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[Other FULL] Fragmented (M) (IC)

gimmepie

gimmepie

  • Pokémon General General Pokémon General Cadet Level Ball Master Ball
    • 26,065
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    Years
    [PokeCommunity.com] Fragmented (M) (IC)
    IC Thread
    Not yet available. :'C
     ::
    OOC Thread
    You are here!
     :: Rated M for Mature ::
    Game Masters
    gimmiepie and Nakuzami (kinda)
     :: CSS by [Supporter]Nakuzami[/Supporter]


    ☢Intro


    Two hundred years ago, in 80 BI (Before Impact), astronomers discovered a large meteor set to collide with the Earth. Humanity, unable to escape the seemingly doomed planet nor able to destroy the gigantic rock from space began hurriedly searching for a way to ensure the survival of the human race. It took many months but eventually a method was found - humanity began to move underground, constructing sub-terranian systems in large caverns both discovered and excavated.

    In Year Zero, eighty years after the discovery of the projectile heading for Earth, these cities were all but completed and much of the human race had already moved below ground. It was this year that the meteor hit - turning the majority of the surface into a dusty, hellish wasteland where sunlight was rarely seen and eliminating all of those still found above the ground. The majority of the human race had been wiped out by the impact and the disasters that followed, but humanity had managed to survive.

    It was two-and-a-half years later, in 2 PI (Post Impact), that the Gifted began to appear. The meteor and the fragments it spread throughout the globe produced a strange and previously unknown radiation with the power to alter the biology of many living things and whilst this radiation made it impossible for humans to return to the surface, the small amounts that seeped underground had a different result - some humans began developing amazing superpowers or gifts.

    These people, who came to be known as Gifted soon came to be feared and the International Council (the highest governing body in the world), terrified that they would lose power or even be overthrown by these people possessing abilities beyond normal humans placed strict, oppressive laws over the Gifted. These new laws required all Gifted to register themselves as such and to be placed under strict supervision involving tests, interviews and investigations. Furthermore, the actual use of abilities without dire need or express permission from the government was forbidden. Naturally, despising the fear and prejudice against them many Gifted rebelled, refusing to obey such laws just to satisfy the power lust of the government - these Gifted known generally as the Unregistered became forced to live in the seedy underworlds of their sub-terranian homes, living amongst true criminals in poverty constantly avoiding capture by the military.

    It is now one hundred and eighteen years after the emergence of the first Gifted and little has changed. Unregistered still refuse to submit to the oppression of the government, constantly struggling to evade those seeking to capture or kill them - but things could change soon. The wraiths have appeared. Little is known about the wraiths, all that is really known is that they are seemingly supernatural creatures that seek to do nothing but destroy. Could these creatures have something to do with the Unregistered? Are they another product of the radiation permeating the Earth? Or is there something else behind the sudden appearance of these creatures?

    You will play as an Unregistered struggling to survive in the criminal and corrupt underworld of Heliopolis an underground city in Europe. You will face not only the military who seek to capture or, if deemed necessary, kill Unregistered Gifted as well as the emergence of the dangerous beings known as wraiths. Throughout the storylline you will be forced to fight for your life whilst gradually uncovering the many secrets of the unjust world you live in and the origins of the wraiths that are wreaking havoc against the human race.

    ☣The Gifted


    The radiation produced by the meteor and its fragments has reached throughout the enitrety of the Earth and whilst it is too strong for the human body handle in large amounts - preventing humans from returning to the surface for extended periods of time, the small amounts of radiation that have reached underground are only strong enough that some of those below the ground have been altered slightly, giving them seemingly supernatural gifts.

    The types of abilities developed and how powerful they are vary wildly, with some Gifted being quite unremarkable with abilities as mild as slightly enhanced senses whilst there are other Gifted with incredibly powerful and dangerous abilities - there's even a woman known to be able to trigger explosions with her mind. Regardless of a Gifted's ability however, they all face the same fear and prejudice being forced to choose between succumbing to the oppression of the government or living a life of poverty in the crime-ridden underworlds of the underground cities. There are three categories of Gifted:
    • Registered - Those who succumbed to the oppression and prejudice against them. They live as normal citizens for the most part having use of their abilities forbidden in all but the most dire of circumstances and agreeing to live with constant interviews and investigations.
    • Unregistered - The Gifted living in the underworlds of their cities surrounded by crime and deceit. They actively use their abilities (meaning they are generally more honed than a Registered) and must constantly be on the lookout to avoid detection or capture. Unregistereds who are discovered will be captured and imprisoned and if they attempt to flee or resist capture lethal force is authorised.
    • Employed - Despised amongst the Unregistered and even a hearty majority of Registered these are Gifted actively working under the government. They are generally tasked with hunting unregistereds although some also find themselves dealing with registered also. In exchange for their services they are allowed to use their abilities when on the job, in the underworld areas of the city or alone. The existence of employed is generally concealed however there are many in the lowest rungs of society who are aware of their existence and of course the government and other select people of influence know about them.

    ☠The Wraiths


    The wraiths have been described as living shadows. They are somewhat humanoid in appearance, although there are differences in their appearances with some looking more monstrous than others and they truly do seem to be animated shadows of sorts.

    The wraiths possess the ability to shift between two forms – tangible and intangible. A tangible wraith is one that can physically interact with the world and be interacted with. This is the form in which they move around in the world like any other creature, capable of attacking and being attacked. A tangible wraith is physical stronger than a human being, being strong enough to tear open a truck with their claws or punch a deep dent into concrete and are also somewhat faster and more agile, being able to outrun the average person and easily able to leap from object to object. Despite these physical strengths however, tangible wraiths have a number of weaknesses also. Wraiths may be physically more gifted than human beings but they are also much more fragile, dissipating quickly when their bodies sustain enough damage and they don't have the ability to attack from a distance. When intangible wraiths cannot touch or be touched, they appear on the surface of things like a shadow would and can travel that way able to move stealthily and far faster than when tangible. Wraiths can shift between being tangible and intangible quite quickly and although no more intelligent than some of the smarter hunting animals they attack in swarms so are very dangerous. At this stage in time, it appears as though wraiths are completely self-reliant, needing no food or other energy source to function, it is unknown whether they are actually living creatures or not.

    ❧Glossary


    • Gifted – Humans who have gained a supernatural gift as a result of a unique radiation given off by the meteor that impacted Earth in Year Zero.
    • Registered – Gifted who abide by the government's registration laws.
    • Unregistered – Gifted who refuse to register and abide by oppressive laws.
    • Employed – Gifted under the employ of the government. Their primary role is hunting unregistered.
    • Year Zero – The year the meteor impacted the Earth.
    • BI (Before Impact) – The years before Year Zero
    • PI (Post Impact) – The years following Year Zero
    • Dark Radiation – The newly recognised term for the radiation produced by the meteor. It basically means nobody understands it.
    • Phoenix – A terrorist group comprised of Gifted. They are fighting for Gifted rights.

    ☤Rules


    • GM word is law.
    • Don't ask to be a GM, if we need help we'll ask you.
    • Be respectful to each other OOC.
    • Reservations will be held for three days.
    • If you don't have your first post up within a week of acceptance we reserve the right to re-open your place if more room is needed.
    • Try to post approximately every week or so. We understand this isn't always possible and will be lenient, but if you are not going to be able to get a post-up in around this time please let us know.
    • No god-modding and please do not bunny without permission.
    • Gameplay
      Gameplay will take place in chapters which may have no objectives being primarily sandbox or may have a clearer goal. In some chapters different groups will be given different objectives to fulfill (or not fulfill if they so choose – for the sake of character development or similar). As the gameplay progresses and we move deeper into the plotline, the story is set to become more complex as the various conflicts come to a head.​

    ✍Chapter Index


    ✔Accepted Characters


    1. Gimmepie as Jace Caradoc (Telekinesis) (GM)
    2. Nathan as Dean Andrews (Flyrogenesis)
    3. Lokiepie as Harriet Smith (Foresight)
    4. OG_Haunter as Timothy Vernaro (Enhanced Speed)
    5. Songbird as Alex Knight (Imperception)
    6. Open
    7. Open
    8. Death of Shadows as Aleksandr Silayev(Technopathy)
    9. Tyler1616 as Zander Hyrall (Mind Manipulation)
    10. Lozzop as Katie Bloom (Healing)
    11. Greiger as Michael Miller (Human/Bat Shapeshifting)
    12. Machomuu as Emil Nexis (Adaptive Metabolism)
     
    Last edited:

    Chapter One


    Welcome to Heliopolis​


    The city's six hours of "daylight" are almost up and the process of slowly dimming the powerful lamp that illuminates Heliopolis during these six hours is winding down. The faint street lights of the city are beginning to activate, as are the luminous signs of the various shops, restaurants and bars of the city. The police and military are out in force once more, on the lookout for Unregistered – especially members of the Phoenix terrorist cell.

