Raze
Ashe Rivers:
"WHY..? Why is he helping..? What does he want from me, why does he want it? Is it my power, my body… what benefit does he get from freeing me from this prison?.. I can't, but if I don't, I'll remain trapped here in this cage." Ashe slowly raised her shackled hands. The man who claimed to be her supporter laid his hand on her forearm.
"Please close your eyes now." Ashe protested heavily, shaking her head. "I'm terribly sorry then." His gentle touch quickly clenched onter her arm, pulling her body to the edge of the cage. He used his offhand to cover her eyes, before she could even try biting back she found herself naked in an endless void of darkness. His last words "forgive me" echoed in her ears.
The void was an eternal darkness, not a single sign of life in sight. The ground below her cold as the winter streets she new all too well. She looked upward to the black void of a sky. "IS THIS IT! This is all I get! Promises of afterlives, reincarnations, better places… EVEN HELL'S BETTER THAN THIS!.." She collapsed to her knees crying. "WHY! Why me? I don't have a good memory, not a single light, why couldn't you spare me this once. Why do you desire me to always be in darkness. I never asked for this, I never wanted it you know... PLEASE! take this curse from me, I don't want it. I'll atone, just take it back, I was just a kid, i didn't deserve it… Ashe fell face first into a puddle of her own tears as her mind started to fracture. Bringing her back to the memories of her past, to her darkness.
** -\/- **
"Mommy.. mommy.. what's this?" she was back in her childhood home. She had all but forgotten what this place looked like. She was in her body from when she was four too. presenting a black flame in her hands towards her mother.
"OH God! Honey, can you make it go away? It's fire, it might hurt you." her mother was standing over her in the kitchen, she looked scared. Ashe winced really hard like she was trying with all her might to stop the flame she generated in her hands… The second the flame dispersed Her mother scooped her up in her arms and squeezed her with the tightest hug. Even as a memory, the hug had a warmth she hadn't felt in years.
"I did it mommy, I stopped it!"
"You did wonderful hon. Just promise you won't do it again okay, when you're older we will figure out how it works okay. Just, right now, I don't want you to hurt yourself, okay.
"Okay mommy, I promise!"
"There's crying coming from the room on the far right. It's a child!" Ashe's bedroom door was blown open by a giant man in a bright suit. "My god, Flynt get in here, this kid has a flame quirk!" Another giant rushed into the room.
"We gotta go, this place is about to collapse." the second man ran over to her. She was curled up on the ground crying in a state of pure terror, coated in purely black fire. He held his hand over her. "Just one second babygirl, we're gonna get you out of here." A mist came of his hand. "Nothings happening, her quirks fire must be immune." He took off his firecoat and using the outside of it he patted her down, and bundled her with it.
"Shit Flynt we gotta get out of here now." The smoke that once encapsulated the room was gone, but all of the walls were coated in a flame as dark as the empty night sky.
"Mommy and Daddy, I want my Mommy!" She just wanted the comfort of her parents, and she couldn't have been more scared. On the way out they passed the kitchen, a burnt corpse lied on the ground, it was her mother. Ashe could tell because it had her mom's wedding ring on it's left hand.. "MOMMY!" she fell unconscious unable to process the sight.
When she awoke there was a woman standing over her in a bright red costume. "Honey can you hear me?"
Ashe's eyes were dead. "Mommy..?"
"Honey I need your help really quick okay."
"Where mommy?"
"She'll be okay, I just need your help really fast okay." *LIES*
"Who are you?"
"I'm the hero Extinguish. I put out really bad fires, but right now we can't stop the black fire from your quirk. Both me and the Firefighters are trying really hard, but nothings working. It looks like you can control them. Do you think that you can make it go away?"
"Okay." her voice still had no life left in it. Clothed in her black flames she was helped back to her feet by Extinguish, as they walked towards the now three burning houses Ashe held out her hand. "I promise mommy..." Tears covered her face as all of the flames lifted off of the surfaces they were burning away at, and danced through the night air as they traveled back to her hand. When all the last flames reached her hand so too did the flames on her body disappear. Her cold body was quickly blanketed in another large jacket as she fell to the ground. Her eyes would not open, her body was limp, but she was still conscious. She just couldn't feel anything but an aching pain in her heart, she betrayed her mommy, she couldn't keep her promise.
-
"Hey Extinguish, what the hell was that?!"
"I know, the kids quirk is insane. I'm just glad she-"
"Not that! You told her that her parents were going to be fine." his voice was louder and less controlled than hers was.
"And?"
"We already knew they're both dead, YOU knew!"
"Look Flynt, this isn't my first quirk started Firefight. It was the only way."
"Only way my ass, God...You're not even going to be there to apologize to her when she wakes up, are you?"
"Why would I. I'm a hero, not a babysitter. I have places to be."
"Your a real bitch, you know the fire wasn't even started by-"
"Watch your tone with me child! Or I'll make sure your life goes nowhere! I'm the image of the Firestopping hero. You will never be me, and now you'll never come close."
-
Unable to open her eyes… Unable to cleanse her mind… She knew she had killed her mother… Ashe was in absolute darkness. A nightmare among nightmares, as memories of her life continued to playback.
** -\/- **
"It's not your old home, but I know you'll fit in with everyone here."
"Don't cry baby, you're going to the new home because they'll be able to find you a new family there"
"We found a family that wants to adopt you Ashe. they're really nice."
"What the hell is wrong with you!"
"She killed her family!"
"I'm sorry Hon' they seemed like really nice people. I promise that will never happen again."
"Ashe this is the nice family that said they'd take care of you. They even have two kids your age that you can play with. You'll have two sisters!"
"Leave us alone, you're not our sister. Just go away!"
"Why did you hurt your sisters Ashe?"
"She hates us mom, She said that she wanted Kimi dead."
"Why did you run away and come back here Love, you have a home now."
** -\/- **
"I know it's been a really long time Ashe, but if you're ready for another chance at having a real family there's a man here to meet you. He's a superhero too!
Ashe's foster home mother led her into the office once more, the fifth time in total. It'd been three years since she had met with a 'parent' last. "Ashe this is the man I told you about, Mr. Poles, Ashe, Ashe, Mr. Poles."
"So how are you Ashe." He was smiling, why would he smile? He didn't know her.
"Why do you want me?" Before, Ashe seemed compliant, but now it was almost if she wanted him gone before they even met.
"I'm sorry?" He tilted his head in confusion.
Ashe was quick to snap back. "I'm about to start middle school, I'm 11 now. Adults don't usually want kids my age, they like the little princesses and shit."
"I'm sorry Ashe if we got off on the wrong foot. You can call me Hyde, it's my first name.
"Answer my question, Why?
"Ashe, please.." her house mother tried to level the conversation
"It's fine mam. A few years ago, my daughter disappeared never to be found, and my wife left almost immediately after. Since then, there has been a deep hole in my heart that nothing could fix. I've been wanting to start a family once again, but I still love my wife, even though she left me. So I decided to adopt a child, and start a family that I could have without replacing her."
"So I'm a replacement for your daughter then?"
"No person can ever replace another. Just like how no one could replace my love for my wife, I can't truly replace your parents. That doesn't mean I can't be your father though, right?"
Ashe's guard fell after that, she seemed calm for the first time in a long time. "May- NO, no I can't, it just won't." She buried her face into her palms
"It won't what Ashe?.. You can tell me. I want to be there with you, for you… Is it something that happened before?..." Tears started streaming from underneath her hands. "Does it have to do with your fire quirk?... Y'know that doesn't bother me right?"
Ashe burst out of the small shell she had covered herself with. "That's What they've all said, and they all…" He stared back at her ugly tormented cry with an acute smile on his face.
"Look at this real quick." He took a metal ball the size of a baseball out of his jacket pocket. "This metal here is like a quirk. Most of them are simple like this ball, but some of us are gifted with much stronger and wilder quirks." An Aurora built up around the ball as it started warping and changing shape, mimicking the movements of a burning fire. "People are only scared of your quirk right now because they think you can't control it. But if you show them how beautiful your quirk can be, they'll see how beautiful you are. I believe you have a heart of gold underneath that fire… So what do you say?" When she looked back down to the metal fire it had set into a beautiful metallic bird. "You like that."
"It's a little pretty I guess"
"My daughter used to make these all the time, she was a great little artist. Her quirk was much stronger than mine though, before she could control it well she accidentally crumpled half my sedan. By the time she was in middle school, she made a statue of herself dancing. It looks just like her, lifesize too…" he reached out the hand with the bird in it. "Here, it's for you."
"Thank you." Ashe grabbed it from his hand gently as if it were glass.
"Thank you mam, for having me, and thank you Ashe. It was lovely meeting you two today, but I need to get back to the hero agency for now." He stood from the couch and left the room.
