"I heard you guys talking. i thought i was the only one. stupid, yes, but understandable, right? It's like a starving man learning there's food nearby- in the middle of the desert."

"And now, if you are fully healed, I will depart and move on"

Catherine wasn't sure about this. Allowing this thing, angel or not, to simply walk around the city would be a cause for concern. Either way she wouldn't stop it- mysterious tall figure, immune to dark energy attack's, currently there is one super fighting it, more needed.

That feeling again. The feeling of darkness flooding into her mind. Only this time it wasn't fighting for control. It was pleading with her. This was almost certainly Ray's power. You expect help after trying to kill me. Better luck next time, douche.

She pushed the thought, hoping Ray would hear it, then discarded it to concentrate on the figure. "Perhaps I can help you with your task." As expected, the angel turned back towards her. She grinned before continuing, "This city is filled with more people than you could go through in a lifetime. By the time you find whoever you need to protect they could have been lost already."

You expect help after trying to kill me. Better luck next time, douche.

"ungh, shut up, i was trying to sleep..." Ray mumble's, picking himself up from the ground. Rubbing his eye's, trying to stay awake, as he slowly walks towards the source of the frantic yelling he had heard earlier

"Hmm I see what you mean. You having a power still doesn't give me much reason to trust you."Kris still stood between Damien and the door, this time instead of keeping his hands close to the holstered pistols, he made sure he would be able to summon his saber if anything went awry."Ryan, Amy, Shifty...I don't know about you two but i think this place is getting a little too crowded. I never expected to bring anyone here until today, and now we have five people in here. I suggest we grab what we need and find a better place to get to. anyone of you guys have a place to lay low for a while?"

Ryan stood opposite of Kris, blocking the hallway in that direction. He eyed the newcomer darkly, not sure whether or not the man should be trusted. Just having powers, as Kris pointed out, didn't give them any reason whatsoever to believe he was on their side. He had also made a shitload of noise outside. Anyone nearby who was interested could easily find them now.

"I suggest we grab what we need and find a better place to get to. Anyone of you guys have a place to lay low for a while?" said Kris.

"Nah man, my apartment is even smaller than this." Ryan said, still looking at Damien. "Plus it's not very secure, or out of the way." he looked back at Shifty and Amy, hoping one of them had a place in mind.

"Ryan and Shifty have both been to my place already," said Amy, shifting uneasily. She was uncomfortable about this new guy, and even more so at the thought of having all these strange new people crammed inside of her apartment. "But it's back the way we came- past that whole 'scene we made.

"We'd have to go back through the sewers, make a wide circle around the site, or... well, be invisible to make our way there. Maybe we should think about leaving the city... What's left for us here?" She looked about the group, heaving a silent sigh. They were all just regular people, weren't they? Well, except for Shifty, of course. But what place did they have here, fighting people like Ray and the masked man like some sort of superheros? That wasn't her life, she felt sure of it.

Ray walked up to an alley, were the frantic yelling had been coming from. He walks into the dark unlit alley, he shift's his head towards his side and glance's at a man, he looked like he had just preformed a miracle, to the front of him was a door, slightly opened. he appeared to be having a conversation with people inside, not like the people inside could see Ray unless they walked out into the alley.

"i guess im waiting this one out" Ray say's to himself leaning up against a wall, lighting up another cigar, carefully watching for anything suspicious. Ray removes the aviator sunglasses and tucks them into his pocket, and flips his hood over his head. he appeared more like homeless person than a psychopath at this point, he close's the sweater hiding the wound his chest, figuring that he better not draw any attention to himself.

Aqualung:

Exictednuke

We'd have to go back through the sewers, make a wide circle around the site, or... well, be invisible to make our way there. Maybe we should think about leaving the city... What's left for us here?"

Amy had a point. Maybe the best idea was to leave the city. After all, the only thing keeping Kris here was all the unsold merchandise."I get your point, there doesn't seem to be anything of any real importance to me here except my job... and that can easily be picked up in another town."He sighed."But when we think about it, we have to find out what way we want to leave the city."This was frustrating, being in this position, to run away and live or die trying to fight things that he didn't understand.

