[ENTRANCE EXAM ARC]
Chapter 4: A Gamble of Life and Death
In the midst of the Zoldyque entrance exam, one group of five were making their merry way through the narrower streets and alleys of the faux test environment, a trail of grizzly skirmishes left in their wake. They were Troupe: Underground and the pack was being led by two girls.
The shorter of the two girls skipped slightly ahead of the taller, her auburn ponytail bouncing along with her stride. One hand was planted lazily in the front pocket of her green hoodie, while the other loosely gripped the metal bat she dragged along behind her, which left a faint trail of blood on the cobblestones below.
The other girl stomped clumsily behind, trying to keep up with her peer. The dim light glinted off the gold and black of the girl's iris' as her eyes scanned around with a sense of childish curiosity. Her skin was dark, her lips soft and pink and her toned body that of a mutant's. An insect mutant, to be precise, though this didn't make her any less easy to look at, with her more curvaceous or voluptuous aspects drawing attention away from the inhuman ones, such as the chitinous shell that covered her hands and feet. In the mutant girl's arms, collars of glowing blue and yellow were piled up, stacked as high as she thought they would go, with any spares hung around her arm like bangles. The load she bore didn't seem at all strenuous to her, and she scuttled up to her red-headed teammate.
"Hey, Freya," She spoke.
"What is it?" The girl snapped in reply.
"Well… I was thinking…" The mutant paused, the sounds of battle and chaos echoed around them while the body of some unfortunate soul screeched through the air overhead. "Wouldn't it've been smarter of us to stay outta the centre of the town?"
Freya shot her a glare, her lightly freckled nose furrowing in a mixture of frustration and disappointment. The mutant girl detected the slight against her and rushed to explain herself.
"I mean, they wouldn't've put all the bad guys around one place, right? So if we went around the outskirts we could pick up a load of free points while everyone else if fighting around here, right?"
"Oh, Lexandra, you poor dope," Freya sighed, the tension exiting her face. "If an idiot like you could have thought of that, then all the half bit chumps will be doing it. Which means It'll be better to stay in the middle. That's what you call… uh… reverse psychology, yeah… you get it?"
"I suppose that sounds smart…" Lexandra mumbled, deflating a little bit. Lexandra shut her mouth and kept trudging forward as the two girls pace slowly separated them. For a while, they continued forward, but then Lexandra scuttled up to Freya once again.
"Hey, Freya," She spoke.
"What is it?" The girl snapped in reply.
"Can we stop for a while, these are kinda heavy, and my back is starting to hurt…" Lexandra moaned.
"Okay, but only for like, five minutes. We don't have forever, this exam is timed you know," Freya lectured, resting her metal bat over her shoulder.
"Thank god," Moaned Lexandra, dropping all her collars in a heap to her side and reclining against a wall not far from the mouth of an alleyway. The rest of her troupe milled about, not interacting whatsoever.
However, from the alleyway which Lexandra rested herself by, a threat loomed. The light of a single collar began blinking unbeknownst to the oblivious girl who now stood stretched her muscles and trying her best to massage her own back. It crept slowly and carefully, the criminal behind it barely containing his homicidal glee. He vibrated with killing intent as he emerged in a predatory pounce of a seasoned murderer.
"Haha!" Cried the Level: Blue triumphantly. "You dumb kids are dead already! Just wait till you see my quirk! I'll have you begging for your lives!"
The criminals look of sadistic joy persisted even as Lexandra's arm flung out in a defensive reflex, catching the Level: Blue dead in the jaw and sending him through a brick wall. He died on impact. It took Lexandra a second to notice anything had happened at all, then she jumped in surprise.
"Guys, we're under attack!" She yelled, just as a hoard of blue and yellow lights blinked in the dark that surrounded them.
"Everyone, back to back!" Cried Freya, putting her bat up and getting into position. Before the order reached the ears of her comrades, a burst of gas surrounded them, leaving them blind and vulnerable.
The smog was thick and black, and breathing it in caused Freya's throat to cry out in pain. It was like trying to inhale sandpaper. The red-head quickly ducked and leapt into a miraculous pocket of clean air, in which stood Lexandra, who swatted helplessly at the gas. Freya spluttered a little bit, before standing upright.
"Lexandra, that's pointless. I don't know where it came from, but this gas is too thick to disperse like that,"
"So what do we do?" Lexandra asked, slightly panicked. Just then, emerging from the smoke came a posse of Level: Blue criminals, all grinning devilishly and holding a variety of deadly looking implements.
"Hmm…" Freya said, rubbing her chin. "I suppose it's been a while since we cracked some skulls, how does that sound?"
"Whatever you say, Frey" Grinned Lexandra. The girls rushed into the brawl.
The thick smoke which burned at their throats and seemed to have come from nowhere had splintered the undergrounds. With Freya and Lexandra running off in their battle and the fifth member disappearing into nowhere, there was now only the two male members of the troupe left in the original rest area.
The taller of the two boys (at an above average 180cm) wore a thick back leather jacket and combat boots, with brown cargos. His messy blond bangs fell over his many eyes, eight in total. Four were on his forehead, two in the normal place a human would be expected to have eyes and the final two on the side of his head. A thin split ran down his jaw, which allowed it to split into two, though it remained closed for now. He was the second animal mutant of the group, with a far more arachnid appearance than Lexandra had. The much shorter boy by his side instead had shaggy black hair, and a set of shabby, generally dark and mismatched but never-the-less warm looking clothes.
"So, it's just us then, huh? I should have you know, I prefer working alone. I'm only in this group cuz I gotta be, ok?" The Spider-boy said to his compatriot. The shaggy-haired boy glanced at the taller and much more imposing arachnid shyly before quickly looking to his feet and keeping his lips pursed shut. "Hey! Say somethin' you bastard!" The spider yelled, grabbing the boy by the collar. "This is why I hate quiet people. What are you thinkin', huh? You ain't judgin' me are ya'?" It was through this tirade that the spider's thick accent became apparent to the shaggy-haired boy. Was that… Brisbane? A question for later.
"I-I-I..." He stammered nervously.
"You what, huh?" Growled the spider.
"I think we should worry about the bad guys…" The shaggy-haired boy said, pointing towards the villainous figure emerging from the smog.
"Oh yeah, the bad guys," Sighed the spider, dropping the shaggy-haired boy to his feet. "Let's see what we're dealing with, eh?" The spider cracked his knuckles, swinging around to face the new foe.
The killer's body was huge and fat, but more notably, headless. Where once his head would be now there was only a trapezoid muscle with a mop of patchy black hair. His eyes were set in his shoulders, and his nostrils where the nipples lay on an ordinary man. A thick-lipped and sharp teethed mouth ran around the circumference of his enormous belly, which he gently rubbed while licking those same lips.
"Well well well, what do we ave' ere'… a coupla' morsels to add to Eavy' Eater's collection, eh?" The man guffawed.
"Is he… referring to himself in the third-person? Oh god, that must mean he's strong, right?" The shaggy-haired boy thought in a panicked frenzy. The criminal suddenly flexed his muscles in a show-offish way, drawing attention to the collar that was strained around his muscular bicep. The lights around it lit up a sickly yellow colour.
"Ya see this ere'?" Said Heavy Eater, pointing to the yellow glowing collar. "This ere' means that I'm a cut above the rest see? And don't yous lot forget it, yeah?" He gloated.
"Hmph… Stronger doesn't mean strong you fat ugly bastard," Spat Alex disdainfully.
"I thought he hated judgement, what a hypocrite… wait… is that judgment? Oh crap, what if he beats me up now?… crap crap crap!" The shaggy-haired boy's thoughts whirled around in his head as the other two in the cloud faced off.
As the spider stood there grimacing at the Level: Yellow, a chittering mass emerged from behind him, crawling around his body and emerging from his jacket. In total, they numbered six, spider-like legs with a glossy chitinous casing. Their points were ferociously sharp, and all aimed at his new adversary.
Heavy Eater roared and charged at the spider, bearing his monstrous teeth. The spider stood still and rigid as the Level: Yellow approached, acting only once he was an arm's length away. Heavy Eater began to open his mouth, revealing a deep black void within. The spider did the same. The line running down his chin came apart and his mouth suddenly unfurled into a horrific mass of fangs and flesh, spraying quick jets of green acrid fluid as it did so. Heavy Eater snapped his mouth shut in a hurry, the shock causing him to jump slightly. Before the criminal knew it, however, one of his opponent's spear-like spider legs reached around his back and sprung at him, ripping into his cheek and sending him staggering.
