A New Acquaintance (Private: Ethereal)

Derek noticed how Ethereal’s handshake was firm and steady as their hands were shook. The other man seemed to be in deep thought as he looked towards the female that now was in their custody. However, his thinking seemed to result in the simple action of throwing the woman over his shoulder. Not that Derek had any better ideas, which worried him. He usually had more wit than that. But then again, it wasn’t like the woman could do anything ability related as long as that necklace continued glowing eerily. The glow actually gave the alley a faint light source.

”So…umm….do ya know where the station is?” Ethereal asked with a chortle.

Derek did. On his checkpoint tour around Chicago, he had figured it would be a good idea to memorize the places where some of the police stations in Chicago were. Of course, he also left mirrors nearby all the checkpoints he visited so that he could teleport there when needed. Derek didn’t expect them all to be left where he put them, but the ones that were would still give him the basic ability to navigate his way through the city. So, he did know the way to the nearest station.

“It just so happens that I do.” Derek said with a smirk covering his face, only partially hidden by his scarf. This guy somehow made him relax, a feat not easily accomplished. It was also a bit worrisome.  

The only problem would be to walk instead of teleporting as it would take some time getting there. Police still avoided this place like the plague, so the nearest uncorrupted station was further away than he wanted to think about. Derek’s smirk was suddenly replaced by a more thoughtful expression.

“Are you up for a walk?” Derek asked, uncertain if he was up to it himself. He may be durable, but the kick he had received wasn’t a weak one and sadly he didn’t have a gut made of iron or anything like that. Instead he could manipulate glass which was cool, though not very helpful at the moment. But at the same time he couldn’t just leave these bad guys behind. Remembering the plural in the expression bad guys , Derek’s gaze was drawn to unconscious Mr Superstrength in the corner and a thought that struck him with fear, entered his already active mind. Who the hell was going to carry HIM to the station!?

So it seemed that his heroic acquaintance knew where to find a police station, which saved both of them a lot of trouble in the long run as he had no idea where one was. Likely all of the stations around here were all corrupt and such, so he had to be careful about that, otherwise he would find himself with some major trouble. With the unconscious female thrown over his shoulder, Ethereal would wait for the glass manipulator to show him the way and he would likely just follow his lead like the dumb guy he was. ’Up for a walk? I guess I have time for a walk.” He said with a smile and a small wink which was visible from under his hood. Hefting the female up slightly he would yawn, the action more habit than actually being tired.

His attention however found itself being drawn to the unconcious super strength guy, which made Ethereal groan audibly. ”Do you think you can carry the big guy?” he asked with a weak chuckle. Free hand rubbing the back of his head nervously.

His suggestion got a jaunty response and wink to go with it. Even Derek couldn’t misinterpret the gesture and as easily as that, he noticed how his mind sidetracked. Did he really have this little composure? He didn’t regain his focus until the dreaded answer was spoken from Ethereal’s lips, in his own jolly way.

”Do you think you can carry the big guy?”

How the hell was he supposed to do that? Derek eyebrows raised skeptically as he studied the enormous man laying hunched like a sack of potato. A sack of potato on steroids. He gulped audibly but as his head cleared, Derek thought of a plan. It wasn’t flawless, but it could work. Derek looked down at the mirror, still in his hand and fell in deep thought. He looked like  someone who was solving a difficult puzzle. In the meantime he also retrieved three more small mirrors from his pockets. Mirrors was basically the only thing worth bringing on these rounds since it allowed Derek to use his ability to the fullest. Derek bit his lip as he thought of the best way to perform his plan. He put all the four mirrors down on the ground and with a simple gesture the mirror pieces once again started to form into a structure. This time they levitated, twisted and turned in the air to build what looked to be a simple pane of glass. But Derek had another use for it. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath, trying to concentrate, succeeding as well he could while Ethereal was watching. At least Derek believed he was looking. Was he? Derek shook his head and forced him to remian focused.  

