Ryan could hear his teacher's thoughts right at that moment, which meant the serum had worn off from him. But instead of comforting him it did the opposite, since Ryan began to get more desperate just by those comforting words and he make it evident to the telepath. He asked him how he would keep his mind cool now that the serum was about to lose its effect at any hour, which might put the whole team at risk. He took the chance to alert him that he began to feel sick and more anxious.
Last edited by NovaStriker; 04-04-2017 at 08:30 PM.
Lucas looked at the students and the teacher around him as the voice sounded off in his mind. The eye contact with Evan made it clear who was responsible, and yet it still served to unsettle him. It was so sudden and unexpected that it had taken him by surprise. Knowing that these freaks had powers was one thing, but having them invade his head like that without any consent was frightening and threatening. In any other scenario, he would probably be on opposite sides of these heroes and yet, here he was possibly about to die with them. Like a switch, he flipped his demeanor back to the poker faced stoicism that he had used to survive for so long. It was a different lifestyle for him, like a game, the first to blink...died. The Alex kid offered a nice surprise..he was holding his composure pretty well, all things considered...but Lucas couldn’t help but feel a vibe that the other kid, Ryan, wasn’t as lucky...
---------------
"So what are you having Austin do for you? And what are you gonna make us do for you? Obviously you want us for something or else you wouldn't have taken us here."
Alonzo raised an eyebrow at the boy’s question, rather impressed that the kid managed to speak up despite his rather obvious first encounter with being shot at. The crime lord took a sip of wine from his glass, pausing to swirl before answering. “One thing at a time. Your jobs? Nuthin really....your number one job is to stay outta Austin’s way. Austin on the other hand....well, that’s between me an’ the kid. Right now...he’s on a mission right here in the club. Y’all might call it....a ‘reconnaissance mission’. Someone’s meetin here..right now. Someone not on my good side...the boy’s here to watch the meeting go down....get a look at the man’s crew....see any weak spots so he can do.....things...later....course he needs a safe place to spy from, right? Somewhere he won’t be recognized.....”
-------------------
Earlier that Morning
“Aight boy, here’s your job. Michael Larsen. Number one weapons trader in the area,” Alonzo slid a file across the table to Austin. “Bastard’s sellin to my rivals. Omegas, Diablos, Triads, hell, even some Russians movin in to the area. Worst part? He knows I can’t touch em. The second I do...he sicks all his ‘generous patrons’ on my ass. You did some damage to the Omegas and Diablos....and word on the street is, they already mounting a retaliation. This is the perfect time to move on Larsen, take his deal out...take a huge supplier off the board and deal major damage to every faction in the area.”
“Won’t that cause you more problems? You said it yourself that every gang in the city will come after you?” Austin replied.
“Yeah, well, they gonna come for me later if this deal goes through. Think of this as the last straw...but, with you I still have deniability. As far as they know, you a lone wolf and I’m just capitalizing off their hard luck. To keep that up, we blowing up some of my own warehouses...just old ones though. Now, Larsen is gonna be well defended....untouchable if you go after him head on. He’ll be at da club today, always is...sorta his way of givin me da finger....check his security out...see if ya can get a feel for em...see any weaknesses....and get a look at the contact he’ll be meetin too. May give us a way in...”
“And just how do I do that?”
Alonzo just smiled.
-------------
Present
The sound of club music died down, the lights dimmed all the way down so that the place was pitch black. Not even Alonzo, sitting directly across from the group, could be seen. The patrons began screaming in hysterical excitement, clearly anticipating what was to come. The slow sound of an electric guitar started, following with a slow drum beat.
“You wanted proof of life!” Alonzo shouted above the crowd’s screams. “Well, take a look!” As if on cue, a stage lit up and a band could be seen. A backup guitarist, bass guitarist, and drummer were beginning the song...but that wasn’t important. What the group would see was that front and center, wearing a black hoodie and still covered in the face paint, was their friend playing guitar and providing the lead vocals. It was the perfect cover for him to look out into the crowd and spot the weapons dealer. Once spotted, Austin could follow the man and his entourage without rousing any suspicion.
Everything was going exactly as planned when Austin began his second song. He began the second song looking out at the other faces in the low lit crowd. He started the first verse and took a look at the VIP table, expecting to find Alonzo...what he got instead brought a mixture of horror, anger, and surprise to his face. He saw all of his friends, his eyes meeting theirs...finding Talia’s first and then the rest of the groups. He couldn’t dwell on them right now, he had to remember why he was here...his sister, his sister, his sister. With pain renewed, he burst out and belted the lyrics with all the repressed pain he had bottled for so very long. By the time he was finished, he was bleeding emotions with barely visible tears streaming down his cheeks.