The spider boy grinned, he had gained the upper hand. Capitalizing, he drew all of his six legs back together, having them arch inward towards his back and priming them for a killing blow against the Level: Yellow, however, just before the strike was dealt something leapt out from the smog behind him, and he found his legs unable to move. He swivelled his head around in a rage to see the obstruction and found a diminutive, lanky and hairless man with skin that wrinkled like a raisin. He was covered in some sort of thick transparent slime that cloyed to al six legs, sticking them together and halting all their motion.
"What?! Get offa me you gross bastard!" The spider roared, flailing around and trying to detach his new attacker.
"Pfuhuhuh… Nice one Hors-d'oeuvres… that sweet sticky slime you got… I'm sure that'll make this twerp all the tastier…" Said Heavy Eater, standing up from his prone state and licking the blood from his wounds with his gargantuan tongue.
"HeHe… Anything for you… Heavy Eater… sir… Hehe… Now eat this bastard! The sealant won't last forever!" Hors-D'oeuvres simpered, spraying slimy spit with each word.
Heavy Eater gave a vicious predatory roar and leapt towards the spider at incredible speed in spite of his colossal size with his mouth wide open. A spray of slobber was sent in all directions as the Level: Yellow's jaw clasped together at lightning speed and with thunderous force.
"Pfuhuhuh…You know, they says the strongest bite in the animal kingdom is the Saltwater Crocodile, what can close its jaws with a force upwards of three thousand PSI, well I says I gots em beat wit' a whoppin' ten thousand! Nothin' could survive a single bite a' these chompers, eh, twerp?" Heavy eater snarled at the Spider, who was thrown on his back by the attack which he only just barely managed to dodge in the first place. "Nows that I gots yous on yer' back, Hors-D'oeuvres' gots yas stuck to the ground s'well, so now ye' can't move at all, can ya?" The criminal grinned sadistically and more and more drool poured out of his colossal mouth.
The shaggy-haired boy realised in an instant that things were going badly. If the spider kid was consumed, then he'd be next, the mere thought caused him to fill with panic. There was only one thing to do, and that was to take action. The shaggy-haired boy quickly pulled up his sleeves to his elbow, revealing either of his black stained hands which steadily dripped a black inky fluid. With a mild focus from the shaggy-haired boy, the ink began to take form, shaping itself steadily as the boy charged forward towards Heavy Eater.
The Level: Yellow noticed the shaggy-haired boy charging them, and his body tensed into a battle-ready stance. He prepared to throw a hook at the oncoming boy, but he ducked and slid well under the arc of his attack, catching the criminal off guard. The boy lashed out with his blades to either side of him at blinding speed. A flurry of invisible cuts tore through Heavy Eater's thick skin, lacerating him all the way up to his knees and causing him to reel. The Level: Yellow was forced to his knees from the painful sensation as the shaggy-haired boy skidded to a halt.
"Gah! That hurts you bastard! Hors-D'oeuvres! Gets im'!" Ordered Heavy Eater to his partner, but there came no reply. Only shreds of the criminals' slime which were scattered around the floor, mixing with a gathering pool of blood.
Hors-D'oeuvres was shredded by the shaggy-haired boys attack, and in death was cut away from the spider. The spider took his time in standing up, the shrivelled up corpse of the man that had clung to his back sliding off of him into a pile of his own semi-solid slime. He dusted himself off.
"Hey, not half-bad, kid. What'd you say your name was again?" He said.
"Remus…" Mumbled the shaggy-haired boy.
"Got a last name?"
"Wilder,"
"Well, my names Alex, Alex Harper. Thanks for saving my ass I suppose," The spider grinned, holding out one hand welcomingly. Remus reluctantly shook it, leaving it dripping with pure black ink, which Alex quickly rubbed off onto his cargos.
-/-
Name: REMUS WILDER
Quirk: INK
Remus' hands produce a constant steady stream of durable black ink. Remus can manipulate the shape and consistency of this ink in order to produce a variety of objects.
-/-
"Oi, you dumb prick kids…" Growled Heavy Eater, who unsteadily righted himself. His teeth made unsavoury grinding noises as they grit together, the rage in his eyes was palpable. "First, you kill my partner in crime, then ye' just turn yer' back on me, like I was nothin'?!" He cried.
"Oh yeah, this fat fuck's still here isnt he?" Spat Alex.
"What did you say to me?!" Heavy Eater Yelled, balling his hands into fists. Alex nonchalantly turned his head, snapping his mouth wide open and revealing the grim arachnid mandibles that lay within. Heavy Eater was stunned just long enough for Alex' spinnerets to kick into action, sending precise jets of tensile web towards the Level: Yellow. The web struck around his arms and legs, trapping him to the ground with his arms stuck firmly to a nearby lamp-post.
"W-what the hell?!" Heavy Eater roared, thrashing around in his silken bonds.
"Yeah, how does that feel, you bastard?" Said Alex, slowly approaching his immobilized foe.
"Dumbass! This web ain't nothin', I'll just bite through it!" Heavy Eater cried, priming his jaws to slice through the web. Three more precision web projectiles shot out from Alex' mouth, binding together the criminal's teeth.
"Next time, don't telegraph your next fucking move, idiot," Spat Alex. "Scratch that, actually. There's not gonna be a 'next time',"
Heavy Eater gagging furiously, his cries muffled by the silk holding his jaws together. Alex continued his approach.
"So, your deal is you eat people right? That's the villain gimmick going on here? Well, hows about we beat some empathy into you, show you what that's like, huh?" Alex grinned. The Level: Yellow continued thrashing around to no avail, this time more out of fear than anger. "Do you know how a spider eats, you fat bastard? I'll tell you. What he does is, he ties you up, then he pumps you full of venom and watches it rot you from the inside. Then, once that's done with, he sucks up all the juices, leaving nothing but a dead husk. How does that sound, you murdering scumbag?" Alex growled. His mouth split open again, this time bearing two humongous gnarled fangs which dripped with hissing, necrotic venom. Heavy Eater's eyes were full of fear as Alex suddenly plunged his fangs into him, injecting a boiling stream of poison directly into his bloodstream. As Alex pulled back, blood dripping from his mouth, the flesh around the wound began to rot away almost immediately, while Heavy Eater's thrashing only became more and more vigorous over time, culminating just before the criminal's eyes rolled into the back of his skull and sickly green foam began to seep from the corners of his gaping jaw. He fell backwards, dead and limp.
-/-
Name: ALEX "WOLF" HARPER
Quirk: SPIDER
Alex's mutation ability grants him the morphological features of a variety of spider species. These include six bony legs which protrude from his back, as well as the ability to produce both strong, sticky webbing and potent venom. Alex also gains the usual advantages in power and senses granted by his mutant status, with his eight eyes attributing greatly to his perception. Due to his spider anatomy, he shares the same weaknesses as the arachnid, such as vulnerability to the cold and pesticides.
-/-
"Woah, that was pretty brutal," Remus mumbled.
"Would you believe if I said I'd never killed anyone before today?" Alex said, wiping the blood from his chin and spitting out what little of it got into his mouth.
"It's a good thing you got over that so quickly…" Remus said, rolling the heavy yellow collar along the ground. It was just then that the intense thick clouds of stinging gas that had surrounded them during their battle, at last, began to clear up, leaving one figure standing in the dead centre of where the cloud was.
She was youthful, one might say beautiful, looking, with pristine olive toned skin and black wavy hair which hung preferentially towards one side of her head. Her grey eyes exuded incredible joy at the corpses that lay around her feet. Criminals of varying shapes, sizes and level all dead around her, with glazed over eyes, bulging purple veins and mouths that hung open. Slivers of black smog still hung around the girl's thin lips, which she inhaled through her nose as she took a deep refreshing breath.
"Heh, I got em," She smiled, hopping energetically in place. This was Artemisia, full name Artemisia Eurus Wyonna. Being the outgoing girl that she is, she was the first to introduce herself, and everyone knew her name already, but nothing of her abilities.
"Artemisia!" Freya called, running over to the girl and stepping carefully over a few bodies to do so. "What the hell was that?"
"Oh, just a little bit of poison gas. I hope you didn't breath in too much of it," Artemisia said. Freya narrowed her eyes at her as she gave her a lopsided grin.