"So what do you think Ashe?"
"He seemed kinda nice I guess."
"Okay Ashe I know you said you just want to go to a science high school, but the Hero academy has one of the best reputations for Science in Draiocht."
"Dad I told you already I don't want to be a hero, I just want to study science, work with computers and stuff like that."
"But your training has come so far, the control you have over your fire is magnificent!"
"Dad, stop. Just let me eat my breakfast for christ sake. I told you I didn't want to be a hero like you. If you keep it up, I'll stop our training sessions entirely." Ashe went back to eating her omelette quietly.
"You hadn't planned anything for saturday morning have you?"
"Over our training session? I wouldn't dream of it." rolling her eyes intensely.
"Okay good, I had a friend I asked to help for a session, and he agreed to join us."
"I can see what your doing, and it's not going to work. Biomechanist, got it" her stance and glare both steadfast.
"Alright alright, just cut it out with the eyes, I don't like it. Oh shoot, I'm running late, I'll see you after work alright."
"Yeah, yeah, get going already." Ashe over handedly waved him out of the room without even looking his way.
"Love you!"
"Whatever."
Ashe arrived at Hyde's agency training gymnasium. To be met by Hyde in his dumb 'Flux' Costume, and his friend wearing a jet black pentaweaved bodysuit. The Gym was a big open room, with interfaces to allow superheroes to train for all sorts of combat. Ashe had gotten good at controlling her flames over a year ago, but her father wanted to train her under conditions of duress for self defense. "Ashe you're late."
"Yeah, well not being told I needed my full firesuit till last minute kinda slowed me down, I'm behind on laundry." she was too tired to be angry. Yawning as she approached the two.
"Well then. Ashe this is my friend Max."
"Please call me Doppelganger, I need all the recognition I can get right now."
She dropped her bag to the ground. "So what are we doing today?" she asked as she started her warm up stretches.
"We were gonna do some warm up targeting first, but our time is cut short now, so we'll stick with the core reason I asked Max to come here today. Self defense, against multiple attackers. The Agency just got a Firesuit. It's almost as high quality as the material yours is made out of, but it's full body. A little different to, instead of just not absorbing heat, it reflects it. I'm going to throw targets at you that you must stop while fighting off a horde of Max. He won't be hurt by your flames so go all out."
"Horde of Max?"
Max stood up from the position he was in, and placed the fireproof mask on. As he did afterimages of him appeared around them, exactly ten in total. "Shall we get started then."
"Dope." Ashe took off her jacket, showing off her own fire suit. It looked like any traditional athletic wear, only a little thicker. A sleeveless top, tights, all in black hexweave. She kicked off her shoes before walking to the center of the room. "Ready wh-"
-
She was blitzed by three metal rings, two cuffing her wrist together while the third went for her neck. She spat black flames at the third ring, turning it to dust before contact. Her arms were immediately yanked above her head by her new bracelets. This was getting exciting!
A black flair emitted from her wrists allowing her to drop her arms, but she was too focussed ahead of her. Two of the doppelgangers grabbed her arms from behind. As they locked her in place, another rushed from her front. Using him as a springboard she launched him back while backflipping over her captors. Breaking her arms free was easy, their grip was weak. Immediately upon landing, she threw a kick into the knee of the one on her right. She was being blitzed again from behind, this time three. A single leg sweep was enough to knock them all off of their feet. Before her father's second aerial attack of restraints could be launched, a large disk of black flame was release above Ashe with a snap, stopping them preemptively "You're clones are Nothing, I'm not even a highschool girl and you just got wrecked."
"You learn quickly, the more of me, the weaker. Lets try Three then!" The Five doppelgangers that were downed flickered out of existence, as well as two others. The remaining three circling her vulturous like.
Ashe spun quickly, tracing a line with her outer foot, a veil of black fire erupted from the line. Walls burst out from within the Pyre to cut the three off from each other.
"Aaahhg!" One of the Clones turned back to see Flux on the ground, with a demon like figure standing over him. It was her, she was coated in her flames.
"You have that kind of control already, your father trained you well."
"Trained me well? After being naked in public from burning your clothes away, you learn to improvise, twice was more than enough of that. I knew this years before I met him. Granted it wasn't weaponized then!" Holding out her hands, all of the flames she created came back to her body. Only one Max stood before her. "Shi-!"
An arm was around her neck, He had her. But with three of him he shouldn't be this strong. "I never said I was going to stay at three y'know. You did well, now concede." She was desperately grasping at his arm with hers, but it was futile. He was stronger and she was running out of energy. The second him walked up to her "Come on concede, or do you have some other trick your gonna show me." She held up her right hand out to him. "Your begging without words kid, if you're gonna be a hero, you gotta know when to call a loss." A burst of flames erupted from her hand focussed on his upper torso. "The suit's fireproof kid."
"More, More, More." The cone from her flamethrower attack quadrupled in size. "Now focus, stack the flames, compress the heat." The cone started to narrow. "Just a little more." After a few seconds of the concentrated flame the doppelganger disappeared from her neck. Ashe fell to her knees gasping for air. As her flames dissipated, she looked up. Max was on his back shaking in terror, as the upper half of his fire suit was gone. A smile of pride crossed her face before she face planted into the ground. She had gone too far, exceeded her limit.
"Ashe you all right." a hazy voice was interrupting her sleep.
"Five more minutes dad."
"Ashe wake up your sleeping in public." A splash of cold water slapped her across the face.
"Ah, what the hell! Wha, where are we." She was sitting in what looked like a school's nurse bed. Her father at her side, and max sitting in the second bed, being checked on by a staff member.
"We're at the association's clinic, you passed out, so I needed to make sure it was just exhaustion… Also, when the hell did your flames get that powerful, it's only by some miracle that Max is still alive after that. I'd of told you to hold back a little if I knew you were capable of those heats… It's weird though, cause it's never been very hot near you when we trained before."
"Huh, oh no My flames aren't hot at all. How has this never come up? They can't burn people see." she blew a small flame across his face. "Max was fine to begin with, I just figured It'd scare the shit out of him if he saw his visor melting off of his face… And it worked, I won!.. Granted I passed out, so it's kind of a hollow victory."
"Oh…" He looked like he was hit by a truck, severe disappointment emanated from his being. "I'll see you at home later, let the nurse check up on you before you leave."
"Dad, what's wrong."
"Nothing, I'll see you later honey." His words were lifeless, and his movement was no better as he left.
Ashe went to bed after having dinner, she was still beat from the morning spar. Hyde still hadn't returned either, so there wasn't really anything to do other than watch reruns on Tv, or surf the internet, and sleep sounded so much better...
"What the? what's that weird feeling? Why can't I move my limbs? OW OW OW OW OW."
"You can open your eyes now. There's no way your still asleep."
She opened her eyes to their dimly lit garage, Hyde sat at the other end of the room with liquor in his left hand. "Wha- " She was interrupted by the chains bound to her limbs pulling apart from each other. "AAAHHG."
"You don't talk unless I tell you to. Got it?" He took another drink. Ashe burst flames out of her limbs trying to melt her restraints, the chains pulled again, harder this time. "Clearly you don't understand who's in charge here kid. Those chains are wrapped in the fireproof clothes you had me buy. You may have melted max's suit, but these have never even been singed by your hottest outbursts."
"WHY- AAHHH!"
"Did I say you could ask questions? No, no i did not…" He took another long drink before standing to his feet. "What use do you have to me now?.. Now, you see, that was a question to be answered." He pulled on the chains again.
Breathing heavily, Ashe was in a great deal of pain. She was still confused as she just woke up too. "What do you mean by that?"
"Three years I've been training you so that you could get into a hero program, become a hero years ahead of everyone else, and all this time you've been hiding from me that your quirk is useless, it couldn't burn people if you tried. No hero could utilize fire like that."
"I never wanted to go to a hero school, i told you that countless times."
"SHUT YOUR TRAP BITCH!" the chains pulled and this time he didn't release the tension until he was done. "You were my last shot, I invested everything in you. You were going to be my life insurance, you'd do well enough for me to retire early. I would have never needed to risk my life again as a hero." He was only eight feet from her face now."
She raised her head from it's dropped state to make eye contact. "You call yourself a hero?" She knew nothing but rage. An infernal beast awoke within her. She had been betrayed once more, lied to once more. This time, murder wasn't going to be an accident.
"You ignorant Bitch. Hero stopped being an adjective the day it became a profession." he walked into breathing distance. "Now, what use do you have for me?" he ran the back of his hand across her check until it was met with her teeth. He freed his hand with a full forced slap from his left hand.
"Lay another hand on me and You'll regret the entirety of your life." Her stare could have cut diamond.
