[Nekoness]

Leningrad, 2049, July

He screamed. Like how a captured animal would, longing for freedom. The young boy stared out between the bars. His eyes were full of terror. Shaking the cage in a desperate, but pointless attempt to break it, he yelled in fear once more. But the roar of the crowd drowned out his scream.

The cage was carried rudely to the middle of what once the middle of the town and which was now a ruined square. They threw the cage down, roaring in excitement. Fanatic, excited faces on the sheep like mass of humans laughed, pointing at the cage. A young, scared mutant was locked inside. His long horns, furry body and sharp claws revealed his race easily. He was caught about twenty minutes ago, bleeding in several places. A hunter stood near his prey proudly and lectured something to the hungry listening crowd. His dark sunglasses shined under the afternoon sun coldly. The hunter smiled arrogantly, proud in himself. The crowd applauded him loudly.

A slow, terrible death awaited the poor prisoner who was blamed for all difficulties in those simple people’s lives. He was the guilty one, only cause he was mutant. He knew that they will show no mercy for him, which made him shiver with fear.

A shadow watched them from a window of one of the abandoned buildings, spying upon the scene, undetected. Jesse looked sadly at the process, unable to help the poor creature who was about to be torn apart. There were too many people, most of them armed and dangerous. And that hunter... there was something alarming about him; different from those she had dealt with before. Jesse was irritated, she felt uneasy only from looking on his calm, satisfied face. The only thing she could give the mutant was a fast, painless death.

Screams could be heard from his direction as he was carried on to be burnt alive. Jesse sighed and concentrated on the half ruined building that was close by, it seemed like it could collapse any moment. Its walls trembled, surrendering under the pressure of her powers and fell down with a loud noise. The mutant and a few closest to him people were buried under the steel and the stone in less then a second. "Rest in peace" she mumbled sadly.

[Anomaly]

Originally Posted by darksora

but a boy in the crowd was diffrent from the rest he wasnt cheering or laughing but was sad.

OOC (Sorry Sora, but you're not part of this. This RP is for members of The Masters club only. Not to be rude, but if all you can post for an RP is a single sentence then I doubt you'd have any chance of joining The Masters at any rate. I apologies if there is some confusion on this matter, but I hope you will learn from this to be sure to check the RP OOC section BEFORE randomly posting as you have today.)

1999 January 13 -

So...this is what death is like...

Conciousness but unable to move...unable even really to think clearly.

Just a few thoughts bouncing about.

It's almost blissful...

I wonder...how long have I been dead?

It seems like...forever somehow...yet not very long at all...

How very strange.

The rubble moves, and darkness is replaced with seering light. The sound of breathing through a face mask is barely audible on the edge of hearing, and a synthetic voice speaks flatly, without emotion.

"Another corpse over here. *static* What a mess... the contamination is already too wide for containment. *static* Roger, we'll load up the corpses and prepare to raze the area."

A sensation of being lifted aloft. Is there a heaven then? What odd words to be uttered upon his eminate release. He can barely understand them. they hold shadows of meaning that no longer seem to relate. Then something like a hint of heat...of burning, yet at the same time it is a cold ghost of a sensation. The light only grows more intense...and I realize it is because my eyes are open. I blink once, closing them, allowing the light to filter through my lids instead. When I open my eyes again, I lay atop a mountain of corpses in the most horrible, contorted array of death trhows imaginable. Is this not Heaven but Hell then? Oh had I not persued science so fully I might've avoided this terrible fate. There is a lurch and a roar as of some distant beast, and the corpses beneath me begin to shift and churn. Pulling me down...down...the unspeakable horror.

I flail my arms about, but still can't seem to move...and yet...I see myself move. A corpse-like arm smashes through a nearby cadavars face and the slime inside looks alomst as dry as the husk it occupies. Yet this is all...there is no feeling...even as I lift the arm...MY arm free and look at it. The haze returns...a deep purple haze...and the memories of the past day surge back with the force of a physical blow.

I don't know if I screamed then or not for though my sight was quickly improving my hearing lagged behind for some days. The desert didn't improve my recovery...and I have no memory of how I escaped the corpse chocked garbage truck or indeed where the old base had actually been located. I simpley picked a direction, and began walking. A dead man stumbling through the desert wastes.

[Shelus]

August 25, 2045 -- Moscow
"I remember this place being cold and frigid... oh well..."

Shane walked with his head held high as he marched on through the hidden barracks of one of the B.E. secret bases that had been stashed away in some underground tunnel systems of Russia. It was presumed that he had all the necessary papers in order since he was walking amongst them. To obtain these papers, all he had to do was show them his ability... and show them he did. This evidence was clear in showing that he is definatly a mutant of some kind. As the tall built statured man wearing a shrouded robe walked alongside fellow mutants, another man staggered up to him in blind rage.

You shouldn't be here you moron... you're one them... I know it, I can feel it. Why would they let you in here?
The man shouted out at Shane.

Shane looked down at the senial old man and laughed a bit. The others around him almost felt like laughing themselves until Shane had done so. They all looked at Shane and questioned him for a moment to see if he really was of the 'Pure Collect'. All Shane could do was eye down every single one of them... just to remember their faces before he would reveal his purpose and then send them off to the after life.

