An Immortal Man's Monument

Blood dripped down onto Bliss's forehead. It stung as it seeped into her eyes, but she could do nothing to stop the onslaught against her. Whatever Clement used on her allowed Cassidy the ability to take advantage of Bliss. She walked into a trap of his yet again, and now she found herself on defenseless while her life slipped out of her hands and into the hands of a scientist who needed others to fight for him. If she used her energy to close to her head the backlash could cause her to rupture her own head with her hand. Or worst yet, catch some of the blast wave against herself, and cause herself to become the victim of her own power that she unleashed on others so freely.

The attacks ceased. A blue barrier arose over Bliss, keeping her safe. With her history Bliss could only assume that he meant to take her alive for his own purposes. Using the tiny bit of room between her legs and the barrier, Bliss pushed her feet against the hard surface. Energy sprung from her hands that she braced against the barrier. "It's going to be tougher than that. I'm made out of tougher stuff than you, punk."

Groggy from the pummeling, Bliss stumbled to her feet and made a quick hand motion to summon forth energy to send a blast wave at Clement. Her wave shot out with an uncontrolled, primal force that split the force in two. Separate waves flew out from her hands, but one diverted far to the side and fell violently into the ground, shattering pavement. Her other assault flew with the wide spreading surface and velocity of her normal blast towards Clement.

Cassidy had scrambled over the shield, intending to pull it up and use one of the edges to break those pretty little arms that Bliss was using to protect herself. Then maybe she'd use it break her legs, before trying to peel the woman's skin like a fruit. However, the little bitch did it again, sending the shield up and knocking Cassidy Rose back a few good metres. She twirled in the air and bounced off the grass, until she rolled onto the pavement. She was up on her fingers and feet, low to the ground, in a moment, eyes twirling to finding Bliss. But they stayed there for a moment, as a single thought popped up in her head; Ashley... Cassidy Rose spotted the girl clambering to her feet, disorientated, so she dug her fingers into the slab beneath her and threw it clear through the air, like a discus. Hurt Bliss by hurting Ashley, hurt Daddy by hurting them both.

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Clement watched Cassidy go back and smiled, his left glove coming down. But then Bliss was stumbling up, blood on her arms and face and was saying something that sounded like it came from one of those penny movies Adam use to adore. The wave of her hand seemed odd to him at first, as his eyes danced to the crack paving slab. It was a second before he felt the pain in the right side of his stomach and hip. For the old man, it was very uncomfortable as he felt a clear split in his flesh. A gloved hand rose as his head began to swim slightly, his finger tips pressing over the source of the mind numbing energy that flooded his hyperactive brain.

He took a step back and the muscles betrayed him as he felt a scream of pain run up his body. His hand went out and he fell back onto his rear, after doing a small strange scramble back. Gravity embraced him as he placed his left arm down to squeeze the earth between his fingers. ”Ow...” He managed to mumble, before he pulled a blood smeared glove from his body. ”I'm a... a good man...” He mumbled, watching the tear in his suit with a macabre fascination.

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“Oh, no!” Jules slammed her hands down on the keyboard, looking furiously at the group. “God dammit if they don't get here soon Clement is going to be dead. I want the specimens alive, do you hear me, you overpayed idiots?!” She shrilly yelled the last sentence into her microphone, before she heard a dull voice reply that they were making their way into the area already. Two more helicopters flew directly over the Whitehouse towards the Washington Monument as she furiously tapped away at the keyboard; if the woman moved towards Clement, she would turn her into a pile of an ash.

Words muttered softly under the watchful gaze of Bliss. "We're all good, but we also all get what we deserve." After the attack moved Cassidy outside of the savage attack range Cassidy so fluently used to her advantage, Bliss found it odd they she did not seek to close the distance between them. Clearly the more dangerous of the two rested with the one who openly attacked her, but she could not completely rule out the doctor who created this monstrosity. With a more focused firing solution Bliss let loose an impact that sought to break apart the concrete block before Cassidy could readily throw her makeshift weapon. Bliss focused on Cassidy and the olympic style throw she looked to be attempting. Sadly for her Bliss could do her up one on breaking public properties. "You think I can't break things? Do you remember your lab?"

