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Post by Mana on Jun 2, 2015 16:51:29 GMT -5
Week of June 2nd, 2015
“What is it with you and Mike and fire lately? Have you lost it?” she wasn’t fazed by his dull question, and didn’t even dignify it with a response, diffusing his distraction before it could even start the countdown. Instead, she issued a question of her own. “Do you have the blueprint for that wrist brace you were working on with you?” It was hopelessly futile to continue trying to play her with his lies. His high-roller gamble hadn’t paid off. (Jeez, the amount of metaphors he was running into today.) So he gave in and spilled. He raised his hand and removed his glove to show her the spiral. But to his shock and awe, she was without surprise. “Yeah, can I just see the blueprint real quick?” He withdrew the blueprint from his pocket, where he always kept it, without a word, and handed it over. After a few short seconds, she handed it back, describing improvements he should make to the design. “Add a series of butane cartridges below your wrist, and connect them all to a torch, then bend that torch up in front of your palm. Replace the top and sides of the frame with coiled springs, tight enough to retain grip on your arm and wrist, yet loose enough for comfort and to allow for putting it on and taking it off be easy as slipping your arm in. Other than that, it looks good.” “Why are you interested in design and engineering all of a sudden?” “I’m not. I’m just telling you what I saw.” “What you saw?!?” he said, outraged. “What you saw where? Who stole my design?” “I’ll show you in class. Come on, we’ll be late.” As it was, they were a tad late, and she couldn’t show him anyway because the teacher assigned some dumb Batman court project, preceded by a long lecture on ethics. Mike dazzled in there, blowing away all competition. Next period, Zach was hard at work on his robot circuit, but zoned off a couple times and couldn’t finish by the end of class. But he was still ahead of everyone else. It wasn’t ‘til art that she showed him. Without the distraction of conversation going on while he sat there drawing, and without the chore of taking out the recycling, which she gave to George, rather than Zach. What she showed him was a video of the future, unprecedented, causing him to be astounded. He and Natalie were watching him and Natalie.“So now you understand?” Natalie tested. He didn’t respond for several seconds, for he was so taken aback. “That was ME!!!!!!!! How did you get this?!? Have you shown anyone else?!?” “She showed me,” Mike said on a wisp of air that caught as he exhaled, jumping in to the conversation. “While you were busy with your robot.” “You too? That video is insane, right?” Then he thought to himself: Okay, calm down Zachary. “What do you think of all this?” “Four things. One, you should get started on your wrist brace. Two that Ninja could get Natalie killed if she slips up at all, and we don’t know much about him. She needs help. Three, I’m useless, and can’t do anything to help, so she needs you. And four, based on the continued implication of the term ‘you,’ referring to Natalie, you and I won’t remember a minute of this in the morning, yet she will have a full account of today.”
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Post by Reactinator304 on Jun 8, 2015 17:09:33 GMT -5
Week of June 9th, 2015
“Well, you are all kinds of pessimist today,” Zach retorted. “Let’s put it this way. Mike, do you remember the news reel with the ninja?” Natalie chimed in. “No, not at all.” “What about Zach’s dancing robot?” “Hey! How’d you know I was gonna make it dance?!?” Mike ignored the comment completely. “You know what, that I remember vaguely…” Then Natalie addressed Zach’s comment before returning to Mike’s. “I told you already, Thursday was yesterday, But it’s today too because that ‘Hourglass’ woman messed with time.” “Ok, that doesn’t make any sense, at all,” Zach complained. “No crap. That’s all I got myself. But if Mike partially remembers your robot dancing, then it wasn’t flawless usage of time manipulation. Let’s just keep focused on everything that happens, and maybe you’ll remember some of today tomorrow. Oi. Now my head is starting to hurt from all this confusing time stream crap.” “Alright, what about the ninja? Mike’s useless – no offense – and I’m almost as useless, and uncontrolled, as well.” “Well, I said I have to talk to him, not fight him. I just have to be there and talk him into joining up. By the way, you’re joining too, Zach.” “I’ve got no problem with that. Except that I could die…” “You have fire that reaches thousands and thousands of degrees. I doubt there’s anything you can’t handle.” “Don’t bother continuing trying to convince me, you’ll just have to explain it to me again tomorrow…Good god, what am I, an Alzheimer’s patient?” “Don’t talk like that. You’ll remember, and even on the small chance that you don’t, you’re worth the extra breath and time,” Mike reassured. “I’m glad you feel that way about people, Mike. Because you’re coming too. We both know you have nothing but videogames to do at home, and I could seriously ruin your chances with Emily. Plus, I may or may not have a picture of you, passed out with glitter all over your face and clothes. You would hate to see that on the internet, I presume.” “Jeez, Natalie, I would’ve gone anyway. No need to ever take it that far. But how can I help?” “I just need you there as backup in case he starts to run or attack, and your presence will at the very least intimidate him. And I also think you would be a big help in talking him down.” “Alright. When should we meet at the park?” Zach interjected definitively. “I’d say around 9:15. No sense in waiting too long, but we also don’t want to miss him. In the meantime, Zach, find what stuff you can for your wrist brace and bring it with you and we will help you work on it while we wait. And Mike, you’ve been keeping a journal, haven’t you?” “Yeah. How could you tell?” “The pencil you’ve been walking around with is a stub. And we all know you don’t do homework. So there was really only one way you could’ve worn it down it a couple of days.” “Right. Good observation. What about it?” “Bring it. I want to read yesterday’s post, if there was one, and we are all going to write in it tonight before and after the ninja situation.” “There’s gonna be a lot to write.”
