So it begins... (Ember Fangs, Prometheus, Blackout)

by **"AJ"** August 5th 2011, 6:05 pm

The first couple of minutes of this helicopter ride were pretty quiet and peaceful except for that brief cold drop. Justice would look at the other three people that were in the helicopter with him. There was a young African American girl sitting across from Justice, next to her was a a person in high tech looking black armor. Next to Justice was a man wearing a whole spandex get up that was black with yellow also. Justice looked at each one of them from behind his yellow sunglasses. He wasn't sure what to say or how to break the ice with these three other people. Asking how was the weather was already a cliche opener for breaking the ice. Maybe Justice could ask what there reasons were for coming to this whole call of the supers. Another thought was asking who was a hero and who was a villain if any were for each. It didn't matter now though, cause before Justice had a chance to even get a word out, enemy mortar fire started raining down onto them. The co-pilot looked back to where the four supers were.

"Brace yourselves! This might get a bit bumpy!"

The co-pilot of the helicopter would yell out to them. Justice himself would tighten his seat belt and then grab onto a handle that was just above his head. For the most part the pilot was able to dodge most of the fire, but one shot got close and grazed the copter. It didn't send them spiraling out of control, but it did make for a more hectic ride as they started to fly down towards the ground. The landing was going to be a bit rough because they were going pretty fast for a landing. Luckily the street ahead was pretty wide, wide enough for a helicopter to land in, as they headed down. The metal bars of the helicopter would touch the ground and scrape across the ground. You could see the sparks come off them as the continued to move through the middle of the street. Finally though the helicopter stops in the middle of an intersection. Justice wasn't too much fazed by this as he then took his seat belt off before everyone else.

"Looks like we finally made it. Ya'll take your time there, I'll go do some recon work."

Justice would say with a smile on his face as he hopped out of the copter. He would look around and the place was completely deserted. A few makeshift camps were set up along the streets and sidewalks in almost every direction, but one thing that was weird was that no one was around. Did whatever that was out here already get to the people out here or maybe they somehow got away? The second part of that question is more unlikely though. Justice would fix his sunglasses as he looked around and there was really nothing except the camps. Justice may not have been the brightest guy out there, but one thing he noticed was that there were no street laps, stoplights, stop signs, bus stop signs, etc. A constant pattern of all the metal being stripped from the ground.

"I wonder what's up with that.."

Then from a music store that was across the street from Justice, he would hear glass fall. Like something was running around in that place. Justice immediately after hearing that noise would pull out both of his M9 pistols and walk closer to the store. He would reach the large glass window and look inside of it, but found nothing there. This was definitely weird now. After that noise, Justice couldn't shake the feeling that someone or something was watching him. Justice would back up from the store as he looked up and around, aiming his guns around. He saw nothing though. It was a ghost town here, literally. Justice would run back over to the helicopter where everyone else was.

"If you haven't noticed already, this place is a ghost town guys. I thought I heard some glass break back in the music store, but there was nothing in there. Another thing.. um well where are all the stoplights, street lamps, and all of them other metal things around here? Not even a car is around."

Before anyone had a chance to chime in one of the pilots came over.

"Alright guys, we're kind of off course.. okay really off course. You guys are gonna have to head to the Police Department on foot."

The pilot would then look up just over Justice's shoulder and see a giant plume of smoke in the horizon. Same direction as the police department too. The pilot would point up at it as everyone would turn and look up at it. Justice would walk up to the pilot and put his hand on his shoulder. No words were exchanged, it was just a gesture to say good luck to the two pilots. Justice would then turn to the team and await anything they want to chime in with.

by **Ember_Fangs** August 5th 2011, 6:34 pm

Flying was not one of her Gracie's strong points. When she saw the helicopter her heart had kind of sunk, she'd wished they'd had a car or something like that instead. The grey metal helicopter was small and bulky and in all honesty didn't look like it would hold out under any fire, if they came in contact with fire from any aliens, which she was sure they would.

If it was aliens.

It was bothering Gracie that it was all supers that have come, why not army men and women? Usually they threw up fuss about this kind of thing, that Sups were placed higher than an average human. Sure, Gracie could see their point, but it nagged at her no-one had questioned the fact the sups had 'needed to go'. Did someone want them out of the way? Away from the US to start something... terrible? Glancing up at her team her heart sunk even further. There wasn't one girl with her. Three men who were way taller than her were standing round the helicopter, waiting to be loaded in.

