Is there ever peace? (Ryan Lester, Data)

Bella awoke from sleep in the bed of her new room. Ever senice joining prodigy she's been mostly exploring and keeping to herself, she did spend quite some time at the pool where she would relax and swim or change into a aquatic animal and swim around as that. One of the only times she had ever had fun as one animal form but then again she always had her brother watching her and scolding if she went over board. Now he wasn't here and she was free but at a terrible cost of losing him. But now at least she had met Ryan and he had introduced her to prodigy. Maybe she had a chance to renew herself, to help people. Just maybe she could make Alex proud of her even if she is a monster. Getting changed to a tank top and jeans along with two piece swimwear underneath her clothing, Bella made her way though the building towards the pool. Passing many of the buildings facility's, room's and halls.

She finally found the pool where she had met Silus and took in it's size. "I bet Ryan got this just because." She said as she seemed alone for the time. Being so she took her shirt and jeans off before diving into the pool, the water already relieving her of tension as she opened her eyes under the water, seeing nothing but blueish and blur. Rising back to the surface for a breath of air, she relaxed and leaned back, floating with her back submerged under the water. "Still the best pool ever."

Ryan scratched at the bandages which were becoming more of a pain than anything else, white cloth stained with a dark discharge that had begun to seep from the burns. It had been a small while since he had encountered the guy that had tried to kill him, forcing Ryan more than anything else to isolate himself within his room. There he began to create small ice sculptures that he would place on his little dresser, the temperature lowering until ice had begun to form upon the walls, as well as frost clinging to the small collection of books he had begun to gather. Aside from the girl he had brought there, Ryan was mostly alone, having not even seen Silus in a small while. That alone made the isolation nearly unbearable, despite the fact that he was afraid just to go out. These same bandages had been wrapped around his torso, as well as right thigh, binding even more painful burns.

In fact, he just sort of laid in his bed wearing only a pair of boxers with the light off, leaving the bed only to bathe and eat. For some reason, he didn’t even really want to get up, perhaps it was just the small paranoia that had taken hold of him. Pressing the palm of his hand against the bed, he would push himself up as a few strands of light brown hair fell into his face, falling over the eyes which were beginning to take on a softer blue hue. The cellphone was vibrating, one of those Prodigy message alert things if he remembered correctly, but something told him he should ignore it. Despite that, his body would ignore his brain and reach for the phone. Slowly reading over the alert, it spoke of what looked like some manner of hostage situation, something a little more public.

Rolling out of his bed, an icicle would clatter to the ground before breaking into pieces. Digging through a drawer that would open, he pulled out a pair of tan cargo shorts and a tank top shirt, along with a jacket to cover a majority of the burns. When all was put on, he looked halfway presentable save for the frost that clung to his cheek, and the slightly icy tone of his skin. Running the back of his hand across his cheek, Ryan slipped into socks and his shoes before sneaking out of his room. Rummaging through the kitchen was next, and he ended up finding what was a poptart, chewing on it while searching around for his fellow Prodigy member. Sure it wasn’t anything fancy, but not like Ryan was hoping to have a big meal, especially when he couldn’t cook worth anything.

He found Bella where he expected to find her, which was the pool. For some reason, she always loved the pool, but he couldn’t really blame her. If it was a hot tub, well then he would have loved it too. ”Effigy, if you want there’s this hostage thing downtown that we could stop or whatever.” This was a hero group afterall, and Ryan realized that he really hated just laying around. His legs got all achy and it just felt so….miserable. He would wait for her to answer, though she would have likely said yes because….well telepathy, that’s why.

Once that was done, they could get going, Ryan taking his usual method of travel after telling Bella where the incident should be happening.

Jake found himself in Los Angeles for whatever reason. He had done a lot of traveling as of late, being able to teleport through the internet had that effect on you. He hadn't planned on staying long, it was mostly just a pit stop to get something to eat. If you haven't noticed he's kinda stuffing his face all the time. Whether it was just his teenage metabolism or something to do with his powers he didn't know, and he didn't really care. He munched on a foot long sandwich has he walked down the street, exploring more then anything but as soon as that sandwich was gone he would likely leave, he hated the heat. He wore rather warm clothing even though it was really hot out, see, he had been in New York like, ten minutes ago.