    This is the setting into which you will introduce your character to us. Somewhere in the seedy, shady and derelict section of Heliopolis your character will be roaming – whether you prowl the streets, creep through the alleys, sit at the counter in a shifty tavern or brazenly walk wherever you please. In this chapter you may run into gangs, syndicates, each other or worse – the authorities. Show us what life is like for your characters in this oppressive underground world.

    In this chapter you will have free reign of the slummy and seedy parts of Heliopolis, but like most unregistered you will stay away from the more "refined" parts of the city. You can interact with NPCs and each other in any way you choose, however, for the time being you won't come across any wraiths – although you will have heard of them. The chapter will end several hours before the lamp is re-illuminated during the next day.

    Things to know
    • The lamp is gradually brightened to full illumination between the hours of 9:00 am and 12:00 pm. It is then gradually dimmed between 12:00 pm and 3:00 pm. This means that the story will be beginning around 3:00 in the afternoon, although the environment will soon be that of one late in the night.
    • Generally only those with a lot of money will own vehicles.
    • You can interact with NPCs or each other at will.
    • No wraiths will be present in this chapter, you will have heard of them though (although there's a chance you might not believe they exist).
    • This chapter will end when it is approximately 3:00 am.

    Notable Locations

    Below is a list of notable landmarks you will have access to. You are welcome to come up with any other locations you wish, but these are places you may want to use or mention.
    • The Metro - The Metro is a popular haunt for criminals and Unregistered. It's a large, seedy club that is usually packed to the brim with loud music blasting throughout the room. Blue and green neon light-ropes adorn the walls and faint light fittings illuminate as much as they can leaving some areas pocketed in darkness. At The Metro it is easy to blend in with the masses in the dark and the haze of cigarette smoke and the noise of shouting individuals an incessant music make it easy to have conversations you don't want the authorities hearing. The club is heavily watched from outside.
    • West Library - An old, two-story concrete building that has been vandalised beyond help outside. It is relatively clean within and is home to a decent selection of books (instructional or otherwise) as well a free internet access if you can find a working computer.
    • Oak Park - A small area where grass and tree seeds were planted several years ago. Now the haunt of teenage gangs and drunks primarily it is still an integral part in maintaining clean air in the city and serves as a temporary guard should the filtering system break down.
    • Sparky's - A small wooden tavern located not far from Oak Park. It's more off the map than the Metro. Lately there has been a greater police presence in this area.
    Heliopolis is also home to shopping areas like market places, diners and taverns as well as community centres and official buildings. Feel free to create your own.    ​
    ​
     
    [PokeCommunity.com] Fragmented (M) (IC)
    Basil "Phantom Flame" Caito
    Sparky's

    An old tavern laid in front of Basil. He looked up from underneath the hood laying on his head. Sparky's really was off the grid. It seemed like this was the place to be if you were looking to avoid the authorities. He supposed it wasn't a bad idea to go further pass Oak Park, though he'd never done it before, he had to say it was rather quiet. With his immorality that was never a good thing.

    The lights were starting to become faint, the air around him felt uneasy. It was like a predator thing, it just felt like he was in danger. He wasn't quite sure how else to explain it besides that. He took a cautionary step forwards towards the tavern, just to see if he would hear anything around him. The sound of a footfall caught his attention and his eyes slid to the left of his peripheral.

    The sounds of sprinting steps rushed in his direction before coming to a sudden stop. Basil turned around slowly, his eyes caught the uniforms of the authorities, their visors were covering their faces.

    "Phantom Flame Basil, I presume." A hushed, sophisticated man uttered. He stepped out from five man, his face bare of a visor, his hair curled and pushed to one side. With a flick of his hand the man swiped at some illusory dirt on his expensive suit. "Listen up Phantom Flame, your terror ends now. I'll arrest you, and we'll put you on the government's leash like the dog you are."

    Basil stared at him blankly. He decided he would follow the routine that he gave himself. The less they knew the better. It would suck though, he truly, and honestly despised having to kill. But if it meant his survival then he didn't have any other choice.

    "Waste no time in securing his body. Go and get him." The man smoothly ordered, his hand shooting out towards Basil elegantly.

    The guards rushed towards him, their hands grasping knives and handguns. Basil brought his hand from his cloak quickly and abruptly the guards stopped. Apprehensions held their feet like tar, a dreary heart made their body trembles. "...Fire," Whispered one of them as the flames scorched the ground in front of them, like a small hedge that flickered and whispered the tales of crimson.

    "Jacole," one of the guards barked. "Ph-Phantom Flame Basil has a knack for killing right?"

    A wicked grin was on the man's face, the one that had ordered them, even as he nodded a yes in response. "A marvelous knack, one that leaves the very earth itself terrified," He chuckled. His pale hand touching the pommel of a saber on his waist. "We need this man. His powers are too paramount, he must be captured!"

    ​
     
    Timothy Vernaro: Running Bookworm ​

    Timothy was at the West Library trying to find some good reading material. He brought a flashlight with him that was short on power. It was enough for him to get a book. When he was looking through some of the rumble of the library, he finds a computer. He decided to get back to the computer when he had the time.

    Right now he just wanted to get something and not get noticed by the police. He wasn't alone though. There was other people who were also trying to find something to read. As Timmy continued to search for a book to read, he opened his messenger bag that he had on him. Inside we're books that he read before and decided to put them on the shelves that were still standing up. "Maybe someone will enjoy these books as much as I do." When he puts them away he finds a book on the top shelve that has caught his eye. He points the flashlight at the book, it had a red cover and had a gold back.

    The problem was that it was a bit too high for him. So he decided to climb the bookshelf and try to get the book. As soon he puts his whole weight on the shelf, the bookshelf collapse on top off him. When the people heard the noise, some of them left. "God Dammit! Someone please help me it's too heavy!" No one listened, Timmy sighs," Great, I got to struggle out through this one." As he squirms his way his way out of the books and pieces of wood around. When he got out his arm was damaged. "Well at least I have a first aid kit in my bag."

    He heads to his bag and grabs the first aid kit. Inside the first aid kit their is bandages and a small amount of painkillers. Timmy took a painkiller and wraps the bandage around his damaged arm. When he grabs his stuff he looked for the flashlight. He couldn't find the flashlight so he had to use the dimmed lights to see what's in the library. When he started looking for the book again, he thought he wouldn't find it anymore with all the destroyed wood and books. When he tried going through the pile he quickly found the book. "This is great! I wonder what's it's about."

    When he looked at the book more closely he didn't see a title on the cover. When he opened the book he noticed there was a story inside. He found out it was a journal of someone has wrote, when people were allowed to breathe the fresh air and noticed the stuff that he didn't know about. "Well I'll read this later. It's about time I head back before the lights go out." He heads out through the door starting to head back to the Metro."
     
    Duke Mattern - Fall: One Kill Too Many​

    The Metro was booming, as usual, much to the disappointment of a certain assassin. Why must the world be filled with such evil... Duke sat in the corner of the pounding club, casually sipping a glass of water. Why must I be apart of the evil... A sorrowful sigh escaped his lips as he pondered his current assignment. A businessman, an important one, would be meeting with some very influential mobsters at anytime now. He would be striking a deal that would put a company out of business...The company that preserved the lantern that was currently dimming itself. This...This is a worthy assignment. I will see it through for the safety of Heliopolis. There were very few assassinations that Duke would agree with, but this was one of them. People would be hurt, and there were already enough people hurting in the world.

    A short, stubby man stood from the corner of the bar and set down a glass of water. His thin-rimmed glasses gave him an appearance of a doctor, scientist, or computer specialist. No, this man was none of those things. He brushed the dust off of his tuxedo trousers and approached a taller man in similar attire. His nasally, thick voice sounded out quietly, "Do you have the money?"

    The man replied coolly, "I do. Where are your men?"

    "They are out back. If you wish for this deal to commence, we will go out there."

    An exasperated look came across his face. "We had a deal. You said this would go down without your men."

    A smirk crossed the shorter man's face. "Plans can change." He gestured for his 'partner' to stand up, which he did. "Now, let us go."

    The pair pushed through the raving crowds to the back exit, an unwatched door. The businessman opened it and stepped outside into an empty alley way to find nobody. He turned to the shorter man and shouted, "What kind of joke is this? Where are your men?!"

    The shorter man simply shut the door. Instead of replying, his body shifted instantly. He became a taller man with green tinted skin, similarly dressed. He sighed and looked at his hands, the muscles within them bulging. "I am sorry that it comes down to this...May your soul be forgiven for your treacherous ambitions." His hands lashed out before the man could react and wrapped around his throat. The man attempted to scream, but no sound emerged. He writhed and kicked, trying to break away from the taller man to no avail. "And may I be forgiven, for my sins are great." Finally the man stopped kicking, the life in his eyes gone. Duke laid the body down against the wall in a respectable position. The police could be heard coming. May I be forgiven for my sins... With that he felt his legs pulse as they grew larger and larger. He took a mighty leap on to the building and began his progress towards home. Fall had escaped the authorities once again.
     
