Revealing truths (kit_Azazel)

Hermes could see that Zayka was tired from using her powers, it wouldn't be long before he exhausted her enough that she couldn't fight back. He decided to try the same tactic, run around her and suck the oxygen from her lungs. Just as he was about to take his first step a bullet pierced through his calf blowing away the muscles and nearly severing the foot from the rest of his body. Hermes dropped to one foot screaming in pain until he was silence by a second bullet which exploded his head forcing the body limb. It was brutal, and if one followed the trajectory of the bullets they would find Violet on the roof of a nearby buildings peering down the scope of a fifty caliber rifle.

"That is how you take down a meta-human." She stated coldly, standing up and dropping off the roof top using her grapple to slow her decent. The weapon digitized and her cross bow re materialized in its place. She took aim and fired a bolt at Magneta who lifted her arm up to deflect the bolt which quickly planted itself in her shoulder. "THE HELL!" Magneta screamed out in pain, looking at the bolt in her shoulder and seeing it was wooden and freshly carved.

"Blue i only had time to make one, finish her!" She called out, as Blue charged at the distracted Magneta getting close enough to punch her once across the face before a hydrant smashed into him and sent him flying into a dumpster. Violet digitized her cross bow so Magneta couldn't use it against her and got in close. Violet went to sweep Magnetas feet but the villain jumped, avoiding the attack and then her flight back activated allowing her to fly into the sky.

Metal from all around began surrounding her as she laughed hysterically, "I have control over metal, the very foundation of this city. I could tear it all down and you couldn't stop me. I am all powerful." More and more steel began to surround her as she readied to launch a deadly, final attack at the heroes.

Red emerged from the building he had been tossed in, seeing the situation her turned towards Zayka. "How hot can you make your fire!" Connor pointed at her target, the steel now swirling around Magneta.  "I need you to make it as hot as you can and take her down!" Noah was on the other side, he could hear Connor talking to Zayka and knew sort of what he might be planning so he readied himself.

Zayka panted furiously. Her lungs were repairing faster now that the vacuum was gone from the air so she shook her head, "I can't produce that hot yet, but I can do something else."

Closing her eyes, she used her enflame ability that she had been practicing in the basement and selected the items on the fiend's outermost circle. Conjuring her fire from inside, her hair lifted again with flames and she surrounded the outer poles in white hot flames to create a circle of heat around the other innermost items to make them malleable and dripping, slowly melting. Holding tight control over the outermost objects, Zayka forced them to keep spinning in a circle tighter and tighter to the fiend's body, compressing the heat in closer and closer to crush her with heat until Zayka was able to fully ignite them all and encase the fiend with the rage inside her and the fire that was her extension.

The heat proved to much for magnolia as she lost concentration, dropping the metal objects to the ground first before passing out and falling from the sky. Noah went in for the rescue, using his push power to slow down her fall and then catching her in his arms. Meanwhile, Red turned his attention to Violet who knew all to well what he was about to say. "What the hell were you thinking, you killed Hermes!"

"He was a threat!" she retorted, angry as always whenever she and Connor had these arguments. "I'm an assassin, always was and always will be. If you can't get over that then get rid of me otherwise lets get moving. It'll be safe to return to our real HQ now."

Connor clasped his fists tightly, "This talk isn't over." He released his fists and took a deep breath before calmly approaching Zayka who was obviously tired from the fight. "Thank you, we may not of been able to beat Magneta without you."

Violet approached Blue who was still holding magneta, she tapped her equip and pulled out some sedatives. "She won't be out long but an hourly dose of this and she'll never wake up again." Violet stuck the needle in Magnetas' neck and injected the sedative. Just as she did this a second hummer pulled up. It was William who had just digitized the old hummer to clear it off the street. "Need a ride?" He said light heartly knowing tensions were high between the team. Noah and Nicole loaded magneta into the vehicle which then pulled over to Red and Zayka.

"I know things have been rocky all night, and you must be tired. I promised you we would protect you and we haven't really done a very good job but we are your safest bet right now." There was a sudden sizzling coming from the remains of Hermes, when Connor looked back to see what was going on he waw the body slowly melt and evaporate. "That's new" The body completely disappeared into the atmosphere, luckily the device William built kept whoever was making these metahumans from frying Magnetas' brain, she had a lot of useful information they could use.

Red climbed into the hummer and looked back at Zayka. "I'm sure you have questions, and i'm willing to bet they are about the same as ours. If you'll join us we can search for them together."

