Fracture point

His statement was true, but what Bolt couldn’t admit was that he did enjoy having him around. Regardless, he found it difficult to say what needed to be said and that was likely what caused him to leave now. The question of what kept him around came, but he didn’t know exactly what that answer was. There had to be a reason, something that continued to both him even when Proxy walked out of the little base they had. Eyes focused upon the wall, he said nothing for a few minutes until he realized that likely he wouldn’t come back. In a fit of anger, he slammed his fist into the wall, creating a sizable hole with cracked spider-webbing outwards from that point. His knuckles ached somewhat from the impact, but nothing that proved beyond annoying.

”So…..damn stupid.” He growled, settling into the seat proxy had been sitting in and just gazing at the things he had  been doing. Obviously none of it meant anything to him,s o in the end Bolt stood up and left. Likely Cypher would contact him eventually and he could bring up the fact they likely were now one short. That was time for another day, something he would call about in the morning.

"Where is Matt? He's never this late." Kris asked as she looked around, her hand coming up tentatively as she tucked strands of her long blonde hair behind her ear. She looked about, wondering what was going on. She had arrived at the Lab at the scheduled time, but Bolt was oddly late. It was actually unnerving to believe that a speedster like Alex would ever be late. It actually somehow unnerved her even more that Proxy was late. He had always been her before she arrived and had been here for many, many hours after she left. When Bolt finally arrived, perhaps he could give Kris a better idea of what was going on. Though the hole in the wall and the thin cracking lines around it began to give her minor anxiety.

"Hello?" A voice called, echoing faintly throughout the facility. Kris' eyes widened as she looked about, hearing the foreign voice as she began to look about, searching and scanning the room for a source to the foreign area. Kris walked gingerly towards the area she heard the voice. The white room, where Proxy was beginning the next phase of his experimentation with Bolt's powers and abilities. As she cleared the doorway she found a hooded young man sitting and looking around, talking to himself and trying to wiggle his way out of his restraints. "Well this sucks...kinda warm an' cozy though. Heh... I swear I'm gonna-"

"Who are you?" Kris asked, her voice riddled with curiosity, causing the young man's head to shift before a small smile crept up on his face, his hood still over his face and shrouding most of his appearance.

"Well well, what's this? Room service? Or is this some kinda ploy to get me to talk?" He asked the young woman, immediately he shook his head, and the girl remained there silently, feeling like a deer in headlights. who was this and why were their hands bound in the White room, locked behind the cage? It was at that moment Bolt arrived, thankfully he could prevent this impending travesty.

Bolt had certain times that he came around his little hero HQ, though the downside of that was he had slept in a little more than he expected. Likely Cypher would be wondering where he was by now, Alex rolled out of bed, landing on his feet and rolling a few of his joints which popped loudly. ”Sleep never did as good as I thought it would.” He grumbled, drawing electricity from the nearby wall socket which gave him enough energy to prevent the whole groggy haze that came from waking up. Alex picked up his back pack which had his outfit in it, as well as a few snacks that likely would keep him going through the day.

Walking down the steps into the kitchen, he could smell the usual breakfast/lunch that came with his mother having to cook for two speedsters with massive appetites. Eating whatever she had made was easy enough, taking a minute at the most when it came tp eating at superhuman speeds and his body was rather used to that at this point. ”Alright parents i’m out.” before any of them could question what that something was, he was already moving. In a burst of speed he was off, everything around him blurring until he reached the usual meeting spot, stepping through the entrance as the broken wall was the first thing that met him.

”That’s...going to be a pain to fix.” was what he muttered as he looked around. ”CYpher, you around?!” he called out, hoping that would get someones attention as he also did the looking on foot. What he did find was Cypher talking to creeps in trench-coats, suddenly growing a little….worried. ”probably shouldn’t talk to him. He’s kind of a criminal of the…..well all criminals are bad but you get my meaning.”

