Chapter 1: Welcome to the New World

The Chemist landed on the roof with a crash, landing on an AC unit and denting it. Growling in rage, he hauled himself out of the unit and ran after Revenant. Revenant himself was taunting his opponent, leading him on a chase across the rooftops. At each gap, the Chemist managed to make the jump.

Marcus ran after the two once he landed on the roof. With each gap he either jumped or made a shadow bridge that dissipated as soon as he left it.

Bella had left the tunnel and just missed Marcus. She didn't know if she could follow until she remembered her other form.

On the last roof, overlooking the construction yard taken up by the I-beam skeleton of a new building, Revenant attacked. He had managed to cloak, and lured the Chemist to the rooftop edge before he charged him, running both off the roof and down to the construction yard below. They landed on the cab of a crane, crushing the frame like soda can. Revenant bounced off the Chemist while he himself landed on his back, the wind knocked out of him. Coming to his feet, Revenant shouted "Had enough?"

Marcus continued his tactic of running and jumping until he made it to the end. He melted into the roof and moved his way down the floor before rising next the Rev. "So. He given up yet?" Marcus asked jokingly to Rev but still held a fighting stance towards the super brute.

Before Revenant could respond, the Chemist leaped at them both. Dodging to the side, he avoided the attack and kept leading the Chemist further into the yard. Is it me or.....is he getting sluggish? James asked to the nanites. Indeed, the Chemist's movements were slowing.

Possibly. The compound he injected may be permanent or longer lasting but he may not be able to fight for extended periods of time. If so.....we may yet be able to go at him.

Excellent. Testing the theory, Revenant moved in close and hit the Chemist in the jaw, his sluggish block easily slipped through.

Due to electronic jamming, Paladin was late. But oh, was he on time. Diving down, sword sheathed, he built up speed, and used the suit's little tricks to cause the sword hand to hest up.
"Revenant. Move."

With the power of terminal velocity behind him, and a flight path laid out by Aries, Paladin used his speed, and started to pull up without losing an inch.
"FALCOOON...." He then proceeded to punch the Chemist. "PAAAUNCH!"

Marcus rolled to the side and saw that the super brute was focused mainly on Rev. He himself decided to follow them both and when he was close enough to the two, he yelled out to Rev. "Is this one a kill target." But what happened next surprised him. The suit guy came in from the sky and punched the brute.

The nanites warned him in time to dive to the side and the punch delivered to the Chemists chin sent him flying, and even broke the skin of his chin. He went flying up and into a metal beam, denting it before falling on the ground. "Jesus!" Revenant said. "What kept you?" he asked.

Marcus took advantage of the giant suit's attack to summon up several tendrils that soon started to act like chains. The darkness wrapped around the super brutes arm's and then connected itself to the ground. "Is he a kill target." Marcus asked rev again. He thought about just sending several tendrils to the brutes face but this one was different to the rest.

"No he is not!" Revenant shouted. Slowed the Chemist may have become, but he was still strong. And he had landed beneath the light of a lamp, weakening the shadowy bonds and breaking free. Standing up, the Chemist turned and grabbed from a stack one of the large metal beams, lifting it like a bat and swinging it at the three heroes. "Duck!" Revenant shouted as the beam came flying at them.

"Signal jammed."

As the metal beam was throwin, Paladin stepped forward. With a loud shunk, came the mighty blade Excalibur. With a flourish, Paladin deflected the beam, arm outstretched. "I do not fear you, nor your strength. Surrender, or you will die."

"Do I look like I fear you tin man?" the Chemist sneered. This fight had to end, and James had an idea. It was going to result in some property damage.....but it'd be worth it. "Paladin," he said over the private line, "if the sword is sharp enough, start cutting through the beams while I distract him. Let's bring the house down on him."

Paladin raised the wolf snout. "I can just shoot him..."

"We're not killing anyone," Revenant snarled.

"Jesus, you can't trust natural Darkness." Marcus said to himself as he decided to grab the darkness the emitted from his own body. He began to cover his body deep in armour before bonding the darkness with his arms.

What the hell did you just do.

As you said, I wasn't meant to survive when we became one and because I'm the dominant mind.

