Open RP [EVENT] Head of the Snake

[Dark Lord Kyzer]

This is definitely going in the Top 10 Dumbest Things I've Ever Done.

With most of her body below her neck still screeching with pain from the underwater explosion before, Ava knew she didn't have much time before even her still somewhat-enhanced body failed. Even now, it had returned to the realm of humanity in terms of speed and strength. Sure, Olympic-level human, but still human. Those thoughts were brushed aside as the barely moving form of the masked woman slipped below the waves.

"Oh no you fucking don't!" Ava screamed literally into the water as she dove for the woman. She got one arm around the woman's armpits, wrapping her in a half-bear-hug, before forcibly dragging her back to the surface. Well...this was a problem. The woman wasn't exactly buoyant and neither was Ava. First World Meta Problems, right?

At this point, it was all shit could do to keep the woman above the river's surface.

"Any time now, dude!" Ava yelled to the masked man who had helped her with the councilman. The river had thoroughly blinded her at this point, though, and that Olympic-level athletic ability was rapidly falling from gold-medal to silver and bronze.

"Kinda need a hero!"

Pittsburgh, 2023

 

[Fang]

His entire body ached, even the muscles that weren’t holding him against the cable that trailed its shimmering ribbons into the water. The nearby splashes drew closer and a voice called out, a dark figure against the water’s reflected lights shoved toward Nat before another shadowed figure tore through the water again. Nat’s cold, wet hands had barely grasped the Councilman’s shirt before his weight pulled against his already screaming muscles. Desperately Nat tapped into his ability again, curling one of the glittering ribbons of the van’s steel around the Wynn’s waist and torso before letting go of his death grip around the man’s collar.



”Any time now, dude!”



The voice called out from below, the roaring in Nat’s ears nearly drowning it out. Even exhausted as he was it seemed to short a time for the maritime rescuer to have made it back to him so quickly. Weary and wet Nat didn’t have the strength to reach out for the woman who had shouted or the person she was struggling to carry. Even his power felt distant and weakened, but more than enough to ripple through the remaining ribbons of steel that wrapped around and lifted the silhouetted swimmers free of the water.



”Your wish, my command!” As far as quips went Nat knew it was probably his worst, but the urgency of the situation drove the embarazada from his chest as he began coiling the cable beneath the edge of the bridge, inch by inch lifting everyone higher as the steel molded and twisted to his will. The night air was rapidly growing colder, and at least one of the people he carried below were unconscious while all of them were soaked to the bone. Even as exhausted as he was the ascent took little kore than a few seconds.



Steel gently separated to place the conscious passengers on their feet on the road and the unconscious on their sides. As it began to retract it wrapped around Nat’s body, armoring him fully once again to better hide his identity. He could think of nothing but the warmth of a bed, or perhaps a hot bowl of stew. He certainly wasn’t thinking about, or even aware of, where his eyes stared from behind his mask. The context came in disconnected clues, lace and frill against soft flesh giving small rise to a blush that was thankfully hidden behind steel.



”Oh.” His voice was dull, almost lifeless as he slowly realized why he was blushing. ”Oh! Oh my, I’m sorry!” Hastily Nat tore at his soaked hoodie, the steel around his torso opening to allow him to unzip and remove it quickly. The white shirt he wore below was also soaked, and embarrassingly revealed the sheer amount of muscle and tone he had gained in the past several months of training and vigilantism. It was hardly as embarrassing as the older woman’s situation, though, and before he handed his stripped hoodie to her with shielded eyes he used the steel around him to effectively squeeze the bulk of the river water from its threads.



”You- you kind of need this more than I do!” Nat peeked through his fingers to make it clear he was offering the hoodie to the well toned older woman that stood there in undergarments that seemed nearly ready to suffer the same fate her other clothes had succumbed to.

 

[quirbles]

MIKE ROBER - NEUTRALIZED

CARMINE MORETTI - NEUTRALIZED

KIERAN BELL - NEUTRALIZED

"MR. PINK" / WILLIAM LAVERNE

Ringing.

Blacked out for a moment. Noise. Remembered where he was. Blood in his mouth-- he'd bitten his tongue. Stopped by the mask, thankfully. Officer's head might've struck his own, in the crash. His left hand was stinging with pain where he'd been bitten; stopped by the leather gloves, thankfully, but there'd still been a crunch and warmth beneath the material. Get out. The longer he stayed in here, the more dead he was. Needed to get the fuck out of here. Fuck. The cop's hand dropped to his radio, and William reached across his body with a wince, groping at the car handle and pulling it to open the driver's side door. The catch loosened; he shoved his body against the side to swing it open, half-falling out of the car with Jones' hand still around his neck; when he saw the can, his eyes instinctually shut, though they burned all the same as he took in a choked breath of air.

