Cleave the Night (Anastasia/Nikolai)

Nik stared at the guy before him, something about him confused him to his demon soul. He wasn't quite sure if it was his posture, his speech patterns, or really his use of the phrase "Slumps." either way he could only smile as he tried to figure it out.

"oh darn, so sorry to hear we're not of much help to each other." Nik slipped out as he glanced up and down the street he stood on. "you know I have a weirdly good feeling about you."

as he continued to butter up his new friend, a quick glace behind him allowed him to have eyes on his target. in only matters of seconds, an idea came to dear old Nikolai.

"hey, I think I have someone you should meet. you two would be a good match" Nik quickly said as he threw his arm over the shoulder of his new ally. "maybe if things turn out well, maybe she won't need me anymore"

With a Wink and a smile, Nik moved to start dragging Max down the street. though he wasn't sure if Max was actually coming along or now, it didn't matter to Nik. all that mattered to him was he was finally able to figure out why he has found himself back into the land of the horny mortals once again. almost on cue, he was able to snap out of his thought just in time to bellow out a "HELLO MY DEAR, LOOKING FOR ME?" as he made his way throughs an old friend.

She turns her head to the direction of the Demons yelling and she rubs her necklace a bit trying t signal she heard him. She still felt weak, the light catching her icy blue eyes. She looks much younger then 22, maybe 17 almost 18. She wore a mask to hide her baby face, maybe her youthful appearance would be more shocking to victims. Her face was the Face of "the young prodigy of Dance" at the Preforming Arts school in town. She couldn't sully her back up plan by showing her face in the dirty clutches of this job.

"Мама, что я буду делать, если не получится*" She sighs out. She felt the slum now. these streets bring that out of her. Depression and anxiety she hate this place, she hates the society thrives of of people like her who live or have lived in these places. Most of all she hates the fuckers that float above it all without a care in the world. Those who mold society to favor them and diminish those who support it.

She hugs her knees to her chest. She couldn't help but slowly doze off while she's curled up in a ball.

*Mom, what will I do if it doesn't work out?

Max absorbed Nikolai's charisma and integrated it into the equation. He seemed to pull him along, briskly speeding him towards a vector of excitement, and dark wanderlust, with the zephyr of cool, night air.  A part of it of course was the fact that he could definitely handle himself. Whoever this guy was, supers were still rare enough to be underestimated and often written off as someone likely not to be run into. Max was scared of his own capabilities more than someone outwitting him, but there was something else.

 He hadn't touched a drop of alcohol or a puff of a blunt, but something about the night was admittedly thrilling. There were hues to the shadows, and music in the faces of those he was passing. Stepping forward, the view of the woman he had run into seemed to shift with each inner glance. Either she had a great mystique around her, or this guy was the center, but solving this mystery was now the prize.

  He then saw her curled up in a ball with a completely different outfit, throwing him off even more. With this sight, he had stepped completely into the Twilight Zone.

"What it do?? Shaking off the cocktails?" he quipped, meandering with Nikolai.

"Man, you don't look too good. What was up with that guy in there? He okay? You okay??"

 As he approached, the darkness thickened, accentuating the Anastasia enshrouded in sadness, holding onto a purple feather flame for light and warmth, blooming out of her hand. Once again the image of her was shattered, as he seemed to be approaching someone who was very young, hurting, and yet powerful in her own way. It was as if the night was simply the herald for these people arriving on the scene. At this point, Max decided to go with the flow. There was no way he was figuring this completely out via mere head calculations.

"Woahhhh, nice magic trick. Is that for real?"

The voice she heard frightened her. She closes Her hand around the flame and curls up in a protective ball. She couldn't move if she wanted to. She didn't care what he does, she couldn't care.  "P-please go away, I don't want trouble," her shaking voice betrayed her attempt to sound strong and fine with a few stutters and its wavering tone.  She starts shivering now her warmth is gone. Every tremor that sent shockwaves through her body reminded her of her painful existence and the aches that the shock that befell upon her earlier that night. She lets out a few painful sounding pants,

She closed her eyes praying the man would leave or Nik would come to her rescue.  She pulled at her shirt in an attempt to make it thicker to warm herself up, the nights chill annoyed her.  She leans against the wall behind her. Her stomach growled. When was the last time she ate a meal? Was it yesterday?  The day before?

All she knew is that she wanted to be in her home, curled up under her warm comforter fast asleep.

Nik looked back at max before flashing a smile and a "hold on for a minute" response before he stepped forward and bent down. still hovering over the poor woman, Nik could only roll his eyes and try to keep his smile as he poked her a couple of times to get her attention. When she didn't respond right away, he got really nervous and poked her some more. With a glance back at his new friend every once and a while he finally starts to crack and leans in close to whisper to her.

