[Alice Morrow]

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

Overwatch was speaking to her like a child, and if there was one thing you learned when dealing with children, it was never speak to them like a child. His tirade went on and on, and Paladin could feel her face reddening, feel the anger building in her chest as the tears gathered behind her eyes. "I never said any of that! You're twisting my words, you're twisting hers. You're just a f**king coward. Too afraid to try and make the world a better place." She shook her head, blinking back tears. "I spent my entire life not mattering to anyone. No one gave a damn about me. And finally I matter! You had your chance old man. And it fucked up your life! You don't get to take that chance away from everyone else." She pushed back, past Ink, tired finally of being treated like a child. The fact that she was still only eighteen wasn't exactly at the forefront of her mind right now. The Doctor raised a hand and Paladin stopped dead, confused by what was going on. She didn't want to fight her friends, although she was fast reconsidering whether they were her friends or not. The Doctor had valued her enough to save her life, to bring her back from the dead. The blonde woman spoke, "There appears to be some misunderstanding here. You're arguing as if what you say can change anything. It's too late, and I am no longer interested in this diversion. If you wish to avoid continuing to try my patience, I would suggest you leave now. " Paladin had halted, and now she wasn't sure what to do. Should she stay here with the woman who had saved her life? Or leave with her friends? Was it even an invitation to stay? The Doctor hadn't moved. Apparently whatever process she had begun was continuing on its own, the whine of machinery growing louder, and whatever device that it was above them reaching a fever pitch of intensity. They were in a standoff, staring at each other for what felt like years, until curiousity flashed across the Doctor's features. Her head turned to stare at the wall, the wall which promptly vapourised into a fine grey powder, lightly dusting the dark clothes of the two men who walked through. The one in front was huge, shaven headed, with a Neanderthal like forehead and an enormous hand gun in his hands. The man behind was slight, with distinctly Asian features and a cocky grin which faded once he took in the situation. "Are we interrupting?"

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[Mason Warner]

The Event

Spectre’s heart nearly stopped when the Doctor raised her hand. He was expecting her to suddenly recall the life she’d given Paladin; made twice as terrifying by the fact that Paladin had halted in her tracks the moment that hand moved into position. But there was no sudden collapse, no bolt of death from the Doctor’s fingertips… They were safe from smiting, for now.

He’d known Ink had it in her to be brave and speak her mind already – of all the group, Spectre was the one who really knew the true Claire the best, and he could only imagine that playing the role of Ink would only help in boosting her confidence. Still, her words had concerned him. Not in their tone, not in their message, but in their brazen, confrontational nature. He was worried enough about Paladin, he didn’t need to be worrying about the Doctor’s retaliation against Ink’s speech. But thankfully, she too went unsmote for now.

Overwatch was the clear polar opposite of Paladin. Where she saw hope and opportunity, he believed that “real life doesn’t have a happy ending”. Spectre knew his thoughts lay somewhere in-between the two, and perhaps he would even be feeling more hopeful if he wasn’t paralysed by fear that his blue-haired chance at a happy ending was just a few feet away from a hugely powerful being who seemed to have left the bulk of her humanity at the door.

There was a verbal warning shot from the Doctor. If he hadn’t been so committed to his role as a hero, Spectre might have been tempted to take up her offer and leave.

As he contemplated this – trying to figure out what his next move should be; how he could protect Paladin and Ink, or if he should fall back with the other three – there was a sudden and completely unexpected development. Spectre watched, startled, as a large gap just dissolved into the wall and two figures appeared in a cloud of dust. Dramatic. He was kind of jealous of their entrance.

There was a click as the large man cocked the pistol in his hand, holding it in such a manner that it wasn't pointed at anyone, but had the air that it could be at a moment's notice.

The Doctor replied to their apparently innocent question.

