Heroes: Project Weapon

[Zarean]

Name:  Elysian

Alias: Doll Maker, Wings (Her favorite Doll’s name), The sixth.

Designation:  VI

Age: Early 30’s

Gender: Assumed Female because ‘she’ favors female dolls.

Appearance: The Doll Maker’s appearance is only known by the scientists that worked with ‘her’ during the Weapon Project experiments. However, her favorite ‘doll’ has the appearance of a small nine year old little girl, dubbed “Wings”. This little girl has short, jaw-length snow white hair and porcelain white skin, with large, glassy blue eyes. She is only about four feet and three inches tall, and weighs a surprising 125 lbs, because of her materials. To hide the joints and carved signature the Doll is dressed in a full body jester suit, with a dark blue and light blue checkered pattern on the under layer, topped with a black and white vest that has numerous dangling tails tipped with bells. She also has matching gloves, one black and one white, and a black and then a white legging. Strapped to her back is a small pair of metal wings, one painted white, and the other painted black.

Personality: Elysian’s personality is multi-dimensional. A good actor she has pre-decided personalities which relate to different dolls, and she acts accordingly, which makes her a hard person to grasp. However, her acting skills are not perfect, and if the tension gets too high or if she gets overemotional she can go out of character, acting serious and contemplating when the doll might be airy or childish.

This serious side is a glimpse into the true Elysian, who’s true motives are hard to figure out, and she worked solely for herself.

Powers/Abilities: Elysian has the power of Control, which is solely limited, in her case, to possessing inanimate dolls.  She can take over the body of a specially crafted doll, giving it the ability to move and walk and speak like any normal person. Since this is a branch of a psychic power, when she possesses a doll, a mild ‘glamour’ or physical illusion is cast, making the doll seem completely life-like to anyone but those with a very keen sixth sense.

However, Elysian can only take possession over one Doll at a time, but she has a great mental reach, as she literally ‘possesses’ the doll, leaving her own body in a state of coma. She can continue to control the doll even when damage is done to it, as she does not feel the doll’s pain, she does not loose mental concentration. The only way to break her control is the cause so much damage to the vessel that it is unusable, such as breaking it into pieces, or burning it. 

Goal: To Observe the Corporation, in order to destroy it from the core out.

History: Elysian used to live a simply life. Everything started when she entered an art College for sculpting; she was very talented with her hands. She could carve and make incredibly realistic dolls, and was flying through college. That’s when ‘she’ fell in love. They got together, and after graduating at 20, they married and had a child together. However, there love was fleeting, and when their daughter turned two, they got a divorce, and Elysian was granted full custody of their Daughter, Abigail. Life was quiet, but peaceful.

When Abigail turned eight, she awakened to a strange power, the ability to leave her body and possess other people. She was terrified of what was happening, and Elysian was desperate to find help for her daughter. That is how they were discovered by the Corporation. They promised to help Abigail, and ‘cure’ her of her disease. Elysian was hesitant, but frantic to help her child. The ‘cure’ the Corporation promised was a lie, and Abigail became subject to numerous experiments. Unfortunately, it was more than the small child, in an already weakened mental state, could handle. Abigail lost the will to live, and withered away to the point where the Corporation had to keep her on life support. They contacted Elysian immediately.

Elysian was devastated by the information about her daughter’s condition. A scientist from the Corporation took her aside, and offered a chance to save her child. If they could recreate the powers in Elysian, perhaps they could find a way to stabilize Abigail using Elysian’s data. Elysian agreed. She became a subject of the Weapon Project, and the following years as an experiment were excruciating. Their DNA was similar, and Elysian’s body did not reject the genetic manipulation, but she could not handle the full stress of Abigail’s abilities. She could not live up to her Daughter’s potential, and was only able to possess inanimate objects.

Another year passed as a subject of their experiments, and Elysian demanded to know the condition of her daughter, and if any of their tests and research had been able to help her. The head scientist looked down at her with a sneer, and told her that Subject Abigail had been terminated years ago.  Enraged, Elysian grew to hate them and their Corporation. She seethed and closed off from her scientists, she became rebellious and uncontrollable. Giving up on Elysian, the Scientists decided she had to be decommissioned, and they would try again using a new subject. But the day that she was destined to be deleted, a lone doctor approached her cell and released her. Elysian asked no questions and ran. She would never return to that place, and went into hiding.

Other:  She can not possess living things because she does not have the power to Over-shadow their mind, but if there is a person in a vegetative or deceased state she could, theoretically possess them.

[EHW]

Zarean: Accepted. As 1: We discussed via PM and 2: Yeah - Sasori-characters own!

[XeroZega]

"You have five seconds to surrender to me now, or I will have to deal with you the hard way, and trust me, you don't want the hard way."

"Let me guess. The hard way is that you are going to attempt to force me into subordination or at least stall untill your reinforcements show up. You're pathetic. You're a mutant, just like I am, but you HELP THEM. Do you not realize that they're just using you? Do you think that they actually care about you? Ha! They couldn't care less about you. To them, you're just a soldier and, if you so much as whistle the wrong way, they'd drop you like the mother f*cking traitor that you are," Luke spoke, his words sharp enough to cut steel, metaphorically of course.

"You don't know what you're talking about Lucas Cooper Xyzidane. I'm helping them create a better world. I'm helping shape the future of America and Earth itself!"

"Is that what lie they told you?" Luke managed to ask before cracking up in a fit of laughter. But, his laughing was cut short as the opposing mutant lunged at Luke. However, Luke managed to dodge out of the way, apparantly still managing to pay enough attention to his enemy. "So, let's see your ability so I know what to call you."

As if the apposing mutant was taking orders from Luke, he released a powerful, high-pitched yell that brought Luke to his knees. "I'll call you Harpy. Because, you know, Harpy's are known for their screeching and because you are very girlish," Luke managed to insult as he covered his ears with his ears. That shut up Harpy, however, as the insult made him stop and give Luke a dirty look, which is what he had wanted. In one swift movement, Luke was on his feet and rushing Harpy. He got close enough to him to grab his shirt and it instantly glowed purple for a split second before exploding.

