As darkness descended upon New York, a lone man ascended the rooftop of an old, condemned building. The view from the building wasn't great, but it did allow him a good look upon the greater downtown from afar, those lights just starting to lighten the night of the city that never sleeps. The man, silently, watched as the city's night life began to come alive, the thousands who chose to work or play in the grip of shadows rather than the light. And the man knew, within those thousands, would be terrible peoples, murderers, gangsters, rapists...and even they were nothing compared to the true monsters that lurked within the city. Like a plague, they infested the city little by little, endangering the people and spreading their disease like rats.

Well, tonight there would be a new kind of monster to stalk the streets. And these monsters would begin the slow process of eradicating this disease...with itself.

A slow smile creep along his face as he turned to his companions, who were just joining him now. These two, his most trusted advisers and companions, who had been with him in this project since the first step. Now, after years of planning, preparation, carefully outlining each step and finding all the pieces to complete the chess board, finally, it would all begin to come to fruition. Tonight was the first step to cleansing the plague that had invested the world...and the General, for he needed no real name anymore, could barely contain his glee. He would, of course, for he was The General and he had soldiers that followed his example and lead. But for these two, he showed them just a little bit of his joy before hardening like a rock.

"Report."

The first of the two, a man barely into his thirties, tilted his head to the side as he listened to a voice in his ear, before speaking. "Everyone is in position and awaiting your orders, General. Teams one through four report that they are ready to commence "Operation: Revelations" at any time." Nodding to the man, The General turned to his partner, a woman in her younger twenties.

"And our "special" forces?"

"They are in place, with all their targets acquired. They merely await the command that will unleash them."

Smiling, The General clapped his hands together, rubbing them palm to palm as he looked out over the night once more, letting that scene of peace sink in for one more moment, before giving his order. The first order of many to come. "All forces, we are a go. Commence operations. Show the world what he can do. Show them all."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

As the voice of their commander echoed in their ear, two forms suddenly came alive. Across the city, they knew their fellows would be springing into action, striking out against the targets of Isabel and Cold Steel. Both well known targets that the public would recognize; one for being a violent criminal, the other for being the head of the X-Men. When they succeeded, they would be showcasing to the world the power they wielded at their fingers tips.

For Gemini and his partner, however, was an entirely different task. The pair of them, along with another duo of his comrades, had the task of eliminating possible threats to their cause that might come into play later. Their targets, while not high profile to the world, were likely to side with the mutants in the coming battle and needed to be removed. The other duo would be seeking their target, a mutant that while not overly powerful, was surely to involve himself in the coming fight and thus, had to be taken down. For them, however, they had not only a target that was a threat to them, but a dangerous foe that needed to be removed.

The man's name was Simon Oliver Smith. It had taken some serious digging to even get that piece of knowledge about this man. Simon, better know as Zephyr, was an illusive man that kept himself out the public eye. It had taken some serious work to learn what they did about him; but then, their network was better then most. They knew that recently he'd been interacting with Isabel, a dangerous thing to let happen. They knew of his connection to Sanctuary. And above all, they knew of his ability. His devastating, fearsome ability.

He had to be dealt with. Especially since he had connections with Isabel. On the positive side, Zephyr could also be used to broadcast their message.

Tracking him had been hard. He didn't follow any set routine and they had been worried they'd have to get lucky to find him. That had changed recently. Recently he had been going out to secret meetings with Isabel. They didn't dare get close enough to know what but it had made tracking him easier. In fact, they had tracked him today to possibly the best place possible to take him down; the subway.

The subway was far from abandoned, but the number of people here was smaller then it normally would a been, a stroke of luck from above no doubt. As it were, there were only a few groups of people about, with Zephyr himself sitting alone from the rest. Not surprising, given what they knew about him. Still, they were not to question it; they would need ever advantage they could get.

Glancing to his companion, who was seated across the subway from him, Gemini took up a position blocking the main exit from the subway while his companion, a lovely lady that put his own counter-part to shame. Carefully, he prepared himself, focusing on Zephyr, his power starting to grumble within him. It wasn't active, not yet...but he was going to be ready to use it in a moment's notice. Opposite, his female companion sauntered towards Zeph, a smile on her lovely features. Placing a hand on her hip, she smiled at Zeph as she cleared her throat to get his attention.

