"The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy."
-Martin Luther King Jr.
The group that Nicky had met seemed a little strange at first, but after spending a night with them and talking with the stylish hobo, it felt rather calming for her. She talked with him a while, trying to figure out what kind of person he was, as he did the same with her.
He asked, "Since you seem awake, what did you say your name was, kid?"
She responded with, "Oh, my name? My name is Nicky."
"Nicky, huh? Name's Michael, but my powers have gained me… less likeable names, like the 'Bone Man', or 'Bone Head'."
"Or the 'Big Boner'!" the hooded teenager yelled before laughing hysterically.
"Oh my, naughty boy you are Craig?!" the man in the plaid shirt replied before laughing as well, and giving a high five to the teen.
Michael dropped his forehead to his palm, before pinching his nose in irritation. "I swear, those queers." he whispered to himself. "Anyway kid, I hope you didn't understand what they just said."
"Oh don't worry, I did." she replied.
"What was that kid?"
"Others my age in the neighborhood were always watching late night cartoons. Meanwhile, I watched documentaries on the reproductive system before my father could share 'The Birds and the Bees' with me. There are also a number of reasons why he blocked almost everything on our computer."
"Oh,... I seeee..." Michael said hesitantly. "So, what kind of man was he?"
"I would prefer not to talk about him."
"Ok, it's cool Nicky, I understand. I had a shitty childhood myself."
"You look pretty good for a man living in the woods, and has had to avoid the D.U.P for some time. What's your story, since you're so persistent on knowing mine?"
After hearing that question, Michael looked down at his chest, and started to unzip his jacket. Afterwards, he pulled his shirt collar down to show the top of his chest. Nicky noticed a few scars across his left pectoral.
"How did that happen?" Nicky asked.
"Some people have a rough start, and some worse than others." Michael responded. "Maybe we can talk more about our pasts tomorrow. When you're settled in a little more, it'll hopefully be easier."
"Yeah, maybe."
"Either way though, we all have to go into the city right now. Gotta get some supplies from the city, and see if any folks need a hand with anything."
"Alright, I'll be ready in just a second." said the other man with slight excitement in his voice.
"Of course you're always enthusiastic about hanging around people who don't give a crap about us." said the teen in the hoody. "How can you stand them, Alvin?"
"Because I still have love for people even if they are ignorant and show no love. Also, you have to treat others like you would want another to treat you."
"That same ol' crap everyone wants to talk about, but no one ever does. Why should I do anything to help ignot fools who treat me like a monster?"
"You can do that, or just act like everyone else. Act just like the very people that you hate."
"Heh, whatever."
"Hey, you two done making out, because me and lil' Nicky here are ready!" Michael shouted at the man and teen.
The two arguing guys looked at Michael. Alvin stared with confusion at the bags that Mike and Nicky were holding. "You've already got the bags together?" he asked.
Craig got a little annoyed, and said, "I'm not a fag you dick."
"Well I'm not a pedophile either. He's just screwing around with us." Alvin told Craig. "And way to show kindness with your language."
"I said QUIT MAKING OUT! Let's go already!" Michael yelled at the foolish conduits.
"Ok, ok." Alvin said as he hurried to get his jacket on.
As they set out towards the city and out of the woods, it began to rain. Even though he knew her current form couldn't feel much, Michael decided to offer Nicky his jacket.
She refused the jacket, reminding him, "I can't feel anything on me. The rain isn't going to hurt my bones, so just keep the jacket."
"Whatever you say kid, but the weather could be affecting you." Michael suggested.
"What do you mean by that?" Nicky asked with confusion.
"You honestly look a little smaller than you did last night."
"I feel the same as when I met you guys. How can I be smaller?"
"He may be right, Nicky. You look closer to Craig's height now." Alvin stated to Nicky.
"Trying to talk more crap about my height, Alvin?" Craig asked Alvin with irritation in his voice.
"I'm just talking about how she was taller than 'Big Boner' yesterday."
"Watch it, Alvin." Michael said.
Looking toward Alvin, Craig told him. "She looks the exact same. I have no idea what you're talking about."
Alvin started to get frustrated with Craig's lack of acceptance of the idea, and asked the teen, "Why can't you listen when we try to point out...?"
"Hey, hey quiet." Michael whispered to the others as he kneeled down to sneak by the trees.