"Hehehehehe Ha, I already do. Especially these last three years! You know what though, you just might have had your first good idea since you stepped into this home." He yanked the chains to produce a loud scream from Ashe before eating it. She bit into his lip ripping a chunk out of it.
"You're fucking dead!"
"How so? There's nothing you can do right now except burn the clothes off of us, remember they 'can't burn people.' how about you save us some time and do that for us though." He grabbed at her chest. "Come on, don't make me do everything."
Her eyes were blacked out with fire.
"I don't fancy that look, give me your eyes back." He pulled on her chains… This time she did not scream.
Black flames started to come from behind her gritted teeth, they were raining from her fingertips, a liquid flame, and the flames that once blackened her eyes started to fall from her face as if tears.
"Yes, Thank you!." He walked underneath the fire letting it spread to his clothes, before spreading the flames to Ashe's pajamas. She raised the flames from the floor back to her body, burning what was left but covering herself. "Awe that's no fun, I bet it at least still feels the same." he grabbed at her chest again through the flames. He looked to her no longer black eyes. "See I knew it'd feel bet-"
With a gutteral explosion of flames from her mouth. "DIEEEEE." All the flames that she burst out funneled into his mouth, and down to his lungs, leaving only a little to cover herself.
Hyde fell down to his back, grabbing at his throat, gasping for air. He let go his grip on the chains wrapped around the rafters, letting Ashe fall to the floor.
Ashe knelt down to the chains shackled to her ankles, moments later they were gone, leaving a loose chain on the floor. Dragging the chains on her wrists across the floor she crossed the room to where Hyde was rolling in a panic,. She kicked Hyde back onto his back, and placed her foot on his neck. Cocking her neck back with a gaze and words void of life. "Why should I let you live... better yet, What Use do you have to me now?"
Hyde's expression displayed an epiphany. An aurora like mist covered the chains hanging from her arms, as they spun around her arms wrapping them entirely. A moment later she was pinned to the back wall. "You know that was a pretty damn good trick. Your flames feel really weird in my chest, but I can actually breathe just fine…" He started walking up to her once again. "I was gonna have some fun first, but your not even worth that are you!? Hell I was going to quarter you, but I guess tearing you apart with your arms will be more than enough!" The chains pulled apart from each other. Ashe could feel her muscles and being torn at.
She focused her flames onto her two arms. After a ten seconds or so, she was flung into the wall on her left. The movement was so fast Hyde could barely tell which side she flew to, leaving his reaction heavily delayed. "Ahh so it was your right arm that was first to go, I figured your dominant arm would have lasted longer."
Ashe stood in the corner of the room, both arms intact, as her left arms chains evaporated. "It took me a while to notice, but as it turns out I can regulate how hot the flames are themselves, beyond a point at least… Tell me, in your drunken state can you even tell what side of the room you're in right now, where the doors are?" All of the walls were coated in darkness, the ceiling as well, aside from the two light bulbs, and the floor was being quickly consumed. "Don't worry, I wont kill the lights, I want you to see me fulfill the last promise you'll ever hear." A screwdriver flew at her from where the tool bench was, it was caught mid-air, by a flame that shot from the floor. "That's right, you can feel metal right? How're your hopes feeling now?" A look of despair crossed his face as she disintegrated everything in the room remaining metal. The only thing she left were the remains of the two chains that bound her legs before, it'd take too much focus to melt their wrappings.
"JUST FINE!" he lifted the two chains and started spinning them at a very high speed. Ashe recoated her face, and arms in fire, as she disappeared. With everything being pure black, with nothing to catch a shadow she blended in with everything, if Hyde had looked down, he'd have notice he was in the same situation sooner. A few minutes had passed, Come on out bitch! Or have I already killed you." Breathing heavily, he slammed both of his chains into the ground, sending small chunks of concrete flying into the air.
One of the pieces changed direction. It was driven into his neck, as he was tackled to the ground. "You look pretty damn exhausted after moving that metal for so long." He could only reply by coughing up the blood he choked on. Ashe stood up getting off of him as quickly as she could. "I get it now. why your daughter disappeared that is. I'd bet she ran away." Hyde could only let out a drowned scream of agony and pain, as he tried to crawl closer to her. She looked at him one last time, and with the same dead voice, "I don't fancy that look," before coating him in darkness. "Yes, thank you." she walked out of the garage and back into the home.
Ashe grabbed her gym bag and packed a few pairs of clothes, unfortunately for her flame wear, only undergarments were left. On her way out of the home she stopped by her stepsisters self portrait. Giving the dancing girl a hug, she spoke to the last family she'd ever have. "It's okay now, he'll never be able to hurt you again. I made sure of it." tears began to run down her face. "I paid the price, but he's gone now… Be free Ria, dance among the winds, this anchor won't bind you anymore." the statue started to disappear as it was eaten by fire.
On her way out of the house she looked back to a home puddled with her flames. "Consume." As she walked away down the street, the house collapsed into itself. She was long gone before she could even hear the echo of a siren. Into the Darkness of night. Alone once again, forever and always always.
** -\/- **
As she walked through the endless void, memories echoed of her two years spent on the streets. She was now a wanted criminal, for the murder of the magnetic hero Flux. She could have explained to the police what happened, but they would have put her in another home, and it would have just been more of the same. More lies, more people who "care." She wanted nothing from anyone anymore, she'd take care of herself from that day onward.
During those echoes she remembered the pain of losing fights when she couldn't use her quirk, being treated like nothing for being homeless, begging, stealing. It was a painful life, a hard life, but it was better than any of her previous lives since she still had control at the end of the day. It wasn't long before a recent memory came to her. She stole from the wrong people. She just needed some food, but the family that ran the shop was tied to a local gang, and they followed her to her 'home,' inside of an abandoned building.
-
"Well well, this is a pretty nice pad for someone stealing food, Isn't it. Granted it could use some dusting."
Ashe whipped around to face the doorway of the room. "Who are you, what do you want?!" she held her hand out igniting a small ring of fire in her palm, trying to cause some layer of fear, as if she was going to blast him.
"Me, sorry, where are my manners, my name is Vaiko. He raised his hand in mirroring fashion. A thundercloud built up around it as he opened his palm, placing his left hand over his wrist. "Let's drop the agression, I can level this building if I want, and that isn't really what I want."
Ashe lowered her hand, with Vaiko following suit. "Then what do you want?"
"Do you know who owns that small shop you stole food from earlier today?"
"I didn't steal any food."
"Look, we've been tailing you since you left, so we know for a fact that it was you. Also with how emaciated you are right now, it makes complete sense that you'd need it."
"If it makes sense that I need it, then why did you follow me, and why do you want something?"
"Because that shop is owned by my bosses mother, and he hates it when people steal from his mom. You see, she can't really defend herself, being quirkless and all, so he tries to himself, but he's a very busy man. We happened to be there for lunch and caught you, so now we need to take you to him to find out your punishment."
"And what if I don't want to go anywhere with you." She enlarged the ring in her hand as she produced a short beam of fire in her offhand.
"Well then, Bryce please take care of her." She felt a small prick in her neck, and before she could think of what happened to her she was unconscious.
"Wake up damnit." Ashe felt a sharp pain in her side, then her scalp hurt. She opened her eyes as she was being lifted by her hair. Her legs were weak, but she caught her footing.
She was in a massive open room, she'd have guessed it to be an auditorium, but everything was metal or concrete, probably a refurbished hangar. "Where are we?"
A voice echoed from the stage that stood before her. "You're in my home now… I hear you stole food from my mother this morning."
"And?"
"So what? Every crime, that's caught, bares a punishment. You stole from my family, and now you will pay that debt back, and my family isn't very lenient as you'll see… What's your quirk? Knowing it will help me find a use for you. I do need some more peddlers and enforcers due to recent business growth."
"Go to hell, I don't serve anyone!"
"Carl, please." the man to her left that was gripping her hair drove his fist into her side, the exact spot that was already hurting. "Thank you Carl."
A voice came down from above. "She has some type of fire quirk, she tried using it before we knocked her out earlier." On the upper catwalk, it was the guy that came into her home earlier, accompanied by two others.
"Ah, thank you Vaiko… Listen girl, we're gonna have a little test here. Carl and Sheen, the two men to your sides, are going to attack you when I tell them to. You'll fight back, and that'll determine whether your worth my time as a gladiatorial beast for the night, or if you can serve off your debt, and pull yourself off of the streets. Got it?"
"..."
"Carl, Sheen, you can kill her now."
-
Sheen grabbed her right arm throwing her against the base of the stage. "You got to fight the last one, I get first shot this time… Geo-Lance." He stamped his foot, launching a block of concrete up in front of him. When he punched it it reformed into a spike, and hurled at an extreme speed. If he didn't miss Ashe would have a skewered face. "Damn, missed."