-/-
Name: ARTEMISIA EURUS WYONNA
Quirk: IN AND OUT
As a result of a mutation in Artemisia's lungs, she has the ability to convert gas which she inhales into any other gas upon exhalation, so long as the materials to produce it are both present in the air and known to Artemisia. This quirk has the useful side-effect of increasing Artemisia's lung capacity and giving her an immunity to outside sources of toxic gas which can be converted into breathable air before respiration occurs.
-/-
"Whatever… Lexandra, your break's over. Come here and pick these collars up will you? We should be getting pretty close to fifty by now…"
The group's action was disturbed by the signs of another approaching figure, but this time of a different nature. Everyone could feel it, their instincts told them that whoever this figure was wasn't of any harm to them. Pained groans met the ears of Freya, who was the first to turn and meet their new company.
The grumbling and groaning they all heard, as Freya found out, was coming from another examinee, a dressed up looking boy with blue hair which was stained with blood. In fact, everything was stained in blood, up to and including the wall which he dragged himself along helplessly. The rest of the group caught on to this development quickly, and all gathered around.
"Who goes there?" Freya called out. Lexandra began to hop forwards towards him but was halted by Freya.
"Finally, thank god… More people…" The injured boy crowed weakly. He doubled over, retching up huge amounts of blood before slowly sliding down the brick wall and ending up splayed over the floor. The Undergrounds all looked towards Freya, who looked back at them absently.
"What are you looking at me for? Help him if you're gonna," She said, standing there dismissively. Lexandra immediately scuttled over to the boy but stopped just short of grabbing him.
"G-guys… can I have some help? I'm scared I might break him…" She said sadly. Artemisia silently came over to join her. The girl took a quick look at the injured examinee, which he returned before his head fell back and his eyes fluttered closed.
"D-did he die!?" Lexandra exclaimed.
"No, he's just fading in and out of consciousness. Probably has some head injuries," Artemisia said. She took a deep breath, held it in for a moment and then hung her mouth open. A bank of pale blue gas rolled out from it and tumbled lightly onto the floor, encircling their heels. The gas reached the boy's lips and began to creep into his mouth. Not a moment later his eyes shot open and he threw himself up, gasping and jittering energetically.
"What is this stuff? It looks like cotton candy," Said Lexandra, trying to scoop some of the sapphire-coloured smoke into her mouth.
"Don't inhale too much of that, it's an asphyxiate," Artemisia scolded Lexandra, who dropped the handful of gas she had back into the cloud on the floor.
"But what is it?" Freya asked, from a safe distance.
"It's a mixture of some natural endorphins and nitrous oxide," Artemisia explained. The boy on the floor gripped at his chest. Taking a look at his bloodstained hands, he began to giggle uncontrollably. "Also known as laughing gas. It should keep him conscious and relatively comfortable," She elaborated.
"What happened to you anyway?" Asked Lexandra, peering into the boy curiously.
"Ambushed the wrong guy… One of those red collars. The rest of my troupe is dead, heads blown clean off, bodies reduced to nothing but mincemeat. I only got out because protective aura quirk cushioned the blow, but the bastard still launched me over a building. And, uh… that's how I got here, I guess..." The boy detailed, putting his arms behind his head.
"You seem pretty casual about that," Artemisia said.
"It's probably the gas. Names Reg, by the way, thanks for asking," Said Reg snarkily.
"Any time," Artemisia fired right back. Reg erupted into a disturbingly intense fit of giggling, rocking back and forth as he did so. Artemisia stood back a bit, mildly off-put.
"Thanks for that gas, by the way… I feel…. Heheheh… Much better now..." Reg said, stuck in a sort of delirious stupor. He stared upwards at the cave's ceiling.
"Well, unless you've got a first-aid kit stashed away somewhere that's all we can do for you," Artemisia sighed. "Besides, we kinda got an exam to pass, so we can't afford to bum around in this alley babysitting you," Artemisia replied.
"Ha… Fair enough…" Reg chuckled, swinging his head down.
There was a minute sound, such that only the mutant of the group could possibly detect it. The girl perked up, turning away from the nothing-in-particular she was doing and turning her attention to the wall which Reg was up against. She got up from her crouched position and began to approach.
"What is it?" Artemisia asked, commenting on her teammate's odd behaviour.
"I think there's somebody on the other side of this wall?" Lexandra proposed, placing her ear right up against its surface. "Yeah, I definitely hear some footsteps coming from back there..."
"Lex, what does it matter?" Artemisia replied, crossing her arms. "Probably just some guy passing through, its nothing to do with us,"
"He's getting closer," Lexandra mumbled.
"So?" Artemisia chided.
"Hold on, I think they-" Suddenly, some kind of blast of force was shunted into the wall from the opposite side, causing it to crack and buckle. Reg was knocked onto his face, while Lexandra staggered backwards, eventually falling to her knees as a drop of blood escaped from the ear that was just seconds ago right against the wall.
"Shit! Lexandra, get back!" Artemisia commanded, retracting back away from Reg. Lexandra complied in a daze, dizzily fluttering away from the wall and leaving Reg worming his way across the floor pathetically.
The ground shook as several more blasts erupted out in quick succession. They continued, breaking down more and more of the thick brickwork until a hole appeared, and a lone fist pierced through it, scattering dust and shards of brick onto Reg as he crawled away lamely.
Lexandra thought to jump back over for a second, but Artemisia anticipated her. She turned over to the girl just as she was ready to leap in, and she shook her head. Lexandra pouted and stepped back defensively as another round of blows resounded against the wall.
With one last blast, the wall came down, and a landslide of debris cascaded onto Reg, who yelped in pain before starting to giggle hysterically, his body crushed and pinned down by the rubble. The culprit was still obscured, their body only visible in silhouette, but his stature and demeanour clearly indicated he was no examinee.
"Oh… Heh… heh… He came back for me… heh…." Reg laughed weakly. "We're so fucked… heh..." The boy groaned. With a forceful wave of the hand, the billowing dust surrounding the criminal was dispelled.
He stood at only about an inch higher than the tallest of the Undergrounds, but his presence was an enormous, towering thing. It made him seem like a giant, looming over the group from above, his body drenched in blood-red light. The man's skin was a sallow light brown shade, with scars and pockmarks running all the way across it up to his face. His eyes were obscured partly by his thick brow and partly by his black, sweaty-looking, thin, matted hair which drooped over his face. As for clothing, it was a simple affair. A wife-beater and a pair of slacks, with overall straps that hung at his thigh. The outfit left plenty of room to reveal the criminal's smooth musculature, as well as what appeared to his most notable feature, that which was a symptom of his quirk. On the man's back, seemingly mounted on his shoulder blades, were two long flesh-coloured vents which terminated into a series of thick and vein-like tubes that ran all the way down the criminal's arms. To top it all off, around the man's neck, there hung a glowing red collar.
The criminal slowly reached down, clasping his thick fingers around Reg's head and pulling his limp body out from under the heap of rubble and bricks that had crushed him. The boy's laughter was nothing but wheezing now.
"You got away from me before. Not this time," Said the Red collar.
The undergrounds were totally stunned. They could do nothing as the Level: Red's fingers gripped tighter around Reg's head and he began to pull back one fist.
As he drew the fist back, there was a slight whistling as air was ejected from the vents on his back. Then, just as the fist had reached it's the pinnacle of its backwards arc, there came a sudden vortex of wind as the same vent voraciously absorbed the air around it, funnelling it all down the vein-like tubes of the arm with metric tonnes of pneumatic force. The punch was unleashed with explosive velocity towards its mark, the impact sending a gust of wind which staggered each of the Undergrounds. Reginald's quirk did all it could, the blue aura seeming to just a little bit of the force, but the punch carried through. He was sent flying into the air, his face left a bloody and mangled mess as he soared through the darkness.
"Did… did he kill him?" Lexandra said, a mote of concern in her voice.
"Yeah, probably," Artemisia answered, her voice beginning to tremble.
"N-no fucking way…" Mumbled Alex.
"He just… With one punch…" Remus muttered, receding into the pack.
The glare of the Level: Red turned to the Undergrounds. His dark black eyes penetrated them. They contained no emotion but murder.
"Who are you?" Freya said, stepping forward. The Level: Red looked left and looked right, and after determining that there was nobody else she could've been talking to, he piped up.
"Does it matter?" He said, his voice was deep and soft.
"Who are you?" Freya reiterated, taking another step forward. The criminal sighed.
"I'm nobody in particular," He said, throwing another punch in the blink of an eye. It was nowhere near as strong as his last, but even from a distance of three meters the sheer force which was projected outwards knocked all of the wind from Freya's gut.