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Post by Reactinator304 on Jun 15, 2015 20:27:27 GMT -5
Week of June 16th, 2015
*An hour later* After school, Zach walked downtown to the hardware store, rather than riding the bus home. His parents wouldn’t be worried, and he kept all of the acquired items necessary for the brace on his person at all times, in a little pouch stuffed in his backpack. But all the pouch contained was a few tools; a piece of scrap metal; two springs that weren’t nearly long enough for the arm, but would work for the finger triggers; a can of clear coat, and a can of dark silver spray paint. He still needed a metal cutting tool, the large springs, some polymer grips, and all the butane materials. Lucky for him, the hardware store was just outside of the park, so he was right where he needed to be. He walked into the shop with a calm, serene feeling of the kind that accompanies being prepared for everything, not at all the sound of somebody who was waiting for a funeral dirge to play… ***Natalie*** Natalie was in for a busy evening. After she got home, she instantly started getting her stuff ready. She changed into her most comfortable pair of jeans, her cargo boots, and her leather jacket, gearing up to defend herself should something go horribly wrong, while still allowing for her to run quickly. Into her cargo boots, she stashed her pocketknife, her holopad, and a tiny medical kit, with air-compressed bandages and a few ointments. She also grabbed a pad of notebook paper with a couple pens, a couple tools out of the workroom toolkit down in the basement, and a couple snacks for during the wait, and put them into a small drawstring bag. Her phone, keys, and wallet were transferred from her cluttered purse to her pockets: she wouldn’t be able to do much running or have any sort of mobility if she carried her purse. She set all of her gear aside for a while, in order to work on her homework. She finished it with forty minutes remaining before she wanted to be there, and she wanted to be there an hour earlier than their set time. So with the forty minutes, she had some time to watch TV, but had another idea that went with going early. Zach needed help with his brace if it was to be finished before the ninja came, but she didn’t know what parts he had. But she knew she had a small, old gas heater out in the garage, one that was beyond help and out of gas. Inside it were a few parts she knew he could use, only knowing so because of what they were supposed to do in the heater. She was no engineering prodigy, but she was well aware that a fire couldn’t start without sparks. She proceeded to remove the parts, and still had some twenty minutes for TV. ***Mike*** What exactly was a memory? Something one held as filler space to give meaning to life? What would life be without? Mike hadn’t made an entry in the notebook yesterday; he was too busy playing videogames with the new kid. But the importance he got out of that fact was that he remembered he was playing video games. He remembered the new kid. It was all coming back to him: slowly, in pieces, fragments, but coming nonetheless. But something about the way the memories were falling into place like pieces of a jigsaw puzzle made him think that it was Friday, as Natalie had thought, and that maybe the memory loss was a hoax. Based on all of this oddity, he knew right away that the memories wouldn’t stick very well if separated, and would get jumbled too easily, so for the first time, Mike Magnolia wrote an outline. He placed the memories he did have in a relative order and leaving space for the ones he didn’t. The whole process was mystical and foreign to him, partly due to the whole memory loss and confused date issue, partly due to the fact that he was creating an outline for it, a practice that had never before found its way into his life. At the moment, there were only three things on the outline, and more resembled a bulleted list than an outline, but the way he had some things labeled and left room to add smaller details relevant to each other to make an outline the most practical thing he could use. He added it to the journal in his notebook, and got his stuff ready to leave early. Maybe he could stop by his sister Haley’s work place on his way to the park. She worked at an advertising agency downtown, about a block away from the park. Not only would it be nice to visit and say “Hi”, but the new company she’d been working with had a patent for a super strong adhesive, and she always received free samples of whatever went through her office. He could probably get one of the samples of the adhesive to use on Zach’s gauntlet. And Haley still had a couple bottles of over-the-counter painkillers from the pharmacy she’d helped advertise not soon before. He could use a bottle of those for all of them after whatever happened with the ninja. They would have headaches and be sore, and since their little ragtag gang was still green and unexperienced in their pursuit, they would probably even injure themselves before the ninja even got there. So he went out to the garage and got out his old rickety bike. It was old and he hadn’t used it in over a year. It was riddled with corrosion and obviously not very comfortable, but certainly better than riding on the frame of the bike. That had been painful. But his bike was only barely better than a pile of functioning scrap metal, and would not be good for speed, so it would only suffice to get him there and back, if it didn’t collapse in the process. It would be no use to try and chase after the ninja with it. But it was his only real mode of transport. So without further ado, he biked off.
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Post by Reactinator304 on Jun 22, 2015 23:19:17 GMT -5
Week of June 23rd, 2015
***Haley*** This is the life, Haley thought, pleased with the way her day had unfolded. It was days like this that made her proud to be head of the top advertising agency in the county – hell, the whole state! At the ripe young age of twenty-two, no less. Sure she occasionally got a few weirdoes, but that was to be expected, and for the most part, all of her clients were very congenial and easy to work with. For the few who weren’t, she had a special reserve of patience. And the best part of her job was that she had singlehandedly built the agency up out of nothing, doing what she loved and not bothering to hide her opinions or beliefs. She got to design Magazine covers, commercial logos, club insignias, and even packaging for boxes and containers that contained whatever product the company made. Additionally, being founder of the agency, and pioneer of some of her own techniques, she was able to set her own terms and conditions. And the fun she got out of this was the agreement that she got to keep one sale unit of samples from each company she helped design for. She’d gotten some doozies. A flat of ibuprofen, a case of extra-powerful glue sticks, free cell phone applications, and quite a few boxes of campaign buttons. But the best ones had all come from the same company, a repeat customer that held patents for several inventions concocted by a group of six people. And she’d gotten a small prototype or prototype model for each invention they made. She had told them it wasn’t necessary to continue giving her all the cool gadgets they devised, as she didn’t mind advertising for them, but they insisted on that she continue to receive, on account that she was required to keep information about the clients of the company confidential. This was a done deal, and not hard to follow, as every time they came in, they were represented by a different person, so it was impossible to remember a face, but every person they sent was a very nice one. She had received some nice-looking gauntlet gloves, a “freeze-ray” (work in progress), an instant fire starter, and a dozen small devices that were supposed to glow bright with one hundred percent efficiency in all different colors, as well as project moving textures onto a flat surface, as use for cloaking or for soothing to fall asleep. She always looked forward to their visits. So whenever she saw “Collective Research and Evolutionary Experience Division,” (Quite a mouthful, and easier to say as an acronym) written on her schedule, she was anxious for their time slot to roll around, almost as much as she longed to get home and spend time with her parents and younger brother every night. She didn’t have her own home yet, even though she had enough money to buy a really nice one. What she lacked was a reason to get one. She didn’t work far from home, and her parents didn’t mind her staying so long as she helped out around the house and helped pay for some expenses of staying there. What more did she need? A boyfriend? She wasn’t worried about that, and frankly, was better off without one at the moment. She knew she would have one eventually, as she was apparently very attractive in the eyes of men, and wouldn’t be able to fend them off forever. But for the time being, she was single, successful, and happy.