Zayka just stared at Red with fire still dancing at the tips of her hair, sighing, it began to extinguish and she went to get Lilith. She quietly spoke to the cat, calming it back down, and lovingly sending it some of her healing power to ease the ache it had gotten from being shifted around. She was exhausted and exasperated.
Walking back to the group, she looked into his eyes again and just simply said, "Well, let's go." She realized she forgot her cloak and went and grabbed it also, then keeping her gaze from Violet, she climbed into the vehicle, careful to avoid the bruises that were building on her legs. Once she had sat, she began to glow with a bright orange flame, using it to heal the damage to her body.

She finished and closed her eyes, covered with a slight sheen of sweat. Eyes still closed, she murmured, "Are any of you injured and in need of healing?" Her brilliant blue eyes remained shut while she waited for a reply, calmly letting her body restore.

William sped off down the road before anyone else could arrive. They weren't the only heroes in town and they wouldn't be to happy about what Violet had done. Seeing as they would all be spending some time together, Noah removed his helmet revealing his face. Wiping the sweat from his brow and tapped equip which put a towel in his hand from seemingly nowhere. "You'll find that me and my associates here are rather resilient to injuries." The towel once again disappeared, and he sat back in his seat grabbing two waters from a cooler. He offered the second water to Zayka offering a friendly smile. It was obvious that he was young, and she could easily pin that he wasn't much older than 18. "My name is Noah Barnes."

"Nicole Landale" Violet stated as she removed her helmet and brushing her bangs away from her eyes, grabbing the water from Noah which he had for himself. Noah simply shook his head and grabbed another water for himself. "Don't worry about her, she is just pissed twenty four seven." Noah stated, Nicole simply adjusting herself so she wasn't facing the three of them anymore.

Finally Connor removed his helmet, he was bit older than the other two and appeared to be their leader by the way he spoke. "My names Connor Claret, and this here is William Kurtz." Connor patted William on the shoulder from behind who simply raised his hand and waved at Zayka, he was busy watching the streets and monitoring a computer screen for anything unusual.

"This city is under our protection. Lately there have been an increase in meta-human activity involving abductions of unique individuals. We were finally able to get ahead of them a few nights ago but we yielded little results because of a chip located in their brain and now it seems their bodies evaporate as well." Connor looked over towards Magneta who was sedated, sleeping peacefully. A light began to shine over her skin as Noah took a scanner and started taking information on her but there was a slight problem. "She is still generating a magnetic disturbance. The scanner isn't getting a very good reading on her."

"We have better equipment at HQ, we'll worry about her when we get back. Right now we need to know a little bit more about you, Zayka. You have abilities, both healing and fire. Were you born with these gifts?" Connor asked, signaling Noah to stop what he was doing and be part of the conversation.

Zayka shifted uncomfortably, They behave like cops. I don't trust cops. She eyed each person after accepting the bottle of water, giving Noah a smile of gratitude and nodded politely when each one was introduced.

"Seems you already know my name is Zayka. I was born with these gifts as well as empathy. I can heal minimal injuries on others and my cat. Major injuries require me to transfer the pain to myself as a payment to the universe for altering its course. It can be dangerous and put me in a coma if I attempt too much, or it can simply kill me in exchange." She held out her hand and let fire dance upon it, making small animals. "My cat is my familiar and helps me meditate and find my way back to the Goddess. Do you have 'powers'?"

She pursed her lips gently. She was not ready to tell them everything, she was not even certain they were not the people she was looking for, but she felt if they were, they most likely already knew her powers so it would not hurt to tell them this.

"I can push things with my mind." Noah stated, holding a bottle in his hand he gently lifted it off his hands. "Of course i can push more than bottles, yesterday i stopped a speeding armored truck just before i ordered that coffee i bailed on." Noah chuckled a bit, "Sorry about that by the way."

"His body also heals itself, but not as fast as mine does but my powers weren't naturally gained." Connor added, looking to Violet to demonstrate her powers as well. After a second, Zaykas' phone would ring for a text message addressed from Nicole which said "I am a techno-path, I can communicate with anything electronic and control it. Unfortunately, unlike these two, I do not have a healing ability."

Nicole sighed, "and that's all you need to know about us and our abilities." Connor shook his head at Nicole and then turned his attention back to Zayka. "She is just cranky because i woke her up to save our asses back there." Nicole sat back in her seat and closed her eyes, she hadn't had a good nights sleep in a while.