She stood up, and with a roar erupted two large waves of fire from her arms.
"Erupting wall!" This time his stomp produced a shockwave that lifted a moving stone wall out of the ground. Ashe dodged it at the last second, she ran her burning hand down the side of the wall, bursting a large flame down it's path. Sheen lifted a wall to stop the flames from hitting him, but that didn't stop the flames, they ate right through the barrier. When the flames dissipated carl and sheen were on the ground, carl tackled him to keep him from the flames.
Ashe started walking towards them, she was almost out of energy, it'd been too long since she ate well. Compressing fire in her hands, she had to think of something. "If these guys are all made up of debtors than maybe." She whipped back erupting the largest flame she could at the stage, not ceasing for at least 20 seconds. "Take that as payment, bastard."
"HO-LY SHIT!.. The flames parted before condensing into two small black orbs. The man from the stage walked forward from his throne, as he grabbed the orbs. "Girl, you could not have had a better showing just now... What's your name?"
Ashe fell to her knees… she looked up for a brief moment, at a man that she could not fight back against... The world turned black as she lost consciousness
When Ashe came to, she was in a cage half her height, shackles around her wrists were attached to the cage. "Ahh, so you've finally come to, I was almost getting tired of waiting." Ashe looked around to try and figure where she was. The room had no windows, and the walls were all constructed with brick. Just a normal office, nothing that would give her any real info. "Now, can I get an answer as to your name?"
"..."
"Sorry, how informal of me, My name is Tetra Pyre. I had forgotten I hadn't the chance before.
"…"
"You do know the longer you wait, the longer I'll wait to give you food."
Lightly under her breathe she replied. "Ashe."
"Ashe… what a lovely name. I've been thinking, Ashe, I like your spirit, also your quirk is wonderful, the perfect ally to my own. I played with the flames I stole earlier, and they have some real interesting properties. I Haven't quite narrowed down what position would fit you best, though I have narrowed it to three choices, if you're willing to make the decision. My personal assistant, slave, or bride?" Ashe slammed against the cage like the infernal infernal beast dwelling within her, generating a flame from her her hands. As quickly as they were created, they were ripped from her, as Tetra toyed with them as he walked around the room. "I love them so much, so much power within such a controlled space. They can't even burn people, by my hand at least. Can you make them burn people? You did throw them at me earlier for some reason, I assume it was to kill me."
"No." her abhorred manner hadn't left, as she spoke through her teeth.
"That's too bad." He dissipated the flame. "Anyway they could eat through this building no problem, so I had a little something installed." He activated something with his phone. "Go ahead and generate your flames once again if you would."
She spat a flame towards his face. As the flame left her mouth, and intense electrical shock ran down her spine... it wouldn't stop. After what seemed like forever it ended, as it did Ashe tried to sit herself back up, but her body couldn't respond correctly.
"That was only 5 seconds. When your flames are present in this room your collar, as well as the shackles on your wrists and ankles will begin to shock you, and they won't stop until the fire ceases to exist. They will also activate if any of the sensors, lose signal, break, or if the restraints themself break. You're not leaving here unless I will it. You are mine, and with you I will become the most powerful man in Draiocht. I will see to you being taken care of, and in time, your happiness, but for now you must become obedient." Tetra walked towards the door as he pulled his coat off it's rack. "I Need dinner, it's kinda late after all… Don't bother asking tonight either. See you soon, Love." He put on his coat as he left…
Ashe waited at least five minutes to make sure he was gone, but she needed to know for sure whether or not he was bluffing. She emitted the smallest flame she could in the palm of her hand. "GGHHHHHHT." It was if lightning was coursing her nerves, far worse than last time. It took time to manage the focus she needed to kill the flame. No pain had never been so sharp in her life. When the electricity stopped she couldn't move her body. She lied in a cage alone, in a room black without lights.
The door opened. "Hel- uh." The shadow of Tetra was in the doorway. He was caught under his arm, as he fell into his own weight. A silhouetted figure carried him into the room, closing the door behind him. THUD. one of them fell, or tripped?
"Shit." the lights were turned on, the figure was one of the two unknown men from the catwalk. He picked up Tetra from the floor, drug him over to his chair, and slumping him over his desk.
"Does he drink like this often?" Ashe pressed herself from the floor.
"This wasn't Alcohol, it's the same sedative they used on you. Made from a guys quirk who works under us. More importantly, do you want out?" He was just standing there.
"Why would you-"
"Tetra's an asshole, the only reason I'm here, is because they saved me from the streets. I do my best to keep him from going overboard, and keeping you as a pet is far past that line." The man walked close to the cage reaching a hand out to her. Ashe slowly raised her shackled hands. The man who claimed to be her supporter laid his hand on her forearm. "Please close your eyes now." Ashe protested heavily shaking her head. "I'm terribly sorry then." His gentle touch quickly clenched onter her arm, pulling her body to the edge of the cage. He used his offhand to cover her eyes, but before she could even try biting back she found herself naked in an endless void of darkness.
-
Ashe was back in the eternal void standing alone, naked, cold. "So that's what they mean when they say your life flashing between your eyes. I guess that's it right? I've relived my hell, so just fucking take me already…." She curled up waiting for her end to come. The longer she waited, the more tears poured down her face. "Just let me die already, please."
She felt the warm touch of a hand to her back as the cold air disappeared. She opened her eyes to find herself sitting on a bed as a blanket was being draped over her curled up body. The echoed voice from the void was clear this time, "I'm sorry." She clenched the blanket to her body as she turned around. It was the man from Tetra's office and the rafters, tears pouring from his eyes.
Ashe brushed the tears from her eyes. "Whats wrong with you?" she couldn't let him see her weak.
He took two steps back. "My quirk allows me to store items I touch in a pocket dimension. My hands automatically go there when no one can see them, and they pull with them what I'm touching, even people under certain circumstances. That's why I had to cover your eyes.. That pocket dimension is tethered to my mind, if I pull a person into it our thoughts become tethered… You thought your life was ending, so your mind recounted many memories… all the memories you saw, I saw. Forgive me."
"You were in my head?" She was pissed, but felt she had no right, as he got her out of that hell.
"No, technically you were in mine. But I do see how the difference doesn't matter. Again I'm sorry… This place is mine, you can stay here for the night if you want, just don't stay past tomorrow, don't want any unexpected guests finding you. The fridge is stocked, I've got hot water if you want to clean up, or wash your clothes. They're on the bathroom counter by the way. Also there's a bed to sleep on here too... I'll go back to the Bastille, and sleep there for the night so that you can be in peace if you choose to stay." He walked towards the door to the apartment. "I do hope that if we ever meet again, it'll be under much better circumstances… Rest well Ashe."
As he turned to exit the apartment, Ashe quickly interrupted him. "Wait, I never got your name."
"Esper Fade. newspapers called me the Phantom though." he smiled and waved as he walked out of the door. Ashe noticed a weird occurrence, when he waved his hand past the doorway, the shadow cast on the door behind him disappeared. "He didn't lie." Ashe returned the fraction of a broken smile that she knew how to make.
He may have told the truth once, but Ashe wasn't fully convinced that Esper was on her side. She decided she wasn't going to stay the night, but she needed the food bad. First she threw her clothes into the washer, It'd been way too long since she wore something fresh. Afterwards she made her way to the fridge. He surely didn't lie when he said it was stocked. Ashe pulled out enough food to feed a family, cooking a plenty of extra for her journey as well. "Oh god that was way too much." After her first shower in years, as her clothes dried she lied back on the bed for a minute to collect her thoughts. Esper helped her with no intention of ever seeing her again, he was the first person to have ever truly been on her side. "Thank you phantom." She closed her eyes for a second, and when she opened them the sun was high.
"Oh Shit!" she panicked knowing that she should have already been gone hours ago. She couldn't test her luck again. She threw her clothes on really quick, and rushed to leave the door. There was a backpack with a jacket folded on top, topped with a small note.
"I stopped by at noon, and was honestly surprised that you stayed the night. I put the food you prepped for travel in the bag. Also take my old jacket, the one you have may not be enough for the cold winter you have ahead, it's got some money in the pocket for travel, you'll need to jump at least two cities to get away from Tetra's reach. - Esper
Ashe put the jacket on, grabbed the bag, and made her way out to the nearest bus station.
** -\/- **
Nine months had passed since her capture and freeing. She fled the to Mantas Cove, a small coastal town. There was a nice restaurant owner that offered Ashe a job at her restaurant. She had been doing well to keep herself in a good place, both mentally and physically. The late night shifts at the end of summer were starting to get really annoying though.
