Fanatically Fanatic // Tabitha, Enzo, Asher, Lynx

[Parrot]

Like any other organism that traveled to a new world, both New and Old magic alike were threatened by Earth’s unknown bacteria. Luckily, for the Elementals they had Shamans who could literally work magic on those who became ill and for the last thirty years Shamans specializing in diseases practiced with Earth’s foreign contaminates. Sometimes, however, a Shaman could not cure what they did not know and it was easier to go out to the pharmacy in town and buy non-magical medicine. That had become Tabitha’s predicament.

For the past three days she’d been drowning in her own mucus, tired beyond belief, and had an occasionally spiking fever. The teacher had gone to every disease Shaman she knew, asking or buying their help when needed. The last guy she had backfired and for that night every time Tabitha sneezed she would unintentionally summon water into her hands. Knowing that she was only going to get worse before she got better, Tabitha decided she would go down to the town on her own. Normally, Tabitha would have asked one of her childhood friends to collect the medicine on her behalf but both were busy with their own duties.

Her fever wasn’t as strong as it had been the night before, and for that Tabitha was grateful, as she shut the door to her cottage and started the somewhat lengthy walk towards Mapleport, the neutral town. The forest Tabitha walked through put a burden on her body, her congested nose useless in breathing in air. To any onlooker she must’ve appeared horribly out of shape, winded by the simplest of hikes. Then again, with a closer examination, that same person would notice how pale Tabitha’s face was. They would see the fine sheen of sweat that covered her neck and forehead, cause more by the illness than the temperature outside. And if the person was observant, their hearing keen enough, they would listen to the ragged inhale and exhale of Tabitha Holt.

By the time Tabitha reached the cusp of the forest, her swamp colored eyes dully looking at the town’s outline, she wanted nothing more than to collapse on the ground and call it a day. Even the water element inside of Tabitha was stagnant, something that the roaring ocean never was. All of Tabitha was ill and, as her students would say, it sucked.

“Hey, ma’am, you alright?”

Tabitha turned her head at the voice, watching as a sentry guard jogged over to her. She didn’t know the older man personably, they had no reason to meet, but he was outfitted in the camouflage colors that the Elemental military issued. He seemed concerned for her welling being, which was sweet, but also a tad bit embarrassing for the woman.

The teacher pulled herself upright, giving the guard a shaky smile. “Yes, thank you,” she replied, pointing down at the town, “I’m heading to Mapleport for some medicine now.”

“Be careful. We’ve had reports that a group of fanatic outlaws are planning an attack somewhere,” the sentry informed her, his head turning to scan the area as a force of habit. “Actually, I’m going to need your name before you leave. We want to make sure everyone is accounted for in case something does happen.”

Clearly the man didn’t seem that happy with the lack of intelligence they had about the attack and if Tabitha hadn’t missed the last War Committee meeting due to her health, she probably would have more information about the fanatics.

Tabitha gave him her name which he dutifully repeated before radioing it over to his commanding officer. While technology was mostly shunned by the Elementals, after all look how perverted the ESP had become with their reliance to the machines, there were some essentials needed for preserving their way of life. Radios, some phones, and cars were the three biggies and those were used primarily by the military and Committee. No one owned a computer since they knew the ESP could hack their way into the machines to steal information. Most documents were hand written like the days of old.

Eventually, the guard let her go, telling her to be careful. The group of fanatics, apparently, consisted of both ESP’s and Elementals that crusaded for peace and an end to the war. While a nice sentiment, the outlaws went about it in an entirely different direction. They demanded peace by using violence. Tabitha would have dwelt on the thought more if she hadn’t finally reached Mapleport, the town’s pharmacy only a short walk away. The teacher had already placed her order so it was just a quick pick up and afte-

A jolt of energy shoved Tabitha against the glass window of the pharmacy, her mind reeling in pain.

“Get in! Get in!” a woman screamed at Tabitha, half pulling, half shoving the Elemental through the opened door. Tabitha was still stunned from the mind blast, no doubt from the ESP woman behind her. The stranger was corralling everyone in the area into the store, not caring if they were magical or non-magical. It worried Tabitha, seeing that the woman was strong in her mind blast ability as she could not only harm the brain mentally but physically push objects as well.

This must have been the group of fanatics, Tabitha thought dumbly to herself as she regained her sense of surroundings. The outlaws had packed quite a few people into the store and, after a few minutes of this, they locked the doors and surrounded their prisoners.

In total there were six of them, a perfect ratio of men and women. Tabitha couldn’t tell who was an Elemental and who was an ESP save for the first woman, with bright red cropped hair, who’d attacked Tabitha.
Worse came to worse Tabitha needed to defend these hostages, despite her illness, from the fanatics who would harm anyone for their cause.

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OOC:

The outlaw fanatics so you can describe them and their powers easily:

Reynah-Female-ESP-Mind Blast-37- leader of the group, has short cropped red hair, pale skin, and blue eyes.

Lorraine-Female-Elemental-Poison-13-oriental descent, black hair, brown eyes, very weak at her powers.

Jordan-Female-Elemental-Shifter-30-tan skin, wild looking brown hair, grey colored eyes, and tends to shift into a panther to attack as she has total control over that animal.

Markus-Male-ESP-Telepathy-48-black skin, brown eyes, greying black hair, constantly reading people’s minds to see if they will try and do something. Second in command.

Lewis-Male-ESP-psychic weapons-19-light skin, blonde hair, green eyes. Likes to draw out the killing process, tends to use whips and other weapons that cause high pain but low damage to prolong the victim’s life and suffering.

Patrick-Male-Elemental-Shaman-33-tan skin, dyed blue hair, blue eyes. Specializes in talking to the dead, making sure no one is trying to break in and help the victims. He is weak against ESP’s who are mediators

They will constantly talk about ending the war and suffering and will, every hour, kill another hostage. We are to stop it.