Kris looked to Bolt for a moment, jumping when she heard him speak from behind her. Her heart raced from the fright and she actually brought her hand down towards her thigh, although it appeared as though it was a simple jump of fright. She let out a long exhale as Alex explained that the captive was nothing more than a captured criminal and that he was nothing to pay much attention to. She immediately took Bolt's word on it and began to walk away, the hooded stranger clicking his tongue in disappointment as Cypher walked past Bolt, leaving just a moment of Bolt's glare upon him. The hooded stranger smirked before pursing his lips and kissing the air. "See ya soon."

Bolt would likely ignore him, or might say something or could even do something. But no matter what he did it wouldn't wipe the embittered smirk on the umbrakinetics face as he seemed to settle himself back down onto the floor, trying to be as comfortable as he could. Cypher, on the other hand was finally back to being as normal as she could be.

"Okay, so why do we have a criminal in our white-room?" She would ask, though the tone she took was not one of condemnation or judgement, but rather of genuine curiosity and perhaps even a hint of discomfort. The situation was apparently under control however, leaving Cypher to have just one remaining question as she scanned the room once more with a heavy sigh. "Okay, now the more concerning thing. Proxy is never late, except right now. It's rather unnerving. Should one of us call him?" She asked, though how she asked was more of an uncertain type of questioning. Proxy was a very private person, and truthfully if he HAD been abducted by a team of villains it wasn't as if they knew what to do in a situation like that, or what to do if he should vanish.

Luckily he didn’t find Cypher doing anything terrible, like releasing a criminal or anything like that. That would have made things all the more annoying, considering that he had a tough time dealing with the guy before. It was a good thing he knew how to defeat him, otherwise things would have gotten even worse with that. The umbrakinetic said something, though all Bolt did was glare at him, then walked away from the captured man. He walked into the question, mostly about why there was someone in the white room. It was a good question, and one he would have asked in the same position.

”I was just told to throw him in there.” Alex admitted with a shrug, resting himself against one of the many tables that filled the main lab. That was when the question about proxy came around, mostly asking why he was late and Alex had to look away for a second. Words tried to come to mind, but he likely had ruined that whole thing. Admitting that made things a little difficult, considering he couldn’t help feeling it was his fault.

”You can call him if you want. I have a feeling he might not...be coming back. He sorta left.”

Cypher wasn't sure what she was exactly supposed to say bout what Bolt had informed her of. Apparently Proxy was gone, and he didn't seem to show signs of coming back. Immediately she rushed to try and find a logical solution to this perdiciment. Normally it was Proxy telling her how to handle Bolt, or how it was Bolt was processing things and if he needed space or if he needed smothered. But the more she thought about it...the more she realized that she knew absolutely nothing about this young man, or how he would react. It was a risk. did she call and seem like a pest, or get flipped out on, or was she to not call him and risk him feeling insignificant or neglected.

  "Oh my God I hate people. People are so complicaaaated." She said as she sang the the word complicated, a nervous habit of hers. She quickly began to sit at Proxy's chair, immediately feeling uncomfortable as she looked over his notes and his processes. She began to press buttons and type in commands only to realize nothing did what she thought it did. "I've got this...Okay. This is-this is ok." She said, immediately an alarm went off, the alarm was none other than their alert system, identifying that there was another sighting of identified Spark dealers throughout the city. Bolt would no doubt need to go into action... but would he do so immediately?

Okay, this situation was just getting all the more complicated and he was growing nervous because of it as well. Alex huffed, trying to think of what Proxy would do, slowly coming to realize that perhaps they needed him more than they thought. People were complicated, now that was something that he could agree on. Still, he wasn’t the one doing all the important computer stuff. Just running around and taking bad guys down when they cropped up.  Thought cropped up, but eventually the alert blaring loudly as he snapped from those thoughts to the umbrakinetic that was in the white room.

