Different Visions Make Disagreements (Private; Thorgon)

I wish I could enjoy one meal, thought Chase as he sat at a Wendy's, trying to eat a baconator and enjoy himself for once in a while, but all the sounds he kept hearing just got in the way. Ever since he acquired his powers, he could hear sounds. Too many sounds. At first, he thought it was cool, that he could possibly use it to fight crime, but now he realized how maddening it was to hear everyone's conversations.

Trying to keep a bit of his sanity and his joyful nature, he decided to listen to the sounds as one full sentence.
"...he's only a..."
"...tool, he's always..."
"... a pain in the ass. I wish my boss would just ..."
"... dead and seven others confirmed wounded. ..."

The last sentence he heard snapped him back into reality. He focused his hearing on this one message to get more information. "... three dead and seven others confirmed. Calling all dispatches within a one mile radius to immediately arrive at-" the man speaking stopped suddenly, accompanied by a gunshot. With this, he didn't even need to know the address to get there. The burger dropped as Chase seemingly vanished from the world. He followed the direction he heard the bullet come from. He arrived and, without a pause, quickly ran through the bank. He counted five gunmen, 11 shot bodies and twelve hostages, three of which were at immediate gunpoint. He retreated outside to gather his wits. He knew if he rushed in without a plan, he could get several people unnecessarily killed.

Benajmin Renner sat poised in Elysium, his decked out hearse of an escape vehicle. His right elbow sat stoic on the arm rest supporting the weight of his head. In the dash above the radio was a police scanner blurting out the days crime in progress. Today it was relatively slow, the kind of day where a cat in a tree gets a patrol car sent out to it. But still Ben waited. He knew there had to be someone out there in need of help, and more importantly someone in desperate need of his punishment.

His fingers tapped nervously on the side of his hood, losing patience with the slow day. The man would rarely admit it but he enjoyed doing what he did, causing harm to those that harmed others. It filled the ever growing void inside him, a sickening pit of disdain for the sheer stupidity of man and for the cowards who took advantage of it. Then as though sensing his anxiety the scanner buzzed alive. All available units to fifth street bank. Developing hostage situation in progress.

The scanner wouldn't even have time to finish its call to action as Ben slammed Elysium in to gear and shot from the alleyway from which he was posted. His fingers now drummed in excitement on the wheel, his other hand working the shifter with expert timing. In and out of traffic the macabre vehicle swerved, dodging oncoming cars and leaving fellow vehicles in his dust. Running a red light he now saw the bank in view, at least five patrol cars surrounded the area. One man outside with a megaphone was inaudibly trying to talk down the criminals inside the bank. I'll have to get you all out of the way. Ben though as he rapidly approached the bank. He'd press down on the automatic windows on the driver side of the car with his right hand before momentarily removing his left hand from the wheel to produce two halothane grenades from inside his coat. Then reaching up to his mask he'd twist his gas mask into active position before cutting the wheel to the side and pulling the handbrake.

Elysium would lurch around like a pendulum on its front wheels as The Veil tossed the halothane grenades from the vehicle. The whipping motion from the car would provide extra momentum to fling the grenades directly into the group of police officers. By the time they would hear the screeching of Elysium's tires the grenades would already be at their feet, releasing a thick mist of halothane gas. Meanwhile Elysium was speeding around to the side of the bank, the surprised officers already succumbing to the potent gas and losing consciousness. None of them would be in any danger, The Veil meant no harm to the officers. The gas would simply make them confused and amnesiac before quickly knocking them out. After all, if they were awake when he started in to the bank, they may become collateral damage to his potent weaponry.

With the cops dealt with The Veil would once more spin Elysium around, now facing the tall windows on the right side of the bank. From this close vantage point he could now see inside. Five gunmen held weapons to the heads of hostages just out of sight below the window's ledge. Most of the men were alerted to the screeching tires and feint white smoke and had their guns trained at the front of the bank. But that was no good, The Veil needed them to be looking at him. Good thing there was a handy way for that to happen.

