[Alice Morrow]

Paladin Am I more than you bargained for yet? + Mason Warner + Claire Elliot + Persephone Dean + Will Chase + Dominic Weaver + wearing

Eleventh of August, 2017 Late Evening The street looked awfully far away, and if she'd known how far away then Alice would not have felt much better. The building was five stories tall. If she fell from this height there was no way she'd walk away, and certainly no guarantee that she'd live. There was a hollow crash from the other side of the roof. The door she'd jammed behind her finally coming off its hinges. It looked like this was it. All the other buildings were too far away to jump, and there was no other way down off the roof. She regretted having come up here in the first place. The open doorway had just seemed so inviting, and then the stairs had just kept going until she'd realised that they didn't go any further. She was breathing heavily, still getting her breath back from the chase. The only thing that gave her some solace was that the two thugs that had followed her must be pretty tired as well. Maybe that meant she could try and get around them. Her back was pressed against an air-conditioning unit, a huge metal block that squatted on the roof like some giant spider. She could hear heavy footsteps. The two were coming closer, and she was in the only hiding spot the barren landscape of the building's roof had afforded. Knowing she had no choice she swung around the side of the air conditioning unit, only to find an equally surprised man coming the other way. She stumbled back in shock, catching her heel on the rim of the roof. With a cry, Alice toppled over the edge and fell into space. ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Third of August, 2017 The man currently embedded in dry wall moaned. Paladin had not meant to put quite as much power into that blow, but she still hadn't got a handle on how to moderate the level of power she used. It was still all or nothing. Apparently she'd been holding onto a lot more than she had realised. His duffel had split open with the impact, and a plastic bag had fallen out of the tear. The bag was full of slightly translucent crystals. Paladin might not have been a cop, or a criminal, but she wasn't stupid. It turned out that Spectre had been right, this guy was definitely shady. She flinched as a bolt of blue lightning seared past her, then looked up as another man collapsed onto the ground with a sigh. A machine pistol dropped from his hand as he did. "You want to watch yourself Paladin." She turned as Surge sauntered down the corridor, lowering his hand. There was a wide grin on his face, his teeth shockingly white against his dark skin. He didn't look disapproving at all, in fact, he seemed delighted. "Yeah… sorry, just didn't mean to hit him that hard." Surge glanced at the man in the drywall. He groaned again. He shrugged, "He's alive." ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Eleventh of August, 2017 Early Evening "So are we just going to go out on patrol again? Like last time?" Dominic nodded, picking up the mask from his bag and securing it in place. His suit was considerably impressive, a deep, midnight blue, so dark as to almost be black, lit through by lightning bolt shapes of increasingly lighter blue and white. "I think that's what we need to do for now, it's all very well and good listening in on a police scanner, but I think Will is right when he says we should try and avoid anything too heavy. It's not like any of us are bullet proof." Alice nodded as she shrugged into the suit that Stephen had made for her. It was a perfect fit. It had needed a few adjustments when she'd first worn it, but Stephen had done that for her too. It hadn't had to be patched yet, although she knew that some of the other's had suffered that problem. Her power at least seemed to offer some protection to her suit as well. "Yeah you're right, but it's not like we meant to bust a drug lord last week…" Dominic, Surge now that he was wearing his mask, nodded thoughtfully. "It's a pity that we couldn't stay around for that, but at least all that meth was taken off the streets." Alice turned to the others as she pulled her mask into place. Paladin spoke to the group, "You guys ready?"

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[Mason Warner]

Crashing the Masquerade

The suit was completely redundant, but Mason liked being Spectre, and being in full costume definitely helped him get into the zone. That kid Stephen was an absolute wizard of the art of sewing and hadn’t even batted an eyelid when Alice put in the request for a guy who was invisible pretty much entirely 24/7. He even had his own logo emblazoned on the chest – the rest of the suit in bright blocks of red and blue. It definitely allowed for free movement too. All in all, a great fabric investment.

The rest of them looked great too, obviously, even if Mason was most pleased about his own. Paladin was certainly a shining focal beacon for the group, looking every inch how her superhero alias would suggest. It had certainly been something when she’d almost driven some poor drug lord straight through drywall. That had been quite the unexpected bust – Mason had just thought the guy looked shady as he scoped out the area, and then suddenly the dude was a wall fixture.