Bliss looked across from her to see her option of battling the broken man, or the fierce and unstable creature that threatened her friend's life. All life boiled down to a struggle between differences: differences in motion, differences in status, differences in relations. Some were worth fighting for, and others were worth dying for. Bliss threw her hands towards the demon child's chest and unleashed her most potent offensive to try and rid the world of this abomination. Energy flew through her body, straining what strength her arms could brace. Her feet sought to land solely on the creatures legs to keep her upright and offensive in her stance. She hoped the she could roll over the body after her attack landed and tumble with her side facing the creature, placing herself in between Ashley and Cassidy.

The block shattered in her hands as she about to let go, the thick slab turning into two defined cracks. She turned, hair whipping in the bright day and practically screamed at Bliss, completely cutting her sentence short. Then she was flinging her hands forward again, sending a sharp wave of energy towards Cassidy. She quickly brought the two chunks of cement in front of her face and chest, sparing herself most of the impact, even though a clear cut ran from upper lip to her abdomen. Blood as black as night seeped from the wound as the girl made a grave error; trying to get in close. Cassidy lunged with her empty, if not gritty hands, sinking her claws onto either side of Bliss' hips. Black blood splattered onto Bliss as Cassidy lifted and turned, throwing the woman that had been a thorn in her side hard against the cement waiting to embrace her. She turned on the spot, feet creating deep rivets in the earth. If she was a predatory animal, and she almost already was, she would have licked her lips and gone in for the kill.

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Clement laid back in the dirt, as for the first time in his life his body was inflamed with pain. Well, the first time since he got to this earth, anyway. This planet, with it's Apes that he called Family. In a moment, the light of the sun tricked him into thinking that he was laid out on the pleasant little estate he had in Maine, where he came to get away from New York and Washington D.C. When the politics and science became too much. Where Julia gave birth to the real Cassidy Rose Clement and little Adam Clement. There was Adam with his sister, the two of them playing with the toys he built them. They were toys he once played with; floating orbs that produced light and colour when tagged. There were fifty, twenty five blue, twenty five pink. Cassidy Rose hit one, which flared blue, so she hit again to turn the light off and moved it in the air so Adam couldn't get the point.

Then the words, the words from a woman he didn't know, drilled into his mind. And his muscles clenched the wound, which made him scream softly through gritted teeth. He pushed up, eyes glassy as his mind fogged up with pain. He saw Cassidy Rose standing over Bliss and wondered if that was what she meant. Is this what you deserve? To be dead on the street? The idea was a scientific one; distanced from emotional attachments to anything. It was a theory, an observation he was forming. Ah, but observation changes the act. I could say she deserved this, deserved death at the hands of a daughter that never was. I could even think it while excepting the fact that she was a good person. But I won't. With an intent glare, he pointed his gloves at the abomination. Maybe on reflection, Bliss would appreciate this.

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“Team Alpha, deploying suppressing fire.”

“Team Beta moving into land.”

The closest helicopter did a lazy arc in the air, before it's nose pulled up and it slowed it's forward momentum. The side of the vehicle slid open and two men, dressed completely in black and holding what appeared to be Grenade Launchers moved to hang their legs over the side. Cassidy Rose faltered over the prone form of Bliss, instead glancing up just in time to see them take aim. She moved, trying to get to Clement, trying to tell him to point his glove at the flying birds. However, his helmet had been tossed to the side and he was too drowsy from the pain.

They fired on the two of them, the thick grenade hitting Cassidy in the back of the legs, sending her sprawling, while the second left a thick dent in the soil. Then green gas, thick and localised, began to spill out over the area.

All of her plans flew around her heads as she found herself on ends and on her back. Dust floated through the sky painting the sunlight in a rustic light. Antiquated with pain and colored in sepia, Bliss felt the weight of the world billowing down in the imposing form of her nemesis. She grasped for her stomach and coughed at the circumstance. Time to think pasted behind her.

