Cylin's Story

As Cylin was trying to get over her shyness, she was jerked out of her mind as a few crashes and screams were filling the air. It took her a moment to register the enormous, heap of muscle that was before her. The creature was running towards the Wicked Ones, and they could do nothing but jump out of the way. At first, the girl was taken aback, trying to figure out what to do. There was a pale girl clad in black standing to her left. Her mind was giving off complete power and darkness. If Cylin had even tried to use her power against this enemy, she would surely be consumed in insanity. It was in her best interests to ignore the shadow.

It seemed that once the Wicked Ones had recovered, they managed to get this creature to the ground. The leader tried to shoot the shadow, but as Cylin expected, they did nothing. The bullets did penetrate the other person, and he rose at the shadow's command. This is when Cylin had an idea.

To The Witch, she said, "I'm going to give a helping hand. Stand by for a moment."

And then, her perspective suddenly switched to the creature's eyes. She was in his body. She could feel his physical prowess, but alas he had no mental control what so ever. As he tried to fight her, she said again to The Witch. "He is bound for the moment, but I do not know for how long. His mind is slightly deteriorating from my control. Take him out now." Cylin continued to fight the hulk's mind, but she was slowly losing. She must be weaker than she originally thought...."Please, hurry."

What Sam had just seen was... not possible. The events that had just unfolded in front of her, the summoning of the dog, its biting of Eureka, the bullets passing through the body of the girl, the question she asked Sam. Taken back from the whole world, Sam was unable to hear the words of the girl next to her. All the sounds in the world seemed to blend together; the sounds of screaming masses seemed like a song through broken speakers to her. It had taken her a long moment before she finally regained consciousness of the world.

"... From my control. Take him out now!" she was able to hear as she snapped out of her own little world. Quickly she reached up and grabbed the small, green, crystal necklace that hung around her. Taking a deep breath she tried to put what was behind her, behind her. Gripping the .45 once again, she reached into her pocket and grabbed three more bullets she brought with her. Quickly she snapped out the old revolver rounds, and put in the three new ones. Her and the girl were quite a ways away from the beast, but he seemed to be distracted by the, now headless, Anthony. This had not really consumed her much, compared to what she had just witnessed.

"You... Bastards!" The man screamed at the top of his lungs as he fell to his knees resting his body weight on one arm to support his body. The other arm was now heavily bleeding after being completely severed by Anthony. While the girl dug her fingers into his mind like the talons of a bird, Sam gripped the gun with both hands and lined up the shot. While she was unable to get a shoot wile he was on the ground like that, she found an opportunity when he reared his head up to scream into the air, his other hand grabbing his head tightly. "GET OUT!"

Now was her chance, taking a deep breath, she squeezed the trigger tight, yet lightly. The first shot fired from the gun, leaving with a loud crack and another cracking sound as the bullet found its home in the shoulder of the beast, completely shattering the joint and socket. Screaming in pain, the monster turned its gaze towards Sam.

Smiling to herself, Sam pulled the trigger twice more, the first shot blasting the hulk's collar bone in half with a loud crack, burying itself in his throat. Suddenly, the beast stopped moving, letting out a bloody groan as it fell over, the center of its forehead starting to bleed. The third shot had landed exactly where Sam wanted it to, right between the eyes.

Dropping the gun to her side, Sam let out a sigh of relief seeing it dead. Turning to the girl next to her she smiled, and offered her a hand up. "Sam..." she said extending her hand to the girl. After getting the girl on her feet again, Sam turned around to see everyone looking at her...

Why are they looking at me... she thought to herself... then she remembered. She was crying. Something none of them had ever seen before. Quickly she raised her hand and whipped off her eyes. Taking a slow, deep breath, Sam stood up right and spoke out so everyone could hear.

"A-Alright." She stated in a shaky tone, trying to keep herself together. "Lets get back... Grant, Mercy. Get these guys out of her. We need to get back before the cops get here." Quickly, she turned around and walked for the exit of the food court, placing the gun back in her pocket as the rain started to fall again. During the struggle the rain had stopped, but now it was back and getting heavier by the minute. Slowly, Sam raised her hood and walked out of the mall.