The girl fell backwards, Alex catching her mid-arc and propping her up for long enough time for the criminal to ready another attack. Thinking quickly, Alex dumped the retching Freya in Remus' arms, who started to freak out and scampered back, the girl in tow.
Another wave of weaponised air was shot out by the Level: Red. It hit the boy like a bus, blowing back his jacket and nearly sending him off his feet, but the spider was more durable than most people, and he managed to find his footing again.
"Hey, have you got a deathwish, prick!" He cried, more pissed off than injured. The Level: Red stood silently massaging his knuckles. He had a pensive and thoughtful look on his face, as though alternating between daydreaming and sizing the spider boy up.
"Hey, Bastard! What are you thinkin' huh? Fucking answer when I speak to you!" Roared Alex, flying into a rage. The Level: Red sighed. His eyes narrowed, and his rage was unleashed, clashing against that off Alex.
The two stood off, staring each other down. Clouds of agitated dust still stirred at their heels. The criminal snorted, and Alex growled aggressively. Their eyes met, and Alex detected an ever-so-slight change of expression in the Level: Red that stood across from him. He felt hairs on his neck begin to stand up on end, which sent a cold shiver travelling through his body. A fear response… but, nothing was happening?
The Level: Red's attack was too quick to detect. He brought his fist up and down again in a time that Alex's eyes couldn't detect, sending chaotic torrents of air spiralling around the pair. Alex's danger sense activated with violent force, yanking him out of the way of the attack before his brain had a chance to process what had happened. The Level: Red's fist carried over the boy's shoulder and right past his ear, sending its power into the ground and blasting the cobblestones to dust.
It took until Alex had felt the complete effects of the criminal's attack for him to realise anything had happened at all. It happened so quickly, all Alex knew was that his ears were ringing and his head spun. His breath was short and ragged, and his tough outward persona was wavering.
"Even with a missed attack…" He thought as he staggered back a little. "Could do that kind of damage?"
A thin stream of blood emerged from deep within Alex's ear. He scrunched his face up and shook his head, covering his ears in a vain attempt to ease the overpowering stinging sensation. He had to put some distance between them. Now.
Alex drew his legs out and drove them into the ground with force, trying to push himself back. He didn't get far. The Level: Red had him gripped by the collar, and with a cold disdainful glare he pulled him down to his feet and wound up his other fist.
Alex could feel every hair on his body stand on end as a dark feeling overcame him. If he didn't block this attack, it could very well be the end of him.
Moving automatically, the six legs from Alex's back converged towards each other, arranging themselves into a lattice around him and forming a rudimentary shield. It was just in time to block the Level: Red's punch. It took all of Alex's strength to resist the intense force which fought against his guard. His six legs began to bend, buckle under the attack, but they did not break. The Level: Red's attack glanced off the thick shell, only blowing Alex back several metres and causing him to skid several more. Alex took a breather, there was some distance between them now, and his opponent thankfully seemed in no rush. Each of his six legs hurt like fuck, still slightly misshapen from absorbing the impact, but he was standing at the very least.
Alex refocused his efforts on the Level: Red, who had just now thought it prudent to react and began to approach Alex at a steady gait.
The spider boy ran over his options in his head. He had to find a way to close the gap in strength between them or he was a sitting duck. It only took him another moment of thought in order to come to his conclusion. Alex unfurled his jaw.
"I'll stick him down, just like with that fat prick earlier…" He thought. Alex's spinnerettes worked overtime as he drew his entire body back. His torso, and his head with it, then shot forward as he hocked an enormous globule of webbing into the air. It arced downwards and spread out as it fought against the perturbed gusts unleashed by the Level: Red's attacks, forming a meters wide net that cast a shadow over the criminal.
The Level: Red, glancing upwards and seeing the attack coming down towards him, drew his fist down to his waist. He crouched down, if only for a moment, and unleashed a thunderous uppercut which carried him a good foot into the air. The net was pierced in the centre first, as the air pushed against it. Then it began to whirl and convulse as it was overtaken in the chaotic torrents of wind brought about by the Level: Red's attack. With a second punch in quick succession to the first, the now once again balled up web was blown apart in a dreadful spectacle, spreading out all around on the wind. The Level: Red held his fist aloft as useless shreds of destroyed webbing rained down around him.
Alex was stunned by the show of force. He could feel himself starting to panic, but he was nowhere near backing down. Steeling himself, his mouth unfurled and his fangs reared themselves, firing a precise jet of venom towards the boy's assailant. Arnold had no reaction, not even flinching until the jet was in arms reach. Then, he drew back his fist and backhanded the venom into thin vapour, his gait not changing in the slightest.
"That's your solution to everything?! Just punching it? Asshole!" Screamed Alex.
The level red, summarily ignoring the cries of his opponent, brought his hand up to his face, examining his knuckles and the few flecks of acrid venom that clung to them. A slight gust of air escaped his nose in a sigh, and he reached down to his pockets, producing out of them a pair of ancient-looking brass knuckles. They were well used, worn and smooth aside from the occasional nick and patch of dried-on blood. He slipped one onto each hand in a slow and deliberate manner, taking some time to flex each of his fingers and to crick his neck. He began to proceed at an exacerbated pace.
Alex grit his teeth. He was going to kill this bastard, he was sure of it. The points of his six spider legs gleamed in the dim light. They jittered around, aching to pierce flesh. The wild blood fury that he had been barely concealing up until this point began to bubble over and escape. The boy's eyes narrowed and he bared his fangs, ready to face his opponent head-on.
Alex took one solid step towards his opponent and the criminal began to bolt forward. With a beserk roar, he strode mightily towards Alex, his fists trailing behind him as the vents at his back sucked in vast quantities of air as he went. Alex was instantly paralyzed as the Level: Red barreled towards him. The spider was entered into the criminal's death cone, and his full power was unleashed.
Again moving without conscious thought, Alex's legs came together in what time they had, encompassing him in a protective barrier. But this time it was in vain. Alex's guard stood no chance, as the criminal's fists exploded towards him in unison, his shield soon gave way and was forced aside by the piercing strength each of the Level: Red's fists. They shot straight, colliding with the boy's chest, the metal of his knuckles digging deep into his flesh. A spatter of blood escaped from his gullet as he was launched into and through the ground below. He came crashing to a stop against the base of a lamppost, thudding against it dully and bending it a near 30 degrees in the process. He had left a trail of dirt and upturned cobbles in his wake. He groaned slightly, all of that wild rage and power bled out from him, now he was simply scared and in pain.
The Level: Red again began to approach at a steady gait.
Alex was quickly losing hope. His body refused to move. Then, he saw some stirring from farther up the alley. Lexandra suddenly sprung up from the pile of rubble she landed in, and the scattered debris gently pelting his back was enough to give the Level: Red pause. There was something coming from behind him. Something hostile, and he need only turn around and-
The Level: Red hadn't the time to finish his thought, let alone throw a punch before Lexandra was on top of him. She unleashed an attack of her own. The Level: Red was halfway through bringing his arm around when her fist met with the criminal's elbow, the angular geometry of her shell digging into his skin and her incredible strength sending his arm flying backwards at a painful odd angle. The Level: Red scoffed, shrugging off the pain. One decent hit, so what?
The pairs next attacks came at the same time, and The Level: Red's fist met with Lexandra's, sparks flying as they clashed and scraped together. Lexandra's chitinous shell began to crack, giving way to her opponent. She winced in pain, pushing harder against her adversary, but he brought his other fist back around, swinging his knuckles backways into Lexandra's face and sending her careening through a nearby display window.
Alex should have felt dread at the prospect of his allies being eliminated so easily, but in reality, he felt relief. This was a distraction, and Alex wasn't going to let a chance like that go to waste. He unfurled his jaw, primed his spinnerettes and looked upwards to the skyline.
The criminal returned his attention to Alex just in time to see him shoot off upwards, a web slung from his mouth dragging him to safety. The Level: Red growled as he helplessly watched Alex perch on the edge of the building, clutching his injured chest, he gave a quick glance towards the Level: Red, briefly panicked and hastily shot out another thick string of web out towards the ground. The criminal's eyes followed the boy's projectile towards its point of impact, at the feet of Remus and Freya. They looked dumbfounded up to Alex, standing over the roof and staring down at them.