[Dufflepud]

Like the other prisoners, Enzo sat on the floor in the back of the room, sizing up the Terrorist group. The biggest threats were the telepath and the mind blaster - if the telepath decided to rummage through his mind, his cover would be blown. If it came to that, the mind blaster would be the biggest threat in terms of actual fighting. The others he was confident he'd be able to kill, at least individually, but she would be more of a gamble. Of course, at this point, any offensive action would be a gamble given their numbers. Fortunately he'd been able to weaken the effect somewhat with a strategically placed telekinetic barrier, but he had still been left with a splitting headache after they dragged him in the door. Although his superiors had sanctioned lethal force when they sent him in, he'd be a fool if he'd tried to go in "guns blazing," so to speak. Instead, he'd play it smart.

The door opened, and another woman was dragged in. She looked weak, even despite the mental shock, but as they dragged her over and dropped her on the floor beside him, he noticed that in reality she must have been sick. She let out a sneeze, bringing her hands up to her face suddenly as if to cover something. Looking over, Enzo saw the gleam of liquid for only a moment. Was she an elemental? Ordinarily he'd kill one such as her, but at the moment he needed magic users on his side. Slowly, he dragged himself over to her, leaning in and whispering.

"I can't take out all of these guys alone, and by the looks of it, neither can you. Although we are enemies, I propose a temporary truce while we deal with this mutual threat to each of our... organizations."

[OOC: Sorry for the short post, but there isn't much else I can do at this point]

[Shatter]

His footsteps made almost no sound as he meandered down the familiar sidewalks of Mapleport. Not having a place to stay consistently made it hard to have a base of operations, but if Asher had to chose, it’d be here in town. Away from all the ‘magical’ mumbo jumbo people, though they were known to wander in from time to time. Still, it was better than the city, and the only place he felt truly safe and let his guard down from time to time.

But he wasn’t here to laze around; after all, he had a self-imposed job to do. His light blue eyes lifted to the sky as he thought back to the deal he had struck with his typical amused grin. A couple of druggies in a back alley cornered him; he had only managed to weasel out of the situation by promising to bring them a few choice prescriptions from the pharmacy in exchange for money. Unusual for Asher, perhaps, but he was taking a leaf out of Lynx’s book, and it was always a good idea to extend his influence whenever possible.

He had considered not going through with the plan and avoiding that particular alleyway in the future, but money was an excellent motivator for someone in his predicament. Besides, Asher figured it would be a lot easier to steal from a small pharmacy than a gang of paranoid drug addicts, and maybe he could snag a bit of extra cash on his way.

He had never been so wrong in his life.

The young thief was approaching the pharmacy and was right outside of it when all hell broke loose. A woman slammed into the window; another started shouting. People were getting grabbed off the streets left and right, a few clutching their heads in agony. The smirk vanished from his face instantly. He tried to get away from the chaos, shoving a few others out of the way in a panic, but a powerful yank on the neck of his black shirt sent him half stumbling, half tumbling through the open doors.

His forearms slammed onto the hard tile and he grit his teeth through the pain shooting up his arms. It wasn’t the first time he’d landed face-down on a hard floor- acrobat training had been good for that- but it had been a long time, and Asher had nearly forgotten how much it could hurt and how clumsy he could be. He wanted to lay there, to wait for the pain to subside. But that wasn’t going to happen anytime soon, and the slight click of a door locking behind him brought him to his senses.

Gingerly, Asher placed his hands flat on the ground- good, his wrists weren’t sprained. Even better, he’d saved himself the trouble of a concussion when he caught himself, though he could already feel the bruises that would soon be blooming up and down his forearms. With a light push off the floor, Asher swung his legs under him and stood slowly. A crowd of people were gathered in the center of the building; six others surrounded them. This wasn’t a typical robbery- none of them appeared to carry any weapons. And when something atypical happened, he knew exactly who- or more precisely, what- to blame.

A frown furrowed his brow and his thumbs slid inconspicuously into the pockets of his jeans, fingers still exposed. If Asher could just get his gloves on, he’d feel a little better. It wasn’t just the fact that they had been a gift from his mother, but they had a fine, almost rubber-like grip on the fingers and palms, and the way they hugged the curve of his hand was just…. Right. So much for small comforts, he thought to himself, his blue gaze shifting back and forth suspiciously. He was more focused on the captors than the people around him; they were the more imminent threat.

But at least he could take care of himself… He hoped. So far, the odds weren’t looking so hot.

[Parrot]

It took Tabitha a moment to recover from her sneeze, her eyes narrowing as she felt liquid appear inside her hands. Instantly the woman evaporated the water back inside of her, casually lifting her head to see if any of the fanatics had noticed the little act. If they were to find out she was an Elemental then the teacher was dead. Tabitha’s faction wasn’t necessarily the reason which signed her death warrant, but more so the fact her powers made her dangerous and the biggest threat to the fanatics.

Tabitha drew in a shaky breath, weakened by both illness and the previous mind blast. Well, perhaps not the biggest threat in the room… Slowly, her eyes surveyed the fanatics with a casual sweep, not wanting to draw attention to herself. She knew the Mind Blaster would be a problem, especially with how strong the woman’s powers were, but her menace was nothing compared to the fact that Tabitha knew zilch about the others guarding them.

Something stirred in the Elemental’s peripheral as she turned to face a teenager inching over to her. He was young enough to be one of her students but something in his eyes, in the way he moved, told Tabitha he was no normal non-magical student. He had practiced somewhere (not an Elemental, otherwise Tabitha would have known him) and combine that with the determined look on his face, he could be none other than an ESP.

