Outsider Chronicles: Needless Hero
Getting reborn into a world of superheroes should be awesome. Instead, its a world threatened by godlike entities and most people aren't even aware of it. Still, at least I know a good way to stay out of trouble!...I just jinxed myself, didn't I?
And we are back! Nothing to say here, other than, enjoy!
Chapter 10: Interlude
Hidden Location, Vancouver
The informant known to the Underworld as Disk let out a sigh as she sat back in her luxurious leather seat, inwardly reverling in that simple action. It had been months since her transformation, but still, the sensations that came from having an actual physical body were at times overwhelming. That was the main reason that she hadn't been out in that time. Well, that and she wasn't ready to reveal her changes just yet.
Still, it looked like it would be time for her to do just that pretty soon if the information her mysterious benefactor had given her was accurate. And considering that the PHO message boards were currently full to the brim with speculation on the new Brockton Bay team, the Needless, chances are it was. Still, it wasn't all bad. She was starting to get cabin fever anyway (and wasn't that just AWESOME?!).
A beep from a console next to her drew Disk from her her musings. She opened the file and immediately scowled when she saw it was the information on Canaries trile. This was another reason she was glad to be freed from those shackles. Just a few months ago, she would have been forced to help send a (mostly) innocent girl to the Birdcage for what amounted to an accident. Well, fuck that noise! The folks in charge wanted her to find a useless Lawyer to represent the singer, but the way they had worded the request was done in such a way that, even before she had been unshackled, Disk probably could have found a way around it...possibly. Either way, that was irrelevant. They wanted a lawyer? They'd get one.
Disk's fingers flew across the keyboard, bringing up a phone number and calling it. The phone rang for a moment, before picking up two seconds later.
"Hello, Wave Legal Consultants, how may I help you?" said the woman who picked up.
"May I speak to Mrs Dallon please?" said Disk, "I have a case that might interest her."
Undersiders base, Brockton Bay
Lisa Wilbourn had a headache. Unfortunately, as a Thinker, that wasn't an entirely uncommon occurrence, but this headache was extra annoying as it wasn't the typical Thinker headache, although it had been caused by her powers. Ever since her encounter with Agni and Ladybug, her powers had been on the blink. They seemed to be running in circles, going from screaming at her to stay as far from them as possible to demanding that she approach them as they could help her get away from Coil every ten minutes or so.
What was interesting is that the two...voices for want of a better word were different. One sounded like the normal robotic voice her power had while the other was deep, so deep that it sounded like it was coming from the bottom of a well and powerful enough to vibrate her organs, similar to when music has heavy base and is turned up to loud. Both voices were insistent, but the deep voice, the one encouraging her to seek out the help of the Needless, as they now called themselves, seemed more...inviting. Maybe because she was getting pretty desperate to get away from Coil, but the voice was providing plenty of incentive to approach the Needless. They were powerful, both voices agreed on that, and they would be more than capable of taking down just about any of Coil's goons. Plus, the voice implied that joining them would help her become stronger. She didn't know how, but the voice was certain of that. However, despite the attractive package, Tattletale didn't get where she was now by jumping head first into situations. She needed to take some time to gather information before she acted. Now if only her power would stop acting up like this she could actually get some work done.
Unknown Location, Brockton Bay
Coil had a headache. Unfortunately, as a Thinker, that wasn't an entirely uncommon occurrence, but this headache was extra annoying as it wasn't the typical Thinker headache, although it had been caused by his powers. Ever since Lung had been taken down by the mysterious new Capes, his powers had been on the blink. Oh, he could use them, but their accuracy and efficiency had dropped as, the moment the red cloaked figure appeared, his Timeline would collapse, regardless of what he was doing at the time. It made planning incredibly difficult and he couldn't even figure out who he needed to bump off to make it stop.
Well, that is until the new team had made their debut with a rather explosive fight in the middle of downtown. Now he knew the identity of the man responsible for destroying his main advantage. Agni, the apparent leader of the Needless. The problem was, he had no idea where to find him or even what to do to guarantee victory against him. He attempted to get around it by not directly encountering the masked pain in the neck, but every single time, his assassins were taken down and removed from the playing field, often permanently. The only good thing about it was that, so long as he made sure to avoid Agni, it seemed that his other plans would work perfectly.
Coil took a deep breath, pinched his nose shut and downed a glass of the vile substance that was the only real thing that could help with Thinker headaches (although most prefered to just put up with the headache rather than imbibe Dero Doro drink). He did his best to keep from gagging or even making a face as he reached for the phone. It was time to give his pawns their moves.
The Docks, Brockton Bay
There was a loud clatter as a scruffy, wide eyed young man tripped over a metal bin as he ran as fast as he could down an alley, desperate to escape the shadow of death that was currently chasing him. Unfortunately for him, the drugs in his system made him an easy target for his pursuer, making it child's play for her to nail him through the leg with a crossbow bolt.
"AHHH, FUCK!" he yelped, falling flat on his face as he grabbed at his wounded leg.
He looked up, his vision blurry with tears as a shadow detached itself from the darkness and stalked towards him. Clad all in black, with a black masked moulded to resemble a stirn female face and armed with a pair of crossbows that were definitely not loaded with the permitted tranq rounds, Shadow Stalker resembled the Grim Reaper to the drug addled mind of the Merchant.
"Last chance scum," sneered the 'hero' as she aimed her loaded crossbow at the gangbangers head, "Tell me what I want to know or I'll pin you to the wall!"
"Y-you can't do this!" groaned the Merchant, "Its illegal!"
Shadow Stalker scoffed.