"Dumbasses! Get up here before he kills you!" Alex roared, his voice carrying all over the caverns. The Level: Red's eyes narrowed he knew the game now, and so did Freya and Remus. The pair both hopped up onto the web and began to climb towards the roofs, towards were Alex had been a moment ago when he warned them. The Level: Red wasn't going to let them get away that easily, however.
The criminal began to sprint over towards where he had been. Going low to the ground as he did so he covered ground at an incredible pace. Remus saw the Level: Red encroaching on them like an ambush predator and his nerves sent daggers through his body.
"F-F-Freya… Can you go a little faster? We're in serious shit right now," Remus stammered, struggling to keep his balance as the panic set in.
"This is as fast as I go, It's not like I'm a gymnast. Now shut up or I make you shut up!" Snarked Freya, wobbling as she progressed towards the roof at a too slow pace.
The Level: Red watched as his prey slowly escaped his reach and grit his teeth. There was only one thing to do. He clenched his fist and aimed his attack carefully as he approached at a lightning speed. Freya and Remus frantically scrambled up Alex's lifeline, but at the rate they were going, it was hopeless. The criminal knew it, all it would take was one well-aimed air-blast to knock them down, then they were his. It wouldn't even have to be an exceptional punch, just a good solid hit was enough to damn the pair. He lined up his attack, slowing his pace to steady his aim.
"Aren't you forgetting someone?" A feminine voice from just barely outside the Level: Red's field of vision cried coyly.
Artemisia appeared out of the darkness as the criminal was in mid-step. His eyes swivelled around just to see her mouth wide open, she cried out and gas billowed onto the Level: Red's face in an enormous encompassing dark yellow cloud. The criminal staggered back, spluttering desperately to remove the toxic substance from his system. His punch was let loose, shooting a blast of air off centre, shattering a window and rocking the web, but leaving Freya and Remus unharmed and unhindered.
In his pain the Level: Red cursed and began wildly lashing out at his surroundings, sending punch after punch into the cloud and whipping up a colossal torrent that tore swaths away from the mass of the cloud. What wasn't sucked up the powerful intake of the vents was dissipated in a series of explosive blasts of air current, again and again until in his vomiting and retching and tearing up the criminal purged the last of the gas from around him.
Eventually, after his punching had subsided, there was nothing left. No Artemisia, no Freya, no Remus. The web they had climbed up was cut at its upper anchor, stains of ink left around the area of the incision.
He turned around to catch a glimpse of the mutant girl he had dispatched earlier climbing her way up the wall. She noticed him and hopped up onto the roof quickly. In his rage, the Level: Red launched an unruly airblast towards her which veered off course, merely taking a chunk out of the brickwork, leaving the girl unharmed as she scampered off over the precipice of said roof to join her teammates.
The Level: Red growled and huffed. Those damn kids had slipped right through his fingers. Still, the anger within him did not persist. Though he hadn't gotten the satisfaction of killing them, in their rush to escape him they appeared to have left precisely what he had come for.
"I can't believe we're not dead," Lexandra sighed in relief as she clambered over the roof to join her comrades in hiding.
"I wish I was dead. That was humiliating," Growled Alex, crossing his arms. Lexandra stifled a laugh. Alex didn't know how to feel about that.
"I think we can all agree that our encounter just now could've gone a little better," Freya said. "But we're doing okay, right? We got plenty of points, and none of us died,"
"When the best thing you can say is 'nobody died', then it probably wasn't very good, was it?" Sneered Artemisia.
"Well, she did say we have a lot of points…" Remus retorted. Artemisia rolled her eyes, exiting the conversation and slumping down onto her stomach, peering over down into the alley.
"Hey, you guys wanna spy on the red collar?" The girl asked. The others considered for a while and then partook at their own leisure.
Down in the alleyway, the Level: Red was left to his own devices. He began to stride off when an irritating blue light winked into vision down the corridor.
The source of the light was soon revealed, a scrawny midget with a slightly misshapen body and an uncanny grin.
"H-hey… You… You're 'Arnold', right? 'Arnold the Juggernaut'?" Came the snivelling, nasally voice attached to the figure. "I-I really admire your work! Y-You're sort of the reason I started myself, actually… Heh, it makes sense that they'd make you a Level: Red, no? I bet you've got a lot of tokens already. Hey! We should team, yeah? Having a couple groupies couldn't hurt, could it? It could definitely be a beneficial arrangement, whadya say?" The fanboy criminal babbled towards his idol as he slowly approached. The Level: Red turned, leering over the miniscule Level: Blue.
"Any tokens?" 'Arnold' muttered. The man seemed determined to keep his words to a minimum.
"Oh, uh, just the one. I swiped it off a scary looking kid while he wasn't paying attention. you see, he—"
Arnold wasn't in the mood for any more words, instead, he threw a lightning fast punch that struck the criminal square in the jaw, the impact unleashing a thunderous sound that echoed from the walls of the great stone cavern. In a horrific burst of blood, the man's head was ripped from his very shoulders and flew upwards, while the rest of the force carried through to his body, causing it to skid away across the ground at incredible speed, independent of it's now airborne head it scraped across the cobbles, leaving spatters of blood as it was wrenched and mangled by its own momentum, eventually coming to a stop as it splattered against a wall and slid down slowly, reduced to a pile of mincemeat. The head spun in place above the ground, hanging in the air for what seemed like an age, horror carved forever into its expression. It dropped from the air, cracking against the ground and spreading its fluids across Arnold's shoes. The collar, flying separate from the body and the head, spiralled down towards Arnold, who caught it without so much as a thought, crushing it in one hand as though it were nothing. He released his grip, and metal powder sprinkled into his open palm below, along with one pristine glittering Zoldyque token which Arnold quickly scooped up and slotted into his own collar. He spat towards his hapless victim, turned and walked towards the stack of collars which had been dropped by the Undergrounds in their impromptu escape.
"Hey! Those are ours!" Lexandra huffed.
"What are you talking about?" Freya said, peeking her head over the precipice of the roof. She saw Arnold, nonchalantly ripping their hard-accrued score to shreds and harvesting what meagre amount of tokens came from within them. "N… Nobody grabbed the collars?" Freya seethed, her voice subtly boiling over with rage.
"Not my job," Alex sighed, reclining against the roof. Remus shook his head vigorously and shied away from Freya's glare.
"Last I checked, that was Lex's job," Artemisia hummed, gesturing towards the bug mutant with a nod of the head. Lexandra took notice of the attention drawn towards her, recognizing by the fiery look in her accomplice's eye that this indeed was not the good kind of attention. She began blushing furiously, nervous laughter escaping from her mouth.
"Oh… uh… well…" She babbled, pressing two fingers together and looking down to avoid eye contact. Lexandra jerked her hand forward suddenly, Lexandra thought she might slap her and recoiled reflexively, but instead, she just lightly tapped the girl on the cheek.
"You know what?" She said, her voice having cooled down just a bit. "I don't even wanna hear it. No matter how much I'm gonna make as an assassin, I won't be getting paid enough to deal with your dumb ass. So from now on, where dumping your useless brain and using mine instead, got it?" Freya seared. Lexandra opened her mouth to object or say anything at all, but no sound left her lips. One eyebrow raised in surprise, the mutant girl tried again to speak out, but there was again nothing. She tried to scream at full force, but not even a squeak was brought forth from her vocal cords. She stood up from her kneeling position. The fabrics of her clothes did not rustle as they passed over each other, nor did her heavy feet make any sound as they clattered against the roof tiling.
"Freya, what did you do to her?" Artemisia asked, sounding more curious than concerned.
"I made her useful," Freya said. Lexandra whimpered mutely. "Now Lexandra, you never answered my question, did you. From now on, you're gonna do exactly what I say when I say it, and if I don't say anything, you don't do anything, ok?" Freya ordered.
-/-
Name: FREYA LYBECK
Quirk: SOUNDLESS
On contact, Freya can strip any object of its ability to either produce or transmit sound, making it totally mute. The ability will persist indefinitely as long as Freya is in close proximity to the object in question, but the effect gets weaker as she gets farther away. Freya can use this ability on herself freely. An ideal stealth ability, it makes any weapon entirely inconspicuous and can completely gut the enemies ability to communicate effectively.
-/-
Lexandra froze up. She felt a mixture of sadness anger and guilt, towards her reprimanding and at herself. With a deep, completely inaudible sigh, she gave a quick decisive nod.
"Good girl," Freya hummed, swinging her bat up to her shoulder.
"So uh, what do we do now?" Remus asked, rejoining the conversation now that the tense atmosphere subsided.
