The buildings rushed by Samedi as she flew low across the city. Creative use of telekinetic fields kept the worst of the elements from her body as she sped toward the distant fires. A small part of her heart thrilled at finally being able to use her powers this way. The wind blowing through her hair, the odd feeling of weightlessness mixed with the pull on her body by the Earth. All of it made her feel freer than she had in a long time. Deep down another part of her reveled in the reach of her powers. Rune's telekinesis, Vite et Libre's pathing to create the fastest flight path, Trajectory's prediction abilities to compensate for any in flight hazards, and even the slight pull on her body as Badger's powers helped to deal with the cold thin air. It was an odd feeling to use so many powers at once, but it was a good feeling. It was like the satisfying feeling of stretching after sitting too long.
It was hard to keep focused on what was ahead of her, but Samedi couldn't afford to let herself get distracted. There was only one reason that the Merchants would attack the Boat Graveyard so brazenly. Her, they were after Samedi, and it was clear that they had no regard for who got in their way. Even blocks away she could smell the smoke, and soon an awful smell like burning rubber filled the air. Focusing her hearing she could make out shouts, some of pain, some of fear, and some in anger. People were dying, because of her. She focused hard and was able to gain even more speed out of her flight. In moments she was on the edge of the abandoned warehouses that marked the start of the Graveyard. Her first instinct was to fly in and crush the Merchants, but the fight with the heroes taught her that she needed to be more careful. She wasn't strong enough to take on many capes at the same time. Landing on a metallic roof of a nearby warehouse she took a calming breath and took in the scene below.
Samedi had spent a great deal of time studying the Merchants, and once she had enough power, they seemed like a good place to start to be a real hero. They were some of the worse the city had to offer in terms of capes, and unlike the E88 and the ABB, the Merchants were less a cohesive whole. They were more a lose network of dealers, pimps, and thugs united in only their inability to fit in any other group. Thankfully they were hardly the most skilled at avoiding capture, so information on them and their powers were easy to find. It didn't take much to figure out who she was up against.
The first thing that caught her eye was the massive tank, almost as wide as the whole street, which meant Squealer was here, along with the rest of the Archer Bridge Merchants most likely. A flash of bright white light caught her attention. Skidmark was lounging on the top of one of the treads, fidgeting slightly. Samedi guessed he was sick of waiting. Mush she couldn't spot but assumed would be nearby.
A loud boom broke up her train of thought. Looking, she saw a man in the distance throwing what appeared to be fireballs into one of the warehouses. A moment after the fireball was launched into the window, there was a small blast and flames poured out the broken windows. Screams followed the flames and people ran past. The arsonist himself was hard to read anything into. He was covered in what appeared to be a pile of rags, and his face was blocked by a rubber mask depicting a growling goblin face. That'd be Ghoul, leader of the Dega Street Merchants. No doubt Angel Dust was with him, though her powers would make seeing her almost impossible.
A bright flash from her side drew her attention. Around the corner of the street stood a black teen dressed in an old jersey and wearing little more than swimming goggles to hide his face. Deuce Deuce, leader of the Lincoln Street Merchants. It be just him and Knux since Vite et Libre's death. The man himself was occupied firing at the people fleeing the fires. He'd point, and half a second later a flash of light would shoot from his hand, punching holes in whatever it hit. Judging by the number of bodies he'd been at this for a while. Samedi dug her nails into her fists watching him. His face showed no emotion as he fired. Almost bored with the whole thing.
An old man raced past Deuce Deuce, who fired, but only managed to clip the man in the leg. He let out an agonized scream and fell to the ground. The teen watched the man slowly try to drag himself to safety, before raising his hand to point at the fallen figure.
"Please," the man sobbed. "I ain't done nothing to youse. Ain't none of us ever done you wrong. Why you got to do this?"
"Ain't about you," Deuce Deuce told him frankly. "Just wrong place and time."
"You an evil man. All of you devils. God'll make sure you get your due."
"Evil got nothing to do with this, God neither. It's just how it is." He pointed at the man and a small ball of light appeared at the end of his finger and second later an arc of light raced to the old man punching a baseball sized hole into his heart. The man was dead before he could scream.
Another teen raced to Deuce Deuce, his hands standing out against his skin, dark as coal. As he approached, the color on his hands faded back to the same tone as the rest of his skin. Knux finally made his appearance.