"Why hello there handsome...you look so lonely there, all by yourself? Perhaps you'd enjoy a little company?"

Cities were crowded.

It was much like saying the sky was blue, but even that simple statement wasn’t always true. For clouds could make it grey, night would paint it black and the sun could cast a crimson hue, which only goes to show that few things are as simple as they seem when you stop to think them through.

Cities were crowded yes, but not everywhere and not all the time. Apartments during the day, commercial high streets at night and subways situated in the ghetto; all were prime examples of desolation in an otherwise bustling metropolis. The last one especially for that was where Zephyr now found himself, much to his displeasure.

Still there’d been no helping it; he’d caught someone tailing him for at least the past hour if not longer and he’d needed a secluded setting for… questioning. Whilst being underground might hamper his talents somewhat, he was still more than capable of dealing with the average thug and if they were mutants well, he could deal with them too.

The tail in question was a middle aged man of Asian persuasion who’d apparently never quite grasped the concept of subtlety given that he’d just followed the elemental through one of the city’s Projects while wearing a suit that practically had ‘$’woven into the material. And he’d done it without being shaken down or otherwise molested by the locals.

That didn’t bode well. A tail was meant to be discreet, invisible; the kind of person you’d bump into on the street and dismiss barely a second later. This guy though, he stood out from over a block away; which by the way was exactly how far he’d stayed from the hessian until he’d been forced to enter the subway station.

After circling it, twice.

So to sum things up, Zephyr knew he was being followed, had made it evident that he knew and the tail had still followed him down into the subway and promptly blocked the exit. This wasn’t just reconnaissance, it was hit; the only question that had made the elemental pause thus far was what his prospective assailant was waiting for.

"Why hello there handsome...you look so lonely there, all by yourself? Perhaps you'd enjoy a little company?"

Stirred from his thoughts more by the lilting French accent than by the words themselves, Zephyr glanced up at the speaker and raised an eyebrow as he took in the sight before him. A heart shaped face with intent pale blue eyes and full red lips were framed by a pair of blonde bangs with the rest pulled up into an elegant French twist. Her shoulders were bare, revealing smooth sun kissed skin while a simple silver cross hung from her throat and drew the eye to the swell of her breasts within the low cut of her dress. A dress which would have looked more at home in a church than a rundown subway station in the middle of the ghetto.

Then the penny dropped and the hessian silently cursed himself even as he quietly began to exert his influence on the air around him. The old Asian man hadn’t been tail at all; he’d been a distraction, or at best, a body guard for the young woman in front of him who’d gotten rather closer than he would have liked for a potential assassin.

Still, neither of the two had made their move just yet and there was always the chance he’d misread the situation. It couldn’t hurt to draw things out, and in any case, the more time he had to prepare the faster be able to deal with the pair. Thus he gave the blonde soubrette a charming smile of his own and gestured to the seat beside him before folding his arms.

“How could I possibly say no to that?” He replied, granting the girl a warm smile as he gestured to the space beside him before folding his arms. “Though I must admit I’m little curious as to what brings someone as lovely as you to the area.”

From his location at the subway entrance, Gemini watched as Aquarius made her move onto the young man. It had been Aries idea, when they had been planning their attacks, that she make the move on Zephyr rather then her counterpart. There were plenty of reasons, of course; Gemini, like his twin, was emotionless, simple, bland as it were. Had he approached the man, the game would automatically have been up and things might have gotten complicated. Another was the fact that if Gemini had been the one to approach, Zephyr might have fled before Gemini's powers could effectively cripple him; it took little time for them to take effect, but the longer he had to work, the more he could tweak him.

And last but not least, on a gamble and thought from Aries, Aquarius was decided to approach him simply because she was a woman. A highly beautiful and classy women at that; considering that Zeph kept Isabel around, it wasn't a stretch to say he couldn't be enticed by a stunning figure. It would, if nothing else, give them the chance to snare him in the trap.

Oh, and Aquarius also had the right power to handle him once he was weakened. There was that too.

Favoring Zephyr with a smile of her own, all but dazzling in its warmth and beauty, Aquarius put a hand to her chest, a small giggle escaping her. She made no immediate move to take his offer, instead keeping her eyes locked on him as she replied. "Oh, nothing special. I was just looking for this absolutely handsome man I once saw. I must say, you look an awfully lot alike to him. Maybe your the man I'm looking for?"