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Post by Reactinator304 on Jul 2, 2015 23:07:10 GMT -5
Week of June 30th, 2015
Finally, she hopped off her train of thought, if only to check the time and jump right back on. She looked over at the clock on the wall opposite her desk to see how long it was before she would be able to close up and go home. She had one meeting left, with a local textile company, and she estimated the meeting to last about a half an hour. It was scheduled for 8:15, so by the time she finished it, closed everything up and locked the door, it would be about a quarter after nine. She hoped she would get to see Mike when she got home, for he had been busy the last couple of days and she hadn’t seen him. She had been itching to talk to him about matters of people and a couple favors she would ask him. She couldn’t ask mom and dad, and they wouldn’t understand anyway, or listen in the first place. But Mike always listened, and had input for everything she said. She got along great with him because of small personality traits like this. And not having much in the way of friends, she regarded him as her closest. Her train of thought stopped again, this time interrupted by the growling of her stomach. She had eaten her lunch already, and wouldn’t receive a full dinner until she got home. Her only option at the moment, aside from working in her spare forty-five minutes with the tedium of fabricating various Photoshop images and designs, was to drive down the road and stop at the dollar store for a quick snack. In the meanwhile, Mel, the owner of the next-door pizzeria would be kind enough as a good neighbor to watch over the building. And that was exactly the course of action she took. But she never got to the dollar store, because as she was getting her stuff ready to leave, she looked out her third story window to see her younger brother ride up to the storefront on his crappy old bike, which he rarely used. She had to wonder what occasion could be so momentous as to warrant him using it. Even more importantly, why had he come to her work place? She left her purse and other belongings on the desk and went to greet him. He rang the doorbell multiple times, but she was on her way down to the door already. It was Friday, so she had allowed all of her employees to leave after they got their work done. This meant all of the belongings on her desk were safe, but it also meant that she had to open the door, as well as do everything else, by herself. However, she didn’t mind – this was her brother at the door – and she frankly would have preferred to greet him herself anyway.
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Post by Reactinator304 on Jul 5, 2015 21:38:04 GMT -5
Week of July 7th, 2015
Once she let him in, it was quiet for a moment as Mike took in the view of the inside of the building. Come to think of it, he had never been inside it before. With this in mind, she allowed him to take in the sights of all the rooms on the ground floor. Then, she brought him into the lounge and sat down with him on one of the few couches that sat in there. “So, tell me, Michael, what brings you here on your old bike?” Haley asked casually. “Not much. I’ve got to meet a couple of friends in the park in a couple hours, and I’ve got nothing else to do till then, so I figured I might as well stop by for a visit since you’re near the park. And mom sent this.” He turned and pulled out of his bag a Tupperware container with food encapsulated in it, just for her to eat. Mom’s best recipe lasagna. Mike was her savior. “Mmmm. Perfect timing. I was just about to head out and grab a snack instead. You read my mind. You suddenly get telepathy or something?” she chortled jokingly. “I wish. Some people are just a bother to try to understand. Besides, dinner was Mom’s idea.” “Ooh! I smell social issues! Out with it!” “Well, it’s not exactly a ‘friends’ thing, but it involves them.” “Well tell me, and I’ll see if I can offer any advice.” “I don’t know. I can’t explain it…” Haley was completely thrown off by his statement. Mike was always so up front with things, and generally had a very strong awareness of what was going on, unless it involved girls, of course. But he usually tried his best to explain if it was girls. No, he had to be hiding something. But rather than shutting her out, it was this very curiosity that intrigued her and made her want to know more, although it did hurt her a little. “Tell me anyway. Come on, Mike, you know I can help some. I’ve been through all this stuff before.” “Not this stuff, you haven’t. But it’s not my story to tell. Anyway, aside from just coming to visit, I was hoping I could borrow a couple of your souvenirs. One of those High-Powered Glue Sticks, a little bottle of ibuprofen to carry around with me, and one of those little nightlight devices, a purple one, if you wouldn’t mind. Is that okay by you?” “Yes, of course, but if you don’t mind me asking? What are they for? That’s an awful suspicious request. You’re not planning something that’s going to get you in trouble, are you?” “I doubt it. I’m pretty sure it’s noble enough of a cause to prove innocence. And don’t worry, it’s not illegal or anything like that.” “Better not be. When do you need these things?” “Now would be great, that way I’ll have them for the park.” “Okay, then…I’ll go get them right now. Don’t go anywhere…” She walked out of the room, leaving her kid brother sitting on her couch and staring about.
