Dealing With D-Listers (Amused Glint)

"Back in the city." Maverick uttered under his breath as he overlooked the city streets of California. Plently of street lights illuminate the roads as he hopped off of a rooftop his body became imbued in electricity as he propelled himself forward and zoomed through the sky.

"What is there to do?" Maverick asked himself as he looked down, scanning the area for anything of interest. He craved any form of excitement, or at least something to capture his curiosity.

It was only people walking, nobody doing anything special. The people tonight weren't up to much.  "This is L.A. I could've sworn they do it big down here."

While scanning the L.A. streets he hear a loud thud and looked down to see a figure fleeing from another figure.  "Well would you look at that? We got ourselves a game of tag."  He said with a smirk on his face as he began to shadow the pursuit, paying close attention, tracking their every move.

As he followed them, he viewed the prey get captured in some type of glass construct trap. "The hell?" He whispered as he began to descend. He would land on the ground and would revert back to his normal appearance. "What's going on?" he shouted to the three people having an altercation trying to investigate the drama to get a better understanding.

"No! no! I didn't do anything! They made me do it! It's their fault!" He raved, as he pushed past an open gate towards one of the run down apartment buildings in this less than friendly looking neighborhood.

From a man who has spent most of his life running from police, bounty hunters and metahumans rather than fighting them, the Chloroformaster seemed to demonstrate an uncanny ability to avoid capture. The moment the first glass hits the ground, he performs a side roll to avoid the trap and keeps sprinting, sticking to cover.

Diana though, however more athletic and agile, seemed unable to catch someone's sheer desperation to escape the way Chloroformaster was. The criminal regularly looked back at his pursuers, allowing him to duck another fastball from Diana.

"This guy is a friggin escape artist!" Diana thought, while cursing in her native tongue as she powered to close the distance between the criminal and herself.

He had ducked into the side of the property, and climbs- no, leaps- in through a window with the dexterity of a circus acrobat. and so the chase would apparently continue inside that apartment- Diana runs up the wall and climbs in through the window.

Flabbergasted, Shard watched as the thin man avoided her maneuver with a swift roll. Perhaps she was wrong about what kind of powers this Chlorformaster had. Maybe he had super enhanced reflexes that allowed him to react instantaneously to the world around him.  That would explain why he was able to get the upper hand on those female metahumans.

A wave of her hand and a spin later, all of the glass that had formed the walls shattered.  The newly freed glass danced around her and then attached to her stained glass dress, lengthening it the skirt and the sleeves.  Shard was about to chase after the perpetrator jumped at the sound of a voice from behind her.  Instinctively the glass that had just formed into her skirt broke off and gathered like daggers in the air.

Was this man a friend or ally of the badly named Chloroformaster? From the way he was dressed Shard knew that he was a metahuman, since who else would dress like that (admittedly she was guilty of doing this herself)?  She allowed herself to relax slightly but gave a glance over her shoulder at the building that Chloroformaster basically flew through.

"Uh... official... p-" Shard had the word 'police' on the tip of her tongue but she suddenly remembered that impersonating an officer was a crime, "p...rotectors business." Yeah okay, that wasn't too bad. "Official super hero business. Shit could hit the fan at any moment so I recommend you..." Fuck... what was the word again? "Get along..." Eh... close enough.

Shard flashed a smile, gave him a lame thumbs up, and then flew off after Ronin while letting the glass attach to her lengthy glass skirt and sleeves. She silently swore to herself again. There was no way of knowing if someone still lived in this house so she couldn't use her power in here. Too much collateral damage.

Evacuate, Shard recalled as she was flying through the window, The fucking word was evacuate.

Maverick analyzed thr situation at hand and concluded the two were trying to subdue the man. He studied the man's attire snd couldn't really get a feel for him. "Did he owe them money? Or are they just bullying people for the sake of it. That's really none of my business but it does intrigue me..." he mutter under his breath.