She kept her expression level as he whispered into her ear, confirming her suspicion of which faction he belonged to.

“Fine. What is your power?” Tabitha whispered, pausing to pretend to play with her purse. She didn’t look at him as the woman continued, “I need to know so we don’t end up killing each other in the process. I manipulate water.”

Before Tabitha could hear the boy’s reply, the leader of the fanatics reached over and pulled an ashen faced man from the crowd, his bald head reflecting the pharmacy’s harsh lighting.

“Shut up!” the fanatic howled at them all as she waved over the youngest of the group, a small teenaged girl. “The war between New and Old magic has to stop! We see the lives it steals daily, we see the destruction it causes every time we walk down the street, and we know what happens when a magical war reaches its climax!”

Spittle slung from the red head’s mouth as she talked, eyes crazed only in the way a fanatic’s could be. “We are the Crusaders of Life and we will stop this war! We have tried softer approaches but no one will listen and so we’ve move past niceties and pamphlets. If radical changes are wanted then radical actions must be made!”

She nodded her head briefly and the young girl bent down and wrapped her hands around the hostage’s leg. Tabitha’s eyes narrowed. An ESP had no use of touching a person…but an Elemental did. The bald man’s body jerked from the girl’s hands as she did something and pulled away. There was a nasty colored bruise where her hands once were…no, not a bruise.

“Poison,” Tabitha breathed, informing her newly acquired partner next to her.

The leader of the fanatics took no heed of Tabitha’s talking as she continued. “We have poisoned this man and we will continue to kill another one of you every hour till the leaders of both factions give up their titles, lands, and lives!”

All the other fanatics cheered at this point. Nothing but dread radiated from the hostages.

[Dufflepud]

"Shit!" he cursed under his breath, shuddering involuntarily as the man began to convulse spasmodically upon the floor. Leaning back in , he whispered, "I'm a telekinetic. Trust me when I say I'm confident I can kill several of them before anything happens, but there's far too many to deal with alone, not to mention that they'll just start killing innocents if I did that." I'm going to need you to provide a distra-" He stopped suddenly, turning away as a man broke away from the group and began to make his way over to the duo. He looked to be about twenty, and it was evident he had seen the two talking. Coming to a halt in front of Enzo, he grabbed the boy's face with one hand, while igniting a silver-transulcent blade that seemed to be emanating from his arm.

"What're you two up to?" he asked, a sadistic grin spreading across his face.

"Nothing."

"Really?"

"Really." At that, the man's expression turned sour and he let go, pulling back his hand and punching Enzo full in the face. Although he easily could have deflected the blow or slowed it down significantly, Enzo instead simply took it, reeling back and landing on the floor. As much as he'd like to rip the cocky bastard's arms off, it wouldn't due to blow his cover just yet.

"Next time you talk back, boy, I'll kill you." He turned to the elemental, as Enzo wiped his bloodied mouth. The woman, still in bad shape, made as if she was about to sneeze. Realizing that the resultant appearance of water would ruin his efforts entirely, he rolled his eyes, before grabbing the man's leg and practically screaming,"

"Fuck you!" Immediately whirling around and missing the sneeze, he lunged forwards, grabbing Enzo's throat and pressing the razor sharp tip of his energy dagger up under his jaw.

"I could kill you right now, and you'd never know how!" he said, the psychopath's face contorting with rage.

"Hey, Lewis! Not yet!" yelled the first woman from across the room." Ignoring her, he lifted his arm up into the air, but another yell seemed to break his from his reverie. Instead of killing him, the Psychic Weapon user simply delivered punishing blow to Enzo's stomach. Standing up, he made his way back over to the group, turning his head to shout,

"You're next, you little piece of shit!"

Rolling over, Enzo groaned, but still managing to whisper,

"Not if I kill you first."

[Shatter]

For once, Asher was having a hard time understanding what was going on, and that was very unsettling for him. He had never felt so anxious in his life. His hands trembled and his heart beat wildly- that never happened either. The same thought ran through the young thief’s head: what was going on?

His expression darkened as the red haired woman announced just that. Asher couldn’t help but bite his lip at the mention of magic- old and new, was that what they were calling it now? Still, their goals were backwards, and if they thought radical actions were going to get them radical change- no, Asher scolded himself silently. He didn’t have time to critique these freaks; he needed to get out ASAP. He was not about to end up like the poor man violently seizing on the ground if he could help it.

Maybe he had something useful in the messenger bag at his side: a knife, a shiv, anything that could be used to defend himself in a pinch. Very slowly he knelt onto one knee, quickly flipping open the top. No response from the captors. A hand slipped into the bag, rummaging around the change of clothes he kept. He really needed to organize one of these days.

A piercing burst of pain sent him reeling, clutching the top of his head and leaving him half-sprawled on the ground. Lights flashed behind his eyelids and a high-pitched buzzing filled his ears. It lasted only seconds, but it felt like forever, and when he was finally able to open his eyes the red-headed woman from earlier was glowering over him. “Don’t even try,” she hissed at the dazed teen before stalking away, barking a few orders at the others.

Asher sat up as best he could with his still throbbing head, pushing himself back a couple of feet to get away from the “Crusaders of Life” freaks. Next to him, another teen- a bit younger-looking, perhaps- groaned on the ground. Asher was having a hard time putting things together and paying attention as the pain definitely scrambled his thoughts, but he could only figure he had gotten roughed up too. “You okay?” He mouthed, not wanted to attract any extra attention. One horrible splitting headache was enough, thank you very much.

If Asher could trust anyone, he figured it’d be his fellow hostages. None of them seemed to be like the magical fanatics that surrounded them, in both because they appeared non-fanatical and non-magical; they were rapidly becoming his favorite kind of people. Though he did wonder how a group of regular people was going to stand up to six magical people: even the youngest girl of the group was dangerous and could apparently kill with a single touch.