Even though this wasn’t quite the first time they’d gone out on the streets, it still felt pretty scary. Will had tried his best to bring them up to standard, mostly equipping them with knowledge of how to stay out of trouble, but in truth Mason wasn’t sure he’d ever feel truly ready. Of course he was in his heart – he couldn’t be any more convinced by their cause if he tried – but physically he was still the same out-of-shape guy in his mid-thirties that he had been before the accident.

He could do this, though. He was invisible, anyway. If he really wanted to stay out of trouble, he could stay out of trouble. Let Ink and Paladin get in on the action while he worked with stealth and catching people by surprise.

Paladin had pulled her mask up over her face, Duchess and Surge already with theirs in place. He looked to the others and grinned, flickering his field of invisibility for a moment so that the only person within reach, Ink, could catch it. It was hard for him at the moment to maintain that kind of field expansion so he kept it to brief flickers for now.

“I’m ready,” he responded, puffing up his chest. “Do you want me to go ahead or hang back? I can let you know if we’ve got any more crime rings to break open,” he added, with just a hint of smugness.

Will Chase | Dominic Weaver |
Claire Elliot | Persephone Dean | Alice Morrow

417 words

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[Will Chase]

This whole thing had been a dumb idea from start to finish. That was perhaps too harsh, but Will wasn't feeling particularly charitable after what Alice had done. He apparently hadn't spent long enough telling her to avoid drawing attention, because she'd smashed a guy into a wall and there was no way he was going to forget it. Perhaps if she was six foot five and built like a brick outhouse the drug dealer might've dismissed it, but she was a five foot five slip of a girl. The human mind could ignore things it didn't understand when they were small details, but no one would forget something like that. Dominic hadn't helped much by electrocuting the other man; Will knew he was being particularly unfair in this case, because if Dom hadn't acted Alice might've ended up dead, but he couldn't help himself. There was a difference between making yourself known to the world at large, as Dominic had originally suggested, and making yourself known exclusively to the criminal element of whatever city you happened to be in. The former granted a degree of protection - when people are in the public eye they can't just disappear without questions being asked - but the latter, not so much. San Francisco was far from the most dangerous city in the US, but none of its gang bosses were dumb enough to leave a group of dangerous vigilantes alone. He had held his tongue for the week since then, despite his displeasure. While he would permit himself the luxury of being angry at the consequences of Alice's eagerness, he could hardly criticise it; too few people were willing to do something as it was, without him doing his best to turn away one who was. The others were in their fancy costumes, even Mason - Will still didn't quite understand the younger man's desire to wear a flamboyant, near skin-tight suit when no one but himself and whoever he managed to stretch his field to encompass could see it. Only he and Claire - Ink, he reminded himself; he might find the whole superhero names thing a little silly, but he knew the value of hiding your name from people who might want you dead - lacked the fancy costumes. He wasn't the leader of their little group - that was probably Dominic, though Alice was certainly the most motivated - but he chose to answer Mason's question anyway, crossing his arms behind his back. "Better that you go ahead Mas- Spectre. Paladin and Surge are rather conspicuous after all, and I believe your dreams of heroism would be rather spoiled if people mistook you for overenthusiastic comic book fans. It's not quite the heroic introduction I imagine you desire." An open mind is like a fortress with its gates unbarred and unguarded Will Chase 460 Words

♛

[Dominic Weaver]

Surge The best part of “believe” is the “lie”. + Alice Morrow + Mason Warner + Will Chase + Persephone Dean + Claire Elliot

Surge flexed with a smirk, his suit rippling over his frame. Dominic was not a particularly buff guy, but he looked after his body, and it showed. He moved with the easy grace of someone who was accustomed to time in the gym, and now that he was wearing a near skin tight suit his wiry musculature was obvious. Then he stopped, turning to Will. "No, I'd rather not be thought of as just another comicon attendee. Although I don't think anyone would maintain that opinion once we showed them that we're the real thing." He knew that things were going to get more difficult now, after all, whatever they had interrupted had looked like a serious crime deal. The guy that they, Paladin he reminded himself, had nearly put in the hospital had been carrying enough meth to supply a three week bender, for twenty people. It must have been hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of drugs. Surge might not be a cop, but he was no fool, and no gang lost that kind of merchandise and just rolled over. Someone, somewhere would be mad. The way things were going seemed to be more in Paladin's direction. The slender, blue haired girl was becoming more and more the epitome of a superhero. Dominic might have been in this for the potential profit, but Surge was being slowly pulled into the naive, but irresistible ambitions of the youngest member of the group. Maybe this was why he hadn't brought up the idea of becoming publicly known recently. Or maybe it was because he was worried of the repercussions that might come with it. If they were well known then someone would notice if they disappeared, but then that was just the problem wasn't it. He doubted that organised crime would take kindly to people dressing up and ruining their bottom line. An enemy in the public eye made it that much easier to send a message. "Besides, you've obviously got a knack for picking out people that we should be paying attention to Spectre. Maybe tonight we'll happen on a cartload of coke, we'll have to start applying to the city for a salary if we keep it up like this." He looked around the group as they pulled on the last parts of their costumes. "I gotta say… we look good…" He pulled open the door into the San Francisco night. "Let's go kick the shit out of some criminals…"

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[Persephone Dean]

Crashing the Masquerade

So far being part of a superhero team had been… interesting.