"Hey, I think it's time to get up," he says to her as she sits there. "I got someone I think you should meet and have a good time with." As his gaze counties to jump between his new and old friend, the realization comes to him this match-up is not turning out well.
"Sorry max, she must be tuckered out from all her daddy issues."   Nik joked as he bent down and scooped up Anya. "maybe being carried for a bit will let get her the recharge she needs."

With his old friend now in his arms, he turned to his new friend with a bright smile on his face. As he stared at him, something about them all being together made him not be able to shake a strange feeling in his gut. 'why is Anya acting so weird?' 'Why is this guy so attached to him?' 'Why was a summoned to a bar when I have good wine at home?'
as these thoughts raced through Nik's head, only one thought eventually stuck. he looked at his new friend with a smile that showed a more devilish grin. he wasn't sure how but he figured he had something to do with her condition. it's whether or not she was fit to have fun alongside him was the only question he truly had left.

Max leaned on himself as Nikolai attempted to introduce the girl, cryptid, super, whatever she was, but then decided to carry her, as she was clearly having a hard time. Now that this guy somehow knew his name, it was time for his own introduction. A twinkle in his eye matched his torso straightening out a bit, as he leaned back and popped his back. Still with a slight drunken swagger, he gesticulated.

"Well, I don't know who you people are but you seem pretty cool. I hate to break it to ya, but I am not into hookers, and it seems your lady there isn't into being an escort herself. But who am I to judge haha you know man we all got it rough..."

Stretching his neck a bit, but not his lopsided mask he continued.

"I am Max... just a man raised in these streets like most people out tonight. You know there really aren't very good survival statistics for a guy like me to live on the streets and then mess with the others, but here I am."

Eyeing Anastasia, a frown of pity stretched across his face.

"I'm a man who gets up 8 AM and goes to bed 1 AM, looking for the hustle, heh, after all that's all you can really do to survive. I make ends meet doing side jobs. My momma didn't really take that good care of me, and I was born from a freak accident. Tough neighborhood, tough people, tough life. Could even say I was abused by the breasts I nursed some ya know..."

He began to pace a little.

"After all that's all we really can do, just get by. We are the sum of our environment and failures, and those that came before us.  The gang raises a man, or the state raises a man... a man has to cut his way to the top. Power isn't just the currency, it's the lifeblood."

 The night behind him began to crackle, as if something was bubbling up with the speech.

"There is no compassion; there is no ambition; there is no vision. One must decide which faction to stay in, like a prison... until of course, you are abandoned, or at least see the abandonment coming. One day, a man is given power, but instead of joining the others he looks around. He sees that people make excuses; they are afraid; they are selfish; they are weak. The crime and depravity they involve themselves doesn't make them happy, and it usually spits them out like all the rest. An endless parade of meat for the meat grinder. Others follow the program; they aren't very happy either. After all, what man can have a completely intact conscience when he has made himself an island and let the others drown?"

  Streaks of electricity began to glow and flicker sending intense light coursing through his eyes.

"It's almost as if people are too dumb to be that good or evil, if there is any evil it's the fact that they lie to themselves, and run away from their true potential. So they despair, or throw tantrums and nothing much is done. Like revenge killing, or pimping, or dealing drugs, or any other short-sighted pathetic thing."

A mask fell out of the air, thrown by someone on an adjacent rooftop, the darkness covering half their face. A crystalline mask, something like a luchador, but more hardened and primal, gleaming with the streaks of electricity starting to charge throughout his body. Max caught it and donned it, his anger now peaking.

"So, when someone takes out a link, a bead, an itch that I have had to interrogate someone who is responsible for the machine of this city, because they didn't like screwing him or something, I see once again that the state of man has to be dealt with. So here is the question. Who in the hell are you people and what are you doing in my city? I'm not going to ask again."

Hands in pockets, Neon had fully manifested, his shoulders relaxing into a confident stance in his suit, ready to take these people down, whoever they were. If they were of the council, it was time to finally send a message. If they weren't, it was time to teach morons a lesson as well. If this guy was a pimp, he would be duct taped to a rolling office chair and rolled up to the police station with a free box of donuts.

She looks at Nikolai and then the man. "You'd really attack an orphan for doing a job to survive?" she scoffed. She pulls the shadows over him obscuring his view of both her and Nikolai. "Nik we have to go, his abilities harmed me to the point movement hurts" She pulls on Nikolai's shirt "I cant hold the shadows for long." She is showing more and more exhaustion with the more power she uses. She weakly leans into the hold Nikolai has on her. Her stomach growls again and she tries to hide her face. Its clear she wanted to go home. She nuzzles his chest a bit and yawns.