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Post by Reactinator304 on Jul 17, 2015 16:48:48 GMT -5
Week of July 14th, 2015
She went up a flight of stairs to the second floor of the building, and to the small meeting room next to the receptionist’s office. Unbeknownst to anyone but herself and the architect who had designed and built the building, the meeting room held a secret passage. Behind a large painting housed there, a secret vault door opened to a small study room. She flipped the secret trigger knob in the little gargoyle statue of a pewter coyote on the mantle, and the painting moved into the ceiling (Up to her own office upstairs, so no one else saw it come into place). Then she entered the eight-digit code into the number pad (the eight digits being the number rendition of her last name) and the door swung open. Inside the “study”, she had redecorated everything from the way it was when she bought the building, giving it shelves along all the walls and incorporating a titanium desk and a desktop computer with all the proper hookups to access all the same information as her computer upstairs. But it also held several of its own secret files, ones that she was not intending to share with anyone. Eventually she would share every bit of info with Mike, and now would’ve been perfect, but his lack of trust in her had turned her inside out. But she had to see what he would do with what she gave him. So she went to the shelves. On them were displayed many of her prized possessions, including all of the gadgets and gizmos given to her by the C.R.E.E.D. troupe. But most of all the objects, the one she prized the most rested on its own shelf protected by strong metal supports on all sides, and an edge on the shelf. This object was a prop replica of the rose in the glass case displayed in the movie Beauty and the Beast, and Mike had gone through a hell of a lot of trouble trying to get it for her birthday. After a minute of looking at it forlornly, she grabbed a tiny tracking device (Complements of C.R.E.E.D.), and the other objects Mike had asked for. And she headed out the door, closing everything behind her as she exited. ***Zach*** Zach had maintained his composure walking into the store, but inside, he was flipping out. For whatever reason, Jackson had decided to come to the park after school. It was only Thursday, so why he would have any time for any activities of the nature of what he was currently engaged in was beyond Zach’s comprehension. Even further beyond it was what Avery was doing in the hardware store. It seemed the two of them were joined by a chain. He hadn’t seen her immediately on entering, but she was there behind a row of shelves, looking through the boxes of nuts and bolts of varying sizes and alloys. Her back was turned to the door, so he thought he could sneak up on her. No such luck. As he reached out to tap her on the shoulder, she raised her head a little, and without even looking back at him, she spoke. “Dream on,” she grumbled at him. He was thrown off balance by the realization that she knew he was there, and he almost toppled onto his face, but he caught himself before anything embarrassing happened. It didn’t last. Avery turned with a start, realizing that it was Zachary, and not Jackson, who had crept up behind her. Ironically, her start caused Zach to start as well, and this time he did topple, right to the floor, creating a spectacle for the whole store to see. Half of them snickered. The other half turned away. But one man, standing nearby, offered his hand. Zach looked up at his face as the man spoke, and simultaneously, Avery turned to face the man as well.
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Post by Reactinator304 on Jul 21, 2015 20:39:47 GMT -5
Week of July 21st, 2015 *Idk why this is here, no one reads it...*
“Would you like some help?” asked the man, who was none other than Harvey Gordon. “…sure…” Zach replied. The anchorman helped him to his feet, but Zach was awed enough at who he was that he may have just fallen again. He gave himself a second to steel his nerves, and then responded in full. “For starters, thank you. But seriously! Harvey Gordon? What are you doing here in the middle of nowhere?” “Hardly the middle of nowhere. I got a tip – and by tip I mean strong feeling – that that ninja is going to show up around here sometime soon, and I wanted to be ready to take a picture in good lighting to show tomorrow on the weekend update.” He frowned. “But I’ve been here an hour and there’s no sign of the ninja or any criminal activities that he would follow.” “Cool! Good luck with that sir!” Avery interposed. “Well, I got the bolt I need, so I will see you later Zach.” And she started toward the door. “Thank you young lady. I am going to leave too. If I don’t see that ninja within the hour, I’m going home,” said the newsman. “Goodbye, Um, Zachary, right? And if you see something suspicious, be sure to give me a call.” And he slipped Zach a piece of paper with a phone number written on it, and walked out the door. Now Zach was left alone in the shop among the other customers who probably hadn’t forgotten him sprawled out on the floor yet. So he had no other purpose in the store other than to get what he had come for and get the hell out. He hurriedly grabbed the materials he needed, checked out, dropped his money on the counter and rocketed out the door like a thunderbolt. Unfortunately, his humiliation was far from over, as just past the doorway, his streaking comet of a dash struck a hard, muscular surface. (Gee, can you guess) This surface belonged to a behemoth object whose name was Holt. Avery trailed behind him, running in and yelling “STOP!” The thought of her pathetic form having no effect on his massive frame as she caught up and started trying to pummel him, or maybe the thought of what Zach would look like after he was done with him, seemed to please the brute, as he started to chuckle. “WHY—ARE—YOU—LAUGHING—JACK?!?!?!?!?” she roared between punches, about as fearsome as a newborn kitten. “I just think it’s kinda’ funny. I saw genius here walk in here a few minutes ago, but I had no idea you were in here. Next thing I know you come runnin’ out of here like a scared bunny rabbit an’ the idiot is still here in the shop. I think it’s funny that the first person stupid enough to disobey me after a personal visit happens to be this scrawny kid here in front of me with no hope of making it out of here without a body bag.” Then he addressed Zach, Avery’s punches still having no effect on him. “Your tire just went flat, buddy.”
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Post by Reactinator304 on Jul 26, 2015 16:41:30 GMT -5
Week of July 28th, 2015 I ought to delete this thread... All im doing is putting things on the internet and no one's reading them.