"If you really must know... Yes... I'am of the Pure Collect, and I have come to end your misserable lives. I have come to silence your existence. I have come to deliver you from your purgatory."

Each one let off a brilliant show of abilities as they tried to stop The Unknown Loner from his massacre upon the mutants. One could create and manipulate electricity, one could fly and wielded a scythe of some sort and another one had the ability to make herself invisible. They all failed misserably. Possibly a side-affect of learning that the P.C. was now using mutant infiltration units... although Shane was the only one... this would now be to there dismay.

__________________________________________________ _____________

A couple of years later, Shane finds himself tracking down a certain mutant in the city of Leningrad. He follows her scent like a rabinous dog searching for fresh rabbit meat. But not quite... the one he searches for has no idea she is being followed by him. He can only hope she looks down at him from her hiding place so that he can catch her at the moments whim. The girl he seeks is a female mutant with purple skin and orange like hair. He also seeks out one that he believes to be a mutant, although unsure ... an Albino one could say. But for now... that possible mutants location is unknown to him.

The day he decided to come here is the day he would exercise a little extra precaution. All swords would be at his disposal as would be his fists and his abilities that have yet to be brought to light by any... 'possible' survivors of his betrayals.

The town he enters is a beautiful scene filled with an anrgy mob as he and the crowd watch the mutant get burned alive.

Looks like I missed the party.

[Deicide]

{OOC : Probably not my best work, I'm tired and, if you listen to Lucius, coming down with an illness, neither is much of an excuse I know, but there ya go... *sighs*}

Wilderness, 2049, July

Dainty paws whisper over the landscape, miles have been eaten by this gapeing run already yet as a strange, greyish fog drifts on the winds, the ghostly beast draws at last to a full hault. With odd elegence a maw raised into the air, scenting for danger, scenting for kin, scenting for.. Anything that may give clue to the strange smokes origins. And it takes little time for that origin to be descerned.

Burning...


Burning! Fires all around, scaldingly bright orange, razor sharp edges whistle through the air, angry screams, chastisment from live long friends, they took everything she owned, thrown into those ever voracious flames, just beyond them a short and plumpish woman nurses wounded hand, fang marks obvious, blood glinting in the monsterous light and an almost primal hatred glowing in now decived and blinded eyes - the unnatrual anger of mother towards innocent child..


Small growls and yips escape into the vaste silence, the snowy pelted creature shakes on the spot, finally begining to snap her head to and from til the ears look as though they slap her own skull with the violence of the movement. A last defiant sounding sound, more growl that bark snaps in the frozen air,

NO!

That was then, this.. Is now.
smoke means fire and fire.. Means man. Yet she cannot shake the sense of fear, it rolls in waves along with the repugnant stench that seems so intenent on cloying her senses. With it comes the scalding embers of hatred, strong and overwelmingly clear despite the twinned pain and confusion that hide in amoungst that first, innitial tang of terror. Before she can truly think the action through the snowy-pelted vixin finds herself slinking foward, the curious origin of these foul scents proveing far too intregueing to simply walk away from.
It does not take long, the distance is relativly short and soon building swim into view, the all-pervading stench of Mankind assaults her nose but is a pleasent one compared to its ever more poinient brethren, terror and blind loathing. It is pups play to deduce that the majority of the habitation is almost deserted, everyones near the center of town, possibly at some kind of burning, for the moment a flash of anger at herself, she knows quite well indeed whats going on here but to admit it.. Too painful.
Regardless of reason, this all provides the perfect oppertunity to scout the place out in her animalistic shape that she may move with greater ease upon her return, keeping time there quick and negating at least some of the risk factor that comes from that ironically noticeble pale skin and hooded cloak. It dosent matter wether she plans to investigate the flames or not, her paws will soon stear her in that direction, she knows, and until then it would be best not to think on it for there is plenty of time before those old scares must be torn afresh.

Yet as she closes a new fragrance rises, one that cuts to the bone, pungent and almost painful. The aroma.. Of death.

Stopped in her tracks once more, the vulpine quickly drops in posture, hunkering down to the freezing ground as ears lay flat against skull, it is all she can do not to volcalist the vicious impulses that rush through her at such a foul perfume of blood, misery and betrayl. Tis the work of less than a second to trace there origins to the strange figure now entering the town. Agitated she decides it would not be wise to go near that one and chooses, instead, to wait until he has entered the towship before tiptoeing nearer, a silent shadow moving in this curious destroyers wake..

:..2-2-7..:

[Anomaly]

Originally Posted by Lover Boy

Hey guys. No sigs in the RP forum.

OOC ( Are you a Mod? Are you a member of the Masters? Ahh, as I thought...then please do not post in this thread. Let us hope you are as capable of correcting your own mistakes as you are at attempting to correct others.)

Memories...
1999 January 31 -

I had no concept for days then. If I slept, I do not know...perhaps all that took place between my death and ressurection was a dream. All I know is that the dream finally subsided on that most horrible day. My senses had slowly been sharpening, though I still could not feel as my flesh seemed to have all been stripped away and with it my nerve endings, I could see more clearly than I actually had in life, could smell and sense the vibrations of movment...and could hear the distant sounds of a nearby town.