"Deuce, man, I don't think she'll show," he said trying to catch his breath. "We'd have found her by now right?"
"Yeah, maybe," from her vantage point she could barely make out the boy's shrug. "Maybe Skids got the wrong info."
"You think we should ask?"
"I ain't wasting my night here. 'Specially if I ain't gonna get paid." With that the two capes moved toward the others, stepping over the corpse of the old man.
Samedi could feel herself shaking as she watched the boys walk. She had no illusions about the kinds of people that lived in the Boat Graveyard with her. Most were likely no better than their killers. Not all of them were, though. While she never shared in their company she could hear their voices from her little grotto if she truly listened. A lot of them were just people. People that had a bad hand in life, or had fallen down a long road. The part of her that was Taylor Hebert understood that, understood what it was like to have everything in your life slowly slip away, and having the whole world seeming to look on with no more concern than a shrug. Now they were dead or dying, all because of a few punks who had more power than them decided to hurt them, and there was nothing anyone could do.
Until now, anyway. In that moment Samedi knew what she would do. These...monsters were not getting out of here alive. Perhaps a true hero would tell her that she needed to bring them all in, to be tried and judged, but Samedi wasn't a true hero yet, and tonight she was glad of that. Tomorrow there wouldn't be any photos in the papers of guilty villains being loaded into vans, no talk of prisons or trials, no heroes standing proud in front of the people that they protect. Tomorrow there would only be more blood, more nightmares of people screaming, more proof to the world that she was a monster, but tomorrow the world would be a better place for what she was going to do. In that, at least, Samedi could take some measure of comfort.
Creeping along the roof as quietly as she could she moved to watch the two boys approach the giant tank, and with it Skidmark. Ghoul was already there standing with his arm folded.
"You two find anything?" Skidmark asked standing on the tread.
"Fuck no," Knux replied. "Nothing here."
"Well keep looking. Bitch gotta be around here."
"How the fuck you know that?" Knux questioned. "You got a magic ball or some shit? Seems like this was nothing but a waste of our fucking time."
"That's 'cause you give up too easy. Shit man, think, Samedi bound to show and we got to get the drop on her stupid ass."
"You say that," Deuce Deuce spoke up. "'Scept how we know that gonna happen at all. How we know this shit ain't nothing but a waste of time. Or a trick."
"The fuck you say to me?"
"You heard me. You drag our asses out to this shit hole 'cause some tweaking fuck up says he sees Samedi walking around here. Then you tell us to start some shit just to get her to show and she ain't show. You know who gonna show? One time. How long do you think they'd let this fucking mess go on?" He asked gesturing to the fires. "Then they come and bust our asses. I bet you gonna somehow slip out in the fucking dust up."
"Is that what you think I am?" Skidmark demanded, voice low. "You think I'm some rat gonna let One Time do my dirty work?"
"I ain't just thinking it, I'm saying it."
"Well if you're so fucking insightful all the sudden why the fuck you not just step to then? Or is it you just wanting to flex nuts like some tough nigger and you acting all hard and shit." With that Skidmark jumped off the tread to stand almost chest to chest with Deuce Deuce. "'Cause last I heard Lincoln Street ain't nothing but a bunch of punk bitches. Always have been, always will be."
While Deuce Deuce's face betrayed no change in expression Samedi could see, his body tensed, like a tiger about to attack. If things got heated between the two of them, it'd make for a perfect distraction for her to launch her attack. Before they could come to blows however Ghoul stepped in between them.
"Look you two want to kill each other, fine." He said a slight accent to his voice. "Just don't do it on my time. Deuce Deuce is right about one thing. The cops and heroes will be here soon. I say we wrap up here and get a move on."
"Yeah," Skidmark said nodding. "Yeah, fine we get our shit together and take off. Next time though." he said pointing at Deuce Deuce.
"If you think it's gonna be that way, you ain't know nothing."
"Deuce, man come on," Knux muttered tugging on his friend's arm. "We ain't got time for this shit."