It was still dark in the alley, but if looked close upon, one would see what looked to be a quick pulsating, weak flash of some sort around the pane before it faded away. Derek exhaled and opened his eyes again, hoping his plan worked. The hopefully strengthened pane of glass now lowered to the ground, beside the man he was supposed to lift. Derek took a few confident steps and placed, with some effort, the man’s body on top of the glass on the ground. Using the glass as a stretcher, Derek lifted it telekinetically and to his relief, the glass held the man’s weight like it was nothing. Now the man was levitating in the air with a barely visible glass pane underneath. Derek realized, just by the sight of his creation, that this wouldn’t help them keep a low profile. But by sending a glance beside him to the weird glowing necklace around the villainous woman and its carefree creator, Derek suddenly felt calmer. They would never be able to keep a low profile. And even though that should worry him, it didn’t. Derek didn’t know if it was because he was getting dumber by the minute by being near his new acquaintance or for some other unknown reason, but it didn’t matter. They would definitely get in more trouble before the night was over, but that was part of the fun. Or at least that was what heroes were supposed to think, right?  
   
“So, you’re ready?” Derek asked, grinning.

The male met his request with simplicity, creating a stretcher of glass that would hold the otherwise heavy looking male that lay unconscious on the ground. Ryan smirked, absently running a hand over his head and causing his hood to move back with him, revealing his face and yet he did not really think about that. ”Yeah, ready to go.” Ethereal said with a nod, not even noticing what was goin on. Ryan took a deep breath of the night air through his nostrils as he walked along with the female over his shoulder, likely drawing attention but the young ethereal did not quite care about that. ’Alright, I guess this is the part where you lead the way.” He said with a smirk, feeling his phone vibrate, but ignoring it for the time being.

The other man seemed to be distracted as he for no apparent reason suddenly pulled down his hoodie, eliminating the main purpose of wearing a disguise while being a hero. Though he had been questioning Ethereal’s intelligence for their entire conversation, this confirmed his suspicions. This guy is really not that smart. But he had to admit that the guy had a personal style that was hard to dislike. A sort of charming charisma.  

His temporary ally continued to unknowingly act like nothing had happened. ”Yeah, ready to go.”  The other man confirmed with a nod before smirking again. "Alright, I guess this is the part where you lead the way.”

Derek checked on his stretcher that was still holding. He easily moved the glass, and thereby the man out of the alley which by now was almost pitch black. When passing Ethereal, he couldn’t help but lean in and tease; “You know that a disguise is supposed to cover your true identity, don’t you?” Derek almost whispered in his ear as the sharp smell of a deodorant hit him with full force. It quickly passed as Derek’s strong steps carried him past Ethereal and towards the police station.

Regardless of how he was lacking in the intellect department, Ethereal was indeed what one would call charismatic. Some called him an irish sweetheart, even if he was not even from Ireland, his accent helped put up the illusion of being as such. So long as no one met his brother, because Aaron tended to enjoy showing that he was not from Ireland, and he just copied his dads accent. Ethereal’s eyes shot to the stretcher carrying the poor brute of a man, making sure that he was still unconscious and still…on the glass stretcher. However he did not notice the male lean in until the felt warm breath brush along his ear, sending a shudder down his spine. That drew an interested expression, one blond eyebrow rising slightly as he looked to the hero and then realized that his hood had fallen down, revealing his face to the world.

”Leave it to me.” he muttered with a chuckle. Pulling his hood back over his head and hiding most of his face. ”Supposed to cover my identity, but I guess I need a mask too. One of those masks that don’t look like they will cover anything, but somehow no one can tell whos wearin it.” Ryan noted with a smirk, increasing his walking pace in the hopes of catching up with the glass manipulating hero. Little did he know however was that something stalked the two, crawling along the rooftops like a shadow, serpentine and waiting. It would not make its move now, just hunting for the next kill and the slitted eyes were upon the next. It  could smell the blood of Ethereal and something about it was…intoxicating.

