[Brian Harris]

Looking closer at the woman, Brian noticed some familiar signs. Jagged, rotten teeth, lesions on her pale, sickly skin, dark circles under the eyes. She was an addict, obviously from a lower class background, thus the uneven teeth; her family likely couldn’t afford a dentist or orthodontist. The same went for Brian growing up, he was just lucky enough to have his teeth grow in straight. Her addiction would certainly explain her actions. Brian had done similar things in his time under the influence of the bottle. He hadn’t really been thinking about her motives before, but now, seeing the pain that this woman was in, the desperation in her eyes, he felt a pang in his heart. He needed to help her.

“Aw, Brian, you’re so sweet.”

“He certainly has a caring soul.”

“Bullshit. He’s a killer!” Dennis snapped.

The image of that woman’s head splitting open like a watermelon flashed through Brian’s brain, but he quickly shook it off. He could beat himself up about his past later. Now, he had a job to do. He tried to take another step when a shooting pain went up his leg. ”Agh!” He grunted. He could barely move his injured leg. That explosion must’ve torn through his muscles. He supposed that was the problem with expanding your muscles, it made you a bigger target. If that woman were to point a finger at him again, he’d be done for.

Luckily, Athena and Cesar came to the rescue, attacking the woman from either side. Brian was impressed at their coordination. Most humans couldn’t work that well together. He cringed, however, as the woman created two explosions directed at the canines. Athena avoided it, but Cesar, miraculously, shook it off, slowing down for only a moment before charging right through it. He had a bit of hope for a second before the woman created a hole in the floor where Athena was about to step and the two dogs? crashed right into each other.

The woman made a break for it. She was fast, much faster than Brian would’ve anticipated for someone in her state. It must’ve been the adrenaline, Brian decided. In his time as a vigilante, he’d learned that adrenaline could be a powerful force of nature, more powerful than actual superpowers in some instances.

Brain turned his head toward Isaiah as he spoke. He was impressed by Isaiah’s calmness. This must not be his first time doing something like this. Maybe he was a Hero?

”Heroes do not wear ski masks.”

”True.” Brian muttered. He must've been a vigilante, like himself.

A part of him just wanted to let the woman get away, but he knew he couldn't help her if he just let her go. There was no way she could function on her own and she'd probably try something like this again. He looked down at his leg, an idea forming in his mind. He expanded the muscles in his uninjured leg until it was three times its size, putting all his weight on it, alleviating any pressure on the leg with a massive hole in it (well, massive might’ve been hyperbole, but that’s what it felt like). He could hobble around now, and even lunge if he needed to, but there was no way he could run. ”Could I um, ride on one of your...dogs?” He asked, not sure if they qualified as dogs anymore. ”I promise I can still help, I just can’t go very fast at the moment.”

Isaiah Moore

[Isaiah Moore]

[googlefont=Inconsolata]

Isaiah was beginning to understand that Brian's power was incredibly versatile and had many creative applications, one of which Brian was using right now. It was a clever idea to expand one leg to be large enough to compensate for his other injured extremity. And there were so many questions he wanted to ask Brian about his power, too! Could he target multiple muscle groups at once, or was he restricted to only one at a time? How sore was he when he went back to normal? If he needed to, could he use his power in reverse and shrink his muscles?

There would be plenty of time to ask those questions, and Isaiah assumed that Brian would have some questions about his own power. In a certain sense their powers seemed to share something in common; they both involved amplifying and augmenting a physical body and making it stronger, faster, more durable... but these observations would have to wait until later. Right now they were focused on capturing the cracked out meta who had attacked the bank and tried to kill them all; she was a threat to the entire city and needed to be neutralized.

They tore down the street in a burst of speed, Athena charging ahead with Cesar following close behind, Isaiah and Brian riding on his back like he was some monstrous and demonic horse. This was Isaiah's usual way of doing things; Cesar's wide pit bull frame was better suited for carrying riders. Plus, Athena was the herder. She moved with agility and grace and was as quiet as a shadow despite her massive size. She did better when she was unencumbered by human riders. They hadn't been on the chase long... no way the meta could move faster than the dogs. After a minute or so of running, she came into view.

The street was a chaotic cluster of cars, buses, pedestrians, cyclists, and everything else. People were laying on their horns and trying to get out of the way of the two mutant dog tanks barreling down the highway, the meta who had attacked the scurrying ahead of them more frantic than the even innocent civilians. Isaiah felt like a master tactician as he let out a whistle and signaled with his hand; Athena would circle around while Brian, Isaiah and Cesar led the frontal assault...

... it seemed like the truck came out of nowhere, a 5 ton FedEx truck rushing down the highway at close to 60 miles per hour. Athena tried to correct course half of a second too late, colliding with the massive truck with a yelp of pain. "No!" Isaiah screamed out, immediately pulling at Cesar to get him to change course. He needed to get to Athena immediately. Isaiah knew that whatever serious damage like broken bones or torn ligaments the dogs incurred while his power was affecting them would follow them when they changed back to their original form.

Cesar adjusted his trajectory, the drugged out meta completely forgotten. If Brian wanted to take her out, he'd have to do it alone. Isaiah had other priorities.

