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Post by Sylver on Nov 16, 2009 15:51:41 GMT -5
It wasn’t so much that he hated people, or hated anything for that matter, but experience had told him that nothing except what he could produce and find on his own would be worth anything.
Zeta Frost ducked a fallen beam and slid up against the nearest wall, edging slowly to peer around the corner. Seeing nothing, he tentatively brushed out with his sixth sense and didn’t feel any other sentient creatures around. Even still, he was still prepared to encounter anything and everything at any moment.
He straightened his posture and strode around the corner and down the alleyway where he could see the main throughway.
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Post by Zaras on Nov 30, 2009 11:22:27 GMT -5
This underworld was so much different than what he was used to. The dank atmosphere opposed to artificial air provided from generators; practically no light compared to having street lights every dozen meters; cramped walking space making it feel like your suffocating in contrast to wide streets made for traveling masses. In all honesty Sven's eyes hadn't even completely adjusted yet to the lack of light, and every once and a while he would have to put a sleeve up to his nose so as to not gag on the random repulsive smells. Thankfully that wasn't very often and he wasn't claustrophobic.
After finding he was still very out of place in a crowd of the Metropolis and more often than not was bumping into people he hadn't noticed moments before, the psychic decided to take an off-road. Off-road being the next alley that led to a quieter place and wasn't a dead end. Eventually he found himself a little above 'ground' level some how, only noticing when he reached an edge and looked down a few feet to see the bases of the buildings. "How...?" he mumbled starting to feel rather agitated at the confusing layout of the area. The man quickly sighed and shrugged his shoulders before bending his knees to crouch and make sure that the fall was only a few feet and not his poorly adjusted eyes tricking him.
Determining that indeed he could see the darkened ground he stood, glancing around the area for half a minute before finally prepping himself for the short jump down. What he didn't realize that if he had moved a few steps to his left he would have discovered that while there was a walkway on his level, the path below turned a corner and became a very short tunnel. He hoped down, facing the direction where someone had just emerged. The sight of Zeta was surprising enough for him to land a bit awkwardly, though still far enough from the line of falling.
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Post by Sylver on Feb 2, 2010 17:13:01 GMT -5
Zeta slowed to a stop and glared at the one who had suddenly appeared, seemingly from nowhere. He dropped the air temperature around them several degrees.
They were both well dressed, considering their location, and it made Zeta suspicious to suddenly run into him. Especially as he had jumped down from - Zeta's eyes flickered up to where he had most likely come from - up there, to land in his way.
Zeta reached out to touch the building beside him, his eyes fixed on the other. Frost began to form, as of yet out of sight, but it helped keep the temperature steady and it would easily transfer to the ground if it was already existing.
"Who are you?" It was not a question, per se, it was more of a demand.
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Post by Zaras on Feb 8, 2010 1:01:48 GMT -5
As if it wasn't already cold enough in this underground, it seemed especially cold now that he had fallen the few feet. A few shivers running through his body, Sven resisted the urge to pull his tailed coat closer around him and instead regained his standard position and composure. Well, standard being what best fit the demand of the person in front of him.
"Someone who's lost," he replied initially, letting out a mild sigh at the end. Sven took a moment to look at Zeta's hand on the wall, as it didn't seem like he was leaning on it nor needed the crutch. "But to avoid being called lost boy, name's Sven. You are?"
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Post by Sylver on Feb 8, 2010 1:13:43 GMT -5
"Well, 'lost boy', you may call me," Zeta hesitated. His last name was usually the one he gave to people to have them call him, but this one didn't yet know his power. Pfft. Who cared? People in Metropolis gave themselves names that didn't match their abilities all the time. "Frost."
He pulled his hand away from the wall and began to walk forward, calmly brushing past the other. He walked several feet before he turned back to sneer at Sven.
"You coming Lost Boy? Central's this way, the place to go to to get anywhere."
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Post by Zaras on Feb 8, 2010 1:40:17 GMT -5
For later reference Sven made a mental note of giving this guy anymore nicknames. He raised an eyebrow to Zeta's passing by, taking a short moment before half turning to watch the other walk away. His confused expression quickly shifted to ponder when 'Frost' spoke of Central. It didn't really seem like the place he really wanted to be. Another crowded street carved from the Earth wasn't that appealing since that was what drove him to his lost state to begin with. It was times like this he wondered what he had expected to find here on Earth that was an escape from the Moon.