"We all have our reasons for being here. We fight even when we are out gunned or out powered. We've lost good people in the fight, friends and family alike. The world is rapidly changing. Meta-humans run unchecked, destroying entire cities and thousands of lives." Connor was referring to the New York disaster. "-and now somebody out there is collecting meta-humans around the world, studying them and reverse engineering their dna to find ways to mass produce super powers. Cannon, Hydra, Hermes and Magneta...they are only the beginning. You are on their list, something about your DNA they want and it could involve the murder of your grandmother."

Zayka smiled softly to Noah about the coffee and remembered how she was swearing at him and blushed. She was pretty surprised at the use of her phone and suddenly was happy there was nothing indecent on it.

Her eyes hardened at the mention of her grandmother and flames lifted her hair as she said slowly and carefully, "Maybe you do not know gypsies well, but you do not speak of the dead unless you request permission first. It stirs their spirits and summons them to this world in our beliefs, I would not do with having my family roam aimlessly because of your carelessness. I am guessing you didn't notice the markings on my arms or you didn't know what they meant but I am a child of Roma. Now how is it you know of my grandmother?"

Connor realized he was a bit insensitive towards Zayka, "Sorry-" He said, an apologetic look upon his face, "-i didn't mean to be so insensitive. I didn't realize." Waving his hand in the air, a hologram appeared before them being projected from the floor, the hummer obviously had some awesome technology. It was footage of when Noah noticed her ability when she heated up the counter top and how they figured out she was the target of Hermes and Magneta.

"We just followed some clues and determined you were the most probable target based on your demonstration of power and the unsolved murder of your grandmother." Waving his hand again, the hologram changed to images of Cannon and Hydra. "From what little i've gathered, they are finding ways to make meta-humans at an alarming rate. Until recently I didn't know how."

The hologram turned into an image of two brains with two segments highlighted a certain color. "The one brain on my left is Cannons, and the brain on the right..." Connor looked at Noah with a grim face. "...is yours Noah. He has the same genetic marker for his powers that you do."

"What does that mean?" Noah sat forward, slightly disturbed by this revelation. This genetic marker was unique to only him due to how Elizabeth unlocked his meta-human ability by unlocking a percentage of his brain power that most humans do not have. "They have a someone who was as powerful as Elizabeth?"

Connor shook his head, "Highly unlikely, I cross referenced all the data i have on Elizabeth looking for anyone else who was remotely as powerful as her and it was an impossibility. She was what i would classify an almost ascended being."

"We'll get into this more later Noah, right now we need to find out why they want Zayka so we can ensure her safety." Connor brought up data sheet of the other Meta-humans they battled in the last few nights. "They have acquired their powers differently but unnaturally. AIVAS has tried accessing what could produce these results but came up with little but what we have determined is that none of these meta-humans were created using the same method. You know as well as i do that the government and other secret organizations have found ways to make meta-humans but this particular group is stealing those methods and using them."

Connor turned to Zayka, "I need to know everything about you, your powers, your family history, and the source of your gift. Also, if i can have your permission i would like to examine your blood."

Zayka's cold blue eyes softened at his apology and nodded, "I am just simply still sensitive to her death, but I understand not everyone knows our ways. My apologies too for being snippish."

She ran a hand through her long blonde hair and sighed deeply. Zayka checked on Lilith by peeking into the carrier and found her curled up sleeping. "My family was slaughtered for our blood when I was 10 years old. I was told it was racist neighbors but my grandmother would say the вампир or vampires were the ones who murdered them. I didn't understand until she herself was drained of her blood. I was raised in France, my father was French and my mother Russian Roma. When they were murdered, I was sent to live with my meme, or grandmother, as you would say." Shifting uncomfortably, she continued. "My powers developed shortly after my family's tragedy. I was moved into a metal shed in the backyard with a metal dresser to prevent me from burning the house down in my sleep when the nightmares of my murdered family would appear."

Zayka felt silent tears roll down her cheeks but she kept talking through the pain, "I am the last of my mother's line but I have second cousins in the Roma family. We all have powers. My mother was able to wield air most beautifully. She would shower petals down on us as we practiced ballet. Our gift comes from our soul, Meme would say but that is not true, those who marry into Roma drink some of our blood and from that they gain our powers if they are capable.” Sniffling, she wiped the tears away and raised her eyes to him, “What else do you need to know?” Lilith started sensing that Zayka was distraught and woke up mewing for her to console her so Zayka pulled her out and nuzzled the cat slowly before whispering, “Je t’aime Cherie.” She then put Lilith back, visibly calmer.

