Making Diamonds

"I shouldn't even go out tonight," Jade mused as she stepped through the front door of her apartment, she made sure to quickly lock the door from the inside. There was a heavy thud as she nonchalantly dragged the bolt to the left- which was quickly followed by a few more clicks and sliding metal as she bolted the three other locks on her door, because who could be too sure? Of course she knew that they were purely for show, anyone who wanted to get in would have no problem breaking down her door if they truly wanted to. Heck, any super could shatter it with relative ease. Yet, it gave her peace of mind. Her purse slid off her shoulder and crumpled to the floor as though life were draining out of it. Heels were kicked off, scattered across the cheap carpet and Jade slumped on the grey couch which had definitely seen some better years. True it was worn, the colors and fabric had faded away, but it was supposedly that her parents bought for their new home, and having it with her gave her comfort. "Goodness knows the people are afraid enough without me prancing around in my suit." She grunted as she rose from the worn couch, giving it a good pat as she walked over to her window to view the streets of L.A. bathed in the golden lights of street lamps and rushing cars. "But people don't really know what they want, do they?" Jade continued, arguing with herself the way she usually does. "However, I'm helping -them- they get to decide whether they want me or not," Another distressed sigh, "and how much am I helping exactly?" She moved back to her couch and plopped down, causing a healthy wave of dust to lift into the air. Jade thought back to the broadcast that she had seen the other day the anti-metahuman one to be exact. What if they were right? What if all of this vigilantism was wrong? Who put them in charge? Who said it was okay for them to prance up and down the streets enforcing their version of "justice".

Jade rose and strode to her bedroom with brisk strides. She threw open the cheap wood closet and slid her clothes to one side to reveal a fake wall that she stored her suit in, which was overkill since who would think that Jade Tran, paralegal, would be the Shard? That and the fact that Shard was a relatively unknown vigilante. She rarely ventured far from her own little neck of L.A. And why would she? L.A. was a big place, there were lots of heroes around, they could handle the rest of the city. Shard however, Shard was fine with her turf. She didn't need glory. She didn't need to be noticed. She was damn good at it and that was all that mattered. Jade unbuttoned her top, slid out of her pants, and tossed both onto her unkempt bed. There were never visitors, so there was no need to be a neat freak ... unlike some people. In a matter of seconds she was dressed in the simple leather suit that Shard normally wore for her patrols around her area. It had a dark green hue and three crystals that spread out in three different directions, the symbol of Shard. The short haired woman threw on a pair of sweats and a sweater and tossed her goggles into an empty backpack which she then strapped to her back and headed out the door, making sure to lock it behind her.

To the less observant few she was just out for a jog, and that's what she wanted them to think. Jade made her way behind a push and removed her sweat and sweater; with that done, she slid on her goggles and she was ready to fight crime! Granted she looked rather silly walking around in green leather and goggles on her head, but a little silliness was a price to be paid for the good she was doing.

Plexus had been trying to keep a low profile. His entrance to this world had been too dramatic. He had found himself caught in a proverbial jousting contest with a fellow follower of the macabre and then found himself on the inside of a small holding cell. Though, it hadn't held him for long. From there he had simply walked. He had no idea of what direction, all he wanted to accomplish was to stay away from civilization. And now, yet again he found himself in a Babylon. This one much bigger than the last. Maybe it would be here that he would find a super Human he could examine. Maybe he could find one that could give him the pleasure he desired.

GAH! It will never happen for me! This move was foolish! These cretins have only primitive space travel! And now I am stuck here. The depression of his situation was making him itch and he was becoming more and more convinced that his search for a Super Human would be fruitless.

As he walked and pondered he stumbled into a passer by. Feeling accosted and already in a murderous mood The Gut swung round to the ignorant Human and began a tirade of abuse. "YOU IMBECILE! YOU LOW LIFE FORM! YOUR PLANET WILL PERISH AT IT'S OWN HANDS, AND ONCE THE DEED HAS BEEN DONE, I THE EVERLASTING PLEXUS WILL BE THERE TO SUCKK THE MARROW FROM YOUR BONES!" AS he shouted, screaming almost, he noticed the person was a female, and also dressed in a peculiar fashion. How strange? Could it be a Super Human?

