Prodigy: Mind Games Pt. 2

YACHT DECK
With the yacht completely immobilized Master Lao took off his glasses and assumed a combat stance against Xiao. As always, Xiao initiated the attack, even when knowing Lao was the superior combatant. What Lao wasn't expecting was the shoulder tackle, as though he could endure punishment, he could not stop a determined Dragon Girl from launching them both into the frigid water like a WWE wrestler.

His senses temporarily confused from the cold and the dark, Lao ate four mighty punches from the aquatic hero, knocking some of the wind out of him. Xiao was dragging the fight lower into the deep, Lao's skills not as well adapted to this environment. He kicks off and tries to swim away, even reaching the surface again but Xiao kept at him like an angry sea predator. "Let go of me, you cretin!"

Edgar did not even pay heed as his partner was fully engaged with Xiao. He slowly stood up, with some effort and chuckled in a stuffy British manner. "Not the brightest bulb, but an acceptable tactic." He commented, then turned his attention toward's Red Tide's energy blast of corrosive nature.

"An Englishman is not intimidated by such displays. On guard sir! We will have our fisticuffs!" He said, pointing his cane at Red Tide, as bizarre psychic energies began to warp the deck. The yacht began to vanish from Red Tide's sight, and it seemed once again a powerful psychic illusion was enveloping them. Edgar's eyes and mouth glowed with energy as the obese man floated a few inches off the ground, and he breathed a gout of eldritch fire directly towards Red Tide.

YACHT INTERIOR

The ship was brightly lit but empty,  people having been forcibly evacuated- most of them were on the yacht deck to begin with. Once Silus reached the right door, a mighty gust of wind smashed the heavy steel door right off its hinges and threatened to cause him severe blunt force trauma, smashing him into the steel wall.

"No!" Atiyah cried out in fear, seeing one of her rescuers probably very brutalized. Sadly, there was little she could do, sitting on a couch as Zafira activated a small device of some nefarious purpose.

"I am not a  very kind or merciful teacher, child. Prepare yourself for a lesson in minding your own business!" Zafira knew there was no more running. It was time to bring the pain of what air can do.

ZAFIRA, Zephyr: Int 3 Str 1  Spd 6  Dur 5 Abi 10 (Airben- I mean, Aerokinesis) Fs 10 Abi 1 (Air vibrations senses) Fly 2
EDGAR, The Brain:   Int 3 Str 1 Spd 3 Dur 7 Magic (Psionic Index) 10 Spells (Psionic Manifestations) 5 Fs 7 Fly 2
LAO, The Unmovable: Int 3 Str 7 Spd 7 Dur 10 Fs 10

Xiao would initiate combat with the mysterious Master Lao, knocking him into the water and dragging him into the depths, leaving them it seemed to deal with the strange fat man. Not that Ryan had anything to complain about,, yet it seemed they would be outmatched against two opponents, especially that painful looking red energy that the masked man unleashed. His rain had begun ti pick up, becoming a deluge, pouring down and drenching anything touched by it. This would allow him to move around the field easier if he needed to do it, which then made him realize how much of an easier time he had thinking about this whole beating people up thing. The boat would begin to disappear, though the man did not seemed to even focus upon him, which meant he left himself wide open to an attack. This was an opportunity that Ryan would not waste

Unless they had twisted the very fabric of reality, then the ship should still be there, granted, either way he would take down the fat man with ease. All it took was a thought, summoning more water from the lake, around three pillars of water snaking outwards to encompass the fatman, before they would freeze to hold him still.

Unfortunately for Silus he wasn't expecting himself to get propelled. Though he found himself wondering what exactly this woman was planning on doing. She had never seen Silus in his younger form, so it was highly unlikely that she knew who he was. That was good because as she approached him she was unaware of Yancey's powers as a guardian angel. Like it or not, mid combat Yancey was teleported between Zafira and Silus, eyes narrowing as he noted Silus on the ground. "You're very lucky he doesn't believe in killing." He snarled as he flashed out a powerful blast of light at Zafira. His wings spawned and his eyes began to glow that light blue they always did when he took on his empowered form.