Though my mind had sharpened enough to realize I was in dire need of help, it seemed to ignore the plain fact that I would be a truly grizzly specter to behold. Perhaps my concious mind edged around this fact, as it had edged around my lack of hunger and thirst as well as the fact that a man without any skin OUGHT to be a dead man, if not in constant agony. Either way, when I saw the first hints of asphault I was elated.

The fog seemed to lift from me then, its purplish haze had been a constant companion. I should've known what it was that I carried with me, but again my mind was not fully functioning, I think. I was awake, I was aware, and I was afraid...but the prospect of help was too good to ignore and thus it was obsessively followed.

There were screams, there was panic, there was pandemonium. Bullets, I think, wizzed past me...I would find out later some had actually struck me, but had done no real damage. All around me faces exploded into blisters and the masses fell down crying and writhing in pain.

An entire town died that day, in the space of only a few hours. No one survived. I believe that was the first and last time I openly wept over my plight. Understanding dawned on me then. I was hopelessly infected...a living pestilence set loose on the world. A grim and horrible weapon created by betrayers I had so loyaly served. I was now a product of my own hidiously malformed and subverted toil.

I spent the night there, lying out amoung the dead and dying as another just another corpse...WILLING it to be true. When a car of some poor fool trying ot escape his fate careened into a lamp post next to me I thought I saw salvation in the flickering flames of his wrecked vehicle. I climbed into that hell with him and set next to him as his body melted into the plastic of his seat. The flames caress, however, did not have the same effect on me. I had no knowledge of their heat...and as the flames subsided into smouldering smoke I thought to try and inhale the poisonous fumes. All to no avail...

So then drowning was a fools errand as well, as well as any other form of suffocation. I briefly considered dismembering myself...but what if each peice lived on after seperated as a whole? Such a ohrrible thought plagued my mind...of living on as several wretched peices of a single horrid corpse. The desire for self annihlation fled from me as I fled from the town. I aquired some rough stickes of cloathing, barely sack cloth but all that had been spared from the violent efluences and excreations of the disease and the violence of death, and made my way back into the wilderness.

I don;t know what State I was in any more, but it seemed I was leaving behidn the desert wastes...the pleasant vistas of mountains opening around me were no comfort to my blighted...and damned eyes.

[Nekoness]

She stood in the abandoned room, examining better it for the first time. Broken chairs, fragments of metal, plastic and some unrecognizable, ragged cloth pieces. None would guess that once this place was a successful, big fashion shop. A single, dusty photography, which somehow survived through the years of destruction, caught Jesse's attention. Jesse leaned above it, taking it carefully and blowing away the dust from it. The picture was old and dirty but a young, beautiful woman in a sexy outfit could be recognized. She had a fair skin, slender body and her hair streamed down her shoulders.

The mutant had no idea who was that woman but she represented the perfection of world Jesse would be never part of. Purple, ornamented skin and weird colored hair weren't so attractive. Most of the humans she met were scared by her unusual colors, founding her spooky. She wasn't exactly feminine or very attractive but in this very moment the woman was jealous of the beauty in the picture.

What you are doing? You'll never be human and your appearance will remind you the fact every day. Jesse frowned, the feeling of sadness overhelming her mind. She shook her head in anger and stood up. I'm a mutant. I'll never be a human, there's no point to ponder over it. Survival is the only option; I have to fulfill my mission. There no other way for me to live.

Jesse left the room quickly, leaving behind a torn apart photography of a once famous model.

[Shelus]

Walking atop the ruined buildings, Shane noticed a fox laying near the carcass of the burnt mutant. He calmly made his way to the bones and skull that had survived the fire and looked down at it with a smile. He knelt down by the skull and examined it carefully as he began to pat the fox on the head. He stopped however once a sharp chill shot down his spine. A feeling of one of his kind; the kind he had come to hate so much, could be felt near by. He looked at the skull once more and then the fox and began to chuckle a little.

"Hmmm... eat it while it's hot and easy to devour. I'am sure the marrow is nice and juicy at this stage."

His words would strike anger into any mutant that would happen to hear this. He got up off his knees and took a deep breath before he headed to his next destination. But before he would leave... he decided that he would walk around the town for a bit and see if there might be mutant near by. He figured that the collapsing of the building was more than war torn damage, even now he believes it to be the work of a mutant still in the area.

Shane walks through the damaged city streets in hopes to spot one soon. He checks around almost all debris of the destroyed city, every trash filled ally and even the woods outlining the city, but to no prevail. After a good couple of hours of searching, he decides to call it quits for the night. He makes his way through the city and back to the town square where the burning had taken place.

"I see your still here fox. Hmmm... suprisingly... you haven't made one attempt of gnawing on the bones. I guess I don't blame you. There are tons of animals trying to flee the destruction of this country, I bet you come across one every couple of hours."

He sat next to the fox and waited to see if anyone, or any... 'Mutant' would exit a near by building. In this attempt he caught himself several times trying to make conversation with the animal. He was obviously getting bored, or was he getting tired. Shane reached into his robe of shrouds and pulled out a thin Wakizashi blade and thrusted it into the ground, inches away from the where the foxes head been facing. He leaned forward against it and began to close one eye. He would sleep with one eye and wait with the other.