It was a quiet night so far, for L.A. that is. The golden streets were silent save for the constant rushing of motor vehicles, but that sound was almost as normal as breathing to Jade now. It was a quiet night, and Shard was happy for that. Jade on the other hand, was anxious. She had a stressful day at work and she was looking forward to making some guy think twice about messing up on her turf. But it seemed as though Shard would have her wish, people were learning how to coexist, there wasn't a single cry for help, car alarm, smoke, or police siren in her district so far. Of course these things occurred outside of her self-imposed zone of jurisdiction so Shard saw no reason to respond to them. There are other heroes, she told herself, the glory hogs will be all over those crimes. I'm here to make sure people stay safe. Granted sometimes on nights like these when she was looking for a fight, she was known to venture outside her little area to fight crime elsewhere, but she always made sure that she was not spotted because a low profile career was a safe career.

Shard spotted a man off in the distance. A man in the dark? Well that wasn't too odd, for a big city that is. There were people out in the dark all the time, hell she was out in the dark wearing leather and goggles, that was much odder than some man taking a midnight stroll. Of course that didn't mean that the man was automatically innocent, she had to be on her guard in case he decided to turn around and stab her when he walked pass. They were coming closer together, time for the moment of truth. Shard barely even glanced at the man as she walked by, looked innocent enough, maybe she got worked up for no reason?

However, right as Shard passed the man, he began to scream at her. She was too flabbergasted to understand what he was saying. Something about... planets and bones... was this man an escaped patient? Was he a mentally ill homeless man? She had seen her fair share of both. Well he wasn't a criminal, but she couldn't leave him out on his own, he could potentially hurt someone or himself. Best to deal with this now before it escalates, she told herself. "Hello sir," Shard says with a smile, she lifted up her goggles so that he could see her brown eyes. In about as normal as she could make herself sound in a situation like this, she continued to ask, "Might I ask what you're doing out so late at night?"

Plexus cursed himself for his outburst. His emotions were getting harder and harder to reign in. The fluctuation from calm to psychotic happened so drastically often that it had become difficult for The Gut to tell the difference between the two.

The Human girl was approaching him now. Lifting her goggles and staring straight into the void of his visage. She seemed somewhat calm. Plexus could not abide such a demeanor in the state he was in. And what a question! After everything he had just screamed she had just dismissed it as casual conversation. Well you ignorant mollusk you shall feel the wrath of a tyrant this evening. And once I am done, I shall fashion a toothpick from one of your canines.

"Oh I am so sorry miss!" His tone was overtly theatrical, and his posture became dramatic and erratic. "Please forgive me! I simply wished to take a stroll but alas I was robbed as I was walking and my anger simply boiled over. Please if there is any way I can make it up to you, please tell me." At this point he had thrown himself at the girls feet, looking up to her from his knees, both hands clasped as if in prayer.

The man now seemed to be speaking coherently and less like a madman, however she did not like what she heard. Shard took a quick step away from the man at her feet and crystallized her hand behind her back. If he were to assault her she would punch him square in the face with a fist hard as diamond, she had done it before, be they mad or not. But she doubted he was mad, no crazy man she had men was able to pull off a tone that sarcastic, and quite frankly, that tone didn't fit well with her.

"Look here," She responded in a rather frank voice, "I'm only trying to help, there's no need to get all..." Shard made a wild gesture with her hands, "whatever with me. Now," She was sure that this man had other intentions, however she would still try to help him, it was her job after all. But she would not be taken for a fool, she would be keeping one eye on him. "I want you to tell me where this man went and head on home, I will try to find him and return your items." There was something familiar about this man that she just couldn't quite put her finger on. Had she met him before? Did she save him from a mugging? Did she stop him from mugging people? The more she looked at him the worst she felt about the entire situation.

