Bright Lights (Neon)

Due to a series of unforetold events Jake found himself back in New York City. He had told himself he wouldn't come back here ever again, yet here he was. He was now doing pretty much what he had done in Chicago before, minus the target on his back. He didn't have any place to go, so he mostly just stayed in hotels. He was lucky to be able to dispense money from ATMs whenever he wanted. Yes it was theft, but whats a kid to do? Live on the street?

Until he planned out his next course of action he would just lay low. It was true he wanted to learn more about what he was, but who could teach him that but himself? Sure Khell had been a help to him in that regard, but he didn't entirely know what it was like. He had trouble figuring out what he was going to do with the rest of his life. He could just live it, ignoring his powers whenever they showed. But where was the excitement in that? Despite truly hating where his abilities had got him he hadn't felt more alive in his entire sixteen years on this planet.

He thought about going back to Chicago.....but he wasn't running anymore, there would be no point. True this city brought back bad memories, but he might as well face them now or they would keep haunting him. He walked down the street in his usual attire listening to music in his head, not doing anything in particular. One of the things he liked about his powers was that he could listen to literally any song on the vastness of the web, which was pretty awesome for someone who liked music as much as he did. Though he wasn't exactly listening, but you get the point.

As always his head was filled with all sorts of electronic traffic, but he had been learning to tune it all out. Of course he went to times square, it was a very nostalgic place that he truly did enjoy visiting. Coffee in hand he observed the various sites and all the wireless traffic that came with them. There was so much of it here he almost felt uncomfortable, almost. He felt he had his power more under control then ever. That is, until something rather odd happened. A flurry of static jarred around in his head before a males voice finally emerged from it.

"Hello Jake. I've been keeping an eye on you for quite some time." The mysterious filtered voice said through the static. This obviously shocked Jake, he didn't expect to be addressed in his own head. In his confusion he walked right into someone, spilling coffee all over himself and the person he ran into. Dazed, he looked at the victim of his klutziness with embarrassment.

"I-I'm sorry....crap, i really need to watch where I'm going." He said shaking the thought of the message sent to him from his mind.

A digital alarm clock went off at around midday in the bedroom of a downtown New York apartment.  The slumbering human wrapped up in a shroud of blankets let out a long and loud groan. “Ergh..!  I’m up… I’m up!” A soft light skinned hand slithers out from its den and begins to bang at the bed-side table, trying to get at the alarm clock.  It took a few misses, but finally the hand smacked down onto the snooze button, silencing the booming clock.  Ever so slowly, the slothful creature began to rise into a sitting position, letting out another groan of irritation, not wanting to be awakened one bit.  With arms stretched out, the human give off one big yawn before running hands through the black and purple tangled mess that was hair.

“Damnit, missed work again..” Hikari Nagato finally spoke as her eyes lazily gaze at the time on her clock, she was half a day late to work and she didn’t feel like going back.  “Day off sounds good..” She shrugs her shoulders and finally gets herself out of bed to head over to the bathroom.  After a quick shower, Hikari made her way into her kitchen and turned on her TV before fixing herself a cup of warm coffee.  “What’s happening today in this beautiful city..” She says to herself in a tone of sarcasm, knowing too well that the Big Apple was a constant war zone filled with gangs and crazed metahumans.  Though she did cock a grin at the news report of a large arms deal at the docks being completely destroyed by, as witnesses say, “Some glowing chick in a bike helmet.” Which of course was Hikari’s doing, and also explains why she slept half the day.  While some people are up all night doing paperwork or partying with buddies, Hikari is up all night running around in a black leather outfit beating the hell out of gangsters.

An hour after her “morning” routine, Hikari gets dressed in slate, ripped jeans, a black tank top, and a black leather motorcycle jacket.  She heads out of her apartment after locking up the place and makes her way down the street.  On normal days, Hikari walks a few blocks to a parking garage where she keeps her black and purple, japanese made, turbo-charged street bike.  She remembers when she got that bike, winning it in an street-race when she was sixteen.  She loves that bike, and rides it frequently despite the fact that she can literally run faster than it will ever be able to ride.

