Octasquad, move out! (Forceaus&magevampyre) (or ask me, yo :P)

"There's two of them, shit!"

Some adolescent punk was running, stumbling through his self proclaimed 'home-turf': an alley-way at 2 AM. A clean one, mind you. But one used for dirty business. Jeremy hated punks. He'd went 1 on 2 using Green on the punk and his pal at the back, before deciding to drop Orange down to get the one-up. The punk freaked out and made his escape. Guess not all punks are what they make themselves out to be. He almost made it out, before a third silhouette descended from the roofs above him, blocking his exit. A white light switched on like a visor, and the punk backed up.

"A couple more than that, punk." He looked up towards the roofs and saw several other colored lights staring down at him. "We're an Octasquad. Go to school." The punk gritted his teeth, terrified. He looked back at White only to see a wound up fist shooting towards him.
*THWACK*

Meanwhile, Orange and Green had dealt with his pal, leaning unconscious against the wall. Red (waiting on the roof) pulled a phone out of his pocket and called the emergency services. He almost typed 000, before realizing his surroundings. Emergency services, police, "There's been some kind of shifty business here, I'm certain it's gotta be a drug deal. Lots of people going in and out. Yep. I'll hang around, it's fine."

White, Green and Orange had made their way to the roof and waited in silence with the other 4 who were up there. The one who was normally designated Purple was in fact out of costume, and waited outside the alley sitting at a park bench. This all had to go according to plan. Police arrive, and ask Purple if he was the one who called. Purple says no, but mentions someone else who left. Police investigates the alley and discovers a treasure trove of illegal substances and two incapacitated young souls. While they're in there, Purple and the rest of the Octasquad would leave to continue investigating areas of good ol' Philly.

Jeremy was certain of this plan. Instead, he contemplated his role as a 'hero'. Surely, there were battles out there that would save the lives of thousands of people. How could his actions compare to those? Save them. How? That voice echoed in his mind. Was it Tabitha's? With eight minds at your disposal, you'd assume that you'd know everything. But they're all the same mind. His mind. And as Jeremy sat there, waiting for the police arrive, he couldn't help but think of what else he could be doing.

Since running away from home and moving into the big city, Arienne's priorities for life had changed. No longer were the concerns things like getting good grades and avoiding bullies at school. Certainly no longer were the concerns of avoiding the wrath of her drug addicted, abusive mother. No longer did she worry about the things her peers thought about her, not that she had ever really worried about that part of things very much. Now her concerns were different. Largely, they involved where she was going to get the money to pay for the rent for the little dive she called her own and little things like where she was going to find her next meal. Her mother may have been a lot of things, most of them not any sort of positive, but she rarely rarely went hungry under her mother's watch.

Fortunately for Darkshift, she had some unique skills that made finding the money for rent and food less challenging than it might have been for some. No, that didn't mean she was working a high paying 9-5 somewhere, far from it. Instead, she put her unique abilities to use stealing what she needed to survive. Mostly, when she could, stealing from those who could afford to be stolen from and doing her best not to too seriously hurt anyone in the process. She might have been a truant and punk with little to no respect for authority, but that didn't mean she had to be a bad person.

Theft, however, was only likely to get her so far and to Arienn's mind, some of the real money lay in drugs. She'd have to be careful with that trade, of course, both in what she chose to deal in and who she chose to deal with but when a potential opportunity presented itself, she couldn't simply pass it up. The advantage of drugs was that the buyer was buying willingly and if she chose her substance of choice right, she could avoid some of the nastier side effects. Gangs and organized crime were another matter entirely and one likely not so easily avoided, but she had her own gifts to help with that potentially nasty side effect of the business.

To that end, Arienne found herself in on a rooftop overlooking an alley where the two punks she was waiting to meet were standing. The invitation had come a couple of days ago but, before doing business, she wanted to see how their little organization did business. Thus, she had been watching them, nothing more than a shadow in the night, for the last hour. All in all, nothing they did seemed too objectionable. Their patrons came with money and left with whatever drugs they sought to purchase. The patrons themselves didn't appear to be too bedraggled leading to the impression that they likely had homes and lives outside of their use which suggested the primary drugs of choice weren't the ones ruining lives. Except, perhaps, the kind of ruination that came from breaking the law and ending up in prison. So far their earlier words were proving accurate.

Just prior to Arienne's decision to make her pretense known the punks were dispatched, in rather concise fashion, by a group of vigilantes. It would have been quite a sight to behold if she hadn't been about to start a business venture with the fine gentlemen who found themselves incapacitated. All was not lost, however, as their bodies and, presumably, their bounty were left behind with them. She could see a civilian near the entrance of the alley but, if she were quite, she might be able to get away with the goods without drawing his attention. She might even be able to rouse them enough to escape the law themselves. After all, they didn't seem to be bad people just people involved with a dangerous criminal activity.

Jumping down from the roof, black wings sprouted from Arienne's back perfectly matching the black veil across her entire body. She landed in near silence as the wings retreated back into nothingness and approached the nearest body.