"Yeah, times running out and we're totally pointless," Artemisia grumbled. Alex grunted in agreement.
"Well…" Freya mewed, tapping her chin.
"Well, what?" Alex grumbled, opening his eyes.
"I may have a plan… but…" Freya mumbled, rubbing her chin contemplatively.
"B-but what?" Asked Remus, his eyes widening.
"It's a gamble, is all," Freya said mischievously.
"Welp, I don't hear any better ideas," Alex huffed, righting himself steadily.
"What about you Lex, you got any better ideas?" Artemisia mused, teasingly jutting Lexandra in the ribs with an elbow.
"So, uh… what is this plan?" Remus asked, joining the circle that was forming around Freya. The redhead's grin grew wider.
"That level: Red, 'Arnold the Juggernaut' they called him, if we wanna pass this exam then he's our best bet," Freya explained.
"I was afraid you were gonna say that," Remus groaned.
"You don't disagree though, do you, Remus?" Freya retorted.
"I-I… I guess not," He said, hanging his head.
"Then that makes you the third smartest one here," Freya grinned.
"Th-third?" Thought Remus.
"Anyway, finding the guy won't be a problem, with the trail of destruction he leaves in his wake we'll get to him in no time flat. There is however one real issue-"
"That issue being, even in a five on one fight he'd crush us without thinking about it?" Artemisia interjected.
"Ah," Freya said, holding one finger up at Artemisia "That's where the plan comes in," She continued, tucking a stray strand of hair behind her ears. "Everybody, huddle up. It's gonna take all of us to pull this off…"
Arnold was alone. After reaping what little he could from the Underground's stash of collars, he reckoned he had about fifteen to twenty of them rattling around inside his own. He sighed to himself, slightly disappointed at the ease of the endeavour. Once he started prioritising keeping the tokens intact things had gotten a lot less interesting for him. No matter, however, the ordeal was over. Now he sat quietly on a pedestal he shared with an enormous granite statue of somebody he didn't care about. He was left to his own devices, just the way he prefered.
Then the mist rolled in. He noticed it floating down from the roofs and encircling him, and he felt a twang of anger resurface inside him. He just wanted it to be over already. He breathed out the last of his tranquil state of mind and allowed the anger to take over for the coming encounter.
Arnold stood and paced slowly into the centre of the gathering cloud. In the corners of his eyes, he occasionally saw a flickering shadow of what looked like a girl, or a boy, maybe a spider, but he paid no heed to those spectres, only to the one shadow that decided to materialise.
A lone figure emerged from the blue-grey fog. One that Arnold recognised. It was the bug mutant from earlier, which had infuriatingly wormed its way out of his grasp. Lexandra gulped, she was again face to face with the Level: Red and his gargantuan petrifying aura. She steeled herself.
"Just remember what Freya said, I'll be fine as long as I do what she says…"
"It's you again," Arnold stated dryly. Lexandra just nodded, the mists growing thicker around them.
"Where're your friends?" The criminal asked.
"Around," Lexandra replied.
"Don't worry Lexandra, you'll be fine as long as you do what she told you to…" Lexandra thought, her inner voice reassuring her of this seemingly suicidal endeavour.
"Are we starting now?" Arnold asked, cracking his knuckles. Lexandra nodded.
There was once a time when Arnold was considered by all he knew to be a completely average, middle of the road, five out of ten sort of person. Ever since he was born he'd been quiet and solitary, paying no heed or care to anything. This isn't to say that he was bad, he simply coasted through life doing the absolute bare minimum required of him to succeed. He went through high school and moved on to get an associates degree in automotive technology. All throughout this period Arnold never had a single real friend or relationship, but he got a whole load of shit. Bullies and generally unsavoury characters would often try their hardest for months at a time to get a rise from him and beatings were frequent, but Arnold never reacted, ignoring them, walking away quietly from even the harshest beatings and bottling up all his emotions as best he could for what seemed like no reason in particular.
Arnold got a job as a mechanic at a completely middle of the road automotive practice and did the bare minimum to keep his job for many years, that was until he had one bad day. He was working on fixing a simple mechanical failure, and he had a wrench right in the inner workings of the car when he applied slightly too much pressure with his quirk and ended up doing severe damage. He was viciously chewed out by his manager, a man who expected excellence in all things, partly due to his mistake and partly due to the manager being sick of his general mediocrity. That was the day when Arnold snapped, for no reason in particular it seemed, all the negative emotions came out right as the man, in a frenzied cry of rage threatened Arnold with termination. It was in fact, the manager who ended up terminated. Arnold released his emotions in the form of the kind of brute violence that had been practised on him so many times, punching the man so hard in the face that his head flew off and broke the windshield of a nearby car. It was then that Arnold realised his purpose. He spent his whole life being mediocre at everything, but now he found the one thing he was exceptional at. He began his journey as a nigh-unstoppable killing machine with the manager, then he moved on to all his colleagues that witnessed the murder, then all his colleagues that didn't, then all the civilians who witnessed that, then all the heroes who came to stop him after that and simply continued on and on, a steadily progressing engine of death that didn't halt until he worked his way up to the top ten pros in the country, of which he killed one and was finally subdued by another. Being sent to the supreme maximum security prison didn't stop his tirade, either, he killed inmate after inmate, earning up to thirty life sentences while still in jail.
Arnold's mentality at this point in his life was simple. He discarded all the impulses that gave him no joy and simply replaced them with the actions that would lead to the most killing being done. He deemed that being part of this exam would allow for the most killing to be done, which lead him to the situation that he finds himself in now.
"I missed you earlier," Arnold said.
"You'll be fine… Just do what she said… Just do what she said…"
"This time, I won't." Arnold's attack came in a flash, a blast of air, shot from the hip, came crashing into Lexandra's gut and she was thrown back, her feet leaving the ground for the briefest moment. Words echoed in the girl's mind.
"'And Lexandra, definitely don't pass out or die or anything stupid like that, or the whole thing is bunk,"
"Freya…" Lexandra whispered to herself. "I know you didn't tell me to do this, but I hope you don't mind…" Lexandra dropped her arms away from her gut. Around her waist, where the attack landed, there appeared to be a band of hardened chitinous material, a large crack having formed over the area around her midriff, and shards falling off to revealed her completely uninjured skin.
"She made… armour?" Arnold though, balling his fists tighter and tighter.
"That's what I did when I was in a hurry, but I can do it a lot better…" Lexandra hummed. Arnold stepped back, gathering strength within himself gradually, he thought to let the girl use whatever useless technique she wanted. Lexandra took a more solid stance. She grit her teeth, straining all over her body. Scales of toughened shell began to spring up all over her skin, forming, arranging and hardening into ridges and plated encompassing her entire body. Soon, from head to toe, the girl was covered in thick dark black-brown armour plates. Her whole body protected, the mutant girl cracked her knuckles and put her fists up around her head, crouching down into a low profile.
"Well, if you're gonna hit me, do it," She growled. Arnold took it as a challenge. His next attack was felt before it was seen. The Level: Red sent the attack right over the girl's block and into the back of her head, sending it all the way down until her nose scraped the dust. The accompanying gust pushed it the rest of the way, as well as kicking up a sizeable dust cloud which obscured Arnold's vision of the carnage he wrought. Or at least, the carnage he believed he ha wrought. In reality, when the dust settled and the point of impact was revealed to him again, it glimmered flawlessly, not a scratch on it. Lexandra brought herself back up, sniggering as she did so, and Arnold felt himself grow angrier. The girl gave the Level: Red a light tackle, more of a nudge.
"You're gonna have to do better than that," She grinned. A left hook came next. It glanced off her arm and crashed into the gnarled geometry of Lexandra's faceplate. Her face was thrown around like a speedball as the attack landed, then the next then the next and the next. A torrent of wind encircled the pair as Arnold's fists flew stronger and faster. All Lexandra did was weather the storm, her guard kept up and her head kept down.
"Do as she said. Wait for the order. Do as she said…" The words whirled around in Lexandra's mind, distracting her from her splitting headache and the blood which quickly pooled in her mouth. With one last thunderous punch, Arnold stood back, staggering from his own momentum. He observed Lexandra as she remained stationary.
"Heh… How do you like that, asshole? My armour's unbreakable," Boasted Lexandra, perhaps a little too hastily. Arnold seemed to grin, though perhaps it was merely an illusion of perspective.