"OVER THERE! HE WENT IN THAT DIRECTION!" He pointed and waved frantically in the direction behind the young girl, hoping to distract her. As he did so he suddenly rushed forwards, relinquishing his tomahawk from his belt and sweeping the blade in a wide horizontal arc, aiming to spill the cretins guts upon the asphalt.

Shard went over what she was just told immediately in her head. She had just gone up that street, there was no one there... unless they were hiding from her, but someone who had just mugged another person would be running right? What if they say her coming from ways off, impossible, she wasn't -that- obvious to spot in the dark. It was a safer bet to look around the area again however, she reasoned and was about to relay the same information to the man when he suddenly attacked her with a weapon that she could not make out. Shard barely had time to block the fatal blow with her crystal covered hand, and though she felt the cold kiss of metal on her arm, it was nothing fatal. She rolled away from her attacker and quickly assessed the situation. The blow had shattered the thin layer of crystals that had coated her arm, it should have been enough to stop a normal blade...

"Who the hell are you?" She questioned, feeling all the more aware of the warm blood on her arm contrasting with the cold night air. No matter who this man was, she knew that he was not a normal person, perhaps he was a meta, but she knew that she could not take blows from him unless she coated herself in thick crystals. Yet she knew that it would be a risky move on her end, her attention would be divided between fighting and controlling her thick suit of crystal. No, better to keep this man away from her and other civilians. She would have to draw him away.

So she wishes to know my name, eh? FuFuFu Standing with the posture of an arrogant villain The Gut swung his arms about in an elaborate fashion, his sense of theatrics taking prevalence. "I am the Everlasting Stomach, The Unquenchable Gut! The Devourer of Flesh, The Advocate of Pain! And you child are the firt uper human to feel my undeniable wrath!" With little to no warning The Gut gripped hold of a nearby street light. His fingers pressed into the metal, leaving an impression of his fingers. Then, with a mighty tug, he lifted the structure out of the ground and threw it like a javelin towards the girl.

"I have never heard of you," Shard admitted calmly even as she raised both hands in a X fashion to create two triangular slabs of crystals to block the light post javelin. "I don't know what you're doing here," She launched one side of her shield at the madman, "and quite frankly, I don't care," She launched the other, "but this is my home, and you are not welcomed." To add a bit of dramatization to her last statement, she drove her right fist into the ground to send crystalline spikes ripping out of the ground and towards "The Unquenchable Gut" with each spike being much larger than the last. And while doing this she analyzed her opponent.

His tomahawk was able to rip through a solid crystalline layer with relative ease, so it couldn't be any normal metal. He called her a child, so he was older than her, but how much? She could use it to her advantage. No, that was impossible. She wouldn't be able to physically outmaneuver him, from the way he tossed the street lamp as though it were a child's toy, it seemed that he was much stronger and possibly faster than he looked. And now that she looked closer... that wasn't a mask on his face but his actual skin... so normal human was right out if that thought was still in her mind. To determine if he could be subdued however, was another matter entirely.

Of course you've never heard of me you insolent child! I have only been here for three weeks of your earth days! How would you expect word to travel this fa- - Before PLexus could finish his thought process a shard of crystal thrust itself against his skin, knocking him a step back. "You INSOLENT--" Again, another one hit him, this one packing a bit more sting. "I shall parade your head on a spi--" This time a line of crystal shards, each bigger than the last suddenly burst from the ground, each one with a pointed tip. A large and suffeciently wide shard pierced through The Gut's sternum and protruded from his back. "GWWWWAAAAAAAAAACCKKKKKKKK YES, OH YES! KILL ME! MAIM ME, GWACK!" His throat had become entrenched with blood. The dark liquid seeping from the wound in his torso trickled down the sides of the now phallic like shard. He hung there, a relative few feet from the ground, looking directly into the face of the girl. A proverbial smile crept up on the void like face of The Gut. "HAHAHAHAHAHA, you can not kill that which is not living child! You must try harder!"