Both Alvin and Craig were quick to kneel down as well. Nicky was scared for a second, but then did the same as the others. The group moved low and quietly through the forest, until they started to hear voices. Michael stopped the group behind some bushes and rocks, then told them, "Keep your heads down.", as he looked over. He had a smirk on his face as he peered over the small vegetation. After a little more looking, he turned to the others.
Craig asked him, "Watchya see?"
"Three 'rock heads'." Michael responded.
"The hell are they doing here?"
"Who knows."
"Think we can take them?" Alvin asked in a nervous tone.
"They look like scouts, so they should be easy to deal with. Just stay on your guard in case they get reinforcements." Michael said.
Craig nodded his head towards Michael as he asked, "How ya wanna play this round?"
"Wolf in sheep's clothing."
"Cool."
"Let's do it then." Alvin told them.
The three guys got ready to fight the scouts, with Nicky practically left in the dust. Thinking they forgot about her, she tapped Michael's shoulder to ask, "What should I do?"
Michael turned around, and told her, "It would be best for you to stay here behind the bushes. I'm not sure if you can fight, and I'm not sure you would look very innocent with this… look of yours. You have to stay right here, got it?"
Nicky looked down at the ground, unable to frown, and said, "Yes, I understand."
"Good, this will be easy for us to deal with, so don't worry. Also, you can look from behind the bushes to get a nice view of the action."
"Ok…"
With that said, Michael started to sound like he was crying. Nicky got confused and was about to ask him something, when Alvin grabbed her shoulder and said, "Don't worry. It's all part of the act, Nicky."
After starting to build up some tears, Michael ran out of the bushes waving his arms everywhere. He ran straight to the D.U.P soldiers, screaming, "A bio-terrorist…! A bio-terrorist killed her…!"
The soldiers aimed their weapons towards him, with one of them saying, "Hold it there!"
Michael stopped running, put his hands in the air, and said in a tearful voice, "He killed her… my wife,... he took her…"
Nicky watched as Michael pointed down the street as if there was something to his right. Two of the soldiers, one male and one female, looked towards that direction and started walking that way to see if anything was wrong. The other soldier had Michael turn around, and bend down to his knees. He was checked over, mainly on his back and arms. Nicky thought he was likely checking for obvious signs of him being a bio-terrorist. It took her a second to notice, but both Alvin and Craig were out of sight. She looked behind her, and started to feel nervous with no one being close by. Nicky calmed herself though, as she watched the show in front of her come to play.
"What exactly did this 'bio-terrorist' do?" the soldier asked Michael.
"He… he… punched her face in!" Michael responded tearfully. He then shouted, "IT WAS HORRIBLE!"
As soon as he said that, a bunch of long, spiked sticks flew out towards the other soldiers. The female soldier dodged the sticks, while the male blocked some, and at the same time got two in his left arm.
"AHHHHH… ouch…!" the male soldier groaned.
"Crap! You ok there smart one?!" the female soldier asked.
"Holy…" the third soldier said.
While in that split second that the soldier was in surprise, Michael quickly got up, turned around, and punched the soldier in the back of his head. Nicky, even from afar, could see that Michael busted the back of his helmet. The soldier then tried to point his gun at him, but Michael grabbed the front of the gun to prevent it.
"Oh, damn! Just hold on a second here, Will." the female soldier said to her comrade on the ground. She then yelled out to her other comrade, "Hang in there, I'm coming!"
The soldier gathered bits of concrete from the ground, and used them to push down and launch herself into the air. As she leaped, another barrage of spiked sticks flew at her from the trees. The soldier attempted to dodge them, but did not realize that there was a bunch of wire that tied her ankles together. Instead of dodging in the air, she lost control, then got stabbed in the arms and legs. She fell a few feet from where Michael and the other soldier were fighting. It looked as though the soldier had the upper hand, as he pushed Michael towards the wall with a cluster of concrete. He then opened fire on Michael, who quickly got up to evade the bullets.
Sadly though, Michael is not a very fast person, so it wasn't long before he got shot up. Nicky covered her eyes as Michael got shot, then hesitantly moved her hands as the firing stopped. To Nicky's surprise, Michael was standing up like nothing had happened. She also noticed the soldier was struggling with his gun, right before he threw it in frustration. The soldier gathered a bunch of concrete shards from the ground, and attempted to fire them towards Michael.
As the soldier was about to launch the cluster, one of his arms was gripped by a rope made of wire. "Don't think so!" said Craig as he held the wire rope on the Dupe's arm.
