"Yea... yea that sounds about right." said Ryan, breathing hard. "Everything just seems kinda... wrong." He didn't mention his nightmare. For some reason he didn't feel like he should.

"I don't know about you two, but i don't like this one bit. So I'm going to get prepared for anything." said Kris, rummaging through some boxes. Ryan leaned against the wall and breathed slowly, catching his breath. "No, i don't either." He wondered for a moment if it was Ray's doing, but it didn't feel like Ray. This was something far... bigger.

"Alright, well, I'm gonna go shower off real quick..." he said, looking down at his haggard appearance. "Then, i guess we'll have to figure out what to do about it." He forced a smile to Amy as he passed, then walked back into the bedroom to retrieve a new shirt. This time around rummaging through the box he picked out a black tanktop. It wasn't really his norm, but it would serve him better in a fight.

He then walked down the hall and into the bathroom, the prospect of hot water not making him feel much better.

Kris looked up from the box to see Ryan walk to the shower. He sighed and went back to looking through the contents of the box. He was just about to grab another box to look through it when his hand came upon a suitcase like container. He smiled widely and pulled the case out from the box."Well, with this I hope I can defend myself a bit better." He pressed open the latches and opened the case, revealing two FN Five-Seven USG model handguns. The government issue handguns looked brand new. There was one magazine loaded in each gun and two extra magazines on the side. Also inside the case was the ammunition needed for the gun.

He took the guns out of the case and ejected the magazines, they were empty so he started loading them. He handled the weapons with proficiency and quickly loaded all four magazines. he looked up from the weapons and towards Amy."If you want a weapon of any kind, you can maybe find something in one of these boxes. I'm not too orderly when it comes to the things that i collect. Most of the things in them are the left overs from some of my... jobs. Maybe you'll find something that you fancy."

"'Jobs'?" Amy asked, a sly smile on her face. "Something tells me you're not exactly a police officer, are you?"

The multitude of guns seemed to suggest, rather, that his apartment was its own independent police station. She wandered along the crates, dragging her fingers lightly across their surfaces, as if trying to pick a better box though they all looked similar. She slowed as she paced the room, and finally stopped two boxes away from Kris, looking down at one in particular.

Lifting the lid, it revealed a number of pistols in clear rectangular display boxes. She brushed away a small amount of foam peanuts before she paused, one of them catching her eye.

She lifted one clear case, staring at the gun inside. It was of average size, dark, and made of what seemed to be the cleanest stainless steel and polymer. She slid the locks off with her thumbs and pried the pistol free from the container.

"Smith and Wesson M and P, .357, isn't it?" she asked, holding the grip strongly and running a hand down the barrel. Her face softened a little. "I had an uncle who was something of a gun enthusiast. Typical hick, really- lived in the country, drank beer, spent his weekends shooting cans and watching the game." She picked up a second container, which had sat beneath the pistol. Inside sat a few magazines. She loaded the gun, flicked the safety off, and grazed the trigger with her pointer finger. She hesitated, then flicked the safety back on.

She held it up casually, tilting her head innocently as she showed it to Kris. "D'you mind? It'd be nice to have a back-up. I'm still recharging- that is, I can only use so much power before I need to break."

Ryan had become adept at showering quickly, from thousands of over-slept mornings. If pushed he could strip, jump in, lather up, rinse, and dry in under a minute, and still look presentable enough for most everyday occasions. This wasn't really a rushed situation, but they did have some planning to do, so he would make it fairly brief.

About three minutes after entering the bathroom he emerged again, squeaky clean, smelling fresh, hair elegantly disheveled. He was now sporting a new pair of blue-jeans and the black tanktop, the sleevlessness feeling a bit weird, but also slightly freeing.

Despite his previous predictions, the shower had in fact lightened his spirits a bit, and he was able to give a genuine smile as he walked back into the living room, where the others appeared to be talking about guns, and waving around a few examples. "So guns now, eh? You don't think we'll actually need more backup, do you?" he asked sarcastically as he perused the boxes.

Ryan hadn't ever really been around real guns. His parents had never even bought him a BB gun. His family, the community they lived in, and the people they surrounded themselves with, just hadn't been "gun people". They were all mostly apposed to violence, preferring to rely on hard work and business deals to solve the worlds problems. So Ryan had ended up garnering most of his weaponry knowledge from video games, movies, and his own wild imagination.