They're abilities also caught his attention. The average looking man was quite impressive with his ability to avoid capture. When he watched him run into a low quality apartment building he shook his head in disappointment. "After that display you decide to corner yourself into a building? All that flash and no substance." He mumbled and shrugged his shoulders.

When he approached one of the predators. He noticed she was manipulating glass daggers that rose into the air. He instantly withdrew his tanto and placed a hand onto his hip where one of his pistols reside. She explained the situation pretty vaguely and he only smirked when she told him to get lost.

"I'd totally do that if i wasn't so bored." He replied as he began immediately following the glass manipulating woman. He kicked in his superhuman speed and would dash in an attempt to pass her up and enter the building through a window and decided to join the chaos.

With Diana and Jade lacking the sheer speed of the newcomer, it would be Maverick who would most likely catch up first. However, once inside the run down apartment complex, he'd find it quiet... and empty. the Chloroformaster having ducked into a different apartment, one where the lights were out, his cape just visible as he turned the corner.

Anyone who pursued Chloroformaster would be in for a nasty surprise. In an environment like this, the villain could easily set one of his infamous traps, traps that have capture even the most cautious with clever and conniving chemical concoctions...

Diana's own instincts kicked in once they entered the building. Their game of tag on open ground had turned into a game of hide and seek, in this shoddy place with below-building-code-legal narrow corridors, mazelike hallways and small, repetitive doors that did not distinguish apartment from storage rooms or utility rooms. With her sword too long to use in this place, she switched to a knife- a much more suitable weapon for those close encounters.

Diana chose caution now. Room to room fighting was never a pretty business. She gestured to Jade and Maverick to keep quiet, lest their quarry would get away, or get a chance to prepare a surprise.

First Shard was nearly thrown out of the way for a second time that day when the man zipped by her.  Okay so was this guy's power also super speed? Why was everyone so fast? It was almost unfair.

When she finally reached the window she had to deconstruct her glass wings.  Shard found that she had too much glass for this setting so she formed some of her wing into a tiara which then sat on her head.  The rest was formed into a reinforced window so that anyone who wanted out would have to use a lot of force. Force that would immediately alert Shard.

As she walked along her glass dress gave off a cacophony of noise that seemed to echo in the building.  Shard bit her lip, paused, and then continued slower- which did literally nothing but made the glass shards that made up her outfit clink slower.  She never was good at being stealthy.

With each step some of her dress detached to form a spear made of glass that floated by her side.  A wave of her hand sent glass shards to the front of one doorway. If anyone came through this way they would step on the glass and Shard would be alerted to their presence.  She repeated the process repeatedly until she was down to her glass spear and tiara.

"Any idea where he went?" Shard asked as she came upon Ronin and the stranger. Shard supposed that he was now part of the group too. "Uh... hi," She called out to him, "Name's Shard. I control glass. That's Ronin, she cuts, punches, kicks, beats with table legs, and appliances. So... what exactly do you do?"  All the while she was talking she was reaching out with her senses to see if there were any silicate within the building that she could use. "And by the way you probably should kind of hop over the space in front of the doors back there." She jerked a thumb behind her. "Kind of laid a sensory field down in case anyone goes through there. Won't hurt you if you do but it'll just fuck with me a bit."

When Maverick entered the soundless building after passing up the other two pursuers he looked around and began to analyze his surroundings. The dingy setting created caution for Maverick, however it created even more excitement.

He caught a sight of the prey's cape as he cut a corner and he rose his left hand into the air causing electricity to dance upon his arm to create a source of light. He looked at one as she gestured for him to keep quiet and he shrugged his shoulders agreeing with her even though he hadn't decided fully how he was involved in this altercation.

"How you doing? The name is Maverick. As you can see, I got some super speed." He used his other hand to point at the electricity dancing on his palm. "I'm quite electrifying also." He said as he pointed back to his weapons he keeps holstered on his back and side. "I'm pretty decent at cutting and punching stuff myself."

