Official RP Thread: The Evolutionist's Stone

[Celadon's Penultimate]

==Settings (In Order- stops are made in between)==
Arizona
Cabral
Santa Fe

==Dramatis Personæ==

[Ericus Europaeus (Bug)]

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[WishIHadThis]

==30 Days Earlier==

Wayne Cobane had just received a private video call from his agent. "So, let me get this straight. ... They want me to eliminate anyone that passes this tunnel which hardly anyone goes to and they are paying me how much?"

"1 billion dollars," said his agent.

Wayne Cobane sighed in disbelief. "Just what kind of thing are they trying to hide?"

"They won't mention it sir," said his agent politely knowing that angering Mr. Cobane wasn't a smart thing to do.  Wayne thought for a second. He knew three things: his employers were probably corrupt, no doubt; the thing that they wanted to hide was of considerable value, and the threat of whoever was going to enter there was considerably high. The question was.....was it worth it?

"Try pushing for 2 billion, this gun costs a million dollars to shoot." said Wayne, holding his modified silenced revolver holding high caliber explosive rounds.

"They are already ahead of you sir, they've even shipped in a bonus. You know that new experimental photon gun that you wanted? They made a working prototype." Wayne peered onto the screen face pressed to see the gun. Ever since he discovered his superpowers, he had quickly made a name for himself, rising through the ranks. However, he felt he lacked a signature weapon-one that would make him number one. He knew he was probably going to regret the job, but that photon gun was too good of a thing to pass up. And maybe, just maybe, no one will show up. He only had to stay there a month besides......

"Oh, there's more; if you take them alive, they'll double your reward" said the agent happily since he got 10 percent of whatever Wayne received.

"How many times do I have to tell you I'm not in it for the money. I'm an assassin cause chicks dig assassins."

His agent groaned.

[667]

Now that Wayne was in position, he realized why the price was 1 billion dollars.

The team of five crept along the tunnel quietly. There was an angry-looking Hispanic in the lead, a nervous black man with what looked to be a fancy harmonica next, two tattooed men scanning the rocky cavern--one of whom didn't look entirely human--and a huge Cockney that was muttering a murderous mantra beneath his breath.

But even those ten eyes couldn't see the assassin. He invisibly wedged himself in a recess and let the superhuman search party past. When the enormous man had passed, Wayne silently slid out and drew his gun in the pitch-black.

He mused that he probably should have done his research.

He squeezed off one silenced shot into the buzzcut tattooed man's head and he went down like a rock. Almost immediately, the cockney turned and with a roar, grew 2 extra arms. Wayne muffled a swear and quickly turned the bruiser transparent as a window pane. What use was all those limbs if he had no idea where they were? Fortunately, the assassin had no such weakness--a quick change of the pistol to a souped-up Taser and the muscleman was also down.

But though 2 of the 5 were dead or down, the other three were now on high alert. The black man raised the fancy harmonica--which, Cobane now realized, was a minature bandoleon--and blew a strange, suspended chord. Waves of red light emanated from the reeds and smashed against the assassin, turning him visible once again.

Now that he was able to be seen, Wayne stopped fooling around. He hurled a grenade at the trio, but the inhuman man stretched out a hand covered by a thorny tattoo. Barbs flew from the ink and intercepted the grenade, exploding it in midair. The angry man let out a scream and hurled himself at the assassin. Wayne's aplomb quickly turned into shock as the hoodied man planted his feet and swung him into the tunnel wall as hard as he could--which proved enough to crush the rock behind his back.

Flores raised his fist to pulp Wayne's face, but the master assassin proved to have little regard for pugilistic rules and kneed him right in the crotch. As his assailant was reeling, Wayne palm-heeled him between the eyes and Flores fell, too.

Wayne shoved himself out of his self-dug crater and faced the nervous man, who blew a tri-tone so loud the assassin felt it to his bones. His heart skipped several beats and his eyesight dimmed, but that wasn't enough to kill a man who had trained every day of his life for this sort of thing. He uppercutted the musician right in his bandoleon, knocking him out and destroying the conduit of his power.

Now it was just the two of them.

Jack snarled. "We expected trouble, but this is something new. Who are you? And what problem do you have with us?"

Wayne sheathed his gun. "I got no problem with you. I'm just an agent of our mutual friends."

Jack's voice mellowed as his hand slipped out of sight. "Why work for the warlords? They do nothing but cheat and steal from decent people. Come with us and you'll find a reward greater than money."

Wayne couldn't hold back a chortle. "Not likely."

The sub-human's face twisted. "Then Die!"

His expansive back tattoo depicting the four elements glowed and his hand reappeared, thrusting up before crashing down. The earthen ceiling responded, hurling itself upon the assassin like a living landslide. All was dust for a few moments. Jack Ryder slumped to his knees. Channeling his tattoos was quite a feat of will and strength, but they always got the job done. He took several deep breaths and opened his eyes again.

Wayne Cobane was standing before him perfectly unmarred.

Jack tried to gasp out a question, but was interrupted by the assassin's boot. Wayne straightened his sunglasses and then dropped the cloak he was holding over his wounds--the landslide really HAD done a number on him. At least now the ordeal was over and he could collect the 1 billion.