Sven fully turned and caught up to Zeta, thinking about what to say next that wouldn't make the rest of this walk awkward. "Uh, thanks. Anywhere sounds like a good place to get to," he said the last bit with humor. He took a few steps before speaking again. "So.. Frost. That's a weird-" His words to further convince Zeta he was much like a tourist were cut off by a loud booming sound. The sound made the psychic recoil, instantly moving to cover his ears with a pained expression upon his face. Shortly after the sound a rumble echoed throughout the area accompanied by what felt like a mild tremor.
"What the..." Sven trailed off, letting the rest of his sentence play in his head. If either of them were paying attention they would notice a wall of dirt rise in the distance to their right and seem to get taller... or closer. Within a few seconds the later was obvious as a shock wave bull-rushed the pair, sending another massive boom through their heads.
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Post by Sylver on Feb 8, 2010 2:14:12 GMT -5
When Zeta was hit by the secondary boom, he stumbled forcefully into the nearest wall. He lashed back at it with his ice only to have the lack of all moisture in the air cause it to snap and cause fresh cracks in the bricks and pavement radiating out from his position like a demented spider's web.
Zeta panted and regained his composure, straightening and rubbing his suddenly chaffed fingers together. He glanced at Sven and dismissed him as the source, the other man had been as confused as he was.
He scowled at the cracks and crossed his arms, tucking his hands into his armpits to get the out of the dry air. He disliked loosing control, and while he didn't dislike it as much as loosing control, he hated a threat. And that was most definitely a threat.
"You can come with me or go on to Central, I don't care."
He straightened slightly and began to stalk off the way the blast had come from.
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Post by Zaras on Feb 8, 2010 2:29:35 GMT -5
There was nothing like the feeling of being simultaneously crushed and deafened. The shock wave pushed Sven against the wall very near Zeta. He felt the break of the solid structure as Frost failed to complete the transfer of his ability, of which he mostly attributed to the force of the wave having missed any sign of the other psychic using his powers while being thrown back and disoriented.
A continual ringing in his ears made it difficult to clearly hear Zeta, but it wasn't hard to discern what he was doing. That blast had definitely come from somewhere very nearby and was not normal. Or at least, not normal for Sven as he was not used to living with psychics. Holding his head with his right hand and blinking rapidly for a few moments to clear his vision and dismiss his disorientation, Sven moved after Zeta to search for the source of the disturbance.
The closer they got the more damaged the buildings seemed to be. A haze of dust remained in the air, making it difficult to see very far ahead. Finally the ringing in his ears ceased enough to bother trying to hear any screams of fright or pain, but all seemed eerily quiet. Sven knew that this area was desolate compared to other parts of Metropolis but this seemed a bit ridiculous. Odds were there were some people that were around here other than him and Frost.
The more steps they took the more edgier Sven became. There just had to be someone or some sign of life eventually, and he wished to be ready in case another blast came their way. Sure enough, blurry shapes could be seen moving further ahead through the dust.
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Post by Sylver on Feb 9, 2010 15:45:37 GMT -5
The closer they got to the blast center, the more Zeta spread his senses, both physical and mental. He removed his hands and tried to find at least a drop of moisture in the area. He narrowed his eyes as he sensed people ahead and slowed his pace. There was no need to run barreling into any situation without scoping it out.
"Hostile," he whispered, barely loud enough for Sven to hear. "Probably armed."
He'd never had an encounter with the Blockers before, they tended to shy away from attacking or infiltrating Metropolis, but somehow he knew these were not Blockers in the official sense.
"You!" A person shouted and pointed at the two of them before turning back to his fellows. "They're the reason it malfunctioned!"
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Post by Zaras on Feb 10, 2010 21:12:42 GMT -5
Shortly after Frost whispered the word to him, Sven made out definite shapes of people. His first assumption was just some grumpy psychic, but then he reconsidered the definition of 'probably armed'. 'Blockers.' The word made his blood boil. He thought he could escape them for at least a little while down here, since Metropolis had a reputation for detouring any attempts of infiltration. Apparently that was not so true.
Far enough into the dust now, it was easy to spot the closest person opposing them raise their arm and most presumably point a finger toward the pair. A shiver went down his spine, but not one as a result of temperature. He did a quick scan, straining his eyes to see as far as the current terrain would allow while the dirt settled, before darting off to the side headed toward the nearest cover. Sven knew what equipment the Blockers carried, and didn't plan on getting shot or captured by them.
It was a good thing he had moved, as the quiet hum and reflected light of an energy shot flew through the air.