"Oh my gosh." Nicky said to herself as she watched. "So this is how a real fight between the D.U.P and 'bio-terrorists' looks like."
The soldier was stuck in place, with nothing to do as Michael ran straight towards him. This time, not only was he going for the front, his fist changed a bit in shape and size. It appeared to be as solid as a rock, as it broke the helmet on impact and caused it to go flying in pieces. The soldier flew a few feet away, knocked out on the ground. The fight seemed all too easy.
"Damn man! You pounded that foo in the back and the front!" Craig told Michael hysterically.
"Hahahaha… Quit being a naughty boy, Craig!" Alvin said.
"Ya haven't got a chance in hell for that one!" Craig said as he somehow absorbed the wire that was attached to the soldier, each individual wire burrowing into the skin
Nicky became curious about how he did that with the wire, and wanted to go hang around the guys. So with the area looking clear of threats, she ran up to the boys to join them. She asked Craig, "How do you do that?"
Craig looked at her with a smile, and answered with, "Well, curious kid, it's just part of my power. My body can eat certain forms of wire, and it becomes part of me. In turn, I can use it like a whip and such. That's why some call me… 'chocolate whip'."
"Really…?"
"Of course not." Michael said. "Only name I've heard anyone call him is 'string man'."
"Screw you man. Always trying to ruin..." Craig said to Michael, before his attention was switched to a man on the ground.
"My leg… I think it's broken…" said the man.
The man looked to be in his 60's, and was in a lot of pain. It was apparent that his leg was hit by a cluster of concrete. He was on his belly, and wasn't able to move, or even see what happened to his leg. Alvin was the first to run up to him, and said, "Don't worry sir, we'll help you out sir."
"Huh,... you actually want to hel…? Ahhhhhhhh…."
"Calm down sir, I know just the thing we can do for the moment."
"Wait, what the hell is that?!" the man asked as he pointed towards Nicky.
"Oh don't worry, she's just a kid."
"Huh?!"
Alvin ran over to the female soldier who was impaled by multiple sticks in her limbs. As he got close, she told Alvin, "You damn bio-terrorist bastard. Once Augustine finds out about this, you assholes will get yours."
"Well until then, I'm going to protect people from assholes like you." Alvin responded.
With that said, he ripped two of the sticks from the soldier to get something done. After knocking her out with the sticks, he ran to the old man. Michael had flipped him over, with both Craig and Nicky watching. The man asked them, "What are you going to do to me?"
Alvin responded with, "I'm just going put a brace around your leg, and we'll take you to the hospital. Is that alright with you sir?"
"Sure, just hurry the hell up! Leg's killing me, you know."
Alvin got up to the old man, and snapped the two sticks to length. He set them on each side of the man's leg, then looked towards Craig as he asked, "Can you lend me a hand, 'string man'?".
An irritated look took form on Craig's face as he said, "You guys are all a bunch of dicks. Also,... no. I can't lend you a hand."
"So you're gonna act like a little prick instead of helping out?" Michael asked in an irritated tone.
"Screw off, I don't wanna help him out when there's not much wire I can help myself to." Craig told Michael.
"Maybe I shouldn't have helped when I had almost no calcium on me, and you started a god damn fire!"
"Alright, I'll help! Only 'cause ya helped me… I guess."
Craig got close to the man's leg, reached his hand over it, and concentrated on his hand. Wire started to form from his finger tips, and stretch around the sticks and leg.
"Does that hurt, son?" asked the injured man asked.
"No where as much as this leg of yours, old man." Craig responded.
As Michael said something to Craig about his smart ass remark, Nicky felt something strange. She closed her eyes,then opened them to see everything in a whole new way. Alvin, Craig and Michael all had a blue aura, and a strange yellow glow to what appeared to be their nervous systems. The strange vision faded, and Nicky wanted to try it again. She started blinking repeatedly, but did not get the same results. Then she thought to herself, "Maybe I have to concentrate more.", so Nicky tried to do so. She squinted her eyes tight, and concentrated hard on her surroundings. For a few seconds, there was nothing. Afterwards, she felt a strange pulse come from her body. It seemed like multiple figures were headed towards her direction. She opened her eyes, and turned around to see five figures leaping along the buildings. Each one had an orange glow to their nervous system, and a bright red aura. She turned to the guys as the strange vision wore off, and told them, "Something's coming."
Alvin looked at her with a confused look, and Craig responded with, "Would you all shut up?! If I can't concentrate,..."