“Yes… I rather think you are…”

Spectre looked around the room, confused. Was he supposed to recognise these men? All they were doing was setting off alarm bells in his head, and all the while the Doctor’s plan had already started whirring into action around them. They were running out of time… It had already begun…

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

444 words

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[Deleted]

WORDS: 503

TAGS: Dominic Weaver

Persephone was right, Will had been righter, but Dominic had made her finally take a mental step back at what had just happened. The one time she felt the need to say something had been a horrid window to more than likely antagonize some kind of response from whatever this woman was. They were in her territory, her comfort zone. When Alice pushed past her probably a bit harder than she meant (or maybe she had meant it), it caused Claire to catch her footing one step to the side and she immediately followed her with worry.

"Alice, wait!" Her words were so young, so vengeful. Claire was terrified from how easily they seemed to come out of her mouth; like their points hadn't meant a thing. This woman, this thing, it wasn't their friend. When she reached out to grab for her hand, the machine rumbled the concrete structure with a loud bass and the whirring noise of building power grew gradually in volume. She hesitated, looking up at all the machinery and pipes; copper, steel, rubber- an idea! Before she could act on it, the wall vaporized behind them and had Claire covering her own face with an arm out of instinct. When she dropped it to see the figures, her heart plummeted into her stomach.

Great, more guns...

What the hell could she do to this doctor? To these new mystery men? Pipes couldn't dodge her fire, but people sure could and she wasn't exactly confident at its range or accuracy. They were all trained and well-versed and she was just-. Oh, bulletproof! Instead of grabbing at her hand, Claire bear hugged around Alice and turned the both of them; her own back now facing the two men. Damn it, Mason, where had he gone? Her first priority was protecting Alice until she knew where he was. Her second would be to huddle in Persephone , but she already looked prepared to react on her own. "Hate me forever, I don't care, please just trust me!..." she locked her grip around the girl, a hand around her own wrist, and she hoped to God that Alice hadn't built up any energy prior to entering the compound.

She needed to get to that machine behind the doctor, climb the first stretch of pipes, but she couldn't do that while shielding Alice. Her eyes went everywhere in hopes to see a tiny ripple or tear in her vision to clue her in on where he was, but she saw nothing. She couldn't give him away... hopefully her searching, frantic gaze hadn't blown past him and was enough to make him realize. 'Come on, Mason. Please, please...'  The light of her ink grew hotter, brighter, and shown up the skin of her neck through the darkness of her hair and tucked-down hat; visible if one looked and knew, but certainly not distracting. She was ready, she could do this. 'Please, Mason, please.'

NOTES: Human shield, episode 2.
WEARING: Here.

＃ENY ADOXOGRAPHY

[Dominic Weaver]

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

Surge didn't see what happened, but he heard a scream of rage from Paladin. Ink stumbled past him, and he glanced back at the now clearly furious superheroine. He looked back to the two newcomers, raising his hand slightly, sparks beginning to crackle between his fingertips in a show of warning. Who were these guys? Clearly they were looking for the doctor, perhaps the two that Overwatch had mentioned. They certainly looked confident enough, and even if they hadn't made such a dramatic entrance there complete lack of surprise at what was going on here made it clear that they were aware of this secret world of super powers. Things had started going wrong from the moment they had arrived, and they had started going wrong really quickly. He held fire, not wanting to risk catching Spectre by accident, and certainly not wanting to risk setting off the man with the gun. Ink might be bullet proof, but he definitely wasn't and if he missed then someone would inevitably be getting hurt. Strangely the Doorman hadn't moved, glancing at the two men and then back to the Doctor as though neither were a threat. Interestingly both of them seemed to be doing their best to avoid his ire, and he wondered what other tricks the rotund man might have that would conjure such fear in his potential enemies. He edged away from the standoff until he found a wall, and a moment later, a power panel. it came open easily, exposing the power within to his questing ability. He latched onto it, sucking the electricity hungrily from the wall. Surge had never actually seen a human blur, but the Doctor did it as she crossed the room to him. What hit him didn't feel like flesh, but rather a lump of wood, and the breath rushed from his body, the room rotating as he somersaulted away from the wall. He imagined Ink and Overwatch were feeling pretty vindicated right now.