Nik smiled as he looked back at Max, the smile turning from a friendly one to an evil smirk. He glanced down to look at his partner as she seemed to grow weaker. He knew she wouldn't last long and needed rest soon or she might have to spend more time with him than he could ever bare.

"My My, I have to say it took you far longer than I expected to show your true colors" Nik laughed as he rested a hand on Anya's head.
"I have to say, you do seem so quick to jump into a fight when your opponents don't seem like much of a threat."
As he heard the pleas of Anya, he knew his time for fun had come. While he knew she would hate him later, what kind of Demon would allow a 'Hero' like this to just walk away without a lesson?

he slowly raised both hands up as he could feel the demonic energy start to flow throughout his body, his hands and eyes started to glow an unholy purple. A small cackle exploded from him as he felt all the energy from around him build and twist as his arms simply moved closer to the sky. His open palms glowed so brightly, his palm lines looked like neon letters. As he felt all of the energy hit its limit, he looked back down at his new opponent and grinned his wicket grin before finally breaking the silence.
"Since you decided to finally show your true colors, I thought Why not show mine as well? could save you a couple weeks of broken bones and unknown fears." As he spoke those final words, he closed his fists with a massive eruption of energy.

There was a moment of silence before the first civilian felt the effects of what Nik had done. slowly the screams of the clubgoers filled the air. Each and everyone started to shake, run, and even fight the air. some saw their greatest fears while others see something more......enjoyable. hearing the songs of his hard work, Nik refused to break eye contact with Max. Enjoyment rushed throughout his body as he could feel the energy start to build up more around him. He knew what comes next will be good entertainment for him and he was excited to see it. He only hoped Anya could keep up with it.

Max's head cocked to the side and it popped with a sudden inhumanly fast jolt, as if shocked by his own energy, but controlled. The deeper darkness that had been haunting the night had come alive, confirming his suspicions. It wasn't so much the girl, but rather her partner, or boss that was at the center of the cirque-de-freak, mischievous feel he had been having throughout the night.  Nikolai's smile seemed to be a veritable demonic portal, and the aura about him was so palpable, that Max could have sworn it was something truly supernatural.

This wasn't just an aura, it was some kind of entropy in the purest of forms, like something very hard for any mortal, even super to control. The odds of them being part of the council were much smaller. If the council did have people like these working for them, then they most likely would have made much bigger moves by now, and Max would have heard of it to some extent.

He started to hear both screams, giggles, laughter, and cries of joy and fulfillment behind him. Something seemed to be swooping down upon them and messing with their minds. Telepathy? Or something similar? He quickly clicked his earpiece.

"Pull back boys, I'll have to handle thi-"

"Boss... I can't believe it... a billion dollars... I'm free!!! hahaha I knew it would come true"

"Ahhhh get her off of me! Please don't hit me Mommy please!"

Two completely different stories coming from two previously sane comrades. Well, Max had to give it to the man, whatever he was doing was a great crowd disperser. He looked up at the clearly raring to go stranger and frowned underneath his mask.

"Who said anything about a fight? I would have been more than happy to sip a white Russian with m'lady back there, but nah she just had to assassinate my lead. All I want is answers, and maybe a promise you'll get out of my city. You sure you want to do this, fool? She's not looking too good and you're just as in the dark as to what I'm capable of as I am of you. It seems she thinks she's in the right too for her own reasons, so my bet is that you're both not from the council. But I wanna know who sent you, or I won't look away from all of this trouble."

The truth was an almost equally scary lust for battle was brimming up inside of him. The difference was that Max had a personality that liked to deny that darker side existed. He styled himself as a person of vision and class, who liked winning more than fighting, but if Nikolai made the wrong choice, there would be a first class mail lightning bolt flying his way, faster than Nikolai could say "су́ка blyat".

Anya, seeing the lightning both charging for her Demon companion, flicks her wrist and shadows envelope the two more securing a thick shield from the blow. "This is what I get for following my mothers footsteps after her murder. A god damn hero complex trying to be goody-goody, to a woman who's trying to pay bills and eat. Nikolai get us out of here." She seems to be running on a bit thinner energy boost now, adrenaline. "That's not a request, It's a demand. Even if it means having this show kill off all the innocents involved, I don't care. I want to go home and to bed."  she hated the streets of America. More importantly she hated Americans. However, most of all she hated Mister Goody-goody before her. Who gave a damn if the rich died, leads come into play if they are given time. Couldn't he just sit down, shut up and be patient?