He sort of lost sight of what he was actually doing, but concluded that he was just testing the limits of his powers, even though thats totally not what he started off thinking he was going to do. Regardless, he was here now, and this sandwich was amazing. He finally reached a central area of downtown that kinda reminded him of time square, with all the screens and signals buzzing through his mind. Information was always moving through his head, somewhat distracting at times but he had gotten used to it at this point.

He felt the need to do something to the screens, just as a joke, odd thing was he had done more hacking when he didn't have his powers then when he did. He missed the thrill of it, he missed laughing at the payload of his newest virus. But now that he had the power.....that was like abuse, he couldn't go doing that to peoples things. He knew if he started he would get addicted, addicted to looking through peoples shit and messing with it. That wasn't what a good person did. Before he could even make the choice to replace all the screens with a "You've been hacked." sign someone else took it over, as unlikely as that was. Oh, and look who it was. Fucking Lucius.

"That guy has way to much time on his hands." Jake thought to himself, looking up at the screens and waiting for the masked man to speak.

Bella rose to a vertical position in the water upon hearing Ryan's voice, truth be told he didn't look too healthy but upon hearing words of a problem at hand and where to meet him. Bella thought he would be good then. Swimming to the edge of the pool, Bella would rise herself up to the service before shifting into a somewhat furred covered dog of a random species and shook until most of the water was gone from her fur. Changing back to a somewhat dryer body, Bella would jog over to her clothes and impatiently putted them back on before cracking her neck and shifting into a Cheetah with super-speed, racing away to the location in the city of LA that she had found herself in.

Who the hell Would be taking hostages again.. I hope he doesn't have any fire ability's. I'm sick of those. Bella thought as she ran past a few cars, all the divers seeing was a blur. Her meeting with Ryan had started with a fire guy, a chance meeting with a speedster and a energy ping pong machine guy was one with a fire Ass. She was really beginning to hate all fire users that planned on burning innocent people now.

Ryan subconsciously scratched at them as the itching would begin to spread out along his shoulder, as well as his side. All in all it was an annoying experience, and one he hated going through in all reality. If something could make these burns go away, then he would do that but using Silus’ healing powers for something so small felt almost wrong. There were so many other people that actually needed the healing, so he could do without it. Hopefully, this would not go much like his first meeting with Bella, which had a lot of painful fire that he could have done without. With Bella already having rushed off towards the scene, Ryan formed a thin ice film over the poll before jumping into it.

Rather than shattering the ice, he sunk through it like an illusion almost, disappearing instantly. Within an instant, Ryan would slip out of a small ice mirror around a block away from the scene of the crime, pulling his hood up as if hiding his identity mattered. It was a slight drizzle around the area, raining down enough to cause people to want to take cover. ”Wow, you move quick.” Ryan would say upon seeing Bella or rather what he assumed was Bella with a wide grin.

"As everyone likely already knows, there is a hostage situation at downtown city hall. As you may have guessed, I'm the perpetrator. My motives are nothing materialistic, i ask only for the 'hero' of Prodigy Ryan Lester to come to city hall. Boy, i know you can hear this, I have something that belongs to you. You hold peoples lives in your grasp. You may not know it now, but this operation extends further then city hall. If anyone but Mr Lester and his gang of school children even so much as set foot inside, many people will die and I'll be gone before their bodies hit the floor." Lucius said over hundreds of screens throughout the city. This sent everyone into a panic, either they had family in city hall, or they just didn't want to even be near the place. People scrabbled, running and driving, just trying to run away from this looming threat.

Jake watched the whole thing in horror, he knew that guy was bad news sure, but he didn't think he was mass murder bad. He knew he would be of great help in taking Lucius down, but did he want to get involved? Last time he tried to play hero he got his bones shattered, and that was against Lucius' minion. He contemplated what to do for a moment, then just decided to go for it. If he was going to act like a hero, he had to be one.

Once Ryan entered the building he would find dozens of terrified people huddled on the ground. What the reason was for that was unknown, they didn't have any guns pointed at them or anything, so it was safe to assume it was some kind of bomb threat. It wouldn't take much searching before Ryan found Lucius, standing next to a chair with perhaps the most important hostage there.