-
"Welcome in, table or to go for tonight!" Her co-workers peppiness had gone on too long today, Ashe needed to go home and sleep.
"Table for five, sorry to keep you open late. We're out here on business and we heard you had the best seafood around."
"That's no problem sir, right this way."
Ashe took one step out of the back room, to see four of the them right there… The men who captured her before. One was definitely Vaiko, the man who claimed to be capable of leveling a building, with him were three men who looked vaguely familiar, but she knew nothing about. The strangest thing was that there was a woman with them as well, she didn't remember seeing a woman at the Bastille when she was captive. Ashe realized she was standing paralyzed in the doorway when one of them started to look her way, she bolted swinging back into the kitchen barely able to catch her breathe. "Claire can you come back here really quick?"
"Ah, that's your server, I'll go check on her real quick, and we'll be right with you." She left the table of criminals to Join Ashe in the back. "Hey whats- oh my god what happened, you look like you've seen a ghost girl."
"I'm not quite sure myself, I just started feeling really ill all of the sudden. I'm sure with rest I'll be fine, but I don't think I'll be able to finish my shift tonight." Ashe was leaning over a prep counter sweat pouring from her face.
"Don't worry, it's almost close time anyway, Me and the guys in here can finish things up, but you owe me for next time got it!" How anyone could have so much positive energy made no sense to Ashe.
"Thank you Claire, I'll see you tomorrow night then." Ashe pulled herself upright as she stumbled towards the back exit, taking a final moment to meditate and regain her bearings.
"Later girl." Claire walked back into the front, as Ashe left the out of the back. "Sorry for the wait everyone. My friend Ashe wasn't feeling too well, so she had to go. So I'll be your magnificent server tonight!"
"Looks like things aline once again. Work just called back, we've gotta get back soon. I guess we'll have to change our plans to take our food to go.. Krill you stay and order the food, we'll be with the outside with the car." Vaiko and the others stood from the table and headed out the front while Krill stayed behind to order a collection of seafood to go.
Ashe was about a mile down the beach, a third the distance to her apartment, when she came towards a weird hooded figure just standing about 20 feet in front of her... "Can I help you with something?" He started mumbling incoherently to himself in response, as he took off his hood. Ashe quickly turned to make a detour around him. As she approached the edge of the beach there was a fizzling static like figure that solidified in front of her as the creep from moments before. His mumbling increased in volume
"Bryce go catch up to her, you're faster, you can stall better, just keep her busy Bryce." Ashe turned back and sprinted down the sand. He appeared directly in front of her again, this time throwing a punch directly at her face. She managed to block it upwards throwing a counter punch of her own. Her punch landing sent him onto his back. She sprinted past his body, now on the ground. After hearing a few static like fitzing noises he stood in front of her again, his nose bleeding and crooked.
"Good job bryce, you held her off long enough!" Coming over from the street was Vaiko and his band of thugs. "Y'know, I thought I saw someone familiar by the kitchen back at the restaurant, but your friend giving your name away just kinda made it click… Tetra had almost given up on you ever being found too!" Ashe started to ready herself a defense as the four of them surrounded her against the ocean's side. "We know your quirk can't actually burn any of us, so come peacefully and this'll go a hell of a lot better for you, I'll see to it personally."
"..." Ashe tightened the grip on her fists.
"Okay then let me give you one last courtesy then, maybe things'll be in perspective after. You've seemed to meet Bryce, he can teleport, you can't run. This is Seth, he can shoot you with his hands, you can't run. Here is my girlfriend Ina, she can exert more force than an earthquake with her bare hands, you can't fight. And I well I explained last time that I'm capable leveling a building, but let me make things clear, there isn't a thing in existence I can't explode, -" He raised his right arm, gripped at the wrist by his left, as a dark cloud built up around it. "- You can't survive."
Ashe took a deep breath reached into her shoulder bag, and with both hands she pulled out two black fireballs.
"Is that a declaration of war?"
She threw the to balls of fire towards Seth, and Bryce.
"Explosion!" the ground beneath Ashe launched her ten feet into the air as it blasted sand in every direction, the sound of two large firecrackers, was the only prominent sound. Ashe landed on her feet, but severely twisted her left ankle in the process. Ashe casted out a large pool of flames reaching from her to all of her adversaries feet 30 feet out.
"AAAAGHH, it burns make it stop please make it stop." Seth was screaming in pure agony, grabbing at his face. Ashe quickly expanded the flames to coat his body, leaving his screaming face exposed.
Vaiko was astonished as he took a step back. "So you really can burn people with your flames, this just got really interesting."
"Not quite the case Vaiko." Ina spoke for the first time, her voice had an intensity behind it. On it's own it was intimidating, but with her eyes it was beastial. "He fireball was a can of pepper spray, Wasn't It girl! Hell, I can smell the can of deodorant you threw at Bryce from here." She started to take a step towards Ashe.
Before she could plant her foot, Ashe interrupted her. "You sure you wanna step there? This entire beach is coated with glass needles right now."
"Bullshit."
"Just wait Ina, give me a second and i'll have a plan."
"Screw your plan, as far as I'm aware this-"
"MAKE IT STOP!" Seth started snapping his hands into finger guns wildly, causing bursts of sand and dirt to launch from the ground where he missed his shots. Ashe raised a wall of fire next to her.
"SHIT… STOP SETH!" Bryce had a cluster of needles sticking through his left cheek, causing more blood to run down his face. He yanked them out, "Sit down and stay out of this until you can actually see ag-!" He fizzled away.. A number of staticised Bryce's appeared in the air. He quickly jumped between them, creating more as he did so. Without touching the ground he managed to throw a punch or kick with every instance of being. Most attacks were blocked, but even when she blocked his whirlwind kick she was thrown to her back. She rolled back springing up to her feet. He went for the same whirlwind kick again. This time Ashe jumped at him, he may have landed a knee to her gut, but she hooked his jaw. They both took a moment to try and regain their footing, as they stood back to their feet. Bryce was coated in fire now, Ashe made sure to wrap it around his head to blind him.
"It was a bluff." Ina did a forward handspring, instead of jumping off her hands she was launched into the air, flying into the center of the circle of fire. She landed right next to Ashe on her hands, upon impact all fire on the ground within ten feet was blown away. She flipped forward, throwing a punch into Ashe's side.
"Ahhg" she fell over again.
"Geeze, I thought a fight with you would be more fun. The way Tetra talked about you, I thought you'd be some kinda Goddess of the battlefield, but your not even worth my time." Ina was suckerpunched by a wildly flailing Bryce. "DICK!" she grabbed him by the collar of his shirt. "Were you not the one who just spoke of not attacking blindly!?"
"I'm sorry, I didn't realize-"
"No you didn't" She placed her hand on his chest as he was vaulted at least 60 down the beach before rolling to a stop, she literally knocked the fire off of him. She looked back to a now standing Ashe. "Now, where were we." Ashe threw the hardest punch she could, but Ina dodged it effortlessly. She placed her hand on Ashe's chest, and instantly she was airborne, flying backwards. She landed rolling up into the edge of the Ocean's waves, she couldn't breathe. It felt as if her lungs were collapsed.
She looked up to see Seth, who seemed to almost be fine now. He reached down grabbed her by the collar lifting her to his eye level. "Do you know how much that shit burns!?" She met his idiotic question with a headbutt. He let her go, as he stumbled back. Ashe dropped a pool of flames beneath him before jumping into a double footed drop kick, knocking him down into the puddle of fire. "AAAHHHHHGG!"
Ashe started to regain her breathe. She made her way out to the sea. If she could swim away maybe she'd wash up on shore somewhere, or hell if worse comes to be, drowning would be better than whatever "He'd" do. Her crawling, turned to a sprint, as she dove into the water and swam out.
Ina waited about minute or so for Vaiko to meet her on the water line. "Line a blast out to make the biggest wave you can. Draw her back in. you should have a long enough charge for that"
"Just take care to the wave, if I have to drive home wet I'll be pissed… EXPLOSION!" No sound was made as he hurled his arm forward. The shoreline receded heavily moments before a loud roar started. A minute later, a wave at least 40 feet high charged the shoreline. It was only two hundred or so feet wide as it was no natural tidal wave, but it was massive nonetheless. When it got close Ina did her handspring towards it. Planting both hands into the wave it exploded bursting ALL of it's water back to the ocean where it belonged. Ashe however was not sent back, and instead carried by the height and momentum of the wave was thrown onto the beach. "She's unconscious and half dead, and the flames still burn? I see why Tetra wants her so bad."