A twisted bullet bounced right between his legs. Before he could process it, Byne Turner smashed the back of his head with a rock, fully recovered and now immune to execution-style murder.

Wayne Cobane would have some questions to answer...

[Ericus Europaeus (Bug)]

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[WishIHadThis]

==Wayne's story continued==

This was perhaps the second time that Wayne had ever failed on a mission. The first was against someone who was immortal, which he justified. He had definitely killed the tattooed man that knocked him out, he was sure of it, but there he was.

"Great, another immortal," Wayne muttered, as he lay down on the floor watching the 5 battle some person. They were losing. He was bound for some reason. He deduced it must either be that harmonica man or the guy with the tattoo--they had weird powers. The rest seemed fairly easy for him to deal with in normal circumstances. Then there was the immortal. He hadn't planned on facing an immortal. Wayne struggled to get free.... At least they had the decency to let him keep his sunglasses.

"So that's why I didn't have to kill them," thought Wayne. Luckily, he had a backup plan which he hadn't planned on using, because right now, it looked like the group would lose. And then that man would kill him next, thinking that he was there comrade. So, if he was going to do, he was going to die in a bang.

Due to the nature of his ability, light passed through whatever he made "invisible" to other people--he called his power transparency. He had placed and hidden explosives in several parts of the tunnel during the course of 10 days when he was on "guard duty"; these would be triggered due to light exposure. He would simply blow up the whole tunnel by making it transparent above to let the light in.

Again, Wayne knew he would regret it. "Ugh...the things I do for money," sighed Wayne. And in an instant, he made the whole tunnel transparent.

[667]

The chamber rocked vehemently, as the charges collapsed the tunnel. Gorak stumbled, and his axe thudded against the ground right where Jack had been. The sub-human released his claws, nimbly ran up the stony shaft, and thrust his razor fist right into the giant's mouth. Gorak's head was cut to pieces.

Jack rolled to his feet as he landed on the other side, but it was obvious that he had struck a blow. After all, people didn't keep fighting after their head was run through a salad shooter. But his confidence sunk again as the head reassembled itself from the surrounding rock and Gorak turned menacingly.

Wayne cocked his head. This was unusual. He'd come across this kind of situation before and knew exactly what to do--but to help the team would surely void his contract. On the other hand, the golem would tear his lease on life to shreds.

His head whipped around as Ivan hit the wall next to him, "You! Bruiser! Get me out of these chains."

Ivan flexed his arms to get some sensation and replied, "You have to be pulling my leg, guvnor. You tased me in the chest, not 20 minutes ago."

"Well, twenty minutes from now, both of us will be dead. I have a plan."

Wayne could see the rusty machinery of Ivan's mind shake off the cobwebs and creak to life. Finally, Ivan lumbered over, put 2 of his hands on the back of the ropes, and tore them to pieces. Wayne ducked beneath the ineffectual restraints and put out his hand.

The golem's chest turned invisible. Suspended inside was a trollish, gaunt man in tattered clothes--the real, human, geokinetic Gorak.

"Kill him!" Wayne roared.

Jack's reddish eyes opened wide at the sight of the freed captive, but Byne sprung into action. He clapped Flores on the shoulder and shouted, "Quick, throw me!" This would not be the first time Byne had done his human cannonball impression (what he remembered from reading X-Men comics as the "fastball special"), but the request caught his friend the strongman off guard.

The deceptively strong Flores grabbed Byne by his collar and the seat of his pants and hurled him like an Olympic hammer straight at Gorak's heart. Byne's strengthened arms and skeleton ensured his survival, but nevertheless it wouldn't be pretty...

Byne smashed through the transparent rock like a bullet and hit the wall behind the golem. Gorak the man was torn apart, and Gorak the golem fell apart like a puppet with the strings cut. The Evolutionist's Stone was wide open, and Jack rushed to take it.

He hefted the green chunk of rock above his head...

[667]

(Okay, this next part is going to be a bit contentious. It can be thrown out, if nobody likes it. Whatever.)

[667]

Nothing happened.

There was no glow, no hum, no wash of power. No buzzing in the ears, no red lightning, no orange glow.

Jack let the rock down and stared at it. His team gathered around. Flores scratched his ear. "Isn't this business supposed to, you know, 'boost your power a thousandfold'?"

The silver-haired man looked at Ben. "What do you make of this?"

Ben pulled a rubber band out of his pocket, stretched it taut, and twanged it with his teeth. Green light washed over the rock, but none was returned. "I dunno, man. Usually with objects of power, I can get a response, but here I ain't getting---"

"It's a sham."

They turned and stared at Wayne. He stood at a distance, hands sunk deep in his pockets. His eyes were downcast and he stared at his shoes as he said, "It's a sham. A mockery, a fake. A forgery, a hoax, a fraud, a spoof, a trick, a bluff, a stunt."

Ivan's face was screwed up in confusion. "Whaddya mean, it's a decoy or--"

"No. The official story is true. All the meteorite burned up in the atmosphere. It has to be--why would they guard the object with the most power in the world with a two-bit assassin and a grungy old warlord? That's like putting the Mouse King from the Nutcracker in charge of security on Three Mile Island."