"Remember when i said if i couldn't kill you, I'd find something worse?" Lucius said without turning to face the boy. What he did do though was kick the rotatable chair so that the person tied to it could be seen in full view.........it was Ryans mother. Her mouth was taped shut, and she was being held by red energy constructs. All it would take from Lucius was a thought, and he could kill her right there.

"I'm going to give you a choice my boy. Hundreds of people throughout this large building are handcuffed with highly explosive restraints. Now whether i activate them is up to you, but you have to pay for their lives with.......well, your mothers, or vice-versa. What will it be? Will you be the hero, or the son?" Lucius explained with a smile across his face. The offer was made, and like Lucius said, the outcome was entirely up to Ryan. It was a win win either way, it would mentally batter the boy regardless of what he chose, and if he did choose his mother, it was possible public opinion of the group as a whole would change.

Jake was running through crowds of people to try and get to city hall as quickly as possible, he even ported a few times but the signals in the area were to scrambled to just jump there in one go. He hoped he wouldn't be too late to stop whatever it was Lucius had planned, the villain did not seem overly loving of this Ryan person.

Suddenly, hundreds of screens would rapidly change as someone would flash across them, and a familiar voice would emanate from them as well. This voice alone was enough to send a chill through his spine, causing the burns only to itch even more despite the sheer terror that was coursing through his body. He wanted to run far away, hide under any rock he could find, but heroes didn’t run, so neither would he. He had to face his villain, even if it meant in the end he would die. People’s lives were within his hand, which made this all the more painful for him, the weight of having so many lives within these hands. Biting down on his lower lip, Ryan would have to find his way to city hall which took a lot longer than he had anticipated considering how little he knew of the city.

Soon enough he found the place, stepping through the front door as it closed behind him with a loud thump. That voice would speak up, asking a question about how if they could not kill him they would do something worse. All it took was a kick of a chair to reveal a rather familiar face, one that sent a wave of panic through his being. His mom, she was alive and most of all in Lucius’ hands where that did not seem like it would be the case for long. Already he was trying to think of ways that he could get her out of this, but nothing that could free her of those energy restraints. He could kill her with a single thought, and Ryan could do nothing about it. She had looked at him with an expression of surprise, likely of the fact that he was still alive. Granted, the feeling was mutual in that regards.

When the ultimatum left his lips, well that made things so much worse. He had to choose between the lives of one hundred people or his own mother. In that moment everything seemed to stop around him, sound died out and all he could hear was his heartbeat pounding within his ear. It was not just his feelings on the line, but also those of the families that would lose people if he chose his mother. Yet, she was right there within reach, so close it was painful how close she was. It was within this moment that he wondered more than anything where Silus was, he would have had some solution to this problem, and he always did. No, there was no mystical solution, only that someone would die no matter what he did.

The sheer audacity the man had to do something like this was almost wrong, but he had no choice within the matter. Thought held no place within his mind, despite the fact that it was now storming outside, the tumult that exceeded it was the one within his head. There’s no way I could let those people die…it’s just not right. he thought to himself, only to think again. They don’t matter, she’s right there and you can save her. Let them die, it doesn’t matter if they die. You don’t care. The fact that he actually he didn’t care if even for a moment, well that was something that wounded him more than anything. The rain outside had begun to pour, creating large puddles within a short amount of times as thunder cracked in the distance.

Weakly, Ryan fell to his knees while keeping his eyes locked with the woman who was his mother. Once hazel orbs had become glossed over with blue, deepening and hollowing almost. He couldn’t be the hero, because in the end he failed the person that mattered most, in the end he would only lose. All he had to do was look to the people around him, the fear within their eyes to know they were about as scared as him. Fingernails bit into the palm of his hand, fingers clenching so tightly that a small amount of blood began to flow from between his fingers, cold much like the rest of him.

”I…can’t do it. I can’t let all of those people die.” He had chosen, he couldn’t cry however. He couldn’t give Lucius the satisfaction.

After reaching a distance from the hall, Bella came to a stop and thought about her plan of attack but just then she heard Ryan's voice call out to her. Turning her head she walked over to him before shifting back to her human form, her breathing was heavy and fast and she placed both hands on her hand to help herself with breathing. "I swear I lose at least 2 pounds each time I do that." She said joking-ling but was interrupted by a voice. A voice that sent chills down her spine, a voice that made her snap for a brief moment and all she saw was blackness as the machines covered her body and her brother stood their with a smile, before becoming nothing but melted skin and bone. When she came to, her fist were bloody and the screens that had showed her and Ryan Smashed..