She favored him with another smile before bending his way, allowing more of her bosom to expose itself to him. He wouldn't know it, but she was slowly exerting her control, her power, into the walls around, seeking a source of flowing water for her to use. All the while, she was waiting for the signal from her ally that everything was ready; it would not take long.

"Of course...even if you aren't him...maybe you could keep me company a while instead? What you think darling; would you like to have some fun with me?"

‘Well, someone’s certainly laying it on thick.’ The elemental mused with a slight smirk as he reached into his jacket. If he hadn’t already known that the woman had an ulterior motive she certainly would have been suspect by this point. He doubted a blind man would have missed such an obvious invitation, and though he certainly appreciated the view, he’d seen better.

Working with Duskmoor had its perks after all.

Aesthetics aside though, part of him was still wondering what the hell the girl was waiting for; her Chinese companion hadn’t moved from the stairway, nor had he drawn either of his firearms, which Zephyr was even now attempting to sabotage without the mans notice.

Firing pins really were quite fragile components

Withdrawing a small pill bottle from his jacket Zephyr popped the cap with his thumb without ever breaking eye contact before tossing back a pair of small capsules, purposefully breaking their casing with his teeth before swallowing and putting the container away.

“My my, that’s quite an offer.” he replied with the same warm tone the soubrette was using before a smirk crept across his features. “How much do you charge?”

Across the way, Gemini tensed slightly as Zephyr reached into his pocket, his body and mind ready to act at a moment's notice if the elemental tried anything funny. When all that was drawn from his pocket was a small bottle of pills, Gemini relaxed slightly...until he remembered that in the report that Zephyr needed those pills for a very good reason. It had been hard going to get intel on that regard, much like most intel on this man was, but they had learned enough.

If he was taking the pills, he was likely reading himself for trouble.

From his position, Gemini was able to make a slight twitch of head that only his companion could see while Zephyr was paying attention to her, a non-verbal signal they had worked out beforehand. Nothing fancy, nothing complicated and all it signaled was this; the time for messing around was over. It was time to begin. Calmly, Gemini released his power onto the man, focusing his entire will and focus onto him...and towards that troublesome control he had over the wind. He would find, no doubt very soon, that he wasn't as invincible as he thought himself to be.

Aquarius, catching the signal from her companion out of the corner of her eye, sighed visibly. It was a terrible shame what she had to do next, especially to such a fine specimen as this Zephyr was...but orders were orders. She had hoped she'd get to spend a little bit more time teasing and flirting with the man...but the jig was up, it seemed. Gemini would not have signaled her otherwise; she had been the one who was suppose to signal him when she was ready, after all.

Sighing again, she gave him a warm smile, her body language completely devoid of any real sign of trouble. She put a hand to her chest as if his words wounded her, while her other hand rested upon the bag she held on her side. "You wound me sir...I am no harlot from the street. But, since you asked, I do have one price, one simple thing I need from you in return." Her expression was almost sad then, for although she would follow her orders without question in the end, it didn't mean she couldn't dislike them.

"I need you to die for me." Her hand snapped her pouch open then, quick and easy...and from within the bag came a surge of water, the inside of her bag full of it. It moved like a thing alive, spitting forth with a speed and intent as it struck for Zeph's face, trying to spear it and engulf that lovely face within.

Still reclining on the subway bench Zephyr merely arched a single eyebrow as the blonde sylph continued her dramatic rendition of… something or other, as she straightened up and placed a hand to her chest while adopting an affronted affectation, all of which was lacking the appropriate sense of haste for it to be believable.

That being said, the hessian had no real reason to interrupt the waifs passé riposte, not when it provided him the last few moments he needed to disable both of the firearms his Asian stalker wore concealed beneath his jacket, and not a moment too soon honestly.

Imagine for a moment that you are suddenly struck deaf; that all sound is abruptly erased and you are cocooned in silence. A soundless stretch of existence that lasts only long enough to gain your awareness before it shatters under the harsh crack of a gunshot fired right by your ear.

Can you imagine what your reaction would be?

For Zephyr, the rapid loss and then explosion of his spatial awareness left him stunned long enough to present an easy target. A face full of water however has a way of bringing one back to their senses quite quickly and upon realizing his rather unpleasant circumstances the elemental had no hesitation in conjuring a gale force wind to hurl the blonde soubrette into the station far wall.

