The blues [Captain Solomon]

Indie music reverberated through the quaint café, melody moving through his ears and gliding through his head before settling. Joshua yawned softly, considering the caffeinated beverage he had bought, a small espresso drink and enjoying a small amount of off tine before he continued his hunt for a strange metahuman in the Los Angeles area. As of now the clues about who this mysterious metahuman was fuzzy, but from what he could ascertain they were a potent sonokinetic with strange mind control abilities, likely female and the age was an unknown factor. He did not know any sort of physical features, which left him at a sort of disadvantage. Not that he would stay with that disadvantage forever, as now it was just a matter of gathering any information he could get ahold of, if there was any to gain. He would run fingers through his dark brown hair, which was arrayed in a semi messy fashion, reclining within his chair and sighing.

He was dressed in his typical casual fashion, in stone washed blue jeans, a wifebeater with a slightly tattered denim jacket over that, and facial hair along his jawline that made him look somewhat rugged. While he did not look impressive in an age of metahumans, he was still impressive enough that any normal person would think twice before trying to start anything with him. His tongue would run along his lips softly as the male lifted the drink with small curls of steam rising from it, sipping on it as the musical act changed. Something about this place was slightly more interesting than the average café, mostly the fact that it let small time band outfits play, so Joshua would play around with his laptop and use the wifi to compose a small report, figners lazily typing along the keys when he found the words to type.

The next act was a young female around the age of seventeen with a guitar slung over her shoulder and a friendly smile, he did not register her name but he had a feeling her act would be interesting. Still, returning his attention elsewhere, the metahuman would continue business as usual.

Evan walked along the dank streets or L.A. The people paid him no mind, and this was probably for the best. He had his acoustic guitar "Rachel" slung over his shoulder, the the crisp new strap looking bright in contrast to his attire. His black shirt fit tighter than it needed too, and it reminded him of how he could lose a little weight. He sighed in defeat and looked towards the ground, eyeing up the rest of his attire. A pair of light grey jeans, faded with age and his converse shoes. The strings on the right one were frayed and almost gone. He had worn the shoes for the last two years, and it showed. He wasn't really a fan of change, even in his attire.

As he made his way to nowhere in particular, his ears caught a sound of indie music like his. There was a cafe not too far up the road, one a bit more popular than the one he frequented. There was a time last year where his band "Antique Skyline" had done a show there, but they had evolved so much since then. More people and more impressive acts. It was clear why they weren't asked to come back. Evan smiled a bit as he moved towards the sound, realizing he could talk to the owners again. If he was lucky, they wouldn't remember that he had been there before, and he could try and get another gig. He could always use the extra cash.

Evan made his way through the front entrance, past a young male with a hoodie and a guitar of his own. He thought of making conversation, but the man was already off and down the road, seeming a bit disappointed. The room was dimly lit, but at least had enough that you could see. Some people sat around on laptops and such, drinking there latte's and talking about what clothing was "chic" and "trending". Evan made his way to the barista at the front counter and ordered himself an iced chai tea. He pulled out his wallet and paid the young brunette lady with a ten. "Keep the change." He said with a shy smile as he took his drink and made his way to the back of the room, his preferred seat at any cafe or public location.

He scanned the room slowly and lazily, enjoying the afternoon while he could. Nothing really seems out of the ordinary. A couple clearly on a date. A teenager listening to his own music, even though acts were here live and playing. A man in a ragged jean jacket was sitting on a laptop himself, but he seemed uninterested with the surroundings.

A handful of people in the room began to clap, and Evan snapped back into the moment. It seemed a young girl, around his age, was going to perform. She had a nice smile, and that was the first thing that caught his attention. She prepared herself to play, and he sipped is chai tea and sat back to finally relax.

Joshua would turn up from his laptop once he heard the sound of the music that had begun to flow through the room, a smooth guitar rhythm that caught his interest. Typically this was not the genre of music that he took an interest in, but something about this melody kept him from looking away, chocolate brown eyes watching each note strummed and something about it would have confused him normally. It was when she opened her mouth and began to sing that everything changed, butterflies would begin to flutter around in his stomach, feeling as if they would lift it through his throat.