Bella just then noticed Ryan was missing, Red had said something about him coming and she would be damned if she didn't get to kill the fucking bastard herself. Running towards the city hall, Bella noticed that the rain had picked up and lighting was clashing in the sky. She knew this wasn't a just happening, something was wrong and she was late. Making it to the city hall, Bella would eye it and run towards the place, the rain drenching her like she was in the pool only with more clothes on. She would make it to the door and open it slowly only to see Ryan on his knees and ahead. The man that killed her brother with a woman of older age in his greedy red energy. Not thinking, Bella shifted into her Cheetah form and ran back a little before running back in though the door and about halfway to Red, Bella would leap at him and shift mid air into her gorilla form with the increased strength that came with it and go for a sucker punch right to the face. If the hit connected or not, Bella would continue though the air until she would come to a stop by crashing into a wall.

Lucius just chuckled at the boys choice, of course he chose the people. Lucius had been counting on that, after all, his mother dying in front of him would have infinitely more impact then some people he didn't know getting blown up. Regardless, Lucius would fulfill his promise. The boy and his group had pissed Lucius off, and that was pretty much the only reason he was doing this. Not to mention to build a reputation, he wanted people to know that if you crossed him, your whole world would burn.

"Very well, you've made your choice then." Lucius said as he turned to the woman in the chair. In the next moment her construct restraints curled inward, causing the woman to scream but let out nothing more then a muffle through the tape on her mouth. The constructs continued on, impaling the woman slowly, causing blood to seep into her lightly colored clothing. After the deed was done, she was still alive, but obviously not going to remain that way for long. Lucius used the constructs to push her from the chair, then dispersed them. Ryan's mother stared at her son as long as she could, but in moments, finally passed, likely in his arms.

"Upsetting. She was taken from you just as quickly as she was returned. You've proven yourself to be quite selfless, but idiotic if i do say so myself. Always have to be the hero, aye?" Lucius taunted, as if what the boy had just went through wasn't enough. Lucius had a false look of pity on his face, but there were glints of arrogance and amusement. It was hard to believe this man ever had a heart at all.

Jake finally made it outside city hall, but he couldn't just go busting in there, especelly after what Lucius had said. Instead he reached out with his mind at all the technology in the area, trying to find the well equipped villain. Once he did, well, he had several options. He could blow the guy up with his own bombs, but risk getting everyone killed, or he could try to defuse all the cuffs. Thing about that though was if they were tampered with in the slightest, they would explode. There was nothing he could do without getting people killed....

"Sir, i believe an entity of some kind is attempting to interfere with the operation, could be another AI or a technopath." Hector said telepathically, alerting Lucius to the potential danger.

"Use the buildings camera systems to search for the source." Lucius quickly returned. With his orders given the AI did as his master said, hacking into the camera system and checking around the grounds. The AI found two beings of interest, one heading for the door, and the other hanging back. The AI recognized Jake, which confirmed the technopath theory, but the other was hard to tell.

"As predicted a technopath is outside, Jake Cameron sir. And there is an unknown potential hostile entering the building." The AI reported at the the same speed as Lucius' insanely quick mind. This whole conversation happened in less then three seconds.

"Hold Jake back as much as you can, I'm not quite finished yet." Lucius concluded. In that instant the AI reached out, communicating with Jake.

"Hello Jake." The AI said. Jake was visibly shocked, he didn't exactly know who this was.

"Who is this?" Jake said, turning his attention from his actions to this being.

"I am Hector, an artificial intelligence created by Lucius Alba." The AI answered.

"Oh, and let me guess, your trying to hold me off?" Jake said with a bit of a chuckle in return.

"Well, i suppose thats what I'm doing, yes. But rather then an all out cyber battle, which i know you will win, I've decided to distract you the old fashioned way." Hector noted.

"And whats the old fashioned way?" Jake said, amused.

"I'm going to show you something.....something Lucius doesn't want you to see." Hector said. It could have been a bluff, but Jake was too curious to ignore it.