Harpy, well, he didn't do so well after that attack. "Well, that was easy," he said as he bent down and grabbed the dog-tags that were around the mutant's neck. "Kane Johnson. Possible choice for weapon experiment," Luke read aloud. "Ha! They didn't even send one of their weapons after me. No wonder he was so weak..."

Luke pressed his hand against the now unconscious body of Kane Johnson, aka Harpy, and suddenly, his appearance began to change, morphing into Kane's. He then grabbed the mutant's wallet, which consisted of an ID and three hundred dollars in cash. He put the dog tags around his neck when he began to hear the sound of a helicopter in the distance. Luke thought quickly, hiding the mutant behind a nearby bush. Afterwards, he returned to back to the clearing where he had fought Kane and made it just in time for the helicopter to land. As it landed, four soldiers jumped out of it, each carrying a shotgun and wearing bullet proof vests and masks.

"Where's weapon two?" one of the soldiers asked Luke, thinking he was Kane.

"He's been disposed of," Luke replied with a smirk. "He's behind the bush." As Luke said this, the four soldiers made their way over to the bush where Luke had hidden Kane's body. They walked slowly and carefully, no longer facing Luke. Luke took the opportunity to walk away. As he did so, he decided to make one last joke, "Don't worry, he's not dead. But when he wakes up, be sure to tell him that I have his wallet. 'K? Thanks. Bye?" Luke then broke into a sprint as he ripped the dog tags from his neck and threw them at the soldiers, exploding and knocking them down and their guns out of their hands, allowing Luke to escape into the city nearby.

When he got close enough to the city, he noticed a Taxi coming by, so he whistled, causing the driver to stop. He got into the cab and showed the driver his ID. "Where to?" The driver asked.

"Vegas Baby."

=====================================================
((Bleh. I'm out of practice. Just give me a bit to get back into things. It's been a while.))

[Zarean]

“Mommy, look! The pretty dolly is moving all on its own!”

“Don’t point, Vanessa. And that isn’t a doll, it’s a girl, Doll’s can’t move on their own.”

“But Mommy… it is a doll…”

“Hush, lets go.”

Elysian watched through her favorite doll’s eyes as the mother and her pigtail-wearing little girl walked away down the street. What a clever child, she could see through the glamour on the puppet. The doll stood out in a crowd, but no one questioned the small white haired child, dressed from toe to chin like a jester. She was essentially a wolf disguised as a black lamb, to stand out, but not be thought about. She did this, by being the one thing no one every really paid attention to.

The bells dangling from her tails jingled as she danced in place, waving fliers for a circus that had recently come to town. The fliers weren’t really hers, no, she had stolen them from a real employee of the circus a day ago, but it served her purpose. At her feet was a hat she’d taken from a man who had been sleeping under a bench, and the bottom of it was quickly filling with whatever loose change citizens happened to find in their pockets.

“Thank you, thank you! Don’t forget to see tonight’s show!” The Doll sang and picked up a tambourine, banging it playfully on her hip. As Elysian’s puppet danced, she scanned the faces of the people walking past, searching for something. Anything to give her the information she was seeking. According to her sources there was a weapons Facility somewhere outside of Las Vegas, so she delivered her favorite doll there. Perhaps someone there would know where the head of the Corporation lies, and if she was truly lucky, she could locate a renegade Weapon. If she should locate one… their services would be very useful to her.

However, so far she has hardly been lucky. There wasn’t a sign of any one from the Corporation, nor a metahuman. Either they were concealing themselves, or she would have to move to a new location. 

(No excuse, this post is just lame)

[EHW]

Somewhere in the dim lighting of night's musky moon, a lone figure was running from an entire legion of armed soldiers, all of which were being controlled psychically to harm him. From the soil, graves were desecrated by those dwelling in them, digging and clawing their way to the surface in order to do the same. All the figure could do was watch as his head turned behind, shed tears while continuing to attempt an escape. All of a sudden, he felt a fist in his chest, and he keeled over, kneeling, clutching his chest. Looking up with tears of pain and sorrow in his eyes, he stared into the eyes of his friend.
"Traitor... you betrayed us... now you pay!" was all the figure heard before all went white...
-----------------------
Screaming, Wraith awoke with a shock. It was morning now. And he'd had that same nightmare that had been cursing his dreams for the last few weeks. However, the fact remained - he was alive, healthy and had escaped the facility. The robber of his dreams. And now, he was lurking in Las Vegas. Only because of noting down the different research facilities from around the country. Also, apparently the Corporation were a sub-branch of an actual company, known simply as Nightrise.

Regardless, Research Weapons Facility Delta was around Vegas, specialising in different methods of transportation. Weapons V, VIII and XXV had all come from Facility Delta, each with different abilities which interlinked - the ability to travel in unique ways. VIII had been decommissioned a long time ago, near the start of the Project, but the others were very much alive, by all accounts at least.

To make things even more amusing, or annoying, depending on your point-of-view, these Facilities containing innocent people were funded for by the government as a new weapons research facility group, exactly as they were described.

Clambering out of bed, Wraith made his way to get dressed. Though it was only four hours since he'd finally got to sleep, his healing had allowed him to recover at an alarmingly more productive rate than a regular human. Closing the door to as he went onto the streets, he passed a strange girl with pamphlets about a circus in town. Apparently, she was only a side-liner, used to attract the crowds if the pamphlets themselves were correct, but Wraith didn't care. Making sure no-one was watching, he calmly shredded the pamphlet into tiny pieces using his bone manipulation to shatter his fingertips into many small blades, before dropping the remains in a trash can. Making his way to his meet-up point with one of the scientists from Delta, a cafe on the other side of town, Wraith paid little thought to what he'd just seen, too busy concentrating on his meeting...

