Time to Dance (Open)

Chicago, Illinois was a place that the British Man hadn’t been to sense the early Nineteen Nineties when he was looking for the lab coats. The vile and wicked lab coats that took his Sharon away from him, who ripped her from this cruel world and experimented on her body for God only knows how long. It was here actually that led him to find the clue and information he needed to identify just who the men in lab coats were, who they worked for and where he could find them. It was of no surprise to him when it turned out the Lab Coats worked for the Government and he of course had to go out and find them. He had a great plan and would have burned the place to the ground too. If he had not gotten bored of waiting and watching and instead rushed in only to get captured and then of course experimented on for the next twenty years.

But, that was then and this was now. He was back in town and this time it was because he had a job to do. Some unnamed criminal mob type boss had hired him off to kill the local police commissioner. It was not what William found fun per say, but it did mean he was going to get paid quite a lot at that and even if the commissioner didn’t put up a good fight it was still a fight. Standing atop the building overlooking the police station the man let own a yawn getting tired of waiting for the police commissioner to come out the building. If he had it is way he’d have killed the man and anyone who got in his way without any thought of the consequences that came with them.

Alas the man with money he so desperately needed said that the commissioner was not to be killed within eye shot of the station. As boring as keeping everything all hush, hush was it had to be done if he was going to get paid. The only problem was he was slowly starting to get bo-OH…a grin spread across the face of the British man when the man he was sent to kill walked out of the building. When the surprisingly fit and in shape police commissioner started to make his way towards his car William Kennedy decided it best to follow. In the vehicle the man went and off raced the man of the hour, waiting for just the right moment to strike.

A moment it seemed that could not come fast enough. Right when the Police Station was out of sight and the commissioner’s vehicle made a turn onto the next street underneath the building William was now running on he jumped. Landing atop the vehicle crunching the hood under the force of his blow a mad cackle escaped his lips. He was going to have fun with this even if it was going to be one of the easier kills he’d made in a while. The commissioner rolled out of the broken car groaning in pain, which only brought a smile to his face. “Oh, come on get up man. I can’t dance by myself, and I honestly want to see what moves you have before I kill you. Who knows if you impress me I might even kill you quickly.” He told the man as he jumped down from the top of the broken car into the street where he raised his hands into the air, ready to dance…

Jason was having a grand old time here in Chicago. It was his first time in a big city like this all by himself. After the incident with the assassin at the bar in Canada, Jason had made his way back home to explain to his parents what had happened. The fight had been intense with Jason barely making it out of it unharmed. It had been so close to home for Jason that it scared him. Scared him a lot. Enough that it convinced him it was time to move. Jason had put himself on the map in a bad way with a meta human assassin. He need to get out of the area and fast.

So... His parents moved him to Chicago, a city full of heroes. Thee were some well known heroes here along with quite a few unknown ones. Jason could start his career here and really make a name for himself. Hopefully.... It would be a good one. But in the mean time, when he wasn't being a hero, Jason was a waiter for a small little restaurant. The hours were good and with tips, it was more then enough to make a living. Not a fancy living, but a living. Besides he would only need money for rent. His entertainment would be from the hero side of his life.


Which apparently was starting right now. Jason had just cut up the street, walking on the sidewalk to his new home, when he heard a large crash behind him. For a second, Jason thought it had just been a large car crash and turned around to go help the people. Jason was almost dumb struck though when he saw a guy on top of a mans hood, with a large dent in it. The hell? Where the hell did he come from? Jason looked up at the the buildings. Those seemed awfully tall. Jason got a slight vertigo just from looking up.

“Oh, come on get up man. I can’t dance by myself, and I honestly want to see what moves you have before I kill you. Who knows if you impress me I might even kill you quickly.”

ohshitohshitohshit

That phrase smacked Jason right out of his daze. Another freakin assassin?? What the hell was up with all these hired killers. Jason had to put that thought on a back burner though cause right now... He had to save someone. Jason was staring at the back of the assassins head, behind him a bit. With no time to waste, Jason made his move. Hold one hand out in front of himself, Jason ran his other hand along it. It generate a tiny spark that Jason then magnified. With civilians around, Jason couldn't afford to get big so he went hot. The bolt was about the size of a baseball, but it took of at max speed and was hot enough to melt steel. He had launched the bolt at the mans left back shoulder from behind, hoping to knock him away from the commissioner.