The crowd roared in applause, obviously expecting an encore. Larsen had already left the building, and Austin had all the information he needed...but still, best to make Alonzo’s patrons happy. Austin took a look at the group of friends, his expression unreadable. He strolled across the table and picked up an acoustic guitar. “This goes out to someone special...he knows who he is...” he said into the microphone with a dark laugh. His eyes closed and his mind went back to the scene of his sister’s death. His fingers began plucking at the guitar as he began the melody. His eyes reopened and stared straight at his friends while he began his song.
---------
Immediately after the song finished, the place went pitch dark yet again. When it lit up, the club music started back up, the crowd roared in cheers, and Austin was completely vanished.
“So....satisfied?” Alonzo said to the group with a smirk, as he leaned back into his chair.
Drenched in sweat and breathing heavily through and through, Unari Meikurai was close to reaching his limits of utilizing the powers of Void in this current training session. This training as it was called, utilized the newest Solid Vision Simulation (or SVS for short) mechanics and technology that was recently developed and added into the school gymnasium. Solid Vision Simulation is as one would imagine it just by reading or hearing the name; Solid Vision Simulation was able to create various fields and scenery that both felt and appeared real down to their texture and sounds. Everything about the surrounding simulation almost felt as if it was another world that one has been submerged into, it is almost break-taking in sheer sight and awe.
Unari in this training session was facing a fantasy team of superheroes from older generations that pertained to a specific cartoon that he had been watching during his free time. A group of four individuals, all happened to be girls the same age as Unari if not a year younger ironically enough and no that did not mean this was a harem scenario. Each girl was themed after certain fairy tails, or legends/myths so to speak as well and likely denoted in no specific order based off of Mekuria's analysis throughout the simulation: Freya from Norse Mythology, King Artorious from Medival Legends, Merlin the Mage, and Little Red Riding Hood. Needless to say, out of the four girls in the team of four versus one Unari had already defeated Amranth Frey (Freya), Sora Rose (Little Red Riding Hood), and Mika Roman (Merlin the Mage). The one who had been pestering Unari from the get-go had been Amber Mello (King Artorious from Medival Legends) with her sword reminiscent to the legendary Excalibur in design.
He had been fighting for the past two hours and change throughout the entire ordeal and is only barely managing to hold out against Amber; Unari felt his body throbbing and knew that there wasn't much time before he would eventually give out in the fight and be defeated, so he had to end it or surpass himself.
"Just a little more."
"Foolish boy. You are near your limit and yet you continue to fight?" Amber stated her taunt with some genuine concern towards Unari, the sword in her hand clicked as it slightly shifted position through the motion of stance change in the young Huntress' combat style. "Very well. I will allow you to sleep with your honor intact. Rest in peace, Unari Meikurai. Worth adversary." Amber closed in with her sword in hand ready to literally end Unari's life in that instant. This was the danger of actually utilizing the Solid Vision Simulation: the user inside this training system could actually suffer lethal injuries and in some cases, die.
Only one last option.
"I can't continue like this... I will become stronger! For my goals!"
Those words being shouted by Unari to give himself some last minute and much-needed self-motivation to just barely attain new heights in his powers over the void. Retaliating with the same action, Unari closed the distance and subconsciously enveloped his hands and feet in snow white aura filled with the powers of void and managed to actually break his opponent's sword with his left hand and followed up by punching straight through Amber's lightweight, yet durable armor set enchanted by an unknown substance. A feat not feasible through normal means.
As the last of the four girls began fading away, the simulation followed suit while Unari looked as his dying and fading opponent made by the simulator. "Rest in peace. Legendary knight." The tone felt more ominous than anything coming from Unari, almost as if there was no remorse for his fallen, respectable foe.
The knight looked into Unari's eyes, but could not make a sound with her condition. She was only able to mouth specific words towards him, ones that he would not pay mind to. "I fear for your future. Young hero."
Everything faded away, the gym left barren. Unari covered in battle scars and blood.
The teenage boy walked to the exit of the gym into the hallway in a rather sluggish fashion. Upon reaching the hallway, Unari coughed up blood and fell into a sitting position on the ground. After all that training, he could only barely muster up the potential to increase his powers by a minimal amount. Overall, Unari was angered at himself for almost dying against people he could have easily beaten.
"Aaaaaaggghhh!!! Damn it! Damn it all!"
I have no more words to say to you.....Let us begin combat. Isn't that why you are here in my presence, to fight for our Privilege to keep on Accelerating?
Now witness the almighty ability of Beat Mimicry.....The sounds will engulf you in a painful entertainment.
Now begone by the sounds of this Rythem.....and thank you for your payment.