"If you are really worried about moving about in the city without being seen, I know a few paths we can take to get to places like bus stops and subway stations...I think those would be our best bet should we want to try and leave this place."

Damien turned around and noticed the door was slightly ajar. He first said a warning: "Nobody go outside at this second. you'll be killed." Then he threw up an extremely warped, and very strong, gravity field right outside the door. anything within it would come out like a pizza, and anything on the fringes would be severly hurt. He took it down after about 5 seconds. "Anyway, i doubt you guys would even consider this, but we can go to my place. it's pretty big. plently of room. plus, not many places to hide around it. or neighbors for that matter." he started to scuff his shoes on the ground. "I sorta had to get some space, you know, to make sure i don't kill anybody when practicing."

Ray creates a shield of dark energy to protect himself from the shrapnel that was thrown around. various bit's and piece's of garbage were thrown around the alley way and compacted against the walls, and some were smashing against his shield, disintegrating upon impact, creating a zapping noise.

note to self, do not piss that guy off Ray thinks to himself, puffing on the cigar, still half way asleep despite these recent events.

Damien's display brought about a raised eyebrow from Ryan. "Anyway, i doubt you guys would even consider this, but we can go to my place." The newcomer continued nonchalantly, telling them about how much room his place had.

"Wait a second, back up. What- what the hell was that?" Ryan asked, motioning towards the door. "You just... do something like that at random? Without, I dunno, checking to see if anybody is watching? There are other people out there you know... not only civilians but other supers, other supers that would like very much to dismember us." He stared at the man for a moment, to give him a few seconds to process the information, then continued.

"As much as I would absolutely love to have the entire murderous psychopath brigade drop by for a surprise party, that's just not an option right now. Banging on the door and yelling at the top of you're lungs won't keep them away either." He glanced at Kris, then pushed his way to the door and put his face on it, opening up a small hole for him to look through. After a few seconds of scanning the alleyway and building opposite, he closed the hole and turned back to them.

"Nothing for now. Thankfully. But if you could, try being a tad more subtle. Luckily for us our enemies aren't subtle at all, so we should have fair warning if they come after us." He leaned against the wall, putting his hands behind his head and relaxing again. "Alright. So where is your place?"

Seeing as Damien was the only person to actually suggest we go to his place Kris saw no other alternative. He didn't like the fact that he just did something very dangerous with his power, but at least he wanted to make sure no one was around. Well, thats what he thought the man was doing.

"As much as I would absolutely love to have the entire murderous psychopath brigade to drop by for a surprise party, that's just not an option right now. Banging on the door and yelling at the top of you're lungs won't keep them away either."

"He does have a point there. i don't know if you have been watching the news lately, but all of us in here have been implicated in the...uhh apparent terrorist attack on the city. Explosions near a construction site and alley, and a giant brawl that destroyed at least two buildings."He paused for a moment to catch his breath."We were fighting against those psychopaths. I guess you could say its supers that have no sense of subtlety and want to go and 'rule the world' or something crazy like that."

Kris sighed heavily, They really didn't have much choice now anyways. This place was compromised and they had to get out of here. Ever since Ryan woke up and Amy finished her shower, Kris had had this feeling of dread in the back of his mind. he didn't like it and his only instinct in this kind of situation was to keep moving. And thats what he planned to do, but this time, he also had to think about everyone else that was involved. This was the first time in a long time that he had to think about other peoples survival. It only made things more complicated...

The angel had turned it's attention to Catherine, but as the mental pulse hit it stopped, and stared into the middle distance.

"The enemy is here, or at least, His agent. I may have to engage him"

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

The wind swirled around the square, but as Mr Terrible waited, nothing moved.

The wind blew again, and in the rustle of the trees, he caught a sound almost like a soft chuckle. Or maybe he just imagined it...

A fog began to rise, and a tiny sound, like an almost silent cough , right in his ear, made him spin wildly. Again, the wind blew, almost like a laugh

Too late came a whisper in his ear

"Nothing for now. Thankfully. But if you could, try being a tad more subtle. Luckily for us our enemies aren't subtle at all, so we should have fair warning if they come after us."