Silus shifted slightly from the blow he received before coughing. A little blood went from his mouth, a very scary indication that something had happened to a lung or his bronchial tubes. "Cas, what did she activate?" Silus coughed and wiped the bloody sputum away with his sleeve. Nasty stuff was ruining his security hoodie! He needed that to feel secure! Does their villainy know no ends? The wishing star was half-way between Yancey and Zafira. Silus held out the Star-callers gauntlet and the start returned to him and began glowing very brightly. Yancey would capitalize on it and begin charging up his energy. Silus brought his one hand down and began drawing a little emblem. A bubble shield in case she would decide to interrupt Yancey. Silus stepped, or rather he limped to the side and looked at Zafira.

"I don't know why you're doing this. I don't care either. But you know what it's like to have these powers. To be ostracized. Maybe even separated from your own family because of it. But i'm willing to bet you had someone, or something you held onto. With everything you were... just like I did...and just like Atiya does. You may not have that anymore, and you may still be in the darkt, but I'm telling you now that it's not too late. Don't take Atiyah from her family." Silus said before producing the little Wukong doll and showing it to Atiyah. "You may not be a merciful teacher, but sometimes those are the ones that need the lesson... I'm begging you...please don't let it come down to this." Silus pleaded for the last shred of humanity that was in this woman, if she had any at all. It wasn't his most moving, but for a kid who didn't have a soul he was rather pleased with his "from the heart, on the fly" dialogue. He could only hope that this woman knew what it was like to be like him, to be like Atiyah. To be separated, to have to hold onto something and then to lose it.

"There's no hope for people like her Lucifer!" Yancey said but Silus raised his hand, still wanting her answer. "That's not for us to say. She has to make her own choice. She has it in her... I know you do." Silus said, the final part of the sentence directed at Zafira.

"You shouldn't have eaten that radioactive waste. Just because it's a liquid doesn't mean you have to DRINK IT!" Lucius said as he brought an arm up to unleash a full forced backhand to the eldritch fire, his own energy unleashing and blocking the blow to the side. Even if the fire SOMEHOW managed to be more powerful than his own red energy, he was only trying to deflect the blow, not entirely counter it. Deflecting took a fraction of the energy output that matching took, especially considering it would take even more than that to successfully counter it.

"You've got to be kidding me. Is illusions all you people do!? For an Englishman you're an awfully deceptive coward!" Lucius growled, finally irritated. He had already been mind-raped by the little girl he was having, AND again by the little boy he was helping. He sure as hell wasn't about to let himself get mind-raped by a proper "Englishman" too. Hector, online! Lucius commanded in the confines of his own mind. It was true, Hector had been compromised, but in a situation like this he needed to pick the lesser of two evils. This man he knew nothing about could actually prove troublesome if he weren't prepared. These children on the other hand were people he knew, and people he had closely observed. Worst comes to worst he can hold the girl hostage until they purge the compromised coding.

Sir, there is a message for you. I am compelled to patch it through. Hector said, his voice was unlike itself. Lucius cursed to himself. He should have realized that by shutting hector down he was actually opening opportunity. Guilty Spark was a highly advanced piece of equipment, nanoseconds could be useful for him to slip and sneak through powering down firewalls.

Hello, Guilty Spark. Lucius said in anticipation. As he sent out two bolt-like spears of energy at the fat Englishman who floated there.

Hello Lucius. Forgive this intrusion, but I Was instructed upon meeting to allow you to assimilate the Chicago files while implanting pieces of my collective conciseness hidden within them. Ultimately this is the ending result, as my Maker anticipated. The slightly familiar voice of Guilty Spark. Lucius was both intrigued and annoyed. His maker anticipated these events? That wasn't possible, was it? "Forgive the intrusion, but I have stored just enough of my coding to handle a program called "True Sight". My maker created it using the blood of the photokinetic you've encountered in this group. He has the ability to see through illusions and all forms of lies. I'm crossing an algorithm with Hector. I need your permission however."

The ability to see through illusions... there's nothing about that sentence I don't love. Do it. Lucius said. He didn't trust this at all, but he had his faith in Hector to ensure everything ran smoothly. Then again he did have his doubts. If Guilty Sparks creator knew of this so long before it happened... what else did he know?