Damn mutants... hurry up already.

[Deicide]

What a strange man, a cold rage radiated from him and the all pervadeing stench of death, trechery and anger had all but dulled Artares senses by now. Yet, the more she followed him the more her confusion grew. He did not seem an.. Unkind man. Simply one who has taken up arms against that which, for reasons unfathomable to the shapeshifter, seemed to have earned his wrath. Wether by threat to his life or by breech of Moral grounds though, it was impossible to tell.

Following him, at a distance, she could not help but wonder what the man was looking for in this odd place. His words outside the town left the distinct and horrible taste of a mutant hunter, though in this form it was hard to see even a humanoid corpse as anything more than food, the familiarity faded and meat became simply.. Meat. She would not eat such things, but more from a forced sense of moral outrage and the thought of the disgust that would hound her upon returning to human form than out of any true or heartfelt kinship to the bipedal species. Indeed, this may be one of the reasons behind the small canines curiosity, for there is that about this one of the weary predator stalking an ever elusive prey..

Her eyes flash wider as he draws his weapon, tail flareing slightly, but standing her ground, more curious than afraid.

Not an Unkind man...


Light glances of the weapon breifly as it is driven into the cold, hard ground.

Watching him sheath it in the ground, the faux vixen finds herself faced with the sudden quandery of what to do next. The center of the town seems the most logical place, in this form it holds a grizzly kind of fascination and yet.. At the same time the thought of confronting a large number of humans is less that appealing in either shape.
Silently, not wishing to raise alarm, she moves a few steps away, lengthening the distance between herself and the stranger. True, he may not be safe, but its nothing she can't deal with or simple leave behind in raceing stride. And, on some strange level, such company seems better than being completely alone right now. At least in this ghost of a town.
Besides she reationalises to herself, this one moves with a very clear sense of purpose, as if he knows whats going on somehow. Wishing, as she does, to know whats going on with this town and the odd situation it suddenly seems as worthwhile to stay around him a little while longer...

:..2-2-7..:

[Anomaly]

1999 March 15 - Colorado

Months now have been spent wondering the frozen wastes. Snow and ice my constant companion, though I never feel the cold. My lack of thirst and hunger are now evident as I've lost track of time, with nothing to mark its passing. I sleep only fitfully, and when I awake it could be mere minutes or days since I've last been active. Since I've last even moved.

Yet here the purple haze abates further, and I begin to feel more liek a man again. My former life is gone, I realize that. For all intents and purposes I am dead. This horrid half life is perhaps a penance to be paid for past sins. But looking at it that way, why not spend the rest of my time here in the shelter of the snowy peaks? Though it may attract the occasional hiker, ranger, or ski tourist, I know the ways of man well enough to stay out of their paths and by ways.

Slowly, by degrees, I begin a process of healing. Though my body is beyond recovery, I may yet reclaim my mind. Every day I devote a portion of my time to meditation. The rest I devote to the construction of a crude shelter, for nothing is as comforting to the human mind as the comfort of a place that can be called your own. The rest of the time I occupy as a scientist would, though I normally only dealt with flora and fauna on the most basic of levels, I study the world around myself. In the death choke of winter in the mountains, there is still life to watch, and observe it I do.

Yet even as I heal my mind, my disheveled body develops a strange new yearning. Though food and drink are now completely forgotten to me as well as most of the other pleasures of the flesh, this yearning writhes beneath the pretext of my concious mind. The virus cloud...that living mass of cells I know so well, seems dorment at these temperatures. A hunger for warmth is born in me, yet I cannot feel warmth or cold. At first I try to ignore it, but it only grows as spring grows closer.

I am now convinced that this desire is born somehow of the virus itself. It makes a degree of sense, but at the same time I believe myself now completely mad. During one lonely night I extend my hand, and as I do I attempt to extend with it my will. A simple enough experiment..just to see. I must've been delirious...yet...I could swear the remnant of the purple haze formed a kind of psedo hand and streatched out from mine. It grasped a handful of snow and formed it into a little ball, then pulled back. In my hand now sat a small ball of snow.

This would require more experimentation...

[Nekoness]

Jesse stood in a dark room. It wasn't exactly dark with all the weak lights turning on and off randomly, but it felt dark to the young mutant. She had no idea where she was or why she's there. All she could is to stand still in attempt to stay unnoticed. For some reason it was important to stay hidden. She knew she wasn't alone.

The lights became stronger as they twinkled chaotically. Barely breathing she dared to squint down. Jesse stood on a thin bridge, black abyss surrounding the fragile structure. Scared to move, Jesse realized the lights are closing on her. She knew she have to escape before it'll be too late. A careful step was made unsurely. Another step. She might do it this time.

The lights moved faster as responding to her pathetic try, rushing to the mutant woman. They danced around her, changing their color to alarming red. Jesse fell on her knees in total panic. 'No, let me go. I wanna out. I WANT OUT!!" she cried out.

Twitching, the woman woke up from her constant nightmare. It haunted her for years, causing Jesse to shiver each time she woke up. The dream always ended when she lost her balance, falling into the hungry emptiness. Forcing herself into a sitting position the woman looked out the window. The sun rose shyly, revealing Jesse's hideout. She spent the night in an old car that stood between many other abandoned cars. A large cemetery of once useful metal boxes shined as sun raising above the horizon.