"Your left arm, outward ridge, sixteenth bump down," Arnold said, pointing towards the mentioned area. Lexandra's eyes darted over there, and she saw just the tiniest perturbation. A minute chip, right where one of the Level: Red's punches had clipped her.
"S-so what? That's nothing," She snarled. The Level: Red let his actions speak for him, sending a crashing into the same spot. There was a crunching sound.
"Crap." was Lexandra's only thought. A crack formed along the length of her arm and Arnold slowly drove his knuckle into the impact zone, grinding it against her shell painfully as he did so.
"Unbreakable?" He said in a sarcastic and dismissive tone. "We all break sooner or later, and I'm not gonna stop until you do," Arnold continued, his sentenced punctuated by the next punch, the first in another storm of unrelenting blows which exploded into her.
"Attacking me like that… nobody can keep that up forever… Freya, I know what you're waiting for now. The second he gives me an opening, I'll counter!" Thought Lexandra, the epiphany coming to her, giving her determination to resist.
"You gotta stop sometime, right?" Cried Lexandra, pushing herself harder into the storm of punches. With each attack now, a miniscule shard of her armour flew off and was caught up in the gust, or another crack began to form under the repetitive stress. Yet still, she pushed through it.
"You gotta stop sometime… right?" She said, but the punches didn't stop.
"You gotta stop sometime…" She said. Another punch.
"You gotta stop…"
"Gotta… gotta stop…"
"Stop… Stop it…"
"Stop… " Lexandra said, her voice trembling. Her blood began to dribble out of the grates in her faceplate. Another punch to the face, then the gut, then everywhere else. The cracks began to expand further, spreading out, joining up with each other and forming a single fault which permeated her whole being. Lexandra bit her tongue for as long as she could, but she could take it no longer and screamed, loud enough to give the Level: Red some pause. Lexandra began to stomp around dizzily in the minute breadth the criminal gave her.
"W-when are you gonna… Stop! when?! When's the opening?!" She roared, drips of blood leaking from the joints in her cracked armour shell.
"You don't get it do you?" Arnold spat. "I never stop, and neither do my punches. That's why they call me the juggernaut. Each punch draws air into my arms, and while the pneumatic force drives the attack, it also oxygenates my blood and regulates my internal temperature via cooling. That's why my breathing hasn't slowed, and it's also why I haven't even broken a sweat yet,"
-/-
Name: ARNOLD 'THE JUGGERNAUT' SCHWARZMAN
Quirk: PNEUMATIC
The vents mounted on Arnold's shoulder blades can intake large quantities of air. He can use this air to produce pneumatic force, oxygenate his blood and regulate his internal temperature. By carefully balancing these aspects, it is possible for Arnold to continually deliver his superhuman punches for a nigh indefinite amount of time.
-/-
"C-crap… There goes that idea. Freya… can I have the order now?" Thought Lexandra, too delirious to realise that her request met the ears of nobody. The Level: Red's punches began again, this time ripping shards of her armour and digging into her skin. She yelped in pain but strengthened her resolve enough to bring her arms up again. Arnold scoffed, sending another punch her way, then another and another an another.
"Lexandra!" Freya cried from the mists, her voice carrying over the din of Arnold's relentless assault. "Keep going!" She yelled. Lexandra's mind stopped. Her armour was in crumbles, her body was near broken and her will was close to shattering, but with that simple cry she persisted doggedly, simply because it was what she had been told was right. The barrage of punches from Arnold showed no sign of stopping even as they cracked her bones to bits and tore chunks of flesh away from her. She stood firm against anything Arnold threw at her. Anything except for Arnold's final blow. It was of course, not intended to be the final blow, Arnold would have kept punching forever to reach this point. He had simply broken down her defence with the previous punch, and now with her vitals exposed, there was only one place where he knew to go. Right for the head.
His final attack shot through the air leaving a trail of mist behind it. The force collided with her head, dazing her completely for a moment until the momentum began to carry through. The bug girl's face contorted as her head was pushed back in slowed down time, her neck stretched back and back and back some more until it could take no more stress and finally her head was torn from it's resting place. Her now decapitated head careened through the air, leaving a trail of blood behind it. It landed, rolling for a little while until it's hair rest over her still expression.
The fog had cleared, and the Undergrounds were left standing in a loose group aside from the battle, their cover blown. The body that Lexandra's head left behind still stood there, frozen in its defensive stance even as Arnold spat and turned away, advancing towards the rest of the Undergrounds with an aura of pure senseless violence radiating off him.
"F-Freya… what do we do now?" Remus stammered. With their final hope summarily shattered before him, primal fear began to enter into his psyche
"I can't believe it… I kinda liked that girl…" Alex muttered in disbelief, but Freya just grinned. As Arnold's footsteps grew closer and louder, her grin grew wider and her laughter grew more resounding. Arnold stopped.
"You're the first person who's laughed when they saw me coming…" He said in his neutral tone, a tone which suppressed mountains of raw killing intent. "Gone delirious or something?"
"Lexandra, do it now!" Freya commanded, to the utter shock of everyone in the vicinity. To the further shock of everyone else, and to the maximum shock which Arnold could muster within himself in the brief time in which he could react, Lexandra's decapitated head replied.
"Finally!" She said with glee, her body springing into action. It charged at Arnold, the defensive stance forgotten and replaced with a singular desire to move forward. Its wings spread and fluttered violently, increasing her speed with a powerful gust of wind that cleared Artemissia's thickest fog. Arnold hadn't the time to turn around before Lexandra's headless body was right over him.
-/-
Name: LEXANDRA MERIAN
Quirk: BLATTODEA
Lexandra's status as a mutant allows her all of the abilities of a cockroach, including the usual upscaled strength and speed that comes with any mutant, she has a plethora of unique abilities among which are flight and the ability to survive for up to twenty-four hours without her head attached to her body.
-/-
"Gotcha!" Mewed Lexandra as she grabbed the Level: Red by the arms. She twisted them around to his back, bending them around and intertwining them with her own until she reached up to his neck and wrapped them around. The Level: Red was thoroughly locked in place, any movement he ordered in his appendages simply sending them closer to snapping right off.
"W-what the hell!" Arnold cried in an uncharacteristic burst of emotion. This lingering, dark feeling was not something he had felt in a long time, not since that run-in with those two pro heroes years ago. Was it… defeat?
Arnold began to intake as much air as he could, the vents on his shoulders roared but sputtered after a while. Lexandra's grip around his arms tightened even further, her monstrous strength pushing all of the air out of them manually.
"Arnold…" Freya began, speaking to the panicked Level: Red in a demeaning tone. "I suppose it's a stroke of fortune that all you strong silent types are so predictable. You see a decapitated head and you just assume victory. Not that it matters, anyway. Without airflow into your arms, Lexandra can overpower you without contest," She beamed nefariously.
"Let go of me! Bitch! I'll kill you! I'll kill all of you! I won't stop! I'll never stop!" He cried in rage, flailing as best he could. The grip Lexandra had around him had long since broken his arms and totally blocked the airflow, now she simply had him restrained. Lexandra's cockroach wings buzzed as Arnold was slowly lifted into the air.
"I think it's time we began phase two of the kill plan, don't you think so, Lexandra?" Freya said, nursing her metal bat.
"Agreed," Said the cockroach girl, mustering up as sinister a look as her cute and innocent looking face could muster.
"And you, Alex?" Freya said, turning to the Spider mutant. He nodded, and the two mutants sprung into action at once. Lexandra first flew high into the air, higher than she needed too, and she dove back down, looping around for flair or for her own amusement as she dove at intense speed towards the site of Alex's creation. From a nearby lamppost, he had made something with his incredibly tensile silk, something that just now Arnold's neck slipped into as Lexandra flew past. The air caught up with Lexandra, shooting past Arnold as he hung in place, and just as Alex pulled the other end of his creation, Arnold was both yanked into the sky and blown back by the force of the wind.
The noose which Alex had crafted tightened around Arnold's neck just as he realised what was happening, he choked and yanked at the thing all he could until the g-forces of him flying all the way around the post and back down to his starting position glued his arms to his sides. With his neck already broken and the life draining from him quickly, Freya met him at the bottom of the loop, bat in hand.
She swung out, timing her attack perfectly to where Arnold struck it with more force than she had struck him. The blow landed right in the spine, and it was enough to snap Alex's noose and send Arnold flying right into the blades of Remus, who had been lying in wait. The ink slashed at his entire body, leaving streaking wounds across him, slicing his tendons cleanly and slicing his vents off at the base.
