Psyren

[Mephistophelily]

*Shouldn't dieing hurt more than this?*

Ash's eyes opened as she looked up at the woman- or at least, where she had been. The gun had missed, just barely. Ashley herself was now on her knees, having found them giving out when that blue flash filled her vision. She had called Chance her Bruce Willis, the action hero who could look Death straight in the face.... but not her. She was the coward. The one the hero had to go and save the ass of.

And there he was.

On the ground, having stopped that woman/whatever from keeping her attack. Ashley felt tears in her eyes now. He was stronger, far stronger. She was, what? The killer of tiny creatures. Destroyer of USB devices. So mighty indeed. She couldn't move at all, her hands buried into the sand beneath them.

No, not sand. This was that dust. The same dust as that guy, that creature... All the beings that things like THAT destroyed. She looked at Chance again, choking down the fear inside her as she watched him try to get up. "Chance- Stop...."

Her eyes raised to see that woman/thing, that gun still in its hand. Ash had only walked toward her, even with offers of help- Chance had ran toward her, intentions of attack and harm. "Don't hurt him...," Ashley whispered, fear still in her voice. "Don't you dare hurt him. DON'T YOU FUCKING HURT HIM!" The fear was gone now. At least fear for herself. Now it was fear for him. The words that left her were screamed, her fists balled as she stared at the woman.

If she wanted to hurt someone for attacking, it sure as hell wasn't going to be Chance.

She forced herself to her feet, though for no more than to thrust herself before Chance and collapsing to the dirt. "I won't let you hurt him- I'm not letting you kill him!"

Her head was on fire now, a horrible throbbing pain that tore through her, leaving her nauseous. She wanted to scream again, to find a way to force this horrible thing away from them. From him. "I've got plans with him, dammit...," she hissed, glaring up at the former member of their little group, her eyes landing on the weapon in her hand. "Get that fucking thing away from him!," She shouted, gasping as the pain grew even more. Her head was going to explode, she was sure of it. This woman wasn't going to kill her, her own powers were.

The gun.
That damn gun-!

Why wasn't it working? If the gun wouldn't, then....
She refocused.
Her hand.
The finger that pulled the trigger.
Fire without that, bitch.

 

[DarkEmpress]