"Great, just great," she muttered under her breath, glancing up at the sky and then back to her team. One looked older than the rest, another was in some weird suit of black and yellow and the other was a large Afro-America man who looked so fierce Gracie wanted to just stay out of his way. She swallowed slowly then rolled her shoulders slightly. She'd be fine, they'd work as a team. She checked her gun again and then clambered into the helicopter with the others, feeling her stomach churn as they want up into the sky. Gracie wasn't good flyer, in fact, she hated it. For most of the ride she kept her eyes on the handle above her head, wondering how she would survive if they crashed. She was already feeling uncomfortable with the silence in the copter and she slowly traced her fingers over the cross she wore around her neck, gently tracing over the silver slowly and thinking of the nuns at her orphanage. Were they okay? She was snapped out of her thoughts when the pilot shouted something back about bumpy and the whole copter began jolting over the place.
"I hate flying," she muttered and grabbed the handle over her head. It was the only words spoken since they had first got in the copter.

Finally they landed and Gracie yanked the seat belt off of her and stepped out onto solid ground. Oh how she would never leave it again, she silently promised but said nothing out loud. The Afro-American was running round with a gun and Gracie just thought it was amusing to just watch him. Her eyes drifted to the street. There was a serious lack of metal round here, it looked as if glass had been kicked out of frames of metal and left behind. Why would aliens need metal? A twist of her gut and she shook her head. No, no human would have the power to do this kind of thing. Tents were erected all over but the silence spoke of one thing; the place was deserted.
"Where would a whole city of people disappear to?" she said softly, moving to a tent slowly, hands on her gun. Sure enough it was empty inside. She glanced up when the guy came back and glanced to the smoke, wrinkling her nose up slightly she then spun back to the group.
"My name's Grace by the way," she folded her arms over her stomach. "Are we sticking together or splitting up?"

by **BlackOut** August 6th 2011, 2:07 am

"Brace yourselves! This might get a bit bumpy!"

That was the message the copilot cried from the cockpit. The helicopter carrying the four supers had been hit by a mortar round. The shell had only grazed the hull of the chopper, but it was enough to send it barreling to the ground. BlackOut peaked out the window to see the ground coming up fast. The rest of his teammate had started to brace themselves gripping onto the railing overhead. “So…” BlackOut said watching the ground come up faster and faster. “I’m assuming that no one else can fly?” he asked half joking, looking to the other three super humans in the vehicle.

The helicopter leveled out as the got nearer to the ground. The landing skids touched down first Black could hear them scraping across the pavement as the momentum carried the chopper forward. It started to slow ad then came to a full stop everyone seemed to be in one piece. The African American man was the first to get out.

“Looks like we finally made it. Ya'll take your time there; I'll go do some recon work." He said as he jumped out of the cabin first. He was followed by the girl leaving Black with the man in the strange looking armor, and the pilots.

The pilot took his hands off the control stick his hands shaking as he let out a relived sigh. “Good job guys.” BlackOut smiled patting them both on the shoulder after he unbuckled himself and stood up. Black looked back at the man in the armor who was still sit in his seat the seat belt still strapped across his chest. “You coming bro?” he said warmly before climbing out of the cabin. The first step outside of the vehicle was like stepping into a different world. “Damn.” He muttered taking in the scene before him. The landscaped had been ravaged; there was also notable lack of metal objects. There was not a car or street lamp to be seen on the street. The sides of the road were lined with barricades and hastily constructed camps, but the people who had built them also seemed to be long gone. “What the hell happened?” he said in awe as he continued to try to wrap his hand around the scene in front of him.

"Alright guys, we're kind of off course.. okay really off course. You guys are gonna have to head to the Police Department on foot." The pilot called as he stepped out of the heli. BlackOut spotted a black plume of smoke on the horizon as the man was speaking.

“Let me guess, the police station is that way?” BlackOut said pointing toward the black cloud. The co-pilot nodded and so did Black. “Figured as much.”

BlackOut shook his head wondering what the source of the fire was. "My name's Grace by the way," Black turned his head to see the female super standing behind him her arms crossed over her torso. She was young and Black could tell by her body language that she had not been doing this long.

“BlackOut, but you can call me Black if you want” he said as he looked each group member.

"Are we sticking together or splitting up?" she asked looking to the three men.

“Sticking together would be best. We have no idea what we are dealing with here, but whatever it is I’m sure it’s responsible for making whoever built this settlement disappear. We stand the best chance of getting to the police station and regrouping with the others in one piece if we stay together.” BlackOut once again looked to each of them waiting for their reaction.

by **Prometheus** August 6th 2011, 4:07 am

James just shook his head as he strapped into the helicopter's seat. He wasn't a particularly big fan of humanity's methods of flight. Still, at least if they crash he would heal. Given what he knew about various forms of alien weaponry it wasn't exactly a comforting thought that he was about to fly into a fortified position in what amounted to small steel shell. Why couldn't we have flown over head a parachuted in, much faster. Taking a look at his fellow passengers he was less than re-assured. Next to him was a rather young looking African American girl who was clearly not a fan of flying. Directly opposite him was a man oddly dressed in a tight black and yellow outfit. Finally, next to him James noticed a rather heavily armed African American gentlemen. Still they may serve some purpose.