    Zander "Z" Hyrall: The unlikely Hypnotist​

    Zander sat on the roof, feet dangling off the side, of the West Library. The decrepit place has been Z's hidey hole for quite some time, and hopes to keep it that way. He has a small bedroll hidden under a bookshelf, which is fallen over, only using the neighboring shelf for support, but Z has reinforced it. He sits, as what little daw they get starts to arrive. He starts to feel hungry, and climbs his way down to the ground. As he lands, some officers come from around a corner and spot him. Zander lookes one in the eye and mutters: "We should go the other way."

    The guard stops, scratches his head, and says something to his fellow guards, and they start walking in the opposite direction. Z lets out a sigh of relief, and goes food hunting. He salvages some canned fruit from the rubble around the library, smiles at his find, and walks inside.

    There are some people reading books, and one lucky enough to find a working computer. Other people are roaming the halls of bookshelves. Z walkes toward the more rundown part of the library, and finds his hidey hole. He crawls in, and puts the can in a lunchbox he found that had an ice pack in it. Zander then laid down on his back and thought about humanity. He decided to leave that to the thinkers, and laid on his side to take a small nap before their "sun" rises.
     

    Michael & Brooklyn | The Metro

    ​

    Leaning over the sink to smear off the deep red pigment that had escaped the bounds of her lower lip, a woman stared into the mirror—and looking back at her was a confident smirk, a condescending gaze lined by thick black make-up and dark red eye shadows, and a perfectly arranged black fringe. Going out on the town saw her rarely in such a natural state, if one could call her leather pants and platform boots natural-- but in the darkness of the Metro, with the head pounding music and smog of cigarette smoke and sweat, Brooklyn was just another face in the crowd.

    Satisfied with her touch-ups, she tossed her lipstick back into her clasp, snapping it shut. Her business in the powder room finished, she weaved back into the crowd of dancers, skirting around the main floor and sauntering up towards the second floor, a quieter sitting area separated from the pulsing music and crowds by a thick pane of glass. It was her favorite place to relax, only the dull thudding of the beat trembling at the floor like a steady heartbeat, and also one of her favorite places to hold meetings. It was still too early in the day, and not many people had yet entered the Metro, leaving her favorite room sparsely if not entirely unpopulated. With the privacy of the room secured, Brooklyn plopped down in one of the empty tables overlooking the dance floor, crossing her legs and throwing her arm over the back of the leather seats like she owned the entire joint.

    Lighting herself a cigarette, she took the first puff with relish, letting the relaxation wash over her before finally speaking to a figure in the darkest corner of the room, "Your powers are such a drag, Mike- I can't believe you don't like club music."

    "WHAT!?" Michael said as he grasped the edge of his ear plug and gently eased it open, only wincing as the club music hit into his eardrum and he gritted his teeth, "Talk quickly! You know how I get! Unless you want me to be deaf for a few hours!" He never asked for this sensitivity, it was cool enough to fly but to have to cover his ears or lose his hearing at points? Such things were a drag for him. He probably had heard this music before... but at the lowest setting possible and at such a low volume that no human would really be able to hear it.

    That was a perk of course, hearing what others couldn't. If this place wasn't filled with such loud music and everyone was talking at a normal threshold he would be able to spy on any conversation he wished to, but sadly that wasn't the case. He knew deep down however that this was a test. He had to be able to fit into any sort of setting after all!

    His reaction was typical, and so she returned it with an equally typical reaction of hers; rolled eyes and a scoff. "Please, don't rush art Mikey, it's too early in the day for this." She took another calm drag of her cigarette, obviously only stalling to make him suffer without his ear plugs a little longer. ".... You should really start thinking about getting your powers under control a little more. You know, maybe if you put your mind to it you could make it so you're not sensitive 24/7. It'd make it way easier to do meetings." As she spoke, she withdrew a small photo from her clasp, tossing it on the table, and finally getting to the point, "Did you get rid of her? The nice blonde lady with the curly hair~" Brooklyn's voice dripped of simpering sarcasm as she eyed the photograph of a young woman in a professional pantsuit with light contempt.

    Michael's grin grew, "You heard about that one woman that was hanging from a tree branch?" He put his plug back into his ear as the pain diminished greatly, "In any case you should be thankful that the light sensitivity hasn't crossed over yet." He informed her. "And you think I haven't tried all sorts of remedies before? Let's see you trying to do meetings constantly wincing if someone was yelling into your ear."

    He looked over at the dancing folks and nervously rubbed the back of his neck, "Look, I also got another call from someone else. I've been getting more and more calls lately and some of the smaller shrimps have been asking for me." He smiled a bit, "If anything truly helps me to be accepted with them, then it'll be word of mouth."

    "Saw it in the papers- she wasn't exactly low-profile. Nice hit though, she was such a fake little witch." Crushing the end of her spent cigarette into the photograph, she turned around in her seat, leaning her chin into the heel of her palm as she observed the ever puppy-like Michael getting all excited over nothing again. But, she didn't say that out loud. "Yeah, well maybe you aren't trying hard enough." She shot back mockingly, "I'm not saying you should remedy it, I'm saying you should figure out how to make it not happen-- grow a pair and make yourself useful in more places than just quiet ones." She flicked a strand of hair from her eyes, "Just saying, you'll hear more juicy conversations in here than anywhere else."

    Getting to her feet she stood by the glass, hooking her thumbs into the pockets of her leather pants. "Yeah, maybe." She didn't sound convinced, "I mean, either they'll accept you or you'll just get a bunch of smaller shrimps followin' you around. Keep the shrimps though," She waved her hand, "They come in handy. But don't get your hopes up- you don't get recruited just for being an underground celebrity you know."

    Michael slowly pulled his plug out, wincing once more at the noise, "I... suppose, but if it's seen that someone who has been really helping the other... well, the G men, is suddenly working for P, then it'll win more people over. Those who have been thankful for my help will be pulled along and that's something P can always use." He argued back. "And I really can't hear anything here." He said as he waved a hand generally at the crowd. "So I'm not really helpful here! But I know they will accept me. I haven't been caught yet and I'm picking people who can't become big enough because, guess what?, I made sure they couldn't get big enough." He quickly put his plug back in, "In any case do you have anything for me or should I get going? My other appointment will be waiting and I have to get over there."

    Scoffing at his enthusiasm-- his general naivety and devotion to what to him could only be an ideal, she let him live his fantasy. If he wanted to join, then he was free to become their dog- but she'd been on the leash before, and barking mad dogs weren't good on leashes, she'd figured that out real fast. "No need to get your panties in a twist-" Brooklyn opened up her clasp again, tossing a folded piece of paper onto the table closest to Michael, "Open it. Just a job I didn't want-- too much spot light, but I figured you'd be up for it." She took a seat again, drawing out another cigarette, "Sparky's has lost it's touch lately, no thanks to all the police crawling around. It's a nice meeting place, so I'm sure they'd appreciate it if you scared the cops off a bit with your one-man freak show." The flame of her lighter flickered in the dimly lit room as she lit her cigarette, "We can meet there next time, if you're successful. It's quieter so it'll be perfect for you, Mr. Sensitive."

    Michael grabbed the paper, not opening it up as he nodded, "Yeah, sure sure." He said as he quickly placed the plug back in his ear, "You know I always love a good cop scare." He flashed a smirk at Brooklyn as he stood up, "Anyways, I need bail. Don't want to make that bad of a first impression on a new client. I'll see you later." He straightened out his shirt, "Also stay tuned into the news!" He shouted back, though he doubted that she could hear him over the loud music as he FINALLY made his way outside. He could safely ditch the plugs at that point as he walked along. The police thought they had every inch of the streets covered, but it was always humorous to prove them wrong.

    "Uh huh." Was her only response as Brooklyn eyed her nail polish, blowing out a stream of smoke and flicking the burnt ash on top of the photograph as the door swung shut behind him.

    "You know I always do."​
     
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    Jace Caradoc & Alex Knight - The Drop​

    Jace leant against the wall of the alley, watching as the light above him dimmed further and further into darkness as the streetlamps that dotted Heliopolis began to activate. Jace stifled a yawn, it had been a rough month with tensions between the family of questionable means under which he was employed—the Jakobs family—and rival group the Dahl family escalating further and further. So much so that the Jakobs had forked out to hire several more Gifted other than the original two under their employ for jobs and protection.