"Sensory field you say?" He asked as he closed his eyes and create a small electrical field throughout the building and could field a distortion moving among it. "I sense something moving pretty face, I detect it must be your target." He said as he pointed with the hand the electricity was formed on in the direction he was moving. "I shall follow you guys lead, I'm just hear for the ride."

Diana slowly studied the messy apartment Chloroformaster fled into. Lots of dust, lots of old furniture, and lots of boxes of old junk- a perfect place for am ambush.

The Chloroformaster had no where else to run in that apartment. He holed himself up in a closet, having laid down traps in a futile last stand.

Diana nodded to Maverick. She wasn't sure why he suddenly wanted to help, but Diana figured he'd be one more body to spring traps.

"Alright then, We'll take this slow and smooth. Shard, whatever Chloroformaster is holding, knock it out of his hands. Maverick, once you see a clear path to the guy take him down before he tries anything-" Diana crouched down to the entrance of the apartment. She saw a thread, and cut it, causing the improvised booby trap involving a bottle of chemicals to fail.

Diana closed her eyes and focused, using her hearing to defeat the darkness and the messy, messy apartment. and heard the whimpering of a grown man from a closet.

"In the cabinet. You guys ready?" She asked. She looked at Maverick to initiate, preparing another baseball to chuck at the C.Master's face.


Shard's Silicone sense

The moment Shard used her psychic ability to reach out to the glass native to the apartment, there was something immediately sinister, an evil that permeated every single thing in the building. While she still had control over the glass she brought, and any glass not tied down, the building's windows were firmly in the grip of the malevolent will. It was as if something else was in control of the glass. It was evil, hungry, and perhaps worst of all...

...it noticed Shard herself. That would be when she realized they as a group had walked into the wrong apartment. From the glass, the darkness attempted to use Shard' psychic bridge- to control her, like ravenous monsters trying to reach Shard through the psychic 'bridge' she opened.

The silicate manipulator opened her mouth to protest.  She couldn't actually knock things out of people's hand unless it had some form of silicon metal inside of the object.  Even then if there were only trace amount then the whatever the Chloroformaster held in his hand would only wobble at best.   Shard COULD cause the canister to explode regardless of how much silicate it contained- but that would maim the man and she was not about to take that path just yet.

Nevertheless she gave a silent nod and reached out with her sensory power, focusing it in, trying to locate anything that she could manipulate.  That's when it reached her.  Something cold was on the periphery of her mind.  At first she felt this strange ominous presence, almost like there was another mind there. As though there was an intelligent being who wanted to hurt her bad.

Shard blinked and cast a glance around.  There was no one else here from what she could tell.  Perhaps there was a telepath here who was trying to save the Chloroformaster?  But no... this felt different somehow. This felt- her thoughts were cut off as she heard something hiss behind her.  

Instinctively she spun around and lifted the spear high with her power. But there was nothing... was it all in her mind? She could feel something gripping onto the edges of her consciousness. Suddenly she felt as though she was losing control of her powers.  The spear quivered in the air. Her mask began to vibrate slowly against her mental commands.  

Shard's breathing quickened, her heart began to beat faster, and she began to shake as she fought back whatever was affecting her.  As her consciousness began to cloud deeper, a voice began to whisper to her.  The words were indecipherable but Shard could tell malicious intent when she heard it.  She dropped to her knees, unsure if the other two heroes were even aware of what was happening.

Her mind's eye began to close as the overwhelming feeling of despair, hate, and fear overwhelmed her.  A single tear ran down her cheek as her glass spear began to spin wildly in the air. First aiming at Ronin, then at Maverick, and then at the closet where Chloformaster was hiding.  The voice in her head was now shouting at her in a language that seemed to bear the very aura of hatred itself.

Was this what death felt like? The end was so horrifying, so spiteful... so lonely.  Shard- no not Shard. Jade. Jade could see herself now, surrounded by encroaching darkness. Alone.  She was going to die alone.