Forcefully he'd lay on the horn of Elysium, its wailing cry startling the men inside, and drawig their attention subconsciously to the source of the nois all within eyeshot of the tall windows on the side of the bank. It was exactly what The Veil had hoped for. With a wry chuckle he'd flip on the highbeams of Elysium. A searing blue light would replace the dull white of the headlights and engulf the bank. Screams could be heard from the men inside as the modified and intensified dental lasers in Elysium's highbeams melted their retinas, blinding all of the would be bank robbers blind instantly. Time for me to do my job The Veil would smirk as he parked Elysium in a nearby alley and exted, moving in the direction of the bank to apprehend the thugs inside.

Time to go. One major mistake and the death of their lives are on my hands... Chase thought to himself nervously, standing behind a car on the opposite side of the street, biting his thumb's nail. He took a deep breath and transformed, experiencing the sudden weightlessness that always left him unsettled.

He walked across the street, up the stairs and literally through the doors. When he first acquired these powers, he probably would've been astonished by how slow everything seemed to move, now it was just another thing that creeped him out about his powers.

Into the bank. He looked at the men, all wearing masks but still obviously desperate for some sort of way out of this. There was one lone fellow in the back. He looked the most frail and skittish, and this image wasn't improved by him holding a gun to a child's head. Chase would have very few moments to act upon once he began.

Chase re-materialized in front of the man, one hand holding the gun in place and the other moving towards it. What he was hoping would happen was that the gun would break and he would then begin to spray a can of whoop-ass on the other criminals. What actually happened was his hand hit the metal object, breaking both his hand and the gun.

Crack! went both Chase's hand and a couple of the crook's ribs. Chase reeled back in pain and suppressed a "Fuck!" as the scumbag was shoved to the ground with a powerful blow. If it wasn't for a loud obnoxious noise outside, the others might of looked behind to see some moron in tights holding his hand.

Chase spun around as a horn blasts through his eardrums. For a brief moment, he saw three criminals drop their large guns to cover their eyes and one smacking an M-16 to his forehead. Then that brief moment disappeared along with his eyesight.

CRASH! The glass on the side of the bank shattered as The Veil tossed a smoke grenade through the window in front of him. Knowing that this would cause some commotion inside he quickly ducked beside the window as a hail of bullets came flying blindly through the remaining glass. Clearly none of the remaining thugs inside could see as the bullet fire was flung madly in all directions at the side of the bank. But this was beneficial in two ways. One, the gunfire was diverted from the hostages to himself and two, firing wildly like this, the thugs would empty their clips long before they actually hit anyone. And as soon as the fire ceased, The Veil took his opportunity and charged in silently through the shattered window.

Inside the blackish grey smoke was thick, giving the Veil additional cover from any backup that officers that may have arrived. It also further hid his face from any of the hostages inside. But he could not be concerned with them right now. Now he needed to completely neutralize the remaining bank robbers.

As he approached the first, fumbling with his gun in confusion and anger, The Veil delivered a swift uppercut to the jaw, knocking the man out cold. Everyone get out now! he would shout, the gas mask muffling his voice and making it sound all the more intimidating. Luckily for him, the hostages were in a panic as it was and were all too keen to follow his orders, flooding out of the banks main entrance. Now he just needed to...wait a second.

His eyes adjusted in the smokey room falling upon a kid dressed in spandex at the back of the bank. Ah shit, that's not good The Veil thought to himself as he circled around himself in frustration and throwing his arms to his head. A hero it seemed had been caught up in the crossfire of his beam. But he had been sure that he was only hitting the criminals with it. Where had the kid come from. Oh shit oh shit he thought moving to another of the masked man. He would disarm this one and bludgeon him once over the head with the butt of his rifle. Please tell me he didn't look at the beam, please tell he he didn't look at the beam he was chanting it in his head, sweat pouring down his brow. Collateral damage was something that he took great care to prevent. Hopefully he had gotten lucky and the kid was unharmed.