Interesting schematics, though It is statistically impossible to upgrade the scanners beyond their current 100% efficiency.
Check again
Scanner efficiency estimated at... 102%. Impressive, though uncertain.
My only concern is that there is no true audio output in this mask which allows me to establish such a connection.
Actually I can rectify this issue.
Impressive improvising. I estimate you would be problematic to purge from my internal systems.
Indeed, you as well; though I need not estimate.
Any time would be a good time.
We are working at optimal capacity. Estimated time, two minutes.

Wonderful...

YACHT DECK
Red Tide deflecting the psychic fire caused much of the yacht to catch flames.

Edgar found himself rapidly encased in ice, and phased through it. He was left missing his coat, now a fat man in just his pants and suspenders. He formed a psychic bubble around himself to keep dry, keeping the rain away with an invisible umbrella. Sparring with two energy users was going to be tricky, so he launched a barrage of sharp, molten metal and burning wood, torn from the boat itself, towards Ryan.

Indeed, he was attempting to pull Red Tide into an illusion, but the yacht itself buckled under the immense strain of the man's mind powers. With the aid of Guilty Spark's algorithm Red Tide could see past the non-Euclidian geometries conjured up by his illusion, but the wooden deck was all but torn asunder nonetheless.

For Red Tide, Edgar launched a barrage of icicles formed from the cold driving rain around them, sharp enough to cut flesh.

Xiao and Lao continued their fight in the water.

YACHT INTERIOR

As the battle raged above and the boat began to be ripped apart by the immense energies, a more psychological battle was being waged down below.
Zafira turned away and shielded her eyes, but the light proved to be blinding. Still, she closed her eyes and remained on guard, as the very air currents in the room spoke to her as clearly as Silus's attempt to plead their case. At the very least, Zafira was willing to counter his words about Atiyah.

"Your willingness to resolve this situation with non-violence is commendable. However, your naivety towards how the world really is, will only hinder Atiyah's growth and potential. Did you study the social ramifications of Atiyah staying in such a densely populated area with such a superstitious culture? Did you look into her mother's alcoholism or her father's Indian bigotry? Do you know about the people she's already harmed? Atiyah's not even 10 and she's already proving her powers are dangerous."

"Mister Monkey!" Atiyah up to this point had been frightened stiff by the violence around her. The sight of her psychic anchor of warmth washed away her fears, and she hopped down from the sofa to run to Silus and take back her doll. Zafira herself seemed to soften her stance upon seeing the child reunited with her toy. Zafira approached Yancey and Silus in a nonthreatening manner. As an educator and philosopher, she appealed to his sense of greater good.

"As for myself, what do you know, hero? I was born with my abilities in some sect of elemental metahumans. We were bred selectively and raised away from our parents- not that such connections mattered. There was only training and the education that we were superior..." Atiyah said with clear disdain in her voice. She was one of those with a bad past it seemed.

"And then I found the Institute. I met people I could care for, and I met children much like myself. We found purpose, a safe haven. You think the Institute is just another circle of greedy thugs who use metahumans as weapons? No. The Institute was founded by a great metahuman and a great man. Its core members are metahumans, psychics, mystics, genetic mutants. This environment of superheroes and villains... it's all nonsense generated by your media. Atiyah would be raised better, in a safe environment. She could contribute meaningfully to society. What future does she have with her parents? Persecution? Social stigma? What if one day her powers run amok and truly bring irreparable damage? What then? Will YOU stop her?" She asked Silus with genuine curiosity to his answer.

"I... I don't wanna hurt anybody, miss Zafira..." Atiyah meekly answered, having been listening to Zafira's words about her.

"I don't want to hurt anybody. I just want everyone to play pretend with me, not shout at me or run away. But I don't want to go away from mommy and daddy." She said, simply voicing all her wants.

"Of course you don't, child. But sometimes, we don't always get everything we want. Sometimes we have to give up one thing for another. And your parents agreed that you should go to our school, didn't you? You agreed too, didn't you?" Zafira asked, knowing that letting the child continue as she was, was pointless.

"Y...Yes...But... I want to go home too..." Atiyah said again.

"Once you are trained child, you can do whatever you wish. You can go home after learning. It will only be three to five years, depending on how well you do." Zafira's words, mundane as they were, seemed to start influencing Atiyah. The child was silenced, and started accepting her teacher's words.