Ben stepped forward. "Then why have it in the first place?"

Now it was Flores' turn to speak. "Any of you guys ever rule a kingdom?"

Everyone but Wayne shook their heads. He knew where this was going.

"For a year after the event, I ruled my own little fiefdom. I had about 300 people under me, and half those were workers. And let me tell you, I was not the most benevolent ruler. Looking back, I was a tyrant. But you know what I always made sure of, I always made sure my people had hope. Because a population of crushed souls is a horrible workforce, a terrible army." Flores turned to the stone and nodded curtly at it. "I bet you that's a placebo. I bet you that is designed so the people here in Arizona always have a legend, a savior waiting in the mountains somewhere. And damned if it didn't fool everyone."

Jack's heart was broken. "Then we came all this way for nothing."

Wayne's eyes lit up behind the sunglasses he always wore. "No...no, you didn't. You found the stone. You're more powerful than anyone who ever lived when you touch it. I mean, at least that's what EVERYONE THINKS."

Ivan, the slowest of all of them, caught on first. "He's roight. With that stone, you're a regular demigod. And everyone loves an all-powerful general."

Jack 'Ace' Ryder's face broke into a half-smile. "We could unite the people of this area against the warlords and generals. We could bring order back to the States and push Canada and Mexico out! Whaddya say, guys?"

Ivan cheered. Flores cheered. But Ben was appalled.

"You would lie to these people on a national scale, just to advance your own ideals?"

Jack rolled his burning eyes. "Not my IDEALS, Ben, their freedom. Can't you see a little sacrifice is minor compared to that?"

Byne stepped forward, clothes still covered with spatters of gore. "Sorry, Jack. Ben's got a point. I can't stand by this either. We'll both still work with you, but...not alongside you. At least, not while you're holding that."

Ben stepped forward, "Lemme tell you a story. Seven years ago, I woke up for the first time I can ever remember in a Parisian hospital. I had no memory, no clues, no nothing but music and the scars on my head. If not for my ability dredging up some memories, I might still be there, knowing of my past only what other people told me. And you know what? If they lied, I would have believed them. If they told me I'd been a thief, I woulda become a thief. If they told me I'd been a politician, I woulda gone into politics. They could have twisted and malfigured my very self and I would have followed happily. And that's EXACTLY what you're going to do to these people's identities by not telling them the truth. I'm not going to reveal you-all for the frauds you are, but I sure ain't going to stand by while you do it."

He turned to leave. "C'mon, Byne. I got a friend down in Brazil." They walked out the emergency tunnel into the desert sun.

There was a moment of silence. Wayne spoke up finally, "I'll help you guys."

Jack turned to his one-time enemy, wiping an acrid tear from his eye. "Why? So you can stab us in the back?"

"No. Because they lied to me, too. We're going to beat these two-bit warlords, and then we're going to go to New York and pick up the gun these two-faced jerks owe me." He held out his hand and Jack shook it.

Ivan interrupted. "Oi saw a village on top of a mesa to the north on the way here, Oi did. Seems a good place to start."

Jack and his new team went north.

Ben and Byne turned south.

[spydyr]

CONTENTS DELETED

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[Ericus Europaeus (Bug)]

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[Celadon's Penultimate]

On the road to the mesa town, Jack bounced the rock in his hand...it was a shame it had no power, really. He kinda enjoyed the thought of getting rid of the oppressors with such ease. Fortunately, the disappointment of not actually HAVING that power would be the disappointment of he and his group alone.

Ivan looked at Jack, "Oy, mate, what's your bother? Not still expecting that there rock to juice you up, is ya?"

"Of course not. It's just... well, it's just a strange thought." Jack pondered momentarily.

"Whassat, then?" Ivan forgot he hadn't retracted his arms from earlier, so he did.

"I'm just thinking about this stone. It's a worthless piece of junk, and yet we have to use its 'power' to pull off the biggest hoax in all history. I mean, if you don't count the government conspiracies people say are going all the time. We're gonna need the help of some tricky SOBs to pull off this facade, don't you think?"

Ivan smirked, "Damn straight. That's why we're meetin' up with some in this here town."

Jack looked at him, more than surprised.

"What?" Ivan responded, "I didn't know if you guys were who you said you were. I told them to stand by, just in case."

"Oh, so the brute has a brain, too? THAT'S new...Lemme ask you something. Who might these friends of yours be?" Flores overheard the two chatting, and was more than a little intrigued.

"People we need, for definite," Ivan assured, "Two girls and two guys. You'll like 'em, I think."

"They got powers?" Flores asked, anticipating a 'yes'.

"Yup. Tessa can read minds. Pierce is electrical. Nadia can absorb heat and breathe cold. Fitz can sense supers."

"Sense supers?"

"That's right." Ivan reached to have a look at the stone, only to have Jack snatch it away. He'd decided to guard it jealously, even from those who knew the secret that it was a total dud. It wouldn't pose a problem for the group, though. The group knew that such an attitude was necessary, and that they would have to guard HIM just as jealously and relentlessly as he guarded that STONE. How else would he give off the illusion that he was important and somebody to be followed? It had to be just so, just right, and in no way obvious that Jack's importance was only drummed up by the group and their allies.