Whatever his reply was, Samedi didn't get the chance to catch it. Her focus became diverted when a soft sound came from behind her. It sounded like paper sliding across a wooden table, or...shifting sands. Eyes widening with the realization she was barely able to construct a shield behind her before it was blasted by a wave of sand. The sand curved unnaturally around the shield forcing her to create a total bubble around herself. The sand seemed to flow all about her searching for a weakness. After a moment it withdrew condensing into the shape of a woman. Said woman was tall, with a light tan, her hair was nearly as long as Samedi's own. Taking in the figure before her Samedi felt herself flush slightly. The other woman had forgone a traditional costume or any clothes at all, instead her body was covered in swirling designs. The other member of the Dega Street Merchants, Angel Dust.
"Mierda," the woman cursed. "She's up here!"
Growling in frustration at the loss of the element of surprise, Samedi shot her hand out at the villain. Lightning arced through the air, but hit nothing as Angel Dust dispersed herself back into sand. Suddenly an explosion rocked the area of the roof next to her.
"You hooked it too much," Skidmark yelled. "You told me this piece of shit would tear right through her."
"Fuck you Skids," a voice echoed from the tank. "This ain't exactly military grade shit I got loaded back here."
"Both of you shut it," Deuce Deuce ordered. "I'll deal with her."
With that he pointed up at Samedi's position. She barely had time to lunge out of the way before a beam of white light sped past. Pushing herself to her feet she watched as the area in front of her was rocked by another explosion from the tank. Ears ringing from the blast, she nearly missed the groan from the metal roof before it suddenly fell away, leaving her falling to the ground.
Catching herself with her telekinesis, floated the rest of the way down. The warehouse she had fallen into was nearly pitch black, but her eyes quickly adjusted to the darkness. All around her were the remnants of a squatter's residence. Crude tents and forgotten belongings laid strewn about. The people living here had likely tried to run at the start of the attack.
A metallic grinding noise drew her attention toward the loading bay entrance. There was another harsh noise, louder this time, then suddenly the door was pulled off it's hinges collapsing to the ground, the sound echoing all through the empty building. Light flooded in from the entrance as the Merchant's tank slid in, surrounded by the Merchants.
"Well well well, looks like we cornered us a shit head," Skidmark sneered. Samedi locked her gaze on him as his face grew less and less sure. "Ice the bitch."
With that the tank lowered its turret towards her, and fired. Samedi quickly drew up a barrier as the shell collided with the green wall. The explosion rocked the entire area and the area filled with smoke and dust. Eyes stinging Samedi tried to peer through the darkness. Suddenly the smoke became lit by a white light. The incoming beam slammed against her barrier, but unlike any of the other attacks the beam ricocheted off into a random direction. Dimly her mind started to work at trying to analyze the interplay of the two powers. She shook her head, she couldn't afford distractions at a time like this.
As more of the smoke cleared she could make out three figures standing at the tank. Her brow furrowed. Someone was missing. The remaining smoke and flood lights from the tank made it difficult to make out the who it was that was missing. She didn't need to wonder long, as the sound of something sliding across the ground to her left gave her a split second of warning. Throwing up a barrier on instinct she was just able to block a bunch of incoming debris.
As the remains of an old shopping cart slammed against the impenetrable wall her eye caught another flash of light, but this time she was too slow on the shield. Using her telekinesis to throw herself out of the way the beam of white light missed impacting her chest, still managing to graze her shoulder.
Hissing in pain she started to pull herself to her feet. A feeling of heat came from behind her, and she threw up a full dome to shield herself. Ghoul's fireball landed on the top of her shield and exploded covering her barrier in flames. If she dropped the barrier she'd be covered in flames, but if she left the shield like this she'd run out of air in moments.
There was a metallic grinding sound as the tank started to aim at her new position. To her left Skidmark was looking for more ammunition to toss at her. Between that and Deuce Deuce repositioning himself she'd be surrounded soon. She needed to gain more distance or else they would have her totally surrounded. Taking a deep breath of the last bit of air left in the shield, she stretched out her mind, then dropped the shield. Rather than falling on top of her the flames held steady in the air above her, with a flick of her wrist the flames flew outward.
Amidst shouts of anger and surprise from the Merchants Samedi ran deeper into the darkness of the warehouse. Taking cover she listened in on the Merchants. With luck they'd take the bait.
"...therfucking cunt," Skidmark cursed. "Just wait until I get my hands on her."
"You're going to need to find her first," Ghoul pointed out.
"Fuck you smartass. Where the fuck your girl get to anyway? She'd be able to find her."