Nik's face quickly faded from Joy to Confusion as he looked at his competition. He looked down at Anya but when she didn't say anything he looked back up with his mouth gap.

"I can't say I've ever heard of 'The Council' before but they sound quite interesting." Nik was almost getting ready to laugh at such a thing. "Who would call themself The council anyways?' He thought to himself. "Have you ever heard of them?" Nik said looking back down at Anya. "No no, I don't think they're goody-Goody, that would be weird." He glanced back up for only a second before he looked back down. "who did send us anyways?....Of course, it was a demand........America sent us?" he shot his head back up and looked back at Max before he replied, "She's no help right now but I can tell you I'm here for myself right now."

Nik reached into his pocket and pulled out a shiny object. Muscle memory kicked in as he almost flawlessly slipped his fingers through the holes, fitting perfectly overtop his Gray skin. He rested his hand on Anya's head as he made up his mind. "I'm sorry My dear, I have to do something first," he said as he quickly grabbed her and spun her around until shes hanging on his back like a backpack. Cracking his knuckles and neck, he took his position before  glaring at Max again before proclaiming "Okay Big guy, why not show me what you got."

Max nodded his head as he listened to the possibly delirious protest of the girl, while noting at her usage of powers and a desperation to remove all obstacles out of her way. Was she delirious? Amoral? A sociopath? Conflicted? Anyway, she seemed to have her own categories in her head, which he didn't fall into, not to her fault of course, he simply was a different kind of agent on the streets. A world where the idea of supers and vigilantes was normalized would in turn create new moulds and patters, it was just the way human evolution and innovation worked. He didn't operate much on the 'why' but on the 'what' and 'how' of it all. Whatever her reasoning was, she and the dude she summoned was a threat and had to be taken down, before the rest could be hashed out.

With that he decided to acknowledge her existence and extend a bit of rationality in kind, in spite of him barely having any respect for her reasoning. He was silent as both of them talked and paused a bit. Was always good to have a closing statement, maybe plant a seed.

He sighed, shrugged his shoulders, and chuckled,

"Look, ehhh lady, Philadelphia's not much different from Russia, cept here we just do crack and self-implode most of the time, or do pathetic hit-and-runs in blind drug induced insanity. I'll give you two this, you two clearly have some level of class in your operations, like me, but I've heard that justification before. I've met and helped people who gave in to their demons or who fought them and tried to get help. Now we can philosophize all day, but you just threatened a whole bunch of people with Mr. Eminence Front over here, and I'm just going to have to stop you people, whether you're insane or just plain old evil."

     He looked back at Nikolai and continued talking but keeping eye contact. He decided to poke a bit at the pickle she was in as the suave man seemed to be uninterested in her pleas.

"Besides, seems like you have enough issues of your own. Maybe time to reconsider the line of work? There's no guarantee you won't get shocked again. I'll start off light, and then I'll turn up the heat."

  He stepped forward and began walking towards Nikolai, the mask still glinting with energy, but the energy now fizzling away, as if it had never been there before, a stark contrast to the Russians seeming to put all their cards on the table. He would stand within reach of Nikolai, something which would make this strange man realize that he was very confident in close quarters, even though he preferred to handle things more efficiently. If the girl wanted to continue the fight, then she'd reap the whirlwind.

   "Regardless of our beliefs, such a shame might in the end does make right, eh?"

A sudden left jab would rush toward's Nikolai's shoulder, something rather confusing until the purpose would be revealed all too late. The punch towards the shoulder was loaded with a creation of a blade in between the third and fourth knuckle, to run Nikolai's shoulder through and pin his movement. It's not like he didn't notice the object this guy was arming himself with. Some kind of brass knuckles?

As Nik felt the pain in his shoulder, He only looked at his Attacker with a smile across his face. His smile starts to falter as he realizes he can't move his arm anymore. While it wasn't numb in any way, his ability to make it function was merely robbed from him.

"Neat trick you got there" Nik laughed, trying his best not to move his paralyzed arm. " Maybe I'm not as slick as I thought."
He softly flicked his fingers around as the metal disappeared, leaving his fingers as bare as the day he crawled out of the lower pits of hell. Looking back at the little one on his back, an idea formed in his head. Moving fast, Nik jumped straight up into the air before leaning back and driving his right foot into Max's stomach with enough power to push him back a little. As he starts to fall to his back he sent energy through himself and Anya before they disappeared into a Puff of Purple smoke.

Appearing back in his lair, Nik acted fast and searched for something that could help his friend. After a couple of minutes of searching, he finally found something good enough. "Looks like you might be back in action my Dear Anya." He yells as he quickly tossed her the flask.