Discussing this and other matters of the resistance along the trek to the mesa town, they failed to realize just how "jungly" and untamed the path seemed to become. Not exactly a rainforest, but definitely not a road like it was about a mile back. And they were sure that it wouldn't become easier to track along the way. Sure, Flores and Ivan could bash their way through, but it would do no good if they didn't know where they were going. Nadia hadn't sent Ivan the map to the town yet, because their resources were rather scanty, so they would have to just keep walking until hopefully a ride showed up.

Fortunately, radio signals in this town were back up from the last months, but it would still take a while.

"Hopefully, we can get off this damn road before night hits." Jack tried to figure out which would be better, having the stone in his hand, in his pants pocket or in his jacket pocket.

"Maybe we can call 'em from here. Anybody got a walkie?" Ivan asked, hoping that he was the only one that came unprepared.
 
"Here, use this," Wayne spoke up, handing Ivan his video phone, "Your friends got a video phone, or a webcam?" Ivan looked at him blankly.

"I'm guessin' you didn't catch the part about this bein' a POOR town." Ivan shook his head, trying to figure out how to work the phone. Wayne took it from him, pressing the simple power button, and handed it back for Ivan to dial the "base".

"Hola," A Hispanic female voice responded.

"You know I don't speak Spanish, Frosty." Ivan checked the time on the video phone. It was nearly eight 'o clock already.

"Ivan?"

"Yeah, it's me; Pierce in?"

"No...he's probably getting in Tessa's pants as we speak." Ivan saw Nadia roll her eyes over the video phone.

"Damn", he laughed, only half-joking, "I was kinda hopin' I'd get to that first...Well, alright, fine. I need you to send me a map to Cabral. ASAP."

He hung up before Nadia got the chance to curse him out for trying to boss her around. Wayne took back his video phone and looked back to see Jack still analyzing the Evolutionist's Stone.

[667]

Wayne's phone buzzed momentarily. The map was in. He popped it open, squinted at the screen, and his face sunk.

"Ivan...why is Cabral across the Panama Canal and several deserts?"

Ivan chuckled lowly.

Wayne's face colored. "I don't see what you got to laugh about, because until we find decent transportation and something like 100 gallons of gas, we're WALKING THERE!"

Flores gave Ivan a fisheye that would have killed a kitten and crushed the stone Jack was idly playing with into gravel. Slowly, he rose to his feet.

The bruiser broke out into cold sweats and quickly amended his position: "Now see here mate, you're thinking about physical distance. We-all have a guy on retainer, Tessa and Pierce and us, we does. Like one of them old mules what used to ferry folks across the border, but like on a whole different scale."

Flores was still tense, but this time with interest. "A teleporter?"

"More'n that, mate. This guy Torres is a regular genius, he is--takes space in his hands and twists it like a bread tie, molds it like a spinning pot. Then it's just a tiny step to the left and BOOM"--several beautiful birds panicked and took flight--"you're in New York or some far-off place!"

Jack's inhuman eyes registered awe, mixed with excitement. He grinned and said, "How fast can we get to him?"

Ivan's eyes glassed over and his smile became suddenly forced. "Now, Jack, don't blame me now, but Torres is...well, the man is tetchy. Bending the universe like a twisty takes a lot out of a man, ya know? So he might be a little--uh, what's that word--"

"Reluctant," offered Wayne.

"RELUCTANT to ferry all four of us across. Like, one or two of us, maybe."

Flores took a step forward (Ivan almost flinched), but Jack stretched an arm across Flores' skinny chest. "Wait a second. I have an idea."

Jack grinned diabolically (a talent that ran in the family).

[667]

In the morning, Jack, Flores, and Wayne followed Ivan's garbled and slang-strewn directions to a tiny fishing camp on the Rio Atrato.

The place was a backwater, no doubt. Stilt-supported huts made of driftwood, and thatched with brown river reeds, balanced tenuously above a muddied river. The earthen banks were soft and yielding, preserving the quartet's footprints like they preserved all animal traffic on their shores. The people of the village were as brown as the river on which they survived. Sunburned, weary and ragged, they sat on their back steps and fished tirelessly as they peered out from beneath their bleached baseball caps for teams that were long dead and would never live again. A few displayed interest on their leathery faces as the strangers walked in, but most continued to watch their lines. Their families needed to eat.

Ivan knew exactly where he was headed and bounced heavily up the creaking steps of a specific hut. He walked through the one room with no sense of shame and sauntered out on the back step, where a 30-something man in a sun-bleached Lakers jersey fished next to two other poles.

The other three stopped in relative confusion as Ivan baited one of the extra poles and struck up a conversation.

"Tessa and Oi, we never could figure it out," he mused as he cast his line. "We've given you more money than God to cart us and our like all around the world. You could live any place you wanted to, with the power you got. You could have any woman, wear fancy clothes, eat the best food. And yet..." Ivan gestured to the sunburnt town. "We never really managed to get a good handle on it. But we keep your face around, don't we, Torres?"

