As Jake and Evie walk down the trail, Evie starts to shiver from the cold. She looks over to Jake, who looks back at her shyly. The two find each other inching closer to huddle for warmth. Jake gets close to Evie, sharing his body heat. Evie finds herself blushing while Jake stares off into space. "What are you doing up here?" Evie asks. The snow outside begins to pick up. "At the right time you'll know" Jake says vaguely. "But, when will that be?" Evie asks. "Really soon, I just need to know when, but really soon." Evie stops for a second and just sits in silence with Jake.
Meanwhile the storm gets worse. Bob keeps telling his story to John, Jackson, and Dale.
"I think one valid reason why Colson wasn't a fan of me in the end, was my tactics. You see, we found a rogue person running around the city, he was tying up people for Sasha with barbed wire for her to eat. We realized we had another rouge high tier. Some of my men managed to catch him and tie him up for interrogation, you see their families knew him, he was creeping on their wives a lot. He had a disorder of some kind, a very disturbed man, his name was John Bryers. He was just a kid mentally, didn't realise what he said was disturbing or in any way inappropriate. He needed help, and we didn't exactly give it to him."
"Hey John, you can't run forever!" Bob roared as his eyes guided the way for him in the dark, similar to a flashlight. "L-leave me alone!" Bryers yelled back. Bob and his men chase after John. John uses his wires to trap men on telephone poles and hangs them from them, the barbs digging into their skin, securing their position. Bob throws cars at John, John uses his wires to propel himself, the rebel soldiers fire at John, his wires provide cover from the bullets, eventually though Bob gets the drop on John, knocking him to the ground.
In the present day, John found himself getting out of his seat to fill his cup with water. He takes a sip as his hands shake, gulping before returning back to his seat. "Here I thought I was the only John," John commented. "John is in fact an odd name," Bob commented. The two smirked at each other. "You're the only boy I've seen to have the most peculiar look, brown eyes and black hair, usually someone will have only one of those traits, and a name like John, you sure are UnOrdinary. You're the antithesis of this man." John looked at Bob concerned. "What happened to this-" John gets interrupted. "He had yellow eyes, brown hair. A creepy smile. Listen, I make him out to be a monster cause that's what he was when we last interacted, but for all I know maybe our system reformed him? I doubt it but-" John interrupts. "He's in the prison?" Bob takes a moment before answering. Then sighs as he accepts reality. "Yes, they use him to control the barbed wires that surround the place. And no, he's not reformed. He's not even human, he's just their tool." John's eyes widen as he finds chills crawling up his spine.
"We tied him down with rope so he couldn't escape, his Unnatural was to change the material of the wire, but hasn't unlocked it yet. Once the People's Party rose up, they took him and created a super prison, with him as the center of its intelligence. A monster that has a reach to every inch of that property." As Bob describes Bryer, Bob's ability allows for everyone at the table to watch as the barbed wires in the prison come to life, snatching escaped prisoners and horribly cutting them up with the barbs from each knot. Everyone shudders as John gets up from his seat. "We beat him senseless for days" Bob added, the three young men get more and more disturbed as Bob continues his narration while they watch from his vision. "Tortured him too, it got personal when some of the soldiers made him say degrading things. He did so, because what we as a community put him through was worse than many POW's go through." Bob then turns his head to a judgmenting John. "You have to understand, while inexcusable, our country has only had a government for the past maybe thirty years. For most of our history, we've been a lawless land run by gangs. The leader of said gang, such as myself and my brothers, would claim territories and back it up with weapons. We were essentially mini presidents. We weren't allowed to evacuate to other nations. We, like the Eldians and criminals of the wasteland in the states, were forced to live our lives on a small plot of land, or die at the hands of the outside world."
"Who the hell are the Eldians?" John asked in confusion. Bob turns his head with a tear in his eye. "You don't wanna know" he utters. John begins to pace back and forth. "Let's get going" he says as he tries to leave, but Dale stops him. "What do you think you're doing?" John stares down Dale with an intense glare. "I can't sit around while she's stuck in there, with that creature!" John yells as he clenches his fist. He then takes a sigh, remembering his rashness from his high school youth. "Well then I'm not doing this here, I'm going to bed and I'm getting up before dawn, when the prison is at its weakest." John says this as he marches off. He bows to Bob, thanking him for the food before continuing off. Bob looks back at the group, forgetting the last several minutes. "Where was I?" he asks. John finds himself inside his sleeping quarters watching as the snow starts to pick up. He sits on the edge of his bed, looking at his suit with temptation.
