Ryan wanted to scream at the man. The gift of life? Really? Is he really that delusional? The ridiculousness of Ray's accusations, and claims, was proof to Ryan that the man had finally gone completely mad. Which meant there would be no use in blurting out the answer to the question himself, as he desperately wanted to. Ray would probably just get angry and go berserk.

He turned and stared at Amy, not expectantly, or accusingly, but reassuringly. How she answered Ray's question could mean the outcome of the situation. Or maybe not, maybe it wouldn't matter. Ray was insane, after all.

Amy clenched her fists, which shook with a rage she hadn't felt before. "The gift of life?" she called back, her teeth bared. "What about the gift of security?

"You have spent the better part of today hunting us, toying us, calling us your 'prey'. You're a threat. We- I- had no better choice!"

"Good reason" Ray said in the calmest voice possible as he looked at the various supers who were lying on the ground in pain some still screaming and others falling into trances "I suppose that means you'll be executing these poor souls as well, if you had no mercy on me what will stop you from taking the life of everyone of them?"

Amy opened her mouth to speak, but then paused. Oh God... He's right, isn't he?

She looked about the area. Supers lay about them, screaming in agony; the lucky ones had fallen onto the nearby roofs, while others had collapsed mid-air and fallen to the ground far below. Crazy... What if these other people aren't crazy? What if there's a way to help them, and we just aren't looking hard enough?

She felt utterly defeated, and lowered her hands to fall loosely to her side. "Ray, I-

"...I'm sorry. I never even tried to help you, did I?"

Ryan had stood by as the dialog passed between Amy and Ray, but now he had to step in. He was tricking her.

"Alright, shutup." He yelled across to Ray, then walked up to Amy and stood in front of her, taking both her hands in his own. "Amy," he whispered quietly to her, "can't you see what he's doing? These people attacked us, not the other way around. He attacked us, not the other way around." He glanced down at the agonized people around them, who did truly look pitiful. "The way they are right now, he is doing that to them. Not us. He has no right to call them 'poor souls' and blame us for their pain. We defended ourselves, against them."

"He attacked our friends, he attacked Supergirl, and we helped them, as we should have, and he chased us, threatened us, threatened you. He tried to kill us. Do you honestly think that he would have wanted you to help him, or that he even can be helped? You've done nothing, absolutely nothing, wrong."

Ryan turned back to Ray, his voice hard as steel. "Whether or not you honestly believe what you're saying is true, i don't know, but I do know that you're a threat to her, and them, and everyone. I don't trust you, as well I shouldn't, and so I'm not letting you near them. Leave."

Ray froze at her words, as if he was sent back into cold barren abyss where he was sent to after death. He was a mind reader with nothing to say or talk about, no manically laugh or demonic chuckle to show his superiority, just silence.

Ryan's words somewhat snapped him out of the the barren wasteland of his consciousness "If i leave all these crazies will get back up and rip you to shreds, and i doubt you want that to happen."

"So what, you want to help us now? Ha." Ryan chuckled dryly, walking over to where a middle-aged balding man with a beer belly was lying in the gravel, convulsing and screaming in pain. He knelt down and gazed into the mans unseeing eyes, trying to figure out what he might have been like before this. "What about them? How long will you hold them like this? I'm sure at least half of them will never recover, gone completely insane." He stood up, back rigid, staring the now hideous looking Ray directly in the eyes. "Either you leave, and we try to stop ourselves from getting ripped to shreds, or you stay, and slowly kill them all. Or, maybe you want to release them, and then help us not get ripped to shreds. Whatever you choose, these people will probably end up dead." He stood still and waited for Ray's response. If the man truly could be helped, this decision would show it.

Kris watched the exchange between Amy, Ryan and Ray finding nothing to say. They seemed to have known the man for a little while longer than he did. But when the conversation turned to trying to save the deranged man, Kris knew it wouldn't turn out good.

Kris knew his fair share of criminals, both organized and street thugs. And just like the thugs, no matter how hard you tried to make them civilized, there was just no way you could take that kind of person and make them 'normal' or as in this case, Kris didn't believe there was a way to make Ray an ally. He was just too... psychotic. He turned to Ryan and asked"Do you really think you can change this man? do you think you can make him an ally?" He shook his head. "If you do, then i don't know if i can bring myself to not kill him in his sleep." He looked around and spread his arms out."if we have to turn down Ray and kill every single one of these people to survive, then that is something i am willing to do. I will do anything to survive."He gave Ryan and Amy a chilling glare. He wanted to stay alive, and to do that, he couldn't trust Ray.

"If we have to turn down Ray and kill every single one of these people to survive, then that is something I am willing to do. I will do anything to survive."