The man looked up from beneath dark eyebrows and smiled a gap-toothed grin from beneath a dark mustache. "I guess it was just the glamor of the place that kept me here, Mr. Fisk."

Ivan exploded into laughter and clapped the virtuosic teleporter on the shoulder. "This guy! This guy..."

Even Flores had to admit, the man was a natural jokester. Torres was short, lean, leather-faced, gap-toothed, and sported a small untrustworthy mustache upon his upper lip--but the gleam of intelligence and mischief in his eye endeared all to him. But there was more. His slightly forward stance, his nimble and scarred hands denoted something more about Torres.

The man of the hour turned to the other three. "Friends of yours, Mr. Fisk?"

The Cockney nodded. "That's roight. Flores, Cobane, and Ryder."

They greeted him and he returned their platitudes.

Ivan's face fell into Serious Business Mode. "A'roight, I'll be straight with you, T. We ain't here fer pleasantries. We need you to get us to Cabral."

Torres' dark eyes clouded over even more. "Cabral? As in, Old Utah Cabral? And you want me to warp all four of you there? No way, Mr. Fisk. Not a chance." Torres went to sit back down.

Jack laid a hand on his shoulder.

"What if I told you," he whispered with a buzz, "that I had a stone that could boost your power enough to get us all to Cabral and back?"

Torres replied without looking, "I would tell you that the Evolutionist's Stone is not real, and that you should get out of my ear."

Jack produced the rock and let his tattoos glow ominously. His eyes flashed thunder and a small wind blew across the deck.

The fisherman looked at the red, pumice-like stone like it was the Hope Diamond and swore. "How did you find that thing? Where was it? Who are you?"

Jack Ryder grinned his crooked grin and placed his free hand on Torres' shoulder. "I'll channel the force of this stone into your shoulder through my body--the raw energy might kill you otherwise. Get ready to jump us."

Torres's nimble hands began to make an intricate arabesque. "I'm ready," he grunted.

The sham stone naturally sat there like--well, like a rock. But Jack acted his heart out and grunted and pushed and when it looked like the stone was overloading his nervous system, he let his own power flow into Torres. His amplifying energy boosted the teleporter's natural talents and Torres' eyes flew open. He let out a wild yell of exultation and shoved his hand through space and time.

He opened the hole further with his other hand and manually expanded it down with his foot. Curls of various particles exploded out past them--Wayne even thought he saw the distinctive weave of a Higgs boson--and colors began to distort all around them while the world on the other side of the portal grew sharper into focus. Torres paid no attention to the light show, but rather grabbed the edges of the hole in the universe with his hands unceremoniously and JANKED it back over them.

There was a horrible silence.

There was a horrible noise.

There was a horrible silence.

When the world had settled, all five found themselves in a waterless desert looking at a huge mesa. Jack was on the ground dripping sweat, knuckles clenched white around the stone. Flores' mouth was agape, but Torres was exuberant.

"MAN THAT WAS AMAZING" he yelled at the top of his lungs. "I've NEVER found it that easy to do that! It was like breathing! Mr. Ryder," he said while stooping down to clap the man on the shoulder, "you are the real deal! I'm telling EVERYONE about you. You could really do some good for us."

With another rebel whoop, he jumped through another hole in the universe back to his fishing pole.

Wayne looked at Jack as he struggled back to his feet. "You alright, Jack?" he asked.

Jack let out a huge breath, but grinned. "No, but that was totally worth it. We are off to a great start."

Ivan, arms akimbo, looked up at the mesa. "A'right then. Let's not lose momentum."

[Celadon's Penultimate]

Heading up the ascending hills leading to the mesa, the group of four exchanged glances, satisfied to know that the teleporter took the bait so well. The plan they'd devised was certainly looking up for them. What better way to spread the news of the impending superhuman rebellion, than to have a teleporter do it? For a useless stone that was more suited to scrubbing an old lady's feet than as a medium of ultimate raw power, the "Evolutionist's Stone" certainly seemed to be working its magic pretty well.

"A'right, looks like the mesa's just up this hill. Should be 'bout another half-hour or so." Ivan looked to his wrist, but realized he wasn't wearing a watch, and asked to see Wayne's video phone again, for the time.

"Hell, it's not even nine", Jack laughed, when Ivan announced the time, "Gotta love teleporters."

The four of them trudged up through the brush for a hot, sweaty, mosquito-filled, seemingly-longer-than-it-actually-was thirty-four minutes, only to stumble upon a town much like Torres', except not quite as...homey. In fact, it was just plain dirty; dusty, dingy, dank and a few other "d" words that Ivan couldn't quite think of.

All Wayne had to say was, "Man, this place is a piece of--"

"Shouldn't we get inside, to meet with your crew, Ivan?" Jack broke into that thought abruptly.

[667]

==Cabral==

Wayne's observation, base though it was, was dead on.

Most of the buildings in Cabral were Anasazi-style adobe mud, held together with straw and hope. There was a water tower of sorts, near the middle of the town, in the form of a huge bucket perched precariously upon what looked like the only wood for miles. The whole town, as a matter of fact, seemed to only use wood when it was absolutely necessary--for holding up sunshades, to build bartering stalls, such and so forth. But the one thing Wayne couldn't pass a judgement on were the people. Nobody was around and there were few signs of life. A low roar rumbled in the town center and the quartet followed their ears.