[Parrot]

There was nothing Tabitha could do as the blonde haired man turned against her new “ally”, watching as he picked up the Telekinesis and threatened him with something she could not see. That clue instantly cued Tabitha to what the fanatic’s ability was: psychic weapons. The teacher felt a pang of dread pool at the bottom of her stomach. No one but other New Magic users could see the psychic weapons and while that would serve as no problem for her ally, it did little to help Tabitha. She watched in silence, her face contorting a minute fraction as the woman felt another sneeze come on.

”No,” she thought to herself, holding her hand over her nose, ”not again!” It felt like someone was willing Tabitha to sneeze, to show off her ability, as if she had no control over it at all. Then, just as the sneeze came and a pitter patter of water ran down her arm, Tabitha’s ally caused a second commotion. One which earned him a punch to his gut and made her ally double over from the impact.

Tabitha’s teeth gritted together as she heard the teenager mutter out dark words. He was hellbent on repaying his pain and probably would have done so right away if he hadn’t been waiting for Tabitha to cause a distraction. The illness that ravaged her body for the last few days had only been an annoyance before, now it was a shameful hindrance. She couldn’t help but think how weak she must have appeared to the Tekelkinesis with his bravado of confidence. Then again, her main goal was not to impress ESP’s, but rather to save the innocents around her.

That’s before Tabitha’s attention was stolen by the red hair woman, watching her walk over to another teenager. The boy appeared to be looking for something, anything probably to help him out in this situation. Tabitha’s heart wrung out for the boy as the leader of the fanatics attacked him, his head cradled in his hands.

Pain.

Pain was everywhere. The poisoned man, the two teenagers, and always, always, there was fear slithering alongside the pain. Tabitha stayed silent as one of the fanatics, a blue haired man, whispered over to the leader, pointing outside of the shop. She left, barking orders to another man, apparently the second in charge.

“Markus,” she snapped, “you’re in charge while I deal with something outside. Got it?”

With that Markus nodded, his eyes occasionally lingering on one person longer than another as he scanned the room. Tabitha had no time to dwell on what the second in command was doing as the other teenaged boy inched closer to them. Or more so, to her ally. The other stranger’s concern for the Telekinesis warmed Tabitha’s heart, making her think of her students.

Determination coursed through Tabitha’s blood. If it was a distraction that her ally wanted, then it was a distraction she would provide. In her current state Tabitha had little strength in her magic, she still, however, had her strong connection to water. Smaller manipulations of water she could do without notice or completely draining her energy.

Tabitha’s swamp colored eyes landed on the blue haired man, the one who’d whispered to the leader earlier. He leaned against a counter, appearing to be in the middle of a conversation with someone not there. That man would do.

“Keep your trap shut, Patrick.” the psychic weapon user, Lewis (that was right, wasn’t it?), growled over to the blue haired man. “You’re givin’ me a fuckin’ headache.”

Patrick seemed a little abashed by the comment, a sight which would be more amusing due to their ages if they hadn’t been imprisoning the whole pharmacy. Slowly, Tabitha leaned over to the two teenagers, hiding her voice behind the screams of the poisoned man.

“I have an idea, just wait,” she whispered, concentrating her focus onto Patrick’s mouth. Slowly, oh so slowly, Tabitha started to evaporate the water and spit inside of the blue haired man’s mouth. She’d rarely practice manipulating water inside of people, it was a hard feat made even harder by her illness, and it started to leave Tabitha physically drained. Still she persisted.

Soon Patrick started to lick his lips, fidgeting from side to side as he looked around the room for something to quell his sudden thirst. Reaching to a display near the counter, the man snapped up a bottle of water, twisting it open as he guzzled down the liquid. That’s when Tabitha took action. With the water source already available all she had to do was multiply it, forcing it down the blue haired man’s throat.

The suction from the water made it near impossible for Patrick to pull the bottle away. All Tabitha had to do was keep going, waiting for the color of his face to match that of his hair. Drowning took time, it was unpleasant, but so, Tabitha thought, was poisoning a man to death.

“Her!” a yell boomed into the air as Tabitha saw Markus run over to her, kicking her squarely in the side, knocking the air out of her. Tabitha recoiled from the hit, her mouth opening and closing as she tried to breathe. The teacher lost her focus as Markus yanked her up by the arm, half dragging her away from the rest of the crowd.

Patrick managed to pull the bottle away from his bluish face, throwing the plastic hard onto the ground, water spraying everywhere. “What did she do to me?” he cried, his voice shaking as he coughed and tried to spit up the water.

Markus shoved Tabitha hard against the wall, his brown eyes boring into hers. “She was thinking to drown you, Patrick. You should thank me for saving your life.”

Again, Tabitha was helpless as Markus’ fingers wrapped around her neck, threating to close off her own airway.

“I’ll keep an eye on her,” the man said calmly, his eyes almost hypnotic as his brain listened to her thoughts, “Patrick, make sure your dead keep an eye out on any runners. We can’t let anyone get away while Reynah is out.”

Tabitha kept her thoughts on simple things, nothing at all about her ally and his plans. Teaching, the beauty of Markus’ eyes, the shape of his face, the slight hook of his nose- maybe she could keep the Telepath entranced on her thoughts to prove as a better distraction.

”You have pretty eyes,” she thought to herself, half smiling at Markus. He growled, shoving her body harder against the wall, tightening his fingers around her neck.

“Shut up, whore,” he growled again, waving at Patrick to make the blue haired man walk around the hostages.