He would turn around, looking over the people within the café and notice that they were all looking enrapt by the female. He took in a deep breath and the possibility hit him, much like a ton of bricks. Perhaps this was the metahuman that he was hunting down. Yet even if he wanted to stop her, he found his body not moving to his will and that alone was enough to annoy him, yet his power was cable to keep him from being completely controlled. So now he was sitting in his seat and finding himself stuck there.

”Shit.” Joshua muttered with a groan, movement having become at best small enough that he could move his hands or maybe his legs. The females vocals would continue to flow through as a few patrons would rise to their feet and then look upon her with wide eyes, as the barista reached into the register, removing money.

Evan leaned back in his seat as the woman began to sing. Her words were so enchanting. Almost enlightening. He could feel his nerves start to knot in his stomach as she sang of love and other emotions. Evan started to sit up, grabbing his drink. He took a sip as he looked around the room.

People in the room began to stand up and stare at the woman. Evan felt she was good, but not so good he wanted to stand. Then he saw the woman at the register start to open the register and pull money out. That's when it dawned on him. She was enacting mind control!

Evan started to stand, playing much like the group of civilians around him. He didn't want to give away his cover, as he fought the mental assault that was entering his ears. His only hope was to grab the guitar he brought with him and use it to fight the woman. But the music was so well done. So captivating. He couldn't bring himself to outright fight it.

So Evan quickly grabbed his guitar and started to strum in the same pattern as the girl at the microphone. He yelled over her vocals, trying to interrupt her attention and perhaps distract her long enough for the people in attendance to break from their entrapment.

He hoped that while he sang the people around him would snap out of it and run. He could formulate a plan of attack afterwards.

He would find himself slowly falling under the control of the female , and yet it was one thing that would come to his rescue. A counter melody that would begin to play against the song, as well as vocals that would begin to draw him from the haze of control. With some control over himself, Joshua would turn his attention to a metahuman that was playing the counter melody and muttered an inaudible thank you, though it was more at the fact that there was someone that was willing to help out.

Reaching down he would feel over the gun holstered on his calf, high enough that it would have normally gone unseen. Without even needing a moment to think, he would whip the gun out and aim to shoot the female in the knee, a clean shot that’d be easily repaired once she was in custody. Yet the plan did not go as he had intended, as the male seemed to have followed his movements, and with a single strum of the instrument it would unleash a powerful shockwave that served as a shield. The bullet would pause within the air before dropping to the ground, and the male continued to strum with an admirable speed.

From what he could surmise, she possibly could manipulate sound, and maybe even move at the speed of it. If that was the case then he had a feeling that he could not easily fight her, unless of course he used his own capabilities. He could see the defiant smile that the female wore, and that was enough to annoy the agent, as he stood to his feet and looked to the metahuman that was aiding in the whole thing. It seemed that however his gunshot did not startle the other people, meaning that they were still under her control and that he would have to think smart on this one.

Evan kept playing, the chords a simple melody made of building block notes and strum patterns. Clearly her music was not technical by any means, but more-so the way most indie stuff was. Deep rooted in thought provoking words. But that didn't matter now. She was practically giving istrutions hidden within her lines. This would be the perfect crime if he didn't think of something quick. Thats when it dawned on him. She was doing this through sound. The sound was amplified by the microphone and speakers set up across the room. The building was small and didn't need a huge system, but that mattered very little. If Evan focused his scream towards the microphone, he could handle the situation in a non-violent manner.

Then the man in the denim jacket fired a gun. The bullet flew out of the barrel on a collision course with flesh and bone, most certainly. But the woman cleverly turned towards him and in an instant strummed a few power chords. The bullet stopped and dropped to the ground. A failed attempt to subdue the songstress. Evan turned his attention back to the stage and played along with the enchanted crowd, still strumming her chords. His lyrics weren't enough here. Nothing that he said could work. Sure, he shared a power with her, but she was better. Leagues better. He couldn't unbrainwash them. Not entirely. So that meant he had to do it. He had to nail the high note.