They pushed through a crowd of sweaty, sackcloth-clad people to view a singular sight.

In a round pit 40 feet across and 20 feet deep carved from solid rock dead in the center of town, there was a fight going on.

The combatants were stripped to the waist and shining with sweat. One was a huge black man--easily 6'10"--who dwarfed his smaller, scrappier, paler opponent. The fight seemed to be going poorly for the smaller guy, as was evidenced by his obvious fatigue and many wounds. He brushed his blond hair out of his eyes and gave a crooked grin colored by blood.

"C'mon, you! You wife hits has more attitude than that! But then, I did get her all riled up and excited...."

He turned to the crowd and raised his hands as they let loose the ugliest laughter Jack had ever heard. Bets were called out and blue paper slips were exchanged as the giant let loose a roar and heavily ran toward the braggart. The grin stayed as the white guy sidestepped him with his foot out; the giant stumbled, tripped, and smashed himself into the wall, at top speed. The crowd roared again and leaned themselves against the rails in support of their new trickster-hero.

Ivan grinned and nudged Flores. "That's moi Pierce!" he shouted over the din of the crowd. "GIT 'IM, MATE!" he called to his friend.

Pierce didn't hear a word of what Ivan said. He was much too focused on the approaching giant who, despite his size and huge exertions, looked none the worse for the wear. He cracked his neck and started to work on changing that business. The ubiquitous smell of ozone filled the air as he loosed a thunderbolt from his outstretched hand; it smashed into the giant, and he went flying back. The crowd cheered, but the giant got up from his scorch mark and stumbled forward, as fast as his twitching muscles would allow.

The electric man rolled his blue eyes. "Lord, you're not one of them with all that endurance, are you? Your wife must REALLY not like you to cheat on a man with that kinda power." Lightning began to spiderweb across his skin as he added, "Welp, time to wrap this up then..."

With a huge crack of thunder and a tangible heat wave, Pierce Dary turned into a living bolt of sheer electrical power, shaped only barely like a hyper-confident man. The living lightning crashed into the giant and bounced around his internal organs, ricocheting off his liver and humming through his brain, until his body could physically not support consciousness. The giant hit the ground and Pierce left him, reforming his body into something human again.

"Poor bastard," he mused, "that'll leave some serious psychological scars."

The crowd began to disperse. Some, incredibly angry at the turnout, destroyed their slips and went home. Others went to greet Pierce, among which were Ivan, Flores, Jack, and Wayne. But before the men reached the victorious gladiator, Wayne noticed something out of the corner of his eye. Was that---?

Wayne clapped Jack on the shoulder. "You square everything away with Ivan's pals, I gotta go say hi to a friend." He walked off grinning like a madman. Jack Flash was always so fun to scare out of his wits.

[Celadon's Penultimate]

Chuckling to himself about how badly he'd startled Jack Flash (while Flash, coincidentally went off grumbling about the same thing), Wayne went about his business, and Flash went off to have some 'fun'. Jack Ryder led the way to the largest building in the whole town. It was a medium, two-story building (wooden of course) that looked like a park ranger station at some national park, or perhaps the counsellor's cabin at some summer camp. Fortunately, however, it had well-running tech, a bathroom and some food that the natives had provided, but other than that, it was pretty crappy. And other than the blonde-haired, blue-eyed beauty sitting in the chair across the room, fooling with her camera, the view was less than visually pleasing.

"Ah, there ya are, Bruiser!" Ivan, Ryder and Flores were greeted by a skinny, brown-haired, brown-eyed guy with a strong Irish accent, "Ah knew it was you. But who's the other two with ya?"

"These is Jack and Flores", Ivan turned to the two and motioned to the two to introduce his friend, "That, boys," Ivan continued, gesturing to the blond, "Is the lovely Tessa Mand", she waved nonchalantly before returning to her camera, "and this...", he continued further, gesturing to the brown haired guy, "is the Toad..."

"That's right, Ah'm Fitz. Fitz Tanner.", Fitz headed over to shake each of their hands, "Ah'm the crew's personal superhuman tracker, defense mechanism, lackie and just plain tech nerd in general. Feel free t'ask me fer anythin' ya need."

Jack got a chuckle off of THAT little introduction.

"YOU'RE the one that can sense superhumans?"

"Well, yeah..." Fitz looked a bit insulted.

"Oh, really?" Jack challenged, "Then which of us has abilities, besides Ivan?"

Fitz looked at Jack and within a second, replied matter-of-factly, "Both of ya. Flores is superstrong, 'bout the same level as Ivan. And you have more than one power. You can amplify powers; your darker alter ego can amplify and WEAKEN powers, and those tattoos supply you with three more powers."

Flores and Jack both looked at him, more than amazed.

"Yeah", Ivan spoke up, "He's good."

Fitz put his hand on Jack's back and led he and Flores over to the three computers that he manned to maintain their intelligence.

"This is mah little 'command center' of sorts. Ah only work with Mac for intel; the forth one in the back, the PC, is mine, so d'not touch tha'."