((I like the Power of 5 book series, hence the Nightrise Corporation being used as the cover for the Corporation, like Primatech Paper is used as cover for the Company. Only a tiny cross-over.
Secondly, I've updated the front page for accepted positions and Weapons, so if people would like to get a look, that's fine.
Finally, if Ryuuto could update soon, that'd be great.))

[Venom]

Erik continued walking down the sidewalk of the city as he made his way to the bus station. Days after he made his daring escpae from the underground facility he had heard rumor of a scientist who had grown fed up with the harmful experiments being performed and had fled to Atlanta, Georgia. If there was any truth to this Erik knew that agents of the Weapons Project were definitely on his trail and may have even found him already. Perhaps luck would be on his side though and he could get to the rogue employee before his former captors could. Erik had earned a few bucks along the way by, surprisingly enough, gathering scrap metal and taking it to the local scrap yard and he planned on using the money to take a bus down to Atlanta.

A few moments later Erik arrived at the bus station and purchased a one way ticket to Atlanta; the trip would take about twelve hours if traffic wasn't so bad. He had only a small bag with him containing some clothes he had also purchased with the money he made, no extra accessories were needed for an escaped government weapon. The brawny man seated himself near the back of the Greyhound and did the only thing you can do on a bus ride, wait.

((Just an intermediate post between locations))

[America]

(( I'm writing, I'm writing! D: ))

Last Night, 12:00 AM

Devin sighed in relief as he saw the glittering lights of Las Vegas before him.  He had been flying for days now, stopping only to rest his sore wings and grab a bite to eat.  The boy would snag sleep only grudgingly and only during the daytime.  Five hours of sleep was good enough for him.

Still, it would be great to get back into a big city, a place where it was easy to get lost in.  Although he would never completely let his guard down, it would be better than the countryside.  At least in a big city help might come if someone shouted loud enough.

That wasn't the only reason Devin had gone to Vegas.  Rumor had it that his family used to live there, working at a casino as a part-time job.  Sure, his parents may have moved from Vegas to somewhere else in the world, but at least it was a start.

He landed on the outskirts of the city and carefully hid his wings.  Devin also took care to smooth his hair and appear perfectly normal as he entered Vegas.  The sights, sounds, and smells crowded into his senses, reminding him painfully of how much he had hated cities.  Still, Devin felt that New York City, New York was worse, but that was his opinion.

Quickly, the raven-haired boy found a small, but nice, hotel that he could afford for a week at most without a job to tie him down.  Devin had requested a room all to himself and took the key card in a tired manner.  The flight had exhausted him physically and spiritually.  With all of his being, Devin hoped that there would be more leads in Vegas as to the whereabouts of his family.

Upon entering the room, Devin didn't even bother getting undressed.  He merely closed the door, locked it, and threw himself on the bed.  Five minutes later and Devin was fast asleep.

((All I could get done tonight. ^^; At present, he's just wandering around Vegas, so there.))

[Zarean]

As Elysian’s last ounce of patience was tested, it also paid off. A dark haired man passed by her little street performance, taking the advertisement she was waving from her hand. She watched him through the corner of her eye as he walked away, noticing his cautious glance to the side before he did something truly… peculiar. As her attention focused on him for just a moment, she witnessed the tips of his fingers split open without a drop of blood and from them emerged grotesquely misshapen blade-like bones, which efficiently shredded the paper pamphlet in seconds before they retreated into his flesh, the split skin healing instantaneously. After which he dropped the ripped up paper into a trash can and nonchalantly walked down the street.

Elysian waited, continuing to dance and bang the tambourine as he slipped farther into the crowd before she made her move. She dropped the instrument and handed all of the pamphlets to the first person who stopped to take one, grabbing the change filled hat and hurrying down the sidewalk after the man. She wasted no time to catch up, but made sure to keep herself a fair distance away, lest he noticed her.  As she passed a homeless man sitting against the wall she stopped for a second, looking at the thick, worn jacket he had sitting on top of a shopping cart at his side.

“Here you go Mister.” Elysian sounded sweet, pouring the contents of her hat into his begging hands. As he looked at the money in surprise and joy she walked away. When she disappeared into the crowd, she took his jacket out from under her arm, pulling it on and putting the hat on top of her head to hide the white hair. Less recognizable now she continued her pursuit of the man with the bladed fingers, relocating the long black ponytail and jacket just down the street.  He seemed completely focused on one thing, so it wasn’t hard for her to tail him.

They crossed the city, Elysian’s puppet always ten or fifteen feet behind him, keeping at least three or four people on the crowded Vegas strip between them. When he crossed the street, she hurried to match him. This was her first sighting of a Metahuman, and where there was a metahuman, there was a good change that a member of the Corporation would be there watching them. So she would watch him too, until she found something better to hunt.

Finally it seemed her prey reached his destination as he opened the door to a small café, disappearing inside. Elysian waited for a few minutes then entered in after him, locating a booth across the café where she could monitor him out of the corner of her eye. Far enough that it would not be too suspicious, hopefully, but close enough to hear him if he should talk.

[Venom]

It was a cool morning and the sounds of a bustling city could be heard in every nook and cranny. Erik Irons had arrived in Atlanta at about two in the morning and had gotten himself a hotel room. However he was already on the move; with less than six hours of sleep in a real bed Erik was already out and about, moving along the crowded streets wondering to himself…How the hell am I ever gonna find one person in this place? Despite his own doubts, the metahuman knew he had no choice but to keep searching. Just maybe, maybe something would point him in the right direction.

“Get out of my way! Move!”

What’s going on? Erik pondered as he looked ahead to see what was going on.

“Please move!” There was a man running down the streets, colliding into everyone who didn’t heed his warning, he seemed panicked.

“This guy isn’t getting past me.” Erik knew all about the high crime rates in big cities such as this one and figured this guy must be some kind of purse snatcher. He pretended to move out of the flustered man’s way but at the last second he stepped out in front and tackled him to the ground, landing on top of the man. “You’re not going anywhere thief” the burly metahuman exclaimed as he applied more body pressure to the downed thief.