Without a word he zipped to the room, seeing that he was still there which meant that there was no breaking out happening. Giving the meta a glare, he returned to Cypher, learning more about what was actually happening. More spark dealers were active around, which meant they likely knew more about what was happening across the city, or more specifically the trade that was happening. ”Alright Cypher, i’m gonna see what this whole thing is all about.” He slipped the comm into his ear, and quickly changing into his own heroic outfit.

That involved leaping into action from there, anything that kept him from having to think too deeply into what had happened yesterday and the excuse was what he needed.

The Bolt zipped off before Cypher could have said much more. She was left to look at the files left behind by Matthew, and suddenly the screen and monitors changed all on their own, the entire canvas becoming something of an overview, part of the technology they used to monitor and assist Bolt. It quickly became clear to her that she would need to assist Alex through his skirmishes and provide whatever insight she could. Of course she was not used to this set-up, and she began to wonder how exactly she was going to truly fulfill the role of both Proxy and Cypher to the hero.

    Bolt would likely find himself at a rather bad part of town. It would have likely been compared to the slums. The worst ghetto that someone could actually step foot into if they were from Chicago. The minority in this particular ghetto wasn't of ethnic difference, but of almost entirely full blown racial. The minority had metagenes, and they had no problem turning the world around them into what was essentially a tried and frayed area to live. The police and even Metahuman task force squads were to tasked with protecting the city to be here at all times, but without them here at all times it was just far too much chaos.

      The sounds of struggle could be heard throughout the one alleyway, a large flash of electricity flew out of the one alleyway and shortly there after the sounds of grunts were followed by a large industrial dumbster crashing out onto the road. A yell and a bright illumination of burning fire could be seen casting shadows into the alleyway, but after just a few moments, all had become silent. Bolt had his own reasoning, but if he had entered the alleyway after the brief display of powers he would find something that would likely scar him. If he decided to bolt himself in during the display he would find himself in a rather thorough amount of pain, radiating across his throat as his feet came out from underneath him and he found himself on his back, watching a blur of a black hood brandishing a bow swiftly side-stepping and bringing his bow back, lodging the electrokinetic's hand and twisting with stinted eyes, warranting a horrific snap as the lone assailant's elbow flew back, making another sickening crack one it made contact with the electric manipulator's face.

   The electrokinetic fell and the man reached to his side, around his back before withdrawing an arrow and twisting from his post. With a drawback he began falling off to the side a bit as he pushed off for a maneuvering jump, releasing the arrow straight for the superhuman with the strong muscle man, the very same that had attacked Bolt the previous night. Finally it all came down to the pyrokinetic and Bolt. Humanity looked to Bolt and his eyes were a bit of a warning enough in and of their self to stay down and not interfere. Humanity reached discretely to the other side, pulling off a small cylindrical shape from his belt as he went to stand. The Pyrokinetic came over and kicked him back down, causing him to fall on his back once more. The Pyrokinetic quickly began to combust, pieces of his skin turning molten as his footprints began to scorch on the ground.

    "No...Humans...ALLOWED!" He shouted as he brought both hands up to form a large 5 foot diameter sphere of fire in his hands, debris from the ground and broken building began to fly into it and create a semi-molten core. The Pyrokinetic was ready to bring it down over Humanity. Unfortunately he threw the capsule and it collided with the fire, the cryogenic concoction activating and solidifying the energized fire, creating a now very heavy frozen metal core of about 3 foot in diameter. The Pyrokinetic looked up in horror and screamed as he tried to fall back, th large sphere crushing him from the stomach down, blood bursting out and bones splintering throughout him like a squeezed zit.

    "Hello...Bolt." His rather creepy voice was intensely fixated on the creepy reverb of the smooth "hello" followed by the harsh t at the end of Bolt. "Apologies, I couldn't tell the difference between you and one of their little allies. I saw speed and instinctively reacted." He said, being a little more courteous than he had when they had fought. Of course that could be for any number of reasons, and each theory was as flawed as the last. Humanity began to adjust his wrist devices before looking around.