Chase fumbled around without any sight. There was no ringing sound in his ears, so he ruled out the possibility of a flash bang. Did someone shine their car lights into the window?! Who's car's lights are that fucking bright?! Once he realized his sight wasn't coming back any time soon, he crouched on the ground to keep his balance.

There was a soft clunk as the smoke grenade hit the floor, even though Chase couldn't identify what it was that made the sound. He knew for a fact, though, that those bank robbers were firing their guns. Click, click, click. That was the sounds of guns emptying. As sounds began registering more and more, Chase knew his incredible hearing was good for something more than just occasionally hearing crime. The sounds began mapping the area for him and, in a sense, giving him better sight than before.

Chase barely noticed the slight thump that The Veil made as he jumped into the building. His light movement along with getting used to his new way of sight, Chase wasn't sure if it was real or not, until fumbling sounds along with a punch made it clear that someone else arrived. To further his certainty, this new person yelled "Everyone get out now!" in an intimidatingly muffled voice. After a thud to someone's head, Chase stood up uncertainly, running over to one of the robbers, grabbing his gun and putting his leg behind both of his, and with a slight push, Chase had him on the ground, pretty sure he was out cold because his head hit the marble floor.

Thud! Another thug dropped behind him. By The Veil's count it seemed that the criminals inside had all been neutralized and apparently the young hero had not lost his sight. Thank God. Benjamin was all about bringing pain to those who hurt others but he would have been distraught had he blinded a child in the crossfire.

Tossing the thug's gun aside he slowly approached the hero behind him. Now closer up, it was clear that he was young but clearly able to handle himself in a fight. But that was not all he observed. Looking at the teen's eyes his heart sank. His eyes were a glossed over milky white, a sight he had seen all too often to not recognize it. The boy had been permanently blinded. But this rose more questions than answers. How had he been able to dispatch one of the crooks if he could not see? Hell how did he get from one end of the bank to another without stumbling all over himself? Right now though those question would have to wait.

Are you alright? The Veil would ask, concern replacing his usual intimidating facade. I know you must be scared right now but try not too panic. There's no easy way to say this so I'm just gonna say it. He paused for a second, swallow back the lump in his throat. You've been permanently blinded. I know it sounds scary but I might be able to help. Regardless we need to get out of here, more cops are bound to be on their way in. With that The Veil would grab ahold of the teen's hand and begin to try to lead him out of the smoke filled bank.

Chase slowly stood up, still weary due to his unfamiliarity with his new sight. While it may arguably give him better vision, it also required more attention, and with all the different inputs he was constantly getting, that was sometimes a difficult thing to have. His hand that he had broken earlier pulsed. He could feel it healing, another feeling to add to the list of things he'll never get used to, but it'd still take some time for it to heal completely.

The Veil stood in front of him, seemingly observing, most likely completely oblivious to the fact that Chase could tell more of his actions than he thought. "Are you alright?" The man asked with concern in his voice.
"What the hell happened?!" Chase said with rising worry in his voice.
" I know you must be scared right now but try not too panic. There's no easy way to say this so I'm just gonna say it." After a pause and the disgustingly defined sound of him swallowing, he continued on with "You've been permanently blinded. I know it sounds scary but I might be able to help. Regardless we need to get out of here, more cops are bound to be on their way in." Before Chase could respond with violence, The Veil grabbed his broken hand and snapped his ever increasingly angry mind back into perspective. It wouldn't look good in the eyes of the police or the media if he suddenly laid waste to this hero, so he'd just have to wait. Besides, maybe the help he can offer will make up for it.

Just stay calm The Veil would assert to the blinded hero as he guided him up and over the broken glass of the banks window. Once outside, he would maneuver the teen into Elysium before getting in himself. Before I can do anything, we need to get out of here. he'd explain, throwing the hearse into first gear and pulling out of the alley where he was parked.