"Ain't nobody worried 'bout your damn computer, stupid." A familiar hispanic voice called out from down the hall.

"THANK YOU, NADIA!" Fitz retorted, frustrated, before returning to his normal voice, "Anyways, boys, help yerselves to mah intel, but make sure if ya keep anythin', only make copies. Ah need mah list and mah numbers and mah graphs."

"List?" Flores finally spoke up, puzzled. He leaned over, picking up a file folder filled with various names and terms that seemed something out of a science fiction novel. "What? Superhumans and the powers they have? Interesting...Telepathy? Telekinesis? Pyrokinetic Forcefield? What the hell is a pyrokinetic forcefield?"

"Oh, it's a forcefield that is composed of fire, but it also keeps out fire, intense heat or anythin' intensely heated. Yeah, it's really cool, look it up in mah computer file; I labeled it 'Superhuman_Phenomena.doc'." Fitz looked pleased with himself.

"And somebody actually HAS this ability?" Jack asked.

"Well, o'course, whah else would ah put it there?" Fitz replied, "Ah mean, ah put Omnipotence, Omnipresence and Omniscience and such in there, too, but they're just to complete the list. Other'n that, ah only put powers in there that I seen or heard of b'fore."

[WishIHadThis]

==Elsewhere in Cabral==

Wayne inched toward the crowd surrounding Jack Flash.

As usual Flash was doing another one of his get rich quick schemes. This time it was a spin the wheel type game.

Nothing seemed unusual the odd seemed fair, but Wayne knew better.

Flash had the ability to make duplicates of any object he touched only they disintegrated after 1 minute. Naturally he was going to give the winners money that would disintegrate in their pocket.

Not the worst idea to use a power for, saves Flash the thought of inflation while still giving him ample money.

"Hey, Flash, buddy," said Wayne who had casually slipped into his civilian persona(with hair and clear sunglasses)

"I don't know you, and my name is Jack, Jack Gordon." said Flash not skipping out of character.

"Sure, you are. Alright Flash, we're going to have a chat in the alley 'kay," said Wayne doing his best impression of an old high school buddy.

The cops suddenly arrived.

"You know what, why don't we have that talk," said Flash.

"Freeze, don't move. We've got you surrounded." Three cop cars covered Flash's corner stall.

Flash threw a smokebomb and multiplied it midair. The crowd scattered.


As the smoke slowly cleared, Jack and Wayne stood still. They were hidden by Wayne's power.

"They're gone, send in our special patrol."

"Alright, now we move slowly," whispered Wayne. as they inched past the unsuspecting policemen.

Jack made a break for it. and stepped into a puddle of mud.

"He's there, get him." "The police cars quickly made after him as he left behind footprints.. Wayne did a facepalm. Why did he ever have to work with that fool.

Wayne walked in the alleyway and made himself visible again. Suddenly a leg appeared from nowhere to kick Wayne in the face. Wayne's sunglasses cracked, but he was okay. The party in question disappeared again.

Then the same person appeared behind him to tase him. Wayne jumped out of the way.

"Don't mess with the sunglasses," said Wayne as he slipped on another pair. He was going to have to get serious.

"This person is aiming to capture me, but I won't let myself be captured....not again," thought Wayne as he turned invisible once more.

He was in an alleyway. Wayne pressed back against a wall and moved slowly. The cop materialized in front of him. Wayne slowly inched away. The cop or rather policewoman was one of the "special" cops. Ones that have powers.

Ever since the incident, there remained some sense of order albeit limited of the existing governments.

The whole world had been divided into numerous regions each controlled by a Warlord. Some had their own police forces. They were composed of either mercenaries or people brainwashed or blackmailed in some way.

Suddenly, the red haired woman whispered in his ear. I know where you are.

Wayne was both chilled and seduced by the woman's voice. She slipped a letter in Wayne's pocket. Then teleported out.

The envelope had two things a flash drive and a note. Upon examination of the note, he looked particularly at one particular word, Mole.

Wayne crumpled the paper and burned it with the cigarrete lighter Flash dropped. The lighter soon disintegrated.

"D----, Flash," as he walked back to the rest of the group.

Meanwhile Jack's group was discussing about the stone.(the other Jack not Jack Flash who will now be referred to as Flash)

"Okay so now where were we....", said Nadia

[Celadon's Penultimate]

"Forget about that stupid program right now, TOAD." Ivan barked at Fitz meanly, " We got bigger fish and chips t'fry. See, we got somethin' t'tell ya about the--"

"Hey, whoa, just a second, Ivan." Flores abruptly jumped up and pulled Ivan over to the side, unsure of just how much the Cockney was about to disclose, "Do you think we can really trust the others to keep the secret?"

"Oh, you mean the 'secret' that you have the Evolutionist's Stone? And that it's a FAKE?" Tessa made it immediately obvious that she overheard the two having their little sidebar conversation. And no surprise, the revelation of what she'd gathered telepathically was more than just a minor shock. She ignored the shock on their faces, only blinking adamantly, with a face that said she wanted answers.

"What? You said you had the stone. It was real, you said." Nadia looked more than just a little pissed.