Your killing me.

No. You're just becoming another part of me. Marcus finished to Dark before getting into a fighting stance to the super brute. Rev and the giant metal robot were just standing there so Marcus decided to be a sort of distraction. Didn't mean he wasn't going to not try and knock the guy out. He wasn't a kill target.

Paladin sighed, and held his sword ready.
"Alright."
He sped off, and began to slice through the beams.

Revenant darted forward, moving with Shadow as they kept the Chemist distracted and fixed on his spot. "Come on big guy, I don't have all night!" Revenant caroled to the muscle bound drug dealer. Furious, the Chemist swiped at Revenant, only for his target to duck under the blow. "I'm gonna make you scream in pain!" the Chemist screamed at them both. "I only scream for ice-cream," Revenant taunted. "Which kinda sounds nice right now. Know what I'm doing after this," he said, lashing out with a tendril and hitting the Chemist in the chin. Just a little more, he thought as Paladin cut through more of the beams above them and the air was filled with both the grunts of fighting and the sound of metal screaming as Paladin's sword cut through the beams.

A few of the beams fell down, Revenant narrowly missing a few as he moved. Some of them missed Shadow, though the rest fell on their target: the sluggish Chemist, who was soon pinned beneath the beams that fell. "Dammit!" he howled, struggling as another beam fell on him. He collapsed on his back, the beams piled on him. It looked over....but just to be sure, Revenant walked over. "Hey, gorgeous," he said to the pinned super-villain. "Say cheese." With that, he slugged the Chemist right in the face. "I don't want to speak too soon," Revenant said, "but I think it's over."

"No speak soon, may I slug him." Marcus asked in a demonic voice that sounded pleased, until a falcon that had muscles, sort of landed on his shoulder. "Shifter, that you." The falcon slightly nodded it's head as it rested on His shoulder.

"I thought her name was something else?" Revenant asked......then he remembered. "Oh crap, I gotta go back to his base. Guys make yourselves scarce, the cops are on their way now."

"I like the name shifter better." Marcus replied to him as he remembered that a hostage was taken. He waved to Rev as he ran and made his way to the chemist with a blade. "You know, I would have killed you a long time ago, maybe I would have gone a bit harder but for now you live because Rev says so." Marcus said to the chemist in his demonic tone. He turned from the fallen brute and walked away his bladed arm turning back into a arm.

Bella rested on Marcus's shoulder despite her size. He had broad shoulders. He can be a crazy man. Bella thought to herself about Marcus. He had told his name to Zeru, Garth and Her but she still called him shadow sometimes.

As they dispersed, leaving the Chemist there, the police soon arrived not just because of what Gestalt did, tipping them off. It was not late enough in the night that there were no people at all still awake and the fight had alerted several people, causing them to call the police. Several cars arrived and the officers found the Chemist, buried under the metal beams. "Uh.....Central?" one of the officers said into their radio. "We're gonna need bigger cuffs.....and a really strong cell."

James made his way back to the terminal, going down and past the bodies. He wasn't sure where the blood girl was, or if she was an ally or not. It didn't matter to him though, as he arrived back in the Chemist's lab to find Lauren exactly where he left her. Untying her, he said "Lauren? Lauren wake up."

Lauren stirred a few moments later, her eyelids twitching before she opened them slowly. "You came.." She whispered as she looked at him before scanning the environment. "How... Did I get here?" She inquired sounding rather sleepy, Lauren found herself shivering from his touch or cold she could not say.

"Who?" Revenant asked, still in disguise. James wanted to shed the mask and act like he came for her, but he doubted that would be believable. "I'm Revenant."

Lauren shook her head, it wasn't who she thought it had been at first. "Never... Mind I just thought." She stopped herself mid explanation. There would be no point. "I'm Lauren." She replied forcing a smile onto her face. "The singer, you may have heard of me?"

"Of course, Lauren Milan, famed pop-star," James said, his voice disguised. "I was out running when some crazy kid by your house got my attention, said you were kidnapped?"

"Yeah... Either that or I really got to work on not sleep walking." Lauren still managed to find a way to joke. "Can you take me home? Please."