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[Persephone Dean]

The Event

With her hands still defensively poised above the pouches at her belt, Duchess had been ready to react to any danger. She’d flinched at the sudden roar of rage from Paladin bursting free from Ink’s clutches, but had remained still and alert, waiting for a direct attack.

And yet, when Surge suddenly drew everybody’s attention with a sudden, crackling blue glow in his quest to sabotage the inexplicable machine that towered all around them, she hadn’t had even the slightest chance of comprehending what was happening, let alone respond to it. With a blink she realised the Doctor had traversed the room in that same moment that everybody else was still registering what Surge was up to – sending him spinning through the air – and returned back to face the group.

She was beyond quick. Her movements were inhuman, downright impossible. It seemed that the Doctor’s experiments with human biology had spread further than endowing powers and God-level resuscitation – she had also improved her own body. It would certainly explain how she had been on this Earth for as long as she claimed.

If it hadn’t been for the fact that Duchess was still stunned with fear then she might have noticed just how impressive the Doctor really was. Almost aspirational.

Duchess’s head finally caught up with the situation and she found herself running towards the place where Surge had rather unceremoniously landed. She’d made the rather swift decision that she wasn’t going to retaliate against this extremely powerful woman. It seemed better to ensure one of their key players hadn’t been knocked from the game before it had even truly begun, and so Duchess was back in the role of nurse.

She glanced up briefly at the scene before her; the Doctor in the white coat, her repugnant henchman, Ink and Paladin still reeling in the aftermath of their own altercation, Overwatch, Spectre (wherever he was – she assumed he was still present) and the two newcomers who hadn’t gotten round to introducing themselves yet. It was chaotic.

Duchess considered for a moment whether Ink would need any assistance following Paladin’s forceful protest (Duchess would have done the same in her situation if she could have) and quickly dismissed the thought. She’d distributed healing salves – Surge was the immediate concern.

He was dazed but not unresponsive, and there didn’t seem to be any open wounds caused by the Doctor’s attack. She rifled through her pouches, plucking out a single tube of liquid that she’d come up with after a couple of sleepless nights that had been the product of two full days of work combined with obsessive exploration of her power. It should hopefully kickstart him back into action more quickly than just waiting for him to recover naturally.

“Try this,” she hissed, thrusting it into his hand. She was acutely aware that things were moving swiftly in the room now, and she couldn’t afford to keep her guard down for long. Then she stood up and turned to face the chaotic scene once more.

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

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[Will Chase]