Once outside the food court and in the crowded parking lot people were still in somewhat of a panic. The police, luckily, hadn't shown up yet. In the hustle, no one had noticed her as she found her way to her motorcycle. Her Dukati X-1 had gotten her out of tons of situations... and this was about to be the next. Grabbing her helmet from the back, she placed it on her head and tightened the strap below her chin (Safety first kids!). Throwing herself over into the seat of the bike, she revved up the engine and slowly found her way to the exit of the parking lot. Once out, she peeled down the street to head back to their HQ, right as the police could be heard in the distance.

Cylin was still struggling with the beast as she felt the bullets go into her host body. It was painful, like a shot of lightning had struck. But, the gun had done it's job, and as the last bit of life went out, Cylin was back in her own body. She awoke to The Witch, who had introduced herself as Sam. The woman helped her up. "I am Cylin." The girl was still slightly in shock as she turned around and saw the other Wicked Ones gathered. The encounter wasn't long, as Sam quickly switched the objective. Evacuate and fast. She had to read minds to figure out which people to follow, but once she had the information, she was set. It was time to leave again. Police did not matter to her, but she would follow orders for now.

She would follow like the darkest shadow.

The road, itself, wasn't to long to get to the base. But to Sam, it felt a lot longer. It was a ten mile stretch of road, through the outskirts of downtown LA, from the outlet mall to HQ. Even with the rain pelting her as she rode down the street, and the visibility in front of her almost zero, she could find her way there without a problem. She wouldn't have to worry about Grant and Mercy finding their way there, because they were just like her. This was a drive they made all the time.

Sam had her entire body devoted to navigating her way home, but her mind was thousands of miles away as she navigated through the walls of buildings to get home. She knew exactly what happened. But what she didn't know, what puzzled her mind to no end, was how... The shadow was dead, killed years ago, when Sam was still young. She was so sure that the beast that took the only thing she cared about in her life, was dead. If there was ever anything Sam could be more sure of, it was that. The image of its death was burned into Sam's eyes for an eternity. How on earth could she be so wrong? Was it possible? There was only one way to find out... but it would have to wait.

The rain was now starting to get heavier, and it was time for Sam to focus on getting home safely. Pushing the thoughts far from her mind, for now, she finally saw the familiar sign that meant she was home. Literally. Ontop of a very large building on the west side of L.A., there hung a gigantic billboard case with no sign in it. Mind you, the HQ wasn't exactly in the ghetto part of the city. There was just a "problem" with the billboard that made no one want to post in it. For some reason, when ever someone new posted in the billboard, it would suddenly be gone the next day... Strange.

The building the billboard stood on was actually the HQ itself. "Underground" was the word used for the Wicked Ones, but not for the HQ. It was, in fact, a run down ten story apartment complex. Well, not "run down". Just unowned. The owner company left years ago, and the Sam "bought" it from them. The building was in disarray, and was used as a stomping ground for a group of meth-heads. And it was easy to get rid of them.

Riding to the north side of the building, Sam found the opening to the underground garage. Putting her bike in front of the large metal gate lowered to prevent unwanted from coming in, she revved her engine four times, signaling to open the gate. Once the gate was slowly lifted open, she was greeted by a massive bald black man. Standing at least 6’7 in the doorway, the towering goliath moved forward into the rain to look down at Sam.

With a smile on his face he reached his hand out to Sam, which she took at shoot tightly in hers. To this, he spoke: “Nice to see you back in one piece, ma’am. What happened at the mall is all over the news.”

Pressing a button on the side of her helmet, Sam stared at the man with a worried look on her face. “What do they know, Doorjam?” She asked sitting upright in her bite seat in the rain.

“They think it was just some tweaker who flipped out on some gang members.” Doorjam said with a laugh, moving out of the way of Sam’s bike to let her in.

“Meth tweakers don’t put holes in solid stone by punching it.” She stated as she drove forward, Doorjam agreeing with her. Once inside she was greeted by a few armed men standing at the door, watching the opening of the HQ.

