Cave-in Releases Man Eating Unicorn!!

Aurum's eyes narrowed at the title of the article. Really? Truly, honestly? Man-eating unicorns... hmph. So ridiculous. He'd been there. He knew. That was no man-eating unicorn. That was Ghost's husband. Why he was reading the back-issue of the inquisitor only now to find it out, he hadn't a clue. Aurum folded the paper in his hands, and walked the few feet over from the recliner to the coffee table. He let the newspaper drop. Hazel eyes casually darted towards the other contents of the table. A Disney Princess brand sketchpad. A Calvin Klein catalog. He ran a hand through his hair, and sighed.

The culprit was all-too obvious. Ami must've left the article lying around. The girl had a wild imagination. She probably believed what it had said.

Man-Eating Unicorns living under the streets of New York.

He still remembered the azure eyes of the drifter that had caused the cave-in. Every now and then, they haunted him in his sleep. Hungry eyes. Hungry for blood. The glint of the knife at Ghost's throat... another sigh.

Why was he thinking about this now, again?

New York was full of criminals like that guy. It was no use worrying he'd be back. The fact was, he probably would be. All Aurum could do was live, forget the bastard, and if possible, bring others like him to justice, by protecting the innocent.

At least Ghost had found someone she knew could protect her...

For a moment, Aurum's thoughts strayed towards more important matters. Testing. The upcoming bar. He had to study. And before that, he had errands. Aurum glanced at the clock. It was nearly noon. A trip to the bank was in order. He had to make a withdrawal. Ami's birthday was coming up. That's probably why she'd been over to his house the other day, hounding him... and knowing her, the article on 'man-eating unicorns' was less left by accident, and more a clue towards what she wanted.

Ah, well.

To the bank, to the bank, to the bank bank bank... the man snagged his key chain from the table, and was gone.

Kealey winced as she made her way towrds the bank. The night before had been another attempt at drowning out the emotions in a non-adapted assisted way. This time she’d done it on her own, that was far easier. Kealey still squinted at the bright sun, though, and she was starting to think that drinking only made things worse. All the emotions with a hangover were twice as bad as trying to deal with them on a regular basis. It was rent day, too, otherwise Kealey would have spent her day off in her shiny new apartment over the clinic. Sleeping off the hangover she was dealing with.

Sebastian and Garrett probably wouldn’t have minded the money a day late, the Lord knew they’d been understanding about everything else. It was almost hard to call the pittance she paid, rent, though and Kealey was bound and determined to do something right. The blond hadn’t ever been a fan of checks, and the clinic wasn’t ready to take debit cards for rent payments so it was off to the bank for a cashier’s check. The same way it had been for the past few months.

At least the bank was inside, Kealey thought, rubbing her temples as she rode the bus to the proper stop. She would still have to walk a ways, but that would be a welcome change from the crowded seats of public transportation. Banks were usually quiet places, at least as far as external noise was concerned. Kealey couldn’t wait.

The bus stopped and Kealey made her way off, fighting off a wave of nausea and twenty or so different emotions from the others waiting to get off the bus. It was a real battle not to tap her foot and rage at the guy in front of her to move. It seemed she wasn’t the only one impatient with the process and the compounding of all the emotions made things worse.

Finally Kealey was off the bus and down the street, wishing she’d grabbed her sunglasses on the way out of the apartment. It wasn’t far now, though, and soon enough she was making her way through the doors at the front of the bank.

As she’d expected, the inside of the bank was quiet, and Kealey sighed a small sigh of relief as she made her way to the line that lead for the teller’s window. It didn’t matter that it was a long line, or that there were people in a hurry. The almost furious pounding of her head had receded to a dull throb and that made all the difference in the world. Kealey was more than willing to trade a little time in line for all that silence.

"one shot, two shots, three shots, GO!" Jupiter said as he down three clear drinks in large shot glasses. "four shots, five shots, six shots, Mo!" He slammed three more shots this time of a darker liquid. "Seven shots....eight shots.....nine shots....Slow." he took the three shots of ever clear in slow motion. "ten shots, eleven shots, more shots? No." He finished his twelfth shot and looked to his brother lounging about in a hammock. "Hey Saturn, I'm Bored."

