On a Run (closed to Saileyra)

John found himself out for a run, again, jogging around the streets of DC. After the incident with Coronel, one might question why John would keep going on these runs, if the world's so dangerous... and indeed John had questioned why he was out here many, many times. What if it happened again? What if he almost died again? It was a terrifying thought. ...Yet, John still went on runs. He couldn't just stop- his runs, along with school, were the only two things that kept him in the outside world. And even his ties to school were weak, though improving- getting powers had almost completely knocked him out of school... and only now was he getting back into normal life. The fight with Coronel had almost knocked him back down again- and he couldn't just pretend it had never happened, could he?

But he had to. John simply wanted to live without dealing with all this fighting and crap, and if he spent his time obsessing over what fighting has happened, that wasn't going to happen- he simply had to continue his normal routines. And thus the hoodied figure ran, looking probably rather shady in the hoodie- a dark grey one with the hood up, a minor illusion shading his eyes so that they couldn't be seen, looking like the hood was casting a shadow over his eyes, and just running around. But John figured that wasn't anything new- it's not like he was running around with a gun or anything, right? There were definitely more suspicious things in the street fairly frequently, so he was sure he was fine.

John was, needless to say, quite startled by the aggressive voice coming from behind. Wondering -and with quite a bit of alarm- why someone was calling after him when he was on a run, he came to a stop for a brief second, turning around confused. And that's when he saw his pursuer, for a pursuer she was- coming at him fast was a terrifying woman, wearing what looked like armor, and with a huge metal bird thing on her chest with glowing red eyes and barbed tails, a LOT of them! John gaped for two seconds. Then as she got close he snapped out of it, and with a cry of "Why does this always happen to me?!" dove way from her and began running to the left- or at least it looked like he did.

In reality he'd had an illusion dive away and move to the left while he tore over to the right and change the light around him so he was invisible, a simple but he hoped effective misdirection. And though his footsteps sounded on the ground, he had to hope he was getting away. Because this was bull. This was bull. Trying to enjoy a run and this happens again. John mentally cursed to himself- and quite repeatedly, and just focused on getting away. Maybe this time he could get away unscathed for a change. That'd be nice... John groaned very quietly. Just keep running... John reflected that the runs were probably a good thing. They gave him exercise, and that exercise was turning out to be very good for running away.

John glanced behind him once as he rushed down the street and his eyes widened- though he was still invisible- as he saw that she was still following him. So he kept running. He could feel his stamina weakening though. He wasn't an olympic runner! He wasn't even close to that! The only reason he wasn't dead right now was the fact that he'd sprinted, that illusion, and luck! And as such, his eyes swept the area for an alley- and to his relief, he found one. He dashed into it, quite noisily but with his weakening stamina and the speed he was trying to maintain, there wasn't going to be a choice there. He tried to sigh, but he'd been running for too long for that, so it merely came out as a heavier breath.

Once he got into the alley, he stuck to the side of it, practically diving into a corner, and letting his invisibility melt off of him- something that practically took a two ton load off of his shoulders- and summoned up an illusion that made it look like the turn of the alley was just a dead-end, that the turn was just another wall. And then he sat down against the side of the alley. He couldn't run anymore, it was taking most of his concentration just to keep this illusion up. He just had to hope that his pursuer would fall for it and that he'd put the illusion up in time. Oh God, he hoped that he'd put it up in time. He didn't know what he'd do if he hadn't.