James was rather glad for the silence of the flight thus far it let him focus his thoughts on the matter at hand rather than deal with other people's "emotional problems" He started running through a mental check list making sure he had his guns, lifter, defense stick and computer. Of course this brief reprieve was quickly cut short by the quote on quote cold drop, a method that James was still far than thrilled with free falling for a brief period of time hardly constituted a plan in his opinion. Thankfully, in his eyes, it was a short drop before the whirl of the engines came back to life.

The next thing to cross James' mind however was far more worrying he'd of sworn it almost sounded like the co-pilot was trying to yell "Brace yourselves! This might get a bit bumpy!" over the sound of the engine. Sure enough at almost the same time the helicopters movements became highly erratic jolting for side to side. Glancing over, once again, at his fellow passengers he could visibly see the young African-American girl mutter something that was far from encouraging about her comfort under fire, though for the moment he was content to chalk it up to a fear of flying. The man in yellow and black made what sounded like a humours claim at flight. "That could prove useful James thought to himself." James himself did what he could be maintain an appearance intense indifference as he began to hum in the hall of the mountain king from the supplemental music of Peer Gynt by Edvard Grieg. Of course James' musings were cut short as a mortar shot grazed the helicopter throwing it to one side.

Sighing with relief James was both relieved and pleasantly surprised as the helicopter came to rest on the land. With a rather garrulous speed James undid the buckles on the straps that held him unto the helicopters seat and slung the straps over his shoulder rather bemused by the quick pace a number of his fellow passengers seemed intent on taking.

Heaving himself onto his feet he made his way out of the helicopter in what can only be described as a rather ungraceful and inelegant disembarkation ending up flat on his back. Of course it was then when he became fixated on the sky. There was a clearly visible plume of smoke hovering above the city centre. But that was not the main source of his interest. No the previously hidden field had become a visible green. James was finally a bit happy he got to see the shape of the field....thinking to himself "Clearly a dome....divided into semi sections....No chance of the "army" externally breaking the shape is too efficient and the humans too primitive....Shield concentrates at a point in the sky....likely the point of emergence a generator perhaps...though given technology it is fully possible that it is only a field disk that is being powered by an external source wirelessly...best keep this to myself for the time being. Until I can be sure of the usefulness and the quality of these other so called "supers". Oh well Back to the meet and greet."

Forcing himself back onto his feet James gradually meandered his way over to the what he assumed was the makeshift gathering point where the man in yell and black and the young African-American girl had gathered. This was the first time that James had taken to really see his surroundings and he found it rather stark. Deserted streets filled with make shift fortifications and oddly enough unshattered panes of glass from what he could only assume were windows. Deciding not to get too close he stopped a good 10-12 ft behind the rest of the group.

Turning his attention back to his fellow "supers" his focusing on the gathering just in time to hear the African-American man make a remark about the lack of metal to be found and potential noises in the music hall. Slowly pulling up his wearable computer James began to type away making a new entries for the three people he now found himself stranded with recording his views and the information he knew about them; not really worried about forgetting any of the information but more a concern of posterity and too calm himself.

Waiting briefly he finally got a few names to put to faces or mask in one case. It seemed the African-American woman was named Grace and the man in yellow and black was called BlackOut.
Moving closer towards the group James just began to listen to the conversation.

"Are we sticking together or splitting up?" Gracie asked

" Sticking together would be best. We have no idea what we are dealing with here, but whatever it is I’m sure it’s responsible for making whoever built this settlement disappear. We stand the best chance of getting to the police station and regrouping with the others in one piece if we stay together" was BlackOut

"Grace, BlackOut" He nodded towards the two individuals that had revealed their names. "I would argue that it all comes down to what we are going to do if we stick together or not. The way I see it we have a few options. We can investigate the surrounding area and gather information which would be faster in smaller groups. We could investigate the area together possibly safe but we would likely be slower. We could head directly to this police station in which case moving in a large group might be safe. We could split up and do both but it has certain risks. Call me crazy but as it stands now we are walking into a fight without any real information Of course I don't knoq what any of you can really do. So the question is what do you want to do? What do you want to achieve? I have my opinion which I shall keep to myself for now, I will yield to the democratic process."

by **"AJ"** August 6th 2011, 9:31 am

Justice would look back and forth between the three as two of them introduced themselves. The man that was in the skin tight yellow and blackout spandex out was named BlackOut. He seemed like an interesting fellow. The young girl's name was Grace, which wasn't much of a super name, but hell not everyone needed one. The third guy seemed to ignore the kind introductions as he went straight for the other question that was at hand, should they stick together or should they split up? Justice would wait patiently as the two of them gave their input on whether they should stick together or not. BlackOut seemed to want to stick together, while the other guy would just give an analysis of the pros and cons of each method they could choose. Justice would look at the group.