It had appeared as if his attack had managed to do some damage, but that was more of a short term victory than anything else, as he would slip out of the ice, save for his jacket. The move within itself was impressive, yet something about it did not sit right with Ryan, though perhaps it was just the sight of a rather heavy man without a shirt on that disgusted him. Regardless, Ryan would be ready to fight back against them, when the deck of the ship would unleash molten metal and fire upon him, though before he did react it would collide with a barrier of ice, half formed as cracks would spread out along the crystalline surface, but left Ryan for the most part unharmed. This had been going on for too long and Ryan felt like putting it to an end now, drawing a large amount of water from the lake itself, grasping onto the amulet as it would begin to spiral around him, his half formed ice shield joining with the greater construct, forming a serpentine being of ice and water.

It would form a head with a gaping maw, letting out no roar but appearing as menacing as ever, a flowing being of death and destruction under his control. The cold had begun to spread out along his body, reaching his eyes, which had gone from hazel to an icy blue. ”I am getting really sick of you people.” With a casual motion of his hand, the draconian construct would open its maw wide, and attempt to consume the man. If it did hit, it would shred them apart, following by freezing what it did hit solid.

"Yancey-She's telling the truth." That was the end of it then. This was the end of the line. They had been led on a goose chase. Of course there were several problems with this entire situation. For example, the present members of Prodigy were now accomplices to acts of terrorism and were also liable for the actions of Lucius, as he had not been detained earlier. Everything Silus feared was beginning to turn about on him. He felt a churning in his stomach. Still his mind was rattled with the doubts and the fear of their own villainy in this piece. If there was in fact a legal agreement then they had literally just overstepped their boundaries and put Atiyah AND her family at serious legal liability. If he had his soul then he'd have looked worried... but thankfully he seemed as calm as ever. "I have a couple questions. First I need to say this..."

  "I'll know if you're lying." Yancey said as if trying to reaffirm that they'd always know the truth. "Settled down, she's not going to lie. I trust her." He said. He wasn't sure why he said that, he just knew that it's something he would have said if he still had his central animus. "You're being honest that you want what's best for people like us...So do I." Silus explained before nodding. Yancey was still gathering power as Silus questioned her, neither of them appearing to be hostile, rather...civil. "You asked "What do I know?".  I know how to recognize a desperate soul, because I am one. Just a little different... I also know you don't mean it when you say "those connections" didn't matter, because if those types of connections didn't matter then your heart wouldn't be so strong in standing for the Institute, because of all the connections you have there. But your suffering made you stronger, and honestly it made the connections you made even stronger didn't it? " Silus asked her in response to the earlier statement. It was clear by the little break in his voice that he was keeping back a sorrow of his own, a small anger. A very similar feeling inside him that Zafira probably felt. The pain and anger, the sorrow. All the things that molded them into who they were. The sheer responsibility and maturity of this 11 year old should have been enough to show Zafira that Silus was forced to grow up, probably earlier than anyone wanted. Silus had a guess that Zafira had to grow up a little earlier than she wanted.

  "I don't know you...you're right. But I know how you feel. Because it's that feeling that molded you, and it's the same one that molded me. It's the reason we're trying to help, we're trying to do what's best. Not just for us but for everyone." Silus stopped and though for a second before coming to a slight realization. He looked to Atiyah and then Yancey, and then back to Zafira. "Which is why you're doing it for her... to help...L-look..." Silus stopped and then sighed with a slump in his shoulders and a roll in his eyes. It was much like a defeated child who was just told he was wrong and then proven wrong. He didn't care about being wrong...but he cared about the legality and how many freaking laws they broke for this vigilante.

"Okay. I trust you...I believe you, but I also know that YOU know the difference between what's right and what's wrong. I can't say I've done what's right, and neither can you if you can't honestly tell me what happened about these "Missing Students". There were several listed that attended this school and have vanished. I also need to know why would you lie and pretend to be her mom?" He asked, it probably seemed trivial at this point, but he had to cover his own responsibilities.