Unfortunately, somewhere between the intended cause and actual effect something was missed in translation and the hessian instead found both himself and the blonde naiad being slammed into the ceiling hard enough that his vision threatened to fade… until he was rather inevitably brought back to earth by a rather unhealthy ‘crack’ as his ribs collided with floor.

This was not going according to plan.

Aquarius did not look happy at all that her water attack had succeeded. Truthfully, having to harm another in such a manner was distasteful; violence should not be the solution to the problem. But the General had made his orders clear and although it pained her to do so, she would never abandon her duty over her personal preference. Soldiers who allowed their emotions to rule them were not good soldiers and if she didn't, the people she cared about could suffer as a result of her failure. So no matter how handsome she thought Zephyr was, he had to do. For everyone's sake.

Gemini, on the other hand, was of a completely neutral mind. Both he and his twin were that way; whether by design or by a wicked twist of fate, who could say. To him, there was only the mission. There was no right, no wrong, no questions to be asked save the ones that would allow him to achieve his objective. He would do as his commander asked; nothing more, nothing less.

It became clear seconds into the engagement that things were not working out well for either side. For Aquarius, the sudden burst of wind that sent her slamming towards the ceiling was not expected; she had to retract her water from Zephyr to cushion herself from the worst of the blow. So while he was rocked enough to see stars, she was considerably less shaken, if not rattled. Still, it was enough to stun her momentarily. For Gemini, seeing his ally in trouble brought him to bring his hidden guns to bear...only to find both of them go click when he pulled the trigger.

That was troubling. Gemini, however, appeared unfazed as he re-holstered the weapons and drew a long knife instead from his boot, along with a short sword from behind his back. Long range was out of commission; short would have to do. On the other end, Aquarius barely managed to shake off her haze in time to cushion her landing as well; the water splashing up to almost catch her in its grasp as it lowered her to the ground. She was completely dry, as it were, her power sucking the water from her dress for her to use again. On the ground before her, Zeph hadn't been so lucky. He had hit hard and even she knew he had been hurt by it. Giving him a small smile, she knelled down before him.

"Naughty boy; is that how you were raised to treat a lady? Just lay back and let his happen." At her words, her water came slamming down towards his back, an anvil of force that would not help whatever damage had been done by the far. "I'll make it as painless as possible, so long as you don't resist."

Coughing out water onto the broken tile floor Zephyr cracked open an eye and forced his head to turn as he glanced about and tried to get his bearings while ignoring the dull throbbing in his chest. He didn’t even want to consider what state his ribs were in if they were hurting even with his medication in play.

‘No. Focus.’ Struggling to his knees the elemental shook his head again to clear his thoughts just as a low crooning voice made its way to his hears. He had just enough time to catch a hint of a teal coloured dress before something crashed into his back, grinding him into the shattered tiles and stealing his breath so he couldn’t even scream as the dull throbbing in his chest was replaced with white hot agony.

Panic was something Simon hadn’t felt in a long time. The frenzied fear that clawed at your insides when you were faced with death and realized there was nothing you could do. He couldn’t move, pinned like an insect, it was he could do to clench his fists as he felt the water run down his neck, quietly filling his ears and eyes as it gradually crept towards his nose and mouth to rob him of life.

‘Fuck that.’

If his attacker had thought this would be enough to finish him though they were sorely mistaken. Pain, panic and fear could render a person helpless yes, but they were also motivators and when you replaced the last with sheet fury you could provoke reactions far greater than anything they’d normally achieve. After all, when you have nothing to lose why bother holding back?

It happened in the blink of an eye; every iota of air in the underground station seemed to screech in an echo of their masters own agony, writhing and twisting every other second like a bizarre strobe light as the elementals power fluxed and flickered; one moment conjuring a miniature cyclone that hurled a garbage can several feet, the next a mockery of a gentle summer breeze which swept up the stairs and into the streets above.

