A little R&R (Rage in Rome) Open

The streets of Rome were crowded with tourists and locals alike. They were easy to distinguish between. The locals had an easy way of walking, they seemed very relaxed. The tourists on the other hand were the exact opposite. It wasn't so much the clothing as the way they acted. They were excited over every little thing, and most lacked the discretion that would have told them it was rude to point. It appeared that no matter where you went, tourists were a nuisance.

James House, known by friends and family as Deacon, strolled through the glorious city. He blended in with the locals; it was not his first time in the city of seven hills, and it certainly wouldn't be his last. Deacon enjoyed the time he had to relax. It had been very hectic stateside, with the constant wars between meta-humans. That meant both the influx of new patients and the increased pandemonium that usually meant the constant debate of whether the meta-humans should be locked up would get more and more heated. Deacon sighed; it was a nuisance, and even more so when he couldn't go into hiding. Well, he could, but he had a job to do.

He enjoyed the break, but at the same time it made him anxious. There could be people dying because he couldn’t heal them, and they would be rejected at most hospitals. He sighed; it was a terrible time to have a conscious. Still, he felt as if he deserved this break, and he would enjoy it as much as possible. So, he avoided areas with the sick and injured like the plague (no pun intended).

It was a good vacation, better than he had in years. Even though he was only thirty-four, and appeared to be a decade younger, he felt as if he was a few centuries older. He had seen too much death, and it had changed him. He could barely remember the times when he could walk through the streets carefree. It was hard being a metahuman, and more so today than ever. Breaks like this were few and far between. As such, he tried to relax and let all of his worries drain from him. He couldn’t, at least not completely, but at least he tried.

He looked up as he approached the walls of the Vatican. He had been here years earlier when he embraced his upbringing in Catholicism. This time he was here to speak with Robert de Valentino, a Cardinal, who was one of his few friends left without the metahuman gene. At least, that was until he got closer to the Vatican. There were several armed guards running around frantically and he saw a woman in tears near the gate.

Deacon approached her nervously, as he thought he might not want to hear what she had to say. She looked up as he neared. “What happened,” he asked warily. She wiped a tear away from her eye. “Valentino is dead”. Deacon fell to the ground with his back to the wall, and his head in his hands.

Ah, Rome. A place of culture and history. It was the capital of Italy itself and one of the
most visited cities in the entire world and the one of the oldest cities in all of Europe. At least that's
what Wikipedia said when James wanted to look up info on it.

But yeah, it was one thing reading about the place but actually seeing it in person was a
whole other experience. You see, at the moment, the young lad was using the Valkyria System
to fly up high in the sky over the Vatican.

...Ok, ok, let's get this out of the way first. James does use his power to help people and
protect the innocent, so he does use it for noble and good reasons..but he did use it to
make some aspects of his own life easier, like travel...don't you people give him that look!

Admit it, if you had the ability to fly as fast as a fighter jet, and for as long as you
wanted, you'd take advantage of it too.

Now than, while inspecting the Vatican from on high she took note of some commotion
going on at the gates,"What the.." His urge to help taking over, he flew down behind
another nearby building and changed back to normal.

Now in his human form, he headed for the Vatican, hoping there was something he
could do to help.

It took Deacon several minutes to move from that spot. He shook himself; now was the time to act. He could grieve later. He ran behind a building, where no one could see him, unless they were on top of the roof or flying. He quickly transformed into a golden eagle. It was one of his favorite forms, and not a very uncommon sight in Italy, so it would work. He took off, and looked down below him. There were no clothes, thank God for that. It had taken Deacon several months to master the art of shapeshifting, and not shredding through his clothing was part of that art. He didn't know where the clothes went, but they were on him when he reverted back to human form.

He was distracted, for obvious reasons. Therefore he didn’t notice the person flying above him. If he hadn’t turned at the last second they would have collided, which would have put a slight damper on things. He turned and continued flying towards the Vatican. It took him a few seconds to get far enough over the walls, and behind the Papal Church of St. Anne. As soon as he touched down he started turning back into a human.  He walked out from behind the church, and attempted to stroll nonchalantly towards the Apostolic Palace. He should have known that was a mistake, but he wasn’t thinking clearly. As soon as he was within  a hundred yards of the residence of the Pope, he was surrounded by guards, all armed, and all looking extremely pissed.