"Well first off my name is Justice. Secondly, hm.. split up or stay together. In my opinion I think we should stick together. I'm all down for investigating what happened here, but I really doubt that whatever did all this left any trace of there actions. We should stick to the mission and head out to the Police Department together. Splitting up, yes you're right it would be faster, but dividing the little forces we have here could prove dangerous."

Justice would give his two cents on the situation at hand. Whatever they decided to do was fine with Justice. He preferred to stick together, but if they wanted to split into teams or go lone wolf on this, well that was up to them. Justice would stick one of his guns back into his holster, while he twirled the other one around the trigger. The safety of the gun was on so that it did not misfire and hit someone by accident. As he twirled the gun in one hand, his other hand would reach back to a pouch in his backpack and grab out another piece of gum. He would go ahead and stick it in his mouth and proceed to chew on it. He would stick his hand out with the gum in it.

"Gum anyone?"

Justice would offer up in a friendly manner as they would still decide on whether to stick together or not. He looked at everyone as he offered it up to them. at this point Justice was trying to be friendly with his teammates so that he could get to know them a bit better. This was because if they did come into contact with something and they were more powerful than any of them one on one, it would come down to their teamwork then. Whether or not any of these other supers were heroes or villains, they were in this together

by **Ember_Fangs** August 6th 2011, 10:16 am

Gracie let out a breathe she hadn't realized she'd been holding in. BlackOut seemed a nice guy and she was quietly thinking she should stay with him. The other larger man still made her uneasy, especially when he pulled out a gun. It made her think of the first person who had died on her lap. Her eyes shut briefly at the memory and she kind of wished Danny was here right now, at least he knew what he was doing, he'd been so many great people with battle histories. She glanced up at the other guy who hadn't introduced himself yet but just rambled on about the pros and cons of each. He seemed smart enough and when her eyes wondered down to his computer her eyes sort of lit up. Gracie was brilliant with computers and gadgets, hell she could hack almost anything you put in front of her. She'd hacked microsoft before to get the latest version of Word and the small computer was the thing which had caught her eye for the moment, which was better than the horrible feeling of being watched that was running up and down her spine.

"I'd rather we stick together," she rubbed the back of her neck slowly and glanced at the metal-less street. "I think we could cover each other more that way and," she watched the helicopter take off again, leaving them behind and all alone. "I think we are going to end up heading to the smoke but I'm not sure if we'll get there," she glanced up at the sky. She'd noticed that the sky was split up.
"I think they knew we were coming, if you really look you can see we're in separate dome force-fields. Actually, I can feel it. It's an amazing source of energy but there seems to be a few, they must have made all of us get trapped somewhere else, in each of these domes, to keep us apart from one another," she shrugged. "It'd also explain the tents being pitched, the civilians probably couldn't get anywhere at all," she bit her bottom lip, eyes moving from the sky to the men. She blinked and suddenly she clammed right back up. She'd gone off on one of her ramblings, something she often did.
"I'm an energy manipulator by the way," she glanced to the man with the cool computer. "If you're writing notes you can add that down," she offered a weak smile then carefully took some gum, nodding a thank you, and put it in her mouth, chewing it she explained. "I can feel energy and when I touch it, I soak it up then I can use it. I can also channel it the other way obviously, if someone wanted a large amount of energy to power something, they could give me the source and most of the time I can get it in, even if a machine can't," she shrugged lightly and went back to chewing.

by **BlackOut** August 6th 2011, 11:41 am

BlackOut listened intently as the two the man who identified himself as Justice and Grace both agreed that sticking together. Black watched as Justice placed one of his guns into its holster and spun the other on his finger. Black kept his eye on the spinning pistol hoping to go that the safety. Black then nodded at the two of them “Okay that makes three of us then.” He said taking a stick of gum from the Justice’s outstretched hand. “Thanks” he smiled as he rolled his mask up over his mouth and put the stick of gum in his mouth.

Pulling the mask back down over his face he turned to back to Grace as she continued to speak. "I think they knew we were coming, if you really look you can see we're in separate dome force-fields. Actually, I can feel it. It's an amazing source of energy but there seems to be a few, they must have made all of us get trapped somewhere else, in each of these domes, to keep us apart from one another. It'd also explain the tents being pitched, the civilians probably couldn't get anywhere at all," Black turned to look up at the sky. After looking carefully he saw what she meant, he hadn’t even noticed that at first.