Chuckling still, he slammed both hands into the sides of the crystal. With a brief struggle, there began to form a crack in the shaft of the diamond. A little struggle more and the shaft broke, leaving The Gut free to fall to the ground. He landed with little fuss, elegant almost. and stood straight, the broken piece of crystal still jutting from his abdomen. The pain he was feeling was ecstasy. He felt a discomfort in removing the item from his chest. However he did so, sliding the smooth spike from his sternum and then holding it aloft to show off the now gaping hole in his body. "Well now, that is quite a hole isn't it? Ah ha, watch closely now dear one, something marvelous will happen." As he spoke the hole in his chest began to heal, the tissue inside of him regenerating and reforming. It was only a painstaking few minuets until the hole was nearly fully replenished. "Ah, there we go. Would you like to see it again? It is very admirable ability is it not?" Then as abruptly as he had attacked earlier, he thrust the shard through his chest again. The ecstasy of its penetration almost making him fall to the ground in extortionate pleasure. "WOWEE did you see THAT! HAHAHA oh joyous day!" The without any warning The Gut grabbed the shard and threw it with great force towards the girl. As the projectile flew The Gut chased it brandishing his tomahawk as he ran.

A startled look greeted "the Everlasting Stomach"'s feet of surviving three direct blows, one of which would have killed a normal human instantly, but that wasn't the surprising part. The surprising part was the outburst of maniacal laughter from a person that was supposed to be in an incredible amount of pain. Even other metas with a fast regen would show some sign that their body registered that a spike had just shot through their body. But not this thing apparently. Clearly non-human, hostile, masochist, physically strong, and possess ridiculously strong regeneration abilities, Shard relayed to herself, going over the information. And as the monster shattered the crystal on which he had been impaled, Shard took a step back. Really strong. I cannot best this foe in conventional combat since it is most obvious that I will tire out far before he does. Her face resumed its calculating look she just had to think dammit, this was her turf, she was its protector, she just couldn't let some masochist walk all over her. Even if she died, the people of L.A. had to know that a metahuman was willing to die to keep them safe. Wait... she had it! If she could just- Her train of thought was disrupted as she realized that the madman had thrown the crystal he was impaled on at her. There was a simple counter to this, she'd practiced for it before.

Shard reached out with her palm and closed it into a fist. The crystal shattered into hundreds of razor sharp shards, hung in the air for a second, and then flew back towards the incoming madman. The crystal manipulator made sure to aim two of the largest pieces towards the man's knees, or the area that would have been a human knee, she couldn't tell with this thing. Either way, she quickly followed this by striking the ground with her left foot, creating a trail of rather small crystals that would grow larger to encase the man's legs by impaling them from all direction. Shard intended to incapacitate her foe with these attacks so that he could trap him in a crystal and transport him to the proper authorities, however she knew that first plans almost always failed, and as such she was already hard at work on yet another plan to defeat this deranged villain.

Seeing the girls placid reaction, and her ability to control these diamonds. The Gut anticipated a counter to his attack. Watching as the girl failed to move made The Gut realize that she was going to use the shard he had thrown at her against him. Without a second thought The Gut lept high into the air, chips of concrete and dust following is ascent. Just seconds after his leap the large shard was shattered and fired in the direction he had been facing. A swarm of tiny shards were sent, ripping into the pavement and smashing several windows. Blatantly the Girl had not seen his leap, her mind too focused on her actions. She had followed up her counter with an attack, but The Gut was not there to meet it. By this point The Gut was descending at an increasingly rapid rate. Using his velocity he brandished his tomahawk in two hands aiming to slice the girl into two halves from tip to base.

Fool, she should have realized he would take into the air. Yet this was more advantageous for her. He had created more distance by taking into the air, it gave her more time to prepare another blow. As Shard placed her hand on the concrete again, she became aware of how cool it felt against her palm. It was only then that she realized sweat was forming on her brow, creating so many crystalline formations was tiring her out. This needed to end and end fast.