Out of the brink of oblivion shot Ashley. She wrapped her arm under Bliss's arm and held herself against her chest. She pulled the two of them up and fired a blast of energy that allowed the two of them to fall back. Entwined, they fell back out of the forceful rampage of the terrible creature. Ashley rested Bliss's head against the ground and took a defensive stance over her fallen friend. Nothing would harm Bliss as long as Ashley stood in between them.

Before Ashley could truly test her resolve streams of gas rose from canisters that rained from the deafening roar of the helicopters. Whatever this gas turned out to contain or imply, Ashley turned to her more frugal side. Without giving her opponent anytime to react she grabbed Bliss and pulled her away form the calamity of the on going situation. In the wake of the moments Ashley never noticed the man she knew as Cosmos.

With the breaking of the dust to the forceful invasion of the gas, Ashley saw the stature of the man standing among the reflection of the gas painting him in a sepia silhouette. A truly rustic figure in calamity.

Clement sighed as he moved to stand within the noxious gas. He knew who it was, already. No surprises for a man who saw the world in patterns and numbers. Well, perhaps there were a few. Like the shocking green surprise of Julia's eyes and dress, standing out like an oasis amongst a desert of blue, black and grey suits. He was even more surprised when she decided to walk across the hall and shake his hand, demanding respect and attention with the way she simply carried herself. That feeling, the feeling of the world suddenly shifting upside down; it returned the day she proposed to him on a pier, declaring in her clear beautiful voice; “I'm not going to live forever and you're going to take that long to do this, if I don't.” Clement suddenly found himself smiling, as the landing of one of the Helicopters blew a good deal of the gas away. Cassidy Rose was already stumbling, flailing her arms in wild arcs as her lungs absorbed enough anaesthetic to put her into a chemical coma. His mind turned again to the day she told him she was pregnant. She was smiling as he looked up from his designs of an Automaton. The idea seemed as alien to him as proposal, as the green eyes and green dress of a woman that would age before his eyes while he seemed to stay still in time.

”I miss you, Julia.” He said softly, looking up to the sky where a helicopter turned and swirled. He wasn't beseeching the heavens, but was simply saying the words to the stars within it. Then the butt of a gun hit him in the back of the neck. It didn't hurt, at all, but he sunk to his knees and lifted his hands as men wearing gas masks placed what seemed to be rifle shaped Ray Guns. That was interesting; Pointless in a design sense, but still interesting that someone would go out of their way to replicate and redesign his weapon.

Cassidy Rose had two gentleman move close to her. She would have torn them open if she could have seen the street as one thing. Instead, she stumbled and hit the ground, where they moved to secure her with thick metal cuffs. Clement felt his hands closed behind his head and the thick metal ringlets secured over them. His side was screaming in pain at his arms being raised like that, but he simply clenched his jaw and bit back the tears. A single gentleman moved out of the gas to stand before Bliss and Ashley. He held out an envelope to the two of them, the black and gold logo shining in the sun. When Ashley took it he turned away and moved to help Clement to his feet.

”I'm injured.” He said softly. Met with disinterested stares he simply laughed, limping and hobbling away. He caught one glance of the two of the girls that seemed to be a thorn in his side. Instead, he glanced back at the helicopter and was loaded inside. The gas was working on him finally, making his eyelids heavy as the object suddenly lifted up from the earth and made it's way over the crumpled remains of the Washington Monument.

Later, on the news, people would remark about the fact that Adam Jones, Presidential Candidate when missing, while Clement Industries old President and Founder was apparently kidnapped wounded and injured. People would link him to the crash of the old Soviet Rocket, with it's metal cargo of a robot that seemed to completely disappear from the lawn of the Whitehouse. Some people would make wild accusations, claiming that Adam Jones was simply a disguise for Ignatius Clement himself, however these rumours would be put to rest when Adam Jones' body was recovered from his burnt out limo. Construction would began soon, to reverse the damage done to the Washington Monument.

For Ignatius Clement, however, the entire day seemed to come to one conclusion; Monuments were simply a more public Mausoleum. Elizabeth Jules would make sure that his Company would be the death of him.