“If we are separated from the other then we might have to find the source of that barrier and shut it down to get out of here.” Black looked over to the man in Black armor. He was fiddling with something on his wrist. It looked like some kind of miniaturized computer, that he was jotting down notes in. “If that’s the case then sticking together is our best bet.”

"I'm an energy manipulator by the way," Hearing this took Blacks gaze off of the man with the computer. "I can feel energy and when I touch it, I soak it up then I can use it. I can also channel it the other way obviously, if someone wanted a large amount of energy to power something, they could give me the source and most of the time I can get it in, even if a machine can't,"

Now this was interesting another energy manipulator, and one that could sense energy that could prove useful when looking for the source of the barrier. “Well as long as we are sticking together then disclosing our abilities would help us work as a team.” BlackOut said as he turned his hand palm up and effortlessly channeled a small amount of electricity into it. The electrical energy worked its way to the surface of his body and formed into a perfect swirling sphere hovering just above his palm. “I can absorb and control electricity.” Black allowed the sphere to lose its shape and drew it back into his body.

by **Prometheus** August 6th 2011, 5:50 pm

James was mildly surprised as he noted Grace's response to his wrist computer. This wasn't a group were he was expecting to find someone interested in random gadgetry. Still, he couldn't help but be somewhat happy that maybe, just maybe he wouldn't have to oversimplify and force himself in glib remarks. As he continued, James just stood and listened whilst he waited for the members of the rather eclectic group to reply. Much to his surprise the first response came from the large African American fellow who soon revealed his name to be "Justice" not the first word that popped into James' head when he saw the man. Slowly, turning towards the man James began focusing on the man as he continued. James mentally made a note that he was against splitting up. James was caught off guard as the man offered the group gum. James waved the man off shaking his head, he never quite understood the appeal of gum at the best it was a flavoured rubber. He couldn't help but take the time to note the man was carry what seemed to be two Berettas.

The next to reply was Grace who as with Justice was firmly in favour of the group staying together. Though she certainly seemed less comfortable with the present situation, at least to James' eyes having held her breathe oddly, and rubbing her neck as she talked did little to change James' initial impression that she was less than comfortable in what was fundamentally a war zone. Still, her perceptiveness regarding the dome was a welcome development, glad he hadn't been the only one that noticed it. Her claim to feel the energy certainly piqued his interest, he could only assume electrokinesis, an assumptions that was quickly confirmed by the girl. And since she had made the invitation, James made no further effort to conceal the fact that he was taking notes on the various members of the eclectic group as he quickly reached down to update the entries. Noting to himself that her ability to channel power into machinery may prove useful given his limited supply of power sources for his plasma guns.

Continuing to type as he heard, BalckOut begin as he once again stated that the group should stick together. James was once again surprised as he learned there was another energy manipulator within the group. certainly a useful skill to have around. James' typing quickly came to an end as the man created a sphere of electricity. James couldn't help but study it rather disappointed as it slowly lost its shape and faded away.

"Well then gentlemen and lady we have an accord. Now where are my manners, allow me to introduce myself. You can call me Prometheus. For the time being it should suffice to say that I am something of an expert in genetic engineering, astrobiology and xenotechnology, along with a few other useful skills." He begain, quickly glancing down at his wrist computer James pulled up a map of Sea Cove. Taking a moment to work out where exactly they were located he set a way point for the police department. Looking back up James resumed "Well then, if we are heading for the police department we need to head that way." He remarked as he gestured down the street towards the city centre.

by **"AJ"** August 7th 2011, 1:46 pm

Justice would go and put the gum back into his backpack as he looked up at what Grace pointed out. He actually didn't notice that they were trapped in some type of dome. As he was looking up at the dome he would listen as each of his teammates would say what their powers were. The young girl was an energy manipulator, the guy who was in the skin tight get up had the ability of electrokinesis, and then the guy in the high tech was of course extremely smart. Justice would also notice that they also came to an agreement on whether they should stick together or split up. They all came to the decision that they were going to stick through this together. No one seemed to have a problem with this. The man in the armor known as Prometheus brought up a map of Sea Cove and pointed in the direction that they had to go to to reach the Police Departments. Justice would then stick the gun he was twirling around into its holster as they finally got things settled in.

"Alright let's go then.. wait almost forgot. My powers, heh, well not as useful as you three here. I mean I can take a pretty powerful shot and if I do get hurt healing is no problem for me. And almost forgot my senses are a bit better. You know hearing, smelling, sight, and all that fun stuff. See not as useful."