Persephone had been a little wary at first, even if she was definitely still eager to attract the attention of the hidden world of people with superpowers. Her power wasn’t a direct, combative skillset and she had been worried about her own vulnerability should she end up needing to actually physically fight someone. They’d trained a little in that area, and she’d surprised herself with her own strength, but one could hardly call them battle-ready.

The costumes had been another thing she was unsure of, but she’d agreed to go along with it eventually. She was in agreement with the necessity to conceal their identities in some way, and it would certainly go even further to attract attention if they wore iconic outfits every time they engaged in their vigilante activities. Persephone’s own costume was fairly eye-catching. In homage to the inspiration for her own poison garden, she had chosen the alias of “Duchess”, and had been styled accordingly in lavish dark reds and golds. A golden, vine-like design spiralled and spread down one of her sleeves, with the asymmetric cut necessitating a long, black glove to substitute as the other sleeve. The costume was definitely more flashy than it was practical, but at least she wasn’t in heels and the fabric was all perfectly moveable. There was a small tear where she’d caught it on the fortuitous drug-bust outing, but otherwise Alice’s friend’s work had been most satisfactory.

As well as training for the more physical aspects and Will’s attempts to instil some sense of caution into the group (which, as Paladin had demonstrated, may have fallen on deaf ears), Persephone had been experimenting more with her ability. The snobbish, budding restaurateur from that insufferable chain who had wanted to take over the restaurant she worked in had suffered some truly explosive, projectile “food poisoning” upon his visit, which was definitely Persephone’s first major success with her ability. Healing Alice’s friction-burned hands had merely been a little test for her powers. Since the faux food poisoning, Persephone had brought in several more species of potentially useful plants and was currently growing them at quite an impressive rate.

For today, she’d developed a powder – a mix of plant products with various fun levels of toxicity – that would temporarily blind an opponent, as well as a few healing salves and a little tube of highly deadly poison, for emergencies of course. She kept these in pouches at her belt, ready for use should she need them.

She had to agree with Surge, they did look good as a group.

“Let’s go,” she affirmed, with a curt nod. “Find us something good, Spectre!”

It was a little hard to fake the same perky enthusiasm as Surge and Paladin, for example, but Persephone was doing her best to fit in with the group. For now.

Claire Elliot | Alice Morrow | Mason Warner | Dominic Weaver | Will Chase

505 words

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[Deleted]

WORDS: 524

TAGS: The whole gang.

It had all come crashing down so fast. For a while, a couple weeks at least, everything seemed to finally be crawling back up to some sort of happy and relaxed normalcy - even with the acceptance of her new abilities. Mason had certainly helped with that. No... they helped each other. The road trip had been an escape the both of them seemed to need.

Who ever knew the kind of healing power pick-up basketball on a tiny court near the beach could have. It was the first time she'd seen his face since they'd woken up with him unseen in her apartment. And it was the first time she'd confided about her new discovery. That electric, burning orange glowing through the fabric of her shirt... lighting the bonfire with the smallest of exhales. He'd sworn not to tell a soul.

They'd returned to an overly-excited (of course) Alice who'd been speaking heavily with both Dominic and Will about going out and into the public with their new powers. Not only that, but with costumes to boot. Like they were some kind of super hero group from the movies. At first, she couldn't believe what she was hearing, but when Mason began asking questions and jumping in, she felt the responsibility to allow herself to be dragged along in case anything were to happen. Apparently Dominic and Alice had already been out and about.

Mason had taken part in the costume get-up, but Claire had declined the offer. "Can't see me much at night anyway," she had tried to joke it off with a shrug, implying her choice of wardrobe but honestly being as polite as she could with how ridiculous she thought it'd be to wear something as some kind of secret identity - at least for herself. It all seemed a bit too surreal to her.