“Please you have to get off of me! They’re coming after me!” The look on this man’s face was one of absolute terror and desperation, if he wasn’t telling the truth he was putting on a great façade.

“You mean the police? Yeah they chase criminals like you.” Erik struggled to keep the man down as he spoke, despite his overwhelming size and strength the man’s adrenaline was obviously kicking in and making it more difficult to restrain him.

“No! You don’t understand, they’ll kill me if they catch me!”

“Kill you?” Erik was bewildered at the man’s response.

“The Corporation, they’ve sent agents after me and they are here in the city! You have to let me go!”

Erik’s body immediately loosened up when he heard mention of the Corporation. His attention shifting from the man beneath him to his surroundings. Could this guy be…

“Argh!” With Erik’s mind wandering, his captive had maneuvered out from underneath him and managed to push Erik away. He immediately took off running again and Erik jumped to his feet to follow after him.

He chased the man for almost an entire block before something unexpected happened. A small helicopter was now hovering over them as the two continued down the bustling streets. Erik looked up at the aircraft and noticed a man sitting on the sides with a large bazooka looking device pointed at the man in front of him.

“Hey look out!” he shouted, but it was no use. By the time his words had reached the man’s ears the launcher had already been fired and a human sized net was on its way. It reached its target in just over a second and wrapped itself around the man’s body as his legs were bound and he fell face first to the hard concrete. Erik ran to the man’s side and knelt down beside him, trying to untangle the net and free the man.

“Please you have to help me!” he pleaded with Erik as he looked into the metahuman’s eyes.

“Who are you and who are these people chasing you?” Erik strongly asked. The chopper was getting ready to finish the job but Erik had to know for sure if this was the person he was looking for.

 “My name is Carl Junkins, I used to be a scientist for a classified government project but I escaped and now they want me back. Please help!” Carl explained his situation. Erik’s suspicions were confirmed; it seemed fate had landed his goal right in Erik’s lap, all he had to do now was get him out of here alive.

The helicopter was now broadside and was surely just about to fire upon Erik but he would not give them the chance to do so. Using his amazing magnetic abilities, Erik gripped the entire aircraft and willed the tail of the copter to rip away from the main body. The copter shook and the man sitting on the ledge armed with the net gun was flung out and fell to his death on the paved streets, his cries in vain. The helicopter managed to keep from falling immediately and instead made an emergency crash landing while ripping into the side of a nearby building. The ground shook as the copter finally hit the ground. Erik was unsure if the men inside were still alive but didn’t think he should stick around long enough to find out.

Erik quickly returned to the netted Carl and, summoning a sharp piece of metallic shrapnel from the wreckage, was able to cut him loose from the net. The scientist was about to take off again but Erik forcefully gripped Carl’s wrists. “You’re taking me with you” he said as he stood up as well.

Carl was still in awe at the fact his rescuer was a metahuman and for one reason or another he seemed very familiar. He was not in a position to argue with a man that just single-handedly brought down a helicopter so he nodded his head in agreement. Just then however, three men clad in high tech black armor emerged from the downed aircraft, armed with sub machine guns and obviously very angry. Erik was about to say something to Carl about getting behind something but the soldiers immediately began firing upon the two of them. Of course metal bullets were not a serious threat to the magnetic manipulator as he simply held out his open palm and the bullets were instantly stopped in their tracks. After emptying their clips, each of the men were astounded that not one of their bullets even made it within fifteen feet of Erik. Panicking, the soldier on the far left grabbed a grenade from his vest and removed the pin and flung it at Erik and Carl.

Erik simply shook his head as he grabbed the explosive in mid air and tossed it back towards the soldiers. The grenade went off just as it reached their feet, killing all three of them and throwing their bodies into the air for a brief moment. Turning back to Carl, he saw the man crouching behind a blue mailbox in disbelief; he had finally remembered just who Erik was exactly.

“You- you’re weapon XVII aren’t you!?” He was more than shocked to see the escaped Weapon here in the same city as he.

“Yes, I am Weapon XVII. You were one of the scientists assigned to the underground facility in West Virginia weren’t you?” It was hard for him not to snap this guy in half knowing he was perhaps one of the ones who was assigned specifically to Erik.

“Well I’m sure you want to kill me so go ahead and do it.” Carl readied himself for the return of all the years of torture he inflicted on people like Erik.

But Erik did not strike him down. “No, I need you. For information. You’re coming with me and you’re going to tell me everything you know.”

Carl nodded, he was terrified and grateful at the same time. But now they had another issue to deal with, sirens could be heard very close to the two of them. Soon the police, news reporters, ambulances and firemen would be upon them. “Well XVII we do not have the time to talk right now, we must retreat to a concealed location if you want your answers.”

Erik nodded in agreement, “Do you know of anywhere that fit’s the bill?”

“Yes I do, just get me out of here and I’ll take you there.”

Erik nodded once again and led Carl down a small alley way, using his abilities to move a heavy dumpster over the entrance so they would not be easily followed. “Let’s go Carl.”

[EHW]

Wraith calmly walked over to a man sitting alone in a booth, the man wearing the key item to make him stand-out for Wraith - a small ghost on a badge, which was pinned to the man's tie. An obvious message for Wraith, but for outsiders, not a clue. The man wore a white, "scientist" coat which was two sizes to big for him, neat black trousers which would have looked more at home on a disillusioned lawyer whose only care was the money going into his pocket, and black suede shoes more comfortable on a businessman. His face was slightly disfigured in the sense that his eyes were too small while his nose was too big, while his posture just screamed "Evil scientist". Nonetheless, Wraith found himself sitting down opposite the man. Wraith waited until the waiter had finished taking his order - a white English Tea, no sugar -, before producing a rose made of bone for the scientist to see, before allowing it to dissolve into a pile of bonedust.

"...Ah... the illustrious Weapon X... here before me, just as you promised. Ciencito enhanced you as he bragged... no, better! Alas, to think all our work went towards Azrael in the end... anyway, you are here, no doubt, to gain information about Delta Facility. And in exchange for this, you will not be informing the local populace of my experiments nor giving knowledge of my existence to the Corporation, correct?" The man commented and stumbled over his own words, sweating slightly as he looked around cautiously while speaking, turning to a whisper as the conversation veered into darker waters.