Suddenly, when about halfway to the garage, Hikari is met with the body of a young man, smashing into her while he walks.  Now, everyone knows New York is a crowded place, and collisions on the sidewalk happen all the time.  Hikari would have let it go without a confrontation, except she now felt the burning hot sensation of hot coffee spilling all over her chest!  Every bone in her body was telling her to react by running out of the way at the speed of sound, or straight up round house kicking the guy in the temple.  She fought her reflex and replaced it with a loud, “Gyaaa!  F-fuck!” She quickly moves away from him and rapidly pats her chest with her palm, “Mother fucker that was hot!” She manages to scrape off the hot coffee and looks at the man responsible, her body shaking with adrenaline, her body telling her to flip her bitch switch.  Then she looked at his face, he was looking at her in shock, and very apologetically, in fact he was kinda cute.  Hikari eases up on her previously clenched fists, and lets out a deep sigh.  “Shit happens, I understand some people have trouble walking and looking at the same time.” She crosses her arms and looks at him with a defiant look in her eyes, not really turning off her bitch switch as much as she’d hope.  “Though most of the time, I’d hope those people wouldn’t be carrying a cup of piping hot coffee just asking to burn someone.” She lets out another sigh, not really burned as critically as she’s making it seem, but it still hurt like a mother fucker.

The girl he ran into seemed to be angry at first glance, yet Jake saw through the harsh attitude and language. She crossed her arms as if she were a disappointed parent, this girl wasn't flirting with him in some weird way was she? Perhaps that was wishful thinking......she was still standing there though. Jake almost forgot about the voice that had just addressed him he was so caught up in this awkward moment.

"Yeah i just.....got a little confused for a second. Are you alright?" Jake said with true care in his voice. The coffee was pretty hot, he really hoped he hadn't burned this girl to bad. Suddenly, the static in his head returned, another message was coming through.

"Ditch the girl Jake, we need to talk. I'm sending you the location of a nearby building i want you to meet me at, I'll explain when you arrive." This time Jake knew for sure this wasn't in his head.....well it was, just not in that way....oh whatever. So someone had been watching him? Someone who obviously knew about his powers and knew his name. This was pretty creepy, even considering all the other shit that had happened to him recently.

Again Jake had a very confused look on his face, as if he was in another world, which he was. There was this pissed off girl in front of him that probably now thought he was fucking crazy. What Jake didn't know though was that during the message his eyes involuntarily turned green again, which probably messed with the girls head.

"I-i'm sorry...it was nice talki..well not really...for you..I gotta go" Jake said frazzled walking backwards away from the girl before running away suspiciously. He was both curious and confused right now, as always.

Okay, that was weird, his eyes just changed color..? Hikari thought to herself as she looks at the young man who had moment before crashed into her with a piping hot cup of coffee, which still burns by the way.  Hikari watched his eyes with a slight rise in her right eyebrow, curious about what exactly is going on.  Then again, now that Hikari thinks about it, weird shit is happening to the human race with this meta-gene that Hikari just so happens to have.  And how old was this kid anyway? Sixteen? Seventeen?  He looks around the same age she was when she first started discovering that her genes were on the fucked up side.  The tomboy can understand his mutation, it makes perfect sense biologically, a hell of a lot more sense than how exactly her own body can literally dissolve into light and not kill her.

“Uhm… yeah, I’m fine.. it wasn’t hot enough to burn me too much..” She wipes her chest a bit more before stuffing her hands into her jacket pockets, her eyes still stuck on his eyes.  It wasn’t the fact that they changed color that struck her as too odd, it was his attitude after the fact.  He looked like a scared, shy kid before the eye change, but now he just seemed confused, and a little frightened.  What’s going on in this guy’s head?  What’re you worried about..? She let the thoughts float in her mind for a few moments as her gaze never fell from his eyes.