Behind him he heard the other man clearly. ”Leave it to me.”

Almost reflexively Derek shot a glance over his shoulder and saw how Ethereal once again covered his face. A small part of him regretted that he pointed out about the hoodie. After all, it was so much harder to actually read the other man’s expression when barely being able to see them. Plus, his face hadn’t exactly been a bad sight. Not that it mattered while he was walking behind him. As if his thoughts had been read, Derek could hear the steady footsteps of his ally cutting closer.

”Supposed to cover my identity, but I guess I need a mask too. One of those masks that don’t look like they will cover anything, but somehow no one can tell whos wearin it.” Ethereal commented.

Derek chuckled at that, thinking about all the shows and movies where masks like that was a common recurrence. Either masks or a set of ridiculous make up. “The magic of fabric.” He responded while keeping up his pace. However, the hero had within seconds caught up to him. Derek stopped for a moment before turning right, heading up a slightly tilted street. Luckily for them, they didn’t appear to have to worry about the common criminals that were most likely keeping their distance. And Derek didn’t blame them. They were probably not looking like the friendliest bunch. Derek sent a fast glance to his ally and then to the woman thrown over his shoulder to be sure that she wasn’t trying anything. Little did he know that their captives was their least iminent danger. A far greater one was lurking in the dark.

The two heroes closed in upon the station in question, yet what happened next was not expected by Ryan really. He was walking alongside Shard, humming a tune under his breath, jovial expression prevalent even with a mask hiding his face and a spring obvious within his step. What caught his attention was a low hissing sound, reptilian almost in composition as more of the sounds would come to his ears and he turned towards the source of that strange sound, a chill running along his spine. Clinging to the side of a building was a strange creature, humanoid in shape with skin like green scales, and a flickering tail that trailed from its tailbone. A flickering tongue would lash out its mouth from time to time, as the slitted eyes would look upon the two curiously. It seemed to be clinging to the wall and looking down upon them with mild interest.

”Mmm, your blood. I can sssssmellll it.” It hissed in the direction of Ethereal, tongue flicking out a couple of times.  Ethereal however only stared up at it with confusion, mostly because it was not every day that Lizard men followed him around for…his blood. That was usually vampires, and man did he hate vampires, and were wolves but they were a different story. Withina  matter of seconds it would fall down from the building, landing smoothly on its clawed feet and then slash out at Ryan with claws,  who narrowly avoid it by stepping back.

”And now there are lizard men.” he groaned annoyed.

As they walked, Ethereal started humming a contagious melody that Derek couldn’t help but join in on. Suddenly the other man stopped in his tracks, like he’d heard something that Derek hadn’t. Moments later, his ears picked up the sound as well. It sounded similar to his pet snake from when he was a kid. As Derek turned his head, he saw a creature with features from both reptile and man climb the wall of a building nearby, but it wasn’t a snake. It was the most horrific, unnatural creature he had ever seen. Come to think of it, it was the only creature that wasn’t fully animal nor fully man that he had ever come across. Slitted eyes that shone with malice and its body, moving silently. Silently and deadly. Its very presence freaked him out. His body tensed at the sight of this monstrosity and the words that it spoke made Derek’s blood freeze.

”Mmm, your blood. I can sssssmellll it.”    

The lizardman’s tongue flicked as it talked, but Derek could only focus on the desire in its voice. It wanted blood for some peculiar reason, and they were involuntarily chosen as its donors. Not that they were going down without a fight. If he just could stop his body from quivering in fear. He hated himself for being useless, helpless. However, when the creature swiftly made its first move towards his ally, slashing at his throat and barely missing, it was as if Derek’s body acted on its own.  His feet moved closer to Ethereal’s, like if ready to protect him from another attack. At the moment, the ridiculous idea that he would be a meatshield for anyone, even more so for a guy as durable as his ally, didn’t feel so ridiculous. Meanwhile, he focused on lowering his glass stretcher and dissolving it into shards once again. He had somehow turned his fear into something else, and he was ready to use that to his advantage.