As Ina and Vaiko approached Ashe's unconscious body, Ina kneeled down placing her hand on Ashe's chest. With a simple pulse, water shot from her mouth, and she gasped for air. Vaiko kneeled down in injected a needle into her neck. All of the flames across the beach started to recede. "You may have been shit at it, but at least you have one hell of a fighting spirit." Ina stood up and started to walk back towards their van at the street, which Krill had just arrived in with dinner.
"You not gonna help me carry her back?"
"I could break my hands right now slapping you, hell I can already tell I have a broken finger, so no I won't… Also you might want to Hurry and get Seth and Bryce too. God knows when Heroes or cops will show up. We weren't necessarily quiet."
They all loaded into the van for a very long night of travel, especially for Seth, with all the glass shrapnel in his back.
Vaiko And Krill drug Ashe into the Bastille's Throne room, she was on her knees as they pulled at her shoulders. Just as they reached the center of the room, a voice resonated from the stage. "So this was the big surprise you found for me! Why did Anastasia and Fei need to be here for my runaway bride's return?" They dropped her down, her weight causing her to almost bow.
"becau-"
Ina interrupted Vaiko's response. "Are they here or not?!"
"Watch your tone! Remember where you stand here!.. They are, in fact, they're above you right now." He gestured to the catwalk above.
"Hey Ana, I'll see you in the infirmary, I've got something to talk to you about.. Oh yeah, Seth is a pincushion right now, so get your vocal chords ready." Ina walked off to the side of the room exiting into a hallway, bryce was close behind dragging an unconscious seth.
Tetra erupted into laughter. "Holy shit! Did you actually break them that bad? Oh my god, it's been a very, very long time since Ina was ever hurt in a fight, and you have her sneaking away to the nurse's office. You're even more amazing than I thought. If it weren't for you breaking my heart, and fucking with my head so many goddamn nights, I'd take you in my arms right now." His laughter subsided as he pulled a pistol from a space inside his throne. "Look up at me woman." She looked up to see the horror of that lunatic with a firearm.
"Calm down Tetra, this isn't the way to handle things." Beside Tetra was Esper, another man was on his right side as well, but Esper said that he always kept Tetra in line. Maybe he could help, Get her out once again, anything, "please anything!"
"Whatever I say is the way, is the way dammit, stop trying to get in my head again Esper. I'm sick of you always trying to be a conscious when you're not needed to be!." Esper placed his hand on the pistol.
"Do you honestly think that shooting her will fix any of your problems?" He stepped in front of him, hand still on his pistol.
"Go on." Tetra seemed a little peeved, but he wanted to hear Esper's words.
"Killing her serves no purpose. Right now we're already doing what we can to avoid the cops and heroes. If a murder manages to get traced back here, your empire is done for, and we're all screwed." Esper took a step back to the side. The pistol was gone! He had taken it into his holding dimension.
"I'm not happy with you right now. Do you have any idea how hard it was to acquire one of the few guns in all of Draiocht. Of course you don't!" He stood from his throne as he walked to the front of the stage theatrically. "You're wrong Esper, her death serves many purposes, primarily my enjoyment. Oh but today it'll be so much more, when I say, everyone in this room will have equal chance to take Ashe's life. Whoever achieves that feat, will be granted with a promotion within our ranks, as well as six months worth of pay… See, her death serves a value to everyone here. SO STAND ASHE! Get to your feet, this is an expensive sport today, and I expect nothing less than the scars you gave Seth last night."
Ashe climbed up to her feet readying herself. She wouldn't be able to take everyone, but maybe she could escape in the chaos of the fight, and if not that, then maybe she could kill a few scum with her last actions. As she took her stance she saw Esper had drawn the gun towards the back of Tetra's head. "You've gone too far this time." A loud crash echoed the hall as he pulled the trigger..
White flames erupted from the barrel of the gun. The dragonfire coursing for it's target, only splitting away into two streams to dodge Tetra's head. Tetra turned around to face Esper. "Did you really think I'd let a weapon into my home that could kill me." He grabbed Esper by the neck as he resisted, throwing him off of the stage towards Ashe. "New rules! Seventy percent the previous offer, per head. You have two targets now.
Esper walked over towards Ashe, under his breath he gave a semblance of a plan to Ashe. "we can do this, we'll just have to be precise and careful. Vaiko, Saki, and Jericho are the most dangerous of them all. I only have one Sedation syringe in my 'holding' right now, I'll have to use it one of the three of them. Of the quirks you haven't seen, Saki is a hydromancer, he's above us right now. David, the bodybuilder over there can double his size, hit him harder than he hits you and you win. Jericho and Pit are just animalia, enhanced physicality, a badger and bulldog respectively. You ready?"
"How the hell can you be so calm right now?"
"My heart's at 180 right now, but if I don't focus my quirk is useless. In the darkest trials of our lives, we must stay clear minded, for rage is blinding, and a weakness that'll only cripple its host"
"Real quick, the baldie, and the two others up top, the emo guy, and the girl. What can they do?
"Krill can make disks of lightning and throw them around telekinetically. Mello is the guy with the sleeping toxin for sweat I mentioned once before, and Fei shouldn't get involved. It's not like her."
"And if she does?"
"We both die."
"Way to spur on confidence at the end there."
Mello, Fei, and Saki were on the catwalk above, everyone else was on ground level behind them.
"Alright Esper, your strategy session is over. For the sake of fun, the fight doesn't begin until either of them hit you. Once that happens it's no holds barred… Show me a fight worthy of my price!" Tetra stepped back and sat down in his throne.
-
Esper and Ashe turned to face their ten foes. "I'll take first shot." Esper pulled two small canisters from his belt. As he pulled their keys, a thick grey smoke poured out of them rising into the air. They were veiled in the shadows of air. Pit yelled as he rushed and dove into the smoke. A feint yelp was heard as he disappeared into the smoke.
"God damn beasts!.. I said Esper Got to make the first attack, at least play my game right if your going to participate."
A hook fired vertically out of the smoke latching into the ceiling, Esper rose from the top of the smoke cloud, a grappling hook attached to each arm. He fired the second one at mello, piercing his chest. Recoiling the wire back, Mello was pulled over the rail of the catwalk. In response Saki opened a gourde at his side, pulling from it a large blade of water cutting Esper's suspension line in half. Saki, standing on a floating puddle, lowered himself to the ground as Esper fell into the smoke.
Everyone watched as mello's unconscious body was dragged into the smoke cloud. "Let's Get 'em bro." Carl and sheen stomped the earth in unison. "Tower stomp!" A large pillar erupted beneath the smoke, exposing Ashe ten feet in the air, and throwing Pit, wrapped in an electrified net, as his squealing body fell back to the ground. "Shrapnel burst!" They threw big animated punches as small bits of concrete flew at the exposed Ashe. She melted every pebble that would've hit her with a single burst of fire. "Wait where did-"
Esper swung out from the side of the smoke at ground level, he had attached his working grappler to the catwalk above. Using a staff he pulled from his holding. Aided by surprise, he bashed in the back of Sheen's skull. He dropped his grappler to ready his defense, standing next to the downed foe.
David doubled in size as he and Jerricho rushed at Esper. David threw a massive haymaker, the punch was glanced by his staff enough to where his hit dealt no more damage to Esper's arm than a friction burn. Jericho diving in on all fours, got pushed to the ground, as Esper jumped off of his head. With the gained height, Esper drilled a spinning Ax kick into David's jaw. As the attack lands, David shrunk from twelve to three feet tall as he flew across the room. Esper used his staff to spring his landing away from Jericho who was relentless with his short quick attacks.
-
"Explosion!" Ashe jumped from the pillar as it exploded violently. She threw large bursts of fire at Vaiko from her left hand as she blitzed him. Tackling him through the flames, she took him to the ground. It didn't take but a few seconds for Vaiko to use his size to flip himself back on top. Sitting on her abdomen he placed his right hand on her neck, as he placed his left on his right wrist. The thunder cloud that built up only tickled, but she had to stop him from calling forth an explosion. He leaned in close to her face. "I'm glad I held off doing this last night, I was really tempted to-" His words were cut off by Ashe ramming her right index finger through his eye socket. "AAHhhg Explosio-" He fell over as his consciousness faded
"How do you like that asshole's sweat.. Asshole"
-
Esper was keeping Jerricho at bay with his staff when Bryce, out of nowhere, tackled him to the ground. "What the hell is going on here Esper, I'm gone for five minutes and come back to this?"
Jericho, now watching, replied for him. "Boss said we'd get a bunch of money and a promotion if we killed him or the girl."
"Well then." Bryce pulled a knife as he, with both hands, tried to drive it down into Esper's neck. Esper moved his hands from grappling with Bryce's wrists to his hands, as the knife closed in on it's target. Esper gripped the backend of the knife, concealing it, and making it disappear. "Enough with your tricks man. Just give u-"
"He's mine, he hurt my brother!" Carl kicked Bryce off of Esper, hitting his already broke rib. He raised a comically large hammer made entirely of stone into the air. "You'll die for what you did to Sheen." As he was about to swing the hammer, the head fell to the ground behind him.