 "There's another deal to be going down tonight. The Airfield at 11 tonight. I won't be there...." He said as he began to walk down the alleyway, seeming to go into even farther darkness. Of course there was always the chance that Bolt had tried to stop him, there was even the possibility that he did. But given he had only come so far between the recovery from the fear toxin and the overall option to avoid confrontation... yeah Humanity felt pretty good about his chances.

   "Bolt! The electric user is still alive!" Cypher shouted over the comm link, the wounded young fighter rolling over with the look of terror on his face as he began to cough, his teeth stained red and his hand grotesquely disfigured.

 "P-please. Help me..." He whimpered as he tried to stand, looking around and seeing both of his comrades killed in action.

City gave way to slums as he ran further towards the source of the conflict, though he found himself a little dismayed by obviously shitty this place looked. It looked more like a place one would expect an on going war to be happening in. Maybe the observation was a little more accurate than he thought. However, that observation did become more true as he caught sight of something that could be classified as a clash, or maybe  the effects of one. Pivoting around a corner, he darted off in that direction with the many ideas of what could be happening playing through his mind. It was lucky for him he was so quick, otherwise he couldn’t have avoided the dumpster that came down on the road he was running down in his dash for whatever was happening.

Bright lights erupted from an alleyway, so Alex did the thing he would normally do and rushed towards it. What he found himself doing was  falling on his ass, and doing nothing, to paralyzed to even move let along speak. This made him the perfect witness to what happened next, which came down to a bunch of people violently dying and one person being horrifically crushed  to..possibly death by a giant ball of metal. Fear tempered the reaction for now, leaving him wanting nothing more than to run in the opposite direction, leave this all behind but all he could do was keep himself from screaming. As the travesty one would call a fight finished, Humanity turned to him and spoke, a little too courteously as if he had something in mind.

But why would he do that?

Was this just some game to him? Was he planning to kill him not that he could barely even move, let alone defend himself or was it something else entirely? The images of those people dying came to mind, amplifying the fear that already came. Instead of the death he expected, all Humanity did was say something about a deal and then walk away as if it were the easiest thing in the world. Luckily he was gone by the time Bolt proceeded to violently vomit anything his stomach had in it at that time, which summed itself up as a minute of retching until his body realized it had nothing else to let go. Cypher had said something about one of them being alive, followed by hims saying something about saving him.

”Yeah….alright.” He said finally, spitting on the ground before turning to the critically injured looking guy. Why he wasn’t killed wasn’t known, but he did look pretty shitty everything given.  There was nothing he could do for the others, but he could try to help the ones still living. ”Cypher, I need a location on any nearby hospitals.” When given that information, he lift the electrokinetic the best he could and had him over there as quick as he could, dropping him off for the medical professionals to deal with it.

From there he would return to the base, looking a little worse for wear despite having not fought at all. ”I think I need a minute...or an hour...or maybe ten.,”

Cypher was appaled at what she witnessed on the screen. She brought her hands up quickly and covered her mouth as she closed her eyes, a quick gasp escaping as she tried to erase the images that she had seen. Yet they remained... scars on her consciousness and no matter how much she told herself to forget it, the order only served as a reminder. Humanity's words came across rather clearly to Cypher, but her covering her eyes only made her question his motives. She looked up to see Humanity make his walk off into the darkness, and to find Bolt undergoing violently emetic activities. She couldn't blame him though, it was a horrible thing to see on television.... let alone in a very cruel reality.