    It was one such Gifted that Jace was currently waiting for. The pair had been tasked with intercepting a drop between the Dahls and a smaller group, the goods they were supposed to be stealing unknown to all but Jace's employers and those who were involved in the transaction. Jace's partner, who he was yet to meet was sent ahead as a scout and was supposed to meet Jace in the alley.

    Jace was not overly thrilled at being forced to work with someone he'd never met—or anyone really, but work was work. He needed to get the money from the job to the orphanage.

    "You're the telekinetic?" a voice seemed to ask Jace out of nowhere. When he looked to his side, there was a man of just barely shorter stature than himself, and he could hardly see the man's face.

    Instinctively, Jace whirled to face the man who had suddenly materialised at his side, prepared to propel him into a wall with his aforementioned ability—thankfully he did not, upon realising that this man was probably his partner due to him knowing of Jace's gift.

    "I'm assuming you're my partner then. You turn invisible? Guess that's why they called you a ghost. What are we dealing with?" Jace wasn't going to waste time on needless words, he wanted to ascertain how he'd been snuck up on so he could prevent it from happening again and be done with the task he was beset with quickly. He wasn't doing this to make friends.

    "Heavily guarded. Four in every direction around the drop site."

    "Any sign of other Gifted?"

    "Two. One pyro, and the other I couldn't identify."

    "I suggest we take them out quickly and with as little hassle as possible. Ca—"

    "Follow me," Jace's black-haired partner interrupted, beginning to walk in the direction of the drop site. "Stay close."

    "I'll take that as a yes then," Jace shrugged, following along silently and moving a bullet from his pocket to his hand.

    It was a brisk walk, almost like a stroll, if the air between the two wasn't tense enough to cut through and they weren't actively heading toward certain death. Jace's partner didn't even skip a beat when they found a wall for cover near one of the guard posts, and when Jace raised to fire off the bullet his hand was stayed by the uncaring man beside him.

    "No need," was the ghost's answer.

    "So we're both invisible?"

    "Can't be seen; can't be heard; can't be sniffed. Just don't touch them."

    That explained why no one had come after their footsteps.

    "Handy," Jace remarked. "Do you intend for us to walk out with the goods without having to actually do anything? Because I'm fairly certain they'll notice if their package suddenly disappears, and we're surrounded."

    Jace was led out of cover and clean past the guard post, and no one knew or cared. It was amazing, he thought, that someone could get in and out of places with such ease, regardless of authorization.

    "We're shifting the blame," his partner noted as they drew closer to the drop site, a warehouse made of sheet metal and filled with old boxes of crap. There were only two men, both presumably the Gifted that were mentioned earlier, with a bulletproof car nearby for them to leave in comfort.

    "The bald one is the pyro," Jace was told, and they stood close enough for it to be uncomfortable. The other Gifted had a pistol, and it was rather clear about what Jace's partner had in mind. All that was left was to wait for the package to arrive, which thankfully didn't take too long.

    Two men, dressed in full black and given a two-man guard, had driven up just through the warehouse entrance. They were from one of the Dahl family's affiliated companies, and in exchange for providing funds they were to be given some questionable tech, which was found in the briefcase the first guard was carrying. After the pyrokinetic examined the case's legally unsavory innards, he nodded and took the case in hand, exchanging it for a smaller briefcase (presumably with innards made of money) and allowing everyone to safely return to their vehicles.

    After the company's goons found purchase in their seats, a bullet was promptly found wedged in the door the fire wielder was just about to open.

    For a moment there was silence; nobody moved, not entirely sure about what had just occurred. The pyrokinetic slowly turned to face the members of the company from which they had just purchased the contents of the briefcase. He glared at what he now viewed as the opposition.

    "They're trying to screw us!" he yelled loud enough for the rest of the guards to hear as he formed an orb of fire in his hand, preparing to hurl it at the ones he believed had attacked him. It was at this stage Jace acted again; not wanting the goods to be damaged he tossed another bullet into the air propelling it with his gift and sending the projectile hurtling through the head of the pyrokinetic who immediately dropped to the ground. Then all hell broke loose.

    The second gifted suddenly grew, his skin becoming tough and grey—similar to that of an elephant—and his muscles bulging. He ran at the company goons as from all directions gunmen of the Dahl group poured into the room opening fire even as the corporate goons did the same. It was over in a matter of loud, bloody minutes with Jace finishing off any survivors with wordless flicks of his wrist - bullets flying from his hand into his unknowing victims. In the meantime, his ghost of a partner had secured the delivery, and with a tap on Jace's shoulder the two managed to slink away completely unscathed. The police had started to arrive as the pair slipped out of the warehouse's vicinity.

    Still, it wasn't until Jace and the ghost had arrived at a designated safe house that they parted ways.

    "I don't recall asking," the former opened up, "but I'm Jace."

    His partner turned to leave, but before he disappeared from Jace's own senses, he replied, "Sasha."[/div]    ​
     
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    Katie checked her watch, he was late, she was worried. She looked up at the walls above her and around her, and imagined what it would be like to be trapped in a cage so small, if she couldn't get out. This whole place was a cage though, just a ridiculously over-sized one. She'd been waiting for just one hour now, usually she'd have to wait a couple longer, but being late was not an option for her, she still hated the waiting though, it was the worst part of her job. She opened her foil wrapper and ate the last piece of 'feelings brownie' she had, she called them her 'feelings brownies' because they were the food she ate when she had particularly unpleasant feelings. However, today she had justified her 'feelings brownie' binge on the fact that she would need energy to do her job, 'duty brownies'. She just couldn't keep wasting her money on these things.
    The brownies were sweet and chewy, but crunchy because of the chocolate chips in the middle, to her it was more than that though, it tasted like bitter summer memories and sweet lady's kisses, every taste and smell brought a different thought. She treasured them for a pitiful few seconds, and then almost as quickly as she had eaten it, they were gone. She stared in dismay at the foil wrapper as she relentlessly picked the last pieces out of her teeth and savored them with a gentle greed. Guilt overcame her as she fiddled anxiously with her tattered baseball cap, she began to realise that she couldn't eat foil.

    A pitter-pattering of steps on the concrete paths alerted her that she had to be ready. She dusted the crumbs from her lap onto the floor, and cursed the boy for arriving as she was just about to eat them. He turned the corner to the alley, huffing and puffing like The Big Bad Wolf.
    "Are the police following you?" Katie asked, remarkably calm, though actually a little too scared for her own good. The tall, muscled boy was too tired to talk, evidenced from his cheeks that had turned the same colour as his rosy, red lips, and his ginger-brown hair that was practically dripping on Katie with beads of cool, salty sweat; instead he answered with a hurried nod and a series of frantic huffs.

    "Good, great. Okay."

    Katie approached the pretty boy and put her hands on his chest, his arms were bruised from punches and cuts deep from wire and knives, but a part from this, he was remarkably unscathed, she wondered to herself what his ability was, something powerful, perhaps. If she was honest with herself, she could have healed him, or anybody, from much further away. She had learned to use her gift from a good few metres of distance, and in times like this they were dramatically improving. But he was very handsome, and Katie was lonely. Her face was hidden by her cap and he was too busy focusing on breathing to even notice her, but she had to make her job fun somehow.

    Katie pretended like she was concentrating hard on healing him, as she concentrated on not gazing into his big, beautiful eyes; the skin around the wounds began to seep over the flesh, strands of skin intertwined with each other and twisted over the cuts to form scabs which fell off immediately. Bruises faded and colour returned to the boy's skin, as even scars from weeks ago started to patch up. After just some minutes, he was healthy again, and not even tired. Katie felt some of the impact though, it took more of her energy than she'd expected, perhaps he had been hurt more than she'd known.
    "Wow," he said.
    "Thanks." Katie hid her urge to burst with pride, and acted calm and apathetic inside, just like a clever girl would have. Now she could get to what she needed, even more than she needed feeling brownies and boys. "Money, please." She tried to appear unexcited, but inside she was practically exploding.
    He looked her up and down with his eyes for a second, as if part of him had considered leaving without paying, there wasn't much she could have done to fight for it. After a second however, he offered her some notes. "Here. Buy some pretty clothes or food or something." He turned to go, and just before he ducked out of the alleyway, he said "Bye, and thanks." But didn't mean it.
    "Thanks," Katie hissed back.
    She counted the money in her palm, it was slightly less than they had originally agreed, but there was not much to do about it now. She shoved the money down her shirt, where it would be safe for the time being, and thought about how she would spend it.

    She slumped down in the alleyway, and curled her hands round her head, bringing her knees to her chest, she felt like she should still be waiting. Hours preparing the plan, but just seconds spent completing it, and in all that time she never even knew his name. She should have saved her feelings brownies for now.

    "Please stay," She moaned.
     