Ray heard Ryan's voice coming from inside the room, despite his obvious disadvantage Ray felt overconfident.

here's your warning. Ray projects his thought inside the building, Ray raise's his hand and walks towards the door, motivated by a mix of adrenaline and insanity. Ray was laughing outside the door, prepared to kill however was the unlucky bastard who came out first.

Here's your warning. Ryan froze as he heard ray's voice in his head. A grin slowly formed on his face as he stared off into nothingness. This was prefect. Ray had come right to them, while they were rejuvenated and strong, and despite the man's immense power, he was now terribly outnumbered. Unless there was some other force at work he wasn't aware of, this was the bastard's end. He would make sure of it.

As Ray's maniacal laughter sounded form just outside the door, Ryan turned and looked at the others. "I'm assuming none of us are opposed to attacking this guy. If there are no other suggestions, may I commence crushing his esophagus?" His hands were already splayed out on the wall behind him, in the center of a growing area of dark gray goo.

Kris tensed as he heard the heard Ray's voice and even grew to know a little bit of fear. all of which he kindly tossed out of the way. Emotions like that wouldn't get him to stay alive. He saw that Ryan was ready to go out after the man."You know what? Just go after him. We have to try and lead him out of here anyways, I've got quite a bit of money stored in here."He looked around at the other boxes when his eyes fell upon the pack of beef ravioli. He sighed at the unfinished meal and turned back to Ryan. "If we can lead him away from here and into the network of alleys and buildings, we should be able to stand a chance. i can lead the way, but after that, I'm afraid it will be all up to you. Like i said before, I've no intention of killing anyone."With that, Kris made his saber appear in his hands in a blaze of blue flames. he looked around at the others in the room."Get your stuff, looks like we get to fight sooner than we expected." He turned back to Ryan and nodded, waiting for him to make it possible to go through the wall.

Damien held up his hands. "Wait a sec guys." He reversed the flow of gravity outside of the doorway, strengthening it slightly so that anything on the other side would be slammed into the wall facing the doorway. He then warped gravity around himself. very little could get through that. "Alright, now go." he stepped outside, looking for the enemy, ready to crush him.

Amy clenched her fists at the sound of the voice in her mind, and gritted her teeth. Doesn't he ever learn? she though, feeling her blood run hot. As she remembered his former words, threatening Ryan to drown in a pool of her own blood, Amy felt her skin begin to glow a dull gold. Wisps of smoky light danced from her body like solar flares, warming the room a little uncomfortably.

She raised a hand and stood poised and ready, her glowing palm facing the door, ready to blast whatever came their way. She looked to the others. They had become men of war, their faces hard and their bodies tense and eager for violence and vengeance. Not that she had any complaints- they were fighting a true monster now- but her heart was still a little saddened by the sight. The thought of Ryan, who had blushed shyly at her earlier this same day when conversing with the police officer, had grown cold and thirsty for battle. At least, she thought, this was only temporary. Perhaps under better circumstances he would shed this dark skin.

Bringing her mind back to focus, Amy trained her eyes on the wall and her hand facing the door. She would run with the rest to lead Ray to a better battleground, but once she reached it, she would have no choice but to join in the blood lust and burn the dark man's soul.

Ray creates a shield of dark energy, absorbing the shock as Ray smash's into the wall, a mysterious man walks out of the apartment, the same man he had heard yelling.

"looking for someone?" Ray asks jokingly, puffing on the cigar, rather unnerved about the odds he was facing.

Damien jumped into the flow of gravity, rushing towards Ray, the gravity around his limbs pulsating. he lashed out with a spinning kick. Ray ducked. where Damien's foot had connected with the wall, there was nothing. the wall had been crushed into nothing. Damien removed gravity from his right arm and grabbed Ray by the throat, prepared to slowly bring back the gravity, which would crush his windpipe if he didn't do something. "What do you want?" Damien snarled.