"New Seattle was at one point completely destroyed, leveled to the ground. Colson with his friend moved to a city down south. They called it…
New Pompeii City, and boy was it a party town.
"Colson and Zenn hid there for a bit, but before they arrived, the news started to show images of Seattle City, a giant man rose from the area, covered in fire. It was the most horrifying thing ever, it was some kind of unNatural, not just a devil tier, but like evil itself was behind this thing. They called it…..
Kaiju. Ability, Pyrokinesis 7, UnNatural super Pyrokinesis, 10.1
"Keep in mind, the plague was the least of our problems now, this thing could kill the virus cells, but it was causing a rampage all over the nation, hell bent on destroying the world. So now we had a solution to our biggest problem in the form of a world ending nightmare. We found some people who could help us, people with powers that got them from the crippling of others. One woman was a government agent, her name was…..
Luchia Ramsy. Ice manipulation, 5.6. no unnatural.
Colson found a girl who was related to The Kaiju she had the same ability, but no UnNatural. Her name was-
Sally Beaks: 4.9, ability, Pyrokinesis.
"She lost her children to that monster."
This beast was strange, it had the intent of eliminating the plague and it announced it telepathically to everyone in the national area. It had a loyalty to those with powers. It was determined to turn as many people as aura users as it could. Not everyone though could get aura like these people had, like us. People now have aura levels of 1.2, but back then if you were below a 5 you were as good as crippled. Most people had to die, so save a few and build a new species of humanity. Everyone fought back hard against this thing, but this creature turned the corpses of the dead into an army of demon possessed zombies. Every city he destroyed only made him more powerful.
"In response to all of this, New Pompeii's mayor created a tyrant militia. It was New Seattle once again. The city was locked down, people were controlled, and an egotistical politician fought for his own legacy over the people." John sat up against his bed as he listened from his room. "These were no allies, but men who seeked to destroy all super powers, a Supreme Leader before the Supreme Leader. They eventually were backed by the official army as it was being built up. This was the conception of our modern government."
"If only we had these men for Sasha and her army of zombie cultists, or for our older brother and his mad scientists. Instead we were stuck with them as villains. Colson had this staff, he could temporarily borrow abilities, it was a project that has been in the making since the founding of science itself. You see, science with aura has always asked this question, can one simply gain the ability of another?" John's eyes widen as he continues to eavesdrop. "People don't want the power of a god, because even a god-like ability can be countered by itself. The ultimate counter to something, it itself." John looks down at his hands, his eyes glow as he sees Joker laughing in his own mind. His friends, horribly beaten and bruised. "The weakness to aura itself, is aura itself" John whispered back. "This staff, it allowed him an extra advantage, but it wasn't enough. The project was continued onwards. This project took many different names, some real life projects, and others as conspiracy's, but even the most secretive organizations that exist today carry on the legacy of this. I believe it will not be a new invention that completes this project, but a person." John looks into a mirror to see Joker staring right back at him. He stands up, the Dark Knight against his greatest adversary.
"Colson and his team now had more power to help them take out soldiers, not knowing that they were just a distraction, The man behind them was named….
David Johnson the V, ability, monster, 10.1. UnNatural, monster infection, can turn people into monsters as well as turn himself into one.
"The soldiers were not the worst, with superpowers taking them down was relatively simple. Destroy their bases, rough them up, send the rest running. It's when they along with the civilians that were being oppressed would suddenly transform into man eaters that made things hard. In fact, this was no zombie outbreak, the mayor could turn anyone within his range into a beast at will."
"David, we need to talk," Colson said sternly on the rooftop. Mayor David turned around with a glare as Colson held his staff.
"So, you're the traitor who's been taking out our brave troops" he said bitterly. "No, I've been doing their job for them, protecting this nation, and so are my friends. You on the other hand have been nothing but a tyrant" Colson said as he got up close to the mayor. "Ahahaha, it doesn't matter now, you think you're in control." Colson grips his free fist. "David, listen to me, you need to stop terrorizing the people here and focus on the real threat. The giant beast that's coming towards this town! It's gonna wipe everyone out!" David shoves Colson away. "I can fend him off without any struggle, you need to butt out!" Colson out of frustration grabs the mayor. "DAVID LISTEN!"