Justice would say as he shrugged his shoulders. Justice would look in the direction that Prometheus pointed too. Of course it was in the direction to where the giant plume of smoke was. Justice would look at the three and then he would start to walk in that direction. Justice would snap his gum pretty loud as it echoed through the streets. That definitely confirmed that there was nothing around except for buildings. He would fix his sunglasses by pushing the middle part up the tip of his nose. Justice would then look back at the three.

"You guys coming or what?"

Justice would yell out to them as he turned back around to continue walking. While he was only slightly distanced from the group, the feeling that he was being watched by someone else crept up his shoulder. He would look around in front of him, but of course there was still no other signs of life around. The wind blew through the streets as the fallen newspaper and leaves would glide across the ground. That was about the only other noise that could be heard at first. Justice's ears would then twitch for a second as he thought he heard footsteps. These footsteps weren't coming from his teammates though. They seemed to be coming from a nearby alley. The footsteps would disappear once Justice reached the alley. He would scan it real quick and of course nothing like last time.

(Mind)
"Dammit it's probably just my imagination."

by **Ember_Fangs** August 7th 2011, 3:04 pm

So THAT was what she could feel coming from BlackOut. She watched him with open curiosity as he manipulated the electricity easily all over his hand and then made it disappear. Gracie inwardly fought the urge to reach out and take the electricity for herself. That had been a pain, one of the draw backs of her powers, she always wanted to take any energy she could but she couldn't really store it for long. When the other guy introduced himself Gracie blinked. What a long odd name. was she the only one who didn't have a title? She didn't like tittles all that much but oh well, at least the others were easy to remember. She rubbed the bridge of her nose but nodded, at least they were staying together. When Prom pulled up a map her eyes widened and she sort of lingered back to watch how it works. She was about to ask when Justice bounded ahead and she guessed he had assumed leadership of their small group. She was still unsure of the barriers, there was a large energy source the way they were heading, it hummed through her body but it was distant and she had a feeling it wouldn't be at the police station, however that would be a good place to start their research of the area, they must have computers there, she could do some good hacking there.

"Eerm... BlackOut?" she took two long strides towards the super who had power over electricity, the group had been oddly quiet for a bit and she didn't like the feeling they were being watched at all. It made her goosebumps have goosebumps. She did, however want to find out more about BlackOuts powers.
"This might sound like an odd question but how exactly did you find out about your powers?" Did you go through an agonisingly long process which made you want to throw yourself of a bridge? She wanted to add on to the end but instead she just blinked up at him, all of them were taller than her which was kind of annoying but Gracie squared her shoulders and set her pace to match his, she wasn't going to be shown up. She'd worked for the phantoms for crying out loud.
"It's just where I came from nobody had powers and I've never found someone with something close to what I do so I just wondered if it was the same..." she trailed off and shrugged, kicking a stone slightly along the road, glancing up at Justice who was scouting ahead then back to Prom too make sure he was still okay at the back but he seemed to be doing something with the cool computer.

by **BlackOut** August 8th 2011, 1:39 am

Justice ran off ahead in the direction of the police station and the plume of black smoke on the horizon. “Alright let’s get a move on then.” BlackOut shrugged following Justice. He walked along the road marveling at the abandoned landscape. He couldn’t help but wonder why he was here. Sure something strange was goning on here, but to this point he had not seen any immediate threat. Black was more or less expecting a large scale battle. This on the other hand was strange, I was almost as if they had shown up after the battle had already ended. It was an eerie situation to say the least. The streets were quiet, but far from peaceful. He felt a cold chill run up his spine. There was no one around but he could not shake the feeling that there were eyes on them. Black closed his eyes focusing he tried to use his electroreception to locate the source of this feeling but everything was fuzzy. Something was interfering with his electric field; it might be whatever was powering the force fields. He opened his eyes just in time to side step an open manhole the cover was gone with the rest of the metal in the area.

"Eerm... BlackOut?" Black looked up to see Grace walking next to him.

"Yes?" he smiled looking down to the girl who was nearly a foot shorter than him.

"This might sound like an odd question but how exactly did you find out about your powers?" she looked up waiting for his response. Black stared at her she was still speaking but he couldn’t hear her words. Painful memories rushed into his head and he fought to hold them back. Shaking his head he tried to refocus, and think of a way to respond to the question.