Cat heard her teacher's voice in her mind but she kept that knowledge to herself. She was good at bluffing in poker. Just ask her dad's friends. SHe was comforted a little by it but not much. Then a terrible thought crossed her mind. He took a serum to dampen his powers. Ryan took the same thing. If their teacher's serum wore off, then Ryan wouldn't be too far behind. THis was bad. The gears in her head were turning. They had to get Austin and go but Alonzo obviously had other plans for their friend. She knew that Alonzo was playing all of them. He was the puppetmaster of everyone in this room. They were at his mercy and that was not a good position to be in.
Cat listened as Alonzo answered Alex's question. She raised an eyebrow as he told them to stay out of Austin's way. As if that was going to happen. Calling their potential missions "nuthin really' also didn't sit well with her. In her experience, nothing was always something. As for Austin's current job in the club, she knew that he would use this as his proof of life. Austin wasn't stupid (okay, maybe he is for getting himself into this mess, but whatever), he would spot them right away. That's either good or bad.
Suddenly, the club went dark. Even with her enhanced eyesight, she was having difficulty seeing. The cheers of the crowd were deafening and she cringed. Enhanced senses weren't always so great. When she saw Austin on the stage, Cat sighed exasperated. "Oh you have got to be kidding me." she muttered. She was half tempted to polevault over the table and kidnap Austin away before he went anywhere. Of course, she would be shot dead the second she stood up so she remained seated. She listened to his songs and met his gaze as he looked over at where they were. Even through the paint, she saw his horrified expression. Yeah... so him spotting them was bad. When his third song started and he looked at them with a neutral expression, that solidified it. Austin was going to do something very stupid.
The club went black and Austin pulled his disappearing act. She looked at Alonzo after he spoke. "He's alive. We can see that. I"m not so certain about his mental state of being. Of course, you don't care about that as long as you can manipulate him into doing what you want." she said evenly, looking the man right in the eyes.
Made by .Karmz. ! She is simply the best!
Evan Michaels
Evan wasn't necessarily surprised that his attempt at comforting his students gave them some concern, specifically Ryan and Catherine. They were both thinking about the serums Evan and Ryan took, and how Evan's had already worn off. So he would send another mental message, but this time only to the two of them. "Don't worry, I took the serum a couple hours before." Then he sent a message specifically to Ryan. "You should still have a while until the serum wears out." Truth be told, the group probably wouldn't be gone before Ryan's serum wore out, but Evan hoped enough time had passed since the last full moon to that Ryan didn't fully transform.
When the lights suddenly went out then came back on, revealing Austin on stage, Evan attempted to focus on the boy so he could send him a message, but he couldn't do it. It was relatively easy to send messages to the students right next to him since they were so close, but with Austin being farther away, he was being drowned out by all the other people in the club. Evan didn't stop trying to get a link to Austin until it started to take a toll on him, so he stopped before it would be too obvious what he was trying to do. And next thing he knew, the lights went out and back, and Austin was gone. In retrospect there probably would have been anything Evan could even have mentally said to Austin, since the boy clearly saw his friends, yet he didn't do anything about that. Evan would just have to accept that it was going to take longer to get to Austin.
Janette D'ross
Janette was surprised when Austin showed up on the stage. What surprised her wasn't that he showed up at all, as Alonzo was hinting that they would soon see proof that he was around. What surprised Janette was how Austin was dressed up. He looked like a criminal, and so he kind of fitted in with the setting they found themselves in. If she didn't know Austin, she might think he was just another one of Alonzo's goons. But she did know him, and she knew he was a good person, even if he forgot that for a while. When Austin realized they were there, Janette almost couldn't look at him. She could tell he was hurting despite the distance between them. Or maybe it was just her intuition. After Austin disappeared, Janette didn't know what to say, so she wouldn't say anything. Plus, she was kind of afraid of Alonzo. She would just let her friends do the talking for now.
Belinda Littmann
The Headmaster walked through the halls of the academy in the direction of the gym when she heard the exclamations of her son. She hurriedly made her way to the area where the sound came from, and she found Unari sitting on the floor. Belinda's motherly instincts kicked in and she ran over to his side, got on the floor, and put her arm around him. "You're gonna be okay," She tried to comfort her son. "Whatever is going on, we will get through it. I'm here to help you." She stayed in that position for a bit, just trying to comfort him with being there. She figured Unari was upset about his powers, as that was normally what he was upset about, but she just wanted to give him some comfort in that moment.
Talia listened to the others speak in a sort of daze, that video was still playing on repeat in her head. He had looked so, calm so normal. That was the part that scared her the most. Seeing him like this reminded her a little of that simulation, seemingly eternities ago, when some other being had taken over Austin and controlled his body with terrifying indifference. He had been happy to die then, she hoped with all her being he didn't feel that way now. If he had nothing to lose, he could do anything. Then, when everyone's attention suddenly moved to the stage as the lights flashed bright, Talia gasped.