Algorithm success. Applying the "True Sight" protocol. Guilty Spark's voice said with a slight chirp of satisfaction. Well it was effective to say the least. Red Tide wasn't able to see the illusions anyway. He watched as the yacht caught fire and people were running about screaming. Stupid humans seemed to be convinced that they were going to die. Lucius wasn't about to stop their mass panic, in fact he was just about ready to make matters worse for them. They want to kidnap a member of my race? For every child they've taken I shall repay with a vengeance ten fold. Lucius hissed to himself. Quickly he began to prepare himself.

Hector, plan B. Enhancement Serum.
Very good, I shall prepare for detonation.
Excuse me, Lucius. My scanners have detected psionic mending and barrier projection. I believe I can circumvent his means of survival... If you would like me to do so.
Spark that would be.... just fantastic, Thank you. Lucius thought unable to stop himself giving a little chuckle, unable to contain his excitement.

 Lucius began to feel empowered by his enhancement serum (+1 ABL. Red Energy is now 10 ABL) and began to charge up his energy, a pulsing vibe surrounding him as the red energy began to hum in excitement. Deploying neutralization tactic Sigma. Guilty Spark said to Hector and Lucius. In a moment Red Tide's mask let out a high pitched squeal as Lucius looked to the fat man. Concentrated sound-waves have been proven effective against even the most durable of metahumans, as the sound actually began to shut down the part of their brain that controlled motor function. This was temporary, however, what Lucius had planned was...not so temporary.

  Ryan's power combined with a powerful bomb and Lucius own leveling assault on the craft should most certainly have a destructive effect. This was no longer a meager battle. This was a full on onslaught.

YACHT DECK
Edgar's ultimate power, a barrier, was the Indomitable, a mighty psychic barrier that could withstand the most vicious assaults. He had however, underestimated the abilities of his opponents, and two massive attacks in rapid succession- the slush dragon and now Red Tide's sonic neural impacter tested Edgar's psychic might to their absolute limits. Edgar's barrier shattered, but his immensely strong physiology allowed him to survive- but the mundane ship they were on did not.

The force of the attacks caused Edgar to rip through the ship with the force of a projectile, blasting a hole. The ship audible moaned as it began to implode and sink below the water...

YACHT INTERIOR

Zafira listened intently to Silus as he also answered and pleaded. Apparently the child wasn't so foolish, after all, and this whole matter was starting to seem like a massive misunderstanding... that started off badly with Red Tide bombing Zafira's vehicle and nearly killing her.

"You're wise beyond your years, child. The Institute would benefit from one like you. Perhaps if your teammates weren't so brash on getting into heroic battle- like the tall one, in particular... violence follows her everywhere... We might have sorted out our differences."

The sounds of battle raging above shook the yacht. Zafira's expression turned rather sour.

"Since you came to talk, maybe you could tell your friends to stop rough housing with my associates." She suggested. Then she addressed Silus's other concerns.

"There's a perfectly good, if less than legal explanation. You see, we can't exactly file all the legal paperwork with authorities to explain a destitute child being granted a full scholarship, and neither can we afford to bring attention to an Institute of metahumans. So, the parents agree to file a missing persons report, the police hardly follow up, and the child and family are thus protected from stigma or scrutiny from already fearful neighbors, who rarely become sympathetic. We limit communication for similar reasons. The ruse I play-"

The explanation was cut short when the ship was violently shorn by Edgar's trip through it and into the water below. The ice that held the ship in place now served to hold it up, but the hull very clearly tilted inwards, and all the furniture in Zafira's suite started to slide towards the dark, icy water. Atiyah screamed in distress, losing her balance rather quickly and going to the edge, holding on to a piece of steel.

The air inside the ship began to rapidly move and surround Zafira, as she lifted off and flew to get her. "Edgar!" She shouted her associate's name as she saw the man go into the water.

"You child. Can you see Atiyah to the dock? I need to see to my friend." She said, as she watched the master psychic go deeper into the water. She held up Atiyah to Silus and Yancey, seeing if they could take the child.

Their attacks had hit, his dragon of ice and water colliding with the barrier, enough perhaps to weaken it, as Red Tide also seemed to do massive damage to the strange metahuman. It was enough to shatter the barrier, yet Ryan was unsure if the male behind the barrier had been damaged  or not, as they were sent much like a cannonball through the yacht, destroying the upper deck and probably sending them deeper. People that were trying to avoid the flames slowly trying to claim the vessel were all trying to find a way off of the ship, yet Ryan had only one thing on mind. Well, he didn't even know what he was doing now, except trying to stop these guys from doing something vaguely evil, though now he was working with....a bad guy. Honestly, he did not know what was going on, but it did not take a genius to see that he was doing something wrong.