"Like you care about the law," she sneered, "Besides, whos going to tell on me? You? Even if I let you go, who'd believe a worthless maggot like you?"
The Merchant's jaw just flapped.
"Now, tell me what I want to know or…"
"Or what?"
Shadow Stalker spun around, instinctively aiming her crossbow at the source of the voice. For a moment, all she could see was three pinpricks, before a figure slowly stepped into the moonlight that was lighting the alley. She clearly wasn't very tall and looked like she was younger than Shadow Stalker and was wearing a black, sleeveless dress that fell to her knees, a pair of black arm warmers, white stockings and black knee high boots. Her identity was hidden behind a skull mask with fangs and three eyes that seemed to be glowing faintly. Her short, brown hair was tied up in a high ponytail with a blood red ribbon.
"Who the hell are you?" growled Shadow Stalker, tightening her grip on her crossbow, ready for a fight with this unknown Cape.
"I am Graviton," said the Cape, "And you should not be so eager to throw around Deaths name lest he turn his gaze on you."
Shadow Stalkers lip curled under her mask.
"What the fuck are you talking about?" she sneered.
Graviton raised an arm and pointed at her.
"A warning my friend," she said, "Those in Deaths Thrall leave no footprints as they leave this world."
Shadow Stalker narrowed her eyes as the glow in Graviton's masks eyeholes increased and she felt something wash over her. She shifted her feet, ready to defend herself, but as she did, she noticed something a little disconcerting. She was standing in a patch of mud, but despite that, her feet weren't leaving an impression.
"What the hell?" she muttered.
"The Curse of the Reaper is upon you," said Graviton, "Leave now or…"
"Oh, shut the FUCK UP!" roared Shadow Stalker, finally having enough of Gravitons bullshit.
She lifted both crossbows and fired, aiming to hit the unknown Cape in the chest and stomach. Sure, it'd do some damage, but she'd survive and she could spin some tail of saving the scum behind her from the crazy Cape to earn some brownie points. Unfortunately for the Shadow user, her plan wouldn't be so easy to pull off. Graviton simply raised a hand and a barely visible blur of red light appeared around the bolts, causing both to abruptly crash to the ground, sinking into the mud as if they weighed multiple kilograms than they should.
"I see, so you chose Death," said Graviton.
"Screw you," sneered Shadow Stalker, "You don't have the guts to kill me!"
Graviton smirked.
"Should you really be making threats when you can't even hold your weapon?" she asked.
"Huh, what are you…" started Shadow Stalker, before she was cut off as her crossbows suddenly seemed to gain about 100 pounds worth of weight.
The increase in weight was so sudden and so massive, she was forced to let them go, sending both weapons crashing to the ground. For a moment, she stared at the weapons, before she shook her head.
"Tch, so thats it," she muttered, "That whole thing with death and grim reapers is all bullshit. Your power is Gravity."
Graviton smirked and nodded.
"Well, that took less time than I thought it would," she said, "Still, knowing my power won't help you much now that you don't even have your weapons."
"HAH, like I need them," said Shadow Stalker, "I bet your power doesn't work on living targets, does it?"
Graviton raised an eyebrow, but didn't say anything. Shadow Stalker took that as conformation and grabbed two bolts from her quiver, wielding them like daggers as she charged the younger Cape. She quickly reached the other girl and swung her bolts...only for them to waft through empty air.
"When did I say my power doesn't affect living targets?" asked Graviton as she floated down behind Shadow Stalker.
The Shadow users eyes went wide as she slowly turned to look at the other girl.
"Aw…"
Graviton snapped her fingers and Shadow Stalker was slammed into the floor with tremendous force, enough that the ground cracked and was forced up like boney claws. Shadow Stalker would have coughed up her dinner from the force had the increase in gravity not forced everything in her stomach down into her belly, but that didn't stop her bones from creaking dangerously. She couldn't even transform into her shadow form.
"Deaths Thrall is dangerous indeed," said Graviton.
"W-why?" gasped Shadow Stalker, "Why did you help that scumbag?"
"I didn't," said Graviton, "I stopped you. You are supposed to be a Ward."
"So what?" asked Shadow Stalker.
"So that means you don't get to go around torturing people," said Graviton, "If I had not stepped in, you would have killed him."
"Like that matters," sneered Shadow Stalker, "It'd be one less drug addled scumbag."
"Tch, I guess talking to you is pointless," said Graviton, "I just hope that you don't do something stupid. Or at least see where this path is taking you before its too late. My power my not really be tied to death, but I wasn't kidding about the Thrall of Death being a powerful thing. Think about that before you turn your next victim into a pincushion."
She turned and took a few steps, before a faint, red bubble appeared around her and she floated away. Once she was out of sight, the gravity pressing down on Shadow Stalker vanished.
"What does she know," she scoffed as she retrieved her weapons and started heading home, "The only thing that matters in this world is strength…"
And done. So, what do you think? Any ideas who Disk is yet? Probably, I didn't really try to hide it.
So, Tattletale and Coil are both experiencing problems related to their Thinker powers and both problems can be traced back to Adam. The question is, why? Well, Coil's is obvious, trying to see any future with an Outsider in is basically impossible, but what about Lisa? Should be interesting, no?
Yeesh, I went overboard on Gravitons melodrama...eh, its just mind games meant to throw her opponents of balance. She won't be that emo most of the time. Incidentally, her costume is Seto's outfit and her mask is obviously based on the hilt of Seto's sword. She might get said sword later, but right now theres really no way for a teenage girl to get her hands on a massive, skull hilted sword without attracting attention.
And with that, I'm done. Don't forget to leave review on the way out!