Jesse watched it for a while, relaxing slowly. Then she sighed, leaving the car. Stretching, the mutant walked around and sighed again in relief. She had no time to waste. A whole week she spent trying to track down a mutant she had to rescue, an young boy by name Nikolai. She saw his photography only once but could recapture it against her eyes even now. Her mission was to bring the boy to B.E. base where he'll be safe.

[Lucid]

Nikolai slowly walked through the alley way looking for food. He hadn't been able to find anything lately and his stomach was starting to feel empty. He stopped momentarily to scratch one of his large furry cat ears then climbed over a pile of rubble, catching his long sleeve on a bent metal rod sticking out from a large piece of concrete. As he pulled his sleeve loose, he toppled backwards to the ground. He stood back up and started wiping the dirt from his clothes, but then he heard something coming from a nearby building.

Nikolai peeked through a large hole in the wall of a nearby building and saw three people walking around inside wearing strange suits with helmets and carrying shiny little lights and long black metal objects. Nikolai pulled himself up higher so he could see better, but a brick had loosened as he was holding onto the wall and dropped to the ground. The people inside the building suddenly looked over towards the wall and saw a boy standing nearby.

"Hey you, kid! Get out of here! It's dangerous!" One of the men shouted towards him. Nikolai started to back away, but as the light from the flashlight hit him, they saw his furry ears and the men's attitudes suddenly changed.

"What a second. Look at him. He's one of those mutants. Get him!" the other man shouted, but Nikolai only stood there as the man approached him, roughly grabbing his arm and pulling him over towards the others where he then threw the boy to the ground. The men then laughed and continued to taunt and abuse him, kicking and spitting at him as he lay there. Nikolai wasn't sure what exactly was going on, only knowing that what they did to him hurt.

As one of the men was about to kick him again, Nikolai looked up at him in fear and pain and suddenly the man's foot suddenly burst into flames. Nikolai pulled himself away as the man shouted and cursed as he attempted to remove his boot. The other two men ran to his aid, but it was already too late. The flames crept up faster, burning him to death as he screamed in agony. It was during this time that Nikolai made his escape, quickly running as fast as he could from the building. He soon found another ruined building to hide in until the other men went away.

As Nikolai entered a dark room in the building he suddenly lurched forward next to the wall, squeezing his eyes shut as he brought his hand to his head. The pain was becoming worse, but there was nothing he could do but to wait for it to pass. Moving around too much was hard on his body, but nothing compared to the intense pain inside of his head. Blood trickled from his nose and dripped to the ground, forming tiny splatters in the dust. He leaned his back against the wall and slid down to the ground and in just minutes he was unconscious.

[Shelus]

He sat there... just waiting for a mutant to give out its hideout, but as he did... a slow sleep over came him as he gently slipped unconcious. Alomost instantly as his eyes closed, a flashback of old crept its way into Shane's mind.

That's how I got here... I almost... forgot......

August 2, 20??...
The fresh breeze of an air conditioning unit was most welcoming as Shane returned from his latest mission. (Knowledge of this mission is classified and dates are unknown) But upon returning, he would be greeted by someone in quite the fancy suit. This man came up to him in hopes of recruiting the young Shane. Unaware of what this meant at the time... Shane agreed to accept his mission. Perhaps he thought it would allow him to grow in rank... who knows? Later realizing that this man was an associate of the Pure Collect, his curiosity became a bit peeked. Upon entering conversation with the associate once more, Shane learned that his next mission would be an assignment taking place in Russia and that he would be laying low keeping tabs on events between mutants and Humans, but not to interfere.

August 7, 205?...
Upon his arrival at Moscow, he soon became well aware of his surroundings as the frigid snowy weather brushed against his cheeks. Unlike what Moscow might of looked like before the wars between Mutants and Humans... the devastating damage caused by both was immidiatly noted. What should of been a slightly warm day for this Russian climate at the time, was replaced with the shadowing clouds of smoke and death. Following his superior off the plane and through-out most of destroyed Moscow, they finaly arrived at their meeting point. Shane came over the quick realization that this tent would not be used for recon. Instead... battle plans cover every inch of the only table in the camo tent. Moments later, odd sounds befell upon the tent... sounds unknown to Shane. As he exited the tent to see what was happening, the tent was instantly incinerated and the ones that were in charge and still alive took charge with nothing but mere pistol and opened fire.

Shane felt as if he was sent here to die. He was lied to, betrayed by the man from the Pure Collect, and emotions began to make Shane a little paranoid as he fell to his knees in disbelief and pain. Looking around only to see the slaying of mutants and Humans, Shane regained his balance and walked towards his commander with a grin of evil on his face. Finding his way to the general, Shane found himself slicing a path through humans as well as mutants. Only feet away from the one he tried to kill, the commander soon realized that he was his next target. With only enough time to raise his gun and fire two rounds at Shane, he noticed that Shane had blocked both of them. Shane almost paused to leave himself open as he realized that something had brewed itself inside Shane's mind. But shortly after... he found himself with the commander in one hand lifted off the ground... bleeding from the humungous gash through his throat...

'No, let me go. I wanna out. I WANT OUT!!".