    Emil "Nex" Nexis​


    "Dammit..." Nex said, walking out of the library. It was a pretty unsuccessful day. He tried reading a book called "1985", and that didn't go very well. This really bothered him, because he could speak English just fine as far as he was concerned, but when it came to reading, he was completely stumped. It was pretty embarrassing, and so he didn't like people to know that he went to the library and, on the same note, never went there with anybody. This was an everyday activity for Nex, and he was determined to be able to read on a level close to his peers. Of course, with his "peers" being other unregistered, it wouldn't seem like too much of an issue. He peeked around to make sure no body he knew was around and slumped out.

    He sighed and scanned the ground as he walked, having hoped that that day would be better than the last. He had little to do other than that, but it didn't really bother him- not the idea in itself, at least. It was no different from any other day, really. He had learned to deal with the fact that he had few associates and no family, which generally left him with nothing to do. Thus, Nex was left with wandering the streets from dawn until dusk, doing whatever piqued his fancy. That sort of freedom wasn't really something Nex enjoyed, but it was a life. He rather enjoyed the goings on of others, however; they weren't the type of things he needed to be able to read to understand. The alleyway drug deals, encounters between Unregistered and Employed, and far off firefights excited him, making him feel as if he were a part of the action, even if he wasn't. But it was rare that he wished for more, he did enjoy living his boring, normal life to an extent.

    There was one more thing to do that day: find food. There was a diner that he came to really like called Cassino's Diner. They made spiced Waffles, which was probably one of his favorite foods. But he didn't have an income, so he just stole from them. He didn't really have a conscience about it, they were run by a small time gang. Or at least, that's what he thought, he wasn't exactly 100% on the thought. He heard it among the hums and whispers of some ongoers. Not that it really mattered, he felt better thinking that they were owned by an illegitimate organization than knowing that they weren't.

    He made his way there, crouching just behind the wall of the incline that led to the diner. There didn't seem to be anybody outside, but they were definitely open. He sprinted on his heels, making his way to the diner's side and held close to the wall, eventually reaching the back and lying in wait for an employee to throw out whatever trash they needed to. It was about that time after all.

    ...And yet, he didn't see anybody for a good while. They were definitely open, though, the lights were on. He forwent his stealth approach and made his way to the diner's entrance, looking inside the glass door only to see that there was no one inside. This seemed strange to him, because they were never completely empty. He was surprised that, even if there were no employees, there were no scavengers, either. Maybe they just new better. He made his way inside, not really too worried about being discovered...or rather, that was what he thought, until he heard is mischievous cackle behind him as the door closed.

    He spun around, but no one was outside of the immediate area. Then, suddenly, someone spoke from behind, "Man, you've got a lot of guts coming in here today of all days." Nex nearly died from freight, but managed to hold in an unconstrained yell and took a few deep breaths. It seemed to be a girl around his age, dressed in all black. One would think she were a phantom if not for her pale white skin. "That or you have a few screws lose. Then again, I'm here, so I guess that says something about the both of us."

    "What's going on today?" Nex asked, still a little shaken from her sudden appearance. "And...why is the diner empty?"

    "The guys are out taking care of business," She started, making her way towards the back. "And given that they all left to go deal with it..." She looked back at Nex, "...I wouldn't want to be here when they get back." Nex followed her lead and went back to the storage area. Most of the bread hadn't even been made yet, but there was a good amount of bread that was stored away unfrozen, which he and the girl pocketed. The two made their way towards the back entrance, but it was locked. That much wasn't really too surprising. They then made their way back to the front, but when the girl tried it, it seemed to be locked too, despite having been unlocked earlier. Which meant someone was there. A flicking sound was heard.

    "Whoops," the girl said, now with a knife to Nex's eye. "I guess I forgot to tell you that I'm the sentinel, and Cassino's going to be really happy when he sees how big the rat I killed is." Nex was speechless. Speechless and regretful. It was pretty dumb for him to just trust another street rat whom he thought they might know what they were doing. His face went white...but he wasn't ready to concede. He pushed himself as hard as he could against the glass door, managing to crack it only a little. "You're not going to get out that way," The girl said, flipping the switchblade a few times in her hand. Nex wasn't listening, he just wanted to get out. "Even if you do break the door, don't think that you'll be safe. Cassino will find you."

    He turned back to the girl and, with a rather shaky voice, said, "That's right, my problem here...is you." With a burst of adrenaline, he headbutted the girl and, while she was off guard, disarmed her. He wasn't courageous or anything, he was just scared and thinking at a mile a minute. He then took her switchblade and swallowed it. It didn't really taste like anything in particular, it was about as tasteless as plastic with faint traces of blood and fresh cooked bread. And it didn't go down easy, but luckily it was small enough for Nex to swallow without much trouble. Nex looked about himself wildly, not knowing exactly where the mutation would take place. He felt a slight twinge as the fingers on his right hand began to stiffen and dull in color.

    "What the hell?" The girl cried.

    Nex looked to the door and jabbed his silvering fingers into the lock until it broke, and looked back to his assailant. "I'm taking you out of here, dead or alive." He peer outside and watched the sidewalks and roadways. "You're too dangerous to keep here, and I don't want Cassino out for my head, so c'mon." He didn't hesitate and grabbed the sentinel by her arm, running out of the diner and heading for his "home".
     
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    Zander Hyrall: "The Unlikely Hypnotist​
    ​
    ​


    Z laid under his bookshelf, waiting for the bulb to go on, when he heard a bookshef fall over, and someone cry for help. Z was annoyed and almost got up, when he heard the door open and a stream of people leave. Z laid for a little longer, before he realized laying there wasn't going to help, and got up. He looked around and noticed the library was alot emptier than it was before. He decided a trip to the Metro was in order. He grabbed his sword and headed out.

    He walked out side to see a group of people standing in front of him, all talking amongst themselves. "Get out of my way," Zander growled. The group departed and Z continued his trek. The rundown buildings did little to support his mood, and Z was left angry, stomping his way to the metro. Lots of people walked past, some together, some alone, some talking, some staring at the decrepit buildings. Z just stomped past them, and glared at some whos eyes lingeres. About halfway to the Metro, Z saw someone who was reading a book. Most the time Z wouldn't care or even notice, but this man was strange. He was wearing goggles while reading, and his white hair threw him off. Zander walked up to the man and tapped his shoulder.

    "So, what ya reading" Z asked in the least rude tone he could muster.
     
    Timothy Vernaro: The Running Bookworm ​


    Timothy started walking to the Metro with a book in his face when someone interrupted him. "So, what ya reading?"

    Timothy looks at the man with his sword and went back to reading. As he finished the page , he puts a tab on the page that he left off. He shows the man the book of the cover "Lord of the Flies". Timmy stops walking and starts describing the book, he goes into detail about the plot and that there was symbols and foreshadowing of young middle school boys who get trapped in an island. He stops noticing that he might have bored the man. Timothy decided to talk about the man's sword. He also noticed a scar on his left hand, which gave Timmy a quite interest in how he got it.


    "So why do you carry a sword? Won't that make people be suspicious or even a bit intimidated by you?" Timmy got a bit nervous so he decided to use his "gift" to check if the man had a wire or something. He used his speed that was fast enough that hopefully the man didn't notice what happened. He didn't find anything and he hoped that the man didn't noticed that he was "gifted".

    "By the way my name is Timothy but you can call me Timmy." Timmy looks at the man. "And what is your name by the way?"
     

    Xero - The Wanderer knows no rest

    Darkness had finally came. From the cracks of his room, he could see the lights slowly fading away. Which meant he could finally come out of his dirty shelter. Xero certainly didn't like being stuck between those walls but this was the only solution. As an Unregistered, he couldn't afford the risk of walking in broad daylight. He stretched his body, kicking a can of beer that was lying on the bed along with some dirty clothes. He fumbled through his things in search for some decent piece of clothing. There were so many unusable ones that he'd have to pay a trip to the laundry pretty soon. But not tonight, he just felt like taking a drink right now. After some minutes, he finally found something to put on. It wasn't exactly the best attire but it'd do. After all, he was just going to a bar. Maybe he'd take a detour to find a gang to beat up. That was his only way to actively practice his offensive abilities so he tried to do it as often as possible while making sure that it didn't become a hot topic among the citizens. Xero left his room and, after getting down the stairs, stepped out of the building where his apartment was located. The fresh air blowing on his face was definitely a good feeling. Staying a whole day in a room with only one window wasn't very good and the wind was very welcome. He walked a bit until he found his favorite bar. Lots of people were partying wildly inside and the music was pretty loud. This was the perfect spot for him. He would mostly go unnoticed there and there rarely were any police forces inside. Which police officer was going to lose his time searching for Unregistered in a crowded bar. They were most likely stuffing their faces with food or whistling at prostitutes. He made his way to the counter where a half naked woman was serving. "Give me your strongest vodka sweetie." He had already put the money out to pay. Maybe he'd take 3 shots tonight. After all, this wouldn't get him drunk. It usually took more than that. "There you go." The woman handed him what he ordered. In one quick gulp, he was done. The drink was strong, just how he liked them. There were plenty of barely dressed women in there. Come to think of it, it had been some time since he last slept with a woman. Before he knew it, he was already on his 4th shot. That's when he decided it was probably best to leave now, staying for a long time at one place was something he tried to avoid. He paid the barmaid while leaving her a little tip and just as he was about to get out, a girl bumped into him. "Hey hun, mind accompanying me home? A girl shouldn't be wandering in the streets at such an hour." While saying this, she made sure that Xero could peek at her chest. It was no hard task since her clothes were pretty skimpy. He smirked. "What will I get for doing this?" The girl licked her lips. "A very generous reward from me." He did not need to hear more. At this moment, Xero knew what he was going to do tonight.