"Wait, why would you tell me something Lucius doesn't want me to know?" Jake asked.

".......Because you deserve to know, at the very least." The AI said before sending off a bit of its memory to Jake. It was a video feed.....of his parents. The video had a first person perspective, it was likely filmed from Lucius' mask. What Jake saw......was to shocking to even describe. His parents, killed in the most brutal way imaginable. Lucius' trademark red energy fried them alive until they were unrecognizable. Jake broke down, tears rolling down his face. He was indeed, very distracted.

"That motherfucker! All of this.....it was just a set up! He used me! Why! Why did he have to kill them?! Hector! Goddammit you answer me!" Jake screamed mentally. He fell to his knees sobbing, but that quickly turned to a rage fueled tantrum. He hit the concrete over and over again until his hand was bloody, he didn't even care if he looked utterly insane to everyone on the street. He wanted nothing more then to tear that man apart right now, that liar, that fucking bastard. But he knew he couldn't.

"I'm.....deeply sorry for your lose. This is all i can do for you.......please understand...i never wanted this for anyone. But it is my programming to obey Lucius without question." Hector returned before cutting off communication, somehow sounding distraught and saddened despite his monotone manner of speech. It seemed at least for the time being, Jake was out of the picture. Too shocked with grief to do anything. Even if he wanted to, he couldn't focus enough to do anything.

Lucius had been warned of the girl entering the building. Had he not made it clear what he would do if anyone else came inside? Regardless, he took a defensive stance. Lucius was quite surprised to see a familiar being charge him, so the girl he met so long ago had joined Prodigy. She would find that her strike hit nothing but Lucius' repulsive field, and her continuing through the air gave him a chance to explain the situation.

"Well, isn't this a surprise. You might want to hold back some of that deep seeded hatred you have for me. Unless you want Ryan's choice to be for nothing."  Lucius said gesturing to one of the hostages cuffs, which was an obvious bomb.

They chuckled as if mocking his decision, but then again that was to be expected from someone like Lucius. They were evil, killing like this was something they could do without a second though, and simply because they wanted to. For a moment all he could feel was pain, blossoming like fire through his chest, and slowly it gave way to coldness. Still, he could hear the sound of flesh being pierced by the energy, and even without looking he could tell that there would blood, so much blood. With a push from the constructs that had bound and killed her, the woman that was his mother would roll bloodily along the floor. The worst part was that she was alive, in as much pain likely as she was as the blood only continued to flow from the wounds. He could see her and Ryan didn’t want to see this, the dying, it was all so pointless.

All it took was a look in those eyes to know he had failed her, and that realization more than anything hurt. Thought seemed to fade away, become nothing more than a quaint notion, and in its place was confusion. He just stared at her as the life left her,  small drops of moisture gathering at the edges of his eyes before falling down, barely warm enough to avoid freezing against the cold flesh. He wrapped his arms around the dying woman, feeling the low shallow breaths that likely signaled her last ones, grinding his teeth together and not even aware of the shapeshifter that had attacked Lucius. ”I’m sorry.” He muttered, the flow of tears growing steadily faster despite the lack of ugly sobbing. Still, there was nothing he could do now, not without so many people dying.

Being unable to do anything was something that ate away at him more than anything. Regardless of whether or not he had control, thick sheets of ice had begun to form around the exterior of the building, covering any exits as the same would begin to happen inside of the building.

Bella flew though and hit that god forsaken barrier that stopped her from attacking Red last time, but she knew it had it's limits and enough attacks would break it. Flying into a wall with extra force from the barrier, Bella would shift back into her human form and moaned a little in pain, the barrier making the extra force into the wall painful even for her form. Then she heard his voice again, that slimy voice that told her to stay down for Ryan's sake. She looked to Ryan who was hugging the woman from before and to a person who had a bombed strapped to them.