Unable to finish the rest of this dream, Shane awoke to the screaming of what sounded like a young female. He now had a close estimate of where to find his next victim as his face tiredness became lustfull almost.

About damn time. I was beginning to wonder if there were any mutants here. Now... time to take another mutant life.
Shane said aloud to himself as he pulled out another wakizashi.

After standing up from his one-eyed sleep, Shane walked battle ready to the building across the street which appeared to be the source of the shouting. He walked, still giving no hint of his ability, slowly and with ease as he only wanted to take his time with torturing this one first... mentally and physically.

[Nekoness]

Steps. Jesse froze for a second, alarmed by the unexpected steps. There wasn't any doubt' someone was around. The steps were slow and easy, like if the person enjoys walking for no reason. Slowly moving backwards, the mutant found hideout between the old cars, moving between them silently.

Jesse dared to peek out carefully, eyeing the surrounding very carefully. At first she saw nothing, but the woman stood still, not moving at all. Even her breath became shallow, trying to make herself unnoticed as much as possible.

Finally her patience was a rewarded. A gray haired man in a dark robe appeared in her sight. He looked kind of calm, an ordinary human male. Yet, there was something in his walk. It took her a few moments to realize she sees a predator before her. The woman lowered her head and crawled her way in the cemetery maze. She'll fight him only if she'll have no choice. Now it was time to flee.

[Anomaly]

Soldiers don't easily forget one of there own. Even in this age when genocide is applauded and death stalks just around the corner, a life of a comrad is a life of a comrad. Soldiers don't just go away...they come back with re-enforcements. Even so, the first thing the helmeted men do as they arrive is kicked the charred corpse of their once friend. It's because of him that they've been drug out here on another hunt for revenge. The same tired, flat cycle...but there is such a thing as honor even in the most hate rung hearts, twisted and black though it may be.

They fan out and search the nearby buildings. Guns were in short supply and ammunition even shorter. Black clubs shine gently under buzzing back alley lights before those holding them slip into the darkness of the buildings. They are slow, methodical...taking in every inch of the rooms they enter. This serves a duel purpose...if the mutant is strong enough to fight and get away they'd rather let it...if its weak enough that it has to hide, they don't want to miss it. Cowardice or bravery, its the way of these soldiers.

A small knot of them come upon the boy. Unconcious, blood on the floor, this is a scene all too familiar to these men and it brings a grim smile to their faces. This isn't one of the ones you let get away. It seems revenge was a dish they would get a taste of today. Young Nikolai has no chance as they raise their clubs to bash in his skull and break his bones...before dragging him off to be the next victim of the unforgiving mob.

Softly, whisps of purple mist curl beneath the noses of each man. They pause in mid heft of their weapons and then each collapse into fits of coughing and sneezing. Behind them a tall shape blocks out light streaming through the streaks in a grimey window. They are in the stages of convulsion now, vomit and blood pouring from their mouths and puss streaming from their eyes. Still, as they look up they see those gastly, milk white eyes beneath the tattered hood. Rags hang from a form engulfed in a strange glowing violet cloud. The man looks down on them, not with hatred, but with something bordering on pity...as one by one they die.

Without saying a word, he walks away, as silently as he came. Just as silently, every human in the radius of a few hundred yards start to die. A massacre of soldiers, slain on the cellular level in a battle that has raged now for some fifty years.

"It will be time to move again soon..."

[Lucid]

In his unconscious mind Nikolai could sense there was someone close by and he heard the voices of men standing over him, plotting something sinister, but there was nothing he could do. Suddenly, he heard the men began to cough and choke. Nikolai then came to, but he was still too weak to move. He was only barely able to open his eyes for just a few minutes, but it was long enough for him to see the hooded figure surrounded by a purple mist standing just feet away from him. The soldiers then began to convulse and collapse to the floor and then there was only silence. Nikolai then watched as the figure silently walked away, leaving him laying on the floor surrounded by the bodies of soldiers. Nikolai tried to move his mouth to speak, but the only thing that came out was a faint whisper.

"Papa..." He then lost consciousness once again.

Nikolai awoke hours later to the sound of a bird chirping nearby. He sat up and softly rubbed his eyes as he opened then while thinking about his dream, but as his vision became clear he saw all the bodies lying on the floor around the room he suddenly remembered what had happened and that it hadn't been a dream. The smell of the bodies made him feel sick so he quickly stood up and ran from the building, tripping in his haste and falling to his knees in the dust just outside. There was a small puddle by him and he peered over into it, seeing the blood on his face. He reached his hands into the water and splashed it on his face then wiped the dried blood from his nose with his sleeve, staining his light blue shirt with red streaks.

Nikolai then stood and began to wander through the town. He wasn't sure where he was heading, but he wanted to find the strange man from earlier and anywhere was better than back there where those men were. It wasn't long before Nikolai came to a street that was blocked by an old brick building that had fallen across. Because of his small size he was easily able to crawl through a small space beneath the ruined building and it wasn't long before he came out on the other side and as he pulled himself up from the rubble, he spotted a tall man wearing dark robes starting to walk across the street, focusing on a building on the other side.