"Indeed, that was our bargain, Dr. However, I am also wondering whom or what you meant by Azrael now. Continue though, I am sure your answering will be enlightening and informative, maybe even riveting," Wraith replied, slightly curious yet his face showing nothing but a stone-like visage.

"Azrael... Azrael is whom you would know as Weapon XX, X-2 or Death. Yes, your... superior, and Azrael, are one and the same person - so you know the extent of his abilities. Ciencito, myself and a number of other Division Heads all worked on Azrael, giving him abilities which coexisted perfectly in him. He was to be the very best. And he is." With this put into the open, the doctor sipped on his drink, before continuing.

"Delta Facility specialised in transportation, as you no doubt know. We experimented in using unconventional methods of travel - superspeed and flight are too superhero-esque for single-use powers, and we preferred being more original. To that end, we developed VIII, who could utilise shadows and manipulate them, including for use to travel. It made VIII the perfect assassin - no-one was immune to the effects of creating a shadow, and someone lurking in one could never be spotted. However, the Division Head at the time wanted to show off superspeed, so we created V - who was easier to make. He could travel at speeds breaking the sound barrier by a small amount, making him an excellent speedster. This however, caused his escape - and the Head was killed for stupidity and insubordination.

Finally, I decided to execute the hardest case, one made after Azrael. XXV, or Status Quo, was created to be able to adapt their body into the three different tiers of elements - solid, liquid and gas. XXV could adapt to each and every state, sometimes using hybrid states to, for example, cause his body to become rubber-like. The Facility was shut-down due to a generator leak, which then exploded, taking out everyone on the compound save for myself, who was in the Experimentation Area, and XXV, who was able to switch to gaseous state in order to escape injury from the explosion. Neither of us are listed among those alive on Corporation rosters, and I wish to keep it that way." The scientist finished his tirade of knowledge, clasping his hands together and resting them on the table...

[Venom]

Minutes later outside a run down apartment complex...

"This is your secret hideout?" Erik asked unbelievingly.

"Look, scientists on the run from highly classified government corporations don't exactly have lots of cash to be throwing around on rooftop penthouses" Carl retorted.

Erik stepped up the small series of stairs "Let's just get inside ok?"

The two runaways continued up two flights of stairs before turning down a hallway, Erik cautious of the rundown building. The entire building was in decay; paint was falling off the walls, the lights flickered on and off, the ceiling leaked water and parts of the floor were even missing. The worst part were the loud cries of the domestic disputes and upset babies going on in what seemed every other room. Finally Carl stopped at room 204, at least Erik presumed 209, the 9 was missing but there was a rough outline.

"Home sweet home," Carl exclaimed as he slid the key into the doorknob and walked inside.

"Look Carl let's just get down to business," Erik didn't want to spend any more time in this hell hole than he had to. "I saved your ass back there so tell me what I want to know."

Carl moved over to the couch and plopped down, bent over and running his hands through his black hair. "Well what is it you want to know XVII?"

Erik moved over to the opposite side of the table that was in front of Carl but remained standing "First off stop calling me that, my name is Erik Irons. Secondly I want to know who was responsible for killing Lacey."

Carl looked up to Erik "Who is Lacey?"

Erik paused for a moment and took a breath. "She was my life. She meant everything to me."

"Ah, so you loved her?"

"More than anyone has ever loved someone else. And then those bastards took her away from me. One stray bullet that I didn't keep track of." Erik began to clench his fists, some of the smaller metal objects in the room began to rise into the air.

"Hey I understand how you feel but keep it together Erik, we don't want you to rip this building apart. Hell it's already about to go. The metals slowly came to rest where they had been as the metahuman released his tension. "Anyways I can't tell you who exactly killed your loved one but I can tell you that they were following orders from the Corporation."

"Explain this Corporation."

"The Corporation is the branch of the government responsible for running the Weapons Project, which I'm sure you know about."

"Yes I know about the Weapons Project."

"Well the agents they employed were responsible for bringing in metahumans such as yourself to be turned into elite soldiers for the government to use as they saw fit. Each of you would have been like a walking army, just like living weapons. They're the ones responsible for those coils in your arms."

What the hell!? I didn't use my coils earlier... "How do you know about those?" Erik asked, he was shocked for sure.

"I, uh, some of the other scientists, they uh, bragged about their success on some experimental surgery with number XVII" Carl answered.

"Hmph. If I ever go back to that place those are the first people I'm looking for.

Carl gulped hard "Um yes well anyways you were asking about the Corporation?

"Right. Just who the hell is in charge of this corporation?"

"I can't tell you. Information is on a need to know basis with these people and they didn't think I needed to know who I was working for, other than the government."

Erik did not like hearing this. He strongly moved over to Carl and gripped him by the throat and lifted him to eye-level, a vengeful grimmace on his face. "Listen, I may have saved you back there but I have no problem snapping you in half right here."

"I- gah, I don't know. Ah! I'm ser- serious" Carl could barely get the words out of his mouth from Erik's powerful grip on his throat.

Erik threw the scientist back down onto the couch and walked away, hands on his hips in frustration. "Well who the hell can tell me how to climb the ladder?"

"You might be best suited to investigate in Las Vegas. I've heard there has been some reports of an increased number of metahuman activity in the area. Plus you might find something useful at the Delta Facility there."

"Delta Facility?" What goes on there?"

"The scientist in the Delta Facility are responsible for engineering Weapons with superior methods of self transportation."

"You mean like super speed or flying?"

"Er, sort of. Most of the Weapons that make it through the trials are more advanced, though I don't know much of the details. Like I said, need to know basis."

"Vegas huh? If it gets me closer to finding the head honcho of this operation a trip across the counry is worth it. Goodbye Carl." Erik turned to leave but as he did so, Carl stood up from the dirty couch.