"Hold on to your lunch My dear, the second time is always the worst one," he advised as the energy starts to flow through them again. before long, they were once again on the mean streets of  Philly. Though he didn't expect much to change at that time, He was still shocked to still see Max standing on the street as if he never left.

"so...." Nik started prepared to lose the gremlin "where did we leave off?" He said quickly getting into position as he felt his arm return to him.

Anya opens the flask and takes a small sniff, The smell of sweet strawberries an fresh lemon grass fills her senses, her eyes slightly seem more awake and alert. She tilts her head back to drink the strange elixir. It tasted terrible despite the smell. Typical, for originating with demons. She however was delighted at the liquids effects. She felt the energy fill her from her head to the tips of her toes, the exhaustion and Ache seemed to vanish as well. She pulls shadows around her and she appears next To Nik in the outfit a of the Black swan. the black feathers and veil obscuring her from the fold air. "My my, it seems The dance can finally begin." She reaches for the shadows around her. Shadows forming a ring around her. "Shall we dance little hero?" she smirks behind her veil, The dance was always the same. The new target, A chosen target of hers was thrilling. It wont be the typical seduce, kill, clean and leave. No this time the target could squirm, cry and even fight back. it filled her with the same twisted delight that discovering her flame manipulation did. This new development filled her with a carnivorous need to win. It was in fact people with power that killed her mother. She'd let him feel that anguish that had years of build up. The sadistic thoughts made her grin turn to a sadistically pleased smile.

Max whistled as the two of them disappeared. He had no idea of what he was in for, and at this point there was only one thing that mattered. He tapped his mask to make sure the speaker was on.

“Hey Carla, you got it on tape?!”

On the other side of the city, in an apartment complex snuggled between looming, ominous spires of warehouses and factories, sat a young Hispanic woman with many piercings lounging back before a rather impressively long computer screen. Several camera angles on a livestream were spread out on different channels, part of a venture of media marketing for Neon. Carla wasn’t really a subordinate, but rather an eccentric freelance vigilante of her own making, more focused on social media awareness and action than muscle. She did, however, collaborate with Neon, to bring publicity to this new breed of street prowlers that were changing the landscape of the Philadelphia streets.

“Yup. All clear, Max. Laaaadies and gentlemen, it looks like tonight we have a special show!”

Her sultry voice echoed like a siren through the microphone, the perfect blend of a true radio celebrity and the youthful voice of a woman.

Max brandished a glowing fiery magenta chain, wrapping it around his arm as he eyed them.

“Two tourists with great fashion and ugly, demonic mugs are facing our hero. Apparently, these creeps didn’t like the way the martini’s were stirred, and now Neon is going to have to shake them down. No police on their way, and it looks like Jeff Goldblum is taking a dirt nap while we watch!”

She made a quick remark about an older man who looked something like the actor in a fetal position, after suffering from Nikolai’s illusion, probably revisiting some poor phoned-in cameo choices.

“If you like what you see don’t forget to like and subscribe and give us a shout out to all the Philly rats out there!”

A yellow-green orb formed on the other hand of Max.

“Ok, you wanted this… let’s do this.”

He threw his wrist upwards, as if throwing up a basketball. The orb wasn’t meant to hit either of them but rather to explode in front of them, causing a blinding flash, something he was unaffected by. The first move was to blind Anastasia, the next would be the chain, he spun his body to try and throw it around her like a lasso, the aim to bind her up, distract her, and, as the lasso was made up of plasma, send yet more electricity through her body. He didn’t want to fight the girl, but if he had to zap her again, then so be it.

Anya huffed in mere annoyance at the light, she searched for a nearby shadow as the light . Behind the hero, she smirked behind the Veil. Focusing on the front not the back. "I'm not really a fan of fireworks, though I do have to say.....Chains do seem exciting~" She tilts her head innocently and giggles whimsically, "Though isn't it rude to skip to such Sinful things before buying me Dinner?~ Its a shame bad pups need punished~" She beckons a finger to come closer and a spear of shadow stabs Max in the left thigh. She could feel the Glee bubbling up inside her. Fights were never a skill shed mastered but to say she was bad would be like saying a newly hatched bird couldn't chirp.

Hindering limbs would be the best way to go, legs then arms. If all else Fails Nik could cause another disruption and she could start a fire. Civilian lives may outweigh the need to win against villains, especially a lower one then Others that have been more openly problematic....Right? Perhaps she was a good hit and run, but she couldn't match levels of City destroyers or those brilliant minds who could invent items to shrink the moon. She would resort to cheap tricks and a demonic contract though.

Her mother would be proud....Hopefully.