"Sorry you can have your revenge with his corpse, the payout is mine." A large Aquatic construct drill was formed above Esper. "Perish into the great beyond." As the drill made contact with his chest it was evaporated by a cone of fire. Ashe was standing over Vaiko's unconscious body, breathing heavily. "Men, our arrangement might need to change. If she can beat Vaiko, all five of us might need to work in tandem to take these two properly." Saki took a few steps back. "Split pay?"
"Deal" Krill produces two disks formed of lightning inches from his hands.
"Just let me have him afterward"
"Deal" Jericho licked his lips.
"The Hell! You're the ones that attacked me…. Ughh fine" Bryce stood up, holding his hand over the broken rib that was just kicked.
-
Ashe ended the cone of fire, and Esper was standing at her side, his shirt burned off. "Can you make a veil of fire behind us please?" Ashe sprayed fire from both her hands, the fire that hit the ground stuck like napalm before burst upward to create a curtain from Tetra's view. "Thank you, now I have a few more angles to work with." Esper pulled a spear out from behind him, it was almost as long as he was tall.
"Carl, five feet to your left, Fifteen down, there's a water line. Raise it into the room." Saki had a golden strategy, he had to stop him. Esper rushed at the group. "Jericho NOW!"
"Terra-reformation!" The ground started to rumble under their feet, halting Esper and Jericho. Water erupted from the ground as a large water line was pushed through its surface.
"Krill charge the water!" his lightning disks flew into the waters path as it was directed by Saki, creating a massive pillar of electrified water. Ashe was giving it her everything to fight back against the amount of water coming her way, they were even, for now.
-
Jericho ran around the attack, Tackling into Esper, he knocked the spear out of his hand as he bit into his left arm. Jericho ran his claws across Esper's chest multiple times cutting him pretty bad, luckily his arms were very short, otherwise his strikes might have been fatal. Jericho was forcing Esper backwards towards the veil. Esper pulled a syringe out of his 'holding' "Guess it's for you then!" He stabbed the needle towards Jericho's head, as he swung them to his side through the flames.
-
Carl shifted the ground slightly under Ashe's feet. Running low on stamina, her loss of footing caused her to falter in her attack. The water pressure blasted her through the veil behind her. "Great job Carl, I was running out of water pressure there. Now we just need to confir-" A figure coated in Infernal flames walked back through the veil. "Krill, where are your lightning disks? They were in that water right?"
"They're gone? I didn't even notice, but that means, no. there's no way her fire ate my lightning."
"Bryce you're gonna need to get involved this time!"
He was still holding his rib. "Yeah I'd like to see you fight with eight broken ribs... Remind me to kill Ina later."
She was walking closer, but she fired no flames. Esper followed suit by passing through the veil next, his left arm mangled, but no longer bleeding profusely. "Gaia's Catapult." A pillar of earth erected from behind Ashe into her back, sending her flying towards the group. Esper tried to catch up to her.
"Sorry bastard we're not done!" Bryce appeared bellow Esper striking him with an uppercut.
Ashe couldn't move, She lied on her chest grasping for something. "You're not all that strong after all are you." Carl rolled her over onto her back with his foot. "Haha, you're not as scary as you look." With a Hissing sound Fire shot from her mouth as it snaked its way into his lungs. "AHHHHHH!" He ran off to the other side of the room in a panic at the fear that some spirit flew into him.
"Nice trick girl." Saki kicked at her side, causing her to scream. He fired a bunch of small water droplets at her face, they were all caught in the air by embers rising from the flames that spilled from her mouth. "Then we'll do this the simple way." He kicked her once more in the side before placing his heel on her neck, his boot melting off of his foot. "Any last words Bitch!" As soon as his words were finished he was ripped from atop her.
Saki's dead body lied next to her, Esper's spear had been thrown clean through his skull. Realizing he was the only one left, Krill panicked. "Come on man, we can make a deal. Let's just end this… no one else needs to get hurt right?" He words panicked more as Esper slowly closed the distance between them. "Fine then, RIP DISK!" He formed one large disk of lightning instead of his usual two. "You should've taken the truce man!" He hurled the disk Esper's way. As it got close, esper pulled a small brick sized object out from behind him, throwing it at the disk. The lightning folded it's way into the object. "But, how, that's supposed to cut anything.
"You shouldn't let others learn your weaknesses." Esper's voice was empty of energy, it sounded as weak as it was winded."
"What?" Krill was paralysed, he didn't know what to do anymore, he couldn't generate another lightning disk for some reason, it wasn't destroyed just gone.
Esper flicked a throwing knife into the air, then caught it as he sent it soaring into Krill's neck…
Esper made his way over to Ashe. While checking her vitals she lost consciousness. "Rest well." He lied her back down on the ground.
-
"Lets see what you've done!" Tetra pulled away the veil of fire Ashe made. To see Nine of his men downed and dead. "... What the hell, you actually did it. Even Vaiko! God damn I underestimated your potential. I just had you as a top three member based on your advisory, but you actually stopped them all.. Hell you stabbed Bryce in the neck with his own knife."
"AAHHH, Boss help, she put a demon in me. Please help." Carl had ran up to the stage
"You and your brother's stupidity always annoyed me." He flicked a switch on the arm of his chair. As he did, two beams of fire shot from the spine of his throne. He directed the flames over Carl, burning him alive. "Thats whats coming to you next y'know…. Nah I'm just gonna do it now!" He bursted a cylinder of fire ten feet across at Esper and Ashe encompassing them entirely. He left the fire burning over them for a whole minute before stopping. "There, you should be ash by now. Hahahaha GET IT!"
He opened his eyes from his maniacal laughter, to two giant hands cupping over Esper and Ashe. There should've been nothing left, but in there place were two giant hands, they had metallic plates over the knuckles and a fancy Pink F sewn into their black and silver material. "Fei, Move your God Dammned hands right now or I'll Burn you alive one limb at a time!"
"Gloves. And I'm sorry, I just wanted to kill them myself for the prize money."
"Dead women can't spend money can they."
"Alright alright." She lifted her hands in surrender, as she did the large gloves followed suit.
The gloves moving away revealed Esper standing with a pistol in his hand, lining up a shot on Tetra one handedly. "GHAHAHA.. You're really gonna try that again?! That gun can only fire WhiteFire Dragon's Breath rounds. You'll only be giving me more fuel to burn you ali-" With a roaring crash Tetra's head swung back as a bullet ripped through the center of his skull splitting it in half, as his body fell to the floor. Esper turned the gun to Zao next, Tetra's right hand.
"Come on Esper, what threat am I to you, I don't even have an offensive quirk… You know that he was using me, I was trapped like everyone else..." As he turned to run, Esper shot him in the chest three times. Esper put his pistol back into his 'holding' before falling on his face.
-
Fei lowered herself to the ground with her gloves. When she knelt over the unconscious Ashe and Esper a slow clap started from the hallway entrance. Ina had been watching. "What do you want Ina?"
"Nothing, I'm just impressed at everything I see here. Never would have thought they had it in them." she popped off of the wall that she was leaning against.
"If you try anything I'll have to beat you myself." Fei raised her fists, simultaneously her gloves.
"Don't worry, like I said I don't want to hurt him. He may have ended my boyfriends life over there, but Vaiko picked that fight. Plus You and Ashe weren't the only only women that he tried to keep Tetra from...His interference wasn't always needed, but it's the thought that matters in this matter…. Anyway our debts are technically payed now. What are you gonna do with that freedom?"
"First off, I'm taking these two to Anastasia. Then once they get up, I'm gonna have them open Tetra's vault, we'll split whatever's in it, and go our separate ways."
"Damn, that sounds good. Shouldn't have told me, now you're gonna have to split that payout one more way."
"That should be fine, as far as I'm to understand He'll have plenty to go around down there.. "Here help lift them onto my glove." She lowered her glove to the ground. Ina obliged, placing the two into the glove's palm.
** -\/- **
A year had passed
"Why is someone knocking at the door this late?"
"Probably some salesman, I'll get rid of him." Esper stood up from the couch, and went to answer the door. "Something I can help you with?"
At the door was a middle aged man, in very good shape, wearing what looked like an awfully expensive suit. "Ah yes, I do believe you can. You see I'm looking for someone, and I'm to believe she lives here."
"Don't think that's possible man, I live here alone."
"I don't intend to pry, but the shoes behind your feet would say otherwise."