"Please, take me with you!"

"What?" Why?"

"As soon as word gets back about your little shenanigans downtown earlier, they'll send twice as many people next time and I'll be dead for sure, if I'm lucky. I can help you when you get to Las Vegas. I may seem like just a run away scientist but I know how to find other metahumans like yourself and trust me, it's harder than you think." Carl chuckled a bit to himself "Not all of them go around ripping helicopters apart."

Erik pondered for a moment...He's ben running himself so he probably won't have much of a problem keeping up. And he more than likely knows more than what he's telling me now. Plus he probably knows some way to get into or close to that Delta Facility..."Fine let's go."

"I'll just be a moment, I need to pack my bags-"

"Bag. You get one, we travel light and hard. Anything extra slows me down."

Carl nodded and made his way to the back of the room towards the bedroom.

Erik walked out into the hallway and leaned his back up against the wall while waiting on Carl. Even though it was just for a moment, talking about Lacey brought back terrible memories of the day that began the rest of his life...I swear I'll find out who's responsible and when I do I'll make sure they never take anything away from me aga-

"Hey you ready?" Erik's thoughts were interrupted by his new accomplice.

"Yeah, let's go." The two headed back down the stairs from whence they had came. Just before exiting the building however, they heard a television talking about a crashed helicopter in the middle of downtown.

"Witnesses recount having seen two strange men running down the street just before the incident and remember one of them being captured in some type of net while the other made some kind of strange hand motions just before the helicopter crashed. Sketch artists have come up with these renditions of the two men based on witness descriptions..."

Then the their worst fear came to realization when two facial drawings roughly resembling Erik and Carl flashed on screen. "Well I doubt we'll be catching a plane now" Carl exclaimed.

"Yeah, ya think?" Erik was a bit annoyed at the man's comment. He had gone all this time without being seen and now his first encounter with this guy and his face is plastered on every news channel in the country. "Look let's just get moving, I'll figure something out."

And so the two escapees vacated the run down complex, now not only having to hide from the Corporation, but from anyone who watched the news and had half a brain.

[Zarean]

Seems her prey was meeting someone in this café, a man wearing of full white lab coat over top of some very basic but mismatched trousers and shoes. Interestingly the man seemed to possess a quality of being boring to look at, so didn’t draw too much attention regardless of his clothing. If not for Elysian’s target sitting with him, she probably wouldn’t have noticed him there at all. As she observed out of the corner of her eye her target showed the boring man something, which immediately sprung them into a deep conversation.

"...Ah... the illustrious Weapon X... here before me, just as you promised,” Instantaneously Elysian’s focus on them jumped, her face growing dark with concentration. A Weapon? Seems this cat was not chasing a mouse after all, Elysian had found a wolf. Another sentence caught her full attention. “You are here, no doubt, to gain information about Delta Facility.” What a lucky turn of events, for Elysian. Not only had she found another wolf hidden amongst the flock of sheep, but he had led her directly to a herder. The boring man, who in actuality turned out to be a member of the Corporation now defected, looked suddenly uncomfortable and worried, shifting in place as he glanced around; sweat building up on the back of his neck. He dropped his voice to a whisper, making it difficult for Elysian to hear anything else.

Cursing mentally she contemplated the risks of getting closer. There was more information to learn for these two, she wouldn’t let them hold back on her. She strained to overhear the hushed conversation, catching the rare word or sentence that stood out above the rest.

"Delta Facility specialized in transportation, as you no doubt know… the hardest case, one made after Azrael. XXV… Facility was shut-down due to a generator leak, which then explode-”

Elysian couldn’t keep half-listening; the information was directly on the facility she was here to find. Slipping out of her booth she walked towards the door, passing by their booth without a glance their way. Two steps past them she paused.

“…escape injury from the explosion. Neither of us are listed among those alive on Corporation rosters, and I wish to keep it that way.”

So the Defected doctor was presumed dead… But Elysian needed to know if any of the facility remained intact. She couldn’t leave them yet, so risking her own discovery she slipped into the booth back to back with the seat her Wolf X had taken.

[EHW]

Wraith was now irritated - having seen the reflection of someone sitting down behind him in the professor's glasses, he figured the man would be less co-operative. Still... it wasn't worth banking it on mere suspicion, and he leaned forward. "That's nice and all, and believe you me, I don't want them to find out about you... but there's one problem." Spikes and spines of bone shot out of Wraith's entire left hand, surrounding fingers, wrist and even shooting out of fingertips and the palm, all aimed at the scientist, who started to perspire, fear slightly coming into his eyes, "I'll kill you if you don't give me what I want to know. Now - do you have any knowledge of either of the two existing Weapon experiments from your facility? Secondly, are the archives of Delta Facility intact?" with this, the bones shot back, or crumbled to dust, leaving nothing to show there was anything there in the first place.

"W-w-w-well-ll... no," the scientist stuttered slightly, "there is no longer any recent data on those two - all the information I have is now obsolete, save for their abilities. However... the archives may be intact - may, I might add. If you find something, it's your most updated information you'll find in Vegas," the man finished, contemplating what he had said, before getting up, "Now... good day to you sir, and I do hope you find what you are looking for." Whisking himself out the doorway, Wraith waited until the man had left for five minutes, before drinking his tea. Finishing smoothly and quickly, he stood ubruptly, marched towards the door in a semi-important fashion. From the windows on the other side of the street, he could see that the person sitting back-to-back with him - a woman, it seemed - had gotten up and left almost as soon as he had himself.

Wraith turned, walking down the street before quickly jogging and then running, ducking into another street when he could, trying to shake off the person pursuing him. Turning, he saw no-one significantly obvious to him, and continued towards the nearest taxi, before asking them to take him to the outskirts of town, namely the abandoned facility, now a warehouse section in eastern Vegas.
-----------------------------------------------------
Having snuck past the security cameras and knocked out the only guard on duty, Wraith had made his way inside the abandoned facility, now used as a storage for uncommon items. Shifting through boxes and piles of filework, even through the upturned filing cabinet, he glanced into the computer screen. There was someone behind him! That same female from the cafe, no less!