Amy looked to Kris with bewilderment on her face. God, we really aren't much better than Ray, are we? Biting her lip, she looked down to Ray on the other building, thinking hard.

As the screams continued about her, her mind was made. These people would be driven to insanity, retardation, and death if she couldn't stop Ray. She had never been the kind to sacrifice many for the few- and she wasn't about to become one.

"Kris," she said, placing a hand on his arm. "Lift me down to him. I need to talk with him. Can you do that?" She turned, looking into his eyes pleadingly. "Kris?"

Ryan looked at Kris apprehensively. Although he didn't really have any qualms about killing these people either, he was willing to give Ray the slightest, tiniest little chance to let a glimpse of his his possibly better true self shine through, mostly for Amy's sake. He hated the man, and shared Kris' sentiments, but they were in a tricky situation, and he really didn't want to fight the guy again.

He was about to speak when Amy announced that she wanted to go down and talk with him. With who? Ray? She couldn't be serious! He would kill her, as soon as talk. Besides, every moment they wasted the people around them were being driven further and further into insanity and pain.

"Wait, what?" he placed a hand an her upper arm, almost as if to keep her from floating away. "Amy, you can't... he's dangerous! He's a murderer! A psychopath! He's insane! You don't honestly think you can help him, do y-" he stopped, the words had come out much stronger than he intended, verging on anger. Staring into her eyes for a moment, he looked down at the ground, removing his hand from her arm. "I'm... I'm sorry." Ryan looked back up, face blank. "I'm going with you though. I don't trust that bastard, not enough to let you be alone with him."

"and he wishes her away in a thrilling dramatic climax,AWESOME ACTING YOU COULD GET A EMMY FOR THIS" Mr. terrible shouted from a nearby rooftop clapping and wiping away fake tears having heard the entire exchange, he then turned his attention to the supers in agony on the ground.

"if you want I can handle those guys for ya, clean-up and such" Mr. terrible shouted chuckling slightly at the bodies writhing around in pain.

Ryan turned in surprise to see the hockey mask guy standing on a roof nearby. The man who had been helping Ray earlier. A million thoughts entered his head, but the predominant feeling was suspicion. Ray had set them up, kept them here with his talking long enough for his buddy to arrive.

"Alright, no. You're not going down there. He tricked us." he said forcefully, backing up, his arm out in front of Amy. The roof around him rippled slightly, then rose up around the gang on the roof. He glanced down at the screaming supers around him, knowing that something had to happen to them soon. "Ray!" he yelled across to the man. "Make your decision! Now!" Not that he actually expected Ray to make the right choice, not now, with his friend here to back him up. Supergirl had better get here soon...

Ray let out a sigh as he heard Ryan's demand, he carefully spiked the energies in the insane supers minds causing the supers to fall into a unconscious state. They were sent to sleep in a world of various nightmares and dreams. No screaming or cries only snores and mumbling.

"I suppose my mental teargas shall take on the realm of dreams now." He said with a chuckle as he glanced down at the now sleeping supers. He heard the sound of clapping along with obvious sarcasm, he shifted his head towards Mr. Terrible standing on an opposite roof laughing.

"Good afternoon Mr. Terrible, im surprised your even here at this moment. I figured you'd be busy hunting down super girl to fulfill your own plans of vengeance" He shouted at Terry.

"yeah I kinda suspected that Cathy would be here or some such she usually follows such things like this but hey a guy can be wrong can`t and now that I`m here I might as well help with this...you are planning on killing them right cause if you won`t I will" mister terrible shouted back before putting on a twisted grin and looking over at the other rooftop.

He was just about to let Amy go and talk to Ray when everything went to hell. First Ray and now the Hockey mask man, Mr. Terrible. When Ryan voiced his opinion on the appearance of the man, Kris agreed with him. this man was an ally to Ray and this was probably what Ray was stalling for. What Kris was happy about was the fact that Ray made the crazed supers stop screaming in agony. Although he knew the mental attack was still happening, he felt a little better now that they weren't making any noise.

When Ryan made the roof around them rise, Kris moved into a defensive pose, waiting for anything to happen. His pistols were empty, and he only had his power and his saber as a weapon. He hoped to god that Super Girl was on her way.

Catherine was quickly approaching the building from the opposite side now, ignoring the writhing supers that she would previously have helped. She couldn't anyway. But even if she could why would she start all that again? It might have been the chaos, a crowd mentality that forced each super into the state they had been in, that caused them to act like they had but she was hardly going to restart the fighting.

In the distance she could hear a faint shouting match between what she thought was two distinct sides. She couldn't make out the words but the gist of what was being said was obvious enough.

"AWESOME ACTING YOU COULD GET A EMMY FOR THIS!"