Will accepted Alice's anger; he deserved it, for his tirade had been unacceptable - he was supposed to be better than that. His rage was gone now, replaced by the more familiar burn of guilt. But he didn't have time for guilt, or apologies, or any of that. He had been right, it was too late now. Or was it? Even as Harry and Roman entered the fray, as Alice struck Claire and sent her staggering back, Will found himself totally focussed on Dominic as the Doctor struck the younger man and sent him sprawling. Why had she done that? After all, she herself had said that it was too late for them to do anything. Why then, had she reacted so violently when Dom drew power from the wall? Perhaps things were not so dire as they seemed. Persephone was already going to Dom's side, and Will followed, despite knowing that there was nothing he could do that she could not. But then again, he was not going there to try and help Persephone, but to tell Dom what he had realised. "Surge," Will hissed, desperately hoping that the doctor couldn’t hear him. "You might be able stop this, all of it. That might be why she attacked you when you absorbed that electricity. If you absorb enough, you might stop the machine from activating." There was the sound of rapidly pounding feet as Harry and Roman moved deeper into the room, the slender Asian American steering well clear of the heavy form of the Doorman. The fat man reached out and placed a hand on the heavy wooden crate beside him. There was a momentary inrush of air, and then the whole thing was gone. A cry from Harry revealed its new location, as he dived from beneath the falling wood. It split open as it landed, scattering pieces of metal and complicated looking machinery over the floor. So that was the Doorman’s ability then. Some form of teleportation. It explained how the Doctor had vanished, the first time Will had met her. It explained why the man was so apathetic as well, if you could make any threat disappear just by touching it, you would probably never feel afraid again. The Doctor herself had returned to the centre of the room. In combat one should always know how far to stay away from an opponent, but clearly the Doctor had a far greater reach than someone of her stature ought to possess, judging from her attack on Dom. That attack had sent Dom flying, and hadn’t appeared to have been of any more difficulty for the Doctor than crushing a fly would be for Will. If she could do that so easily, then she could probably kill him just as easily; that meant that if Dom was to manage anything, she had to be distracted, kept from realising what was happening. Claire was stunned, Persephone was busy, Mason was… somewhere, and Alice was far too likely to help the Doctor at this point to be trusted. That left distracting the nigh-immortal, apparently unstoppable being down to Will, the only member of their group whose powers had absolutely no combat potential. At least Harry and Roman were there, they must’ve had some confidence in their ability to take her down if they came alone. Will skirted the edge of the room until he was far enough away from Dom and the power conduit, then pulled his gun out of his pocket and trained it on the Doctor. He sure as hell hoped she was bulletproof. He squeezed the trigger. Yesterday is not ours to recover, but tomorrow is ours to win or lose. Will Chase 604 Words

♛

[Alice Morrow]

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

Harry had recovered from his dive with a gymnast's grace, rolling to his feet and continuing towards the Doctor without pausing. She spun, dropping into a half crouch, poised to leap forward and strike. Time stopped as a single gunshot ripped the air apart. The Doctor, reacting to the threat of the oncoming man had moved herself into the path of Overwatch's bullet. It struck her in the back of the head. Alice stared in horror as the blonde woman's face went slack. She collapsed to her knees, then twisted as she fell, ending with her sightless eyes staring at the roof of the strange concrete cavern as blood pooled beneath her head. There was a sense as if something momentous had happened, some great power gone from the world. The Doorman leaned heavily on his cane as if the strength had gone from his fat legs. Even Harry stopped and stared. The big man with the hand gun was the only one who hadn't reacted to the death of the most powerful being in the room, instead swinging his gun to fire off a round in Overwatch's direction. He didn't stop there, shifting his stance to the next greatest threat in the room. Paladin's world had gone numb, she stared from the Doctor's body to Overwatch, only tearing her attention away at the next gunshot. She turned to face the bulky man, her eyes widening as she realised what was about to happen. Faint footsteps sounded in her ears, somehow breaching the ringing left after the two gunshots. She felt nothing. No pain, no impact. The gun had flashed, kicked in the man's hand, but it seemed to have had no effect. She screamed in rage, and unable to bring herself to attack Overwatch, went for the gunman instead. He continued to fire, his face growing more confused and fearful as the blue haired girl advanced inexorably. She felt each bullet this time, felt each impact as it added to her stores. She was absorbing everything, barely felt the pressure of her feet on the cold concrete floor, couldn't even feel the air on her face. The man stumbled back, tripping in his haste to get away from the avenging angel that was charging at him. And then Paladin was on top of him, still pulling in kinetic energy. His eyes suddenly went wide, and he bucked, trying to throw her off. His attempted resistance grew weaker, as though he were starved of oxygen. His eyes began to glaze over until Harry put his face before hers. "You're killing him, and you can't live with that." She didn't stop. "Alice!" The sound of her name shocked her out of her blind rage. And she sat back, halting her power. Harry collapsed back onto the ground. Kicking his fallen compatriot in half-relief, half-anger. "Fucking idiot, what'd you have to try and fucking shoot them for?"

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[Mason Warner]

The Event

One thought.

Save her.

He had just enough time to throw himself into its path.

A flash.

No time to process.

A body hit the floor. The blood spread – and the figure became visible.

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

34 words

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