[Devi]

At this point, Lynx was wondering if he had been cursed recently, or if perhaps karma (that bitch) was finally catching up to him. Whatever it was going on in the universe, it sucked. Hard. And it was dragging Lynx down with it and making him hit every damn unlucky branch long the way.

Margot had asked him to fix a leaky sink in one of the rooms, and Lynx had needed a new part to seal it tight. There was a small hardware store not far from the inn next door to the local pharmacy, so Lynx had decided to walk on over and pick up the necessary part so he could get the sink fixed and spend the remainder of the afternoon working on his car.

The street where the hardware store was located was strangely empty for a sunny and warm afternoon, but Lynx didn’t think too much of it. In fact, he was trying to remember exactly how far down the hardware store was. As he ambled down the sidewalk, he peeked into store windows and up at the signs that hung over doors, until eventually he spotted the sign for the pharmacy. The hardware store would be just on the other side of it. As he approached, his eyes automatically slid to the window where he saw a scene so unexpected it literally stopped him in his tracks.

There was some sort of panic going on inside, but that wasn’t the immediate thing that caught Lynx’s attention. A man was holding a woman against the wall, his hand around her neck, and Lynx realized with a jolt it was Tabitha who was being roughed up.

“-da fuck?”

It was the last thought that Lynx had before his head exploded in blinding, white-hot pain. It was as though somebody had split his skull open, and he stumbled forward slightly under the impact, a string of incoherent swear words coming out of his mouth. He hardly noticed a pair of rough hands shoving him forward, and for several moments he had absolutely no idea what was going on other than the throbbing pain in his head and the cacophony of yelling as he was thrown to the floor.

Gritting his teeth, and knowing full well what had happened, Lynx took a moment to gather himself as the pain subsided, leaving a dull throbbing in its wake. Once he had regained the majority of his senses, he lifted his head and looked around to try and get an idea of exactly what the fuck was going on.

That’s when he saw Asher.

Even Lynx couldn’t contain the look of surprise that caught his face when he saw the younger thief crouched next to another young man. His eyes widened slightly, and judging from the paleness in Asher’s face and the grimace he wore, the kid had been a bit roughed up himself. This angered Lynx more than he expected, and he gave a nearly imperceptible nod of what he hoped translated to encouragement. He then looked around the rest of the room, his eyes pausing momentarily on the writhing man on the ground (Lynx didn’t even want to know what had happened there) before settling on Tabitha against the wall. Their eyes met only briefly before he realized that someone was shouting at him, and then he was dragged violently to his feet and thrown against the wall.

“I said, who sent you!?”

“What?” Lynx spat back at the red-headed woman, the question so ludicrous he couldn’t even begin to formulate a response. “Nobody sent me.”

“You were spying on us!” the woman growled, but Lynx just blinked stupidly in response. “Markus!” she barked, turning away from Lynx and looking over at the man who had Tabitha pinned against the wall. He gave Tabitha one last rough shove, muttering something to her that Lynx couldn’t hear, but could only assume was threatening, and then walked over to where Lynx and the red-head were standing.

“What were you doing outside?” the woman asked, drawing Lynx’s attention back to her. “Who sent you?”

“My landlady sent me,” Lynx snapped back, resisting the urge to tack “crazy bitch” onto the end of his answer. “I was headed to the hardware store next door.”

Talk about a convenient truth.

The redhead looked to Markus who gave a short nod, and then Lynx was being roughly shoved to the floor once again, this time closer to where Asher was crouching. Once the redhead and Markus returned their attention to the other hostages, Lynx dragged himself the rest of the way over so that he was sitting within easy talking distance. At the same time, his eyes sought out where Tabitha had been standing against the wall, wondering why she had been singled out. It couldn’t have been a good thing, that was for sure.

[Dufflepud]

Pushing himself up form the ground with a grunt, Enzo leaned into Asher, whispering softly,

"I appreciate the concern, but from here on out I advise you stay back and let me deal with the situation. When I say, you run like hell." Standing up, he stepped over to the man named Markus. The agent tapped the man on the shoulder, waiting for a moment or two as the telepath dropped the water-using woman to the ground with a an audible thud. 'Thanks' he mouthed at her, before Markus was fully about.

"What?" he spat, obviously intimidated. Despite his youth, at 6'1" and growing fast, Enzo made an imposing figure. Although ordinarily he wouldn't indulge in his own narcissism, the boy could help but grin as he lifted his hand to the other man's head level. He liked being intimidating. The man made a move to call over others, but before he could act, Enzo simply stated,

"Lights out, buddy." Clenching his hand, he released a short range telekinetic pulse, immediately followed by a massive "boom." It tore into Markus' face, blood and brain matter exploding across the back wall as the top half of his head literally vaporized. The nearly decapitated body crumpled to the ground, and throughout the room people began to scream. Most people in the room assumed he had simply shot the man with a concealed weapon, but magic users knew the truth.

With a yell, the psychic weapon user that had assaulted him previously dashed across the room, a massive bladed lash erupting from his fingertips. "I was hoping I'd get to kill you next," he growled, easily deflecting the striking whip with a wave of his hand. Channeling more energy into his limbs, he stepped within range just as the weapon once more sailed over his head. He repulsed the kid's arm as it came down, flinging it outward where it couldn't do any harm. The sadist tried to create a blade in his off hand fast enough to ram it into Enzo's stomach, but it was too late and another concussive pulse smashed into his chest, audibly snapping several ribs and flinging him across the room.

Before the others could attack him, the agent turned about, releasing the rest of his stored energy to blow out the wall of the pharmacy. The sound alone left a ringing in his ears as ceramic tiles were disintegrated, leaving a gaping portal to the outside, but over the confusion he managed to yell, "Run!" The terrified captives began to do just that, and Enzo turned about to face the enemy. With the water girl, and hopefully one or two other magic users, they might have just been able to take care of the terrorists. All in all, things were looking up, and if Enzo could grab one and subdue them without killing them, the boss would surely be pleased. He might even consider a promotion of sorts...