She could definitely hear that, even over the groans of pain from the supers far below her on the streets. As she made her way closer she could see the figures more clearly, about four of them on the roof and two others on opposing roofs. She knew one of them would be the light's source, Amy, and another would be the reason of this psychic trance everyone around was in, most likely Ray, but the others she had no chance guessing. She continued getting closer to the building and the people on top, guns at the ready.

Ray raised his hand and gestured a gun while pointing at Terry. Energy sparked as his finger tips wildly, making a static like noise every few seconds as he spoke.

"Well your quite the psychopath around here, aren't you Mr. Terrible?" Ray shouted at Terry "These are my opponents, my victims, my rivals and i will fucking kill you if you even lay a finger on them!"

Damien changed the flow of gravity to throw the newcomer off the roof. He threw the man high into the air, then changed it to have him come back down to earth. Damien was panting extremely hard, like he had just run a marathon. "Where...the hell... are all of these... guys coming from!" He muttered, in between pants. He wearily turned around, looking for other supers that he needed to stop. There was a black shape, but Damien couldn't make it out. His vision was starting to blur. He got ready nonetheless.

EDIT: New guy is Mr. terrible. Damien is so tired right now he's basically going by sound alone. Terrible just yelled, so Damien zeroed in on him. Edited out Supergirl.

Mr. terrible fell backwards off the roof landing on a balcony down below he got up and dusted himself off a blank look on his face.
"well that was`nt very forceful, they must be new to this whole kill or be killed thing" Mr. terrible sighed as he lept from the balcony back onto the roof.

"now I won`t kill you or even hurt you even though your asking for it but you would`nt mind if I did this would you" mister terrible fired a bolt of lightning at one of the sleeping supers and hit him directly in the head sending pieces of brain everywhere.

"okay now that was entertaining, nice splatter too" Mr. terrible chuckled as he fired another bolt killing another super in the same way.

"Damien!" Ryan snapped, looking back quickly at the clearly exhausted man. "Don't attck him unless we know we'll have to fi-" his mouth formed an 'O' as a nearby super's head exploded, sending bits of bone and brain-matter flying everywhere. He thought he knew what that looked like, but seeing it in real life was completely different. His gag reflex took hold, and he had to lower his head and cough to get rid of it.

The situation was getting extremely complicated. Damien was spent, and Ryan just didn't have the strength to defend both himself, his friends, and all the unconscious people around him, so he had to be selective. Of course his mind had been made up a while ago, which left these people helpless. That meant the only person who could help them, ironically, was Ray. If he released them, at least they'd have a fighting chance. Of course, that would also leave him and his friends surrounded by the crazed supers. It seemed the only option would be to run, but what would be the use, they'd be hunted and found again, just like last time. They were, in every sense of the word, stuck. He looked to Amy and Kris, bewilderment in his eyes.

Ray stared blankly down at the piece of brain matter that had landed near him, absolutely disgusting but in some way a reminder of his own humanity. He reached down a grabbed the brain fragment holding it between three fingers, he quietly muttered something to the piece of skull and brain before dropping it to the ground.

"Terry have you ever heard of a fair fight, at least when i kill a person they have a fighting chance. Your probably the kind of person that would kill a man in a wheel chair." Ray said disgusted in Terry's actions.

Amy gritted her teeth at the appearance of the man in the hockey mask. She had been convinced that she could help Ray- but this stranger dimmed that warm idea, since his presence seemed to only provoke Ray into violence.

When Damien attacked, her hope dimmed further. They could at least try some diplomacy. What if Damien was as bad as these two, as he was so willing to kill? It frightened her, how easily violence came to them- and even herself- as second nature. These thoughts were only amplified as she heard a loud pop and an unpleasant crack as the head of an individual behind them exploded. She forced herself not to look as she witnessed the disgust and horror in Ryan's eyes.

After a long moment, she took a step closer and murmured to Ryan, while struggling to fight back tears: "What now? Supergirl isn't coming. No one is. The city has gone crazy, and we... we..." She found herself unable to continue, biting her life. This had all turned to hell.

Oh, how Catherine hated it when she couldn't make a dramatic entrance. Even Terry got his, he got to do the ever cliched and sarcastic slow clap. Her best idea to make it dramatic was to find the highest point on the building and to shoot at something to make herself known. The current targets were hardly impressive though. Everything in a 5 mile radius was comatose.

So instead she could only watch on as Terrible unleashed a bolt of lightning into one unlucky man's brain, sending its fragments in every direction. She gritted her teeth and tightened her grip on the pistols in her hands. Years of violence had desensitised her to such occurrences, so she hadn't felt sorry or guilty for the man's unknowing death while under a mask of sleep. It only fueled her hate for the masked villain.