The spear, no longer in her control, flew straight towards the Chlorformaster just as Jade unleashed a scream of fury-pushing whatever had entered her mind out.  The spear shattered into thousands of glass shards just as its tip pierced the wood of the closet. The mask and crown on Jade's head would shatter and break apart as well. As will every piece of silicone and glass within three hundred feet of her. Any piece that wasn't touched by some demonic essence from hell that is.

Finally free from the influence of whatever the hell that was, Jade clutched her arms around herself, shaking.  She had completely cut off all sources of her power. No longer able to hear the thrum of silicon all around her, she realized how quiet the world actually was. Jade took quick wavering breaths and would remain curled up on the ground.

Maverick listened to Diana's plan for approach of their elusive adversary. Maverick was pretty decent at stealth but much preferred a more direct approach. He wasn't even sure if their "target" was his. He personally didn't even know what the dude did or anyone's issue with each other. He simply followed people to see how things would unfold.

Maverick watched as Diana disarmed a trap and a bottle of chemicals fell onto the ground. "Oh, so he is trying to lure us into his traps hmm?" Maverick whispered to his two new acquaintances and he quietly nodded and smirked. This POS could've poisoned him or any other effects that was in his chemicals.

Maverick was close to just speeding throughout the building and wreck absolutely everything but that wasn't fun plus he didn't wanna step on the other twos toes and simply would only offer support.

When Diana suggested he launch an attack when he sees an opportunity he took that order with no flak. He pointed two fingers upward as electricity began to coat his hand. "I'm going to vaporize him in one blow." He said as the electricity began to build more dense across his arm. "I'm more then ready."

Right before he was ready to launch an electric blast at the closet, he noticed one of the pursuers had fallen to their knees. "Are you okay?" He asked as he viewed her strange body language especially in that setting. He looked up at her projectile that began to show strange behavior just like her, spinning wildly. The display rose his caution.

He saw her and her episode of emotions and whatever inner thoughts she was enduring and decided not to wait on her. "I got this." He mumbled as he turned his eyes back on the closet and launched a strong blast of electricity right out of his finger tips aiming straight at the closet and the coward that was hiding inside of it.

"Aahaaaah!" The coward screamed like a girl when the glass spear shattered against the closet door.

The occult always scratched at the back of Diana's mind. Just under the surface, she tried to ignore it, but the taint in her soul made sure she could not ignore the shadows, the voices...

And today, they would resurface with force. "Shard? Shard! SHAAARD!" Diana saw Shard go down, hard. She could feel the tendrils from the dark places try and take her.

Diana bit her lip. She hated- never used her sword's power. "By the power of the sun, justice will be done!" She invoked the words, and the power in her sword brought about a change- Diana's black street clothes gave way  to her Warrior Miko outfit, a white gi and a red Hakama. This was the first time she invoked her power as Heavenly Sword.

"Shard, listen to my voice. Stay with me!" Diana's sword radiated an inner strength, a light that repulsed the dark things in their surroundings. It could serve as a beacon of safety for a mind assaulted by darkness.

It was then Maverick decided to use a lightning attack on Chloroformaster. while they were indoors. in a junk laden, highly flammable apartment.

"Wait no you'll set everything on fire-!" While Diana would have liked nothing more than to take out the trash, but the bounty only paid for live returns. Her foot swiftly kicked upward to mess up his aim- and the highly flammable apartment full of flammable junk exploded into flame.  

"We need him alive!" Diana explained quickly to Maverick why they pursued the man... who had was now screaming in agony, rolling on the floor as the corner of the room with all its boxes of junk caught fire. Diana quickly gets Chloroformaster away from the flame, making him roll on the ground outside while patting out his fire with a thick old coat hanging on a nearby rack.

That was when three people from upstairs ran to check out the commotion. Two men and one woman; one of the men was a big, tough biker wearing jeans and a white tank top, quite ripped. The second was really a young teen boy. Both had fire extinguishers to quell the apartment fire before things could get out of hand.