Mason's smirk had her blinking out of the daydream and catching his goofy smile. She offered him a soft one in return, lifting her hand to punch lightly at his shoulder. "Don't go getting lost. You're kind of screwed if that happens." As soon as everyone started to leave all at once and rather suddenly, she opened the car door as well and stood just outside of it to call after them. "Hey!" They knew she was a stay-behind. She'd offered to be the driver in case of an emergency, her phone snug in the chest pocket of her slim padded jacket. Persephone was way better at the miraculous first-aid thing... but Claire knew she couldn't help but come running if the need ever arose for it.

"All of you please be careful. Seriously," she swallowed, giving them a nod with an obviously worried glint in her eyes before walking around to the driver's seat and sitting down. The car was weird when it was empty now... So quiet. She took the phone from the pocket, set it on the dashboard right in front of her at the side of the steering wheel, and let out a breath. Now all there was, was to wait.

NOTES: Disaster prevention.
WEARING: Here.

＃ENY ADOXOGRAPHY

[Alice Morrow]

Paladin Am I more than you bargained for yet? + Mason Warner + Will Chase + Dominic Weaver + Persephone Dean + Claire Elliot + wearing

Four AM, Sixth of August, 2017 Three men in a room. Two were well dressed, in expensive suits that spoke of jobs that paid handsomely. The taller of the two was slender, almost skeletal, the skin stretched tight over his face as though it were a little too small. He had greying hair, and wore a pair of spectacles with thick frames. He wasn't looking at the other two men, instead inspecting his reflection in the large mirror at one side of the room. "I dunno man she was tiny, like a foot shorter than me. I just let her punch me. Just a girl right? What's that going to do?" The man sat at the table raised an eyebrow and glanced down at a paper file before him. "Three fractured ribs and a concussion apparently…" The other man, tall, muscular, but clearly something more than hired muscle shook his head. "Look, I have no idea what she hit me with, I swear. I know I hit my head but I can't even remember if she was carrying anything. She was just in some sort of weird get up. Like a…" The man in the suit interrupted without glancing down this time, "A costume… Yes…" The taller man took this opportunity now to turn around, moving across to the table and delicately placing three long fingers on the metal surface. He moved very carefully, as if he were made of glass and too sharp a movement might cause him to shatter. His eyes were blue, and pale, very pale. He looked entirely devoid of emotion, no anger, no annoyance, not even calm. It was as if someone had made a human being and not quite got the hang of it. He didn't speak. The younger man in a suit looked up at him momentarily, then back at the muscular man across the table. "I will be representing you, you need not worry about that, as long as these are the full details of what happened." The man nodded eagerly, "Everything, there's nothing else. Thank you." Replacing his papers carefully in an expensive looking briefcase, the man sat across the table stood. "Don't thank me." ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Eleventh of August 2017 Alice had been a little disappointed when both Will and Claire had turned down the offer of costumes from Stephen. Both Mason and Dominic had been enthusiastic enough to make up for it, and Persephone had at least not said no. Claire's announcement that she would be their driver had a similar effect. It was cool that they had transport, but Claire's rental car wasn't exactly what she'd imagined when they'd formed a super hero team. That and Claire obviously wasn't all that thrilled about the idea of patrolling the streets looking for trouble. "We'll be careful mom!" Her expression sobered for a moment, "But seriously though, we'll be fine Ink, don't worry too much. Will should be able to feel if anything bad is going to happen to us. We're just trying to do good. That's all this is…" They all clambered out of the car, it had been a tight fit. They definitely needed cooler transportation, or at the very least bigger transportation. A rental car definitely did not have room for six of them. Someone had almost ended up in the trunk. She shrugged out of the hoody she'd been using to conceal her costume. Then turned to the rest. They looked like a team, like something out of a comic book. Except Will, she'd have to keep working on Will. The area they'd exited the car was relatively empty, an alleyway with stinking pools of water and piles of trash next to an overflowing dumpster. Once they left here they would be obvious, so it was good they had Spectre to check things out ahead of the rest of them. Will would be their backup on that as well. Spectre couldn't be everywhere, but Will seemed to be able to just generally pick up danger, hopefully that would give the group a heads up if there was a problem. "Let's do this guys!" The excitement in her voice was clear, she'd had a chance to do some good already. That guy, whoever he had been, was clearly some sort of big drug dealer, and she'd stopped him. There'd been headlines in the newspaper about the size of the drug bust. No mention of the her or any of the others but that was fine. She wasn't doing this to get her picture in the papers, she was doing it because it was the right thing to do. If only Alice knew what was in store for Paladin and the rest. Problem would be an understatement…

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[Mason Warner]

Crashing the Masquerade

Hearing Will use his codename was still so exciting. Mason had been feeling the urge to pinch himself constantly over the last few weeks - still not quite able to believe it all. He’d at least gotten a little more optimistic about the whole situation lately, definitely feeling more confident about mastering his ability and being of real use to the team.