Those thoughts, however, were abruptly cut short as four-hundred pounds of flying panther slammed forcefully into his side.

[Shatter]

Asher was already having mixed emotions as a non-magical human being mixed up in magical affairs. Shit was getting dangerous, and while Asher was all for danger and excitement under normal circumstances, this was a little too extreme for his tastes. But when he saw Lynx, he froze.

A wave of new emotions crashed over him as he stared at the older thief. Confusion, a flash of anger, a hint of betrayal. He trusted that man with his life- okay, maybe not with his life (or anything worth more than twenty dollars, for that matter)- but still, they had a pretty good partnership going on. Asher was prepared cut ties right then and there if he was involved with these psychopaths, and the cutting glare he shot at Lynx was more than enough to communicate that.

It took him a few seconds to realize that Lynx hadn’t entered of his own accord and was actually being dragged over to where another woman was pinned up against a wall. His expression softened. While it was a minor relief, he couldn’t breathe easy just yet in spite of Lynx’s encouraging nod. The other teen’s words weren’t very comforting either, though Asher found a little admiration in his bravery. There was still the matter of getting out; now that Lynx was involved, that made it just that much harder. Curse his semi-formulated moral code.

That’s when a large boom echoed throughout the room and the others began screaming. Hands clamped over his ears, Asher peered around, trying to figure out what happened. The hostages rushed past him, clawing their way to the exit in a blind panic. And was that a body he had seen go flying in the opposite direction?

A splash of red drew his gaze and his face went slack from pure horror. Blood painted the wall, dripped down the sides and pooled on the floor. Bone fragments and grey matter peppered the tile. The world spun around him and Asher felt sick to his stomach. He caught himself on a nearby rack, lurching and trembling and unsteady. This was worse than any sickness, worse than the mental attack that had occurred just moments ago. It was too real, too lifelike, and Asher didn’t think he could handle it.

His breathe came in short, shallow gasps and sweat gleamed at his temples, staining his hair a darker shade of brown. Suddenly he leaned over and emptied the contents of his stomach on the floor.

In his mind Asher struggled for a cohesive thought to hold on to. What did he come here for, anyway? His blue eyes avoided the floor as much as possible. There was more chaos, more fighting in the background of his hearing, but he was doing his best to ignore all that right now. If he ignored it, it would go away. The floors and wall would be clean and he could return to his normal, non-magical, non-horrific life.

In the corner of his vision he spotted Lynx and the other woman who had been whispering earlier. Lynx he could trust; he’d have to take a chance on the woman. The other teenager was definitely out, and another wave of nausea hit Asher just thinking about him. He couldn’t tell if the boy was magical or not, but the fact that he had just brutally massacred a man might have had something to do with it.

His a hand half covering his face, the teenager- he felt more like a scared kid- walked towards Lynx and the female stranger by the opposite wall. If he didn’t look at the bloodbath, he would be fine. He hoped. Asher still felt unsteady, shocked, sick, and pretty useless at this point. He didn’t know why he didn’t run off with the others. Maybe the others were magical too; maybe there was another trap waiting for them outside.

The fact that there was suddenly a panther in the room with them didn’t even bother him as much as the gore. Nope. He was in complete denial now as he leaned back against the far wall.

[Parrot]

Faintly, Tabitha could remember a segment of an old saying she used to hear as a child. It was something about fate being a ribbon attached to you and the people destined to fall into your life. If that was the case then Tabitha’s ribbon was wrapped around a certain laidback Telekinesis so tightly that Tabitha doubted they would ever get a break from each other. The teacher’s initial reaction to seeing Lynx was relief, knowing they worked well together. But then, as the leader of the Fanatics started to threaten Lynx, Tabitha’s feelings quickly changed for the worse. Now she would be worried about his safety as well as her own and those of the innocents in the room.

She managed to turn her thoughts away from Lynx as they pushed him back to the floor and Markus started to walk back over to her. The Telepath continued to listen in on her thoughts, his face showing a predatory glimmer of joy when he heard her fear. That was before Markus loosened his hold on her, turning around to face one of the teenagers from earlier. There was boom and everything seemed surreal after that.

The pretty eyes of Markus now were splattered on the wall behind Tabitha’s back. The woman herself was covered in an assortment of blood and human tissue as she had been standing right behind Markus when the teen attacked. The blast was so powerful and not that controlled that Tabitha reeled back from the shock as well, her head swimming. She blinked slowly, raising her hands to study them right in front of her face. Blood, not her’s, raced down her fingers to stain her pale skin. Tabitha opened her mouth to yell, to speak, to protest what had just happened, to thank the teenager for saving her but also to voice her disgust.

She could taste Markus’ blood dribble into her mouth.

Another of the fanatics flew out of her sight, landing hard against the wall, a black mass of cat pounced on the young Telekinesis, and most of the prisoners were stampeding out of the shop. While all Tabitha wanted to do was find Lynx and talk to him, she had a bigger problem struggling out right in front of her. The teen ESP and the Shifter.

Tabitha was still shaking as she shot a blast of water at the panther’s face, watching how Markus’ blood dyed her water a faint pink color. The panther jerked its head away, losing its focus on the teenaged ESP. Knowing that not all of her strength was with her, Tabitha backed a few steps away from the beast as she repeatedly shot missiles of water at the panther’s head.

“Lynx,” she cried with a shudder in her voice, hoping that her…friend…would come and help.

[Devi]

Since Asher was closer and wasn't currently being guarded by anyone, he was the one Lynx wanted to make contact with first. He wanted to help Tabitha, and if it looked like Markus was going to hurt her, he reluctantly admitted to himself he would feel obligated to stop it. But first he would get to Asher, try and figure out what was going on and who these crazies were and if-

BOOM!