"Silence, or I'm going to show you the consequences of TREASON!" The two stood off at a confrontation. Loud stomping can be heard. David and Colson look to see a giant fire outside the city. As soldiers from David's militia go out and attack it, the minions charge at them, burning them alive and consuming them. "SHIT" Colson yelled as he powered up, his eyes glowing a dark blue as electricity flashed all around him. Lighting struck him as he began to float while David laughed maniacally, his eyes glow purple. "Let me show you who this town will remember as a hero!"David turns into a giant monster, the blast forces Colson to go flying, suddenly a large percent of the population turns into monsters as well, the two armies look at each other. The fire devils vs the infected monster. At this point all checkpoints and military bases were completely destroyed and overrun with infected creatures. "Sally!, Luchia! We're in trouble, what do we do?!" Colson yells. Sally, Luichia, and Zenn gather to watch the two groups collide, the devastation to the city is already severe. The few soldiers remaining split up now attacking the giant monster, unaware it's their leader David, while also attacking the fire Kaiju and its minions. The mayor stomps out of the city with legs that bent like a tripod, resembling an alien-like monster with an enormous shell for a spine, a body with bones ready to pop from the skin, four purple eyes and an energy ball forming in its mouth. It had four arms, eight legs, and crawled towards the beast like a bug. "Alright, Sally and I will take care of the monster, Luchia, hold off some of the fire demons with Zenn but don't engage that thing until I say so, we all need to focus on it with full force!" Colson charges at some zombified humans while everyone else powers up.
Colson and Sally split to fight the monster that was Mayor David, it launches a laser out of its mouth that destroys the area. Sally uses her flames to burn the monsters that are attacking people, her fire spreads everywhere as she lays havoc on the enemy, Colson raises his weapon and shoots fire, laser, and ice at the beast, scratching it and making it bleed, the Monster swings at Colson knocking him back. Sally fires her flames at her maximum potential, killing the demons behind David. David swings at Sally crushing her into a building, her bones break causing sharp edges, they stab her organs causing bleeding, Sally falls cracking her skull as well, Colson watches her most likely die. "NOOO! SALLY!" he roars.
Sally laid there, bleeding everywhere, Colson saw this and powered up, his eyes gleaming an angry Blue as he finally unlocked his ultimate UnNatural…
White Lightning.
Colson summoned a storm and struck the monster and all of it's minions, he even killed the fire demons, but his fury was cut short by a raging fire giant. It roared as it burned up the mayor and his fleshy beasts. All that was left was the carnage of his flames as his own minions were being poured into his body, giving him more power.
Colson struck his lightning at the beast, His eyes glowing white and angry. As he dodges The Kaiju, it gets tackled by David's monster that David is piloting. It burns up in The Demon's body, the fire peeling the flesh up as David gets devoured by this thing. It then swings its fist at Colson, Luchia blocks it with her Ice as Colson uses his ice to propel himself towards this beast, its eyes glow white as Cole's blue eyes stare it down as he lands a punch at him, sending the giant back into some buildings. "Where is Sally?" Luchia asks. She looks around to find her dead corpse burning on the street, her anger turns into pure rage as she sends ice at the giant, wanting to inflict as much pain as she can, she unlocks her UnNatural Ice storm. However this only angers the beast and he stomps on Luchia, killing her with his weight and flames. The ice storm begins to swirl around the city, creating horrific conditions as constant flashes of hot and cold terrorize the civilians. "NOOOOO!" Colson roars as he moves Zenn out of the way. The giant moves his hand to swat Zenn. Zenn, now safe, asks Colson what they're gonna do. "Listen man, I need you to live, to tell my tale, make sure people know what happens, I don't know man, I think, this is goodbye…." Zenn looks at Colson horrified. "What, COLSON?!" Colson charges a mega bolt, one only God could produce with no ease. It took him all of his aura to make, he sent it down with the wrath of a thousand missiles. It strikes The Kaiju, exploding its head and killing it. Lava spilt from its body, acting as blood that melted the buildings around it.
"The only survivor was Zenn, as the people of New Pompeii all come out of their hiding spots to see if it's safe, they see the sunny sky and white clouds. They celebrate being alive, the virus, now gone, the demons and villains have all disappeared. It took some time to rebuild and recover the bodies. This was no overnight sensation, but as everything came together people partied like there was no tomorrow. People were happy to be alive. "Zenn brought Colson out, he was celebrated as a hero. He went down as a legend for a little bit, before the government took back the country and stole its history from its people. The horror of an entire nation losing its power, only for the few to keep theirs to terrorize it created a movement of anti aura. The new regime and the people backing it up acknowledged those that fought back with their powers as the last heroes of the old world. They then began their new leadership, one political party set on capturing the country and crippling it forever. Anti aura will be the downfall of this nation forever.