He played the chords and strummed in tandem, but as he hit the last note. He wailed out a high pitched, almost 80's style rock range. The piercing waves flew out of his mouth faintly visibly and headed straight for the microphone. Hopefully this worked, and the sound would cause insane levels of feedback. This would likely blow the speakers, and break everyones concentration. Then he or the jean jacketed stranger could make a move and try to take down this would-be crook.

Joshua adjusted the weapon within his hand, chewing on his lower lip as he looked to the female with a critical thought process that looked for anything that would allow him to weaken her and that was when it hit him like a ton of bricks. He was dealing with a sonokinetic and the best way to deal with something like that was by nullifying sound, since that was the thing that was causing the people around him to be controlled by her in the first place. So that was when his body would begin the adapting process, a warm feeling flowing through Joshua as he imagined everything that needed to happen, a process that had become all too common for the male and within an instant he let out a sigh as the power flowed through him.

This power would originate within his chest, spreading outwards until it reached the tips of his toes and then his fingers. This spread would then with a great burst radiate out from his body in the shape of a sphere, invisible to the naked eye and moving out at an accelerated rate, swallowing up all sound in an all-enveloping sphere of silence. However this sphere did not stop the attack that was heading towards the female as with a loud bursts the speakers would find themselves breaking, female staggering a few steps back, though that would have not stopped her efforts. Yet when she opened her mouth no noise came out, in fact there was not sound coming from anything, as if all sound had been removed from the area and with that done, Joshua quickly pointed his weapon and blood would spurt from her knee cap. No gunshot, just her falling and people looking around confused at what was happening, as Joshua rushed her.

Without even wasting time, and with her speed useless with the wounded leg, she found herself being struck in the face with a powerful elbow, sending the female back on the ground with a busted lip filling her mouth with blood. The force was enough to knock her out, and with that the field of silence would drop and Joshua would sigh, standing to his feet and looking down to the metahuman.

Nemesis:

The world grew silent, just as the sound attack hit the microphone. The speakers blew, but it didn't seem to do much more than a slight disorientation. Evan went to curse himself for his failure, but no words came from his throat. He was confused for a moment, but then saw the male make his move. One shot to the knee sent the woman to the ground. No sound from the gun, but the slight flare of the barrel caught his eye. Only way he knew it happened. A huge elbow kept her there. It seems that the fight was over, and again, Evan was not of much help. He put his guitar down against the back wall and began to walk towards the stage.


He stepped up and began to make his way towards the male. He had a serious look on his face, and Evan was almost nervous to step towards him. Adrenaline can be a horrible thing, and he might take Evan for a threat. I mean, he knew nothing more than that he was playing a guitar and singing for all he knew. But if he sat in the back and didn't react, he might get himself in deeper trouble.


He stepped onto the opposite side of the downed woman and the male and whistled the kind of whistle you do when you see something impressive. "Wow. Some sort of show, huh? And to think they give this kind of entertainment out for free." Evan chuckled at his own not so witty humor. "The name's Ev-- uh. The names Reverb. Pleased to meetcha big guy." Evan stuck out his hand in an attempt to shake hands. A part of him wasn't sure this guy was the type to shake hands. Nor did he strike him really the type that made friends. But what just happened taught him anything, it was that looks can really be deceiving.

With the woman’s show done, he would have no reason to keep on playing and so the sound dampening field would fall quickly, and his power would return to its dormant state. The unconscious female would groan lightly, Blood would seep from the wound as Joshua ripped a small bit from his shirt and wrapped it around the afflicted area, applying enough pressure to stem the bleeding, yet dying the white fabric as dark red color. Now it was all a matter of bring metahuman to Agency base, they do the healing and then he could go back about his usual duty, one he got the hell out of here anyway. With that done people would notice that now the biker type dude would be standing over an unconscious chick and that one of them was holding a large wad of cash in their hands, eyes widening as the bills would find themselves then fluttering to the ground.