The explosion made Lynx jump, his hands automatically flying to cover his head as he immediately assumed some sort of bomb at gone off. Amongst the screaming and the panic, it took a moment for him to realize that the guy who had been crouched near Asher had attacked one of the attackers, and what had formally been Markus' head was now something that resembled a Picasso spattered across the wall behind him. Lynx realized with a lurch that Tabitha was part of that gruesome picture.

"Tabitha!" Lynx shouted, leaping to his feet and shoving people out of the way as they nearly ran him over trying to get to the door. He couldn't tell if she had been hurt in the blast; she was covered in blood, and from this distance he was unsure if it was hers or Markus; she was still standing though, and Lynx took that as a good sign. Another body flew across the room, but Lynx didn't know if it was a captor or captive. At this point, he didn't really care.  He saw Tabitha shoot a jet of water at- what the fuck, was that a panther?!

Shapeshifter, Lynx realized, duh, obviously it was a shapeshifter. And obviously Tabitha wasn't incapacitated if she could fight, though even from this distance she looked weak and unsteady.

Then, he spotted Asher not far away; he looked even worse than Tabitha did, and he wasn't even covered in blood. Swearing, Lynx jumped over the body of somebody who had gotten bowled over and started to run towards his friend, knowing full well the kid didn't have the means to protect himself in this kind of situation. He skidded to a halt in front of Asher who looked even worse up close: pale and shaky and nearly in shock. Lynx had seen his fair share of ugly situations in the world; not quite to this extent, perhaps, and certainly not this up close and personal, but he had seen the violence of the war and he had seen the violence of the city; he had even been forced to do some things he was not especially proud of in order to survive. But that was just it: Lynx had a very strong instinct to survive, and that meant compartmentalizing in a crisis. As of this moment, he hardly associated the sticky red ooze as human blood.

"Are you okay?" he asked breathlessly, but before the young thief could answer, he heard Tabitha yelling for him. Swiveling, Lynx saw the panther advancing on the Elemental and swore. "C'mon," he said, grabbing Asher by the arm and practically dragging him across the pharmacy. He reached out telekinetically, mentally grabbing hold of a nearby shelf full of non-prescription medication and yanking it down on top of the panther. Bottles and boxes went flying as it hit the animal, which shrieked, though whether it was in surprise or pain Lynx couldn't tell.

"TABITHA-" Lynx started to shout, but the end of the Elemental's name was cut off in a strangle as a crippling pain exploded inside his skull. The force of the blast made him crumple, and Lynx lost hold of Asher's arm as his hands flew to clutch at his head. He couldn't see, he could barely hear, and all he was conscious of was that it felt like his brain was melting.

[Shatter]

Asher knew for a fact that he wasn’t cut out for this; and yet, here he was. All he had to do was deal with it. Somehow.

He was vaguely aware of Lynx grabbing his arm and dragging him along urgently. He half shook his head in response, still dazed and not really sure what was going on, but a painful yank on his bruised forearms brought him back to the present. Asher suddenly found himself with his gloves in his hands- did he grab them out of his bag himself? He could hardly remember- but that didn’t matter now. He was already slipping them on up to his thin wrists.

The effect was far from total, but it helped. With a physical touch that grounded him, Asher felt a little steadier. In his head the teen was still completely freaked, but on the outside he stood a little straighter, walked without stumbling so much. It’d have to do for now, as his blue eyes glanced back and forth trying to piece reality back together again. His shoes felt slick but he refused to look at the floor. Lynx didn’t have to drag him so much now that Asher was able to walk on his own for the most part. A loud crash drew his attention sharply to his right where a panther- holy shit, a panther?!- collapsed under a heavy shelf, writhing and growling under the toppled boxes and bottles. The teen that had attacked first lay nearby, and Asher swallowed nervously.

“TABITHA-“ Lynx’s scream hurt his ears. Who was Tabitha? There was a woman standing over there, covered in blood- no, don’t look at her directly, Asher told himself as his stomach clenched again at the gore. But it had to be her, since she seemed to be on their side.

Asher nearly ran smack into Lynx as the older man froze, then dropped like a stone. The younger thief did his best to catch him, but even with the grip on his gloves, he could barely hold Lynx up with his arms wrapped under the man's. As gently as he could, Asher lowered him to the ground. But he could tell he was still in severe pain, and unfortunately, Asher knew exactly who to blame.

She was easy to find, with her bright red hair and sinister grin. The woman walked closer- too close for comfort, Asher decided. He knew he couldn’t fight her head-on, but maybe a distraction would be enough to break her hold on Lynx.

“Hey!” He called, half to the terrorist and half to get Tabitha’s attention. With a low stoop he grabbed a couple of boxes and bottles and threw them as hard as he could at the oldest woman. Several hit her arms and legs, but she didn’t stop coming towards them. “Tabitha, that shelf isn’t going to hold the panther forever!” Asher didn’t know if Tabitha could hear him or not, if that was even her name, or if she even cared what he had to say, and he didn’t stop to look over as he scrambled for more objects to throw.

One box caught Lynx’s attacker in the forehead, the sharp corner scrapping her pale skin and leaving a trickle of blood rolling around her blue eyes. Her sharp gaze turned from Lynx to him, and in that brief second, Asher swore he saw his life flash before his eyes.

He expected a mind-burning pain, but a weight hit him from behind, knocking him onto his hands and knees just next to Lynx. It felt like tiny claws her trying to rip through the back of his shirt. His hands flew to his back, trying to yank of whatever- no, whoever. It was the youngest girl from earlier, he realized with horror, clinging to him like his sister used to when they were younger. It’d be a sweet thought save for the fact that the thirteen-year-old was trying to kill him.