The area was in complete chaos. People were either running about, screaming their
heads off, or were sitting on the side of the road sobbing like the world was ready to
end. This set off alarm bells in the young man's head,"Something serious must be
happening around here.."

James really hoped it wasn't a murder, that be a horrible way to start off his trip to
Rome. But knowing how things went for him, his chances weren't looking too good.

He took a walk around the area, feeling a bit of helplessness at not being able to
do anything..at least until he got within range of the Apostolic Palace, and spotted
the guards surrounding some poor man. From the looks on their faces, they were dead
serious. One wrong move and blood would start flying.

James hid himself not far from the palace, he needed to do something. The guards
wouldn't listen to some random tourist..but maybe a superhuman could help.

He transfromed into Valkyria and charged up a small ball of dark energy, she scanned
the area for an empty spot not too far away and with no people..and threw the orb
at the small clearing.

The orb was small but the explosive force would be enough to get the attention of
just about anyone. She stepped back into the shadows and waited.

Deacon crouched down as an explosion hit about fifty yards away. He elbowed the man closest to him, and started running while the others were distracted. It took them a few seconds, but eventually the guards started running after him. It was futile though. Few humans could match his speed, and most of them were training for the Olympics, not guarding the Vatican. "Stop or we'll be forced to shoot!" one of them yelled in Italian. Deacon ignored them and kept running. A few shots were fired, but only one made contact. It grazed his shoulder, and Deacon winced. He kept running though; he could deal with the wound later. He thanked God he had superhuman durability, or else he would have had to stop running a long time ago.

Deacon wasn't paying much attention to where he was going, but he had a destination in mind. It took him about thirty minutes, but only because he took a very indirect route. He cautiously walked up to St. Peters Basilica. It was an awesome* sight, but one Deacon had seen before. He wasn't here to sight see.  He had to know how Valentino died, and then possibly avenge his death. He looked around the area, making sure he wasn't being followed. He spotted the person he had seen flying earlier. He briefly wondered if they had had something to do with the explosion. It didn't matter really; there was only one thing on his mind. His best friend, one of his only friends left in the world, was dead.

And Deacon was going to find out why.


*In the traditional sense of the word, meaning awe inspiring. Not as in "Dude, I got twenty bucks! Dude, that's like so awesome dude!"

Valkyria's tactic had worked, for the most part at least. The explosion was enough
to disorient the guards and allow the guy to slip through them. She took note of the
guy's running speed which was not only very high, but he showed no signs of heavy
breathing, like he was use to this.

She was even more surprised when a guard's bullet grazed his shoulder but he
kept running, most people would be on the ground crying in pain from that. Needless
to say her interest was piqued.

Was this person just incredibly fit?..or were they someone like her?

She intended to find out so she used some of her energy, focused it to her
legs and used her heightened speed to keep pace with him, hiding not far
from where he stopped and leaned against a wall.

"So..since I just saved you from being riddled with bullets, perhaps you can
explain why you're trying to break into such a sacred place?"

“So..since I just saved you from being riddled with bullets, perhaps you can
explain why you're trying to break into such a sacred place?"

Deacon looked over as a young woman spoke to him. She was the same one he had seen earlier, and had suspected of helping him. It appeared he was correct. Her question surprised him, though it was a very valid one. The only reason for his sneaking around and attempted breaking into the Basilica, was that Valentino was dead, and Deacon needed to know why, and how. As it wasn’t likely for such information to be disclosed to him, he was just going to have to get it himself.

That was the reason for his actions, and the ones he was going to do in the immediate future, but he couldn’t exactly tell her that. So he went with the simplest story, which wasn’t a complete lie. “I am here to help. I have reason to believe that there is metahuman involvement in the death of the Cardinal, and if so, then the security force here will most likely need help solving, and maybe avenging, the Cardinal. Thanks for the help earlier.”

He strode forward a few paces, and then turned to look back at her. “If you want to stay and help, you are welcome to. If not, thanks again for the assistance earlier.” With that he turned and continued walking toward the Basilica.

Sorry, but Deacon has been trashed so this thread is no longer active.