“I’ll try, but no promises,” Mason said with a wink at Persephone. He wondered what exactly she’d consider a “good” find. Brawling wasn’t her specialty after all - at least with Alice he could just look out for someone who needed a swift butt-kicking. Maybe he should keep an eye out for some plants in need of watering…

Claire could no longer see him, but he still did his best to look offended. “Have some faith, Ink! I’ll have you know I’ve got a great sense of direction and excellent leadership skills.”

Well, it was pretty tricky leading a group when they couldn’t see you. He was actually led by them, just hoping they were still headed in the same direction as he was.

They were just about to make a move into the somewhat unappealing alleyway when she piped up once more. Of all of the group, even including Will, she seemed to have the most reservations. Fortunately Alice came out with a few good words of comfort. It was a good point. Will’s ability could certainly come in handy in this situation.

Finally they began to head down the alley, Mason stepping deliberately into a puddle to let the rest of the team know where he was.

He instantly regretted it. Ew, squelchy. A deeper stagnant pool than he’d been expecting.

Unsure of how to proceed - having just kind of stumbled upon their previous success - Mason crept further ahead. He wished he had Will’s danger sense as well as invisibility. Maybe it could work as a compass, sending them towards an appropriate level of danger (not too easy, but nothing murderous), and Mason could use his invisibility to catch the culprit by surprise.

He took a look around, seeing absolutely nobody.

“Any ideas guys?” he called hesitantly, not quite wanting to fully shout.

It was eerily quiet. Not unexpected at this time of course, but still enough to make Mason feel a little jumpy. Even shadows in streetlights could catch him off-guard. He found himself holding his breath as he began to take bolder steps, looking all around and listening intently for any sign of distress. So far, nothing.

Will Chase | Dominic Weaver | Persephone Dean | Claire Elliot | Alice Morrow

427 words

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[Will Chase]

Will liked Mason, he did. The man was honest, brave, and most importantly of all, uncomplicated. He was someone that Will could understand with relative ease. Not like Persephone, who hid everything behind a mask, or Alice who was just a little too enthusiastic about becoming a hero for it to be wholly normal. But, no matter how much Will liked the younger man, he didn't at all feel reassured by Mason's claim to have a good sense of direction and good leadership skills. Call it a gut feeling. Claire had chosen to be the backup driver; Will approved - she not only actually had a car, having picked up one to replace the one she'd lost in the crash while most of the rest of them hadn't gotten around to it yet, but she was sensible and seemed reliable. Will still didn't have a good enough read on Persephone to fully trust her, and Alice and Mason were far too invested in the whole superhero thing to be trusted to sit waiting in a car for an indeterminate amount of a time. Even with as little knowledge of them as he had, Will was confident that neither would've lasted long. Alice wanted him to be their backup in case Mason missed some threat or other. It made sense to Will, his ability certainly seemed made for the task at first glance, but he worried that she would place too much reliance on the idea that he would know if any danger was near. He still didn't know how his power really worked after all, it might only pick up on lethal intent and ignore people who just wanted to hurt someone, rather than kill them. That wouldn't be particularly helpful, considering that the number of actively murderous people on the streets of even a place as large as San Francisco was incredibly small. Hell, he didn't even know whether someone had to be actively intent on causing harm to trigger it. But he'd long since given up on dissuading Alice, and found himself resigned to going along with it and hoping that he could keep her from getting herself and everyone else killed. Mason was lost for what to do, apparently. Will fortunately managed to avoid expressing his relief; it wasn't that he didn't think they could deal with trouble, but he'd much rather avoid going anywhere near it at all. They still didn't know if Alice was bulletproof after all - that was one thing not even she had wanted to test. Will was about to speak up, to suggest a potential course of action when suddenly he felt it. A pressure, like his skull was being pushed into the front of his brain. It was something he'd felt only once, and he was not at all pleased to be feeling it again, particularly since it was far more intense now than it had been when he first experienced it. "Guys," he said, voice low, "we've got trouble coming, and it feels really bad." There are no secrets to success. It is the result of preparation, hard work, and learning from failure. Will Chase 506 Words

♛

[Dominic Weaver]

