Dormant Hunger [Invite only]

The silence was ever presence, save for the sound of the AC thrumming silently through the entire room. Darren sucked in a breath, air filling his lungs as the bed beneath him shifted from the slight movement. The only light in the room was his phone screen lightning up, producing a flash that only slightly illuminated it and for a moment. Someone was calling him, that much he could tell and maybe the reason was obvious. For some reason no answering a text for twelve hours had been enough reason to cause someone to call him relentlessly, likely until he answered. Eventually he could gather up the energy to reach over and grab the phone, pressing the answer button to his ear and preparing to hear the nag. ”Yeah yeah, i'm still alive.” He groaned softly, rolling onto his side and staring at the wall within the darkness.

”Goin silent for twelve hours is not the norm for you.” The voice on the other side responded with usual friendly tone. Darren blinked and looked to his phone which displayed the time, being  7:46 PM which meant he had slept for longer than he thought.

”Well shit, looks like I slept in.” Darren growled, rubbing his eyes with the back of his hands as he slipped out of bed, feet touching the floor softly.

”You're not kiddin. Get your ass outta bed and come on. Can't sleep away the night and the day.” They would say oh so whimsically, suggesting they would actually end up driving all the way over here.

”Alright alright, you'll be here in like an hour right?” Darren sighed digging through a pile of clothes in the corner with a free hand, while continuing the conversation in question.

”I'd say forty five minutes. Maybe an hour if im feeling oh so gracious.” They teased, much to his annoyance, though the only indication would be a roll of the eyes.

”Sounds fair, see you then Mark.” Rubbing his eyelids, Darren hung up and placed the phone down on the nearest surface before returning to the whole digging around for food. It took him a small while to put together his wardrobe, but what he chose was a pair of cherry red jeans that were just loose fitting enough to be comfortable enough, as well as not tacky as well as one of those shirts with a cat on it. Throwing a jacket into the mix, Darren would leave them at the foot of the bathroom door before slipping into that. Following was a hot shower that just felt amazing, waking him up enough to deal with the day ahead of him. A strange smell permeated the room, but Darren didn't pay too much attention at the time. Once all of the was done, he quickly dried himself off before slipping into the clothes he picked out, and sort of dropped down into a couch in his living room.

The waiting was always the worst part but they came quickly enough, knocking loudly on the door until Darren answer, eyes sort of locking with the blond on the other side. ”Knocking louder won't make me come any faster ya know.”

”Well i'm not trying the next best method.” Mark responded with a waggle of his eyebrows.

”Yeah yeah, let's get goin.” Darren responded with a roll of his eyes and a brief chuckle, turning off anything that needed to be before locking the door behind him and walking off. ”So, what's the plan for tod...tonight?”

”Weeeeeelll, I was feeling like we could eat something first because I am really starving here.”

”Ya know, i'm actually feelin a little hungry myself.” Darren chimed in, rubbing his stomach which let out a low confirmatory growl. ”And it sounds like my stomach agrees.” He stated as they stepped into the Chicago wind, which sent a chill up his spine. All it took was some driving, and they ended up at one of those burger joints that his friend so seemed to love frequenting, not that he minded them either.

Even from the car he could smell the cooking grease and it smelt strange for some reason, though he pushed it from his mind as they stepped through the front door. People were milling about as per usual. ”Oh yeah, smell that? That is the smell of perfection.”

”Smells more like a heart attack to me.” Darren interjected, though all he got was brushed off in return.

”Best damn heart attack i've tasted.” Despite their crass nature, one could say Darren had a soft spot for them or whatever. Well that was until there was a loud crash, followed by a section of the building falling in on it's self. Dust and debris were thrown up as the people that were not crushed were screaming, Darren however found himself being thrown to the ground. What he caught sight of was a dark shape slipping through the wreckage like a shadow.

The last few times Bliss to Chicago it almost killed her. Honestly, most places did, so it gave her no real hesitation to come back. A few familiar places passed by Bliss and Ashley during their stroll, but the past could stay there; all Bliss wanted to focus on laid before her. Even if the future bore terrible outcomes, she would not face them alone. Her phone began to ring. "Goddammit! Why can't people just leave me alone?"

"Who is it now?" Ashley wore a pair of jeans with a red T-shirt, letting her loose hair cascade over her shoulders.

"Don't care. Abby. Don't care." Bliss held the phone up and set it down almost as quickly. She slid the phone into Ashley's back pocket, giving up all administrative. Her black boots sold the hue of blue in her shirt as well as the blue and black pattern of her skirt.

"So, what don't we care about." Ashley grabbed Bliss' hand as they walked past a burger joint.

Bliss came to a sudden stop. "That." Bliss remained upright, while Ashley ducked at the explosion rocking the burger joint.