The boy's furry ears twitched slightly as he looked over at the man. He wondered if the man was like the other ones that seemed to want to hurt him and he suddenly became afraid, only able to stand there in fear and hoping that the man wouldn't notice him.

[Shelus]

Upon walking up to the entrance of the building, a movement at the side of his vision caught his attention. Looking over his shoulder to see what it was, he noticed a child. Surely a child would have no purpose wandering the streets at a time like this. Stopping his original intent... he started to walk towards the child to get a better look. A look of fear befell his face as he remembered this face. A face from a mugshot perhaps... one of the faces shown to him so that he would know which Mutants to kill or catch. Although he was ready for most of the mutants to cross his path... this one was a bit different. The child had an ability that he could barely control and to Shane... that was reason enough to stay away from him untill he could catch him off guard.

Continuing in the direction he was previously heading... he walks through the building, only to hear a slight sound. Searching all around him as he stood, first he waits to see if he'll here another sound. As his paitence nears its end... he starts checking through every nook and cranny... yurning to destroy the source of the screaming. Nearing some cars that were supposedly 'parked' inside this abandoned building, he gets closer and closer to the scared girl that trys desperatly to stay hidden. Only inches away from finding her hiding spot... he hears another sound. An odd sound it is as it could only of been caused by force or slight error in movement, for several cabinets and drawers had fallen over in another room.

Nothing is seen as he enters the other room. The room is only filled with dust, cobwebs and some chairs that once outlined the lobby of this building... perhaps long ago... it was an Inn. Searching and searching this room, he gives up and continues to the previous area where the sound had originated. He seaches and searches some more, only to realize that what ever 'was' in there... is now gone. Shane looks outside to realize that it's getting dark outside. Another reason to pick up the speed on his search for mutants. Exiting the building... he looks over to see the child only meters away from him. This indeed has Shane a bit scared as he has no intentions of being killed yet. He now tries fevereshly to pretend he's just out looking for some lost family. He puts the blades back under his robes as he cautiosly walks towards the child.

"Hmmm... you know... a child such as yourself should not be exploring these streets at a time like this. You might want to head inside before more humans arrive. Understand?"

As his words are spoken, he wonders if the boy can even understand what he has just told him. He lets on to know that the boy is a mutant and also lets on to make the kid believe he himself is a mutant... in hopes of gaining the childs trust. Shane then walks off to check other buildings as he leaves the kid behind...

please don't follow me... please do not follow me...
he whispers to himself in fear...

[Nekoness]

"Hmmm... you know... a child such as yourself should not be exploring these streets at a time like this. You might want to head inside before more humans arrive. Understand?"

Jesse froze, her eyes are wide open. She understood two things from her stalker's words. The first was that there was A MUTANT CHILD. The second was that for some reason the man tried to prevent the kid from coming any closer. Was he scared of something? Of the child?

After a short hesitation, the young mutant decided to come back in order to check child's identity. As small was the chance it'll be the boy she's after, Jesse had to see him. After all how many mutant kids hang out by themselves?

She crawled back, avoiding creation of noises on the way and peeked between the cars. It was him! It was Nikolai, the boy she was sent to rescue. There was no time to think over it. Jesse knew it now or never. She couldn't let the predator guy to hurt him.

Jesse concentrated on the male for a moment, inspiring the sense of strongest fear into his mind. It'll leave him or fainting in convulsions or fleeing his fastest. Her powers never failed before. Yet she had to be direct, who knows how fast it'll take him to wake up.

Pulling herself up, Jesse slowly approached Nikolai. When his eyes met her, the woman shivered. There was something different in his seemingly blank stare. She could see there a pain and a lot of fear. The sight of the injured boy awoke some kind of empathy in her soul. Somehow she knew she cares for this boy, even without knowing him at all.

"Nikolai." Jesse started softly "Please don't be afraid of me. I'm here only to help. I came to find you and to lead you to safety. A place where none will hurt you anymore. I know that you are scared and suffering, please trust me. I promise I'll never harm you. Never ever."

Very gently and slowly she raised her empty hand and strengthen it towards him. Jesse stood still, hoping him to accept her.

[Lucid]

((OOC: I edited the ending a bit to make it a little less repetitive, so just reread the last paragraph if necessary.))

As Nikolai feared, the man noticed him and began to walk towards him. He took a small step back, but it seemed as though the man had already lost interest in him and turned back around and continued in the direction he had been heading. Nikolai watched him cautiously as he entered the building. He was afraid that if he tried to run the man would think he was doing something wrong and come after him, but...the man, like the other strange man, hadn't tried to hurt him at first like the other people had done. Maybe this man was different. Maybe he was someone like him, who was all alone and had no home to go to. With this in mind, Nikolai slowly walked towards the building, but stopped just as the man was exiting. The man looked over at him then began to walk back towards him.

"Hmmm... you know... a child such as yourself should not be exploring these streets at a time like this. You might want to head inside before more humans arrive. Understand?" the man said to him.

He heard what the man had said, but he wasn't sure what he had meant. Humans? Nikolai thought about it for a moment. Why did the man say it like that? Wasn't he a human? If he wasn't a human, then what was he? Nikolai then looked up at the man with a blank expression, but the man had already turned and walked away again.

"But, I'm a human." Nikolai said, almost in a whisper as he brought his hands up and looked down at them. "I'm human..aren't I?"