“Ahh.. I… I guess they just kind of showed up one day...” he said shakily looking away and rubbing his neck. His heart started to race, and he felt his face flush as he tried to hide his anxiety. “I was in an accident when I was about 16, and I guess the stress triggered them because they saved me.” he glanced back at the girl who was matching his stride and still looking up at him, and then shifted his gaze back to the ground. “And that was pretty much it.” he said still staring at the ground. He had left out some detail but they were things he really never openly spoke of, especially with someone he had only just met. “Next thing I knew I was in tights, flying around beating on bad guys.” he laughed, and looked back up at Grace, as started to relax again. “So, what about you?” he asked trying to shift the focus of the conversation off of his own past.

by **Prometheus** August 10th 2011, 7:24 am

James let out a frustrated sigh as he began making his way down the road. He couldn't quite square everything that was happening and that didn't sit well with him. He liked things to be order everything pigeon-holed into its placed, to be called upon as needed. As he made his way his eager, question eyes shifted from point to point along the road taking in the myriad details that to many would seem pointless. To his left he could see a deserted camp fashioned out of various tables, stands and bits of wood that upon closer inspection he attributed to the nearby museums given the lighter sections of wood formerly covered by metal name and information plates. On the right he could see a collection of various objects stacked into a makeshift wall likely intended to stand in for a palisade. One reoccurring factor kept creeping back into his mind there was no metal to be found in the streets, the window frames, or the camps. It was then that James noticed something, there was no evidence of cars at all the roads were deserted.

Pausing briefly, James fixed his eyes on the plume of smoke listlessly floating above the city. His lips tightened, nostrils quivered and brow lowered as a the suggestive circumstances opened up a new stimulating line of inquiry. "What is the connection between scavenging metal, a protective dome that shields the city from view, the smoke, the barrier that prevents technology from functioning, a city that is relatively isolated to begin with and a lack of, for want of a better word, attackers. Why would you need metal? A possible food source ---- no you would start somewhere with a greater concentration of metals a close grouping of cities or a mountainous area. No think bigger, it needs to fit with smoke...what could cause the smoke? the obvious is warfare things burn ----wait it can't be that simple can it? What would need metal, cause smoke, that you would want to hide and prevent people from getting too and require you to divert manpower? You are building something. But why build something? If it was a full blown invasion...there'd be easier ways." James thought to himself as a gleam of success brightened his previously austere facial expression.

Looking back up James couldn't help but notice that he had fallen a little bit behind the rest of the "group". Quickening his pace he moved pack into his position at the back of the group. Reaching down towards his wrist computer James once again made a note of his musings on the situation. As he finished his note taking he couldn't help but notice that the Grace and BlackOut had been conducting a conversation that was making BlackOut visibly uncomfortable - at least from his vantage point further behind the pair the tell tale signs of looking at the ground, the lack of eye contact, hesitation in the initial answer, and the rubbing of his neck.

"I really need to invent some sort of personal transportation device." James sighed to himself as he grabbed and detached his personal defence stick from his suit. Casually he flicked a button extending the blade of the device. Pointing the blade towards the surface of the road he proceeded to use it as a makeshift walking stick.

"So tell me Gentlemen and Lady what do you need metal for, would want to stop people from finding, would need people for, and would result in smoke? Are you building something perhaps? But you must forgive my idle musings they lack information, and evidence. It is but idle conjecture." James said. He paused for a brief moment to take a breath.

"But you must forgive me for though there is something far more interesting at hand it has been nearly half a century since I have last seen a species or society capable of such things. So what can you tell me about that?" James asked as he pointed the end of the defence sticks blade towards at the point in the sky where the shield became a darker green.

by **"AJ"** August 12th 2011, 11:44 am

Justice would turn from the alley and continue to lead the group. He was up ahead to a point where any normal person wouldn't be able to hear the conversation that was going on behind him between Gracie and Blackout. Further back he could hear Prometheus ranting on about what could be causing the smoke and why. Justice looked ahead. His more keen sense of sight helping him see further down the street. It seemed that the makeshift camps continued on much farther. The police station was still not in sight for him though. Justice would continue on through the middle of the street. He was trying to ignore the sense of being watched and the strange noises that he would occasionally hear. He knew that no one was around so there was no point in him being paranoid about it. Justice would then hear as Prometheus started to ask for everyone else's input on the smoke. He wanted to see if anyone else had some kind of hypothesis about the plume of smoke. Justice would look back and finally noticed that he was much more ahead of the group than he thought. he waited up a bit so they could catch up. He looked at Prometheus.

"If you're gonna ask me about it, well I got no idea really. The way you described it sounds like jail to me. But hell I dunno."

Justice would then turn back to the direction he was walking in before as everyone else had caught up. He continued to walk out in front looking around the city from his yellow sunglasses. A little bit of sweat dropped down from his forehead. Even though they were in this unknown place and anything could happen, he was completely calm. Justice then got the idea to get a better view of the city and how far they actually had to walk. He looked back at Blackout, Prometheus, and Gracie and put his hand up signalling for them to stop for a second.