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Post by Sylver on Feb 10, 2010 21:27:08 GMT -5
As soon as Sven had run off and Zeta saw the light, he dove out of the way in the other direction. He didn't quite dodge in time as the energy clipped him. He swore as he rolled, his left arm coming up to clutch the blaster wound on his upper arm. He swore again and removed the pressure, instead trying to chill the burn as much as possible.
As soon as he had regained his composure, he darted the rest of the way into the shelter of a shredded door. His senses told him that there was no one in the building and he couldn't feel the void a reflective surface would produce.
He glanced across the way to try and locate Sven. He reached out and 'knocked' lightly on Sven's mindscape. When he spoke to him, if Sven hadn't gotten the knock, Zeta's voice would be too faint to hear.
"Any idea of what's going on?"
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Post by Zaras on Feb 10, 2010 22:09:42 GMT -5
Frost's voice coming so clear to him startled Sven. His heart skipped several beats, his mind freezing any thoughts causing him to hit his cover; the base of what used to be an entrance way. He allowed himself to fall and tumble into a perpendicular wall, as he would have had to get low to keep protected from the gunfire anyway. "Son of a b..." he trailed off the last syllables. Another shot went off, or so it sounded, as Sven recovered and shifted to a more preferable position.
There was a first for everything, and being spoken to via telepathy just now had been a first. He knew what it was just had never been in contact with anyone who had the capability before. From the sounds of verbal exchange it seemed like there were a small bunch of attackers and not just a couple. There wouldn't be much point in Sven shouting back to Frost that he had no idea what was going on other than they were under fire, as Zeta already knew that.
"Ideas... ideas..." he repeated to himself, taking a moment to peak over his cover. 'This won't stay cover long...' he thought, seeing the advance of the enemy. They looked a bit... different than the Blockers he was used to. They weren't in the standard uniform. Not completely anyway, as it was obvious now they were wearing torn armor and no headgear. Sven ducked back down, feeling he should tell Zeta of this before trying to come up with a plan on his own. But telepathic connection wasn't something he possessed, and the Blockers seemed to be grouping to approach.
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Post by Sylver on Feb 10, 2010 22:18:48 GMT -5
Zeta had been watching Sven and seen him stumble in response to his thought. When no answer was forthcoming, he growled to himself and eased himself around the edge of the door-frame to try and gauge the distance to their attackers. With the lack of moisture in the air along with a lack of reflective surfaces, he didn't have many options open to him.
His first instinct was to flee.
He didn't know what it was that kept him in the area, but he hadn't seen any evidence that Sven was psychic at all, now that he thought about it. He didn't communicate telepathically and he had yet to give signs of any other powers. He cycled through his options again and came up with very few.
"Right," he muttered darkly, "stupidity it is."
He poked his head out to glare at the Blockers. "Oi! Why are you morons shooting us? We haven't done anything!"
"You destroyed our machine!" So far it was working. Morons tended to yell back instead of shooting. They always had to prove they were superior.
"What machine?"
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Post by Zaras on Feb 10, 2010 22:52:08 GMT -5
"You know, our transporter thing," came the angry response from one of them further back. Whispers could be heard. They were probably planning on splitting into a team... or possibly try to surround the two to block escape and render the remains of the buildings useless for cover. Whatever it was he knew it wouldn't be good and he couldn't make out what they were saying.
Adrenaline began flowing through his veins while he rapidly thought of anything, though tried to rule out the more ridiculous ideas. A distinct set of clicks signaled a change in setting on the weaponry they held. Sven lightly bit his lip, then moved to a crouch and quietly moved toward the opening edge of his shield.
"Scum! We'll kill all of you," a gruff voice echoed throughout the area as hurried heavy footsteps beat the ground. Sven readied himself to tackle or trip the first person he saw to hopefully catch them before they shot him.
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Post by Sylver on Feb 10, 2010 23:55:36 GMT -5
Transporter thing? Zeta was embarrassed to admit it was more informative than any 'high tech' name for the thing. He was pretty sure that it was still a trial version, which would explain the explosion. Still, a transporter of any type was still a danger to the people of Metropolis, himself included.
He tensed and was considering trying to find more moisture of any form when the wind shifted. He sniffed the air and his eyes widened. Acid rain!
Normally he didn't like the acidic rainfall, as it tended to explode on him, but now was a perfect time for it to happen. He grinned viciously as the first drops began to fall and the prisoners demonstrated they had never been to Earth before.