Plumes of dust rose from the destruction caused by whatever it was that had attacked the burger shop. Darren groaned softly to himself as he rested on an elbow, pushing himself up to examine the destruction. ”Now I remember why I hate this city.” People were complaining around him, some of them crying from likely injuries and others just about the general mess. ”Mark, you alright?” He spoke up before looking around for that familiar friend of his, hoping more than anything this hadn't done any damage to him. His eyes would dart about for a few seconds before falling upon a familiar dust coated face, looking more annoyed than damaged.

”Awww man, this really sucks.” He griped, shaking his hands in consternation and kicking a small piece of rubble as it skipped along the ground. ”Probably one of those damn metahumans blowing shit up.” He then added, which was likely considering how often one would see one in the city. Why nothing had been done about the large influx he did not know, but maybe the government would think of something eventually.

”Whatever it was, I don't want to be around if it comes back.” Darren then added making a jerking motion of his head towards the door, which sort of hung off the frame, glass broken out of it and scattered across the ground. ”Maybe we could try eating somewhere that isn't so….do you smell that?” He started before stopping, looking around as if something had his attention. As soon as he had said that, something grabbed him by the ankle and jerked him off of his feet.

”Oh shit.” Mark cursed as Darren was lifted into the air much like a ragdoll and thrown through the hole within the roof of the burger joint across the street, and onto a car. The roof dented as the windows all shattered, and he had expected to be as well, except he wasn't.

”Well...that happened.” He sighed, rolling off the car as something rose from the cracks within the building he was thrown from, taking the form of a large snake.

Calamity did not keep Ashley down, pulling down Bliss' brow. "Those people are fine, Ashley. We can get food somewhere nicer. These people look like they eat whatever they can find." None of the forbearance Bliss gave pulled Ashley from moving in to facilitate the situation. Her first order got two unscathed people to round up any towels and napkins in the establishment they could. The background of managing offices led her to certify everyone under her in CPR. The skills payed off as she tended to the wounded with a little help from Bliss. Until Bliss heard an off hand comment about metahumans. "Hey, you can't just say stuff like that about an entire group of people you little bigot, rat face. Maybe a metahuman could come in here right now and blow up that thing you call a haircut. I'm going to eat your burger now. I hope you starve and die."

Ashley looked over to Bliss and her antics with a look of expected annoyance. "Bliss put that down. It's dirty."

Bliss ripped up the burger and threw it at Mark's chest while the restaurant began to shake. Before anything could come to light, Darren shook across the room in a reckless manner as a shadowy snake took form. "Stupid metas always messing everything up!"

"Let's find where it came from and cut it off Bliss." Ashley pointed for the person helping her to evacuate the victim she stood over.

"We don't know who's to blame for this. That shadow could have legitimate reasons for doing this. Remember that idiot Uzma who tried to stop me and I had to set her straight?" Knowing she would probably lose this argument, Bliss put her hands up to activate Blissy-time. "Fine. I'll be a sassy black girl with no decency, intelligence, or sense of justice." Bliss messed stuff up.

”First the burger place blows up, and then I get thrown by a shadow monster. I just kinda want to go home.” Darren paused, looking over the car he had reduced to nothing more than a pile of junk and sighed. ”Well...this is just one big mess now.” He sighed, rubbing the bridge of his nose and for a moment not even noticing the lack of damage on him. ”Speaking of giant shadow monsters, that just….looks bad.”  With dissatisfaction for the monster shown, he had to think of a way that he could deal with it or just get the hell out of here.

”Running sounds good, I don't have any of those fancy meta powers.” With that thought up to himself, he noticed Mark sort of leaving the wreckage with mustard and ketchup stains decorating his shirt. ”Wow, what happened to you?”

”Some crazy chick took my food and shoved it in my shirt. I mean...the nerve of her.” They growled, clenching their fists and sort of grumbling to themselves, probably showing the right amount of Mark rage. He opened his mouth to say something, but a large screech filled the air as something seemed to have attacked the creature. A large portion of it had been removed by some kind of blast. This shadow creature flailed about, taking apart the building more with it's movements and likely putting only more people in danger. ”Can't tell if meta or some sort of weird magic now.”

”Come on Mark, you know magic isn't real. It's all just people with some kind of weird gene.” Darren wave off, before making note of what looked like a large chunk of the building flying towards them. Except it was moving painfully slow to him, and without even thinking he gave his a friend a push that sent them flying forward while it collided with him. Instead of being reduced to a pulp, it sort of knocked him on his back, wondering what had happened. All it took was a push to move the debris off of him, looking at the sky with a couple more blinks. ”That was really strange.” As that happened, the now damage shadow creature flailed about before turning attention upon Bliss and aiming to tackle her.

Ashley mostly succeeded in her job of evacuating the burger joint before anymore damage could tear through the innocent establishment. Emergency workers began to arrive on the scene, first to Ashley's relief, then to her plight. "Stay back. There's something evil in there. It's a shadow monster." In other cities the authorities would arrest Ashley and commit her. In Chicago, they heeded the advice.