OOC: Done with the help of the fantastic Mephistophelily and the talented chronicle_tenko.

~~~****~~~​

Anna’s expression remained blank as her finger exploded into dust. The brilliant flash that had originated from Ashley hit its mark dead centre. Anna tried to squeeze the trigger again, only to find that nothing happened. Looking down, a slight frown crossed her features at the absence of her trigger finger. Blood oozing from the wound turned into dust as soon as it left her body.

Chance attempted to move. He could see the woman stand, see her aim, and he knew he needed to move. His legs would not, could not obey. All they did were scream at him. He crawled hoping to make it closer, hoping to move out of her fire; when suddenly a drop of blood touched his cheek. As soon as it had landed, it whistled away on the wind as ash. The Blonde's finger was missing, and she clicked the trigger pointlessly, with nothing but air.

Anna simply switched the gun into her left hand and took aim at Ashley again, “Keep the zone clear,” falling from her lips in a monotonous tone.

Ash was ready to cry again. She had just blown up the woman's hand, destroyed her finger... and she was still set on using that weapon. "Anna… please. Stop. I'm sorry we left you. I'm sorry. Don't." She bit her lip, staring at the gun, her breath growing more laboured as she watched Chance.

Chance stared up at Anna. He was sure he must have broken something on impact. How was she even standing? Chance hobbled towards her, crawling on his hands dragging bruised and battered limbs, as this monster woman took aim again. Unable to move fast enough, he screamed.

Ashley’s eyes widened. "I'll do it again. I swear to god I'll do it again! I'll destroy every one of your fucking fingers and obliterate your goddamn arms. Put down that FUCKING GUN!" Once again, the pain inside became far too much to bear. Ashley screamed as she clenched her hands against her head.

Anna wordlessly raised the gun paying no heed to Ashley’s warning. She closed one eye and focused her aim on the red-haired woman as Chance crawled, hoping to knock Anna off balance. He dragged his hands through the dusty earth. Somewhere a nail tore off, but he didn't care … picking up speed as his rise allowed him more power to pull his broken body forward.

Chance almost leapt off the ground as Anna pulled the trigger:

Nothing happened.

Chance felt as if heaven had somehow intervened. A howl of relief left his lips only to be replaced by an irritated groan from Anna. She slammed the gun to her hip, gouging a huge gash into her thigh. “Keep the gun loaded,” she muttered under her breath as she remembered that she needed to load the gun first. Concentrating, Anna siphoned her psi power into the gun, the tip slowly starting to glow in a roiling blue light that sparked ominously.

So much for threats! Anna seemed oblivious to them. Ashley was shaking now, gasping as she looked up while trying to fight the pain. "I'm sorry. I really am. But I did warn you..." Ashley pleaded as she focused on Anna’s arm, taking a long breath and struggling to keep from fainting at the pain that ravaged her head. This was far worse than any other time she had tried to use her psi power before... It even hurt to breathe. Ashley knew Anna would simply keep passing the rifle back and forth. She had to try and stop her somehow. ‘Don't hurt Chance. Don't touch him,’ the thought screamed through her mind.

Elaine felt slow. Her own dispersed psi giving her an awareness of everyone's actions, but also slowing her own down as she struggled to defend her partners... and failed. The smooth surge of psi was the blonde's signature as it flowed to fill the weapon she had in her hand, but what terrified Elaine more was the jagged edge that was Ashley's psi as it sparked dangerously about the blonde in the pure unstable form of Ashley's rage.... Such psi, under the best case would lash out against it's target. But things hardly ever worked out that way... her psi was liable to back lash upon the user or assault those around her...

The expression of an emotionless grim reaper rested on Anna’s face as she aimed the gun at Ashley again. Chance moved as the Weapon began to spark, and hauled himself forward on one arm unable to stop her as Anna squeezed the trigger...

Elaine's own abilities condensed into a shimmering wall, separating the blonde from Ashley. The vestiges of her senses recognized the full loading of the blonde's weapon ... she could not stop it in time ... a deafening explosion boomed through the barren land from Anna's gun as a blinding blue spark hurtled through the air. Elaine knew the shield was not complete, even before the condensed psi bullet came flying at Ashley. It was barely slowed by the shield Elaine enacted, but did however divert its trajectory as the ground between Ashley and Elaine burst into flames where the spark hit the ground ... harmless.

Wooden debris burst into flames, instantly starting a melting hot furnace of fire to lick into the red and black sky, devoid of all its former life. A confused expression crossed Anna’s features as she grimaced at her lack of hitting the target. Lowering the gun, she focused on the tip of the firearm and reloaded it with her psi power.