"Angel isn't my girl, and she's around. She never liked closed spaces."
"It's a warehouse."
Samedi couldn't hear anything in response, so she assumed any response must have been non-verbal.
"Well fuck it. Someone's gonna have to flush the bitch out."
"I'm not about to run around blind though. I say we torch the place and catch her as she runs out."
"Fuck that," Knux responded. "I'm sick of this pussy shit. I'm gonna find her and bust her stupid fucking head in."
Distantly Samedi could hear footsteps heading deeper into the darkness. She realized that he'd be able to find her quickly. The attack from earlier had left her bleeding and the drops had slid down her arm leaving a trail right to her. Using her telekinesis to stop the drops of blood she moved quietly, hopefully he'd follow the trail and go the wrong way. Hiding in the cover of a pile of old rags she watched as Knux slowed his run down as he came to the end of the blood trail.
"Alright you bitch," he called to the darkness. "Where'd you run to?"
Moving into better position she raised her arm to take aim. Reaching out with her mind she could feel the weight of him with her mind. With a flick of her wrist slammed him against the wall nearby. Letting out a yelp, more of surprise than pain Knux tried to push himself up, but he barely had time to recover before Samedi raced towards him, her mind stretching out again. This time however when she began to pull against him he shifted most of his body into the same dark material that had covered his hands earlier, changing his weight entirely and throwing her hold of him off.
Quickly shifting back to normal Knux rushed up at Samedi. He was moving far too fast for her grab again with her telekinesis, and with the others still nearby she couldn't risk using her lightning. The solution seemed obvious, if a little dangerous. As Knux reached her position his fist lashed out at her, shifted into rock hard material she knew she couldn't afford to get hit. Tracing the path of his punches with Trajectory's power she deftly avoided each attack. Knux's face contorted in rage as he kept hitting nothing but air.
"Fucking cunt, stay still."
Samedi ignored his taunt and finally found an opening for her attack. A quick step to the side and she grabbed his arm at the elbow. With a thought the area she grabbed quickly froze to solid ice. A quick jerk of her hand separated the lower arm from the rest of his body.
"AGHH!" He screamed gripping at the stump. "JESUS! FUCK!"
Flashing her arm out again she slammed him against the wall, pinning him in place. As he struggled in vain against the invisible bonds holding him in place Samedi moved in closer.
"Let me go!"
Samedi wordlessly raised her index finger and pointed. Slowly she dragged her finger in the air in front of him. She could feel his skin and bone slowly cut apart through her connection to her power. Suddenly the cut met with great resistance, like trying to cut granite. He had hardened the skin of his face to prevent her from cutting. Smarter than she gave him credit for. Before she had a chance to think of a way to force him to change back she heard someone running towards her.
She considered for a moment. As it was it was unlikely that she was going to be able to get Knux to revert his head back to normal, meaning that she'd be unable to get at his brain. If he thought he was going to be saved though he might return to normal and she'd be able to get what she needed then.
Course of action set she slipped back into the darkness, and waited. Soon Deuce Deuce came around the corner. Approaching the body of his teammate he was eerily calm about it. His face betrayed no emotion as he crouched down. As she thought Knux returned to normal in order to talk to his friend.
"Shit man," he panted out, blood and sweat dripping down his face. "I can't tell you how glad I am to see you."
"You good to fight?" Deuce Deuce asked calmly.
"The fuck? Man look at me." He pulled the remains of his arm up. "Bitch got me good."
"Hmm," Deuce Deuce stood up looking down at his friend. "Well you had a good run."
"Wha-" his question was cut off as Deuce Deuce raised his finger and with a quick flash of light destroyed Knux's head and much of his upper body. Samedi growled at how callous the gangbanger was. They were part of the same gang, friends even, and he killed him the second he had become dead weight. All those years meant nothing. Trust, love, all of it wasted. He wasn't a person, not really. More like a reptile in human skin. He needed to die.
Raising up she reached out with her mind and felt her powers grip old shopping carts laden with what felt like metal pots. Flinging them off at Deuce Deuce's position they unfortunately gave off a massive racket altering him to her attack, allowing him time to dodge. Pointing at her he fired off a blast. She drew up a barrier to stop his attack and again it bounced off this time colliding with one of the walls off in the distance. He fired another blast, this time aiming towards the ground beneath her. Dodging this time she rolled away to gain more cover. Finding a raised bit of concrete she caught her breath, then stood readying a second attack she shot her arm out and lightning arced out toward the reptile. He barely flinched as he ducked her attack. Another motion fired off a series of blasts, each destroying the cover she was using. Forced out of cover she flung a bit of debris at him, one of the pieces clipping his shoulder as he dodged.