Hikari nodded her head in response to his fare well, adding in a “Yeah.. bye… and hey!” She called out when he got farther away, “Be careful where you walk!?” she said in an assuring tone this time, not in her usual bitchiness.  Hikari didn’t know why she cared about whether or not he’d hurt himself, the kid almost burnt her bust to all hell.  She guesses its because, well to put it simply, she knows what he’s going through right now.  When she started unlocking her abilities she was scared too, not fully aware of how dangerous she was becoming.  One slip up with self-control and she killed a man in a fit of rage.  The guy was a thug and an asshole, but still, she took a life and that stuck with her for years.

Damnit, Hikari… just let him go.. he’s not your problem.. She thinks, trying to persuade herself not to get involved.  Her mind keeps going back to herself losing control, shaking her head to try and avoid it.  Her legs stop on the sidewalk, and she slowly turns to look back, just making out the kid in the distance.  Don’t do it… don’t get involved.. She sighs deeply and clenches a fist, “Damnit!  Why am I doing this?  ...Baka…” She turns her body around and begins a quick walk in the other direction, following him at a far enough distance to keep out of sight, but close enough to keep sight of him.

Along with the voice came a location, some kind of abandon deli a few blocks away. He honestly wanted to keep talking with the girl he spilled coffee on, but whoever was talking with him in his head seriously wanted to meet like now. What he wanted wasn't known, but there was only one way to find that out. Jake jogged along the sidewalk, crossing a few streets and pissing off a few drivers before finally arriving. This building was indeed abandon, in fact it looked as if it was pre-rebuild.

In the ally outside Jake frantically looked around, searching for the person that brought him here. In a few moments it was clear no one was waiting outside, he had to go in this nearly collapsing building. Well, it stayed up this long right? What were the chances it would come down right when he went inside? Jake told himself it would be fine, he was a bit of a scaredy cat when it came to things like this. Using his shoulder Jake rammed in the damaged door and walked inside. As expected the place was trashed, rotten food was in the cases and the floor was mostly tore up.

Why would anyone wanna meet here? Why not a nice coffee shop or something? Whoever this was had a pretty bad idea of what a comfortable meeting was. Jake slowly made his way through the building until a figure was caught in the corner of his eye. This startled him, but then he realized this was the person that had wanted to meet with him. A scary motherfucking indeed. He just stood their blankly staring at Jake, presumably waiting for him to say something. His costume or whatever it was looked like a mixture between a black ops soldier and a sith lord.

"Ah....hi?" Jake muttered as he walked toward the man, bringing him more into view.

"Hello Jake, my names Lucius. Sorry for the mysteriousness, but contacting you using your powers felt like the only way to get you to listen." Lucius said leaning up against a wall. Who the hell was this guy? And how did he know so much about him?

"Wait....how do you even know i have powers?" Jake said puzzled. Lucius let out a low chuckle through his masks filter, making it almost robotic.

"...I know because i activated your meta gene." Lucius said. This obviously shocked Jake, but the situation was becoming a bit clearer.

"What the hell do you mean!? You did this to me!?" Jake screamed, letting out a bit of his rude side.

"Are you saying you don't like your powers? Sure you lost a lot because of them, but what you have is a gift. I can tell that anger in your voice is because of your parents, but you must understand that's not your powers fault." Lucius said quite casually. It was true Jake was now starting to love what he could do, but it felt like all that had happened in these past few weeks was because of them.

"......Just...please don't talk about them. I don't blame my powers or you, but i need to know why you activated my....whatever it is." Jake said much softer then before.

"Because i have a vision. I'm trying to improve this world and its people, evolution so to speak. The meta gene is currently the most convenient way of doing so." Lucius said shortening his usual speech about his cause. So this Lucius person did what he did to improve him? Well, all that he had done so far is bring him grief.

"....So you did it, you gave me my powers. What do you want now?" Jake asked quizzically.

"Well what do you think? Your a smart boy Jake. I want you to come with me, to join my cause. You'll learn about what you are......and unlock your godly potential."

Where is this kid running off to? Hikari sighed as she quickly follows the jogging metahuman.  Shit.. does he know I’m following?  No.. he’s nervous so he would have looked back if he knew… Her thoughts ring around in her head, trying to figure out what he’s up to.  Her confusion continued to rise when he began to run straight across a busy street in midday New York City.  She half expected him to get plowed by a taxi, or some idiot in a bus, but luckily he managed to wiggle his way across.  With a quick dash and a few agile vaults over moving cars, Hikari made it to the other side of the street as well and continues down the alley that the boy ran down.