Twisting the key on the side of the bike to turn the engine off. Dismounting the bike, she took off her helmet to shake out her, mostly, dry blonde hair. Behind her, Doorjam closed the gate back down again.

“I got two more cars coming behind.” She stated to answer Doorjam’s question in his mind. “Mercy and Grant both have some recruits with them... and I have to admit the crop looks good.”

“What are we lookin’ at, ma’am?” Doorjam asked her,

“Well, we have some tech wizard, a hobo who can take a hit, and a mind controller.” She stated in response.

“Like, a physic?” Doorjam asked with a question on his face. “Well. At least you didn’t pick up any more strongmen to replace me.” He said with a laugh, walking towards Sam from behind, a smile on his face as he rubbed Sam’s shoulders, trying to releave the obvious tension she was under.

“You know you’re the only ‘strongman’ in my life, Doorjam.” She said with a flirty smile as she turned to him and teasingly kicked him away. “But today, I’m not in the mood.”

“Yes ma’am.” he stated with a smile as he let her grab her gear and walk into the HQ. From behind him, he could hear the honk of two car horns. Turning to open the door once again, Doorjam saw the familiar look of Grant's old white & black muscle car drenched in the rain.

“Alright kids! Engine off, and recruits out of the car. You know the drill!” Doorjam stated standing in front of the door. both fists clench gripped to stop any trouble that may come up. It wouldn't be the first time someone had tried to infiltrate the Wicked Ones, and it was Doorjam's job to weed them out...

The car ride was silent. Luke sat in the back seat, his laptop on his knees. He was checking up on what information the police had on him- and how easy it would be to disappear. It kept his mind occupied and made his forget temporarily about his concussion. Canada seemed like a good choice. He could never afford the air fares to Australia, which would be best. He'd work on a few more of his consultancy jobs, tie up a few loose ends, pull off a huge stunt to really annoy the police, then disappear. He really like the sound of that. The Otherkind might forget about him then as well. He felt no guilt about choosing to leave the Wicked Ones. They didn't need him, he didn't need them.

"Here we are... Home." Luke looked up abruptly and closed down his laptop. In a rush, his headache returned and he felt nauseous again. Keep it together, Luke. They don't need to see you puke your guts up. He shoved his laptop into his bag and zipped the bag closed and climbed from the car, swinging the bag onto his back. He glanced around the car park and spotted the hobo guy who, despite it all, seemed to like Luke and who Luke liked. He headed over to him, which seemed to be where they were being directed to anyway.

He didn't feel like talking, and so instead tried to decide on the fake name he'd adopt for when he moved to Canada. One corner of his mouth curled up. If Y2K was more than one person, he'd be a lot harder to catch. Now, should I dye my hair or bleach it?

"Ey," Grant said to the group that approached, nodding his head upwards a bit in acknowledgement. He brushed off Eureka's comment without a response; he hadn't actually started smoking until he started his 'freelance' work. It calmed his nerves a little bit, so he typically smoked after a job. "Yeah, this looks like everyone," Grant mentioned, letting out a breath, "Unless we forgot someone, in which case they're boned." He followed up in a joking tone.

Leaning against the wall, he propped the door open with his foot, waving everybody in, before entering himself. He noticed the skinny kid looked like he was about to lose his lunch. "Nervous?" He asked with a smirk, patting the boy's shoulder. In his mind, Grant wondered whether or not this kid was ready for all this; sure he could work a computer without a problem, but was that enough? Grant just hoped Luke wouldn't end up getting himself hurt, and in the end, was hoping he would find his place.

Now that things were calming down, he started running through the events of the day in his head. The adrenaline was starting to wear off, and the back of his head was starting to hurt where it hit the wall. He cursed himself for not getting close enough to the shadowy figure; after all, if he had gotten just close enough to touch her, then they'd be able to find her. Then again, getting knocked into a wall and going out for a minute wasn't exactly a factor in his control. And when he thought about it, getting Eureka and the others out of there was more important in the end.