Slowly walking forward William grinned as he smelt the fear flowing off the Police Commissioner, his eyes widening in horror as he realized who was standing in front of him. “Y-yo-your just a myth, you aren’t real…you can’t be!” He shouted throwing an impressive right hook out at the metahuman’s face. Or rather it would have been impressive had the man receiving the attack not been over a hundred years old and one of the planet’s most ruthless and best fighters. Easily intercepting the punch with one hand he used his other hand to push down on the Police Commissioner’s elbow breaking the arm from the middle. With a sadistic grin he laughed at the man’s cries of anguish and pain. “Oh come now Commish, in a world where Gods and Demons walk the earth, why then can the man who puts them in their place not be real?”

Breathing in not only did he smell the fear of the commissioner, the night Chicago air, but also the smell of fire as it sparked to life. Quickly grabbing the commissioner he spun around and doing so the Police Commissioner was now in front of him being used as a human shield. Although for a meat shield he didn’t last too long but did his job just the way William was hoping he would. Burnt to a crisp, singed from the stomach out. With a grin the sell sword pushed the burning body to the side before looking at the man, or rather boy, who killed his target for him.

Sizing him up and taking into consideration the powers he displayed William ‘quickly’ decided that this young man would have to do for the night. If he wasn’t able to get his dance on with the Police Commissioner and let out some steam that way than the little hero would have to do. Plus there was the whole part about the kid stealing his kill, even if William was the intended target and he knew it was true. “That was my kill Kid, why Oh why did you do that? Were you that willing to replace him on my list of people to kill tonight? Because if so it worked…you’re number One now.” As soon as the final words left his mouth he darted forward.

Intending to drag the fight out as long as he could William started it off with simply moving towards the kid at around eighty miles an hour. Almost literally telegraphing his first punch aimed at the boy’s head, which at the last moment would swing downwards to a sort of sideways cross chop aimed at his stomach. Following quickly behind that he would spring over the boy, whether the chop connected or not, and aim a round house kick at the back or front of his head. It mattered not to him which or what attack connected as long as the boy made the dance interesting.

Damn

was all that went through his head as the man snatched the poor guy and used him as a human shield. But not for a second did Jason blame himself for that man being hurt. It had been the assassin's actions that cost him his life, not Jason's. This guy was fast and he sure as hell could react to a surpise attack quickly. Damn, that shot should have gotten him clean. Was this guy physic? That was a thing right? shit, Jason didn't know. Best just to fight as he knew how to. The only good thing about the situation was that civilians were now clearing the street asap. Good, that would seriously help with Jason focus.

"Yea Yea sure... what ever you say asshole. Just bring it."

And sure as hell... this guy was bringing it. He was closing the distance with frightening ease. Jason let the fire wash over his body, flames coating him like a second skin and turned up the heat. Fine if this guy wanted to get close so be it, Jason could bring the heat. Literally. He fell into his fighting form as the man approached, the flames coating his body reaching intense heat. To punch Jason, you would have to go through a thin layer of fire. Most couldn't even stand to be next to him like this. Jason raised his guard for the first punch but feared a trap. It was too easy, too open, too predictable. It was like overextending your reach so you could snap a counter with your other hand. Jason backed up a couple steps, putting up a guard. Good thing to as Jason was right, the punch to his head was the feint... for a cross chop to his stomach. Jason may have known it was a feint and acted correctly, but it meant little. The man's chop blew through the guard and nearly drove the wind out of Jason's lungs with that one blow. Jason may have been exceedingly durable but this man was strong. But Jason wasn't with out a few tricks himself.

As the man sprigged over him, Jason struck then. When a person jumped into the air they commited to the trajectory. Unless that had a way of altering themselves in the air, they were stuck for that spilt predictable second. Jason unleashed a vortex from his skin. Fire blasted out from him in an intense wave of flames. Jason hoped it would fry the man.

Fire. Not only could he smell it but he could feel the heat as it burnt against the top layer of his skin. Maneuvering his body in such a way that he was able to get away from the worst of the flames and land on the ground with his coat having taken the worst of the burns. Snarling he flung the coat off and over to the side not only to get it off his body but to put out any remaining flames on it as well. “Bullocks.” He spat “That was my favorite coat you bloody fool, just lucky you are good at the dance or I’d kill you even faster now.” The side of his right hand was also slight burnt, only around first degree though which would heal as soon as the fight was over.