"That's it," he growled. Raising his whole fist at her his hand was filled with light. Then a blast larger than any he had fired at her raced toward her. She had no choice but to use a shield to block it. It collided right with the barrier and bounced off shooting straight up. There was a tremendous crash and pieces of the ceiling came falling all around them. Samedi's eyes were drawn up, almost by instinct, and her power, her first power started to ring alarm bells in her head. The building had been in poor repair for years, and all the damage in the night had done a lot to weaken the integrity of the structure. It was coming down, soon.
As much as she wanted to handle Deuce Deuce herself she really didn't have time. Turning and running she raced to the closest thing to an exit, the hole made earlier by on of Deuce Deuce's attacks.
"You running already?" Deuce Deuce shouted after her. Suddenly a piece of the ceiling fell several feet behind him, then there was a loud groaning noise as the roof started to shake violently. "Huh."
Samedi raced out the hole just seconds before the roof fell in. The sound was louder than anything she had ever heard. Dust flooded her vision. As she made her way away from the wreckage blind and half deaf she stumbled out into the open docking area.
A second later her back was slammed hard, leaving her feeling like she'd been hit by a firehose. She was knocked off her feet, and the blast shifted slamming down on her chest, driving the air from her lungs. Pushing out with her mind she hoped to stop whatever force was hitting her. Turning over she coughed violently. Her vision spinning she could make out two figures in the dark.
"I got to give the Puta credit," The slimmer of the figures spoke. "A hit like that would put down anyone for the count."
"Bitch is tough, I'll give her that. Still nobody is tough to avoid burning to death." The male figure, Ghoul, said as he lit a fireball up in his hand. Before he had a chance to throw it Samedi threw her arm out, the force of her telekinesis throwing him down the street, where he collided with the side of an old shipping container. He didn't get back up.
"pequeña perra estúpida!" Angel Dust shouted, transforming into sand again. Samedi could barely get to her feet before the loose cloud of sand sped past her. Each grain feeling like tiny knives cutting any exposed skin. Never had she been more thankful for the thick coat around her body. That however left her face open, and the sand targeted that area more than any other. Tiny cuts opened all over her face. After a few agonizing moments the assault stopped. She could make out the sounds of the sand spinning in the air to come for a second attack. This time she was able to get her shield up. However that was only a temporary fix. The barrier was airtight so she couldn't just huddle here forever. She needed to stop Angel Dust. She pushed out all distractions and started to think. As sand Angel Dust would be almost totally immune to any attack Samedi could use...though she still had all the physical properties of sand. Like being lightweight, light enough to be carried away on the wind. Reaching out with her mind Samedi focused, not on holding anything, but on creating a spinning force. Faster and faster the air spun creating a powerful vortex. Within moments the sand cloud was trapped. Unable to solidify as the wind sped about scattering the particles all over the area. Samedi didn't know for sure if the woman was truly dead or if that was something that she could recover from, it did however prevent her from being an issue now.
Dropping the shield once she was satisfied that the threat was eliminated she made her way over to the prone body of Ghoul, who was trying to desperately crawl away. A quick glance told her that he had broken his hip in the fall, along with a lot of internal damage.
"Aw, shit," he muttered as she reached him. "Hey, hey before you ice me, how about a deal."
"What could I want from you?"
"Information, I can tell you where Skids and Squealer ran off to."
"They left?"
"Yeah, little pussys took off the when they heard Knux screaming." Turning his head he pulled off his mask to spit some blood on the ground. "What do you say, deal?"
"I'll consider it."
"Cool, cool. Look they got a chop shop a few miles down the road. Fifth and New York. Can't miss it, the only place in that shit hole with the lights on."
"Thank you," Samedi said before pinning him to the ground with her mind.
"The fuck? You said we had a deal."
"No I didn't, I said I'd consider it. I did, and I decided that you don't get to leave. All the pain you caused tonight, everything you and the others did to the people here. All of you have to pay." With that she reached her finger out and started to cut.