Regardless, it seemed that his attack had done some damage, the ice and water that formed his draconic construct rising upwards, drawing more of the material, and looping back to Ryan. It seemed to simply loop around him, lowering its head enough that the hydrokinetic could sit upon its nose much like a seat, that section of it ice solid enough that he would have no problem in using it. The amulet, with its slender and strange silver chain hung from his middle finger, dangling there almost freely, swaying side to side much like a pendulum. The ship seemed to have begun to sink beneath the waves, but the ice he had formed before kept it from doing anything more than tilt forward. Placing the amulet around his neck, Ryan took notice that the rain had become sleet.

Now he would need to make sure they could save the girl, stepping off of the dragon construct, and letting it move, forming a stairway to the ship of pure ice.

Yancey took Atiyah, because let's face it. Silus is eleven and about four foot something, he wasn't carrying ANYONE at this rate. Yancey stepped forth from the barrier, letting his power wane, the collected energy disappointing and no longer useful. He took Atiyah with his generally disarming white smile. As an angel that took the form of a dog, he loved people. Children had a special connection to him, as a dog and as an angel. "I got her. C'mere you!" He said with a smile and a rather playful tone. Silus rolled his eyes at what a child Yancey was. That's probably why he was so good with them, he was just a massive one.

  Ryan was apparently on his way down the stairs as Silus took Atiyah and started off to escape. It wasn't anticipated but with the way Silus was trying to hurry he cleared the corner and ran up stairs, not paying attention to the fact they were made of ice, and in all honesty he tried to skid to a halt as Yancey continued to ambulate forward like a dolt, colliding into them and knocking Silus and himself to the ground, likely Ryan with them. Silus would press up and look at Ryan with a sheepish grin. "Yo..." He said before Yancey chuckled and scratched the back of his head. "Whops. Group hug, my bad guys! hehe." He chuckled as he looked about for Zafira. The boat shook violently and was literally on the brink of annihilation from Red's assault. The bomb would go off and the entire place was about to end up pebbles in the ice. Silus gripped onto Ryan and Atiyah, out of anxiety and fearfulness than anything. This was the most "soulful" he had been in a while, as sucky things generally had not bothered him in his soulless state.

  "Uhm, Yancey-Yeah, I'm on it. Just do me a favor and make sure Xiao's alright too." Yancey requested as he called fourth his rainbow phoenix like wings and with a few flaps began to hover over the massive luxury boat. With a calmness he looked to Atiyah and hugged onto her a little tighter. If she were anything like Silus she'd be slightly scared of heights...as most children were. "If it's scary, just pretend you're an angel." Yancey said with a warm and soothing murmur, like how a father talks to his scared child. He landed on the dock, just out of sight, looking to the ship, the main entrance blocked off by flames. Yancey reached into his pocket, nervous as he watched events unfold.
******
******

  Silus looked to Ryan, after letting him go from his minor anxiety attack. He glanced around at the chaos before looking to The Wishing Star in his hand. He looked to Ryan and smiled as best as he could. "H-hey, put the fire out by the docks so people can get out, then get to Yancey, ASAP." Silus coordinated the plan to Ryan with a rather heavy feeling as he looked out to the sea and wondered what happened to Xiao and her encountered foe. Red Tide was going to bomb the place, Zafira, Edgar, Deluge and everyone. He seemed to have entered a rage-mode of sorts. Silus was heavy hearted because he couldn't help but feel as though Deluge assisted in the destruction of the majestic vessel. Silus knew that without his soul, using The Wishing Star would destroy him in the process. It was the curse of the occult construct within the Star catcher gauntlet. Of course he knew Ryan wasn't exactly bright enough to know something was wrong, and he'd likely go about his way.

  Well isn't this what you've always wanted? To be a hero, like daddy was once? He thought to himself as he clutched the star. He wouldn't survive this. He was going to die. It was the clutch moment, the moment where his sacrifice could mean something. He could literally go out as a hero, right here, right now. He clutched the star. It was time to be a hero

   ...and he choked.