Zach should have been panic-stricken beyond belief, but instead he felt the fiery magma of anger boil inside his very core. He was tired of putting up with this butt and all his misunderstandings, and he was NOT going to allow his friend to be hurt or objectified afterward because a certain “scrawny kid” couldn’t hold his own. Natalie’s earlier suggestion of burning him alive was sounding really tempting at the moment. He got himself to his feet and took a stance of offense, ready to beat the guy to a pulp, or at the very least show him up. There was no way he was going to lose to his nemesis. As he got up, he pulled his lucky pendant out of his pocket, wishing for all the strength he could muster. He held it tightly in his hand as if the extra strain would put more luck into the little glass tube. He knew his comment would incite the monolithic meathead to throw the first punch, but he said it anyway. “I don’t know about that. I think your carburetor must be busted.” Apparently, to Jackson this translated a little roughly into something that made his hair stand on end, and he grit his teeth in rage. He pulled back his fist and let loose. But somehow Zach managed to dodge it by a couple inches. He also slid by the second one, and slipped past the troll as he attempted a charge. Zach envisioned the scene as a bullfight, with him representing the toreador and Jackson as the bull; and he knew this bull would have steam coming out of its ears: it was pissed. But Zach wasn’t afraid; he was sliding across the floor as though he was wearing a pair of buttered socks. He was untouchable so long as he kept moving like this. Of course, this left the monger with the only choice and one chance to knock his half-pint foe out of the running. He would have to trip him. And did, and Zach fell to his face. Again. Unfortunately for the moron muscle blob, as he chuckled, Zach rose up, fury built up enough to commit a genocide singlehandedly without breaking a sweat. And all of this fury was all pointed at the brute, ready to make contact with the pressure point in his jawbone, knocking it out of place. It struck with enough force to shatter a glacier, and he felt a snap as the bone cracked and three of his teeth fell out. Zach was as blown away mentally as Jackson was physically. Where had this power come from? Where could he get more? He held his hand in front of his face, looking at it in wonder and paying no attention to the big baby’s bawling. The hand he had used was the same hand that held the lucky amulet. He opened his palm, and saw inside the little glass tube, an object he had seen many times before. It was small, white, and round, resembling a little moon… ***Natalie*** As she rode into the downtown area, Natalie was unhappy to see how high profile the area was. There were people everywhere, most of whom, she didn’t know, all of whom would get in the way. Even at as late an hour as eight o’clock, they were perusing the streets aimlessly. However, there was a large cluster of people around the hardware store, and an ambulance as well. She wondered what was going on there. And as the code of curiosity says, she had to check it out. Wouldn’t you?
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Post by Reactinator304 on Nov 21, 2015 17:02:14 GMT -5
Because I Feel Like It - 11/21/2015
By the time she reached the small crowd, she was only there long enough to see the school’s sports captain step up into the back of an ambulance with a rag tied around his head, soaked with blood at the side of his jaw. What the hell could’ve done that? Her question was answered quickly. Sitting on the bench alongside the doorway to the store were a couple of people she was certain had to be involved. Zach and his arch-nemesis in one place, as well as Avery, was bound to end up in a fight anyway, but it was common sense that Zach would’ve lost. Evidently, that wasn’t what had happened. And she could tell it was Zach that performed the dispatch, judging by the way Avery clung to his arm and blushed. Zach had nailed him good. Perfect. The bastard deserved it. Or at least he deserved something to happen for all the trouble he had caused. Zach somehow came up with the power to shove his foot in his mouth: he wouldn’t be saying much against the kid for a while, whether just until his jaw healed, or afterwards, provided he learn some humility, respect, and/or common decency. She was actually quite proud. Proud enough to run up to him and give him a hug. On second thought, Avery was there with him. In the instant she realized this, her pride was thrown aside, replaced with a grumpiness lower in magnitude than the grumpiness she had earlier in the day, but with a caliber all its own. Why did all the guys she liked keep getting snatched up? But she decided to put the grumpy mentality aside for a while, for she still had work to do, and on another note, wanted to hear how the whole thing had gone down. So she advanced toward the bench.
As she approached, Zach looked up momentarily and saw her. It struck her as odd that they had both decided to come early, and judging by the look on his face, it befuddled him too. But before she could say anything, someone brushed past her, also directing his path toward Zach and Avery. He was tall, around six-foot-three, generally pretty muscular, and had salt and pepper hair. His eyes were an electric blue, and his smile could put the sun to shame. The man was their local newscaster, the one who’d done the story on the ninja. She would need to be careful to not find the press swarming her as well. But he approached Zach with a casual air, yet excited.
“What happened here? Was it the ninja? Which way did he go?”
“No ninjas here. Just us,” Zach said curtly, yet politely.
“Damn…If you don’t mind me asking, what did happen here?”
Natalie stepped in. “Indeed. I would also like to know what has transpired here,” she said, using a higher diction than usual in order to make herself seem more intelligent and more of a catch than Avery. Harvey instantly acknowledged her presence, though with more politeness than genuine interest.
“Hello, there. And you might be?”
“Natalie. I’m his friend.” Then to Zach, “Now go on, tell the story.”
So he did. It was evident that he was as surprised of the outcome as she was. When he finished his little narration, they were silent for a few seconds, and there was enough time to realize that the four of them were now alone, and that the crowd had dispersed. For that matter, a majority of the people in the area had left, and shops were closing left and right. The owner of the hardware store then kicked them out, and while the three youths moved toward the park to continue their chat, the ninja nut left again. It was almost nine, and he would be going home. But shortly after they left, Avery announced she would be leaving as well. She reached up and gave Zach a kiss on the cheek, a gesture that made Natalie’s hair stand on end, and ran off. She and Zach were stuck walking to the park alone, her walking her bike the whole way, to add to the awkward silence that followed between them. When they arrived at the park, they found Mike there waiting for them, sitting on the park bench in a lounging position, and checking his phone. When he saw them arrive, he put his phone away, and walked over to greet them.
“Finally. I’ve been waiting forever for you two. I got a couple more things to help out with the brace.”