This was an old district, one that still hasn’t been rebuilt, and one gang bangers loved to hang around in.  Hikari silently hopes the guy she’s chasing isn’t part of one of these gangs.  Alot of thugs seemed to be recruiting metahumans, the massive amount of shit metahumans get from the “normal population” doesn’t really help their choices.  Metahumans are slowly being criminalized, and when you continuously call people monsters, those people start to become monsters.

The old Diner looked like shit, smelled like shit too, but it sounds like the kid is inside and so is someone else.  Who are you meeting..? Hikari thinks to herself, slowly moving toward a busted window and crouches underneath to avoid detection, poking an ear up to listen in.  The other guy introduced himself.  Lucius… she runs that name through her mind, finding familiarity in it, and remembering where she knows it, The docks.. The report of an arms deal on the TV this morning, the one Hikari crashed herself.  She remembers something one of the thugs was trying to say before she broke his jaw, “You’re fucking with the wrong people, Lucius is going to tear you apart when he finds out you were here!”  Or something like that.

Their conversation continued, while Hikari listened in, learning the kid’s name, the fate of his parents, and that his powers played a role in it.  Something that hit her very close to home.  The part about Lucius’ vision, and wanting Jake to join him, that bothered Hikari, causing her body to tense up.  In doing so, she made the mistake of adjusting her footing and stepping on a pile of broken glass with her boot, making an audible crunching sound.  “..Shit..” She said to herself quietly with a curse in japanese, hopping that the man inside isn’t alerted to her presence.

Well, this offer was interesting, and at the same time fishy. He was inclined to accept, but his lack of knowledge and trust of the man stopped him from outright saying it. He didn't know who this guy was or what he was about. All he knew was that this guy had been stalking him and he was responsible for the early activation of his metagene. Though he wasn't exactly doing anything, he might as well get some answers.

".....I don't know what to do. It feels like a pretty heavy decision. I guess I'll come with you, but only to get my powers under control, after that we'll see what happens." Jake said considering the offer. Before Lucius could respond a noise was heard from presumably around the corner, which interrupted his speech. With a sigh of irritation Lucius disappeared in a flash of red, showing up in front of the eavesdropping girl. Lucius had seen the female talking with Jake before hand, why she followed him was unknown.

"Didn't your parents ever teach you its not ok to eavesdrop?" Lucius said looking down at the girl he just ported next to. If Jake wasn't there Lucius probably would have killed her, but the boy was a bit skittish so he stayed his hand.

"State your business." Lucius said plainly. Jake was just as surprised as Lucius to see the girl. He worried she might have just walked into trouble. The way Lucius held himself gave off an aura of violence, its why Jake didn't completely trust him.

Shit, your gonna get yourself killed. Jake thought to himself as he watched the encounter.

When Lucius teleported right in front of Hikari, it very nearly scared the shit out of her, like a really bad jump scare movies have these days.  Her eyes go wide, and she lets out a loud gasping noice while she sprang to her feet and backed off a few paces, “Fuck!  Gah.. You scared the hell out of me!” She sighs and gives herself a moment to collect her breath.  Her eyes looks back up at him, after being startled, with a look of defiance.  Her tough-girl demeanor returning to her.  With a grin she finally speaks, responding to what he said, “And sorry, my parents must have forgotten that part of life lessons.”

Her arms slowly fold across her chest and her eyes turn to look at Jake, grin turning into a frown. “What the hell are you thinking?  Joining this guy?” She motions her head over to Lucius, “He probably only wants you to join him, so he can use you for some fucked up shit!  I mean, he’s talking about evolution and improving the world in a busted up diner in the middle of an empty district.  If he’s a trustworthy person, why did he want you to come here, and not a public place?”  She looks back over to Lucius, he could tell him that he’s also part of an arm smuggling ring at the docks, but she’s not in a total rush to reveal to the man who she is exactly.  That mean’s for the time being, no powers..  Easy.. she thought to herself, I can handle myself without them..