Then it became a piston of invisible force shattering a bench not one foot away from the old sword wielding Asian, just before a storm of unseen razors lashed out at the walls and ceiling throwing up clouds of dirt and dust which-

Like the flick of a switch, clarity and control returned in an instant. He could sense every movement of air in the room, discern every presence which displaced it with the same distinctive ease as breathing

Speaking of which… a startled scream abruptly cut through the station as the kneeling waterbender at the hessian side was suddenly caught in a vice of air and thrown across the room at her partner before she could fight back, allowing the elemental to gasp and choke on lungful’s of fresh air as her control slipped and water splashed to the floor

‘Need to get out’ The idea raced through his thought as he struggled back to his knees. He’d bought himself a brief respite but that was all it was; brief. At best he had a few seconds before the water wielding waif and her companion disentangled themselves. A few seconds of control over a power he’d almost burnt out just trying to fend them off.

He needed a plan.

If Gemini could feel such a thing, in fact, if he could feel anything he might have felt disappointment over their current situation. Although they had spent hours meticulously planning for this day, for this encounter with a man who could be considered a god with his abilities, fine-tuning their plan and making sure they would have everything under control, this was just....too easy. Even though the faster this went, the less complications the better...it should not have been this simple. Not against a mutant of this stren...

Gemini's sudden pause to his thoughts coupled with the gasp of surprise Aquarius gave as madness overtook the subway. She thought herself that she had him then, his body obviously racked with pain as her water drilled into his spine, slowly edging its way to cut off his ability to breathe. She'd hoped he'd listened to her words, to let her end this quickly and as painlessly as possible. So imagine her surprise when a nearby garbage can was suddenly flung away via a miniature cyclone, a bench shattering a few moments later. There were moments of light breezes too, as if the wind could not decide what it wanted to do.

They both understood in an instant what was happening; Zephyr was forcing his power against Gemini's control, with mixed results. Without proper control, as Gemini's power inflicted on him, Zephyr was making up for it by unleashing everything he had. Sure, it meant that some of his actions were as weak as a kitten...but it also meant that there were actions that showed why Zephyr was considered a threat. Such as the one that suddenly sent Aquarius flying towards her partner.

Her control momentarily disturbed, the water assaulting Zephyr was released. Gemini, almost caught unaware by the action, braced himself to catch his comrade, collapsing to the floor in a tumble. The next few seconds, precious seconds, were spent untangling themselves from one another before the two managed to get to their feet and bring themselves to bear down on Zeph once again. Gemini was already working his power onto Zeph, to keep him from having utter control of that dangerous power of his. Aquarius, on the other hand, realized that the game would have to be stepped up.

"Handsome and dangerous...now this is what we expected from him." Glancing her eyes to the walls, Aquarius pulled the water she'd used before to her before launching it at Zeph again, scattering it into little spikes to strike him from all directions...even as she started pulling the water from the water mains around them. Some of them were harder then the others, deeper into the walls...but one such main was close enough that a small trickle started coming from the walls.

Then came the crack. And from it came the flood as water sprayed like a living viper towards the wind manipulator. Game officially stepped up.

A handful of seconds doesn’t sound like a lot but that’s a common misconception. If you stop and think about it there’s a great deal that can be done in the space between one breath and the next. A fist can fly in the blink of an eye, and a homerun can be swung if one is spry. Throwing on a shirt takes only a moment or two, as does leaving a message to say adieu. Tying your shoelaces requires five seconds at best and it takes even less to get undressed.

‘Yes, there’s a good deal you can do with but a moment or two.‘ The thought brought a wry grin to Zephyr’s lips that even the sudden deluge of icy needles couldn’t remove as he reached into his jacket despite his aching ribs and, with an almost lazy gesture, drew a faded silver berretta from its holster and aimed across the station at the Chinese swordsman just as the ground shook and the surrounding dust was washed from the air.

‘BANG’

In such a confined space the crack of the bullet itself almost had a physical force at it parted the air and shot towards its target, coming within inches of the man’s ear before burying itself in the opposing wall even as a short curse left the elemental lips.

Still the shot had been at least partially effective as it prompted the matrix dropout to take cover behind a pillar, granting the hessian several more precious seconds to raise him aim and destroy the lights directly above him, casting his section of the station in darkness just as a living whip of water sliced into the shadows.

A cold chuckle echoed through the station.

“I don’t know who the hell you think I am but you’re in so far over your heads even the worms are looking down on you.”

Another gunshot cracked through the air as one more light shattered into a shower of sparks and died.

“I hope you like the dark. It will be the last thing you see.”