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Post by Reactinator304 on Nov 21, 2015 17:03:13 GMT -5
Because I still feel like it.
***Mike***
Finally, they had arrived. Not that they were late, for it was still twenty five minutes prior to the time they had agreed to meet at, but after his sister had kicked him out to deal with her last client, he had really nothing else to do but sit in the park and chill. And chill he did: it was frickin’ cold out at this hour, but at least he had come prepared for that by wearing multiple layers of clothing. It didn’t appear that the other two had done the same, and given the amount of resources he had obtained, he considered himself the most prepared of the bunch. This lead was lost in a matter of minutes.
Although Mike and Natalie had come mainly to assist in the building of the brace, it turned out that Zach did most of the work, and Mike and Natalie were relegated to “hand me this” or “hold this for me.” It was overwhelming the amount of speed and success the man could put into a thing like that. Mike had some newfound respect for the guy, respect that was multiplied by the story Natalie was summarizing to him about Zach beating the crap out of the head jock. He would have to stop picking on him. But the focus of the moment was not about friendly relationships, it was business. And when the two of his friends joined the League of Heroes, it would involve more people, some of whom they wouldn’t get along with. And where would he be? He certainly wasn’t a superhero… He hoped coming up with ways to help out from behind the lines might earn him a spot alongside the agents. But if his dream came true, he would end up on the front line anyways. That was somewhere he didn’t want to be. Safety was a luxury he intended to keep. But honestly, did he deserve it? From what he had learned, all of the people involved in the program would be required to protect the general population and help citizens. He had no such capabilities or restrictions. What right did he have to possess any sort of luxury? Then a scarier thought yet came to mind: what exactly would they be up against???
“There we go. Mike, hand me that glue stick thing. Natalie, hold this spring here for me please.”
They obliged, and within ten minutes, the brace was complete. Natalie remarked on how closely it resembled her video. He had to admit, she was right. Between Zach’s superior crafting skills and the parts he and Natalie had scrounged, the thing looked amazing. Zach put it on.
“Fits like a glove,” he remarked sarcastically.
“Very funny. But does it work?” Natalie returned.
“Only one way to find out…”
He fired off a shot, and it hit a mesh garbage can with ease. But it wasn’t very bright, or even white. It was still the color of the butane in the tanks. And he wasn’t sure how Zach would be able to alter the spectra of the flame. But apparently he had a thought of his own. He fired another shot. And another. And three more. But he wasn’t satisfied yet, and now the canisters were empty. Regardless, Zach knew what he was doing. He ran one of the tubes to his palm, and tried to pulse air from his hands into the tanks, effectively filling them. But he then got lightheaded. Natalie didn’t see this, for she was busy stomping out frantically the fires that had already been made. He had a solution to that as well. He reached into his shirt and pulled out the necklace he wore. On the end of it was a small glass vial containing, in suspended animation, the same small moon object Zach had drawn for art class. He grasped the capsule tightly in his hand, and it appeared to rejuvenate him. He knew the tanks were now full, and so he snapped his fingers, procuring the characteristic white flame that he had seen in his dreams and again in Natalie’s video. This, Natalie did see. All the fires were out and she was unoccupied. They witnessed him play with the flame for a few moments, twirling the flame in his fingers. It looked like a little white ghost, for it was so smooth. Zach was beaming. And he had every right: it was awesome.
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Post by Reactinator304 on Nov 21, 2015 17:04:42 GMT -5
Are you feelin' it Mr. Krabs?
Next, they moved on to the journal, documenting every single procedure they had observed the past couple days. It was a boring task, but necessary. And finally, the time came to get into place. 9:35. They had ten minutes to be in position, around the general park area, so as to not draw attention by being in the center of the park where they would be easily spotted. Mike handed Natalie the nightlight device he had gotten from his sister, as a little helpful thing to assist her in hiding, by trying to emulate the light patterns. Then they parted, leaving their belongings hidden in a bush. Mike took up a position against the front of a building along the street and facing the park. He saw Natalie head the opposite direction and hide under one of the umbrella covered tables at the street restaurant across the way. And Zach went to wander the alleys. And there they waited.
***Haley***
“What are they doing?” she asked herself rhetorically. Haley was standing on the roof of her building, which had a good view of the park, especially considering she was using a pair of High Resolution Binoculars given her by the C.R.E.E.D. people. Her suspicions for her younger brother were so strong that there was no way she could resist finding out more on the situation. She had finished her meeting and come up to the roof to spy. But it was doing her no good if she couldn’t tell what was happening; and then she saw another dark figure walking in the shadows of an alleyway, trailed by yet another…
***Quicksilver***
Finally, after a few minutes of searching, he spotted his target sneaking out of the back door of whatever establishment he was trying to plunder. The shop was a small jewelry store, too new to have its security devices in service yet, and had only been set up the previous morning. But it was unusual to place any valuable items inside until after the security system was set up. Nonetheless, the criminal was found walking out of the shop carrying a bag full of gems, varying in size, shape, type, and luster. This would need to be stopped. It would be easy, as the robber was simply human, and a poor excuse for one at that, but he still sensed a threat in the man, as he had eluded him the night before, as well as in the form of any citizens that may still be lingering in the area, and had a potential chance of getting information on him. Then again, he wouldn’t mind discovering a bit of information himself. He didn’t remember any of what happened during daylight hours, nor who he was, and he didn’t know if it was even possible to recover his memory. But in order to find anything out about himself, he would need to find a trustworthy person to follow him. And that would take some work. Either that, or he could simply walk around without his outfit and see if he was recognized. But all of that was business for another day. In the meantime, he had to catch the criminal and return the jewels. It should have been a cakewalk. Come to think of it, something about that term made him hungry. He must’ve had a sweet tooth for cake. Maybe this was a part of his memory returning. He would get it back slowly. As long as that damn reporter didn’t get in the way. Tomorrow the gossip-hungry fiend would be casting his weekend update, and he was out to get whatever he could for information on “the ninja,” but “the ninja” had no intention of being on it.