Reconstructing his skeleton, Wraith turned, before contorting both his ulna and radius, he then shunted the sharpened tubes of bone outwards in a macabre display of his ability. To a viewer, it may have seemed as if a forest of bone was erupting from beneath the surface of his skin. Feeling he had amply supplied his arms with weapons, he then pushed his metacarpels outwards, twisting their structure into serrated knife edges. Pushing her against a wall, he then calmly asked, "How much do you know?"

[Zarean]

Elysian was beginning to suspect that Weapon X had become aware of her presence behind him. The conversation between him and the defected scientist from Facility Delta had taken a dark turn as X’s tone became threatening. From the fear in the scientists voice Elysian had to assume the tactic was working. And he spilled all of the information he had, to avoid spilling his blood. So the there was still a chance that the Delta Facility’s records on the Weapons produced there were still intact. And if there was undestroyed data about the weapons… Perhaps information on the corporation had also survived. Elysian decided that she was not done with this one.

The Scientist finished his exchange of information and stood up from the table, obviously wanting to get away from the Weapon who had already threatened to kill him once, bid his farewells, then hurried out of the café to disappear into the Vegas crowd. Elysian remained seated, deciding to let the doctor get away. No, he wasn’t her target. The Weapon was. So she waited, hearing him rise out of his chair and head for the door. Elysian waited and watched patiently as he threw the café door open and walked out. A few seconds later she joined him, slipping out the door. He was only a little ways down the street from her. Until he noticed her presence. It was about time, a weapon should always be on guard with the Corporation’s dogs hunting them down like rabbits. But still…

“Damn it.” She muttered under her breath as he turned the corner. By the time she’d whipped around it herself, she could see him running down the street. She glanced around quickly as he disappeared into the crowd, turning around a corner and out of her sight. Elysian knew that continuing to pursue him like that was out of the question…  Until she saw the stuffed animal a little girl at the corner of the street was holding. Instantly Elysian jumped from her doll’s body, leaving the puppet to collapse down to the street with a rattle of wooden joints, landing in a heap. A couple of pedestrians stopped and started talking in loud, worried voices about a little girl falling unconscious onto the ground.

But by that time, Elysian was taking possession of the body of the small stuffed monkey. Through those eyes she watched as the black haired Weapon X hailed a cab. Immediately after seeing that she jumped back into the body of her doll.

“Are you okay Little girl?”

“Someone call an ambulance!”

Elysian’s doll sat up, shaking off the worried citizens with a loud ‘Get out of my way!’. The few worried people that had flocked around her looked startled as she got up off of the ground. As she walked off down the Vegas Strip she contemplated her next course of action. Twenty minutes rolled by when a police officer put his hand on top of her head. She looked over her shoulder at the tall man.

“Are you lost? It’s not safe for a little girl to be wandering around alone in this town. Where are your parents?”  He asked her, concerned. Elysian smiled inwardly, putting her hands over her face.

“I-I don’t know… W-we got separated… And M-My Big brother, he got in a taxi cab… and I don’t know where he went…” She sobbed, sounding desperate. The Officer nodded, taking it in.

“What’s he look like?” He asked her, taking out his radio.

“R-Really tall… with… with black hair… in a ponytail… and he has a big… long jacket thing…” Elysian was grinning behind her hands.

“Okay, I’m going to call the station and find out if any Taxi driver’s know where he went.”

It didn’t take long for the police to track down where Weapon X had headed, and in only minutes he had called her a taxi cab to take her there, even paying for the ride out of the kindness of his heart.

-------------- Delta -------------

It wasn’t hard to get into the rundown, abandoned Facility. Especially since it looked like Weapon X had taken out the only threat, the security guard, for her. Still careful and cautious of the security camera’s Elysian made her way inside. A few minutes walk and she heard the sound of shuffling from a room to her left. Quietly she turned into the room, spotting the black haired X shifting through a bunch of boxes of paperwork. With a faint smile she walked closer, coming up behind him, her face reflected on a computer screen. He glanced up from the boxes and saw her, whipping around.

Elysian’s eyes widened as the bones in his arm ruptured from his flesh like a white forest springing to life. Finger the tips of his fingers jutted white, coiling bones shaped like serrated knives. She was only given seconds to see this before he had pushed her up against the wall. Her worn hat fluttered to the ground. 

“How much do you know?” He demanded his voice surprisingly calm. Elysian smiled, laughing in a childish way.

“My oh my, you’re even scarier then I expected, Weapon X.” She continued to smile, unthreatened by the grotesque weapons hovering inches away from her throat. “But then again… you are a Weapon. I would be surprised and insulted if all you could do was grow some claws. But how about you put away those bones of yours, hm? I’m not your enemy. In fact, I’m the exact opposite…” Elysian chimed, meeting his eyes without fear. “You could even call me a friend. I’m here to help you. After all… we’re like family. And Family helps each other out… Little Brother.” 

[Venom]

Atlanta Airport...

"So tell me again why we're at the airport when there is no way in hell we're getting on one of those planes" Erik said in a frustreated tone as he and Carl moved along the outer fence of some of the smaller runways.

"I know a guy who owes me a favor, just trust me on this one."

Trust you? Why should I trust you? I've known you for less than twenty-four hours...the metahuman said to himself. It was getting late in the afternoon, the sun was beginning to set and more likely than not security would be beefed up a bit during the darker hours. Carl had explained to him on the way that while he had been staying in Atlanta he had come across a few people willing to bend a few rules to help him out and one of them was a pilot who kept his own personal craft, a small four person plane, here in one of the airport hangars. Erik had reason to believe he had a past with the Corporation as well but Carl never mentioned anything about it. The plan was to sneak into the hangar, find this man and convince him to fly them to Las Vegas. What could possiby go wrong?

"Ah! I think I see it!" Carl exclaimed entusiastically. "Hangar 11, it's almost right in front of us now" he continued as he pointed towards the building.

