss spoke with her of his plans and his deceptions. At length, the man opened the sun roof, and the sunlight began once more to weaken the girl.

He considered blocking it out, but that would alert the man to his presence, and so, instead, he came up with another plan.

He phased himself and passed through the nearby buildings, gliding through the street and into the car itself, but not outright, rather, he used his autokinesis to morph his form into a film that passed surreptitiously over the surfaces of the car, and over those in the vehicle as well, imperceptibly to the senses.

As the man went about his preparations, before the girl had awoken, he used this stealth to contaminate each chemical with himself, matching their properties with said amorphous autokinesis before overtaking each sample with his own being.

The man's research... His blood samples and chemicals... They would all behave and look the same as they ever did, but in truth, they were now part of Pinnacle.

He now had the means to destroy this lab's work if necessary, or replicate it for later use if it could save lives.

The more solid equipment would take far longer to overtake, and so, instead, he would simply coat such small instruments with a tiny portion of himself, so as to exert his influence over these instruments to protect the girl, again, if necessary, through his molecular self-ordination and the like, to make needles fly out of hands and the like.

It would depend on what would happen next if he would deem this necessary or not, but it would be a good trick to pull, considering the girl's telekinetic abilities. It would likely appear that she herself was causing the effects.

A metal door slid down from the top of the doorway, bouncing just slightly as it fell into place. "I put in a request for security." Sliding both of his hands into the pockets of his jacket, Umber took stride past Bliss, rubbing her cheek. "It's surprising how many people are interested when you can offer valuable assets."

A union between Umber's index and middle finger slid under Bliss' chin, resting just over her jugular. The thrust of blood coursed with each beat, signaling Umber time and time again. "Heart rate is a little low. Don't want to injure the goods."

Once Umber's hand left Bliss' throat, Bliss thrust forward, trying to throw her words past the black gag, but finding the electrical tape's grasp to the pipe far too strong. The cords around her ankles wiggled slightly at behest of her tantrum, drawing the attention of the bottom of her eyes for a moment. A little looseness around the ankle of her boot let her squirm more than her captor most likely would like her to do so.

"Thirty minutes and the ride will be here." Umber threw a jacket over his back. "Don't worry Bliss, I'm sure they want you for your sparkling personality and winning smile."

The groove between Umber's thumb and index finger gripped Bliss' chin, rotating her head from left to right. "Can't really see it right now. But, don't worry, I contacted your people too. It just seems you don't have enough money to outbid other people who want you." Umber stepped back to the station, lifting a vial and placing a stopper in it. "It's all just business, Bliss. You've never really been good at that though."

Pinnacle mentally cringed at the man's actions, but shortly thereafter set to work with his own plans.

One by one, various medical implements on the nearby trays and tables would rise into the air behind him out of his sight, and hopefully undetected by his other senses. If he did detect them, Israel hoped that it would appear that Bliss was stronger than she currently looked in her predicament.

Regardless, they would then fly toward and hopefully into his neck from behind, sharp end first. Their durabilities would be enhanced by Israel's presence on their outer edges as well, hopefully allowing them to swiftly incapacitate the man due to his injuries.

Meanwhile, at the same time, the part of Pinnacle that had followed Bliss in from the car would unbind her by sliding off from her clothes and snipping her bonds. As for the part of him upon the man's clothes, they would remain where they were, undetected as a part of said clothes, and their projected merkavah would absorb any sound he made, keeping the affair silent via his merkavic channeling and quantum state translation.

Through these precautions, Pinnacle hoped to keep this operation a covert one.