The reaction of both the Zodiacs to the gunshot was instant; Aquarius pulled a portion of the water she'd brought forth in front of her, creating a barrier through which to block any shots her way. The barrier would slow or stop the bullet enough to make it a null threat to her. Gemini, meanwhile, managed to put himself behind the nearest column, far more exposed then his comrade to small arms fire. They had been trained well and it showed in the speed with which they moved.

So it came as a surprise when the bullet didn't come for them, but instead for the overhead lights, one bursting into sparks right before Aquarius's living water viper was about to strike its target. The combination of the shot and her reaction to it meant the viper missed its target, the creature reforming itself near her as she controlled the horde of water with a thought.

As the other light went out, pitching the station into near darkness, Gemini muttered quietly to his ally. "I can't pinpoint him; without that I won't be able to cripple his power. What should we do? He'll be a serious threat now."

Aquarius waited a moment before replying, calmly reaching out with her senses to find the body of water that was Zephyr. Her companion may have been at a loss here, but for Aquarius, it was only a momentary complication. There she mused to herself, the outline of a man coming into focus as she touched at the water within him. Smiling, she slowly started moving her viper forward.

"Fret not, dear Gemini. I can still see him...and I believe we have him in a corner. That last move probably took more out of him then he'll admit."

"Willing to bet our lives on that?" Gemini was, but he was cold and uncaring compared to some of this comrades.

"I'm willing to try failing then flee. Besides; the best way to counter a bluff is to tackle it head on." Smiling, she turned his focus into the darkness, her viper slowly creeping forward...in two parts. One headed towards one of the sparking lights...the other creeping towards its prey. "My dear Simon, you live up to your reputation. But if you think the darkness is your ally..." she said out into the dark, using her water to shield her still and distort her voice slightly..."then you truly don't understand my ability proper."

The viper struck in sudden fury, its tail end plunging into the light, electricity attacking the water with a force all its own. And all that force was streaking now to strike at Zephyr from behind, the viper's mouth exploding so that it could engulf the man's back...and give him a shocking surprise in return.

Posturing is predominantly pointless.

Granted, grand displays of force and dramatic threats are all well and good on the silver screen where one has an audience to entertain and captivate, but in the real world such a blatant misuse of time and focus would likely only get you killed if you were dealing with any kind of competent opponent.

In short it was a gamble, and in a battle to the death it could only be justified under two conditions. The first was that you’d already won; your opponent was dead or dying and you were making it a point to be as ruthless as possible so any spectators would pass the story on and discourage any other hopeful killers. Reputation could be a defense just as effective as Kevlar or bone armor after all and it could take a great deal less effort.

The second justifiable option for posturing was that you were buying time. You were trying to make use of whatever reputation you had to give your attacker pause, or even scare them off entirely, because at that moment you knew you didn’t have a chance. In short you were bluffing, and unfortunately that was precisely what Zephyr was doing.

Either one of them he could have taken alone without batting an eye, but together and with the element of surprise, it had taken almost everything he’d had to break free and it felt as though he’d just run a marathon up a mountain.

Two minutes -maybe even one- was all he needed to catch his breath and deal with Ariel and Fu Manchu, but a minute is far longer than most people realize and without his power the hessian knew he’d be lucky to last ten seconds.

So he’d cut the lights, nearly emptying his gun to take out as many lights as possible and using the combination of darkness and gunfire to make his attackers pause while he’d dragged himself towards the cool breeze at the edge of the empty platform and played the part of outraged movie villain to the hilt.

And it had worked, the two of them had stopped and for a moment they actually seemed to reconsider their plan, their voices clearly reaching him across the station with what little power he had left.

“…Willing to bet our lives on that?"

‘That’s right, fall back and regroup.’ The thought brought a grim smile to Zephyr’s lips. ‘I’m more than you can handle…’

"I'm willing to try failing then flee. Besides; the best way to counter a bluff-”

‘Fuck’

Snapping his arm up to try and squeeze off one last shot before the blonde bitch made her move Zephyr already knew he was out of time. He could already feel the floor shaking as another surge of water speared towards him, and with no time to aim he fired as soon as he had the gun in her general direction. The first shot went wide, but the hessian felt an all too brief moment of satisfaction when the second struck the lethal naiads shield right between the eyes-

Then there was pain; skin bone and muscle all seeming to scream at once as the electrical current tore through him and throwing his body into uncontrolled seizures, a sudden growing light stripping away the cover of darkness as he writhed and thrashed across the floor before he inevitably fell off the edge of the platform.