"I love you brother, and I'm sure gonna miss you"
Bob says with a tear as he feels a draft of cold air rush in. "JOHN NO!" Dale yells as he draws his gun. "Jackson get the truck started!" Jackson does so, running over with the keys as Dale looks back at his old uncle Bob. "Go, go give em hell" he says with a bitter smile.
"S-Sera?!" John yells as he finds himself chasing her down. Sera smiles as she fades away. Her mirage was blasted by cold wind. "S-Sera, wait!" John goes to grab her but he goes right through her, he then falls to the ground crying. His cape flaps in the wind as his gold aura highlights his figure. John charges at the tower with all his rage as he sees Sera's aura surrounded by a dark brown aura. Something was wrapped around her figure, holding her close to another silhouette. "SERA!!!!!!" John roars as he begins to take flight. Guards begin to yell at John to halt, but he ignores their gunshots, taking them out as he scales the prison walls. Dale and Jackson are way behind. John uses his concrete ability and throws rock shards at the soldiers, who use their concrete abilities in retaliation. Sera begins to wake up as something wet slips across her face. She sees the deformed man, tightening his grasp around her with his barbed wires. Sera struggles within the confines of her containment, screaming from the pain of the barbs as she kicks her captor. He yells in pain, slowly losing his grip on her. In her struggle against the prison itself, John darts towards her as the barbed wires attack anything that moves, cutting at the skin of prisoners and soldiers alike. "SERA?! SERA!" John yells. He takes care of the guards but sees some juggernauts above him, they all launch giant shards of rocks at him as they glow yellow in the night sky. They crash onto John shaking the ground around them, as they launch their rocks at John he evades and shoots back, unleashing a giant barrage of concrete, he wipes out all of the soldiers standing in his way, Some men with mini guns start to fire at John, he evades the bullets and takes them out. Sera meanwhile is struggling to fight off the barbed wired freak, he launches his barbs at the other John while Sera struggles to escape. John's eyes get aggressively gold, he lunges at the tower head, turning the barbed wires around Sera into a softer material, he then launches concrete at John, knocking him to the ground before using the barbed wire ability to strangle other John.
"SERA!" John calls. "JOHN!" Sera says, rushing towards him with ripped clothing from the barbs. The two embrace after missing each other for so long. "Come on, we gotta help the other prisoners!" John looks down to see the master of barbed wires still breathing. "Wait, one second!" he says sinisterly. As Dale and Jackson catch up, joining the fight with the rest of the vigilantes, John jumps down to confront his named twin, who's bleeding out. John looks down at him with vengeance, but remembers Bob's words. He sighs and leans down close to the man. "I could have been you," he says outloud. "So I get it" The man continues to choke on his own blood, rolling around in his own suit of copper and sharp metal. "I'm sorry you had to go through all of that." John's tears of empathy with this sick man land on the soft snow, Sera watches from above with the same feeling as John.
John fires the laser in the man's heart, killing him. Sera jumps down with her ability active as she takes the dampener off, feeling like she's at full battery.
Seraphina, ability, Time manipulation, 4.8.
John looks in the man's pocket to find a chemical leaking on his pant leg. "Suit, analyze," John said calmly. "Reverse vaccine for ability disabler, a chemical compound that restores cripples abilities." The suit repeats back. John then looks at Sera hesitantly. "John?" Sera asks. John wastes no time and goes for the serum. "Take the chemical, I don't need it" Sera spoke. "Nonsense, come here" John said. "NO JOHN!" John looks up at Sera with confusion. "What?"
"I was terrible with my ability, at an 8 I was irresponsible, I deserve to be stuck at half the level, no, I'm privileged to even get it back." John shakes his head. "John, you might finally have the power you've been seeking. An ability of some kind, something you can call your own. Haven't you always wanted that?!" John recalls all the times he's ever used his ability. He clenches his teeth, gritting them bitterly as memories of his mother with her flaming claws appear. "What?" Sera asks. "Damn, the bottle is empty!" Sera sniffles from the cold. "It's fine, I'm just sorry you won't ever be able to have an ability you call your own. John hesitates for a moment as his black cape flaps with the wind. He turns to Sera with his mask off, about to place it back on. "I do, it's called Aura manipulation." Shivers are sent down Sera's spine as John grits his teeth. "And my alias is The Dark Knight." Joker's laughing cracks into John's head. He sees himself standing in front of a clown whose face is covered with a bloody smile. His hair wild and green, and on his chest a black and gold emblem. "A bat, a cat, or even a rat like you. It doesn't matter the timeline or universe John. Some call you Bruce, others Terry, James, Jason, even Damian, you will always be darkness manifested." John clenches his fist as he steps towards Joker. "JOHN! What the fuck is he doing here!" Rising from the ground is John the barbed wire manipulator, with him many clowns and other figures of evil men. Some use flames and others gas, some morphe into shapes and others grow strong. One had red eyes that glew like ice, and one flew miles high into the ground. "You are my Dark Knight" Joker says with a sick smile. "No, I'm the people's dark knight" John says in response as snowy figures of men in black capes and suits appear behind John. Above both groups, a skinny man with a collar around his eyes, spikes and smiling teeth, the Darkest Knight.