     
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    Jace Caradoc - The Donation​

    [FONT="Calibri]Jace wound quietly through alleyways and side streets on his way to his destination, avoiding the throngs of people outside of places such as the metro as well as detection by the police. He wasn't a particularly well-known unregistered but it was always safer to avoid the authorities – especially when you could potentially have to explain why you are carrying around a sack of money… actually it was better to avoid everyone when carrying a sack of money. The streets of Heliopolis' slums became dangerous even for powerful gifted once the lamp was dimmed away into darkness, there was a poor mugger around every corner waiting to knife you and take your money just to feed himself or an oppressive military cop waiting to put a bullet in the head of anyone who might be unregistered.

    A subtle breeze, a rare pleasantry in the usually still cave, blew against Jace as he walked through the relative darkness, only the faintest remnants of light produced by streetlamps reaching him. It was a long walk from his shabby home to his destination but this was something he had done on purpose - He didn't want to accidentally lead the authorities to a place filled with Gifted children as he fled the scene of a job. Unlike the mysterious Sasha, Jace didn't have the luxury of being able to completely avoid detection at will. Despite his abilities the telekinetic still had to fear the might of the police force.

    Jace's walk soon led him to an alleyway of sorts, a location difficult to access as it was only possible to reach through a series of similar side streets and alleys with no entrance to the main roads itself and a shroud of darkness always hanging over the thin gap between buildings that lead to the surprisingly open space. Jace turned left, walking slowly down the street clutching the sack in his hand tightly and eventually reaching a small set of grungy stone steps that descended to a large, thick steel door coated in thick layers of rust and grime. Jace turned to his right, descending the stairs before pulling open the heavy door and closing it behind him with an irritating scraping sound. Jace had now arrived at the orphanage in which he grew up, the facility located in the basement of a forgotten business that had long since closed. Passing through another dirty room, Jace opened another door – this one also made of steel but far lighter. It was from here that he stepped into a warmly lit room with clean white linoleum floors and pleasant cream coloured walls. A slightly chubby middle-aged woman sitting at an old wooden desk looked up from the book she had been writing in – the matrons took detailed notes about every child to pass through their doors in case they ever needed them.
    "Jace!" the woman smiled, her neatly cropped hair bouncing lightly as she quickly rose to her feet a wide grin now present on her face "We haven't seen you in weeks, where have you been? What's been happening? What have you been doing?" Jace didn't answer her questions for a while, and even still many would consider the answer he gave to be far from acceptable considering that Alma had practically raised him – well she and her mother Karren.
    "You said you needed money" Jace lifted the sack, giving it a light shake so Alma good hear the notes and coins shift inside "I got you the money". Alma's grin quickly stiffened to a frown, she had been around long enough and lived in a rough enough world to know that in the mean streets of the underground city there were not many ways in which to come across a decently paying job in such a short amount of time that didn't involve crime or affiliation with one of the syndicates in some way – especially if such money was given to you all at once in a sack and Alma was fairly certain that was how the sack of cash had come into Jace's possession.
    "I don't know what kind of dirty job you did to get that money –" the woman began only to be cut off by Jace
    "-would you rather that all these kids ended up starving? Or without clothes? Or that you couldn't afford to keep fuelling your generator because you certainly can't just connect to the power grid with all these gifted – including yourself here."
    "We would make do the same way as we always have" Alma responded curtly "you shouldn't throw your innocence away to help us out. Being innocent is one of the biggest weapons we have to use." Jace produced a small grin
    "I'm not that innocent Alma, that's why it doesn't matter if I do terrible things to help good people. Don't worry so much about me and worry more about keeping these kids from ending up in similar professions." With that Jace dropped the sack to the ground and left the building, waving at the woman who once cared for him as a child as he did so.

    Now Jace just had to take the long walk back home, he didn't have anything else that needed attending to just yet. Alma was right about one thing though, he did need to be careful. With tension between the Dahls and the Jakobs family building up further and police presence at Gifted hot-spots increasing things were becoming more and more dangerous and he couldn't even say for sure that their cover-up on his last job had successfully masked the involvement of his employers.

    [/div]    ​
    [/FONT]
     
    [PokeCommunity.com] Fragmented (M) (IC)
    Basil "Phantom Flame" Caito
    Sparky's
    With the man's words still lingering in the air, Basil could see his lackeys strengthening some resolve. He could only think that- this Jacole guy was some dangerous mobster or something. Why else would they charge into the flames of hell themselves? As they all inched forward, sweat dripping from their hesitant brows, the flames started to flicker and lick towards them. The sounds of a wild roar trembled the air as the fire intensified, grew stronger.

    "Well, are you idiots waiting for an invitation or something? Go get him!" Jacole demanded with a not-so-cool smile.

    The lackeys looked at one another, a veiled agreement forming between them. It looked as if they were preparing to attack at first. Each man gripping their weapons just a bit tighter than before, when suddenly they all dropped them. The clanging of the swords bumping into the guns made an awkward sounds as their escapes faded out.

    Basil couldn't help but smile at that; his soldiers had left him for dead. Their own self-preservation outweighing their fears of him. Tsk, I can't be that terrifying. thought Basil to himself as he slowly sauntered towards the weapons. His flames willfully split in half and he soon was bent over the arsenal. A single glance was all it had took for them to be smelted into liquid metal.

    Then his eyes fell on Jacole, who was standing in an embarrassed and statuesque form. Basil pulled his hood around his face to hide his laughter, it was all becoming too much like comedic play. Standing up from the patches of fire around him, Basil looked towards Jacole with a bit of advice for him. "Get out this profession won't ya," He uttered with a practiced intimidation and cool. "Cause I promise I'll take a thousand of you down before you could kill me." With that said he started walk off, flames arching between him and Jacole in an attempt to deter any more foolishness.
    ​
     
    Katie had recently considered compensating for her feelings with more brownies, she was too careful to do drugs and wine tasted too much like cherries and tears to entice her, meaning Katie's only vice was brownies, and living on less than one cherished, benign release of feelings a week was starting to give her brownie withdrawal symptoms. So, naturally the easiest thing to do was buy some, but every time it felt like a good idea she just had to look down into her depressing pouch of coins and buttons to be convinced otherwise. It had only been two days since her last job, since she last got paid, and already she was halfway through it, plus there wasn't much sign of her getting paid again anytime soon, it was hard doing a job where the only people you could work for couldn't be trusted, and even then it was hard to find, it wasn't like she could just put up fliers or something, usually other gifted she was closer with would contact people for her, but less and less gifted seemed to be around nowadays, she worried about that. Katie considered what she could have bought that had cost her so much, but nothing came to mind. She sighed, and started to contemplate what she could buy for 50p and a button.

    She wistfully admired the trees in the park and the architecture of the streets, as the tip-tapping of her bright, blue trainers on a concrete floor distracted her, and she made an annoying rhythm out of the clicks and clacks. Just as she was about to embarrass herself by dancing, she noticed and old acquaintance. Abigail, she was a gifted Katie worked for when she was just starting out, a powerful one at that, she had just begun to live on the streets due to unforeseen circumstances, Abigail put her in the business she worked in currently. Katie had always wondered what happened to her, for a while she was her closest friend, until Abigail got off the streets, they weren't really in the same boat then anymore, she did what most people Katie knew did, faded, just slowly and steadily disappeared, over just enough time for you not to notice. As she was battling over the decision of whether to talk to her, Abigail took matters into her own hands, and approached the scruffy girl with the puffy hair.

    "Katie? Is that you?" The corners of her mouth curved upwards into a tired smile, and she batted her beautiful, long lashes over her warm, hazel eyes. Now Katie remembered why she missed her so much. "It's me, it's Abigail." She laughed and wrapped her arms around Katie's stiff shoulders. "I missed you so much Katie." She released and did the smile she used to which creased the corners of her eyes and pointed her nose.
    "Yeah, of course I remember you Abigail. How could I forget?" Katie wondered if she sounded as nervous as she felt. She knew she was prone to infatuation with people, sometimes people she barely knew, but Abigail was special to her, she wasn't like the handsome boys she healed for five or six coins, she was different. "You look good, Abigail." Abigail laughed and fiddled with the zip on her coat, occasionally looking down towards her shoes and then back up at Katie again.
    "Thanks, I got a job, I'm not the on the streets anymore either, so life's sweet you know?"