As he had landed where he intended to never mind the fact that he got his coat burnt William still intended to do just what he planned on. The round house kick was still sent at the now front of the little fire ball’s head. This of course was done as quick and hard as William could possibly muster and as soon as it connected, or the boy dodged and his foot was firmly placed back onto solid ground he would spring backwards grabbing the closest stupid human who just so happened to be standing around watching a fight between people ten times more powerful than she could ever hope to be.

“Don’t you just love the rush you get from these kinds of fights?” Will would ask the young man, holding the girl in his arms, pressed up against him hands placed in the position to snap her neck. “You never know what your partner is going to do next. One moment he’s trying to jam your head in, the next he’s getting his favorite coat burned, and before you know it he’s got a hostage and is talking to you like you two are old buddies. Isn’t that wild?” He smiled walking forward with the lady in his hands, slowly getting close to the little boy that was on fire. Yet staying just out of arms reach, waiting to see what he would do. This was getting fun and although if he really wanted he could end this by simply snapping the boy’s neck. Even if it would burn him a little bit, eventually he’d heal…he wasn’t so sure the kid would.

Besides, this was too fun….much too fun, and he wanted to see what the kid could really do before he smashed his brains in. Or at least for the moment that’s what was on his mind, it was really only a matter of time before something happened and he either got too pissed off to care about making a dance out of it or he got bored and decided dragging it out wasn’t worth it. Either way the kid didn’t stand a chance, he’d killed much more powerful beings in his day than some street wise pyromaniac.

With the votrex unleash, Jason backed up rapidly to get the hell out of that guys range. Just in time too as a roundhouse kick that would have taken his head clean off missed his nose by an inch. Jason moved to counter the guy but it was already too late as he had grabbed a hostage from the street. Jason debated on what to do next. There was a hostage now, damn. These type of things were never his specialty. Fire was good at well... destruction and hurting others not so much for the fine work hostage situation required. But, Jason was stuck now since the man had one. He was, however, glad the guy had gotten close. Made this a little easier.


He turned down his heat to a more manageable level for the hostage then lifted his foot a few inches off the ground. He brought it down and Whoosh out went flames. The ran across the ground and formed a circle around the trio. Then a huge pillar of fire roared up around them, though not very hot. Jason staid out of arms reach, but had his hands raised and pointed at the man like finger pistols.This was the real trick question, kill one to save a thousand? Or try to figure out a way to save her?

Jason would try to save her, giving it every bit his all. But his fingers were raised and he would ignite this circle in a massive pillar of fire to engulf them all if he had to.

"Guess this is a real mexican stand off then eh? You have her and I have us surrounded by fire that can cook you alive. Let her go... and the fire backs off. Or don't and I will kill you."


And Jason meant it. He would do what he had to. He couldn't afford to risk more people already. Was one life really worht a thousand? Who was Jason to decided that though. Jason was just a kid from a farm, why the hell should he be deciding who should live and who should die. This was way out of his league, but he killed those thoughts. Best to just stay in the moment right now.

When he got closer to the lad, he let the flames roll off his body and down to a much more bearable level before stomping down on the ground and letting it spread out around them in a circle. This circle of course then rose up into the air creating a sort of open pillar around them yet it wasn’t exactly radiating heat like one would think. Instead it was quite nice, felt good in the cold night air, which of course only made William smile even wider as he ran one hand down the woman’s neck before moving it back up into a perfect position to snap her neck if he needed to.

Alas, the nightly ‘hero’ pointed his fingers at Will and in turn the hostage, showing he wouldn’t be afraid to light the both of them on fire if need be. William both loved and hated heroes like this, at times it could be fun to push them and see just how far they were really willing to let themselves go over the line. Yet at other times it ended badly for Will because they ventured so far past the line, even more so than he expected in the Dance of Death that it ended badly for Will. From the way things were looking and how the kid was talking about this being some Mexican standoff he was not so sure things would end well for him if he continued to hold onto his hostage. Meaning he’d have to get rid of her and do it quickly before hot head got trigger happy.

Moving his hands down to her waist William spun the girl picking her up what would be considered bridal style before quickly raising her above his head and throwing her with all of his might at the hero. “Fine you want her so badly than catch!” Sure announcing, even if it was afterwards, that he was throwing the girl to someone who seemed to be able to react as quick as this fire hero did was not the best idea. But, from what he had seen so far strength was not this man’s strong point and no one was completely good at multi-tasking. He would either give of the pillar of fire to catch the girl or he’d freak out from the unexpected hostage being thrown at him and keeping the pillar up she’d land on top of him. Either way it would be a happy ending for William because something was going to go his way.