Wasting no more time, Shard creating the most complicated of formations she had made this evening. The crystal would have a thick base to hold the weight of the rest of the formation. It would have three spikes protruding from it, each one aimed at a different body part. The center spike, the thickest, was aimed for the chest of this mad man, to keep him suspended in mid air and away from Shard. The outermost spikes, to the left and right of the center, was aimed towards the arms of "The Advocate of Pain" to ensure that he couldn't break out of the crystal as he had done so before. Shard was also hoping that at the speed he was falling, that the "Devourer of Flesh" would be impaled too far upon the spike to break it as he had done so before. Now Shard was not one to rip into her opponents, however she saw that this foe could take quite a beating, so she would give it to him, make him think twice about picking on a random stranger in the night.

[i]What kind of game is she playing? Offence at a time like this, she should have evaded my strike the foolish worm, her own actions will be her undoing.[i] Using the velocity of his falling body The Gut swung his tomahawk over his head, then mustering all the otherworldly strength his body could produce, sliced through the large column of crystal. Large boulders and sections of the construct fell into the street, some even breaking through the walls of the citizens homes. The street was a mess now, crystal lying everywhere and every resident of the area shaking with fear inside the pile of bricks they called home.

Sirens. A signal of this worlds civil "protectors" as it were.

Not wanting to come into contact with them again The Gut swung round to the girl and spat an accosting insult at her. "You foolish child! Look at what you have caused! Our duel could have been one of unspeakable greatness, and now look at it! The battlefield a mess and now the guards come to ruin our fun. You have disrespected the holy matrimony of blades this eve. And you will suffer for it."

Lifting a large crystal like boulder, The Plexus proceeded to launch it towards the sounds of blaring sirens. As he had predicted, it landed atop a police vehicle, crushing the hood. As hoped, the police in pursuit stopped and got out of their cars. While all focused on the drama in the street, The Gut slunk into the darkness of an alley and watched as an officer got out of his car screaming; "It's that crystal girl! She's one crazy! Take her down before she does anymore damage!" Without a moments notice the officers began to open fire, merciless in their pursuit to produce results.

A triangular wall rose out to block the bullets, leaving webs of cracks weaving across the outer layer. The operation tonight was crude to say the least. A quick scan of the area showed that the enemy was no where in sight, and the local authorities were hounding her now. And it also meant that it was high time she left. The officers would not be able to follow her in their vehicles, too many sharp debris in the road, and she could lose them on foot since she knew this location better than anyone- one of the perks of being a vigilante.

Drawing on her powers, she pressed her palm against the cold night asphalt and created a brilliant pillar that rose into the sky. It caught the beams of light from the patrol cars and shot off the luminescent beams in every direction, blinding many a officer- it was then that Shard took her time to run. She made sure not to run in the direction of her house, rather she led them through a dark park where she knew she would lose them quickly since they were loaded with so many equipment unlike her- plus it was hard to tell how she looked like in the night. Aside from the crystals, she was sure that none of them could point out any incriminating features.

"Get her!"She heard someone shout behind her, and pursuit quickly followed. Jade was not one to be taken lightly however. It took not more than a second of contact with the ground to create a small pillar of crystal that (from the sound of swearing) tripped an officer. Once she had slowed down her pursuers, she slipped into the shade of a tree, doubled back to the area, and then switched into civilian clothing.

The perpetrator of the night had gotten away from her, but at least he didn't hurt anyone. Yeah there was some collateral damage, but Jade would take that over death of civilian any day. She quickly ducked into the shadows just as a cruiser drove by. Crap, She thought, a woman walking on her own. That would draw too much attention after what had just transpired. I'll need to throw them off my trail for a while. So with that she made a quick jog to the twenty four hour gas station and slipped inside, flashing a smile at the clerk while meandering through the aisles. Eventually, when she was sure the police had moved on, she bought a bag of Cheetos and went on her way- but not without scanning the setting for any sign that the villain could return.

((I'm guessing we're done?))

EDIT: ((Confirmed end))