"Hold on a second." Michael told the guys.
Both Alvin and Craig looked straight at him, with the civilian asking, "What is… ahhh… going on here?"
Michael then said, "I hear something strange too."
"Hey assholes!" said an obnoxious female voice.
"Who the hell..?" Craig questioned as he stopped tending to the leg.
Before anyone else could say anything, a huge cluster of concrete flew towards the conduits and civilian. While Alvin and Craig ran to dodge the attack, Nicky instinctively grabbed a hold of Michael's hand. "What are you doing Nicky?!" Michael said as he turned his back to the cluster to cover Nicky and the injured man. The barrage of concrete slivers made a big impact on the surrounding pavement, but seemed to have little affect on Michael.
"AHHHHHHHHH… Oh god, I can't be dead now! I CAN'T!" the man shouted with his eyes covered by one of his arms. He then moved his arm, and looked down at his legs to see what hit them. He saw Nicky with her spine over his broken leg. The civilian freaked out a little, then looked to his right to see the form Michael had taken. "My god, you conduits are freaky."
Michael looked at his hands, and saw that they were covered in a thick coating of bone. "Yeah, I guess we may be a little too freaky for our own good." he said to the man as he noticed that the armor covered most of his body.
"Stand down, bio-terrorist!" a D.U.P soldier commanded Michael.
As the soldier walked up to him, Michael looked at Nicky, and told, "Watch over him please." Nicky then looked at him with a non-existent confused look, with his request being a rather large order to fill. "Either that, or run your little behind off. I wouldn't blame you if you did."
"That wasn't a request you ignot bastard!" the soldier said before opening fire with an assault rifle.
Michael turned around quick, and threw a solid punch towards his chest. Before he could land the punch, the soldier leaped into the air onto a small building nearby. Along with that, two other soldiers opened fire on Michael, who started moving to draw their attention away from Nicky. The young conduit now felt she was in a strange position, with either defending, or running being her options. For that she had been through though, even with the fear she had, Nicky didn't want to run this time. The man was in pain, and it reminded her of when she was in pain. So she stayed, decided to look at his leg.
"Hey kid, while it would be nice for you to help my leg, I THINK YOU SHOULD JUST GET US OUT OF HERE!" the injured man cried.
"Sir, I need you to quiet right now." she tried to say in a calm voice.
"QUIET?! THERE'S SOLDIERS AND BIO-TERRORISTS FIGHTING! I AIN'T…" Nicky heard the man say before she began to ignore him.
As she focused on the man's leg, and removed Craig and Alvin's unfinished work, Nicky noticed the misshapening of it. The leg was bent in a strange fashion at the knee. She thought to herself, "Maybe nothing is really broken, maybe it's just dislocated.". She focused harder on the man's leg, and began to feel a familiar sensation. It reminded her of what she had done before. If she still had eyes, they would have been wide open with fear. It took her a moment, but she was able to move past it. At least, enough to focus on the man's leg again. Looking at them, she felt the bones like they were in her hands. Nicky tried her best to remember how the bones looked together on a skeleton model. As she tried to reset the placement of the leg bones, Nicky missed something. Her miss also caused a lot of pain for the man who started yelling slurs at her. Instead of getting too angry, she just somehow grabbed his jaw, and kept his mouth shut with his powers.
Craig tied a knot around a soldier's arms, right before knocking him out and telling Nicky, "Get a move on girl, I don't know why you're still here! Forget the old man, we'll deal with him!". He then turned around to help Alvin fight off two other D.U.P soldiers.
[Nicky's thoughts]
For how ill tempered and ignorant Craig, he did have a point. If I stay, I could put both me and this man in danger. Running feels like a cowardly thing to do though as well. I'm not sure what would be worse.
L2 Keep Calm And Help The Man
Stay with the injured civilian and try to fix his leg.
R2 Say "Pass" And Move Your Ass
Run away, and try to find safety from the D.U.P troops.
Hello everybody, sorry for this late ass entry. Had to work a crap load, and I kept hating how this entry turned out. Either way, I got you guys this piece with a karmic choice, and I promise another will follow soon. A real promise! Just to let all those who submitted characters understand, you may not see your guys or gals 'til later in [Part 1] or the beginning of [Part 2]. Either way, just wanted to let you all know, "I'm back bitches!", and I'm gonna keep giving you more on Nicky's crazy story. Same as always, CAJ OUT & PEACE!