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Post by Reactinator304 on Nov 21, 2015 17:05:31 GMT -5
I'M REALLY FEELING IT!!! - Shulk -
The trail was heating up now: he was a few feet behind the robber, gaining ground very quickly. Of course, it helped to be able to slide along pavement as if it were ice and he were wearing ice skates. The criminal wasn’t exactly running either, rather, walking at a jogging speed, but with a constant movement. He was unaware he was being followed. Three short seconds later, the culprit was caught, squirming incessantly, but caught. Two of Quicksilver’s arms were easily able to hold him down. The other two arms made use of themselves by holding the man’s mouth shut and taking the sack out of his hand. Then quicksilver tied him up and gagged him, and tied him onto a tree, with a stock of rope he always carried. After another attempt to scream, the man passed out, hung limp on the trunk of the tree. Whew. Now he only had to transport the robber and his loot to the police station. But before he knew what was going on, he saw and heard a fire in the distance go off. Time to go. He grabbed his catch and headed the direction opposite the fire, straight into an alleyway, and took a left. Nope. There was a girl there blocking his path, and failing at whatever unusual stealth attempt she tried. And so had his. He turned and tried to bolt for the other direction in the alley. NOPE. Blocking his way this time was a boy, and judging by the small white wisp of a flame that hovered above his hand, he was the one who had shot off the blast he heard. Quicksilver was now beginning to get very worried. Yet at the same time, the faces of the two alley-goers seemed vaguely familiar. Were they part of his past? Were they enemies??? He turned around and ran back out the alleyway. At the end of it, just when he thought he had escaped, an arm was thrust out, clotheslining him, and taking him to the ground. As he lay on his back, he saw the face of the third kid, an unfamiliar face. But regardless, the kid had taken him down. He had been outsmarted by three teenagers. What a blow to his nonexistent ego and his confidence. He was done for, about to be roasted alive, or potentially worse. But instead, the three dragged him and his catch to the park, and sat him down on a bench.
“So listen up, Mr. Ninja,” the girl said. Then the unfamiliar boy spoke up, cutting the girl off.
“First of all, I apologize for the brutality I committed a minute or so ago. I didn’t mean to harm you, but we knew you wouldn’t stick around willingly. But now, we have your undivided attention.”
“Do you have a name we can call you by?” asked the girl, obviously a bit agitated by being cut off. “It’s okay if you prefer not to tell us, but it would make it easier to communicate.”
After glancing around, Quicksilver felt it safe to respond. After the hospitable speech they just gave, they couldn’t be enemies, especially with the strained looks on their faces, and even though they were a pain to deal with. So he spoke, for the first time he could ever remember speaking.
“I do not know who I live as by day, but you may call me Quicksilver.”
For some reason this statement excited shocked gasps from the teens. The sat silent and stared blankly as if they had just been blinded by a flashbang grenade. He was once again lost and confused. Thankfully, one of the boys decided to break the silence, the unfamiliar one, who seemed to not be as shocked as the other two.
“You seriously don’t know who you are? Because I knew from the first word you spoke.”
“I am completely truthful. You mean to say that you know me?”
Not personally, but I have seen you every day. It’s kind of ironic who you are, really.”
“How so? Who am I?”
“You’re a well-known news reporter, and you have been chasing yourself for three days…”
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Post by Reactinator304 on Nov 21, 2015 17:12:42 GMT -5
I CAN'T FEEL MY LEGS!!!!!!
***Haley***
Still clueless as to what was going on, why Mike and his friends had assaulted the ninja from the news on Wednesday night, and why he hadn’t retaliated, and allowed himself to be dragged to the park unbound, Haley continued to watch curiously and carefully. They were all talking there on the benches, chatting back and forth. Then Mike requested the ninja remove his hood. The ninja’s back was to her, so she couldn’t tell who it was just from the salt-and-pepper hair, but all three of the youths jumped back about five feet. Apparently, his face was either scarred and hideous, or very familiar. All this was conjecture, as she couldn’t hear them, but their actions spoke volumes. They talked with each other for another few minutes, but not of anything she could comprehend by gestures alone. It sure would have been nicer to be closer. Aside from head shaking and nodding, she had no indication whatsoever of what they were saying. Somewhere along the line, Mike handed the man a slip of paper, presumably with a phone number on it, and the ninja accepted it gratefully. He gave a hand signal of respect, then grabbed the victim he had tied up with one of his four arms – wait a second, was she seeing things? A double-take confirmed that yes, he did have four arms. What kind of freak was this guy? He hoisted a sack over his shoulder using his two left arms. It seemed heavy. This left one of his right hands available for shaking with the kids, each in succession. As his angle turned, Haley caught a glimpse of something on the side of the sack that made Haley’s heart skip beats, and chills run up her back that felt cold enough to be mistaken for a cryogenic freezer. A patch stitched to the cloth of the bag bore the C.R.E.E.D. company logo. Why would this be the case? Surely they were not stealing…
***Zach***
“Well, that explains a lot,” Zach said as the newsman zipped away. As he watched, he deduced that the slipping and sliding his feet had granted him during the fight must’ve been granted to him by Mr. Gordon unknowingly, and must’ve rubbed off onto his palm when he’d helped Zach up, also explaining the dark stain on his palm that he’d assumed had been from the tools and his brace. On the bright side, he already had Mr. Gordon’s number, and so they would have access to call him whenever. He handed it to Mike and Natalie so they could enter it into their phones, and then proceeded to enter it into his own as well. Then they exchanged their own numbers, as, surprisingly, none of them had each other’s’ numbers previously. And then – well, face it, it was late – they all parted ways and went home. Immediately, Zach hid his gauntlet, and allowed himself to fall onto his bed. The exhaustion already closing in, he could barely remember what had transpired in the morning. The whole day was fuzzy and confusing. It was Thursday, right?...