He picked a box who's cardboard looked exceptionally inviting, and opened it up. Inside were several submachine guns he identified as MP5's, judging from memories of his various shooters, although what make or model he had no idea. All he knew was they could fire automatic and were compact enough not to tire him out by keeping them hidden on his skin somewhere for long periods of time.

He reached in and picked one up, holding it awkwardly and trying to look like he knew what he was doing. He glanced at the other two, holding pistols like they were born with them and looking fairly badass, and grinned sheepishly. "I'm not a very good shot, so i figured i may as well go with an automatic."

"'Jobs'?" Amy asked, a sly smile on her face. "Something tells me you're not exactly a police officer, are you?"

Kris grinned"Quite the opposite actually, though I say I'm a collector of sorts. I get told to find something and bring it back to someone, and thats what I do. Whatever else i find, i can keep. And thats what you see around you, well, a portion anyways. You'd be surprised how many people are willing to pay to get their things back." Kris rummaged through boxes and listened to Amy as she told the story about how she became knowledgeable in firearms. After a while he found what he was looking for, he pulled out two holsters and a belt.

"D'you mind? It'd be nice to have a back-up. I'm still recharging- that is, I can only use so much power before I need to break."

"I don't mind at all, as long as you don't break it. You break it, you buy it."he said with a laugh. He holstered the weapons and put on the belt."I've been doing this for the better part of two years now. It was a little bit of luck that we found one of my markings in the sewer. You see, in some parts of the city its hard to move around without being seen, so the sewers become quite useful, especially after putting a few markings on the walls so i don't get lost."

Kris saw Ryan come out of the shower more refreshed and walk over to some boxes. As Ryan pulled out an SMG from one of the boxes, Kris stood up.

I'm not a very good shot, so i figured i may as well go with an automatic."

"Umm, I'm not too sure thats a good idea. The recoil on some sub-machine guns can be pretty hard to control if you've never fired a gun before. There should be some close quarters melee weapons somewhere around here if you are more comfortable with that. i think this place has most of my knives and brawling weapons... Not too sure though." He turned and looked back at Amy with her own handgun."Some holsters should be in the box i got mine from, they should be okay to fit the S&W model you have."

Ryan frowned, fairly certain he could handle the firearm. He looked down at the weapon, shifting it around slightly in his hands, trying to get a feel for it, then let out a sigh. Kris was probably right, he better find a something smaller.

Setting the gun back in it's box reluctantly, he scanned the room and picked out a box laying near the couch, then knelt down and opened it up. "Nope, electronics." He tried the one next to it. "Body armor." He turned around and tried another. "Canned food... and flashlight batteries." He glanced at Kris, then picked another box. "Errr... paintings." He stood up, looking in bewilderment around the sea of cardboard. "Good god, man, you've really got a stash here."

Ryan walked over to one of the corners and picked a box at random. "Aha, knives." After rummaging around a bit, he pulled out a pair of combat knives with accompanying leg sheaths. Or holsters. Or whatever.

"These should do pretty good. If i wear them under my jeans i can just 'goo' them up to my hands whenever I want." He grinned, slightly proud of his new discovery. It was also giving him an idea, a new use for his power. He could feasibly strap all kinds of small objects to his body, and then move them to his hands whenever he needed them. The same could work for his pockets.

He set the knives down and then moved over to the pistol box, rummaging through it, searching for a fairly small, nonthreatening one. "I should probably carry one of these too though, just in case." He spotted one, a small handgun that could basically fit in a pocket, and held it up for Kris to see. "You think this'll work?"

"Ah, that would be good, its a Glock 29 subcompact model. Ten round magazine and easy enough to keep on your person without gaining any unwanted attention." At the mention of Ryan's powers, kris started to get curious."So, you 'goo' things huh? thats what you did to get us into the sewer?" he asked."Can you, i dunno, change the shape of the things you turn to blobs?"

"Oh yea, definitely." Ryan replied. Instantly, the Glock turned to a black-colored mush and wrapped around his hand and wrist in the from of a glove. He turned his hand around a few times, flexing his fingers, watching Kris' reaction. Then the blob moved away from his hand and up his forearm, then separated, forming a row of bracelet looking things. He grinned, then held both arms out. The blob joined back together, then bridged to his left arm and raced up to his left hand, where it morphed back into it's original gun form.