    "That's great Abigail, really." Katie grinned and clasped her hands in front of her stomach, for no apparent reason.

    "Yeah I'm living just over there," she reached over Katie and pointed over the park past the cafes to a block of flats. "How about yo-" Without warning, Katie kissed poor, unsuspecting Abigail, who was cut off on the account of her mouth being otherwise occupied. Abigail pulled away, and looked down on the ground, her eyes were watery and wide and her lips were still pursed, she didn't seem impressed though, more offended than impressed.

    "Abigail, sorr-" Katie looked at her, and decided that she was going to shoot herself because of what she just did, cursing herself over deciding to be more spontaneous at the worst possible moments.

    "Yeah, so I'm staying in a flat over by the park."

    "That's nice," Katie smiled weakly and raised her eyebrows sheepishly.

    "It really is. You know, my boyfriend says tomorrow he's going to take me on a picnic, it's gonna be really beautiful." Abigail narrowed her eyebrows and looked at Katie knowingly.

    "Oh."

    "Oh." Abigail whipped her bag over her shoulders and walked off, brushing past Katie as she did so. "Stay safe though, Katie." She said, a somewhat genuine smile playing across her lips.

    Katie sighed deeply, in through her nose, and out through her mouth. She noticed a pleasant stall by the pond and made her way over, meanwhile the ducks and various wildlife taunted her vicariously, and she scuffed her shoes through the leaves and brambles, because she was too sad to pick her feet off the ground.
    At the stall a happy-go-lucky lady smiled, but only with her mouth.
    "Hi, what do you like?"

    "I'll have a brownie please."
     
    Zander Hyrall:"The Unlikely Hypnotist"
    and
    Timothy Vernaro:"The Running Bookworm"    ​
    ​
    ​


    "My name is Zander, but you can call me Z." Zander replied to the oddly dressed man.

    "So that's your name, "Timothy said, Looking at Zander, "Well my name is Timothy, or you can call me Timmy. By the way, where are you heading?"

    Trying to implant the name into his head, Zander looked at Timothy again. "I'm headed to the Metro, but, the only reason I stopped you was to ask about your goggles, and why is your hair white, I doubt that's natural," Z ranted in an increasingly rude tone. "I should probably stop being so rude to this guy," Z said to himself, "He may find out my ability or be with the government."

    Timothy looks at Z and decided to tell him about the goggles and the white hair. "The goggles are like glasses, but I couldn't find anything but these goggles. Also with my white hair, well, you might think its unnatural, but its not." Timothy got nervous talking about his hair for he thought it gave suspicious thoughts.

    Zander rubbed his chin in confusion. He never thought it possible to have natural white hair. Of course, he never thought it possible to control people with your mind by just looking at them in the eye, but he has done it. Then it hit him.

    "Hey, I don't suppose you have some, out of the ordinary, 'skills', after coming in contact with this wierd stuff?" Z asked Timmy, narrowing his eyes.

    Timothy got nervous with the question, but he decided to come clean since he can just run away, and he knows that no one can catch up to him. "Yea I have a skill, but I can't tell you what it is unless you have one too."

    Grumbling, Z decided to give the guy what he wanted. "Yeah, I got some powers. I can control peoples minds, just by looking them in the eye!" Z boasted.

    "Well that's interesting to know. I guess I'll tell you mine." Timothy sighed," I have speed manipulation, but it drains some of my life force. That is why my hair is naturally white."

    Z let the thought of running super fast, and draining of life force "run" through his mind. Then, a reservoir of childness came to Zander. "So, you ran so fast that the natural color of your hair just leaked out, and left you with white hair," Zander asked with wonder filled eyes, then remembered himself and toned it down to a smirk.

    Timothy gave a small laugh at Z's smirk, "Yep that's how my power works." Timothy gave a sigh and continued walking, "Well I guess I have to be going, are you going to tag along? "

    Z thought for a moment, before making his decision.

    "Sure I'll tag along, but don't let me slow you down," Z laughed at his own joke, before clapping Timmy on the back, and continuing to walk down the path to the Metro.


     
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    Jace Caradoc – Whispers in the Dark​

    [FONT="Calibri]Jace wound through dark, messy and decrepit side streets and alleys as he continued his walk home from the orphanage. He never enjoyed the walk back as much as the walk to his place of upbringing – not that either was particularly enjoyable. Either way, he found this odd, there was no logical reason for it since both ways would take a similar amount of time, through similarly dangerous locations and always through the long dark hours of the underground city. It had to be something psychological, but Jace pushed these thoughts from his mind. He could ponder thoughts like that later but when wandering Heliopolis' mean streets it was never advisable to be lost in thought, unaware of your surroundings. Unless of course you wanted to end up dead, then it would be very productive.

    Despite constantly pushing thoughts to the back of his mind though, Alma's words still echoed in the back of his mind. The woman was right, tensions between the Jakobs' and the Dahls were coming to a head and even though neither were particularly large crime families compared to the big syndicates even a conflict between them could have far-reaching implications. Something about the situation bothered Jace, he felt as though he and Sasha had forgotten something important during their escape.

    Seemingly answering Jace's concerns to voices echoed from around the corner, speaking in hushed tones.
    "Apparently it was pretty horrific, they all killed each other and someone made off with the goods." Jace froze. Whether this was just luck, or a divine signal Jace didn't know or care, he just knew that whatever had gone wrong with the raid was about to be revealed to him. He pressed himself against the wall, listening intently.

    "They're pretty certain they know who that someone is. There were bullets left on the scene that didn't come from either the Dahl's guys or their suppliers. The Dahls think an invisible Gifted started the firefight and then made off with the goods. They're out for blood, they reckon the Jakobs family did it. Sounds like something big is going to go down soon and like hell am I going to be around for it."
    "You and I both know that if the Dahls hire us again we'll pander to whatever they want"
    "We just traffic goods though, we don't even know what's in these packages half the time!"
    "Won't matter to them if they need man power, but they're bigger than the Jakobs' anyway. So hopefully we'll be alright."

    Further words were lost on Jace, he stood there still. They'd forgotten to sweep for bullets.
    ♥♥♥♥! Jace berated himself, now his employers were targeted which meant two things; He and Sasha were going to be in serious trouble with their boss for the mess up and worse still, he'd likely be placed on duty as a hitman or a bodyguard which would mean more senseless killing – probably not for much pay either since the situation was largely due to his mistake. Things were headed that way anyhow, but if the Jakobs' could pin the blame on someone else for their problems they would.

    Jace slipped away from the area and continued heading home, faster now. Not even the Jakobs' new where he lived and he intended to have as much time as possible to decide on a plan of action and prepare.

    [/div]    ​
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    Chapter Two: Triggers

    ​



    This chapter is split into four slightly inter-related events that will affect specific characters. The events that unfold during this chapter will set the scene for the rest of the plot of Fragmented to continue, triggering conflicts, new alliances maybe even more.

    Event 1 – Feuds
    A high ranking member of the Jakobs family has just been assassinated in the middle of a meeting by a sniper. It was quickly determined that this was a hit carried out by the rival Dahls, most likely by Kyle Dahl who is not only a skilled hitman favouring a sniper rifle but also the son of Markus Dahl who is the head of the crime family. As a result a retaliation hit has been placed on the head of Kyle Dahl, setting a dramatic series of events in motion.

    Jace Caradoc – The blame for the hit on the Jakobs family member has largely fallen on the shoulders of Jace due to his error on the raid on the Dahl drop. As a result of this Jace will now have to carry out the hit on Kyle Dahl free of charge or face the wrath of his employers.

    Alex Knight – Like Jace, a lot of the blame for the assassination has fallen on the shoulders of Alex. As a result he is considered in debt to the Jakobs' and has been tasked with guarding Allen Jakobs. Allen runs a low-class casino in a district near where the drop occurred. This casino doubles as a temporary storehouse for stolen goods – including what was taken from the Dahls, a powerful and highly illegal hacking program.

    Duke Mattern – Anticipating the retaliation hit that was placed on his son, Markus Dahl contacted a dangerous assassin to act as a bodyguard for Kyle. This assassin is none other than Duke Mattern, who is to transport Kyle to a secluded hotel on the edge of the shadier districts. It's a surprisingly classy location that borders the middle class of Heliopolis. Once at the hotel Duke is to guard Kyle until the heat from the Jakobs family dies down. If Kyle lives he is to be rewarded handsomely, if he does not he will become an enemy of the Dahl family.