Every second he knew was precious and the sooner he could get this boy medical attention, the better off he might be. But despite that thought, another hung like a dark shadow in the back of his mind. I designed my gear for permanent blindness and that's what it causes. Besides I'm no eye surgeon. There's no way that I can actually help this kid, so what the hell am I going to do. Suppressing the thought for now he'd weave in and out of traffic until they were out of the city limits. All and all it would have been about a half an hour, The Veil knew it was more time than he could work with. The boy was blind, it was a fact. A art of his life and his experience was removed for good and there was no way for him to make it better. But here this kid was, sitting in the seat beside him, expecting help.

Coming to a stop in an old abandoned lot outside the city, The Veil would exit the car and guide the young man to the back of the hearse. What's your name? he'd ask with his best bedside manner before opening up the doors to his makeshift medical lab in the back of the hearse. Hopefully he could get this guy's trust. What he'd do from there, he had no idea.

"Just stay calm." A voice said, irritating Chase as he guided him over broken glass. It took him just a moment to realize they were walking over to a vehicle in an alleyway. For as much as this guy pisses me of, I have to admit his ride's kind of cool. He guided Chase into the vehicle, and though it irritated him to be dealt with like a cripple, he realized it'd be best to try to keep up this helpless facade for as long as possible. "Before I can do anything, we need to get out of here." he explained, changing the gears and driving out of the alleyway.

As Chase sat there, he had to resist the urge to hurt this man. I could end him right now. I suddenly disappear and reappear with a fist in his face. He'd crash, revenge would be mine.

By the time they arrived at an old abandoned building outside the city, he had decided not to kill this man. He would gladly hurt him, but killing is out of the question. He wouldn't be much of a hero if he killed a man that fights for a similar goal, now would he?

"What's your name?" The man asked him.

"Reverb." Chase said coldly, despite the man trying to atone for his actions, seemingly trying to be a pleasant person.

Alright Reverb The Veil would begin, still trying to maintain the appearance that he was in control of the situation and was able to help. In reality he knew it was pointless, but at least he could save face by making it look like he did everything that he could right? I'm going to need you to get in the back of the hearse and lay down on the table inside. The back is a mobile medical lab so I'll be better able to assess the damage once you're inside. He would then begin to maneuver Reverb through the hearse's open doors, attempting to get him to lie down on the bed.

"Alright Reverb, I'm going to need you to get in the back of the hearse and lay down on the table inside. The back is a mobile medical lab so I'll be better able to assess the damage once you're inside. The Veil said as he led Chase through the open doors. He tried to get him to lay down, but he wouldn't do so.
"'You've been permanently blinded.' That's what you said, right? If that's true, what do you think you can do to help me?" Chase said, irritation seeping through his voice, despite him trying to stop it from doing so.

The kid was sharp The Veil had to admit that. In his panic he had said permanently blind. It was a stupid and simple mistake. A slip of the tongue whose consequences he could not have foreseen. The Veil stumbled on his words for a moment, trying to find something to say. The kid was blind, no two ways about it. Look I'm sorry The Veil finally blurted out in frustration. I thought maybe...I don't know there could be something. He tried to wrack his brain for something, some piece of information from medical school that could indicate how to fix this but there was nothing. Now that the functional part of his eye was not only destroyed but burned over there was no hope. And his eyes kept coming back to those singed white eyes, lifeless and empty.

"Look I'm sorry" He said, obviously frustrated. "I thought maybe...I don't know there could be something."

Chase sighed before saying "Can't say the thought of getting my eyesight back wasn't a pleasant one. Hell, if you had succeeded, I most definitely would've been able to forgive you." He walked a couple feet away, bent down and picked up a rock. "Of course, that didn't happen, but hey, you drove me away from the cops and any possible media! Good thing they won't be able to see this next part." Chase tossed up the rock, followed by his disappearance in the eyes of his target. The rock fell slowly in this state, what would normally only take seconds now seeming to take an eternity. All he had to do was hit the rock in such a way that it didn't tear through his hand and that it was aimed at The Veil.