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Post by Reactinator304 on Nov 21, 2015 17:13:51 GMT -5
*Creepy Guy Feels you up - You take 10 damage to your body parts* D:
***Mike***
Mike came home to find an empty driveway. Mom must have gone out on another date, he thought. And evidently, Haley was still in her meeting. As he opened the garage to put his bike away, he nearly stepped on something. It was a little orange gecko, or salamander, or chameleon, or some other type of lizard, this confusion being proof that he wasn’t into biology. It seemed harmless, so he picked it up and deposited it in the garden, then continued about his business. He left his bike in the back of the garage and headed inside, straight up to his room. Or maybe not straight up, maybe a stop in the kitchen for snacks second, and a trip to the bathroom first. Then he went to his bedroom. But instead of lying down to sleep, he turned on his radio to listen a while for his favorite song. It was second to play
The song was called “Burn Away,” sung by Samantha Bortridge, a young, yet wonderfully talented artist who left the business after being blasted by the media for supporting the wrong charity. Only four of her songs made it to the rest of the world, “Burn Away” topping the charts for well over a year now. It was powerful, exciting, calm, and romantic all at the same time. All the things that made teenage trendsetters swoon.
After the second verse, Mike’s entranced listening was interrupted when Haley burst into the room, the look on her face somewhere between murderous and hopeless. Mike didn’t know what to say. Luckily for that, she spoke first.
“I’m just going to confess right off the bat. I was spying on you. I didn’t trust the suspicious premise of what was going on. But now, whether I know what was going on or not, I need to know something else. Did you see the patch on that sack the ninja was carrying away?
“You were spying on us?!?!? From where?”
“My roof. I got some high-power binoculars from CREED. Answer my question please!”
“No I didn’t. Listen, you cannot tell anyone about the little meeting in the park. We won’t be able to continue our work if word gets out.”
“One condition. I want in. That patch had CREED’s logo on it! I designed that logo! I want to know why the hell they would be robbing a jewelry store!”
“I got nothing. I don’t know much about CREED. But I doubt you can get in. as far as I know, you’re not a superhero or anything like that. I don’t even think I’ll be in this long term. But I’ll try to discuss it with them at school tomorrow.”
“Hey dingbat, tomorrow’s Saturday!”
“Really? I could swear…”
“Nope. Tomorrow is definitely Saturday.”
“Well I’ll be a monkey’s uncle..”
“I don’t think mom would approve of that.”
“Haha, very funny, smartass.”
“Well, how you gonna talk them into letting me into your little club thing?”
“I don’t know. I’ll text them in the morning.”
“Good luck with that…”
“Yeah, whatever. I’m going to bed. I’ll talk to you in the morning.”
“Okay. ‘Night…”
“And PLEASE don’t tell Mom.”
“Got it. Anything else, your highness?”
“Nope, that about wraps it up.”
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Post by Reactinator304 on Nov 21, 2015 17:58:25 GMT -5
I FEEL EVERYTHING - John Garrett -
And with a final parting nod, they separated to go to bed. And Mike found that the string of dreams he had been experiencing before was gone, now replaced by images of a man in a white suit, holding open the same bag of jewels that had been stolen earlier in the evening. With his other hand, he was withdrawing handfuls of Morning-star Sapphires, Gleaming Rubies, and Sub-mariner Emeralds. A very specific catch, and even more specific types of gemstones seemed awfully suspicious. But curiously, this fact was not even to come to mind until a later time. No, the question that was running through Mike’s head at the present was how the jewels had gotten there in the first place, to some random man, instead of to the police (Not that they could even be truly trusted) or the jewelers. He was worried that Quicksilver had failed to deposit the culprit and the goods. And then, just like that, his cognitive thinking was stopped short, as, without warning, the man reached into his suit jacket and removed a walkie-talkie and a gun. He spoke into the microphone “Tell Julia mission complete, and well done… And Autumn,” he said, now to an unseen person in the shadows of the room beyond Mike’s dream-peripheral vision. “We have a visitor…” And with that, he pointed his gun and pulled the trigger. For the second time, Mike was observed in his dream by the subject of said dream. The man had known he was there, the whole time, listening.
Mike’s knees buckled: he’d been shot. And surprisingly, it hurt, and felt very real. Normally one’s dreams are purely fantastical, devoid of sensations of any kind. But for Mike, this pain was very real, and the shock even greater. As he fell to the floor, all he could comprehend, or even realize, was that he’d been shot. He was aware of a dull pain in his gut, surrounded by a region of pain that could only be compared to shrapnel surrounding the entrance wound, only he didn’t know what shrapnel felt like. The inside was pulsating with pain, as tight as the pain caused by heartburn. He also could feel the warmth leaving his body, and the trickle of blood onto the floor. As his body tried to naturally purge the bullet from itself, and simultaneously his vision went, he saw the man looking down at his as he blew the end of his guns barrel off to the side. Mike was certain he’d just forfeited his soul to the grim reaper. But when his vision returned, it was Saturday morning, and he was wide awake. But the pained feeling from the bullet was still present, and retained all the strength it had held in his dream, to the point where he kept checking to see whether there was a wound or not. He wished he hadn’t given the bottle of ibuprofen away to Natalie. He could really use one at the moment. At least it was Saturday, and he could devote the day to trying to cope with the pain. That, and pondering what the hell was up with that dream. Was it a matter they need be concerned about? Could they even concern themselves about it?: as in, had Natalie mailed in her letter yet? It appeared his stomach wouldn’t be alone in aching today…
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