Where were the bloody police?
Bennit was looking all over the place. The park, the roads all around them, and one clean set of eyes set on the alley itself.

Something just happened. Something shifted, it was difficult to describe. Was it even anything? Before he even thought about it, 3 other duplicates were analyzing every bit of the alleyway. Purple tried to look from the park, but couldn't see anything without getting closer. Their lights were off, though White turned his on. It wasn't nearly bright enough to see if anything was down there. He switched it back off.

Plan: Purple investigates. Add pretense of being a customer. If nothing, A-OK. If something, determine sentience. If non-sentient, determine danger. If non-dangerous, leave alone. If dangerous, engage with the others. If sentient, improvise.

And as per plan, Purple left his park bench and headed into the alley. He attempted to act rather intimidated by his surroundings, which wasn't hard considering the possible danger this body was in. He took notice of the punk he previously dispatched by the exit, and tried for a natural response. "Holy cow! What happened here?! Hey! It's Timothy! We spoke over the phone?  Anyone home?" Purple paused before the end of the alleyway, unable to see any further. This better go down well.

Arienne considered her self to be a good person and he considered her morals to be strong. Breaking the law wasn't immoral when the laws themselves were, essentially, flawed. There wasn't anything inherently wrong either the use or the selling of drugs, at least the drugs she was interested in selling. Unless they were being sold to children, of course, but she wasn't about to go down that road. She remembered what drug addiction had done to her mother, the way it had changed and corrupted her. Yet, those memories served as the counsel to pick one's poison's carefully and not counsel to fight back against the whole damn collection of them. She wasn't going to be the type of dealer that lead to addiction, pain and suffering. She wasn't. She was going to be the type of dealer that helped facilitate a good time. She was going to be different.

It should have been a simple matter to rifle through some clothes and find what she was looking for. It should have been a simple matter to dump the substances she didn't want and keep the ones she did leading to the start of a hopefully prosperous business venture. Unfortunately, what might be simple in concept was sometimes not so simple in reality especially with the addition of additional humans to the fray. Unwanted humans.

Just as Arienne was about to begin searching the who unconscious punks the man from the end of the alley approached talking on his phone in agitated fashion. She cursed silently to herself. This was exactly what she needed, someone interfering in what should have been something ridiculously simple. Still, this was a contingency she could deal with. One lone human was hardly any match for her.

Leaving the body for the moment, Arienne flattened herself as close to the wall of the alley as possible and began creeping forward towards the man on the phone. If she could get close enough it shouldn't be too difficult to incapacitate him quietly and without actually doing any real damage. A black energy tendril around his neck to cut off his breathing long enough for him to fall unconscious should surely do the trick. But first, getting close enough to be able to reach him.

It didn't look like there was anything around here. Purple reached the end of the alley, and there wasn' a damn- ..!

The hell is that? Something was strangling Purple. Bennit could definitely determine one thing: It was dangerous. And Purple couldn't see what it was. It didn't feel like a hand, in fact it didn't feel like much at all. But he had to act. The Octasquad had to engage. Brown and Blue flicked on their lights, aiming to land on either side of him.

With a breath from each, they both jumped at exactly the same time, hoping to pounce on Purple's attacker. If not, they should at least be able to see what was going on.

Approach close enough to summon said energy: check. Energy tendril formed and successfully wrapped around the target's neck: check. Target falling unconscious before anyone else knew Arienne was there or managed to interfere: not check.

First one light turned on to shine on one side of Arienne and her target and then a second light held by a second man shone on her other side. She swore audibly to herself. Stupid, how could she be so stupid? How had she managed to miss at least 2 other people in the area and how many more were there? Careless, stupid and she probably deserved whatever resulted from her over-confidence and lack of foresight.

Had Arienne's vision been normal, the lights might have served to blind her and prevent her seeing her new would be attackers as they they jumped in unison and attempted to land on top of her. As it was, she managed to roll away from one of the pair and catch only a glancing blow from the second. What the unexpected attack did manage to serve was releasing her tendril prematurely and likely before her first target had actually reached unconsciousness.

(OOC: I'm assuming she's in her 'Fade to Darkness' state, yeah? Which I'm also assuming makes her look pitch black.)

There was a lot to process, but Bennit had 8 minds to work with. This attacker probably only had one. Purple was exasperated, and immediately dropped down on all fours. As he caught his breath, he would crawl his way out of the alley.

Blue and Brown had a whole other issue to attend. She was superpowered, and it wasn't quite clear what her abilities were. Viewing her, she looked like a living silhouette of a girl. Something magic, it seemed. Something Bennit had never encountered before, too. Though he could now safely determine that she was in fact sentient. This meant there was a whole array of options to go with, depending on how hospitable this girl was. Up on the roof, his other bodies had spotted a police car a couple blocks away heading towards this direction. All of this thought took place within a couple seconds, and Bennit had an idea.

Blue took a step back to pair up with Brown again, attempting to block the alley's exit. He also began to speak. There was no voice modulator, but instead it was the low and serious voice of a man. Much like a father. Through a helmet. In stealth gear.