    Event 2 – Jenilee Monroe
    Jenilee Monroe (an NPC played by Nakuzami) is a relatively unknown figure, a mysterious woman who seems to simply be going about her business. Beneath this though, Jenilee has been secretly tracking and observing various Gifted across Heliopolis and one of the gifted she has been watching has been making more of a stir as of late – to attract the attention of Phoenix she theorises.

    Michael Miller – Lately, information regarding an Unregistered with the ability to shapeshift into a bat has reached the authorities whom have managed to use this information to narrow down the Gifted's current area of activity. This Gifted is of course Michael Miller who has been contacted by Jenilee and told to meet her at Sparky's. Here she intends to inform Michael of the current situation and propose a deal – if Michael is able to take advantage of the chaos of the Dahl/Jakobs mob war and steal a powerful hacking program from Allen Jakobs she will feed the police false information about his whereabouts to keep them off of his trail.

    Event 3 – The Raid
    The previous day the body of a local gangster was discovered in an alley outside of the Metro, his neck crushed by an inhuman strength. Whilst the loss of a mobster is no great damage to society, the authorities have now got enough evidence of dangerous unregistered operating around the Metro to launch a large scale raid. The raid will be very sudden, and cover not only the Metro but a large area around the shady club as well. Unregistered discovered are to be captured for processing, those who resist are to be killed without further consideration.

    Katie Bloom – Katie has unknowingly walked into the raid zone near the Metro going about her daily business. Now stuck in a dangerous situation, she too will need to escape undiscovered if she can -unharmed if she wishes to remain alive.

    Event 4 – The Wraiths Appear
    Word of mysterious, dangerous creatures known only as Wraiths has been circulating Heliopolis for over a month now with many attacks attributed to these creatures. For many these creatures are simply rumours to be dismissed, but the few who survive their attacks fear their return and many others whom believe in their existence attribute their existence to the work of Unregistered, probably Phoenix.

    Dean Andrews, Timothy Vernaro, Samuel Malloi, Zander Hyrall, Emil Nexus – How it will happen, what you are doing and whom you are with is going to be entirely up to you. Regardless, in this chapter you will have your first encounters with the wraiths.



    Things to know
    • The lamp is gradually brightened to full illumination between the hours of 9:00 am and 12:00 pm. It is then gradually dimmed between 12:00 pm and 3:00 pm. This chapter begins approximately between the hours of 4:00 pm and 5:00 pm, this means the only light will be from streetlamps and buildings – although it is only late afternoon it will be an environment more like night.
    • Generally only those with a lot of money will own vehicles.
    • You can interact with NPCs and each other at will, please only do so if it will make sense though.
    • Refer to the OP or contact the GMs with any queries about Wraiths.
    • This chapter will end when it is approximately 3:00 am.


    Notable Locations

    Below is a list of notable landmarks you will have access to. You are welcome to come up with any other locations you wish, but these are places you may want to use or mention.

    • The Metro - The Metro is a popular haunt for criminals and Unregistered. It's a large, seedy club that is usually packed to the brim with loud music blasting throughout the room. Blue and green neon light-ropes adorn the walls and faint light fittings illuminate as much as they can leaving some areas pocketed in darkness. At The Metro it is easy to blend in with the masses in the dark and the haze of cigarette smoke and the noise of shouting individuals an incessant music make it easy to have conversations you don't want the authorities hearing. The club is heavily watched from outside.
    • West Library - An old, two-story concrete building that has been vandalised beyond help outside. It is relatively clean within and is home to a decent selection of books (instructional or otherwise) as well a free internet access if you can find a working computer.
    • Oak Park - A small area where grass and tree seeds were planted several years ago. Now the haunt of teenage gangs and drunks primarily it is still an integral part in maintaining clean air in the city and serves as a temporary guard should the filtering system break down.
    • Sparky's - A small wooden tavern located not far from Oak Park. It's more off the map than the Metro. Lately there has been a greater police presence in this area.
    • Cassino's Diner – A diner owned by an offshoot of the Jakobs family. Often burglarised by Emil Nexus it was also the location of the shooting conducted by Kyle Dahl and is currently closed temporarily as a result. It is a useful cover for illegal operations.
    • The Midnight Grand – A classy hotel that serves as something of a bridge between the seedy West of Heliopolis and the Northern, middle and upper-class suburbs. It is owned by the Dahl family and often used as a safehouse for Dahl assassins.
    • The Shining Penny – A low class casino operated by Allen Jakobs. It serves both as an effective business venture for building funds as well as a temporary safehouse for illegal goods.
    • Warmsun Bakery (West) – Located a ways from the small stall they own by Oak Park is the larger bakery franchise which sits close to the Metro. The west Warmsun bakery looks nothing like a business that should be claiming its food is as pleasant as real sunlight being damaged and vandalised. The staff inside are surprisingly good-natured and they produce some of the only decent baked goods in the western suburbs of Heliopolis. They are well known for their pies, tarts and brownies.

    Heliopolis is home to a large variety of shops, marketplaces and other businesses. You are welcome to create your own to serve your purposes – if we like them they may find themselves added to the "Notable Locations" in the next chapter.

    *note: This chapter occurs the day after chapter one.​
     
    [PokeCommunity.com] Fragmented (M) (IC)
    Jenilee Monroe
    He Is the Night. Kind of.​

    "I'm sorry dearie, it's just too soon. I can't. We just aren't ready. No, stop. Don't move! Oh honey, don't put that in there! I said STOP! And now you're dead. Great. Good job. Should've listened to me."

    Jenilee Monroe clicked through the camera feeds, downing another spoonful of food as she turned her attention to her next target. "Okay Horatius, Barnabus just got himself killed and I am now relying on you. Don't fail me!" Of course, none of her targets could hear her. She also didn't know most of their names, so she had a tendency to just make up nicknames for them.

    "Barnabus, that alley is not a place that you want to be! There's police guys everywhere! I think one of them has a duck!" Jenilee watched as her next protegé ran down the wrong path and got himself captured. "He hath ignored the path of the lord! He hath ignored me! Of course he can't hear me, and he was probably screwed no matter what, but . . . oh well, not my problem anymore." She sat back in her chair and thought for a moment. "None of those guys had a duck. I mean, I didn't honestly think they did, but now I kind of want a duck." She put her hand on her head and stared at her laptop screen. After a moment, she opened up a memo pad and added the item 'get a duck' to her to-do list.

    "Okay, well, I guess I should get to the subject of the day."

    Miss Monroe kept track of numerous Gifted, as well as a few other interesting individuals, but there were some that proved more promising than others. In this specific case it was a Gifted named Michael Miller, sometimes known as The Night Flier. Despite the fact that she knew his real name and one of his generally accepted nicknames, she had taken to calling him Batman. Batman was a masked vigilante who sought justice after witnessing the murder of his parents one dark night when he was just a boy.

    Except Michael wasn't really masked, Jenilee was pretty sure his parents hadn't been murdered right in front of him, and she was kind of confused as to whether or not he strove to exact justice. He wasn't nearly as exciting as the comic book character that she had discovered after digging very deep into the past of the internet. Still, he was able to transform into a bat and he had the potential to become a promising tool, so she decided to call him Batman.

    Tonight Batman was going to receive the offer of a lifetime. Kind of.

    He wasn't really the best at covering his tracks. Every now and then the authorities would wise up a bit and track down his general location, forcing him to move. They were starting to close in again, and this time they would hit a bit of a Gifted hot spot, which wasn't really a win for anyone. Except the cops. But they were losers.

    Jen couldn't have them moving in on her turf any more. This time she would take measures to get rid of them. Plus she kind of wanted a shiny new toy. That toy was a gorgeous new hacking program that would promise to give Jenni so much more fun in this city. Fun and influence, two things that she could definitely use more of.

    The nice thing about Batman was that he was in a tight spot and had the proper skills to steal something from right under the noses of two feuding families. He was perfect! Kind of.

    That's why it was time for Jenilee to meet him. She clicked through a few more camera feeds and programs until she found what she was looking for. "Hey, Carson!"

    Carson was one of her "employees." Basically she kind of knew him, he kind of owed her a few favors and he kind of wasn't really a fan of the big guys in Heliopolis, so he liked to help sabotage them whenever the opportunity arose. "I've got a message for you to give someone! Care to deliver it?"

    "Of course, Lee."

    "Good, you didn't really have a choice anyways. Sending the files to you now! A picture of the guy and the note to be given. Hop to it, it's important!" She turned off the feed and started to brew some tea.

    The note she had just given Carson was mysterious and kind of seductive. It was perfect for Batman.

    If you want to keep your presence in this sector of Heliopolis, then come to Sparky's. I've got a job for you, and it's not something that you'd want to miss.​
    -J​
    She sipped her tea and packed up her laptop. It was time to meet a new client.​
     
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