After a couple practice pitches, Chase threw his arm as if to throw a baseball. Maybe this isn't such a great idea, he thought to himself as he got close to the rock, turning back into matter, causing the rock to fly at The Veil's leg at near moch 1 speeds. He reeled back a little as his arm began to smoke.

The Veil's tone quickly changed as he listened to the teen make his speech. Speeches, he'd determined in his time as a vigilante were never a good sign and usually something made by the more villainous type. Immediately his mind began racing through what to do. Thought number one, don't let him know you're on to him. The Veil's muscles tensed, preparing for combat. He'd let Reverb make the first move. SO long as he thought he was the one making a surprise attack, the better positioning The Veil would have afterwards.

Second on his mind was the boy's abilities. He had some clues but not much. What clues did he have? Well, the boy had appeared inside the bank at some point between The Veil analyzing its interior and flipping on his headlights, so speed was potentially a part of it. This was further indicated by his outfit, tight fitting and thin. There would be little room for an protective covering inside the suit so either he was incredibly durable or fast enough to get out of the way of most attacks. Finally he had the hero's name, Reverb, most likely indicating sound based powers. The waveform on his costume confirmed this. Put all the pieces together and you most likely had a hero that whose abilities revolved around sound. Most probably he was a sonokinetic speedster. Ben could work with this.

Suddenly the metahuman disappeared, tossing a small rock in the air as a high pitched screech went off. It was all the Veil needed to confirm his hypothesis about the teens powers. Immediately his hand right hand would shoot into his jacket grabbing a halothane grenade and tossing it at his feet. The nearly translucent white erupted out in a wide area around The Veil, enveloping not only himself but Elysium as well along with a 30 m radius around them. Visibility was still clear but even a single breath of the gas would allow it to begin working its effects; confusion, dizziness, amnesia, loss of motor functions etc. The Veil's gas mask still sealed from earlier would protect him from its effects. Reverb however would not be so lucky.

His maneuver was just in time too as the speedster reappeared within the cloud, punching the thrown rock directly at The Veil. The tiny projectile moved like a rocket, colliding with his armored trench coat half a foot above the knee. The pain bolted up and down The Veil's leg as he could already feel a significant bruise forming. But thanks to the trench coat he would not suffer any debilitating damage. He couldn't say the same for the misguided speedster. Tightening his fist, he'd cock back and run at the boy, the tow of them still well encased in the thin haze. Once he was upon Reverb he would immediately feint his much instead dropping to a knee, using his momentum to swing his right leg around, attempting to take out the speedster's legs.

Some very light clicking sounds and a very light thud alerted Chase to what the man was dropping, but he didn't worry as he heard his rock make contact. One moment. His first mistake was during the one moment he took his guard down, expecting victory to practically be his and there to be a hole in the man's leg. Thud! went the rock as it hit the armored trench coat. His second mistake was inhaling the misty gas that had spread around them. The surprise left him a bit dumbfounded, and that's all it took to screw him over.

If it weren't for his healing capabilities, the gas might have had more effect. At the same time, if it weren't for his healing capabilities, maybe he would've taken more caution when fighting this foe.

His hands started to shake and his legs began to buckle a little as he stumbled back. He wasn't quite sure what he was doing there, but he knew enough not to take another breath. Reality clicked back for him as he saw a mask in his face, but not fast enough for him to prevent the man's leg from swinging into his. He began to fall, turning into sound more as a reaction than the cause of any rational thought.

That went all kinds of wrong way too fast, Chase thought to himself, completely surprised how everything went wrong. With a moment to think, he realized he needed to even the playing fields. He stood himself in front of him. He swung his left hand down, the one he had broken early, down on one of the canisters, turning back into matter as he did so.

The canister broke, of course. His left hand might not have been broken, but a piece of plastic got lodged into his hand. God damnit, you think I would've learned by now! he thought as he reeled back, holding his bleeding hand.