"Can we operate out here?" The EMTs began rallying up the injured, but where many could go immediate aid, some of the victims needed triage performed before they could be moved. "We can take most of them back, but this guy needs help now."

"I'll hold them off. You do your magic." Ashley began to move back to the establishment between Mark, looking over the destroyed rubble of the building. It suddenly lifted as the image of Darren ascended unscathed. "Woah, did that hurt?"

The wrecked building surrounded Bliss, giving the shadow ample places to hide. It struck at her from behind, tackling her to the ground.

Darren could not quite place it, but there was something in the air that smelt so….nice. Each inhale made him want to take another, causing saliva to building up within his mouth almost to the point that it began to pour over some. ”Wow...what is that?” Darren muttered, unable to focus on anything other than that scent that captivated him. His eyes fell upon Ashley for a moment as he wiped away the small amount of spittle that had accumulated around the side of his mouth. She asked of that hurt, but it really didn't which was kinda strange. Was he some kind of metahuman? The thought alone was enough to make him shudder, even though he managed to stand to his feet.

”No, i'm fine.” He said brushing her off only slightly, flexing his fingers while staring almost transfixed at his hand, as if looking at the appendage for the very first time. If he had powers, it meant so many things and yet also felt convenient almost now. He wondered if it even meant he could take down the strange serpent. ”I'll...um...see if I can help out.” Taking off in a dash, he found picking up speed to be a lot easier than before and before he knew it he was running through the ruined entrance into the battle at hand.

That shadowy shape was attacking the angry looking woman from behind, wrapping around here and aiming to strike at her throat with it's fangs. ”Now that is not good.” He muttered, taking off in a dash, striking the snake in the head region, forcing it to uncoil and flop to the ground before slinking away. ”Having a little trouble here miss?”

The shadows constricted and pulled Bliss from her feet and into the air. She squirmed her arms in an attempt to release herself from the deadly grip, but could only feel the tension choke up around her. "Shut up and get me out of this!" Bliss offered nothing other than a small table impacting against the snake's head in her defense. It came as a well put together defense, but still failed to release her.

Another blow to the head and Bliss unrolled from the snake. A muttered word started to form before Bliss abandoned it to the air. As the snake descended upon her with jaws bearing malice, Bliss brought up a fallen support beam from the ground to impale the creature upon. "I think I've got it handled from here." The shadows started to die down a little, but smoke always had a way of finding a way to pop back up.

Debris lined the room. Nothing left to hide for those within  the room, but a grand spectrum of crevices and hollow paths for the creature to slide through. "Bliss!" Ashley ran through the rubble to help Bliss back to her feet. "What was that? And you..." She turned to Darren as he stood in the wreckage of this calamity. "What are you?"

When his fist collided with the snake, it felt as if he were punching some manner of liquid rather than a solid creature and yet It reacted to being punched by flying back. ”Woah, looks like I really do have superpowers.” While many would be happy with that he was more than anything shocked by the sudden revelation. The woman that was being attacked was safe, so that was small comfort to him as he looked around to see any sign of the snake sticking around. However, it seemed to have slunk away to avoid being impaled and anymore strikes from him.

The woman from earlier ran to her side, shouting a name worriedly before turning to him and asking what he was. Darren blinked, a little floored by the question or rather the lack of an answer he had for it. ”I...think i'm a metahuman.” He stuttered, noting that his speech was slurred slightly as a few drops of spittle shot from his mouth. Wiping it away with the back of his hand, Darren sighed as the strange smell would reach his nostrils once again.

”Woah, you're a meta? I had no idea.” Mark seemed to chime in, appearing from seemingly nowhere.

”I had no idea either, it just sorta...happened.” As confused as ever he looked around. ”Do you two have any idea what that thing was?”

"Yeah, he's meta. This must be what it's like to watch bigoted parents see their kids come out of the closet. It really is fulfilling." A scenery of rubble did little to pull Bliss back to the situation that moments ago almost claimed her life. When a speck of dirt turned into a large section of her elbow, Bliss swiped the build up of refuse from her arm. She had some standards.

"Bliss you were almost eaten by a snake made of shadows." Ashley gently pushed Bliss into a chair with enough force to let Bliss know she did not get a say in this matter. "I do not know what that was. It seemed very set on destruction, and fairly attuned to killing Bliss. I happen to be very fond of Bliss, however I can see where others would be not as inclined to give her such love."

"Hey." Bliss sat her chin upon her palm. "Thanks for some of that, and people are dumb to the rest of it." Whatever creature happened to pull up from the floor managed to do some damage to Bliss. Enough to make her go light headed for a moment, but not enough for her to show it to the others in the room.

"This creature wanted something, and given your unique ability to change shape, I think it might be after you." Ashley looked back to Mark. "I know you are his friend, so you might need to get him somewhere safe. Bliss and I will look into this creature before it can do anymore harm to anyone."

Bliss nodded, but each nod made her go more off balance.