At that moment, Chance reached back and squarely impacted the side of Anna’s kneecap, sending her sprawling to the ground. Chance could feel it tear and break on the follow through. "JUST STAY DOWN YOU STUPID BITCH." Chance screamed as tears fell from his eyes into the sand and dust. His balance was completely gone as he wept face down in the dirt. "I don't want to kill you. Please, I don't want to kill you," he whispered to nothing.

Ash screamed as she closed her eyes, focusing on the monster that remained in what was once their companion. She could feel the burning pain inside her escalating, the rage that drove the last few explosions she had caused … the fear for Chance, herself … Elaine.

"I'm so sorry...," Ash choked out, her eyes still closed as she tried to breathe. "I told you, I told you…" A sudden last, overwhelming flood of pain tore through Ashley’s head as she fell forward, her hands digging into the sand.

Ashley had meant to only explode her arm…

 

[VampiricTouch]

Elaine staggered backwards. The impact of the burst shot against her shield pushed her back, drawing troughs into the sand beneath her feet. She dropped to her knees as her hands braced herself against the ground. From the corner of her eyes she saw the flicker of green crack, dissolve and scatter. Along with it came the first streaks of pain that lanced through her head. The streaks of pain spreading through her head like the crack she'd just seen, blanketing her mind as she watched her psi disperse into the air.

Elaine stared blankly at the charred ground where the burst shot had hit, the flames licking towards the dull red sky. The radiating relief that she or Ashley had not been hit was overwhelming.... espsecially when she was certain that her shield had not been completed.

Her eyes turned to the blonde, catching sight of the tip of the weapon gleam an ominous blue as the panic welled up inside. She could still feel the heat of impact hum in the air... could she enact another shield?! Pulling herself to her feet, she tapped into the dregs of her psi, furrowed her brows as the glitter of her own green struggled to fill the space between her...

It happened too fast.

She never had the chance to react to Ashley's psi as it condensed around the blonde.... The rapid condensing and then release of psi comes with it's own boom. The shockwave of Ashley's burst dispersing even the ashes away.

As she realized the sudden turn of events, Elaine sagged to her knees. The relief that she - they survived was euphoric as she crawled towards Chance, pulling him into her own arms as her body racked with the softer sobs of relief.

"oh god... you... you're alright.... " It was a breathless whisper as she stared over his shoulder at Ashley, "you're both... alive... oh god...."

 

[marauder13]

Psyren - Alexander Montgomery

Alexander covertly watched the three of them deal with the woman attacking them. They were rough around the edges, but they had worked together enough to have a layer of trust building between them. If his plan was to come about, he needed them to work together even better. The best way for that to happen was for them to survive. Also, they needed to trust him, or at least value his addition to their team.

With what he felt was a nearly criminal lack of subtly, he blundered into the minds of the three of them while they rejoiced in their brush with death. He made no attempt to hide his shallow intrusion. All he would get was the thoughts of their words prior to those words being spoken, their current emotions as well as any other strong thoughts.

"Stop it!" Alexander screamed at the top of his lungs. "Get your voices out of my head! Argh... I don't care how much you lust for him Ashley... don't tell me... DON'T TELL ME." He dropped to his knees, feigning pain and confusion at reading their minds in an uncontrolled manner. He briefly wondered what would happen if Chance were to die now. There seemed to be some many different thoughts and opinions on what would happen to a time line when something like that happened. There were too many risks at this stage for testing any theories like those just yet.

He hit the three of them with a sudden loud mental scream designed to stun the victim for a few seconds. While distracted by pain and the after effects, he acted. Under the guise of similar effects, he more carefully scanned for other Tavoo. He found where a few were stationed, most of those the mindless husks that Mask littered about the world. With a little more effort, he could have had ones that could at least have the intelligence of dogs. But no, he had to do it his way, and waste valuable assets in the process.

He made sure that he was the last to "snap out" of the daze, scrambling for the one he know knew to be Elaine. He gave off the appearance of gut wrenching fear, clinging to the Asian woman like a frightened child. He looked around, wide eyed and breathing heavily.

"There... there are more of them. Like h-h-her. Their voices are chants, over and over and over again. Please... please make them stop. Make... them... stop." He started to sob.

 

[VampiricTouch]

It was an obtrusive blunder. Invasive. With complete disregard to that moment of solitude as relief... however short lived washed through her. Tendrils of his mind sunk into her own mind. Clawing it's way into the confines of her private thoughts... the waning hope of their survival... the overwhelming bitterness of loneliness, fear and hopelessness... Prying painfully into her like digging fingers... and for one moment. One terribly painful moment, they were connected. The fine lines of self blended into a dangerous collage of thoughts, emotions, wants... fears.