Saturn looked up rolling his eyes and releasing a coll um of cigar smoke from his mouth. " what are you, six now?" he said with a luagh. Jupiter fixxed him with a glare. " fine, we'll go out, but no running out on me. I know you are cleaning up your ways and all but, I'm bored to and well I miss the rush of doing something big. He rolled out of the hammock and reached into a drawyer, throwing the other ski mask to his brother laughing.

"like they won't know who we are?" Jupiter replied.

"so, It's funny." he then tossed him a white and black stripped shirt a pair of black pants and gloves.

Jupiter looked at him incredulously " you miss Pluto huh?"

Saturn stared at Jupiter. "Shut up."

Ten minutes later two meaty cartoon-like bank robbers sped toward a bank on a pair of motorcycles.

The bank was quiet that afternoon, though the line was long. Aurum checked his watch again, then glanced up at the lady in red ahead of him. How long had he been waiting here? One minute? Two minutes? Three minutes?

More.

At least the view was nice. The woman in the red dress shirt took another black skirt-shuffle forwards, and the line edged ahead. He glanced beyond the bob of brown hair, towards the people in front of her. One was a businessman in a striking black suit and loafers. Like Aurum, he had a habit of checking his watch. His thick glasses caught a stray beam from an open window behind the teller as he eyed the Rolex.

Aurum took a moment to mentally list his duties for the day. He had a feeling he had the time for mind wanderings.

Bank... groceries... mall, perhaps? Studying. He didn't have any work at Full Circle today. It was just another lazy Friday. Nothing out of the usual there.

Nope.

Hazel eyes surveyed the scenery while he waited.

Redhead... brunette... another brunette... blond. His eyes fell on Kealey, in the teller line ahead of him. He offered a polite smile, then looked to the teller ahead.

The line took another step forwards. The teller spoke.

"Next."

Tythan stepped into the bank. It was big. The largeness of the building was hardly unexpected. After living here for almost a year now, he was beginning to be accustomed to the fact that everything here was at least twice as large as what he had been used to. The amount of people wasn't a shocker either. It was mostly a aggravator. It meant staying in the city a lot longer than he wanted too. What was unusual though, was the relative quiet about the building. Besides echo-y murmurs and the sound of the tellers aiding clients, there was no other sounds. That was definitely a relief.

Tythan stepped up to a line. He immediately began people-watching. He couldn't really help it, he just automatically started noticing things about people. A few people ahead of him was some sort of businessman. Nope, lawyer, he corrected himself. From the way the man carried himself he was clearly involved in the legal profession. At the same time, though, he seemed to be a bit laid back, as if being a lawyer was far from all that he did.

Where is this coming from? i mean, how can i tell all this from just the way he walks...in a line at that!! Tythan wondered, but in the end decided it was just from years of experience watching people.

The line inched forward and he couldn't help but tap his foot. Then he found himself tapping the beat to one of the pieces he was working on. Then he was singing it in his head. Suddenly everything seemed a little more optimistic, the way it always did when he reverted to music.

The sound of two motorcycles was added to the din outside... nothing out of the ordinary, but enough to remind Tythan again that he was far from his hometown. Still, he was caught up in his own little world... two motorcycles were hardly worth considering.

The line inched forward.

The line really was moving pretty well, for a bank anyway, and as Kealey waited she played a little game she’d invented for herself back in the monastery. For a long time growing up she’d lived in the quietest, most secluded little corner of the cloister, away from people. After time, though, the Mother Superior had decided that the only way Kealey was ever going to learn to be around people, was to be around them. It was almost embarrassing now, to remember what a child she’d been at sixteen or seventeen years of age, and how she had resisted. Until the game.

Nuns generally weren’t known for the fun and games they used while teaching, but Kealey had been rewarded every time she could pick out a single person’s emotions from a group. Easier and easier it had gotten, until it was almost meditation. It helped to focus on one person, to feel one other person. She still used it in crowded places. It worked better when she wasn’t hung over, but one used what they had available.