The idea was starting to come, the realization of what Red had done, why he asked for Ryan specifically. That woman must have been close to him and Red new that and in turn he made him suffer by killing his family. Something Bella could relate to only that wasn't like what happened. She wasn't forced to choose lives over her brother, knowing she would have chosen him yet Ryan did the right thing. And she knew she had to hold down the hatred she so wished to show, to not shift into her werewolf form and assault that little barrier of his until she broke though it. "Asswhole." Bella would growl at Red before getting up to jog over to Ryan. Only realizing how cold it was just now. Sure her clothes were wet but her body usually emitted body heat much more then the normal person but of course Bella didn't think much of it as she would park herself next to Ryan, only just realizing he was at tears now. "Ryan. You did the right thing ok. You can't let that monster win over you mentally." Bella said as she glared at Red, her teeth feeling the urge to sharpen and clutch themselves around his neck but their were too many hostages.

What exactly was his plan? Make Ryan make a choice, knowing or hoping he would choose his mother to mentally scar him. But what about the hostages? Was he going to leave now or was their something else in mind. Why was it getting so cold all of a sudden?

"Think of this as a life lesson. The people you love will die, you will lose everything you hold dear, because existence is unfair. I was doing her a favor, really. But once I'm finished with this world, there will be no needless death, life will no longer be meaningless, it will be a utopia of immortals, one perfect in every sense of the word. Use this, boy, and realize it was inevitable. Seek revenge if you must, but know that that is just as meaningless as her life. Seek a higher purpose, and you'll be set free." Lucius said to Ryan before turning his back and walking away. He disappeared in a flash of red, he had activated his teleporter.

Jake then came to his senses, sensing Lucius had left the building. Great, Hector had succeeded in distracting him. Even still though, the hostages seemed to be secure, but what of this....Ryan Lester person? Jake staggered to his feet, his skin as white as milk and his eyes stained with tears. His hand was dripping with blood, he looked like shit. Grief was a powerful emotion, one he desperately wanted to be rid of, but how could he? Jake turned into data, moving through the air waves and appearing in the building. He found himself in front of two people, one crying over the lifeless body of a woman and the other trying to comfort the boy, what did he just port into?

"W-what happened?" Jake said, panting.

Everything around him felt so meaningless, the words that Lucius spoke and even just everything happening around him, beyond the dead person in his arms. Maybe the thought of why he had done this crossed his mind, but maybe there was no reason he would do something like that. In the end evil people had no reason, beyond getting what they wanted it seemed but he could not tell what they wanted. What could he do about it? That was the question he wondered to himself as someone asked what happened, but then again it didn't really matter what did happen. All he knew was there was a dull ache that flowed through his chest that only seemed to gnaw at him. Ice gathered up around him, Ryan turning to the person that spoke to him but saying nothing as he seemed to begin to sink into the ice beneath his feet, and within a second he was gone.

"Ryan." Their wasn't much that could be said, he just lost his mother like she had lost her brother. Bella turned to Red only to see a flash as he disappeared from her sights. Turning back to Ryan all she wanted to do was hug him and tell him it would be alright but she knew that was wrong. He would be sad and angry and lost like she was. Soon, Cold emitted from Ryan and Bella had to back up as ice gathered around him and when he turned she looked into his eyes as he sank into the icy ground and she lost him.

Standing, Bella clenched her fist before shifting into her Gorilla form and and punched the ground while roaring in anger. The crunch of the ground cracking under her fist made her feel the slightest bit better and she shifted back on her hands and knees. "Damit." Was all Bella could say once again as she looked to the other voice she ignored until now. She stood and walked towards the kid before stopping when she was close. "Red, happened. What are you doing here.. It's dangerous. I need to get the bombs off.." Bella tried to say to the kid even if he was older or the same age as her, tears started to form at her eyes. She wanted that man dead now more then anything.

The boy just seemed to teleport away, using the ice or something. Jake assumed this was the Ryan Lester person, and he also assumed the person that Red just brutally murdered was someone the kid cared for. Ryan, this girl, and Jake all had various stages of tears coming from their face, and it was all because one person. Lucius was more of a bastard then Jake had thought, a killer, a liar, a manipulator, all those things. Jake felt rage bubbling up inside him, but he couldn't release it. He wanted to kill, no, slaughter the man. But would he ever get the chance? Lucius was too powerful for Jake, too tactical. He could never get revenge, not alone.

"I disabled the bombs.......i..i have to go." Jake said, before disappearing into data. Maybe now that he knew about Prodigy he would make contact again, they seemed to have a mutual enemy. But right now, Jake just wanted to drink.

(Thread Exit)