"To them I am their Dark Knight, to you I'm your Golden God" and with that John's aura made all the figures disappear with his golden light. His shadowy aura strikes the land. Around him and Sera stood no one but the Supreme Leader's soldiers and the last of the aura manipulators. "John, free yourself from that curse. I know you're sad about your mother turning you into this, but you can fix it now!" John sighs, taking the liquid and pouring it into his mouth. "Good, it's okay to be selfish" John then kisses Sera, forcing the liquid into her, her eyes glow as she takes it down her gullet, eventually John gets blasted away into a wall as Sera's aura goes into full effect. "J-JOHN!" She rushes over with her ability to John, holding him as he coughs. "Are you okay?!" John smiles as he wipes the dust off of him. "How does it feel to be all powerful again?" he asks with a smile.
Seraphina, Ability, time manipulation, level 8.5. Ghoul rage, 9.5.
"I feel stronger than I ever have before." John smiles as he gets up. "Good, cause we need to-" Suddenly, The Supreme leader knocks Sera and John off the cliff where the prison is and into the water with her giant rock monster, as John is falling he flies under Sera to catch her as they plummet into the icy waters. "Suit, activate heat mode!" The suit does as its commanded while the current drags him and Sera away. "Dammit, a riptide!" John thought. John holds onto Sera who's unconscious as he gets pulled out into sea, he watches the prison explode. Devastating the area. "Fuck" John thought to himself as he continues to hold onto Sera.
Meanwhile Sera is in her head, darkness surrounds her, suddenly a beam of light starts talking to her. "You're back" Sera added. "I need you to finish this" The Lord spoke. Sera looked down at the darkness in guilt. "You've been chosen, I knew you would be capable of greatness in this universe of mine." Sera looks up with sadness. "What about him?" she asks. "What about him?" God asks back. "It's all he's ever wanted." Sera sighs, floating in her own aura. "I have other plans for him, plans that will fulfill him and complete his arc. I need you to not worry about him." Sera nods as she looks up to see a face smiling down at her. She smiles back as she reaches her hand out. "Alright" she says with a smile.
"Seraphina?"
"Yeah?"
"You still trust me?"
"Of course."
John and Sera wash up on a beach in New Seattle City. John wakes up, with Sera in his arms, Sera coughs up some water as they both drag themselves onto shore. John lies down with Sera on top of him, tears in his eyes as he hugs her. "Sera, your, your-" Sera chuckles. "Jeez John, you're always breaking down when I'm gone." She says with tears in her eyes. "Hahaha, heartless as usual" John spits back, before the two remain hugging in each other's arms. As they slowly make their way back to their hotel room in hopes for it to be empty, they watch all the ads turn to the local news in the downtown square. Jackson and Dale fighting the Supreme Leader down south of New Seattle City, with both news choppers and attack helicopters swarming the sky. The two use all their strength to try and get to them, avoiding the crowd as they're spotted in a prison jumpsuit and vigilante suit.
Fifteen minutes earlier, while John and Sera wash ashore, Jackson and Dale chase down the Supreme Leader to her fortress downtown. "You bitch, you took everything away from me!" Hal roared as he sends clouds of smoke and small fire balls at the Supreme leader, she blocked them with her concrete and sent Hal flying. She then taunts Dale and restrains Jackson. "Oh Jackson, you really are special. I wish you'd work with me. One of our own can copy like the Golden God of the west." Jackson smiles with glee. "Oh lady, when my brother gets back up ohohohoh!" The Supreme Leader laughs at him.
"He'll what?!" Dale from a distance loads a military rocket launcher and smirks. "Take this ya cunt" Dale fires a rocket launcher he picked up at the Supreme leader, she dodges it and falls back. An explosion sends everyone and everything flying.
To be Continued.....