IT
ISN'T
IN
MY
BLOOD

✪

[Brian Harris]

Never in his life did Brian think he would ride on a dog.

Even before he got his powers, when he was just a stick of a human being, he was still rather tall, even as a child, leaving him far too large to sit atop even something like a Great Dane or a Newfoundland or a Cane Corso. And after he got his powers and his muscle mass quadrupled overnight, that idea was relegated to his insane fantasies (sometimes literally).

But here he was, riding atop a roided out pitbull. And he had to admit, even though his leg was bleeding and in pain, it was pretty fucking...

“...AWESOME! THIS IS AWESOME! WOOO!”

“Pipe down, will you? We’ve got a job to do.”

”WOOHOO! YEAH! THIS IS AMAZIIIIINNNNNGGGG!”

”Oh goodness.”

Clara continued to hoot and holler despite Sasha’ protests, and Brian found himself celebrating alongside Clara, at least internally. They were quickly gaining on the woman. It wasn’t long before they were right on top of her. Isaiah whistled to signal his canines into action.

Then the truck came along.

He flinched as the vehicle collided with Athena. Isaiah’s attention shifted immediately to the injured canine. Cesar followed suit at his command. Brian had to make a split second decision. Help Isaiah or get the woman. Well, he wasn’t sure he could help an injured metadog, but he could catch the metahuman. So, diverting all his strength to his arms, he catapulted himself off of Cesar before the dog could change trajectory, flying through the air, aiming for the woman.

“You’re gonna squish her you psycho.”

He landed right on top of her with an ”Oof” from both parties, her mask slipping off in the process. Brian scurried to pin her hands to the ground. Immediately, the woman went into a series of expletives, explosions going off beneath her finger, singing the concrete but otherwise not doing much damage. ”Hey, hey, it’s okay. I’m not...I’m not gonna hurt you.” He tried desperately to convince her.

”Get off me, you…” She proceeded to call him a series of rather nasty names.

”Okay,” he said softly, ”okay.” He gently removed his body from atop hers, but he kept a hand around her wrist so she wouldn’t get away. She stood up and pointed a finger at him. Brian flinched as a little flash went off in front of her fingertip.

“Her powers have become significantly less potent.”

”Yeah, she must’ve worn her powers out.” He responded

“Who the fuck you talking to?” She demanded.

Brian’s face went red as he gave her a small smile and said, ”The voices in my head.”

The woman gave a little laugh. “You fuckin’ schizo, huh?”

”Yeah, basically.” He scratched the back of his head with his free hand. He typically wouldn’t divulge this information to anyone, and he still felt embarrassed talking to this woman about it, but he needed to convince her that they were on the same side. That she was like him and vice versa. ”Look, I know you’ve probably heard this a thousand times before, but I can help you.”

The woman scoffed.

”What...what’s your name.”

“Why would I tell you?”

”I just, I wanna know. My name’s Brian.”

She pursed her lips together and looked away, thinking for a second before curtly responding, “Cynthia.”

”Cynthia.” Brian repeated, smiling. ”Cynthia, I...I know what it’s like. I used to do the same thing. Steal from banks. For alcohol.”

“You just gonna tell her your whole life story?” Dennis derided.

”It numbed the voices. The...the pain. The depression and, and, and anxiety and…” He found himself stumbling over his words. He shook his head. ”You get it. I know you do.”

Cynthia pressed her lips together and looked down at the concrete.

”I...I was lost. For a very long time. Until I...I…” He took a deep breath. ”I tried to kill myself, and went to the MNRU.”

“What’s that?”

”It’s a...place. A place that helps metahumans. Metahumans like us.”

“Your rich daddy pay for that or somethin’?”

”It’s free. Completely free. Government sponsored.”

“And you’re sayin’ I should go there?” She said, resistance in her voice.

Brian looked down at his shoe for a moment, reliving past memories, before looking back at her. ”I know you didn’t want to rob that bank, Cynthia. And I know it was your first time.” The fact that she didn’t know where the safe was was fairly telling.

“You some kinda mind reader now?”

”You were desperate, and I know what it’s like to be desperate. It hurts. A lot.”

Cynthia twisted her mouth and looked down, picking at one of her lesions with her free hand.

”Let me help you.” He practically pleaded. ”Please let me help you. I won’t force you, I promise. Look.” He released his hold on her wrist. ”See?” There was a tense couple of seconds as Cynthia rubbed her newly freed wrist and looked around, her face configured in thought. Brian held his breath, his eyes were wide, silently begging her to stay.

Finally, she sighed and looked down at her tattered shoes, rubbing the back of her neck. “Where too?” She muttered.

Brian released the breath he’d been holding. “Follow me. I’ll take you there. I know the staff. I’ll help you and make sure you’re comfortable.” Brian hobbled back to Isaiah, his uninjured leg tripled in size, carrying most of his weight, Cynthia following sheepishly in tow. Luckily, Isaiah wasn’t too far away. “Isaiah, this is Cynthia." He said. ”We’re taking her to the MNRU. They can help Athena there too. They know a lot about metahumans. I’m guessing they can help metadogs. And my leg.” He said, looking down at the wound. It was starting to clot up, but it was still grisly to look at, not to mention quite painful. ”How is Athena? He asked.

Isaiah Moore