Straight into the path of the oncoming train.

Aquarius stared in surprise and slight horror at her water shield...or more to the point, the slowly spinning piece of metal that had come close to piercing it. The bullet couldn't have been stopped more then inches from her; had she not reinforced it, that bullet could easily have been where her brain was instead. He...Simon...had almost gotten her with that last desperate attack.

She gave him credit for that.

On the other end of the spectrum, however, Simon had not been so lucky. Her viper had struck fast and precisely, connecting the sparking electricity to him through its own liquid body. The results erupted into a show for them to briefly see. Aquarius could feel him, through the water in his body and from the connection her viper had to him; could feel his body spasm and twitch and flail as the current ripped through his body. The light above sparked and flashed, giving momentary glimpses of him in the darkness, enough that Gemini besides her was able to fling a blade at him. It hit his shoulder when he had been aiming for his head, but he attributed that to the unpredictable spasms.

Aquarius had been readying to finish it, to end his suffering by turning her water into a blade...when fate decided it would be the decider of his fate.

Both Aquarius and Gemini barely had time to express surprise as Zeph suddenly jolted off the platform, seemingly fated to land on the tracks. He didn't even get that far; the train that had been slightly overdue finally made its arrival. It happened in an instant; one moment he was there, falling. The next, and with a sickening crunch, the train had him, hitting him with such force that his body was shot out of sight as the train sailed by, its brakes squealing as it tried to stop.

For a long moment, both of them stood there, silent, saying nothing. Aquarius felt out with her powers, searching for his water, searching for signs of life. But the arrival of so many people distorted her ability to pinpoint him accurately. She got vague impressions of something, unmoving, lifeless in every way, slightly down the tracks. But other then that...

"That...was a twist I didn't see coming. Is he dead?"

"I can't be certain...too many people to tell. But after that shock and being hit full on by a train, the possibility is very low. We'll have the soldiers come find the body later; for now, there are too many witnesses. We need to vanish."

"He wasn't nearly as tough as we expected. A shame. I was hoping our first mission would be more worthwhile." Pulling his hat down over his head to shield his face, Gemini slowly began exiting amongst the crowd, merely turning into another NY citizen. Behind him, Aquarius glanced back towards the tracks, her expression sad.

"A shame indeed..." Then she too was gone, vanishing into the masses like she'd been there all along.

Yet somewhere down the tunnel, something stirred. Something breathed. Someone lived.

They say pain is good. That it serves as both warning of danger and a reminder that you yet live. They say it is only when the pain suddenly begins to fade that you need to worry, because it means that your body has begun to fail and time is running short.

As the train at last ground to a halt with a final screech of metal on metal Zephyr reflected, not for the first time, that he rather enjoyed being the exception to the rule as what was left of his body began to fade into a faint mist, taking the pain with it.

Being run down by the train hadn’t been his preferred method of escape, but it had been an option. Granted he hadn’t planned on being electrocuted when he was run down but it hadn’t changed much in the grand scheme things. He’d simply taken a little more… collateral damage.

‘Ruptured lung caused by cracked ribs, damaged liver and kidney not to mention the broken neck and shattered spine…’ The list kept growing as the hessian started the tedious process of pulling himself back together.

Healing in the ethereal state was like working on a jigsaw puzzle, one with more pieces than a phonebook had names and only a blurred black and white photo to work from. It was difficult yes, but not impossible, more importantly though it required patience not power; though the latter would certainly help. It would take time, more than he wanted to admit, but now that he was ‘dead’ time was something he could afford-

‘bzzzzt bzzzzt’

The sudden buzz broke the hessian from his thoughts, bringing him back to the present as he cast about for the source noise, pausing when he realized that, against all odds, his phone had fared far better against the train than he had and was currently stirring up minute clouds of dust as it trembled amongst the gravel beneath the tracks.

Intangible as he was there was little the elemental could do, he couldn’t answer the device or even turn it off. Yet even when it fell silent a moment later a combination of curiosity and doubt tugged at his thoughts. Very few people had that number, and even fewer would try to call him after midnight for anything less than emergency and the only one who’d try that-

Against his better judgment Zephyr allow one of his hands to reform and went to voicemail.

"You jackass. You would pick now t'not a-answer,… 'm at the park... I need you t'come and get me, okay? I n-... I need some help."