"I mean, i can't change an object's shape permanently, but i can manipulate it in any way i want, as long as some part of it is touching my skin. Cool trick, huh?"

"You could not imagine how many more things i'd have in here if i could do that."He laughed and sat down on the floor close to a couch that had some boxes on it."All i can do is make a pretty amazing looking sword appear, which you have seen before."He raised his right hand and summoned the saber in a small burst of blue flames."It's quite useful, although i don't quite remember how i got it...i don't really remember much"The last part was more of a mumble. He turned the shinning blade in his hands, admiring the perfect craftsmanship."Its most likely an antique but it looks brand new and shiny every time i summon it. I still think i can do this with other items, but i haven't quite figured out how to make that happen." He sighed and made the saber disappear in much the same way it had appeared. "Other than that, I just learned i can control air. but that was during our little fight with Ray so I'm not too sure how good i am with that." He looked around the small apartment, talking with others made the feeling of paranoia more bearable, it was almost as if it was never there. But something int the back of Kris' mind made sure that he wouldn't forget. it was just this unsettling feeling.

OOC: Sorry Ive not been hear, I went away and did not have time to tell you guys.

Shifty woke to a crowd of terified people standing around watching as he reformed himself into his customary suit body. The last thing he remembers is Jay shooting a large bolt of dark energy at the top of the building he, Amy and Ryan where on then falling and splatering on the sidewalk.

After making shure he was more or less intact he started to look for his friends. He found the door of the building they were on open and decided to investigate. After looking around a bit he found a large hole in the middle of the floor. Starting to get worried about the safety of his friends he jumped down the hole into the sewers. When he reached the bottem it was almost completely black so he did what he always did, adapted. His eyes slowly became more sensative to the small amount of light and he could easyly see but he still had no idea of where his friends went. He decided to go right(I will edit this if it is the wrong way I cant get to any other pages) after a few minutes of walking shifty found a strange sign. If they found the sign then they most likely followed it to so shifty decided to go the direction the sign indicated and he soon came to a ladder that had the same sign pointing up. He started climbing up the ladder and as he did this his eyes returned to normal.

When he got to the top of the ladder he looked around and found a door with the same sign above it. Shifty walked over to it, checked his suit out of habit, not need and knocked on the door three times.

"Fear not, I shall not let this vile thing happen".

The light burned at first, like it was the first time she'd really felt light. It coursed through her, ebbing and flowing in time with her laboured breaths, before relaxing. Not at all like the mind invasion Ray had performed, where the weight of his mind, all the violence and confusion, was pushing against yours and bending it to his will, this was... this just was. Over a period of seconds, minutes, maybe hours, Catherine could 'feel' the soothing light pulsating. But not from where. Not how or why.

The heroin had learned, once during her late teens, that when the body is in great stress the mind will seek to protect itself. It will create an alternate perfect world within itself to avoid the outer pain. So maybe this was what was happening to her. Maybe she was escaping her responsibility for these people and the burden of their safety by hiding within herself.

"killed? trust me I`ve taken down a lot bigger and lived if your like any other super I`ve seen that stuff tends to heal quick only one drawback to it though" mister terrible let out a small chuckle before feeling a chill run over his body "okay what the hell" mister terrible thought before looking back and forth he then turned around expecting someone to be there seeing nothing.
"this is getting weird" mister terrible continued to look for a couple more seconds before turning back to ray.

"so got a safehouse or something" mister terrible asked.

Kris heard the three knocks and had his pistols out in a flash. Was this the reason why he felt so wrong? Was this the reason why he felt as thought something had changed so subtly? He stood up and slowly walked past Ryan and Amy."People don't just come around here like this. Not a lot of people dare to go in these alleys."He said in a low whisper."Stay clear of the door and get ready for when i open it."

Kris slowly made his way to the door, keeping to the side of the door. It wouldn't be the first time that someone was coming after him using a shotgun with the idea of shooting first then asking questions later, staying in front of doors in that situation wasn't really good."Who are you and what do you want?"He shouted through the door. Opening the door to someone you don't know is also something dangerous.

However, if one applies titanic amounts of energy, continuously, for quite some time, they will catch fire.

In fact, with enough energy applied, a large amount of bricks in the shape of, say, a wall, could be induced to simultaneously react with one another, and the surrounding air, in an explosion.