Okay, Jason was honestly a little surprised that the man had actually let go of the girl. Villains actually did that?? Well shit... Jason learned new things everyday.

But, now, was not the time to be distracted by random thoughts.. The girl was coming at him now as he braced himself for impact, then a thought struck him. She would crumple on impact if he just caught her. Normal folks aren't durable like him. Shittingfuckdamnittohellll

Jason didn't really know what to do, he just acted. With the girl hurtling towards him, Jason leaned back and caught her. But instead of just catching her and having her crumple, Jason went with her. He pushed off the ground and let her momentum take them both. From the bottom of his feet, he pushed out a lot more fire to give him a lift more speed as he put up a fire barrier around the both of them. He need enough speed to go with her so she would smash on the pavement. More speed though only made something worse though. Jason wouldn't be able to take that barrier down in time for her to make it through, so he had to make his own barrier to counter it for her sake. He also let go of the heat constraint of the pillar as he couldn't focus on keeping his new smaller barrier cool for her. It looked like a fireball with a massive tall of flames shooting out of the pillar. Jason didn't even have time to create a hole ahead of him, instead just blasting through it. It took damn near all his control to will the heat away from the girl. When he made th flames cooler, Jason wasn't just lowering the temp he was actually direction the heat away. On the case of the pillar it was outwards. When he let go o the heat temps all that energy came rushing back inside to fill the cool vaccum. Between that and the flames he wS pushing out of his feet inside of that barrier was going to be hottttt.

The two crashed on the ground a bit away, with Jason on the bottom. Whether it was luck or skill, Jason would never tell. They skipped once before coming to a sliding stop. Even with his tough skin, that was going to leave some serious road rash. Jason quickly pushed the girl off of him and stood up ready for more.


Between the barrier around the both Two of them and willing the fire away, normally Jason wouldn't have had a second thought to attacking the man.  He didn't have to though. Jason had unleashed a torrent of fire from his feet to help with his catch. The fire pillar was still up, so those flames had no where to go. He had unleashed a massive amount of fire at close proximity to the guy in an enclosed space. He didn't know if the man made it out, but better to be safe then sorry as Jason fell into his fightning stance again.

William grinned he could feel the heat picking up, the flames becoming practically unbearable. It seemed he was right after all the boy couldn’t both save the girl and keep the flames at a constant heat, which was going to make his the opportunity to escape the pillar of fire even harder. It also seemed he had another problem; when the kid and the bystander were hurtling out the other side flames flew out from the bottom of the hot head’s feet. Which of course meant they were going towards William’s direction, fire never felt good no matter what temperature it was at. That wasn’t even something he had learned from being a live a hundred plus years, in fact it was common knowledge that fire equaled bad.

Back to the matter at hand, William turned and covering his face with his arms dove through the flaming pillar to avoid the flames coming to scorch his entire body from the hot head hero’s feet. ‘They should really learn to keep their body parts under check’ He thought as he rolled back out on solid ground and out of the burning circle of death. Standing up he swatted his arms with the opposite hands getting the burnt skin off, all the while biting his lips to distract the pain. Perhaps jumping through a thing of fire wasn't the best idea ever and fire that was practically uncontrollable was an even worse idea, but there was nothing else he could do and thus jump through the fire very badly burning his arms and his pants as well as his legs he did.

A slow and low clapping noise could be heard from the opposite side of Jason and the Girl that slowly got louder as it got closer. Until finally William rounded the corner showing that he was the source of the clapping noise, before of course stopping when he was in view of the hero. “That was some catch, bit of a burn out if you ask me though.” He said walking forward until he was a good ten feet away from the pyromaniac. “Figure for that I’ll just kill you now.” With a glint in his eye William the Bloody darted forward as fast as he could move, covering the ten feet in about a second where he aimed a punch as hard as he could at the man’s gut quickly following it with an upper cut to the bottom of his chin. If the two connected, or even just one he’d sort of roll/spin to the left side of the hero where’d he’d attempt to elbow the side of his head.

Jason thought he was ready. He knew the guy had most likely survived the fire and had even gotten into his fighting stance. He knew the guy was fast, strong, and better at fighting then him. But, Jason had thought he was ready.