“Let’s just hope it can’t breath fire.” Derek wittily responded to his ally's complaining, not even entirely sure what the other man had said in the heat of battle. Figuring that they could need all the time they could get, Derek created a floating shield of sharp, glass shards in front of both of them, though at the same time unwillingly leaving their captives unprotected. “As long as that don't happen, we’ll be fine.” He finished, sounding more cool headed than he actually were.

The idea of the lizard man also being a dragon was somewhat hilarious, and Ryan showed his thought about that was revealed by the chuckle he let out. Ethereal glared at the lizard man with the lizard man, considering how he would deal with it and keep the lady on his back from getting harmed, which would supposedly be a tragedy. Looking from his ally to the lizard man, he smirked and then thought of a way to deal with it, granted his mind was not known for his top notch plans. Without even needing to think he would place the female behind him, as he formed two baseball bats within his hands, covered with a strange cyan colored flame that pulsed from the ends of them. ”Could spit acid, looks like the acid spitting type.” Ryan noted twirling one of the bats within his hands. Without even needing a prompt, he would swing one of the bats as fast as he could move he teleported behind the lizard, aiming to hit the lizard man on the head but narrowly missing as it would lash out with claws, that scraped along his skin. Leaving small red lines upon the flesh after it tore through his suit but did not damage to him, Ryan stepping back and letting his ally strike next.

His ally made a great attempt to fight off the lizard man but he was faster than Derek had expected and in moments, Ethereal had been slashed, though the damage seemed minimal. Without letting their opponent recover, Derek let his wall of glass shards fly towards it in hope of it piercing through its inhuman body. Without having time to see the effect his attack he focused on reconstructing the glass shards once they flashed past its body. He partly succeeded in making what he had imagined. A slightly deformed glass stair, more looking like floating platforms barely connected with each other to be honest, was now floating slightly above the ground, starting at Ethereal’s feet. He himself would probably not dare to use his own construction as a springboard, but he hoped he had judged the other hero’s daring nature correctly. “It could be. Heck, for all I know it could be a vampire in a reptile Halloween costume.” Derek joked, gesturing wildly with his hand to sustain his control over the glass. By almost touching the glass’s properties like if it was sentient, another vague flash of light pulsated out of the stair, strengthening its structure even further. When doing that, a faint gasp escaped Derek’s lips. Manipulating the glass was starting to drain him, but with willpower he would be able to make it through this battle. He had done it before. Looking at the creature, he was still unsure on the impact his shards had had on the reptile. After all, its scales were probably thicker than human skin. Now he just hoped that Ethereal would be able to use his creation to their advantage.

The glass manipulator had seemed to make a strange glass construct under where he had teleported, feet touching down on the glass and with a swift motion he would begin to move down from there, making his way to the ground with a certain grace. What he noticed however was that the reptile was now bleeding from rather deep cuts upon its body, likely from a glass attack and yet none of them were deep enough to seem fatal. It was hissing lowly with an approximation of an angry look, eyes narrowing into slits as if it were ready to just kill them now, and yet his tough skin prove it would not be that easy. Ryan looked down to his suit and grumbled. ”He messed up my suit.” he muttered with a frown, then looking up the the lizard man annoyed.

”Reptile or dragon, imma kick its ass.” He muttered and in an instant bright flames would begin to wreathe the bats and with a swing he unleashed what appeared to be a bolt of fire from the bats at the reptile, barely dodged but leaving him open for an attack from his ally.