"I'm sorry, I missed your name who are you again?" Esper raised his defenses, this man wanted something from Ashe, and he promised to never let her be hurt again.
"I have no name, but you may call me Adam.-"
"Adam sounds like a name to me. Why the alias?" He readyed a weapon in his right hand behind the door, within his 'holding.'
"That actually has to do with why I'm here, and my invitation I hold for Lady Ashe."
Ashe peeked around the corner from the living room of the apartment. "Are they selling girl scout cookies or something. Oh, who's he?"
"Lady Ashe, it's wonderful to meet you-"
"How they hell do you know my name, and what do you want?"
"An associate of mine is an Informant. He keeps track of many people, especially those with extraordinary gifts. He told me that I could find you two here."
"Us two eh, why so insistent on seeing Ashe, if this invitation is for the both of us." Esper gripped the dagger he had pulled tightly in his right hand.
"Because, even though your gifts are exceptional, they are not nearly of the same caliber as mine, or Ashe's." He pulled an envelope out of his pocket handing it to Esper. "This country will be seeing a revolution take place in the coming year, Gods will be reclaiming their thrones... To answer your first question fully, I'm here to find one of the gods that has been reborn into the country of Draiocht, and recruit her to the Pantheon she rightfully deserves to sit upon."
"Gods, your Senile for your age" Esper went to close the door, but the man blocked it with his shoe.
"The last 'God' recorded to have walked the earth was over two thousand years ago. And now man is being born with the gifts of the Gods every day. Just as Prometheus gave us fire, we have been granted the powers of all Gods themselves. Be it that Gods have gone extinct, or if they just got bored. We bear their strength now, and with our birthrights we will take back the lands that once belonged to the gods."
"Why the hell should we trust you." Ashe was agitated, her home was no longer safe because of this man.
"I implore it. From one God to another, I guarantee your well being at my estate. The address is within your envelope, should you choose to visit… To show my trust, I could also give you the identities of my colleagues, though there quirks may be more beneficial."
"Okay then, who are you." Esper was curious the force behind the team that wanted his and Ashe's lives, even if they were allies.
-
"I am Adam, the primordial son, I become whatever I declare. I have the gift of the first son. Eden is our second. He is the Primordial beauty, the Living Earth. Third is Bang, the primordial Force. His gift is Warp Space itself, he can condense or expand emptiness, as well as well as his own body. We also have Ragnar Wight, and his friend Jaden Towers, they can-"
"I know what they can do, I'm sure you know I lived in a gang for many years. I also know that Blanc King and Ragnar Wight are two of the most dangerous men in all of Draiocht because of that. They were the only two men my boss ever feared, not just for their quirks, but for their instability and unpredictability. Why the hell would I want to be anywhere near those two.
He turned away from the door, as he was about to leave. "Like I said Mr. Fade This country will see a revolution soon. The only way to guarantee your life is to take the winning side. A Goddess dwells here, if you don't think the Caster monarchy will claim her for their military when we take this land you're mistaken. After all, they'll need everything they can get to even stand a chance of fighting the force we have right now. Oh and you misspoke, we don't have two of the most powerful men in all of Draiocht, we have four, and if Ashe accepts our invite, that'll make five…. Also if anyone else is at the estate by the time you visit, we're scouting a few others right now, granted, none of them are currently gods like Ashe or myself, so you have nothing to worry about in terms of their Identities or gifts.. Farewell you two, I hope to see you soon." Esper closed the door as he walked away.
-
"So what do you think?" Ashe posed the question.
"What do you mean, What do I think. They're lunatics, and anyone who joins them is a fool."
"Why would they be fools?"
"Look, you may not know Ragnar or Blanc, Bang as he's calling himself now I guess, but I've heard more than enough to know they're dangerous. And on a scale far more than what you've seen before."
"Worse than Tetra's whole gang was?"
"They could have both beaten everyone in that room in under a minute, individually. They're more monsters than men honestly. Hell they could probably go toe to toe with the Ten Swords, sans Avalanche and Athena."
"So In other words, if they are collecting a force parallel to that force, then they'd probably be capable of taking the country then right?"
"Ashe what are you thinking?!"
"Look, the last year has been wonderful, being safe for the first time truly is a gift I've savored, but I'm still missing something."
"Like what?"
"Purpose.. No one goes through everything I have without reason right? I can't just be that unlucky. Maybe everything that happened was fate aligning me for this current path."
"Do you really want to check this place out?"
"Kinda."
Esper walked to Ashe and wrapped his arms around her. "If it's what you want, then we'll go check it out… But never, ever say that all that shit was fate. No one ever deserves to live through what you did. 'Kay?"
"Okay."
END
Character Index + Quirks
Ashe (Raze):
Black Fire:
Black fire burns hotter than most flames, only it can't burn people, in fact people cant feel its heat at all as it doesn't radiate any. The flames also heal the human wounds, but in place they can leave a burn scar. If mastered, the user can control the heat of the flames by a large magnitude.
Flynt:
Extinguisher hands:
He can excrete a mist from his hands that extinguishes flames
Hero Extinguish:
Starvation:
She can prevent things in her presence from taking on subsistence. She uses it to prevent fire from consuming more oxygen.
Hyde Poles (Flux):
Magnetism Auroric attraction:
the user can create and manipulate magnetic fields. They can also make metals ferromagnetic, by touching them (each individual piece of metal does need to be touched - if it's a mechanism, or multi-piece item). The magnetic attractions, and fields the user controls gives off an auroral light.
Max (Doppelganger):
½ for 2/1:
the user can split themself into numerous clones, but with greater magnitude comes lower individual strength. Other aspects are weakened as well just not to the same ratio, such as intelect, weight, and some other features
Vaiko:
Explosion (lightning/or/force):
The user can use elemental explosions. Whatever element they use envelopes the hand they are casting their explosion from. The longer they charge it, the stronger the blast becomes. They can not stop the charge or reverse it once it starts. The user is limited to One explosion per day, unless the first blast is extremely small.
Bryce:
Short 'port:
they can teleport, but only within a short distance. They faze away as if static interference (the lines are angled in the direction they teleport)
Carl:
GeoKinetic control:
Earthbending
Sheen:
GeoKinetic control:
Earthbending
Tetra Pyre:
Pyromancy:
Complete control over all forms of fire
Esper Fade:
Hands of Holding:
As long as his hands are out of sight, they disappear into a "magical bag of holding" this is a always, not an activated quirk. When going into the void space, his hands also take whatever is being held with them. When leaving the void he can also choose to pull out any item stored as well.
They can only move things that are not alive, and he can pull anything as long as it is in a space confined from eyesight / Be in a space not in sight-lines when pulled out. The storage space may not be infinite, but he has never run out of space.
A single exception can be made for a living soul being stored at a time, but whatever soul is in his "space" shares his mind, and he can hear their concurrent thoughts. To bring a life into his holding must be a conscious choice, unlike everything else that can be unintentionally grabbed. (he can also only do this at most once a day) {think of schrodinger's cat - if you can't see it there, it can be there}
Seth:
Finger guns (impact):
when the user snaps his fingers into the finger gun shape a burst is projected outward.
Ina:
Pushback:
The user can push back anything that they place their palm against. Doesn't work as well on constructs, as it only pushes the part it touches. (Life-forms are considered one part). Extremely effective against liquids.
Newton's 3rd law doesn't really affect her, she does take shock damage, but if her body is on the ground the force is far from equal.
Anastasia:
Healing Voice:
by speaking their words can heal those they reach, though they heal slowly, they are more efficient when singing
Saki:
HydroKinesis:
He can manipulate water
David:
Megamorph:
the user can double their initial size, enhancing their strength. If they are hit by someone with more force than they hit them with, they are forced down to half the size of the person they failed to out do until they sleep
Jericho:
Honey Badger:
He can do honey badger things
-Tough skin, also loose
-Has a very thick coat of fur
-Stink bomb
-Increased aggression
-Shorter arms than average, but has claws for nails
Pit:
Bulldog:
Can do bulldog like things.
-Mostly increased muscle structure
Krill:
Lightning Disks:
They can send out two lightning disks. One from each hand, Each hand controlling its own disk via hand motions. They can vary in size from clay pigeons to distrusto disks.
Mello:
Somnolent Sweat:
his sweat is a very potent venom&poison that can put it's target to sleep in a matter of secconds (via venom) and about a minute (via consumption)
Fei:
Hands!:
When the user wears gloves a giant hand is summoned above/ behind them and it mimics their movement. It shares appearance with the glove worn (bassically master hand from smash bros). If the gloves positions are manipulated/controlled then their hands are forced to the same motion
Zao:
TruthSeer:
When in contact with someone he can tell if they are lying. If he focuses enough he can trigger it by looking into someone's eyes