Sadly, this is only theory. It takes furnace level heat, thousands of degrees, to even melt brick. To set it on fire would take thousands more, and to explode them, even millions. No one has ever generated that kind of heat...[/i]

Before Ray could reply, he was silenced as the sense of malice, of huge violent potential, rose to fever pitch. Mr Terrible felt it too, but could not react in time...

The wall behind him literally exploded, the individual pieces of mortar vaporised as the entire wall sublimated straight into gas. Both Terrible and Ray were blasted from their feet and thrown across the street.

From where the wall had stood, illuminated by burning bricks, stood a tall, eerie figure, strangely un-lit by the glow of the fires around it

-----------------------------------------

Lying in blankness is reassuring, but only up to a point. Sure, one s safe form the fears and worries of the world, but on the other hand, one is stuck in a featureless, barren space, unable to move or act. Sooner or later, it will get too much...

The brightness is full of good, and justice, and righteousness. But though these are concepts humans follow, they are not necessarily human concepts, and there is nothing human in the working of this place. Far from a warm, loving, forgiving goodness, this is cold, logical, almost mechanical justice, the drive to right all wrongs, whatever the price.

There is only so long a human mind can bear the direct presence of that place, without going mad...

Thus it came almost as a relief to Cathy when she awoke. She was out of the brightness, but still it lingered around her, and before her stood a figure of boiling light, the personification of the place she had just left

Ray lets out a gasp for air. lifting his head up to see a the source of the blast, a tall figure stood about thirty or so feet away. Ray quickly lifts himself up from the ground and extends his arm out, the energy charges through his hand as he get's ready to let loose another high powered beam. he stares at the figure standing near the burning brick's

"Who are you?!" Ray shouts at the figure awaiting a response.

"yeah and you made a big mistake picking a fight with us" mister terrible said letting firing a gust of wind off himself strong enough to lift himself off the ground and taking a fighting stance charging both of his fists with lightning.

As she returned from the blank wasteland of her mind several things struck her. The new-ness of everything about her, as though she were in the same alley and the same city as before but somehow not, and the bright light that rained down towards her from one humanoid source.

She stood up quickly, making sure to press her hand onto her still-bleeding wound, and squinted her eyes to look upon the figure. She could almost make out a shape, a blurred man looking back at her from inside the searing whiteness, but it stood just beyond her gaze, losing any distinguishing features of a human.

Catherine shielded her eyes from him, or rather it, as a necessity then stuttered, "What... what the hell are you?"

Amy froze at the sound of three sharp knocks on the door. Had someone followed them here? Was it Ray?

Earlier, she mad managed to dig through a box of holsters of all sorts. She had found one, a black leather belt, that she liked in particular. She had strapped it to sit comfortably on her hips and covering the bottom of her sweatshirt, with the pistol hanging on the right side. She would have preferred to keep it concealed, but that didn't seem as practical- they could be jumped at any moment, and she didn't want to risk having to fumble around for the weapon.

But as the three knocks came, she immediately plucked the gun from the holster, switched off the safety, and aimed it at the door. She was surprised, frankly, by how fast she had moved, and at the same moment, scared. She had never fired a gun, only been taught how to load, clean, and hold them. She swallowed, hard, the barrel trained on the door as Kris called out to whoever stood on the other side.

Aqualung:

OOC

the figure standing among the bricks give's no response, just a blank stare. amazing that a person could stand among burning bricks with no physical damage.

Ray puts two fingers against his head and prepares a telepathic link
any body home? The figure continues to stare no response, Ray does a mind scan, no mental response either.

Ray lifts a third finger and puts it over his head and close's his eye's and attempt's to make a telepathic link with his former opponents
do any of you guy's know a tall, creepy looking guy, who happens have super power's and can't be hurt by fire?

Yorgmiester:

I'm sorry...

Shifty paused as he heard the voice from the other side of the door. It was male, but it didn't sound like Ryan. It could just because it was on the other side of a door... and maybe Ryan was purposely trying to disguise his voice. It would make sense. Then again, it could be someone completely different, in which case it would be better not to give anything away."

"I'm... looking for my friends. I have reason to believe they may be here."