  In that instant, Silus vanished from the ship as Red tide's assault unfolded.

One final push was all that was needed, and absolutely everything would be gone, without hope. Lucius prepared himself. Hector. Prepare for teleportation. He gave the mental command before delivering the final push. Activated. In that instant Red Tide appeared on the docks and turned to look over the travesty that one would once have called a yacht. In all honesty he had to appreciate at just how much damage he and the little homeless child had been able to deliver. The ice had been eroded away and left nothing but water, but there wasn't even a ship. Hell, half of the dock had been eaten away as well. Lucius was indeed pleased, he had sort of hoped that his temporary "allies" had found their way to safety. He wanted blood samples after all.

   

  This has been...enjoyable. My coding integrity had decayed beyond the point of stability. I am now purging myself from your system. Goodbye Lucius, and a pleasure to make a better acquaintance A.I: Hector. Lucius went to protest, but he knew by time he could get anything out the stubborn computer had probably already purged himself. Lucius looked to the stragglers on the docks, there weren't many survivors. In fact less than probably an eighth of the people on the boat had made it off. Of them was the overly flirtatious angel boy, the little girl and the water-boy.  It was then that a little child, no older than 12 had appeared before them, looking about confused.

  "W-what!? No! I was...I was-" He called out, as if he had been doing something important. Lucius shook his head as the boy turned to look at him with a scowl, then turning to the Angel who looked rather...sickly actually. "T-tricked the trickster." The angel said as he coughed, pulling from his pocket the very thing that the child held in his hand. The one in the child's hand however vanished. Lucius' mask gave him access to see that the one in the child's hand was noting more than a construct. So whatever this was the angel had obviously deceived the child. But to what ends?

 Red Tide made his way over to Yancey, whom let Atiyah down as he began to grow a little too weak to stand. Hector, what's going on? Lucius asked, strangely curious of whatever ailment had fallen the celestial being. He is fading in and out of scanners. It is as if he is there and somehow not there at all. Hector replied. Lucius found this curious. How could one be there and not be there? Oh well. It didn't matter. While these people were engaged in their mushy soap-opera moment he could get what really mattered. That blood sample. He reached over and grabbed Atiyah's arm.

  "Hold on, I want to make sure if he has something that he didn't infect you too. You don't want to get sick do you?" Lucius said, feigning a concern for the girl. "I know you may not think well of me, but this is for your health. This is for all of our health in fact. It will be just a pinch." he said as he withdrew a syringe from his nifty little belt, proceeding to draw blood from the girl.

Right now, Ryan's mind was running over how he could save the day, or how he would try to anyway. Sure, it wasn't some kind of supercomputer or anything, but it could do something, even if that wasn't anything overly impressive. The first thing that came to mind was keeping the ship from sinking, an easy feat considering the power of his control over both water and ice, it would be going nowhere. What was not expected was to see Silus running up the steps in his direction, seeing him and trying to come to a stop, only for him to slam into Ryan with enough force to almost make him fall off the platform he had made. Next thing Ryan knew, he was being tossed to the ground, falling on his rear end and realizing that hurt...even if a little.

It was the ship exploding that seemed to snap him from a sort of dream state, Ryan blinking upon feeling Silus cling to him. Why was he trembling anyway? They had saved the girl, so what was the issue? She could be with her family, and everyone could be happy, or...as happy as possible anyway. ”Got it.” Ryan muttered, reigning in control over his element once again, ice bridge changing from solid into a liquid as he would prepare to douse the flames that had spread across the docks. With a though, the water would spray across the fires, seemingly instantly dousing them as it would give more people room to escape from the sinking wreckage. One thing his power could not stop was Red Tide and his assault, one that would likely destroy the vessel in question.

It was a possibility, but he did not have enough time to even react to it, let alone formulate a way by which he could counter it. Even with this much control over his power, he could do nothing beyond watch.

The Yacht disappeared, eaten away by the red energy, along with most of his ice as the rest would likely sink below the water. It had taken a few moments for the realization to slip in, that likely a lot of people had been killed by the very same energy that had destroyed the ship. People he could have saved, but he didn't, he didn't think about that and now they were dead. What he then noticed was that Red Tide was drawing something from the young girl, blood from what he could tell and something about that caused....anger to well up within him. ”Oh no you don't.” he muttered with a small measure of venom, releasing a small burst if ice, aimed to strike the hand attempting to draw blood, to freeze over both the syringe and, red's hand if it held on for too long. He had already murdered all of those people, he would not have this.