Surge The best part of “believe” is the “lie”. + Alice Morrow + Mason Warner + Will Chase + Persephone Dean + Claire Elliot

Dominic walked confidently down the alley. He didn't see the point of creeping around, not when they had a man who was far better at it than he could ever hope to be. After all, Mason was invisible to the naked eye. He wondered for a moment if Mason could be seen through infra-red, or if he had vanished from that spectrum as well. He would have been extremely surprised if the average street thug was carting around a set of thermal goggles. His eye was caught by the faint splash and image of a footprint in a dirty pool of water. It was a strange sight, to see the water pull itself back and form into a clear boot print. It wasn't quite as strange to hear his voice emerge from thin air, Dominic and the others had plenty of time to get used to that experience after all. Dominic was about to reply to the other man's question when Will spoke. "Well that doesn't sound great…" Dominic looked around, wondering what was coming, who was coming. Will's power was vague, but as far as they could tell it did seem able to pick up when people had harm in mind. Whatever Will was sensing meant that someone had some dangerous intentions in mind. "Can you feel where? There might be someone who needs help?" He looked back at the others. They looked odd in their costumes, and he wondered if he would ever get used to it. This wasn't supposed to be something you saw in real life. This was an image you saw on the front cover of a comic book, or a movie poster. Yet here they were, living it. "This is why we chose to do this. If someone needs us now then I'm not going to back out. We can get Mason to check ahead for us. If it's too dangerous then we just call the police and try to make sure no one get hurt. This is why we're here…" ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Three cars had pulled up a couple of blocks down from the group. The men that climbed out looked like they had a particular purpose in mind, and that the target of that purpose would regret ever being involved. Most if them, if they had been walking down the street, would not have drawn a second look. They were average looking people, wearing jeans and t-shirts, some tattooed, some with earrings. What really gave it away was the look in their eyes, and the worryingly large amount of improvised weapons of personal destruction. One or two were carrying guns, though the weapon of choice appeared to be more personal, ranging from baseball bats to tire irons to crowbars. There was a man waiting for them. He looked nervous, clutching a smartphone in one hand. He said something, and gestured up the street. One of the thugs, for that was all they could be called, glanced at the others and grinned. He gestured in either direction, and the group split up. They would corner the group of fools who'd thought to mess with business. They'd regret ever putting on those stupid costumes. It didn't take them long, and one group had appeared from a street barely ten feet down from Claire's car. The other group was maybe twenty feet away from cutting off Mason's escape from the alleyway. They would be trapped.

© seadra of gs

[Persephone Dean]

Crashing the Masquerade

Freezing where she stood, Persephone took a long look up and down the alley. She wasn’t sure of the proximity at which Will’s powers would activate, or whether they were set off by strength of intention instead, but it sounded like not only was danger near, but it was headed straight for them. “Really bad” in the experienced cop’s book was probably far worse than anything Persephone had encountered so far, too. She pulled out one of the vials of blinding powder as a precautionary measure, holding the fragile glass gently between finger and thumb.

“Spectre should go ahead,” Persephone said in agreement, strangely comfortable with the code names. “Ink can keep a look out from this end, right?”

Fearful as she was that something might come along that was too big to handle, Persephone was also feeling rather hopeful. If it really was something to be considered a major threat to their powerful group, maybe it was people from that secretive underworld of powers finally catching up to them? If they put on a show, maybe the threat would dissipate and instead they could be welcomed into their new family.

She decided to quickly jog back down the alleyway towards Claire, hanging back from the group’s progress down the alley so she could give her a heads-up.

“Ink! Overwatch has something on the radar, so be- ”

There was a shout from a nearby group of men. Persephone barely had time to register what was going on, glancing long enough only to notice the sinister intent on their faces, before there was a loud crack, like a car backfiring, and she sprang backwards, ducking instinctively.

Only it wasn’t a car. She knew that.

She spun back into the refuge of the alley, looking down to the others. There hadn’t been multiple shots, which at least suggested that they weren’t all fully equipped, but the one had been more than she was happy dealing with. Persephone sprinted towards the group.

“Go!”

Claire Elliot | Alice Morrow | Mason Warner | Dominic Weaver | Will Chase

505 words

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[Deleted]

WORDS: 403

TAGS: The whole gang.

'Dont worry so much', 'we'll be fine', and other variations had been tossed back at her as the group headed onward. They didn't do a single ounce of help in making her feel any better. Stopping bad things was one thing, but who in their right mind went out seeking trouble? Didn't people know all the old wive's tales and bedtime stories where those that went seeking trouble always found it?