She didn't know when she released Chance. She didn't even know when she started cradling her own head in the palm of her hands. His scream rang more than just in her ears.... it echoed in the confines of her skull. Every syllable emphasized with a pulsing ring.... and the connection snapped.

Elaine was shaking by the time her own system recovered it's control. The disarray of her thoughts were broken and mingled with the vestiges of everyone else's... a kaleidescope of emotion so chaotic, it was impossible to define....

The new comer.... was a pure trance user.

It was not a thought, but an impression. The tangible confirmation as her body attested to the assault it had just mentally endured. Her dilated eyes slowly came back into focus and her shaken body gradually stilled..... Was the ordeal over? She looked up slowly, for fear the pounding in her head might return if she pushed the limit now. Chance and Ashley... their hazy outlined narrowed down to reveal the same shaking she had just recovered from.... but they were alive.

She turned her attention then to the new player... just in time to be bowled over as he clung desperately to her, dwarfing her.

"There... there are more of them. Like h-h-her. Their voices are chants, over and over and over again. Please... please make them stop. Make... them... stop." and he broke down. Under any circumstance, seeing a man his size sob would've been strange... but after what he'd seen.... she wasn't surprised. Hell. She wanted to cry.

but now wasn't the time.

"Stop." It was a soft word, a croak of sound from her dry lips as he ignored her. "Stop... Calm down." She croaked again. "We.... we don't have time for this. Not now. Not here."

She struggled to rise from the ground. The man and her aching body bringing her back down into the dust as she stopped to detach herself from his grip. "Let go... we have to get out of here. Find someplace safe first before more of those.... things come back." She tried to be reassuring. In the depths of her own weary mind she did, but under the raw conditions of their circumstances, reassurance was not part of her equation.

When he didn't release her and the grip upon her arm tightened, her patience snapped. The back of her hand cracked loudly across his cheek as she cried as loudly as her paper dry mouth could. "God damn it Let go!" Her cry dissolved into her own sob as she shrugged him free. "We... we don't have time for this now.... "

Bleary eyes turned to assess Chance's injuries -- He wouldn't be able to walk. Not like that. She pulled the crumpled piece of paper from her pocket, wiped her tears as she tried to match her surroundings with the crudely drawn picture and find a safe place.... none. Not really. With nothing to offer, she turned to the nearest remains of a building and made the quick decision to find some form of shelter.

Shaking feet withstood her weight as she moved to Chance's side. "Ash. Help me... " She turned her attention to the new comer, assessing him for the first time before she added, "you too. Please. "

She pointed to the nearest fallen building, "Let's head there for now. Put a wall behind our backs and... recover. You'll need to see Michelle to get your legs back...."

 

[marauder13]

Psyren - Alexander Montgomery

The way Alexander's cheek stung after the blow almost made him break his cover, and teach the little upstart to dare to strike him. The one thing that save her sanity was his need of her and the others. It was greater than the need to assert his position on the world they were in. He buried his natural reaction to her behaviour to be drawn on later. When her usefulness was past, he would repay her for her affront. He listened to her, obeying as if she was actually his leader, someone more knowledgeable of the place they were located.

He grabbed hold of Chance, helping the others to left him. Alexander was now truly afraid of his talent firing up again. The random glimpses of the future that would strike were strongly guided by his proximity to objects or people. The last thing he needed now was for the power to manifest while touching this man. It would be too much, too soon. He let his fear show on his face, not trying to deceive anyone about his feelings, only the source.

He knew that they would be safe for a while, before more Tavoo headed into the area. Again, his first thoughts were to leave Chance to suffer his own fate, rather than waste time and energy in trying to help him. If he wasn't strong enough to hold his own, then he was of no use. It was the way of his world, the world he was partially responsible for creating. Mask did the rest.

Still, these people would be his foil to use against Mask, and to reclaim what was rightfully his. Alexander tempered his normal responses to situations so that he would better fit into the group. He had to remember the ways of dealing with people as he would have over a decade ago. Back in the days before IT came.

He silently carried his part of the load, planning his next moves with respect to these most capable of pawns.