Jake again felt ashamed for some reason, like a dog caught eating a shoe or something. She had a point, but it wasn't like Jake was outright signing up for this guys super villain army.

"He has information. I've been walking around for weeks with no idea what the hell is going on. He knows about what i am.....what happened to me. But that doesn't mean i trust him." Jake said blatantly. Lucius was just irritated, someone always had to show up didn't they? Lucius had to admit the place he chose to meet was creepy, but that was beside the point.

"You don't have to trust me. I'm not a trustworthy person. I'm not going to force you to do anything, but if you want me to answer the questions you have you will come with me."  Lucius said turning ever so slightly to Jake.

"As for you......well, i would like you to leave. Or you will suffer consequences." Lucius said taking a few steps toward the female. He would try to avoid outright attacking her, that would only make things more difficult. However, he wasn't opposed to using scare tactics. Jake didn't know what to do at this point. Lucius was obviously not the nicest guy in the world, but he had information he needed. The girl he ran into was probably right, why would he even activate someones meta gene if he didn't plan on using them for some fucked up shit? A choice had to be made, but he had no idea which was the right one.

Alright, Hikari definitely didn’t like this guy, forcing a scared meta into coming with him only because he has the answers he seeks.  Hikari looked over to Lucius and frowns, “What you are, is a sacred metahuman, with strange new abilities you never thought were even possible.  You don’t need this guy to get your answers.” She speaks to Jake.  The man tried to intimidate her, but Hikari grew up in a shitty part of town and struggled to not be treated like a scared little girl, now she’s not afraid of anyone.  Even if she was afraid, she’ll never show it, she’ll stand her ground. “What are you going to do, ‘Lucius’, kill me in front of him?  Show him your bad side?” she calls his bluff, hopefully its enough.

Her eyes kept focused on Lucius as she continues to speak to Jake, “Listen, whatever you’re going through, I understand.  You’re confused and pissed off at the world, and looking for answers anyway you can.  But don’t be stupid, its obvious this guy is trying to manipulate you.  If you need somewhere to go, come with me, I may not know whatever it is you’re looking for, but I’m not going to use you for my own devious motives.  I can help you.”  She doesn’t know why she’s making an offer like this, she doesn’t know this random metahuman, but he reminds her a lot of herself, she didn’t want him to go down a dark path.

Hikari kept her eyes on Lucius, clenching her fists and keeping her stance solid.  If he’s going to attack her, she’s going to make sure she’s damn ready for it.

Lucius stood staring at the girl through red optics as she spoke, not moving even slightly. She did have him cornered, and he knew it. He had worked far to hard for this one to ruin it all in a rage, in this particular moment she was untouchable. It didn't matter though, Lucius would continue to pull strings in Jake's life in order to groom him into what he needed to be. Whether he recruited him now or in a year didn't matter. The boy was a vital piece in his game, he couldn't afford to mess that up.

"Lucius......i think you should leave..." Jake said considering the females words, he just hoped Lucius would keep his word about not forcing him. Truth was he couldn't trust this guy. He could see now that he had been manipulated.

"Hahahahaha, alright you two, have fun. But Jake, when you want to truly unlock those powers of yours, come find me, i know you can, and you will." Lucius said walking away. He was confident he would see Jake again, and next time he would collect his technopath. Jake kept an eye on Lucius as he left, only turning to the girl once he was gone.

"Eh, thanks i guess. That guy didn't really sit well with me. i just need someone to talk to about all this, someone that understands. My names Jake if you didn't catch it." Jake said outstretching a hand for a shake. From what the girl said he figured she was also a meta human, her powers though were unclear.

"So.....you wanna get out of this dump? Maybe i can make up for spilling coffee all over you." Jake said smiling.

Her eyes never looked away from Lucius’, ready for the moment when this situation goes south.  She knows what she’s doing is dumb, she’s never confronted someone she’s never met nor knows nothing about, and tests his patience.  She knows that in any moment, he could attack her, or he could send in backup on them.  Her eyes never showed the worry she felt, although, her poker face was rock solid.