Claire exhaled largely as she sunk into the driver's seat of the car, killing the engine and shutting everything off but the music. Toto's Africa was definitely soothing her and making her a bit more relaxed the further it went on. The playlist from her phone made it to Golden Years from David Bowie before she started to psyche herself out at how quiet they'd been on the whole communication front.

They'd tested the 'radio app' before coming, of course, and even Claire thought it was kind of cool. What she wasn't used to was the Bluetooth in the car playing the signals and Persephone's voice cutting loudly through the smooth tune, causing her to jump a bit and frantically look about for all of two seconds before she realized where it was coming from. Oh. Well, now she felt silly... But what Persephone was saying-. Maybe the frequency was off, it sounded blurry.

The word 'trouble' come through and she scrunched her mouth, leaned forward, and tried to fix the bass and treble on the radio to see if it'd help any. "Wait, what?" she inquired. That was when the gun cracked so close behind her it had her immediately cowering down towards the gear shift with her hands over her ears. Then she heard Persephone's order to he others in the car speakers.

The gunshot had been towards the other woman, but it was shot so nearby Claire's car that it was only a matter of time before she was a target too. "Guys!!..." was all she could shout, voice high-pitched and shaken. This was insane! Criminals, guns, active shooting! Another shot whizzed by the car down the alley and she let out another cry of fear from inside the car, continuing to lean down and forward with hands on the back and sides of her head. What had she gotten herself into?... What did she do?

NOTES: Disaster, er... magnet?
WEARING: Here.

＃ENY ADOXOGRAPHY

[Alice Morrow]

Paladin Am I more than you bargained for yet? + Mason Warner + Claire Elliot + Persephone Dean + Will Chase + Dominic Weaver + wearing

Things went really bad, really quickly. Alice turned back as she heard Will speak, and then nodded in agreement with Dominic. After all, this was why they were out here. She'd have hesitated to say they were looking for trouble, but in truth that was exactly what they were doing. They'd gone out in the middle of the night to help people, and really, that could only involve trouble sooner or later. The air split, something that was either a car backfiring, or judging by Persephone's pell-mell retreat down the alleyway, a gunshot. Claire's shouts were lost in the chaos that followed. Shouts came from outside the alleyway, from both ends, and in a matter of seconds groups of men were crowding in at either end. The entire alleyway lit up with an eerie blue light, and the smell of ozone was suddenly thick in her nostrils. A line of energy connected Dominic and the man at the head of the pack. The thug went down, the handgun falling from his hand with a clatter. The scene froze, everyone trying to process what had just happened, then everything happened at once. Alice looked around sharply, looking for an avenue of escape and finding a small door in the wall beside them. She tried to kick it in, momentarily forgetting her abilities. It creaked, but totally failed to her open. She swore, seeing the men getting closer, hoping she had enough energy to do something, then realised what she was doing wrong. Alice pressed her palm flat against the door and blew it off its hinges. It exploded into damp splinters and flew into the building. She ran after it. It was clearly abandoned, like the one the team had taken up residence in, a relic of the industrial history of San Francisco. This warehouse was bigger, clearly with multiple floors, a stairwell visible to the right and trash littering the floor. Clearly it had been used by squatters at some point in the past. She could hear the others outside, and turned, seeing them begin to come through the door. The stairwell seemed like the only escape route she could see, so she ran for that. Maybe if she could find another set of stairs she could lose their pursuers in the rest of the building before sneaking back down. She took the stairs two at a time, hearing the sounds of pursuit begin behind her.

© seadra of gs

[Mason Warner]

Crashing the Masquerade

While Persephone made her way back to make sure Claire was aware of the situation unfolding, Mason plunged ahead down the alleyway. It was amazing how much confidence he felt as he strode towards the street at the other end, his invisibility gifting him a buoyant sense of invincibility that he wasn’t really entitled to. It was probably best that he hadn’t developed a skill set along the lines of Claire or Alice’s abilities – the whole practically-impervious-to-damage thing would have gone straight to his head.

He’d just caught the faintest flicker of a few silhouettes coming into his line of sight when his attention was violently torn in the other direction. He whipped around to watch as Persephone beat a hasty retreat towards them, panic in her eyes, and he had to stop himself from shouting ineffective words of warning as he watched Claire – poor Claire – duck down in the driver’s seat while another gunshot rang out.

He couldn’t shout. It would give him away.