"Well Ryan? shall we be going? it looks like Damien has our little friend occupied."Kris grinned. As much as he hated killing, he would fight when he had to, and he would enjoy the fights. It was almost like someone else came into control. Someone that loved the thrill of an intense battle as much as pulling off the perfect heist. It didn't take much for kris to be ready to run through the wall when Ryan would give the mark. he was poised to move quickly and efficiently leading Ray away from the safe house.

Ray raise's his arms and fire's two blast of dark energy towards Damien.

"personal business, nothing you have to concern yourself with" Ray said, gesturing his right hand upward, a group of seven, cackling dark minions appear from the ground, hungering for blood just as Ray did.

"kill him." The minions dashed towards Damien, ready to rip him apart.

Ryan grinned with feral glee as the adrenaline began to kick in. He nodded at Kris, then the entire wall behind him spread apart, and he darted through, the others following close behind. They emerged in the alley, at which point Ryan stopped to let Kris take the lead. In the few seconds that provided him he leaned against the opposite wall, black tendrils of goo snaking along the wall towards Ray. As the liquefied area engulfed the wall behind Ray, it shot outwards like a bubble, striking the maniac from behind and sending him flying across the alley.

Ryan smiled with satisfaction, then turned and followed after the others, calling for Damien as he ran. "Come on man, let's go!"

"Hang on, one last thing!" Damien once again shifted the gravity around him to get up into the air, above the battle. he then created a giant gravitational field going down, crushing the minions and slowing down Ray. "Damn wanted to end this here," He muttered. He started waving smugly. "Maybe next time, eh?" He changed the flow of gravity and rushed towards his new comrades.

Kris all but ignored the others as Ryan let him take the lead. He ran deeper and deeper into the alley further away from its entrance. The areas could be likened to a maze if you ventured deep enough into them. And thats what he wanted to do. Lead Ray into the maze to fight them. that way, he wouldn't be able to leave. Well, that was the plan anyways.

Making his way through the twists and turns between the buildings Kris stopped to make sure that the others were still able to follow him. Noting that they were still there, he turned back to his path and started running again. Taking note of the shorter building to his right, Kris leaped up, using his power over air to help bring him up to the roof of this building. The edifice itself was about two floors up and was the shorter building among the network of winding alleys. It almost formed a hole in the continuous wall the taller buildings made.

Kris stood waiting for the others to make their way up. Just a bit further and they would arrive at an abandoned apartment complex parking lot where they would be able to perform as much collateral damage and not worry about killing any innocent bystanders.

As they ascended up the side of the building, Ryan had a moment to examine this new feeling he was having. He had never experienced bloodlust before, or a serious case of adrenaline for that matter. He just wasn't that active of a person.

Now, though, he could feel his heart beating in his head, he could feel the blood pulsing through his extremities, the energy coursing through his veins. This must be what soldier's feel, he realized, the thing that made them seemingly fearless in battle. Despite the obvious danger, he found himself energized and confident, ready to take on anything. He found himself... enjoying this.

He glanced at Amy as they reached the top, suddenly troubled by his behavior. This wasn't a game, this wasn't for fun or enjoyment. He had to get himself under control, start using his adrenaline rush wisely and to their advantage, or they would get hurt.

He landed wobbly as Damien stopped his gravity thing, then turned and looked back the way they had come, checking to see if ray was following.

Damien, who was flying (Falling sideways) noticed that no-one else would be able to get up there. he shifted the flow of gravity in that area upwards so everyone could reach the roof. he shifted it sideways at the top of the building. when everyone was up there, he immediatly shifted the flow only around himself. "Good, no mistakes." he said to himself.

Ray lied on the ground laughing, aware that vengeance was the thought on everyone's mind.

ignorant fools, everything working out just fine, there inner darkness is prevailing.

Ray's eyes were closed, tearing do to laughter. he didn't care his minions were destroyed or that we was outnumbered and in danger, he had finally fallen into pure insanity, he opened his eye's and saw everyone on top of the buildings. Ray quickly picks himself up and flies towards the rooftop's, landing behind the group.

Grimheart:

OOC