Still... this was a new level of fighting for Jason

The man came after him from around the corner like a speeding bullet. Jason managed to shoved the girl away, but that was all he had time for. The first blow came in and it alone nearly blew through Jason's guard. The uppercut to the chin though was worse, it got Jason clean. He was staggered backwards till he caught himself. He turned and began counter punching at the man, fire forming at the end of his fist.... as an elbow came flying at his head. Jason's punch would be way to slow like this. The elbow would have hit Jason well before his attack had a chance to connect. Jason didn't know what to do in that split second.

But his body was ready

Jason had already turned up the heat on his flames on his body earlier. There was as second side effect to that action. Jason's own molecules got excited greatly. And holding their form became much tougher. Jason didn't consicously use his ability to phase this time, the elbow did it for him. When it "connected" it gave just enough more energy to the atoms that they let go of each other. The elbow went straight through Jason's head like a hand through fire. But jason was also punching at the man. When the elbow cleared through Jason's head, Jason reformed still in the middle of punching.

"Fire fist"

A huge torrent of fire released from his punch at deadly close range. AS far as strength went this was the top of the line for Jason.

William was practically ecstatic, sure the kid had been able to block his gut punch but the uppercut was more than enough to get the job done. One more like that and hot head wouldn’t even have a mouth to not talk out of in the days to come if he lived through this ordeal. Which William didn’t believe he was going to, especially when he felt his elbow start to connect with the side of the kid’s head. Except…it never finished connecting his elbow was literally phasing through little man’s head and going out the other side as if it wasn’t there bursting with fire ready to singe the nerve endings and skin off his elbow before being crushed to tiny little pieces by the force of the blow.

Normally the punch thrown by the kid that he was practically telegraphing to Will with a post it note for reminder would have never connected, but this was not a normal situation. Never in his hundred and seventy years of ‘living’ had he ever come across a phyrokinetic who could also phase their body so they couldn’t be touched. He was so dumbstruck that the punch connected with his gut, and although the punch its self was pretty damn weak even for a normal person it was the fire that sent him flying. His shirt was practically burnt to a crisp, what left of it still a flame, and there was an obvious fist mark burnt into his body having torn through flesh and even muscle. It was surprising his guts hadn’t been burned and falling out as well.

William landed a few feet away on his back, near his coat surprisingly, gasping for air. This…this was the type of dance he loved, one where the partner surprised and even surpassed him. Coughing up blood he rolled over onto his stomach using the remaining strength he had to push himself up, grab his coat and spit out some blood. “Th…Th-, the Dance has only just begun boy…We’ll finish this sometime later.” Putting his coat on William dropped to his knees and rolled off the side of the street, off the bridge that just so happened to be there and into the water below. If the fire lad were to run after him to the edge all he would see is the man’s body drifting down stream with the current. He’d come out the victor of this session, but the dance was far from over.

Jason stood there, fist smoking still. He was barely standing as it is, but he was ecstatic. He had gotten in one of his best moves at such a close range. Without that phase, he would have been launched and possibly knocked out. Actually... probably not even possibly. He had been at the very edge of his limits this entire fight, and could only take so much bruising. Even his abilities were starting to get tired on him. Seriously, he had cut it far to close with this fight. But in the end, he had still won

"Won"

Jason looked back over to the street. How the hell could he say he really won with all the destruction he had caused left behind. Halfmelted cars, melted asphalted, a car with the hood caved in...


The guy! Holy shit, the normal guy from the very beginning of the fight.

Jason sprinted over to the guy he had shot earlier. He had launched a full power shot at a the meta, but the man was forced in the way of it earlier. As he neared Jason slide on his knees to the man, skidding to a stop right next to him. Jason looked over the damaged he had caused with that single shot. Could a normal  human have survived that??

It was a lot damage.  

It was a small area, but it was thrid degree burns. Right in the torso to. Jason's hands hovered above the affliceted area, but there wasn't much he could do. These burns had fried the muscles and tissue, hell even the bone of the ribs might be afffected. The only good thing about this wound was that it was self cauterizing. There was no gushing blood or anything, but Jason still felt  helpless. He picked up the back of the mans head as he called out


"MEDIC! MEDIC!!!!!!!!"

He could hear the sirens just down the road. He could only pray that they would be here in time. Sometimes, he felt like that was the only thing he could do in the end. He looked back down at the poor man, wondering what the hell Jason had done. Had he just killed a man? Dear god...

End of thread