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Post by Zaras on Feb 11, 2010 0:36:29 GMT -5
Sven's muscles kept threatening to tense as he stayed readied. He could only imagine the sort of slow movement he would get from pouncing up in this position if he hadn't spent the last while running around and staying active.
The footsteps were very close and seemed to be spreading, though Sven was no expert when it came to paying much attention to vibrations or any of that stuff. An obvious stop, skidding a bit, came to his ears on the other side of his shield. The hairs on the back of his neck stood up, figuring a better way out in case they were just going to spring up and shoot from above rather than come to the opening and have a better shot. He glanced up momentarily, immediately bringing his attention back to eye level when he caught movement a ways away. 'Must be for Frost, which mea-' his thoughts cut short when suddenly one of them was right in front of him, raising his weapon finger on the trigger.
Instantly he lunged forward, keeping as low as possible to tackle the legs of the skidding enemy. Sven hit his knees, causing no doubt quite a bit of pain as the man lost balance and fell forward while the psychic went under him. His gun was fired but hit nothing but stone and dirt. It was this moment that he confirmed his knowledge of one of them having stopped on the other side of his cover. The other gun was fired but thankfully majority of its energy was wasted on his ally's leg, the rest intercepting Sven's left side bordering his back. As Sven's stomach scraped the ground he immediately turned and tried to get up, looking to the one with their gun still in hand. He grimaced at the painful sensation during the motion, but wasted no time in wrenching the fallen enemies weapon away to point its barrel to the man's head.
"Drop it or he's dead," Sven half shouted toward the other, glancing to see at least three others around hopefully dealing with Frost and not turning their attention to shoot him in the back. He hoped that these people, obviously not being the standard Blocker, would have ties to one another. Unfortunately the other didn't seem to be lowering their weapon, instead smirking as if amused beyond all accord. This was bad.
A bead of water landed on Sven's right hand, a tingly feeling emanating in a circular radius where it had hit. Another landed on his shoulder, and a few others nearby that he could see as he worriedly reconsidered his position. The man on the ground had recovered but remained still while the one facing Sven seemed mildly confused for a moment and looked up. Sven took this as a good opportunity to kick the fallen man in the head and try to get to more cover. The once distracted Blocker didn't like this idea, however, and fired two successive shots. The first going wild but the second hitting Sven's left shoulder.
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Post by Sylver on Feb 11, 2010 1:06:54 GMT -5
There were several successive bangs that both sounded like they came from a blaster, but not at the same time. They lacked the whir that characterized any energy weapon. Still the Blockers flinched away as tiny bits of subzero shrapnel flew into their faces or exploded in the ends of their blasters.
Zeta darted out of his shelter, latching onto the back of one of their attackers and causing more of the acid rain to explode like dry ice. He shielded his face in his shoulder, he didn't have any control over where the tiny pieces of ice went and as he was already wounded, he really didn't need any more with acid rain in them.
Once he had succeeded in drawing their attention away from Sven, he dropped away from his victim and dashed back the way he had come, back into his shelter. He was trying to draw them away from Sven, but he was a little concerned about the gunshots he had heard. He hoped Sven had come out on top, and if he had acquired a blaster, more the better.
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Post by Zaras on Feb 11, 2010 13:27:13 GMT -5
A rather large drop of the acidic liquid from above hit his nose seconds before the energy bullet collided into his shoulder. The rain had forced Sven to close his eyes, not wanting any of the splash to pass his eyelids, which caused him to be unprepared to protect himself from the shot. Sven cursed at his misfortune though ultimately was thankful it hadn't hit anywhere more damaging.
The Blocker that had hit him dashed around the walkway and tried for another shot before he could reach cover, but was too slow as Sven's figure disappeared behind a mass of debris. The one he had kicked on the ground groaned and pushed himself up. "Why is there rain down here?" he asked his supposed ally in an angry tone while he ran his fingers around his injured face before grabbing his knife and standing up.
Sven could hear the rage of the Blockers that had gone after Zeta. It seemed he was doing quite well with dealing with them, now if only he could get rid of the two after him. He took a couple quick peaks around his new cover to see them forming up again and approaching. Sven took a few steps away from edge. "At least they aren't coming from both sides..." he muttered to himself, taking a moment to inspect his injured shoulder. It was bleeding, only parts of the entry having been scorched by the bullet, and he probably had a nice hole. On the bright side it hadn't gone all the way through or he would be seeing something rather than feeling it with his right hand. Still, it was difficult to move his left arm very much.