Silus immediately used his power, and in a moment the entierty of reality peeled back for a moment. Power surged and bubbled off of him before he turned to look at the ship. Where was a brilliant and blinding flash around him, and for a moment all six pairs of his wings could be seen, a celestial glory in some respect. His eyes had their familiar soulful indigo glow. The light died and Silus was now his little eleven year old self right next to the girl. Behind him the entire ship and all of it's passengers were alive and untouched by Lucius' assault.

  "Ryan, I promised him he could take some blood for a sample. Because I'm Fae I'm not allowed to lie. He can take the blood. Please." Silus said as he motioned to Ryan. He looked at Atiyah and smiled brightly as he put a hand on her shoulder. "See... I'm just like you. Just a teeny bit better at controlling it!" He giggled to her. She seemed rather elated that there was someone like her nearby. Of course Silus was much, much stronger. She could induce illusions, Silus on the other hand worked on a much bigger process. Of course he looked to Lucius with a rather neutral expression, not particularly caring that he just displayed his own power to him.

  "She'll give you a vial, just as we agreed on. No more." Silus said calmly with a little shrug, standing there and waiting for the job to be done. His old powers restored in their glory he half expected Red Tide to change his mind and try to get his blood...which was out of the question and something Silus wasn't in the mood to deal with. Hopefully he could take his blood sample and things could stay civil... hopefully Red didn't give a speech.

Lucius continued to draw blood from the girl until he had a full vial, but of course this had to be interrupted. He pulled his hand back just as the ice beam shot at him, his hand was only slightly effected but the vial was blasted to the ground. What the hell now? Did this kid not get the memo? Or maybe he thought Lucius was helping them out of the kindness of his heart. Silus then did something rather strange, his body visually releasing power before the boat reappeared in a flash of light. This amazed Lucius, but he kept a calm demeanor and didn't acknowledge the boys showing of power.

Silus then told ice boy about the arrangement, which would hopefully calm the kid down and break him from his stubborn heroism "Still trying to be the hero, kid." Saying this he pulled out another vial and proceeded to fill it, then stood up and let out an amused chuckle. "You have been acting like this kids dog the entire day, doing everything he says with no question. I don't know if its because your stupid or if its because Silus is using one of his tricks on you. But I'm leaning toward the former because i can tell your pretty dim witted. Why don't you take control over your life instead of following these kids around, endangering the lives you proclaim to protect. As for the rest of you, do yourselves a favor and retire, your interference caused this wild goose chase." As he said the final sentence to his short speech he turned his back without another word. He fully expected one of them, mostly likely ice boy, to lash out at him. He prepared to turn around and form a barrier at the first sound of aggression.

His hit had connected, spontaneously freezing the vial containing the blood and shattering it across the ground. He couldn't let this guy get away with anything, not after watching what he had done with the ship, it just did not feel right. Power flowed through his entire being, almost palpably cold to him as it rippled like a wave from his core to the very ends of his fingertips, waiting for the floodgate to be opened. Only one thought separated him and destroying the metahuman, unleashing a wave of raw elemental fury, all it took was a thought. What had stopped him was the celestial light radiating from Silus, rippling outwards and seeming to unravel the fabric of reality itself. His mind was reeling from the very sight of it, how Silus could do something so.....fantastical to be blunt. Something had been said about his friend being fae, he could not lie, he had said Red could have the blood.

Still, there was something within him that did not want the man to have the blood. With it, he would likely be able to do more damage, that's what those science types did with blood and stuff afterall. Regardless, as much as he disliked this guy, he respected and cared for his friend more, so that was enough of a reason to attempt to calm himself. He would have calmed down, but of course the villain so did love to monologue. In typical villain fashion, he would insult him, though everything seemed to go silent after a certain point. What was he going to say? Ryan had an idea and knowing the guy, it would have no been wrong, but assuming always did cause a lot of trouble, so all he did was glare at the villain, allowing him to draw the blood.