Then finally, Lucius backed off acting very calm about what happened.  Hikari saw through it, Lucius was pissed off on the inside.  Plus the fact that he knows her face makes everything worse.  Damnit… you’re an idiot… her mind curses at her.  She’ll have to look out for this one, sleep with one eye open for a while.

Lucius was finally out of sight and Hikari let out a long, deep sigh of relief before leaning back against the wall behind her and running her hands through her hair, trying to shake off the anxiety of that whole ordeal.  “Too fucking close…” She sighs again and turns her head to look at Jake, remembering he was there.  She gives him a half-hearted smile at his thanks and gives him a nod.  “My name’s Hikari, and don’t mention it.. the only ass this is going to bite in the end is mine..” she blinks her eyes once, he probably has no idea why she’d risk herself to save someone she just met, “I’ve been through some shit in my life, I’ll listen to your story, and we’ll go from there.”

Hikari grins softly when he offered to make up for the fiasco that occurred when they met, “Yeah.. you owe me that much..” She slowly stands up straight and places her hands into her jacket pockets.  “Before you make it up to me, I’ll need to run home to change into something less stained with coffee.”  She slowly turns around, first looking to see if Lucius or one of his guys are coming for them, and sees no one.  “Come on, let’s get out of here..” She waves for him to follow her before beginning to walk out of the alleyway and towards her apartment.

Shaking the girls hand Jake would finally get a name, Hikari. He tried to figure out some kind of short version that he could call her, but failed after thinking on it for a few moments. He could come up with something later. She had accepted his sort of invitation to go out. Well, it seemed he had a date. Even if she didn't call it that.

He had never thought his first real date would come from such a situation, but he wasn't complaining. She said she wanted to run home and grab a change of clothes, which was understandable considering the fact she had coffee all over her. He followed closely behind, presumably heading to her apartment. He hoped it wasn't to far, he honestly hated walking.

"So, whats your thing? Like, power or whatever it is." He asked curiously once he caught up with her, god she walked fast.

There was the question Hikari was waiting for, what could she do.  The fact that he knew to ask this before she even let him know she was a metahuman make her smile, he was observant.  “Me?  Oh well, nothing too special.. its kind of hard to explain really.. I’d show you, but it attracts a lot of attention.” She said with a soft snicker, thinking about what people’s faces would look like if she’d just go all light bright in the middle of the sidewalk.  “I guess the simplest way I can say it is, I can run very fast and stuff,.” She shrugs her shoulders nonchalantly.  She didn’t mention the fact that she can fire highly focused beams of purple light out of her hands that can burn through solid metal like butter, that’s probably something she shouldn’t say out loud.

“What about you?  What can you do?  Besides turning your eyes green.” Her eyes slowly look over to him, her lips curled into a grin.  She was pretty curious about his powers, Lucius seemed to want him very badly, even calling him godlike.  He has to be one of the dangerous classed metas, the kind people hate.  Though that just makes it better that she takes him away from that other guy, he’s a lot better in her hands than Lucius’.

After a few minutes of walking, the two finally arrive at Hikari’s apartment.  It was small, only about five floors, and was located in the middle of a small japanese district.  Jake probably couldn’t read any signs around here. “Here we are.”  She walks up to her front door, reaching into her back pocket to pull out her keys to unlock it.

Run really fast? Well, that was cool as hell. Of course, now it was his turn. He honestly didn't know fully what he was capable of, new things surfaced all the time. Though he could give her a rough idea.

"Me? Well, its pretty complicated. There's a bunch of stuff that comes with it, too. But i suppose the easiest way of saying it is that i can control and tap into technology. Like right now I'm reading that guys text messages and Google translating all of these signs." Jake said pointing at a guy sitting at a bench with his phone out. He actually kinda felt good about his powers, for the first time. He liked talking about them, he hated keeping all of it to himself. So much information constantly moved through his head he felt like he might explode if he didn't tell someone.

They finally arrived at her apartment, Jake following behind Hikari as they did. After watching her unlock the door he would follow her in, after all he didn't wanna wait outside.