****************************

Ryan froze at the sound of the knocks, his hand automatically gripping tightly to the gun. Kris had his pistols out in a flash, as if they just appeared there. Amy was almost as fast. Ryan awkwardly raised his weapon and pointed it at the door, shifting his left hand around for a few seconds trying to remember where to put that hand. Then, realizing he didn't feel at all comfortable with the pistol, he quickly stuck it in his pocket and reached out to the wall next to him, drawing a large chunk of it out, ready to shield Amy should bullets come flying down the hallway.

"Who are you and what do you want?" yelled Kris through the door. There was no response, for a few seconds, during which Ryan felt like his heart would break through his ribcage. Then a familiar voice answered. "I'm... looking for my friends. I have reason to believe they may be here."

Ryan looked at Amy, a that's-too-good-to-be-true smile spreading across his face. Then he relaxed, letting the goo back into the wall. "It's alright Kris, he's a friend."

"A friend huh? If you are sure about this..."Kris holstered one weapon."But if he starts acting suspicious, i won't hesitate."He said as he tightened his grip on the pistol he held. He carefully moved to open the door to let the person come in. What he saw as he let the person walk in left him speechless. He didn't know what to really call this... person. It didn't look like anyone he had ever seen. there clearly wasn't a distinction between male or female. "So, you know these two?" he asked the figure, ready to use the pistol should the person say something shifty...

In front of them, the figure in the flames stepped forwards. It moved strangely, as if rather than moving itself, something moved it. As it came out of the flickering light of the flames, it's shape became clearer, but still the details remained vague, as if it were made of shadows alone. As it neared, it's hands came up, and lengthened horribly into foot long claws. With one distended digit, it pointed at Ray.

Yes, boomed a voice in his head, I am he, though I am no 'man'. And what of you?

Before Ray had time to think, directly after the words came a mental invasion. It was like red hot hand forced inside his head, grasping at his memories and thoughts, sifting though them for anything of interest

--------------------------------------------

The figure seemed puzzled, as if Catherine's question did not make sense.

"I Am" it said, as if that explained everything, "I exist to serve He that Is, and it is His work that I must do here."

It looked at her, almost blankly for a moment, then said, "You are injured. Here."

It waved it's hands across her, and with a pulse of heat that was almost, but not quite, painful, her wounds sealed and repaired themselves at impossibly fast rate.

"Yes, their names are Amy and Ryan." Shifty replied, waving awkwardly at them. He still hadn't grown fully accustomed to that peculiar gesture. "I met them in Amy's apartment just before the battle." He seemed to not notice the gun in Kris' hand, or if he did, wasn't disturbed by it.

************************

Ryan smiled at Shifty as he walked up, extending his hand to the shapeshifter, who gladly took it. "Good to have you back buddy. Kris, this is Shifty. He came to us for help yesterday...." He glanced at his watch. "Yea. Yesterday." Wow, it had only been just over a day since his adventure began in that dark alleyway. Seemed like a lot longer.

He was about to go further when he felt something bump against his mind. A tiny, quiet presence, wavering on the edges of his consciousness. It felt as though the presence was searching for something, and he felt like he didn't want it to find him. Ray...

"Guys, do you feel that?"

A sudden searing pain shifts through Ray's mind, shifting through his memories. an overwhelming pain, worse then anything he had experienced. Ray creates a mist of darkness in his mind in order to sooth the pain but to continues to allow this figure access to the memories in his mind.

"I'm Ray, and im not a big fan off the mind attack, but i can tell your after something. take what information your after, then leave." Ray say's this in the calmest voice possible, though the dark mist eased some of his pain, it still felt as if is brain was being cut open.

Laughter rings through Ray's head. Fool! came the voice again, Do you expect that surrender buys you immunity?

The mental invasion cuts out suddenly, and the figure in front of them raises both hands, making a complicated gesture.

A second blast, nearly as titanic as that which destroyed the wall, unleashes from his fingertips, hurtling towards Ray and Terry

mister terrible put his hand into the air and chopped downwards sending a wave of lightning forward slicing the blast in half sparing both himself and ray.

"who the fuck do you think you are" mister terrible growled before charging a blast of lightning and firing back at the stranger.

"I Am" said the stranger, ignoring the lightning. The bolt struck, but disappeared into the indefinite blackness without a trace. The figure gestures again, and the air around Mr terrible suddenly contracts inwards in a pulse, like being hit from all directions with a hundred sledgehammers