"Police will be here in under a minute. I think it's in our common interests to avoid them. Now, you wanna take this someplace else or explain what the hell you're doing?" Blue notioned towards the roof, where Red crouched on the edge and looked down, his light on. He used the exact same voice, albeit a bit louder. "We've got the advantage. Now hurry, please."

Did he really have the advantage? Who knew. Bennit didn't know the extent of this girl's powers, only his own. But she was in the same position, and he had made the bluff. He had hoped aggression wasn't this girl's only outlet, though.

(OOC: Yes she is.)

Arienne didn't want to fight and she certainly didn't want to deal with police. Probably she could get away from them but was that a risk she was willing to take? Overall, it sounded like a whole lot of stress for very little reward. What had, at first, looked to be an opportunity for easy money was quickly escalating into something requiring far more investment than seemed warranted for, at most, a couple thousand dollars in drugs.

There were at least three enemies in the area that Arienne had encountered and who knew how many more. Even with her powers, that didn't exactly seem like great odds. "Whoever you guys are, you're the ones who started the violence here, not me." She was just taking advantage of a situation; no one was supposed to get seriously hurt and nothing was supposed to get this complicated. She wanted wanted to punch one of the men and let out her anger and frustration. She didn't.

"What guarantee do I have that you're not all just going to turn on me the moment we get out of the line of fire?" Arienne asked. Fighting might be a tempting way to get out anger but it was stupid if it was pointless. Black claws grew out of her hands and feet as she crouched next to a wall, preparing to climb it.

Bennit took a great deal of attention in watching Arienne's actions. It was still unclear as to whether she was human or not, but her behavior made that piece of information redundant. Shadow claws poured from her hands, and Bennit decided: A corporeal shadow with shapeshifting to some degree. That's what he knew.

He found her rebuttal humorous, and Red chuckled a little. He didn't think she suspected him to turn on her, she was probably just biding her time. 'Winging it'. Typical of punks, albeit hilarious. Nevertheless, he gave an honest response.

"I suppose I ought to, seeing you strangle that man for no apparent reason..." Of course, that man was him. If it was anyone else, she would be totally right. But she didn't know that. By now, Purple was back sitting on his park bench catching his breath. Did he forget to say 'we' before? "Surely we have a do-gooder vibe, right? Beat down two street goons. Saved a guy. Didn't try to choke you on sight." It was almost insulting. Bennit remained calm. "Besides, shadow-girl, I have no idea what you can do. It'd be a fool's move. I don't doubt have the same resolution."

Sirens. Blue and Brown didn't delay anymore, and started to make their way up the roof themselves. If she decided to run that way then she'd have to greet the police, something she indicated wasn't pleasant to do.

It wasn't like Arienne was really going to hurt the guy. Wrong place at the wrong time is what it amounted to. Unfortunate, but she, of all people, was well acquainted with the fact that life wasn't always fair. The way she saw it, her actions proved that she was doing her best about minimizing the damage done to others. It wasn't like she bore him any ill will or anything; if all had gone well he would have been unconscious for a little bit and that was it. No worse for wear, really. Of course, none of the others probably knew her full intent.

"Props to you for not trying to choke me on sight," Arienne answered, her voice dripping with sarcasm. Not that they could have anyway, but they probably didn't realize that. At least they seemed smart enough to realize that they had no idea what she was capable of. She'd give them props for that. Reluctant props, but props nonetheless.

As the sirens began to be heard in the background, Arienne began climbing. Black clawed hands and feet dug into the bricks of the building and she was able to ascend the shear wall with relative ease. Once on top of the building, a pair of shadow wings sprouted from her shoulders. While she was far too heavy for true flight, she found them useful for gliding short distances such as those between buildings.

"Lead on, I'll follow." For the moment at least and so long as he didn't lead her anywhere in which she felt cornered.

(OOC: It's like a bag of M&Ms up in this mix )

Purple left the park and planned to move away from the police before maintaining a reasonable distance between the rest of the Octasquad. He couldn't be bothered at this point, and the plan had technically worked so there was no real issue. This girl, though, she had become one.

They kept a wide enough formation around the girl which they hoped was understandable. It went:


White lead, moving forwards and sighting everything ahead.
Orange and Yellow looked at their left and rights, respectively.
Red and Green kept an eye on the girl from the side, while looking behind the group.
Brown and Blue kept an eye on the girl from the back.
The formation would appear rather loose and changed size a lot, but the image stuck in Bennit's multi-mind.

All of his selves moved swiftly across the rooftops with their lights on so they could see. At one point, Yellow latched onto a ledge and got himself up, only to instantly turn around help Green who followed up behind him. Red moved closer to the girl, enough to speak to her. It was important that she didn't catch on to the voice thing, and so far she'd only heard two.

"So you know what I was doing, obviously. What were you doing down there? And why did you attack that man?" Did he forget to say 'we' again? It shouldn't matter, it makes sense either way.