"Vampires." Noah stated, sighing. "Terrific." He didn't sound sarcastic but more worried than anything. "Ever cross paths with a samurai, capable off raising and commanding the dead?"

"We'll worry about the vampire details later." Connor interjected, more interested in her bloods ability to give others powers. "You say it only works for certain people, maybe there is a certain genetic code for which the blood bonds too. I can't say for sure unless. We can't understand the why they are after you unless we find out what they want from you." It was clear by her tears that Zayka suffered from her history, and recollecting it was making her uneasy. The cat she brought along seemed to be important to her, he'd have to make a note of protecting the cat in case of another attack.

The hummer pulled into an old garage which door closed behind it. After a second, the floor lowered into a ramp allowing the hummer to continue down into a secret tunnel which lead beneath the streets of Chicago until they reached a small parking area with another spare hummer, a few motorcycles and an old refurbished mustang with a few armor modifications. "We're home" William stated, getting out of the vehicle first and then making his way towards his lab. "Send me her blood samples when she is ready."

The others got out of the hummer and lead Zayka into their Head quarters. In one corner of the room robotic arms were working on rebuilding a big red robot, the Hercules mach 1 which was destroyed a few nights ago. There was a wall full of weapons such as machine guns, sniper rifles, throwing discs, etc.
A training area for weight lifting and practicing martial arts and finally a super computer which had tons of tabs and screens open so AIVAS could monitor the world.

"This is are head quarters. Where we operate from." Connor held his arms out wide. "All of this, directly below the Claret Research and Development Institute. Where we hire young brilliant minds to produce experimental designs which we patent, sell or use for our own personal agendas."

Nicole headed over to the womans' shower room to freshen up while Noah took a seat in front of AIVAS to ensure the city was safe while Connor would take care of Zayka. "Can we have a blood sample?" Connor opened a drawer and pulled out a bag containing a clean syringe. "If you have any questions feel free to ask, once the masks are off we don't carry many secrets."

Zayka eyed the weapons wall carefully, she was adept with knives and swords but had recently learned how to fire a hand gun from an ex boyfriend. Making a mental note of where Nicole went, she focused her attention more intently on Connor.

She pulled Lilith in closer to her chest ad stared at the syringe. Giving her blood was sacred, but these people seemed sincere in wanting to know what it was that made her a target. "I will give you my blood, but no one puts needles in me, but me. It's sacred, you understand? I am only to give my blood to the one I love, but I think for this, I will be forgiven." Her voice was thicker with her accent as she spoke of her traditions. Zayka sat down Lilith's carrier and whispered to the cat in thickly accented french before straightening, with resolve painted in her grey blue eyes. "I am bent on revenge, Mr. Connor, and I will have it."

"Vengence..." Connor muttered beneath a deep breath as he handed the syringe to Zayka. "It wont bring back your family, or quell the anger you have." He stated, turning towards the computer screens where Noah was looking over the incident reports. "Few other high profile crimes, taken care of by either rogue vigilantes or those Knight watch fellas'" Noah pointed out that there was a fight between a few rogue meta humans as well in an alley.

"The worlds falling apart around us." Connor placed both his hands against the counter below the computer screens and sighed. "Meta-humans battle freely in the streets. Destroying each other and who ever gets in their way." He quickly turned from the computer with his arms up in the air and then dropping them to his side quickly. "-and what are we doing to stop it? Making better, stronger meta-humans and selling them like weapons."

"Soon, real soon, humanity will face its own extinction and we'll have a global genocide which will make New York look mediocre in comparison."

Nicole came out of the wash room, having cleaned up and changed into normal clothing, pair of jeans and a tank top. Having heard what he said she couldn' help but put her two cents in. "Then we have to stop it." She stated, passing Zayka giving her a nod of encouragement. "We start with these bastards, who killed her family and God knows how many more to make meta-humans. We hit them, and we hit them so hard they can't get back up."

"It all sounds good now but lets not forget they are mass producing these guys. I thought our fight was crime not extinction. There are only three of us, last time we recruited he got crippled." Noah added, turning in his chair to face the group, he was referring to their friend and ally Nathaniel Hix who had fought against a meta-human months ago, barely surviving.