"I need a better look at what we're heading into. I'm heading up this building right here."

Justice would point at a nearby building. The alleyway was right there and the fire escape was right there on the side. Justice would look at it. the ladder was at a reach where a normal person wouldn't even be able to reach it if he jumped. Justice looked at it without intimidation. He would look at the alley and get ready to run. He would look at it as he swayed front to back, from heel to heel. He then took off. He ran into the alley and then jumped onto the left side, on the other building. He took two steps off the wall and then pushed off with his legs towards the ladder. he grabbed onto the ladder with ease. Justice would easily pull up his body weight as he climbed up the fire escape. It took about a minute or so to reach the top of the building. Justice would walk on the rook of the building. He would go over to the edge and lean over a bit so he could look out into the distance. This clearer view helped him a bit, but there still was not much in the distance that he could spot out. The street just seemed endless.

by **Ember_Fangs** August 12th 2011, 12:24 pm

Gracie watched him curiously as he answered, Blackout didn't seem that sure about his answers and shortened it quickly. Maybe it had hurt him as well? Hopefully she wasn't alone with the blistering pain of a transformation. When she found her parents boy was she going to have it out with them, why would they leave her? She had been in so much pain it had nearly killed her.
"Three days of blistering pain," she said bluntly and looked down. "I was fine one moment and the next my skin was being eaten alive by acid according to the doctor. They didn't know how my skin didn't dissolve into nothing," she shivered at the memory and rubbed her arm slowly. She'd wished she'd known what had been going on, wished her mother had been their to kiss her fevered forehead, or her father there to hold her hand and tell her how she was her daddy's little girl, comforted her. But no, they'd left her as soon as they could get out of the hospital. Thankfully Prom - a nickname she was going to call the older man with the cool computer - began asking questions about the dome they were stuck in. Her eyes wondered back to the sky and she could feel her ability to churn. They were heading a little bit off from the source, they should be going east, but the pilot had sent them to the police department so that was where she was going. Who needed metal and caused smoke.

"Maybe someone's building an army of robots in a factory down town," she murmured as a joke, though the idea was probably a good one. An army of robots would make the population divide in fear and scatter, corner sectors of the town off and such. She chewed her lip, it would also explain the lack of metal. Maybe the robots ran on liquid metal... Gracie shook her head slightly to clear her mind, she was going off on a wild goose chase and was thankful when the man - Justice - interrupted and leaped up the side of the building.
"That," she said, "Was cool," her lips tweaked into a small smile.

by **BlackOut** August 12th 2011, 11:45 pm

"Three days of blistering pain. I was fine one moment and the next my skin was being eaten alive by acid according to the doctor. They didn't know how my skin didn't dissolve into nothing." BlackOut could tell that the memory was painful for her as she looked away. He was about to say something comforting when Prometheus interrupted from behind.

"So tell me Gentlemen and Lady what do you need metal for, would want to stop people from finding, would need people for, and would result in smoke?”

It was good question and not one that Black had an answer for. Grace’s suggestion of the alien building robots seemed feasible. It would make sense seeing as all of the metal in the area was gone. Maybe that could explain the missing civilians as well. Maybe the aliens were using them for labor or something. Black shrugged he really didn’t care much about what they were up to. He was here to stop them, and help the people of SeaCove city. That’s what he intended to do regardless of what the “aliens” were working on.

More than anything what bothered him was the total lack of any kind of enemy presence. Aside from the mortar fire on the helicopter, and the obvious lack of metal in the streets, there was really no indication that anything other than them was even inside of this barrier. If someone was doing something so important that they need to block all surveillance and communication attempts from the outside, wouldn’t make sense that they would be out in force, defending their work from the small army of super humans that had just been dropped into the city. They couldn’t have seriously thought that a halfhearted mortar strike would kill all of them. There was definitely something off here. He thought to himself when someone spoke.

"I need a better look at what we're heading into. I'm heading up this building right here." Black looked up to see the large African American man, Justice already scaling the building. It probably was a good idea, and it was better than just waiting and possibly walking right into a trap.

“I’ll join you” Black said lifting off from the ground and him propelling himself upward toward the building with a discharge of electrical energy. “See anything?" he asked landing on the roof of the building next to Justice. “Maybe an army of alien monster coming to make sure that the mortar strike killed us.” He joked sitting down and kicking his legs out over the side so they could dangle over the side of the building. “Honestly I think I would prefer that, this “warzone” is a little too quiet. It’s creeping me out, not to mention this is boring as shit.” He laughed looking up to Justice from his perch.

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