Ethereal had impressively put their opponent off balance; its disoriented eyes didn’t seem to find either of the two heroes, probably blinded by the light from the fire it barely avoided. Taking the opportunity, Derek threw himself at the reptile. Throwing a cascade of punches and kicks towards its scaled body, Derek forced the reptile back. Though his attacks didn’t do much in form of damage, to be honest they probably hurt him more than the lizard man, they still kept it on its defensive. By strategically placing his punches, Derek slowly forced their enemy to unknowingly back towards his glass structure. A quick glance confirmed that Ethereal was a fair distance away. But a glance was all the lizard man needed to recover. In an instance Derek was slashed across the face. Sharp pain followed shortly after a small trail of blood started flowing down his cheek. Before the pain could blind him, Derek aimed a quick but powerful kick to the lizard man’s kneecap and followed it with a punch meant to push the opponent backwards onto his structure. The pain pulsated up to his face like it had a life on its own. He couldn’t help but grunt heavily as blood continued to pour down his face.

His muscles tensed but in a last effort to get rid of this freak of nature. Focusing on the glass he dissolved it and as if the glass was a swarm of bugs, he made it engulf the lizard man as he fell. Channeling the new rage building inside, he snapped his fingers and for a moment it seemed as if nothing was going to happen. But it was like calm before a storm. The swarm of glass suddenly exploded into almost nonexistent pieces as a shockwave spread through its center.  But Derek had miscalculated how big the explosion would get and was caught in the blast. He was knocked back surprisingly far and as he disoriented flew through the air, Derek tried to prepare for impact, but in vain. As he fell to the ground, his head hit the ground and everything went black before his eyes.

His attack had thrown the lizard man off long enough that his friend could make his own move, trapping it within a deadly seeming prison of glass that there was no escape from. His ally had been slashed upon the face and that caused blood to pour from the wound, and Ethereal had noticed that, growing a little worried. ”Oh shit.” He muttered taking notice of the blood and then the thing that had been contained by his superpowered friend. Within an instant the glass would dissolve and with it the lizard would be reduced to a bloody mist that would fall to the ground. Ethereal blinked for a few moments as he felt himself being thrown back along with his ally. Small streams of blood would flow from the cuts on his arms, but they did not hurt as much as the would appear to.

That did not keep him from groaning, as he pressed his palm onto the ground to get on his feet and check up on his ally. He seemed to be unconscious upon the ground, Ethereal walking over to him and lifting him up some, making sure that the people they had captured were okay before he went on with his business. With the male resting against his chest to make his wounds easier to look over, he let the pure ethereal leak from his wingers and dance along, as they would move over both his wounds as well as Ryan’s, sealing them up slowly. ”Hey hey hey, you’re gonna be okay.” he muttered.

A distant voice was calling. But it was like it was covered in fog and Derek was too far away to be able to reach it. After what felt like ages, the comforting words reached him even in his current state.

”Hey hey hey, you’re gonna be okay.”

Quickly he came to his other senses. He felt Ethereal’s touch wander over him, healing him. Then his eyes stung when he opened them and he found himself in the other hero’s arms. Him being held like this felt reassuring, but at the same time so unfamiliar. Since his escape from his old life, human touch had been a low priority. When he gotten used to the light, he found his ally’s gaze and a smirk crossed his face. The smirk was visible since the explosion had made his scarf move down, revealing the rest of his face that had been unknown for the other hero until now.

“That was a hell of a blast, wasn’t it?” he chuckled, noticing how different he sounded compared to his usual attitude. But maybe change was good. And maybe this was a change he needed. For some reason Derek specifically noticed what a strong contrast the cold concrete and the warmth of Ethereal’s chest made as he straightened his back slightly. His eyes were still looking into that of his ally without realizing the amount of time he had done so.

The blast had removed the scarf that had been covering the males face mostly and he could see that he was smirking, Ryan smirking back as he realized that the male was leaning against his chest. However he did not really mind the whole contact thing, and instaead just sat there and made sure that all of the wounds were healed up. ”How ya doin? Feelin okay now?” He asked with a raised brow, looking down to the male with a smirk as he adjusted his sitting position as checked over the males wounds once more. It was then that he remembered that he was still trying to put away a few criminals that were laying unconscious on the sidewalk, though luckily they were unharmed by the overall battle. ”Well…either way I think we still need to get these guys to the station before they like wake up or somethin.”