Mason backed up against a wall and watched in horror as two rather unfriendly looking groups of people appeared at either end of the alley, blocking them in. They were outnumbered and totally unprepared for this kind of situation – they’d only even briefly discussed what they’d do if they managed to get cornered in a dead end, and in this scenario both ends were full of threats.

Dom acted first, targeting an armed guy who seemed to have led his particular group’s charge, and there was a precious, suspenseful moment where nobody seemed to know what to do next in which Mason crept his way closer to the nearest group – fighting every instinct to duck and hide.

In one swift, fluid movement Mason pulled a broken piece of brick from the dirty floor of the alleyway and smashed it as hard as he could into the nearest man’s chin. It made an unpleasant, crunching kind of sound and the man toppled backwards into the path of the other guys behind him. Mason took the opportunity to grab the crowbar that was now being held rather loosely in the shocked thug’s right hand and felt it slip under his shroud of invisibility as he stepped back with it.

Meanwhile Alice had managed to blast her way into a building – the only doorway available to them – and Mason watched as the others began to follow her inside. Persephone had thrown something at the group furthest from Mason which left them clawing at their eyes, stumbling forwards but temporarily distracted from their close pursuit of the group. Mason turned back to face the group on his side of the alleyway, swinging the crowbar wildly at a couple of men who were attempting to chase after Alice and the others. It connected with the side of the first guy’s face but really hit hard on the second. He dropped to his knees, eyes wide with a mixture of pain and confusion, leaving Mason fighting irrational guilt.

He couldn’t fight off this many dudes, no matter how invisible he was. He needed to escape and regain his only true weapon; the element of surprise.

There was a rickety looking ladder that had rusted considerably but, as a fire escape, was probably sturdier than it looked. Rather than risk colliding with the throng of people trying to get into the warehouse, Mason danced deftly past the group and began pulling himself up the ladder as quickly as possible. If he made it to the roof, he was sure there would be something that he could throw down at their attackers, and maybe Alice would make her way all the way up too eventually. He might even be able to contact Claire once he was up there and make sure she was okay.

No one was on his tail, thankfully. He took a second to breathe. Who were these people? Had the doctor sent them – disappointed in her test subjects? At least they didn’t seem to have powers… then they really wouldn’t have stood a chance.

Will Chase | Dominic Weaver | Persephone Dean | Claire Elliot | Alice Morrow

674 words

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[Will Chase]

Will found himself reminiscing of the good old days - just a few days before, actually - when Alice hadn't smashed a drug dealer through a wall. Why you ask? Probably because back then he wasn't being shot at by a bunch of very angry looking men with guns. Will disliked being shot at; had he been a more humorous man he might've quipped about being allergic to bullets, but as it was he just really liked being alive. His sister may have had her faith to tell her that she'd be fine after death, but Will was the kind of skeptic who'd talk about wanting proof then really wish he'd just shut up and gone to church when he was in a position where he might possibly get it. Fortunately, being as incredibly cynical as he was about this whole idea, he had brought his own gun. Even more fortunately, none of the thugs appeared to have visited the range recently and they'd missed every shot. Will was already moving as Alice smashed in the nearest door and he darted in after her, pulling his gun out of his pocket as he did so. She'd probably be pissed at him later - Alice seemed the kind of person to have a problem with killing people (though severe bodily harm appeared totally fine, considering what she'd done to that drug dealer) - but he'd deal with that issue when he came to it. It wasn't as if he was going to be killing anyone if he could help it, he'd prefer to avoid even needing to shoot any of their attackers, but he wasn't sure she'd see it that way, or if he'd be able to avoid killing someone; given a choice between the lives of any of them, and the lives of their attackers, he sure as hell wouldn't prioritise the lives of the attackers. They were in a warehouse, with trash on the floor and a stairwell to the side. No cover, nothing they could shelter behind. Alice was already dashing up the staircase and Will followed, turning when he heard the sound of a heavy boot striking the warehouse floor. He hefted the gun in his hand and took a careful aim, hesitated a moment, then fired. The bullet smashed into the floor beside the man's foot and glanced off, slamming home into the wall beside the door. There was a shout of surprise as the thug froze in shock and terror only for the man behind him to collide with him at a run, sending the two of them down in a tangle to more shouts from their fellows. Will fired twice more, hoping to keep them from poking their heads round and seeing him standing exposed on the stairs, before turning to finish his climb to the second floor, hoping against hope that there might be some way out of this that didn't involve needless death. Obstacles are those frightful things you see when you take your eyes off your goal Will Chase 491 Words

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