He'd endured something similar in basic-- enclosed room, shitty gas mask, CS gas filtered into the room. Tear gas was different than pepper spray, though, and he didn't have the grace of a full-face mask; whatever this was, it got into his eyes, and it stung. He couldn't see, so he thrashed, pushing himself back-first onto the concrete sidewalk curb and moving to rip Jones' hand free from his neck before he brought his leg up and kicked the man in the chest, trying to drive him back into the car as he let out a choked gasp, threw his other hand over his face, and turned away from the cloud. Every instinct was focused on getting away, but he had the sense to grope around with his other hand to grab onto his pistol that'd fallen from the seat to the floor in the midst of the crash.

Another kick. This time, his other leg pushed his boot against the outside of the car, sending him out fully onto the sidewalk; blindly, he raised his pistol towards the blurred shape of the car in front of him and feathered the trigger as fast he could.

Click, click, click.

Safety. Still on fucking safety. Grunting another pained gasp out, William twisted away and got to his feet as Jones reported for backup, or fucking did whatever. Didn't matter to him, now. He could barely hear, barely see, and most definitely had a fractured arm because every single movement of his shoulder made it feel like someone was stabbing him with a burning-hot knife in his bicep. Adrenaline helped prevent him from passing out, but that was finite. Needed to go.

"Ghh-hunhrhh." He choked out, snot bubbling from his nose as he let out another gasp-- wiping at his eyes, finding that it didn't work, and staggering out into the intersection before his pace finally caught and he broke out into a jog, making it across the street and stumbling over bushes to get into an adjacent parking lot. Fuck. Couldn't see. Couldn't breathe. "F-fucking... gghh-hh. Ghh-od, f-fucking damnhh..." Will gave another ugly gasp of breath, struck the side of a parked car, and leaned against it for a moment, ripping at the ballistic mask on his face and pulling it off to let it dangle from his neck. The ski-mask didn't follow-- couldn't expose his face, not here and not now-- and he let out a choked breath, wiping at his face with his sleeve and pushing further into the parking lot.

Run. One foot after the other. Will retreated like a wounded animal going to die, holding his injured arm as he took off as fast as his legs could allow. Breathing hurt. Seeing hurt, but every occasional burst of his power let him see vague outlines through the effects of the pepper-spray, affording him basic navigation. It was blurry-- damaged-- and it felt like it'd burn his eyes out of his skull worse than the OC canister, but he was alive. He was alive.

And soon, he disappeared through the hedgeline of the parking lot, dissolving into the shadow of the overpass as traffic roared overhead.

 

[Ava Hunt]

Being yanked out of the water as she was caused Ava to wonder if this was what fish felt like when they were hooked and reeled. The thought was quickly tossed aside as her muscles groaned heavily as the unconscious female hero's weight taken from the prosecutor. The masked vigilante who had rescued them even politely set Ava down on the bridge with some semblance of dignity.

A very, very brief dignity. His sudden apologies and offer of an actively dripping hoodie caused a moment of confusion before Ava's eyes apparently followed the masked man's. The speed at which she donned the soaked garment was beyond what she had previously thought her exhausted body was capable just seconds prior.

"Th...th-thank...y..y-you," the attorney barely managed to stutter out, the cold water, air, and lack of covering finally catching up with her. Of course, immediately after, there was a bright flash or two. Oh...oh no... Flashing police lights and the sound of sirens got closer. Looking back over to the other side of the bridge, she could see various police cruisers converging on their location. She also saw what appeared to be a single police officer next to a crashed vehicle.

"Oh g-god-d-damn it, Jonesy," was all she could get out before her body failed. Knees buckled. Quads of steel became masses of jelly. Wow, she did not remember concrete being this hard to hit. Dignity lost, Ava Hunt just sorta sat in the road in a daze. The sounds around her seemed to blend together as the exhaustion took over. Time seemed to lose its meaning as the ever-present ringing of her tinnitus returned. While it certainly was possible for Ava to have sat on that bridge for only a few seconds, it was equally possible for hours to have gone by. Who the fuck knew or even cared at this point? Not Ava.

"I g-gotta work-k out m-more," the retired hero in hiding whispered as the emergency medical teams finally arrived on scene; a pair scooping her up and gently ushering her over to one of the ambulances.

"Out of sh-shape in my old-d age."

The medics looked at each other briefly in skepticism before getting back to work on their charge.