She made the final jump onto the building and neared the four supers, lowering her weapons. Two of them she knew, the other two she had no clue about. She just hoped they were more stable than Terry and Ray had shown themselves to be.

Ryan shook his head, as he looked around, trying to come up with an answer for Amy. He had no idea what to do, but it at the moment running seemed to be the best of several evils. At least it was something. After a long pause, he nodded, as if reassuring himself that his decision was a good one. "Kris" he said in a low whisper, so that neither of the arguing villains nearby could hear. "Grab Damien. We're going down." It was obvious that Damien was exhausted, so much so that he was no longer seeing straight. They'd have to help him along, which would make this all the more difficult.

He walked around Amy till he was standing roughly in the center of the group, then prepared to goo them down, the area beneath them wavering slightly. He took a deep breath... and then looked up in surprise as Supergirl landed nearby. He quickly cut off the goo'ing, and breathed a sigh of relief. "Thank god. It took you long enough to get here, we were about to make a run for it."

Kris had grabbed Damien when Ryan had said something and sounded relieved. Kris looked up and saw Super Girl walk towards them, guns in her hands. He felt the tension in himself fade to something more bearable. He still helped Damien to a standing position, now holding his saber in his left hand. He moved Damien a little closer to the center of the group so that he would have some protection from them.

After gently putting Damien to the ground, Kris made his way beside Ryan and smiled at Super Girl."I don't think we have ever met, this isn't the best situation to casually make introductions so i'll leave mine short. The names Kris, professional item collector."

Damien felt hands helping him, gently letting him down. He strugged to sit up. "God, i feel like crap." He muttered to himself. He nudged someone. he couldn't tell who it was, but he was pretty sure it was Ryan. "Hey, is that who we were looking for?" He closed his eyes, and started to take deep breaths. to speed his recovery, he negated the gravity around him, so his blood would pump more efficiently. he hooked his leg in a ditch he had created earlier to stop himself from floating away.

#68

"well I fought a guy in a wheelchair once but he did have telekinesis and was able to toss me about a mile so I`m sure it was a fair fight" Mr. terrible replied to ray he then saw Cathy land on one of the buildings in front of him.

"well Cathy it would appear your alive congratulations on that" Mr. terrible shouted to Cathy "I really did hope you would make it through that bullet wound their nasty things are`nt they but don`t worry I suffered a lot worse like you know a shot to the fucking head" Mr. terrible shouted before miming a gun shot to the head and loping his head to one side.

"Thanks for waiting then. It's taken way too long to get back here and I don't want to be losing you people again any time soon."

"Oh, Supergirl at your service. A pleasure to meet another sane super." She tipped her mask to Kris in a fairly short introduction. "Unlike some other masked super we know of..." she muttered under her breath.

"I really did hope you would make it through that bullet wound. They're nasty things aren't they? But don`t worry I suffered a lot worse like, you know, a shot to the fucking head!" She had heard the shout from Terry and sighed. Speak of the devil...

She made her way to the building edge closest to Terry and shouted back, "Oh, the mighty Terrible didn't deserve such a death did he? Killing his co-workers and destroying half a city, what do they compare to my great crimes like helping the innocent?" Normally she would have played along with the twisted game just so she could revel in her victory all the more, but now she wouldn't even bother with it. "Hey Terry, how about you stay dead the next time someone shoots you?"

Ray let out a demonic chuckle as he heard the bickering between the masked Mr. Terrible and the costumed Supergirl, both of the two seemed to indulged in their conversation to even notice his new form.

"well, if isn't everyone's favorite costumed crazy." Ray said sarcastically from the opposite roof. "I thought i was the only person capable of defying death." Ray let out a small sigh before leaping onto the roof of the Bay. he picked himself up while brandishing his claws, his eyes glowed brightly as he stared at Supergirl.

"I could say the same about you and besides your not exactly that good at your job are you I mean think about it I manage to kill at least a thousand people and destroy half a city all even coming back from the dead in the process and you try to protect one city and what happens the moment something really bad happens the entire place goes to shit really makes you think about your ability eh" mister terrible shouted back to Cathy before noticing ray leap over to the roof of the bay preparing to attack those who sent the signal.

"well looks like the party`s about to begin" Mr. terrible lept after ray onto the rooftop of the bay adjusting the sleeves of his suit jacket upon landing.

She looked from one insane super to the other. First she looked at the vividly changed Ray, his shadowy form mimicking that of one of his minions, and then towards Terrible. "Oh, I see. Now that I'm back you have a common enemy again. Just one thing..." She turned her gaze back towards Ray. "I don't even know why you want me dead. I mean, I didn't kill you. I haven't hurt anyone you know except Terry over there. And that was because he tried to destroy a city. So why do you fight on his side?"