The air seemed not to be there, it felt like in that moment she stopped functioning. She didn't breath, her heart didn't beat. She watched, like in a dream, as Austin made eye contact with this blonde haired girl in front of her, with big, naive blue eyes and freckles. Talia knew it was her, and yet she felt so detached. She felt warm, fluid tears trickle down her cheeks as her eyes sprung a leak. She could see them in Austin's eyes too. Why didn't she do anything? Call out? Scream? Run to him and get more holes than Swiss cheese? Slowly, she started to come back to herself. The tears still streamed, her efforts before now futile.
She watched Austin's eyes scan the table, and felt like screaming. We are all here for YOU the voices in her head screamed I thought you were DEAD, and you're just THERE playing... playing a bloody GUITAR Talia looked down and realised she had gripped her hand so tightly in her frustration that it was starting to go numb. When she looked back up Austin's gaze had moved on. She listened to his singing with a lead-filled heart. It wasn't meant to be like this... She thought bitterly, as a few more tears crawled down her cheeks This was all meant to be over, we were meant to stay at school, have fun, build a team Her thoughts cried, sorrowful in her head. Seeing Austin like this anymore would kill her, again, and she knew it.
Just then the lights went out and Talia's attention flew back to the stage, in a few seconds there was light and he was gone, again. She wanted to scream and screech in frustration and hurt and fury, but she kept a tight hold on her tongue with her teeth, her wet cheeks gradually getting crackly with salt. You monster she thought, glaring at Alonzo for a moment, hoping the hate and utter revulsion in her eyes would say what she couldn't. Then, as if her soul had run out of energy her gaze dropped again, and her fury waned. To be replaced with numbness which somehow, Talia thought, was worse.
Last edited by MysticOtaku; 05-12-2017 at 04:41 PM.
"He's alive. We can see that. I"m not so certain about his mental state of being. Of course, you don't care about that as long as you can manipulate him into doing what you want." The girl had guts, Alonzo would give her that. Even so, he simply shook his head with a smug smile. “Shame you see it that way,” Alonzo said with a swig of his drink. “Like I said, just favor for a favor.” The crimelord’s gaze went to Talia. She was cracking, he could see it. He watched, a hint of enjoyment in his eyes, waiting for any sign of a fight.
Lucas reached across from beneath the table and grabbed Talia by the hand. He squeezed her hand tight, silently begging her to hold it together. Her reaction was curious to him, he could only wonder just how close she was to his friend. As she calmed down, he let go and looked back at Alonzo. “So...what do you want from us now?” He asked wearily. The crimelord kept up his smile, clearly enjoying his position of power over the group.
“Simple. You have free reign of the city, just stay out of ya friend’s way...you know how it works, Lucas. I’ll know if you do sumthin I don't like,” he said, a light threat. “He’ll be yours again soon enough...after our lil deal is done.”
-------------------
Meanwhile, Austin was already on his next mission. He was in the backroom putting together the information that he gathered during his little “performance”. The guard count was pretty standard, but they packed a lot of heat. It would take caution and strategy to take down a group that well armed and highly trained. It would certainly be a step up from his previous jobs for Alonzo.
Then there were his friends...Austin began to tremble and shake as he thought of their faces. What did they think of him.....was he turning into their enemy? Why were they here? He told them not to come here...he specifically told Talia not to......not to tell a soul! He was lost in thought for but a moment, and yet when he snapped out of the thought, a table had been thrown and crashed against a wall. The boy sank down into the floor....
‘God help me...’ he thought. A tear fell down his cheek as he tried to escape his thoughts.
--------------
“Now then...I think our business here is concluded. See yourselves out,” Alonzo stated plainly. Lucas stood immediately and headed for the door, waiting for the group to follow behind. They left the club and were back on the street, walking as far away from that god awful place as possible as quickly as possible.
When he felt they were out of earshot of any of the perimeter thugs, Lucas spoke up. “Okay....I....I have no clue what our next move is gonna be....to be honest, I’m surprised we’re all alive."
After the sudden musical number performed by Austin, the whole place was filled with applause and excitement, with the exception of the superheroes apprentices. Ryan was glad to know that their comrade was safe and sound in the meantime, something that Alonzo was making sure of, which made Ryan despise the crime lord even more.
Ryan was getting nervous now, since Alonzo had remarked the fact that he still had the cards on the table and could do anything he wanted with them. But Lucas was right, it was odd that they had gotten away from the problem alive.
"You can say that again, Lucas." Ryan replied with a somber expression on his face, trying to keep a low voice so the thugs didn't suspect anything."There's gotta be a way to get to Austin in time, without alerting the guards. Isn't there a sector that these guys don't have jurisdiction over? "
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