"Yeah, Ivan said ya had the stone." Fitz looked a bit confused, "So...that's not the actual stone?"

"Oh, no, this is it," Flores corrected, "But the idea of the Evolutionist's Stone itself is a big hoax. It's a total dud. Didn't have an ounce of power. Not even a spark. We kinda thought it would at least give off some radiation, some heat, some plasma, but nothing."

"Then how do you know that's it?" Nadia remarked with an air of suspicion.

"You see", Ryder jumped in, "that's the bad part of it all. I've been thinking, and it's more than possible that this is NOT the real stone. But it IS the one that was guarded by the geokinetic Gorak, so that makes me wonder. Why would they want to protect an obvious fake?"

"Maybeh the overlords thought it was real, as well." Fitz offered.

"No..." Flores replied shaking his head at the thought, "They're much too smart for that."

"So what you're saying is..." Tessa cut in, picking up on the thought Flores had just brought to his conscious mind.

"That's right, Tess. If this is NOT it, it means one of two things. Either there IS no Evolutionist's stone, and the meteor crumbled up leaving behind only this crusty pumice-looking rock, or there IS an Evolutionist's stone, and at least one of the overlords knows where it is. But they want us to think that WE have it, and that it's a dud, so we won't go looking for the real thing."

"Well, if they already know its location, they definitely ain't gonna tell us." Fitz spoke up, annoyed at the thought.

"Right, you are," Flores agreed, "But, it means that they won't try to stop us if we say that we DO have it."

"So?" Nadia rolled her eyes, "The PEOPLE will try to stop us if we lie to them..."

"That is, if we get caught, Frosty...if we get caught." Tessa liked where this was going, and she was sure she wanted in, "yeah, I get it. We're supposed to act like Jack has the 'all-powerful Evolutionist's stone' and hype him up as pretty much the Rebel Savior. The overlords have no choice but to sit back and freak out as their little underlings begin to find hope, take up for themselves and revolt. Either that or reveal that this ISN'T the stone. The oppressed join our side and spread the word until, bing, bang, boom, we got ourselves a full-on superhuman revolution. Villains kaput, we're the heroes, end of story."

Looking at one another, the little band of superhumans cheered at the thought of how simple the plan seemed to be. It was more than just a little elementary, but it was definitely worth undertaking. The world would have some hope, they would be free of the overlords at last, and somehow best of all, they would all be able to carry on some semblance of the 'normal' lives that had only been talked about by the crazy homeless folks since the start of the superhuman crisis ("My pa has the power Longevity and he told me about a long time ago when people DIDN'T RULE over fiefs, and when people were under one government per country, not ruled by overlords!" Such silly thoughts would be considered high treason now...especially if directed at any ONE overlord in particular...)

[Celadon's Penultimate]

Fortunately, though, the group wouldn't have to worry about treason, or getting caught or being killed for now. They had barely gotten started, what with only having told the teleporter and Ivan's friends of their secret and their plan. They surely had bundles of more mischief to get into before even considering the dangers of challenging the overlords, especially  directly. Each of them seemed to have their own intentions, their own motives and their own ways of getting things done, but they all knew that the one thing they had in common was how well they knew of the overlords' wrath.

Such people as those were insidious and powerful, devious and well-connected (sometimes even to one another). They were less than compassionate, even to their relatives, and could never be counted on for anything more than ruling their territories with an iron fist. Some of them used their rule to peddle drugs and promote crime, and make a killing off of feeding others' darker sides. Some of them used their rule to exact revenge on those who scorned them. Some used it to be the envy of others less powerful than them. Some of them did ALL of that, and some did WORSE. Sometimes, they even would plan and execute conquests and battles on one another, or conspire against each other with one another. Either way, they brought distress and injury and pain and crime wherever they established themselves, and sustained a mutual hatred between themselves and those they controlled.

"Hmph", Pierce suddenly broke the cheering as he entered the room, "You all forget, we're almost entirely without resources as we prepare to take down these evil overlord bastards..."

Tessa looked over to him, puzzled.

"What are you trying to say?" And she wasn't being coy. She honestly didn't know, and couldn't find out. Due to his electrical composition, and his frequent generation/absorption/manipulation of electricity, the blonde telepath couldn't distinguish Pierce's body output from his brain output. He was among the first people that Tessa had met, whose mind she couldn't read or manipulate. Knowing this, Pierce decided to elaborate.

"Well, Mandy," Pierce grinned deviously, "I think we should definitely find some ways to, uh, boost morale in the town. The morale of the townspeople, and our own."

"How d'you expect to go about that, Pierce?" Ivan exchanged smiling glances with Fitz and Nadia, the three of them knowing to themselves that Pierce was always full of ideas. And Pierce did not disappoint.

Looking around the room at each superhuman, with static electricity now becoming visible darting across his hair and between his fingers, the grinning electrokinetic proposed simply, "Let's leave an impression."

The lot of them discussed and plotted and planned everything down to the last detail. Every bit of their scheme would have to be flawless, and their resident electro would see to it that it was. He was a master in dealing, in deception and in determination, and happily shared his ideas for tricking the poor people of Cabral with his comrades.