Nikolai started to follow after the man, wanting to talk to him, but he then heard something behind him and stopped to see what it was. He turned around and saw a strange woman standing just a few feet away from him. His golden eyes went wide with fear and he quickly turned back towards the direction of where the man had went, but he was already gone. Nikolai then turned back towards the woman and backed away from her as he looked up at her. He wasn't really sure what to think because he had never seen anyone like her before. She had bright orange hair and purple-colored skin and he wondered if she was some sort of monster that was going to eat him. Nikolai had read stories about monsters in some of the books that his father had given to him and was sure that this "person" was really a monster disguised as a human just waiting to eat him. He screamed and quickly fell down to his knees, closing his eyes tightly and holding his arms over his head as if trying to shield himself.

"Nikolai," the woman said to him in a soft voice. Nikolai opened his eyes when he heard his name. How does she know my name? He looked up at her again, slowly moving his arms down from over his head as she continued to speak to him.

"Please don't be afraid of me. I'm here only to help. I came to find you and to lead you to safety. A place where none will hurt you anymore. I know that you are scared and suffering, please trust me. I promise I'll never harm you. Never ever." the woman said then reached out her hand to him.

"Liar!" Nikolai cried as he covered his head with his arms again and unknowingly sending an unstable burst of powerful energy right by the woman's head and into the side of the building behind her, causing a massive depression in the brick wall. "Everyone always lies to me!" he screamed at her, sending another burst of energy out which ripped apart the paved street right below the woman's feet. Nikolai then slowly stood up to run away, but staggered to the side instead and suddenly held his head in pain. Nikolai's weak body couldn't handle the stress of using so much power in one day and it caused him to become weary. His legs then gave out from under him and he fell to the ground, drawing himself up into a fetal position, still holding his head in his hands.

"Help me, Papa..." Nikolai mumbled weakly, the pain becoming so unbearable that he was barely even able to move. "...it hurts..."

[Deicide]

'Stop that. Can't you see he's scared?'

A gentle voice whispers from the shadows, comanding and yet almost inaudable, it would take even the most reliable of eyes a few moments to make out the flowing dark material of a cape from the false twilight in which the figure whom is the source of that vocalisation now stands.

She had watched all as had came to pass, for a moment she was even tempted to come between man and boy, yet once more there was that strange sense, a kind of gentle roughness about him that made it clear he was willing to leave the child alone. Yet, when the woman showed up, just as the man was gone, liable to call his attention back to the matter and causing the child to strike out in self defense, even though it seemed she had no ill intention for him that the Vulpine could not take it anymore. Silently, swiftly she allowed her form to change, sheltered by the very shadows that some would say birthed her. A voice was clearly needed here, for it would seem that this one did not sense the rack of fear and exhaustion permiating the air or else did not realise the danger she put both herself and youngster in by further antagonising him at this point. That, indeed, any approach would likely bring about right now

'Young one, do not be afraid' with those words the hood is dropped, flesh as pale as the moon itself bears a gentle smile meant for the child alone, hopeing to offer comfort that they, all three, can quickly move from the area for that man acts on the realisation of what they are. If only because it would not do for one so young be caught up in such things..

:..2-2-7..:

[Anomaly]

Not far from the scene of two beautiful women and a young boy, gun muzzles blazed. A single man, battered, bandaged, and now full of bulletholes stood before them. His cloak and his body seemed to be in shreds. A soft haze rose from him like a wet, slow burning pyre. Yet he did not topple, nor did he fall. He just stood, glaring with eyes that seemed to glow a startling violet.

He was a mutant alright and from the look of him likely the one that had killed the commanders men. Well they hadn't met a mutant yet they couldn't take down by bullet or fire. He motioned a new set of soldiers forward. Most were only armed with hastily created molotov cocktails, but three had the high pressure flame throwers that it was so hard ot find fuel for these days. Still, it'd be worth it to see another freak dead and buried.

As the flames lance from the nozzles of the soldiers guns and the burning rags attached to bottles and canisters fly into the air like the heralds of promethius, the cloaked man raises one hand. In a single motion, he rips the cloak from his body and sends the material flying. Beneath is some kind of biohazard suit that covers the entire body. That is, of course, except for the face. It's hidious...the face of a corpse, of a ghoul! Phosfurous mist explodes from that face and seems to fill the suit before gushing down the length of the arms. There it masses and thickens, before being cast forth in a wall.

The purple mist collides with the flames and canisters with explosive force, sending a rain of fire sweeping through the streets and a backlash of flame over the unfortunate soldiers. Those that are engulfed completely in flames are the lucky ones. They will die without ever knowning the horrible power of the walking plague that stands before them. At the first touch of the flame, the tattered, brocken city goes up like kindling. Poetic justice that it would be consumed by the same flame that had devoured so many mutants.

Violet mist pouring off the ghoulish man travels just beneath the smoak and mingles with the flames. A new note of terror rises in the wails of the dying and the screams of those who would shortly follow. He strides forward, through the swirling flame and smoke...through this town rendered a hell on earth. The look in his eyes is of sadness...tempered by the site of the all too familiar. He keeps walking...leaving trail of death and hysteria in his wake.