"Yeah I see it. Let's move." Erik's words were quiet and serious. If this didn't work there chances of getting to Las Vegas anytime soon were virtualy zero.

Erik held out a clenched fist and then slowly opened it. As he did so the chain link fence bent and twisted itself, the links ripping away from each other and contorting to form a human sized gap. The two men quickly moved onto the airport grounds as they scanned the area. There was plenty of equipment kept to the side to conceal them now and once they neared the hangar but inbetween was a failry large strip of open asphalt they would somehow have to get across, all the while being under the close watch of the control tower. As he was scoping out the area however, Erik noticed that from their position they could loop around the runway and arrive at the hangar. They would be going right by the control tower which mean there would probably be ground personell guards but that was an easy problem to solve.

"We're gonna have to loop around this runway if we don't want to risk being seen" he explained to Carl.

"Ok, yeah sure whatever. I'm just following you now."

They quickly made their way down the fenceline for about two hundred feet and then turned left to go right under the control tower. Erik turned and gave a look to Carl that said 'Don't make a sound'. They were positioned behind a parked luggage trolly and through the cracks Erik could see the men. He was right in his assumptions as he sighted two guards along with other airport personell, probably loading crew on break or something like that. Erik cautiously waited for the other men to be on their way before proceeding. Now it was just he and the two guards. Also noticing some security cameras in the area, he tapped into his powers once again to manipulate a small magnetic field around the area that would disrupt the camera's feed.

Sure enough, it wasn't long before he overheard one of the guard's get a call from the tower to do some investigating and see why the cameras were acting up. The guards then split up, one coming in Erik and Carl's direction and the other heading the opposite way. The guard passed the trolly and, without making the slightest noise, Erik's tungsten coils erupted from his wrists and wrapped around the man, constricting him and within seconds rendering him unconscious. Through his training Erik had come to be able to manipulate the coils as if they were his own arms and a chokehold with his metallic tentacles was a preferred stealth option. Erik moved the body over to where they were and, before they proceeded to move on, dismantled the man's firearm with just the movements of his index and middle fingers.

A little ways on Erik dispatched of the next guard the same way and soon they were right outside hangar 11. Carl then spoke up "Alright this is it, once we get inside let me do all the talking. He owes me a favor and I doubt he will be inclined to turn down my request."

The two of them walked inside the hangar through an unlocked door near the large hangar doors. There was nothing in the hangar except for a small, four person planem just like Carl said. But as they moved over to inspect the plane a voice was heard to their left.

"Hold it right there!"

Erik turned to see who was making the demands and saw before him a middle aged man with a blad head and silvery gray mustache.

"Just what are you two doing in my hangar?" he asked; despite his best efforts of sounding strong Erik could detect the sense of worry in the man's voice.

"I've come to ask a favor of you Thomas," said Carl as he moved in front of Erik.

"Carl? Is that you?" The old man reached into his shirt pocket and pulled out a pair of spectacles as he strained to see just exactly who it was in front of him. "My God! It is you! I can't believe it, I haven't seen you since you were just a youngun'" Thomas said excitedly. The man spoke in a very noticeable southern drawl; of course Erik had heard much worse vernacular from his days in West Virginia.

"I was twenty-two but I suppose you're right. As much as I would love to chat and catch up with you my friend and I are in desperate need for a method of transportation to get us to Las Vegas."

"Vegas? Whatcha wanna be goin' way out there for?"

"We just nee-"

"All due respect hat's of no concern to you sir" Erik interrupted Carl.

"Well seein' as how ya need my plane I'd say it was rightfully so my concern" Thomas retorted. He then turned back to Carl, "Who's your rude friend here Carl?"

"This is Erik, he's a recent acquaintance of mine and we are both in need of your help" the scientist aswered.

"Oh yeah? And what makes ya think I'd be willin' to lend ya my plane?"

"Eleven years ago your daughter needed my help and I was more than happy to help you and her out. Now is when you return the favor." Carl was speaking in more serious tone, something Erik had not heard much of as of yet.

Thomas sighed as he turned to look at his beloved plane, "I s'pose I could give yall a lift but I'd need to get the paperwork done and such so it'd be two days or so 'fore I can get ya in the air."

"I'm afraid that won't be good enough Thomas, we need to be in the air tonight" Carl insisted.

"Tonight? There's no way I'd be able to getcha flyin' tonight" the older man tried to explain.

Erik's patience was running thin, and so was the amount of time they had left before those unconscious guards came to or wer discovered. "Listen old man I went through a lot of trouble to get to this point and I'm not turning back now because some pilot won't return a favor!"

Thomas' attention snapped back to the hostile metahuman. "These the kinda folks you're hangin' around with now Carl?"

"Erik just has a very personal motive to get to Las Vegas as soon as possible and I need to go with him." Carl then stepped over to the old pilot and placed a hand on his shoulder and spoke softly, "Please Thomas, for Carol."

Thomas mulled over the plead for a brief moment before finally conceding. "Alright fine, but this is gonna get me in a whole heap of trouble ya know."

"I know my friend and I thank your for it."

Thomas then walked over to the plane and began preparations for takeoff while Carl motioned for Erik to get ready to leave. Soon enough they were all inside the plane as the engine roared to life and the propellar spun at a furious speed. Thomas then spoke up for the first time since before readying the plane. "One of you is going to have to go and open the hangar doors."

Erik, whos was seated in the back, leaned forward and looked ahead out the window. "Leave that to me." Suddenly the doors were unlocked and beginning to slide open.

Thomas was astounded at what he saw; he looked over to Carl to see his reaction.

"Yes Thomas I should have told you before but Erik is a metahuman with the gift of magnetic manipulation."

The olderman shook his head as the plane made it's way out onto the runway, "Well if I wasn't in trouble before I sure as heck will be now."

Finally out onto the runway, a few of the airport personell could be seen trying to wave Thomas down and stop him from taking off. But the man persisted and within minutes was in the air; there was nothing anyone down at the airport could do now. They were on their way to Vegas.