However he found himself confronted with another voice, young and male with a shaky reverb to it. It didn’t take a genius to tell that he was scared, and Joshua could not blame them with all that was happening, yet what they called themselves interested him. Either his mother and father had sick senses of humor, or the male was some manner of superhero. Turning from the downed metahuman, the male considered the other for a moment, eyes narrowing and appearing critical. He could of course not answer at all bit that sort of went against how he was raised, so he would atleast return the greeting. Considering the hand offered to him, Joshua would ignore it and nod. ”Nice to meetcha..Reverb.” He stated with his thick southern drawl, offering a small smirk and sighing, lifting the female up and tossing her over his shoulder.

”Thanks for the help.” He would add.

Evan put his hand down to his side, feeling a tad bit rejected. The man spoke with an accent that wasn't from this area, which made Evan smile. He actually had to fight the initial urge to make a stupid comment about it. That was always one of the things he did. He was terrible at associating with people.

He watched as the man hoisted the girl up on his shoulder, apparently about to take her away. He assumed he knew what he was doing, as he had the sort of stature and poise to imply such a notion. The wound on her leg looked pretty bad, but gunshots always do. He had seen enough in the back alleys and news reports of this dirty town to last a lifetime. The man thanked him, though his tone seemed almost unsure when he repeated his name. Probably should have went with his real name. But how often would he have to get his super hero name out there? If he himself was even exactly a hero.

"No problem, I mean you did all the work and stuff, right? I just kinda... You know, was here and all that jazz." Evan said with a tad bit of disappointment in his voice. He started to glance around the room and saw that people were snapping back to reality. His eyes returned to the denim stranger.

"Hey! I'm sure you gotta go take care of business with this kind of thing or something right? Turn her in to the authorities? I'll just stay here and make sure everyone is alright and explain what happened to them! That way they don't panic or anything!" he said with a higher level of excitement than he had shown so far. He had a way to help, and that was enough to keep him motivated. He hopped down off the lip of a stage that was in the front of the cafe, and turned back around to face the man.

"Do you need anything else? Awesome exit theme played for you perchance?" Evan said with a smirk across his lips.

The man had thanked the would be hero, either stroking his ego or placating him, though something told the male that it would likely be the latter. Either way Joshua had places that he needed to be and that did not include being here, so that was mostly the reason for him scooting out. Where he would scoot however he had yet to find out, but he would find out once he got there. Not that him trying to help wasn’t endearing, but then again he already had this under control, granted he would have probably been unable to do much without his musical assistance. Which was why he hated these min controlling types, mostly because he did not know he was under any control and that made his power pretty useless to go against it.

”yeah, turn them into the authorities.” Joshua found himself saying with a nod, perhaps noticing the awkwardness the male was demonstrating and sighing softly, something about it endearing in a lost puppy kind of way. So now it was just getting out of here, Agency base and then he was home free, maybe then he could take a small rest before going after the next big hit. Rather that was what he was thinking, until of course something happened that he was not quite expecting, which was….is that a giant dog? Joshua’s eyes widened some as he noticed a large black figure land across the street, canine almost in appearance but large as a van it would appear.

Fire seemed to bellow from eye socks and saliva dripped from its jowls. ”I actually may need something. You’re sound power, it by chance can be used to repel fire breathing canines, right?” He would ask, turning to the male with a raised brow and then the people panicking started.

Evan was looking around the room at the people. He didn't quite think turning them in was the right thing. I mean they WERE under mind control right? But, he just nodded. He could let them go once he left anyway. Thats when he heard the question asked to him. He didn't think much as he started to answer.

"Well, yeah. I think so. By using specific frequencies, I could probably hit a fire with a two-pronged attack. See, first, I cause sound to increases the air speed, thinning the layer where combustion occurs and thus making it easier to-- Wait... Did you say a canine?!"