The final blow was dealt by Lexandra, who had looped back to meet Arnold with her most solid punch. Struck squarely in the chest, Arnold flew back at great speed, screeching to a halt as he collided with a pile of mincemeat that he made himself earlier. The battle was over, and with a resounding and humiliating finish, the Undergrounds claimed victory. They gathered together, congratulatory gestures flying around them.
Arnold was left on his knees as the undergrounds celebrated their victory. Blood dripped down from his chin and his dark greasy hair drooped over his eyes. He grit his teeth, trying to fight to his feet, but any and all attempts to move simply sent daggers of pain through his body and spurts of blood from his copious wounds. His tendons had been cut to bits, and with a last fruitless effort the killer exhaled and sunk down, seemingly accepting his fate.
"Guys! We got him!" Squeeled Lexandra, hopping gleefully with her detached head held under her arm.
"Hey, can you like, re-attach that? Shit's freaky…" Alex grumbled, averting his eyes.
"But… uh… Freya?" Lexandra asked, biding by her teammate's request and popping her head back onto her neck. As soon as the two made contact, a burst of tissue growth re-attached them leaving only a grisly scar around the circumference.
"What is it?" The redhead replied.
"You were banking on him knocking my head off like that weren't you? But Its not like I ever told you it could come off, so how did you know?" The cockroach girl asked.
"Just a hunch," Freya shrugged.
"Wait, you're telling me we risked this whole exam and our own fucking lives on your hunch?" Cried Alex, becoming quickly hostile.
"Well, I did say it was a gamble, didn't I?" She grinned.
"You coulda just asked…" Lexandra pouted.
"Where's the fun in that?" Freya cackled, her eyes glinting with mischief.
"Hey… You…" Came suddenly the stern, quiet voice of Arnold. It sent chills up the spines of the Undergrounds, who all turned to face the injured Level: Red. His body was immobile, damaged beyond repair, and yet his malefic aura still flared, crashing against the examinees terrifyingly. He lifted his head to them. "What are you waiting for? Kill me already," He said, his lips barely moving. His eyes burned with anguish.
"What? You want us to do it or something, dumbass?" Alex spat at the Level: Red. His head sunk back down as the undergrounds approached, encircling around him. There was a long silence as Freya brandished her bat, wiping off some of the blood and staining her shorts in the process.
"I've been ready since the start. Just do it already," Arnold growled, his voice becoming more gruff and haggard as his stamina drained away. He glared at Freya as if directing his last words towards her. She didn't seem moved.
"Yeah, whatever," Freya said. Then, she brought her bat down at speed, swinging full force at the Level: Red. It collided with his skull, sending a thunderous metallic thud and the sound of cracking and splintering bone echoing through the cavernous test environment. Arnold's head was thrown violently around by the impact, the momentum finally stopping with his head hung back, eyes facing the ceiling. But the killer didn't die, instead, his eyes shot open again and he thrust his head into an upright position.
"Is that all you got, bitch?" He asked, spitting blood onto Freya's sneakers. Her eyebrows furrowed in rage, and she turned to her subordinate.
"Lexandra will you hit him already?" She commanded. Lexandra nodded, unleashing a resounding kick to the Level: Red's face. His nose broke and bent and his teeth flew from his mouth as his head was wrenched around from the force, but still, he lived, his chest gently rising and falling with his ragged breaths, and blood spouting from his mouth.
"Tough bastard," Grumbled Alex.
"L-let me try," Remus said, emerging from the back of the pack to right in front of the killer. The ink dripping from his right hand formed a slender black blade, which he thrust towards the killer, aiming to pierce him in the neck and through the spine. Not all went to plan, however. Arnold sprung into action, halting the blade by catching it between his teeth. Though he had by now lost almost all of his strength, the two still struggled for dominance, pushing against each other. The blade began to slice through Arnold's remaining teeth and dug into his gums before he managed to wrench his head sideways and snap Remus' blade clean off. Remus was thrown back in the process and fell onto his ass.
"W-what the hell?! I thought you said you were prepared to die or something?!" Remus cried, scrambling back.
"I never said I'd make it easy on you…" Growled Arnold, spitting the black blade out. It melted mid-flight, mixing with and dirtying the gathering pool of Arnold's blood. "Now kill me already, or don't you have the stomach for it?"
"So, do you guys want me to gas him?… or…" Artemisia suggested, putting her hand on her hip.
"You know what? Fuck this, I'm gonna end it right now," Alex said, stepping forward. Slowly, from the back of his jacket, his six bony spider-like legs emerged, their sharp points glinting. Arnold looked the spider-mutant in the eye, bearing down on the examinee with all his life's rage and fury, but it didn't deter him in the least.
"Six Leg Assault: Shredder!"
The six legs lunged at Arnold simultaneously. The killer suddenly lashed out, biting down hard on one of the legs, his teeth tearing near clean through it, but his grip loosened as the other five dug into his flesh. They pierced his chest, breaking through his ribs and shredding the man's heart and lungs in a flurry of slices. Arnold was held in place for a while, propped up by Alex's spider legs, but eventually, one last gurgling gasp of air escaped through his closed teeth. He slid slowly back along the length of Alex' legs and onto his back. His eyes glossed over, rolling back up into his skull. Arnold finally died, he died a slow, gruesome, bloody, painful death, not from his wounds (though they did help), but instead from suffocation, having choked on his own blood which welled into his oesophagus. The red collar that hung around his neck released suddenly, rolling across the floor, the tokens within rattling all the while.
"That's it then, he's totally dead now, right?" Artemisia asked.
"Gotta be. The collar came off, didn't it?" Said Alex, scooping the collar in question up from off the floor. "That's weird, it's a lot lighter than the other ones. What's up with that?" He wondered, tossing the thing around in his hands.
"Um, Alex, is your spider thingy gonna be okay?" Lexandra asked, pointing towards the leg which yet remained caught between Arnold's rigored jaw, colourless spider-blood gathering around the lips of the killer's stiff corpse. Alex, noticing this, pulled out his leg with great effort. The tip was bent and bloody, almost hanging off of the rest of the leg. The pain just then reached him, he doubled over, unleashing a long pained growl as he nursed the wound.
"Shit… Even dead… This guy is a pain in the ass…" He said through gritted teeth. Alex dropped the Red collar to the floor, for it to be picked up by Remus, who inspected it curiously.
"S-So… I guess this means we're assassins now, right?" He said, looking to the rest of the group.
"Mhmm, and it feels good~" Artemisia hummed. Freya began to laugh uncontrollably. She threw her arms around Lexandra and Artemisia, pulling them closer around her.
"Everyone," She grinned sinisterly "I believe this is the beginning of a very profitable partnership…"
"ALL PROSPECTIVE EXAMINEES, YOUR TIME IS UP, PLEASE GATHER YOUR COLLARS AND RETURN TO THE STARING AREA FOR GRADING!"
To be Continued.
A/N
Hey guys! Merry Christmas/happy whatever :D. Here's a present for you, I'm not dead! I sure took my time with this one though.
Surprisingly (to me at least, since they were dragging behind for a while), Underground ended up receiving the most votes after I counted the people who voted via PM. Unfortunately, a couple of votes went uncounted because of I had already started writing by the time they were cast, so I apologise to the people who were a little behind, but I'll account for you when deciding second and third place.
This chapter was more trouble than I had anticipated. Getting the character writing to a point where I was happy was more difficult without the same amount of chapters to focus on them as I had with the Phantoms. That being said, I feel as though Im more used to it now, so the next chapters shouldn't be as much trouble (or as time-consuming). If you have any issues with how I'm doing things or how your character was written be sure to bring them up with me, I feel like there's a lot of room for improvement and I'm unsure if I nailed everyone 100%.
Oh, and this might be a good time for a disclaimer. With how the story is developing conceptually and creatively, I may end up taking some licence with character's abilities. Quirks, in particular, are subject to some change. Nothing drastic, I won't change the entire spirit of the ability (If a character could say, breath fire, they aren't suddenly going to be telekinetic for instance), just fiddle with some minutia to open them up towards more application. This is gonna be more relevant in the coming chapters, so it's more of a heads up. If you have an issue with this, PM me about it and we can go over the sort of changes I'd like to make to your character (if any at all) and hopefully come to a compromise :).
Also, I changed how my dividers are formatted because the horizontal lines kept dissapearing for no reason :p
With all that out of the way, be sure to leave a review (or PM, if you're so inclined) telling me what you thought, and I'll talk to you in the next one :)