"Sure," Revenant said. "Beats letting the police take you away." He helped her up, and guided her out. "Lauren.....there's gonna be some things ahead I don't want you to see. So I want you to close your eyes for me."

Marcus continued to walk his mask long gone. He was maybe half an hour away from the under ground home he had when he felt something. "Bell, fly ahead." He said to her, his mask coming back.

Bella gave him a slight turn of her head until the mas came back. "Careful." She managed as she flew away from him, to where she was living right now.

Yeah that never would be good ending up with the police. Somewhat reluctantly she shut her eyes, holding onto him tightly. "Okay." Came the reply as she resisted the urge to open them.

And so James guided her up the stairs.....and past the dead. There were several of the dead brutes scattered around, the smell of blood filling the air. As he guided her through, he wondered for a brief moment, about dropping the armor. Was it worth it? No....not yet. When they were out of the terminal and in the night, he could hear the sound of sirens drawing closer. "Open your eyes....and hold onto me as tight as you can," he said.

She opened her eyes listening to the wails of sirens and did as she was bid. "Okay... Don't drop me or I will scream." Lauren whispered, wondering what he was planning. She hoped it did not involve flying.

As she held him, the nanites shifted and moved over her arms, even strapping around her back to keep her secured. "Hold on tight," Revenant said. He shot his arm up and a cable was fired, hitting the corner and pulling them both up to the roof.

Lauren clutched him, holding tightly, squeezing her eyes shut as she felt them move. She resisted the urge to scream.

Landing on the roof, he broke into a run and jumped the gap between roofs, heading for her house. He wanted to try talking but that didn't seem like a good idea while running.

When they got to her house, he landed in the street, amid all the broken glass and released her. "Here you are, home sweet home," he said.

Lauren eventually found the courage to open her eyes, she found herself to be where he said, back home. Safe and sound. She observed the destroyed window. "My parents are going to totally freak."

"Can always say you were throwing a wild party," Revenant said. "Or an angry fan broke the window........from the inside...."

"I think telling the truth would make more sense and avoid getting grounded."

"True....just gotta hope your parents take the truth well," Revenant said.

"Yeah..." Lauren said with some reluctance. "Time to go pray to the gods."

"I wish I could stay and help explain things but uh.....I'm kind of a wanted man," Revenant said, feeling a bit awkward. "Could try finding James, see if he'd help you out."

Marcus looked around his environment quickly, he felt something bad. Human, now might be a time to let me have control. These words made Marcus realise what was out their.

"Yea no, this time I'm kicking your old friends ass." Marcus said to him as one of the snakes rose from his back.

"Go then... I'll try and contact my boyfriend." She wondered how he knew who James was but decided not to inquire. Lauren would have try and tidy up some of the mess before her parents got back.
Fixing it was out of the question, no one could replace a window that quickly.

Boyfriend? James thought. Well.....that depressing. "Alright, take care," he said. With that, he moved back to the rooftops.....only to circle around to the corner out of sight and change back to his normal self, then run around the corner to Lauren's house.

Lauren looked up in surprise putting the house phone back down. "James!" She exclaimed. "I was just about to ring you." She felt no worse for wear though her shoulders throbbed painfully.

Immediately, James flung himself at Lauren, hugging her tightly. "Thank god," he said, clearly relieved. And it wasn't all an act either, since he had to resist the whole time the desire to hug Lauren, make sure she was okay without the mask over his face. "I thought you were gone," James whispered.

She hugged him tightly as well. "I was but then a hero brought me back." She whispered. "Brought me back to you."

"A hero?" James asked, letting go to step back. "Who? Revenant?"

Marcus turned to every sound, not missing a single step. The first sign of noise was a girls giggle. "Left again?"

Left is dead, she failed and now shes dead. I'm sure of it. This one is new. Dark informed Marcus, Left was the only female of the entities at the time.

Marcus rose the second snake to that. An unknown threat. "Ohh, I love snakes." Came a young girls voice innocent sounding and young.

"Yes." She nodded. "I'm glad you came I was just about to ring you."

"Me?" James asked. "Why me? Why not the police, or your family?" Not that he minded being the first on her list of calls.....but still.