"That guy's gonna need some bandages in the morning!" The big burly biker said, looking at the half burnt Chloroformaster, parts of his costume having melted and fused to his skin.

"Who... who are you people? Are you here to get us out?" The woman asked Maverick and Diana. She was a pretty, older blonde woman dressed formally, and looked to be some sort of TV reporter; in fact, she was one of the anchors for a local news channel- Channel 5 News Anchor Samantha Taylor. She had been missing for a few days now.

(Turn skip. Reason: Shock. Duration: 1 post)

Maverick's hand was kicked and the effect of his altered aim set the apartment ablaze. He instantly withdrew his hand and rubbed it with the other as he glared over at her. "What the heck? I thought we were hunting this dude down?" He replied until he heard her state that they were going to need the man alive.

"What exactly is going on here man? Who is this guy? Why is it you are chasing him but want to spare him?" He shouted while the apartment's fire spread causing various old pieces of furniture and pieces of junk around the apart to catch flame as well. Maverick groaned as he put his hand up and conducted all of the excess electricity from the point he had launched his previous attack.

"Wait a second, why are you sparing this man exactly?" He asked as he watched the man scream from the flames he was covered in until he was helped out by one of the group. "You have some type of issue with him so why are you helping him? We could've ended him easy right there."

He looked at three people arrive and he quickly equipped himself with a blade. He noticed one of them with a fire extinguisher. "Who are you?" He asked until the female asked if they were there to assist them in getting out. "Why would you need help getting out?" He began to think and instantly looked back at the other female who was remaining silent. "Wait a second, this dude...did he abduct you all?" He asked as he turned towards the direction of the burning man. "I need details before I start making assumptions."

HALLWAY, OUTSIDE BURNT APARTMENT

"Alright! See, This guy's name is Chloroformaster. The police have a bounty on him- an alive only bounty- and we were gonna catch him to turn him in. I got a feeling we might not see that bounty anymore." Diana finally explains to Maverick.

Samantha looked at the burnt Chloroformaster, being a bit too queazy at the smell of burnt spandex and flesh. "Well. I've certainly heard of the Chloroformaster's crimes, but he's just a D-lister according to most surveys. A public nuisance. But no, he's not related to why we're trapped here."

Samantha looked at Maverick. "I'm Samantha Taylor, The Channel 5 News Anchor. I came to this apartment 3 days ago ahead of my crew to cover dilapidated buildings in the city... and I've been here ever since." She explained. Samantha did look a bit messy, much less impressive than her professional TV appearance. Apparently she had no opportunity to clean herself up since coming to the house.

The tall, skinnier Asian lad introduced himself. "My name is Kirk Seong. I'm a nursing student. I came to the apartment hearing about a junk sale." He approached Chloroformaster with a med kit, and began applying aid.

"I'm Francis and I hate this apartment! We've been here for THREE DAYS and we CAN'T. GET OUT." The big tough biker barked, punching the wall for emphasis.

"Look... Let's... all go to the main lobby and talk, it's easier to explain everything there. Also, Chloroformaster needs help. Francis, could you and Kirk take him to the empty apartment?" Sam asked, showing some basic human decency even towards criminals.

"We should hurry, this guy won't last long without burn treatments." Kirk explained, carefully lifting Chloroformaster by his feet.

Francis sniffed and looked at the criminal. "I heard about this guy. He's better off dead... but if there's a bounty on him... eh." He grabs the badly burnt Chloroformaster by his upper body and helped Kirk carry him off. The two males carry off the fugitive.

Miko Diana meanwhile, tried to console Shard, and would carry her to the lobby if she had to.

MAIN LOBBY

There was a large 3-seater sofa where Diana laid Shard down gently. Miko Diana gently laid her down and sat beside Shard, heavily concerned; she felt partially responsible for dragging her into this situation.

"Okay, here we are." Samantha explained to Maverick and Diana, standing right in front of the main doors.

"Is your friend going to be alright?" Samantha looked at Shard, who seemed especially shaken. Diana looked at her, and just gave a bland and unsure "She'll make it."