Evan stopped his careless looking around and turned towards the man. He was staring out the front door of the building. Evans eyes followed swiftly, and thats when he saw it. The dog was massive. A bear wouldn't be big enough to describe this animal with relative terms. Its jaw hung open slightly as it watched what was going on across the road from it. They were in its line of sight, and it most certainly noticed them through the door of the cafe. Smoke seeped up from around it, and Evan could see faint char marks upon the concrete even from here. This were about to heat up real quick.

"Well. I don't plan on being Fido's chew toy... So I guess I better find a way to use them that way real quick, huh?" Evan said with a smirk on his face. It was an instinct of his. Laugh and joke when he was afraid to trick his mind from the tension. But tension didn't often take on the form of a flaming behemoth of a dog.

"So. Got a plan of attack? Or do we plan to just try and put the mutt down?"

”yes, yes I did.” Joshua noted with a sigh, with the weight of the criminal on his shoulder and now a fire breathing canine, he would likely find himself with a very annoying problem. This came in the form of a fire breathing dog, and the question of why said fire breathing dog was targeting this small cafe of all places, when there were likely more interesting places to attack. That aside, he would have to deal with the current situation and then bemoan his luck later, when he was not set upon by angry flame dogs. Sighing, he looked around and placed the sound metahuman down softly on one of the tables, and then would return his attention to the large black canine as his temporary ally seemed to take it to hear to actually confront the thing.

Had to give the guy props for bravery but he also did not need someone getting themselves killed, as the paper work would likely be annoying. ”Put the mutt? Sounds about right, unless we can contain it anyway.” Joshua noted with a smirk, cracking his knuckles and mentally considering what the things strengths would be, and if his gun would be any use to him here. ”For now, I would suggest you just hit it with everything you have, that couldn’t hurt. If that doesn’t work I’ll think of something. “ Joshua noted grinding his teeth softly, as the thing would open its maw and release a jet of flame.

Evan heard the words, but didn't quite focus on them. He saw the dog begin to move, as it opened its large jaws and began to bellow out flame in their general direction. Time to act. He rushed through the door, throwing it open as he began to sing in the direction of the beast! The word's mattered not, but he had to keep singing or the sound waves he was generating would stop.

"They've got us surrounded; we're in their sights
But they're not taking us alive
Hot to the touch, cold on the inside
But they're not taking us alive"

He kept yelling it as an angry chant. Hopefully he could remember it later, and write a song with it. Evan used the sound to stop the flame in its tracks, and kept right on screaming. The sound circling around the flames that traced the street in front of him, depriving them of the oxygen they needed. That would stop the fire, but the dog was going to be another story. He hopes the male behind him has another good idea to stop the dog. Or perhaps a bigger gun. If not, they might be in for a hell of a fight.

The male using what brain power he possessed would sue the soundwaves that he control to smother the flames, and by default removed the whole being burnt to death thing from the equation but did not take away the dog portion of it. Joshua would sigh and roll his eyes, prepping the gun and getting ready to take down the beast that was barreling towards him, while wishing that his power would actually kick in now. It reminded him that he hated it when more trouble happened so closely to when trouble had just ceased, but then again that was what he got for assuming that everything was okay. A large amount of information would begin to flood through his mind, all of the ways that would allow him to take down the dog and one of the stuck out of all of them.

With its fire foiled, it would begin to charge towards them, and that left him with enough time to think of a plan, quickly aiming is gun as everything else seemed to slow down to bullet time proportions. With a jerk of the trigger finger, the bullet would begin to sail through the air with a resounding boom. The small piece of metal that served as the projectile would sail, and then with a loud yelp the thing would seem to careen off course as the blood spewed from the eye socket in a dark color. This bought him enough time to think of a secondary plan, letting off another round that would slam into its side and then barely break the skin. It seemed that the eye was the one thing that his weapon would work on, and at best he would be only able to blind the goddamn thing.

”Not to sound demanding, but got any way to hurt it. Cause I don’t.” Joshua noted with a sigh, glaring at the dog that was preparing for another attack, now half blind.