Almost acting on instinct now, Asher rolled forward onto his back with his head tucked close to his shoulder. A heavy thud let him know that the young girl had hit her head on the slippery tile and she released her grip on his black t-shirt. When he jumped back up, she was still laying there groaning slightly. Asher’s thoughts raced. Was she out of the fight? Did she manage to get him with whatever-it-was? Shit, he hoped not.

But he’d have time to find out later. Asher was back by Lynx’s side again, yanking hard on his arm. “Come on, man,” he urged, not sure how much more of this insanity he could take. He could feel a sweat breaking out on his forehead now and his hair was matted with it and his hands were trembling again, and oh God he did not want to see the state of the floor right now. "Come on, snap out of it. Time to go!"

[Parrot]

Tabitha snapped her head away from the slightly dazed panther as she turned to see Lynx crumpled on the floor, a teenager wrapping his arms around the ESP. She had no idea who the kid might have been, except, he was the same one who had crawled over to her and her ally earlier. The teenager’s compassion and help wasn’t something Tabitha could ignore so she listened to his words, not understanding why he was engaging the redheaded woman so mundanely.

He’s not magical.

The realization hit Tabitha hard as she heard a bestial roar emanating from behind her. Tabitha whipped back around just in time to see the panther break free of the shelving, the creature’s eyes glaring with anger. That’s when she also spotted her ally, his body slumped on the ground, apparently knocked out by the first hit from the shapeshifter. The teenager looked younger somehow: his body sprawled on the floor, his mouth slightly opened. It made him look vulnerable.

Slowly, the panther crouched, preparing to lunge at Tabitha. It was a standoff that made Tabitha sweat. She’d have to time this correctly if she didn’t want end up like her ally…or worse. Plus, now with the younger Telekinesis out of the picture that only left her and Lynx to defend everyone else and destroy the fanatics…and Lynx wasn’t going to be much of a help until he got back up. And he had to get back up.

The cat sprung. As quickly as Tabitha could she fired a large stream of water at the beast’s head, throwing its trajectory into the hard counter. Tabitha lessened the water, the cat started to fall to the ground, shaking its body out, and Tabitha repeated the process. Hard spray. Let go. Hard spray. Let go. Hard spray. Let go. Essentially banging the shapeshifter’s head into the metal, until, eventually, the beast slumped to the ground, blood trickling out of its ears and mouth.

Tabitha had little time to do anything else as she felt a lash of pain slice down her back.

With a cry she fell to her knees, turning her head slightly to see the psychic weapon guy from earlier, holding his side, pull back his other arm and slash at her again. This too landed on her back and Tabitha hissed in pain as the weapon once again broke through her shirt, leaving an red angry slice on her back to mirror the first one. And when the air reached her wounds that made it even worse.

She shot another jet of water at her attacker’s feet, watching as he crashed to the floor, landing on the side he had been cradling. The man howled in pain.

The teacher did her best to lunge over to Lynx and the other kid, yelling, “Lynx! Lynx! Get up! Help and fight!”

The red head woman, still standing there, growled as she focused her sight on Tabitha and sent a powerful blast at the Elemental. Tabitha flung forward into the wall behind the small group, the side of her body taking most of the impact as her brain reeled in pain.

[Devi]

Even after the woman released him, Lynx remained on the floor, dazed, his head throbbing. It took him longer to recover than last time, his breath shallow and shaky as he tried to blink away the painful disorientation. He wasn't sure what exactly was going on around him, and it wasn't until Asher was tugging on his arm that he finally began to focus. Dazed, Lynx used Asher to drag himself unsteadily to his feet, vaguely aware that somebody was calling him and telling him to fight. This annoyed him, because damn it, why else had he left the ESP faction if not to avoid fighting?! This thought then made him think of Tabitha, and then he realized it was Tabitha who was yelling at him to help out.

"Tabitha," he mumbled to Asher, his wits coming back to him as the pain receded and his mind cleared. "We have to get Tabitha," he reiterated more clearly, looking around to where looking around for where the water Elemental was located. The Pharmacy was in bloody shambles. He saw the panther, wet and concussed, lying motionless on the floor near the counter. He also saw a man, younger than himself, gritting his teeth and trying to drag himself to his feet. He wondered at first if he was a victim, but the knife that drew out of his hand suggested otherwise. Psychic weapons, fuck Lynx hated Psychic weapons. Luckily, this one looked weak, shimmering intangibly in the air- a result from the pain and exertion. Lynx guessed it would probably hurt, but he doubted it would cause any physical damage.

A crash drew his attention back closer to where he stood, back to where Tabitha had slammed against the wall. Although still slightly unsteady from the powerful blast he had experienced, now Lynx was getting pissed, and nothing brought clarity quite like getting pissed. They needed to take that red-headed bitch out. Like yesterday.

"Distract him," Lynx told Asher, pointing to the psychic weapon ESP who was still struggling against the pain to form a decent weapon. Then, as the red-headed leader focused on Tabitha, Lynx used a few rapid, deft movements to undo the laces of her sneakers and tie them together in a knot.

"Hey, you red-headed cunt!" Lynx shouted angrily, causing Reynah to whip her attention over her shoulder. Lynx levitated one of the cheap plastic waiting-room chairs and flung it at her before she had time to blast him. It was an easy object to dodge...or it should have been. Reynah attempted to sidestep the chair, not realizing her shoes were tied together. She lost her balance, her ankle twisting as she fell forward into the chair just as it smacked into her, knocking her backwards before it crashed and tumbled along the linoleum floor. Lynx stood there for a moment, thoroughly impressed with himself. That worked out WAY better than he had intended.