"So... is one of you the owner of this building?" Sam changed topics, looking again at Diana and Maverick, looking for answers of her own.

"No?" Diana answered.

"Then how did you get in?"

"There was a window... C.Master jumped in through it and we followed."

"Is it still open?!" Sam asked, a ray of hope at the mention of an open window.

"I... I think the window closed behind us. I don't remember, we were chasing Chloroformaster."  Diana said, not noticing such things in the heat of the chase. Samantha was deeply disappointed.

"Alright... I see. Well... to put it simply. All the doors and windows out of the place are shut tight. No amount of force, or, or, trying to break them down seems to work." Samantha explained, shaking the locked main doors of the apartment to demonstrate the situation.

"We'll see about that." Diana stood up and walked up to the front door. She performs a powerful front kick, letting out a loud 'KIAAAI!'. It was most impressive and delivered a great deal of force, but the door wouldn't budge.

"Uhhhhh craaaap..." Diana looked at her epic fail, as the knob fell off, and the door remained tightly shut.

The fog that had invaded Shard's mind had worn off now.  She was acutely aware of the flames that was slowly engulfing the entire apartment and of the foamy substance that the fire extinguishers spat out. But despite all of this she couldn't bring herself to get up and help.  In truth Jade was afraid that her power would turn on her again. What if she couldn't fight back this time? What if she got lost in that sea of darkness and her power had hurt someone? Jade didn't know if she could live with herself if that happened.

She heard Ronin say something to her and then half carry half guide her down into the lobby where a conversation was taking place.  Shard couldn't make out what was being said, but upon hearing Ronin give the door a mighty kick, the silicate manipulator blinked and looked up.  Jade distinctly remembered Ronin's sword giving off a glow that had driven off whatever shadow had been lurking in her mind before. Perhaps she would be safe while Ronin's sword was still glowing?

"Upstairs window is closed," She finally spoke, barely above a whisper. "I don't know if we can open it though. It's tough." And she didn't know if whatever was in this place had reinforced the sealed  window but Shard was not about to mention the presence out loud.

Out of the corner of her eye she saw the electricity user that had joined them earlier. She couldn't quite remember what had happened. There were only fragments of memories in her mind about him burning something but she could tell that she didn't like him. Perhaps the burnt face of the Chlorformaster had something to do with her dislike of Maverick.

Maverick nodded his head when they explained to him the bounty. "My bad, I didn't mean to step on any toes. I figured we were going for the neck. That's usually how I operate." He said as he walked over and kneeled beside C. Master and looked back at Diana. "I mean he's far from dead. He might need some medical attention. How you guys were pursuing him I thought he'd be a higher level threat." Maverick patted his pockets and then pulled out his wallet. "I can pay you back any money you lost on this bounty, only cause I myself don't like when people mess with my money so I should do the right thing and pay you back."

Maverick listened to the news reporter state that she has been trapped here for the past 3 days. "3 entire days you say? That's a lengthy period of time. " He said, trying his best not to make jokes about the fact she hasn't showered or changed clothes over that period of time.

He turned to the skinnier male as he began applying aid to the one he had attacked. "So, basically we came across this place by complete chance, and now we are trapped here as well?" Maverick asked as he looked at them pick up the fugitive and he simply shook his head. "I'm no hero, but I have no mercy for abductors." He mumbled as he began to follow them. His own past was the reason of his hostility against people who abduct others.

As they came into the main lobby, he quietly listened to the three explain the situation. "So, all the exits are shut tight, and no matter what you do you can't open them or break through?" Maverick said and just as he was about to make an attempt himself before Diana failed knocking the knob off.

"Force isn't going to get us out." He could probably just turn his body into electricity and sneak through some small holes or something however he was interested in this group of individuals. He hadn't been bored all night so he decided to just stick around a little longer. "Any suggestions how we exit this place?" He asked as he leaned up against a wall and continued scanning the room.