"H-hospital? Yeah. 5th of Barkley. They specialize in metahumans. 10 miles North." She said as Bolt would tend to the man that now had a disfigured hand with the consistency and texture of a smashed grape. Though it was best to have a hand like that rather than an entire lower half. Bolt would be there in almost no time, the man would be in care before Bolt made his return to the base, Cypher still having very little time to process what was going on. Her head processed and she began to wonder about what had happened. She should have said something, did something that Bolt could relate to or could think about in order to make him get up. She should have been a rock for him, motivation if needed. In this circumstance it seemed as though nothing anyone would have said would have changed the outcome of this little scene. She just needed to focus on her work and begin figuring out what to do at the Airfield.

Bolt had returned and declared that he needed an hour, or ten even for him to cope with what just happened. In her mind she had resolved to motivating Bolt, to pretending to be Matthew and see things as clearly as possible. She thought about it, stood up with a puffed out chest and cleared her throat. She was about to tell him to suck it up and that many more people's lives would be in danger if he didn't get back in the game. But in the end all of that faded when she saw the fatigue on Bolt's face. Not the physical kind, but the mental kind, the emotional kind.

"Take all the time you need." Cypher said before giving a half smile and returning to work. "Did you and Matt ever get to talking with our "friend" in the white room? Maybe he could give us some info..." She posed the idea before thinking over just what happened when you questioned someone. Part of her felt like there would be torture, but her stomach contracted at this idea. She didn't have it in her, and Bolt didn't seem like he had it in him. He was too good of a guy.

"Oh uhm.... Do you have any ideas of what we should...I do? I'm getting a layout on the airfield and I'm getting the shift schedules and rotations now so I know whose supposed to be on guard tonight but... is there anything else you want to do or want me to do?" She asked before he managed to disappear and do whatever it was he wanted for his off time or his private investigation.

His hand had been mangled by Humanity, but Bolt could take solace within the fact someone might actually live. For now, all he wanted to do was get somewhere calm, and maybe force his head to get calm. Seeing someone die right before his eyes was a rather...trying experience, and not one that Alex had ever expected to see within his lifetime. Still, it  should have been something he did expect when it came to dealing with villains that were likely going to kill someone at some point. The fatigue only really hit him once he collapsed against the wall, images of blood and viscera dancing through his mind in a macabre display.

Eventually however, Cypher did mention that they had someone in the lock up, and likely they had some information about things. How that information would be gotten was unknown, but he did not like the idea of having to torture someone to get it. Ideas were not exactly something he was able to come up with, though Alex did try nonetheless. She asked what she should do, so he had to give some kind of answer about that. Giving his cheeks a few pats, he pulled himself up and tried to look not as beat as he felt.

”Alright, i’ll question him.” Was all he said, as he walked the entire way to where the umbrakinetic was being held. Using super speed would have been easy, but he preferred just walking, taking the time to think things through a she did so. Minutes passed and he stood before the glass, looking down upon the umbrakinetic with eyes now more comparable to steel. ”So, the deal happening at The Airfield. Know anything about that? He asked so calmly, or perhaps with the illusion of calm. If he could prevent anymore deaths, well that was enough for now.

Bolt had decided it was a time to do a little questioning, specifically to their little house guest. The umbrakinetic turned it's head before offering his signature smile from under the shadowed out hood. Clearing his throat, the umbrakinetic had been humming a tune but stopped as Bolt had arrived to speak with him. He let out a little chuckle as he waved with his one free hand.

"Hey buddy. How've ya been? Hey not that I don't appreciate y'all keeping me safe and sound but is there any chance I could get somethin' ta eat?" He asked, ignoring Bolt's question regarding the airfield deal that was going down. Of course he'd continue talking until Bolt somehow got him to shut up and listen. Whatever it was though it had better have been food or some form of yelling.

"Look man. This is how things get done. You trade. I got somethin' you want. You got something I want. How about we strike a deal?" He asked, this time he was a little more serious than before, perhaps this would be a good thing.