"Lets recruit her then" Nicole stated, pointing at Zayka. "She can burn things, melt them and says she can heal injuries. That isn't important to you two but damn for the rest of us it would be nice to have a healer on the team." Nicole threw her arms up in frustration then. "I mean damn, she fits the bill that the rest of us do. Hell bent on revenge and taking back the world taken from us. We share a common enemy and we can train her to fight with us."

"We stop one rogue group from making meta-humans, then what? What if the government starts making more meta humans like in New York?" Noah stated, raising his voice. "We can't take on the government, we can't stop them from making Meta-humans no more than we can stop crime."

Connor signaled for them to calm down, "Lets take it easy." he paused, waiting to make sure he had their attention. "You are both right. We can't let meta-human production become a new industry but its just the three of us and i'm not getting Zayka or anyone else more involved then i have to. We stop this group so Zayka can return to her life."

Connor looked to Zayka, to see if she had anything to say and if she had taken her blood sample while the three of them argued. They have been fighting crime and injustice for years now, and it never seemed to end but the increase in meta-humans would present a problem.

Zayka accepted the syringe and smiled,"You must not know many gypsies if you think that revenge is about quelling my anger. My anger is what keeps me alive, Mr. Connor." She took down her hair and placed her hair tie around her forearm and pumped her fist a few times to find a good vein while listening to their bickering.

She was carefully investigating her arm while flicking her gaze between the group to follow the conversation. Their ease with accepting her made her feel ill at ease. The only ones to trust so quickly generally only wanted something to further their own goal, it seemed however their goal was honorable. She finally found a vein to her liking and filled the syringe with her purplish blood.

When Noah started raising his voice, she tensed and stared at him to feel the air coming from him. She wished her empathy worked with more than touch, it sure would come in handy at the moment. It was apparent that Connor was the leader, which meant if anyone made or broke her joining the group, it would be him. She wasn't sure she could take orders from him since she had always been a willful spirit, as was the nature of the fire wielding gypsies, but she didn't feel right turning her back on them.

She handed the syringe to Connor, "Let me feel your hand, please. I want to read your intentions with my empathy. I won't hear your thoughts, but I will know if you are being honorable or not. The last person I trusted to help me instead tried to murder me in my sleep, so I burned him alive out of rage. I'd like to prevent these events again, yes?"

Taking the syringe from Zayka, Connor offered her his free hand which the glove lit up bright before disappearing, digitized and stored as data in his equip located on his belt. "Your family was killed." Connor started, "So was mine, along with hundreds of others from where i come from. I've set out to make the world a better place to honor those who died trying to make this world a better place." A sadness came over Connor as he thought about the 'Black out' and then about what has happened since then including New York.

Sighing, Connor thought about what Nicole said about recruiting Zayka. She would never truly be safe if her blood was key to giving others Meta-human abilities. "Nicole is right, I need warriors to fight this battle and i need people who can make the tough decisions." Connor shot a glance at Nicole, who had earlier killed Hermes with a sniper shot. She simply nodded in approval as Noah simply sat back sighing, he wasn't a fan of killing or where it looked like this was leading but for the moment he would remain silent, he owed Connor that much and he needed his help to find out how Cannon had his powers unlocked.

"If you want revenge, I can help you get it and afterwards i can help you prevent what happened to you from happening to others. We will train you, teach you and in return you can teach us and make us stronger." He was being sincere, the sadness gone now and the feeling of renewal and hope flowing from him. As if he suddenly gained a sense of direction in where he wanted to take his mission next.

Zayka just stared, feeling like a reprimand had been delivered instead of an understanding. She took his hand into hers and let her power envelope him. She knew that this exchange would let him feel all of her emotions and her suspicions of him and the others would be made apparent, as would the feelings of pain she had felt. The emotions coming from him were resolve and hope, they were overwhelming as she shifted through the sadness that was initially felt to the sincerity. Her eyes felt tears prick at the emotion as they both shared the exchange of all of her fear and pain being brought forth. When she released him, she simply nodded and said, "Where can I put my things and feed Lilith?"

She then turned her back to him and knelt down to pull the cat from the carrier and let her familiar calm her turbulent soul. Straightening, she sat the cat on her shoulder and it wrapped it's tail around her neck protectively, purring quietly. "I will need to return to my apartment. My staff is there. Its irreplaceable. I'd also like my clothing. I understand it will be dangerous and probably ransacked already. It's simply that important to me, you need not accompany me."