"Damn Blockers," came angry whispered words as he transferred his newly acquired blaster back to his right hand. He pointed the weapon forward and focused intensely at the end of the barrel. The moment he pulled the trigger he froze that point. Of course he missed some of it, a small portion shooting off but quickly fizzling and dispersing. The initial strain was enough to warrant a sound from the psychic, but he hoped to use that to his advantage. The two Blockers knew he was already injured from the shot, and now he had just fired another followed by making a pained noise. He prayed that this worked as he carefully removed the blaster from the space and crouched down.
The two coming around were exceptionally quiet, making Sven wonder if they were actually coming this direction. But soon enough the one with the blaster came into view a few meters away. Sven fired then stood and put his back to the uneven wall immediately after word, the Blocker's shot narrowly missing his upper legs. Then the second one jumped around the corner with his knife at the ready. But to his surprise he was face to face with an energy bullet, of which Sven released from his psychic grasp and it happily continued its path through the man's neck. Both he and the other fell together, though a pained yelp from the one further away hinted toward his shot merely injuring and not killing.
Sven released a sigh of relief then raised the blaster in his hand and moved around the corner. He carefully moved forward a little ways to see how Frost was doing with the other three.
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Post by Sylver on Feb 11, 2010 22:42:42 GMT -5
Zeta was doing well, in his opinion. He had yet to acquire any life threatening injuries and was easily staying out of reach of the Blockers. Somehow the building he was in had ended up being one with plenty of built in work stations. It was an old lab or something, but Zeta was just glad said stations provided decent cover.
With his limited telekinesis and exploding frost, he dropped old light fixtures from the ceiling. He hit one of them and the others were rather reluctant to move across the room under the other ones. Zeta thought he had just been lucky with the first one - it had been loose - but he wasn't going to question his luck.
"Telling you I didn't do anything to your precious machine isn't going to prevent you from shooting me, is it?"
He didn't bother waiting for a reply, diving to another station and then dashing farther into the building as his path was followed by blasts of energy. There was a door over this way and Zeta could feel a bit of the void beyond it. He tugged on the door handle with his thoughts, staring in surprise as it clicked open easily.
Stale air poured out, and with it a scent of mildew. Zeta's breath hitched. Mildew wasn't a scent he got often, but it usually meant water!
The air crackled around the Blockers and they ducked, shielding their faces as tiny explosions covered Zeta's retreat into the room. He grinned in glee at seeing the few vials of chemicals left behind and quickly grabbed all he could hold before narrowing in on the reflective surface.
'Great, just great. It was a dull, yet still reflective, table. Zeta pushed the junk off of it and hopped on. He decided to keep a hold of the chemicals for now, he wasn't quite sure what turning them to ice would do.
Mere seconds before the Blockers entered the room, having braved the open space, Zeta tumbled into his personal void.
-
From the other side, Zeta closed his eyes and 'froze' time in order to attempt to get rid of his headache and his body's overall ache. When the pain was down to manageable levels, Zeta squinted at the window back to the real world.
There was no way he was going to be able to attack them from this angle. It was a better idea to find another way out.
He turned and walked off. Time worked differently so it was barely a few seconds real time until he came face to face with a slightly foggy view of a room. The only thing significant about the room, besides the Blockers, was that he could see Sven.
He eased himself partway out of the surface - and he wasn't quite sure what it was he was appearing from - and tossed a vial at a Blocker taking aim at the other psychic.
He blinked in pleased surprise as it exploded quite spectacularly, sending glass and icy shrapnel everywhere.
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Post by Zaras on Feb 12, 2010 16:25:14 GMT -5
The flung object exploding was enough of a surprise to warrant a spin and duck to protect his face with the blaster. It looked pretty silly considering the distance, but Sven would rather protect first and check later than risk the sharp projectiles to get him in the eye. There was a pained scream from the already injured opponent, his body falling still.
Sven turned to spot where the icy bomb had come from only to find himself staring blankly at Frost's partially emerged figure from a translucent broken object probably flung from one of the broken buildings upon the Blocker's 'impact'. "I see I don't need to worry about you," he stated in a bit of a yell before starting slow movement toward his ally. The psychic had dropped his guard, figuring that if Frost was back here the other three Blocker's were dealt with.
"These guys were different," he started, passing the blaster from his right hand to his left so he could check the condition of his shoulder. He was starting to feel a bit weak on that side. "Not typical Blockers. There armor is all worn and I didn't see any com. headgear," he reported to Frost.
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