The response was not an immediate answer, which annoyed Alex more than anything else. Instead he asked about food, which was likely just a deflection of some kind. Criminals were pretty good at that kind of thing, and he was likely in the worst state to actually question him. He stepped into the room, the reasoning a little lost to him. ”How about you give me some answers first?” He asked, narrowing his eyes and glaring at the male with what would be considered a wilting gaze, letting a small jolt of electricity miss his head by an inch. An unconscious move really, but something that happened regardless of what he wanted.

Then the talk of trade came along, something that did not bode too well for him. ”And what exactly is it you want to trade?” Control over his power was a waning thing, but then again that came with things tied to his emotions. ”What do you want?”

"My boss is gonna kill me. I know that and I'm okay with that, but he's gonna kill my sister too. He said I was useful to him more as a dealer than as a informant. I refused and he said he'd kill my sister....faster than I could bink." The umbrakinetic said as he cleared his throat and looked to Bolt, the hood still covering his eyes as his smile faded. "He's fast, but maybe...just maybe you're faster. 32nd on Transfer street. 10 minutes from here. Get her out of there, get her safe. I'll tell you what I know about the meeting tonight." He said as seriously as he could before looking rather hopeful for a moment. There was a level of sincerity to what he said, but it was conflicting with the tough guy exterior as he sat back down, it was clear he wasn't willing to talk too much more. But he needed to know that Bolt was going to help him. Little did he know that Bolt was going to literally be there and back with his sister in less than a minute.

 "Tell her Shady sent ya... she'll know it's me." He said. Of course after that Bolt was free to say or do whatever he wanted. He knew the guy's price of cooperation.

He had asked his question, and yet the response was not one that Alex had expected. In a moment he forgot that the guy was still a person too, even if he was a guy peddling likely deadly drugs. There was a sister to save, so he would save her because that was kinda what he did anyway. ”Alright, i’ll get your sister, but then you’re going to talk.” He said with a nod, then internalizing the information that was given to him as far as where this sister was. Leaving the room in a brisk walk, he inquired about the location from Cypher and then from there he was off. The sound barrier had broken not a second after he took off, though it was far away enough from the lab that no damage was incurred to it.

What the hell kind of name is Shady? Was all Bolt thought to himself as he dashed down, around corners and people at speeds that couldn’t even be followed by the human eye, moving through what looked to be a home, giving a second of searching which yielded that she was the only one there and then picking up said occupant. Getting back to the lab was just as easy,  a few things being thrown about as he stopped and settled her down with a sigh.

Another person saved, or so he hoped that was the case.

If Bolt had been tricked into kidnapping someone, then he would be more than angry with this whole situation. ”Cypher...look after her. Need to talk to our prisoner again.” With that he returned to the cell, this time not even bothering with walking. ”Okay, I got her. I think this is the part of the deal where you tell me what you know.”

Bolt was back already, and Shady could her his sister screaming in the other room. He shot up and tore his hood back revealing a stunned and shocked face of a young man, whose smile got really wide as he looked to Bolt. A strange young man seemed to gleam with joy for a moment as he shook his head. "Holy shit. Yeah man. This is gonna work out juuuuust fine." He said as he clapped his hands togther and began to rub them. With a sharp inhale and a hissing exhale he prepared to enlighten Bolt.

"The Airfield is where my boss is supposed to meet with a pair of notoroious crime lords. An old man and a chick, the man specializes in drugs and the chick...well let's just say shes a hot one. They're both interested in meeting my boss, he's a huge player that's interrupted both of their operations but has has an unparalelled success. They both took interest and wanted to meet with him. Probably to try and win him over and get him to work with one of them. ll I know is that it's gonna go donw in Gate A's shelter house." Shady said before snapping his fingers and pointing to Bolt like his hands were guns. He then moved away from the bed, making it quite clear he was no longer bound by the initial handcuffs and bindings that restrained him. He then took a seat on a comfortable chair and let out a sigh.

Cypher was in the other room talking Shady's sister down and explaining the situation, trying to spare the girl from the facts that her brother was a criminal drug dealer that used children as mules for his product.