People watching was almost an Olympic sport in New York City and Kealey found as she scanned each person, cataloguing their emotions, that a fair few were watching her as well. For the most part she smiled and gave an acknowledging nod of her aching head, until her eyes fell on one particular familiar face.

Kealey loved the Full Circle Book Shop and she spent most of her free time there these days. It was a great place for inspiration. People who frequented private-owned bookstores had a tendency to be interesting individuals, and more than once Kealey had found herself jotting down quick sketches in her notepad to take back to the apartment and use on assignments. She’d also met Sam there. That was an interesting turn of events, as was finding out that Shin was one of his colleagues. Neither of those faces were the ones she was now looking back at.

The coffee boy (Kealey refused to give the man the dignity of the official title) at the Full Circle was an absolute lecher. At least in Kealey’s mind. If his emotions were any indication, every woman that asked for a coffee was weighed, measured, and more often than not, found wanting. She’d snapped at him on several occasions, much to his amusement and her chagrin. Kealey couldn’t even remember his name at the moment, she gave a curt nod ”Keep your eyes to yourself.” she snapped peevishly. ”Or browse other wares.” The people between them looked startled, as if she were talking to them, then turned to make sure she wasn’t. Kealey didn’t even apologize. Two motorcycles roared by and she squinted her eyes at the way the thuds surged through her head at the sound. So much for a quiet wait in line.

Like a pair of wolves the Black masked robbers sped toward the building one of the wolves took point with a grin. The giddy wolf was all too excited about every skull he might crush every bullet that might hit him ever bit of glass that was going to be impelled into his skin upon this impact. Jupiter speed up the set of steps and at the glass. At the very last second he hoped of the back of his back grabbing the motorcycle and crashing with it threw the front window. The alarms would be going off and there clock would be ticking. A good bank robbery wasn’t about hostages, it was about taking out security and then taking as much cash as you could and running. They managed to roll their tails under the white sweaters that they wore. None of their skin was showing but their bulk was hard to misplace if you had seen it before. And the red eyes that peeked from behind the masks were a hint about everything one would need to know.

The second wolf was much more calm almost a little sad about the potential for all the things the other lusted after. His motorcycle rolled past the glass and the n spotted what he was after. Propelling his bike across the open floor he closed on the still shocked police officers that were trying to figure out what was happening. A small hop off of the bike and a black gloved fist flew into a dark face that just took a sip of coffee. Saturn grabbed the second officer and tore his gun from his belt. He paused for a moment and then launched the officer at another who was leveling his gun at his brother. Ten seconds…three cops down.

Jupiter placed the motorcycle on his shoulder. “Ladies and gentleman, boys and girls may I have your attention please? I need you to all step back to the furthest corner from the door, nothing funny and no one else has to get hurt!”

Saturn took his bike and lifted it with his foot, and launched much like a one would pass a soccer ball toward his brother, Jupiter caught it with ease. Saturn chimed in loudly, pointing the small revolver at the closest clerk. “ push the little red button all you like honey, we already broke the glass, don’t worry help is on the way, but in the meantime, you are going to show me, where your highest security vault.

((OOC: The posting order is now Aurum, Kealey, Tythan, Abyss.))

>>”Keep your eyes to yourself.”

Aurum's eyes were drawn back to the blond girl.

>>”Or browse other wares.”

An eyebrow arched. He'd been looking towards the teller ahead of her. He kinda was.

"So sorry to upset you, miss." Aurum smiled calmly. One might almost say he looked 'proud'. He bowed his head for a moment, and raised her an "I'll try harder next time."

Next time. Right. That was about the moment things went to Hell.

Aurum spun towards the sound of shattering. His eyes widened, locked on the bulky form in midair.

The motorcycle smashed down. The next few seconds were a blur of broken faces, fisticuffs, and blood. Aurum froze.

Just like last time...

One of the men was speaking now. Aurum's hazel eyes wavered. No. Not again.

Powerless, Aurum's eyes trailed to watch the faces of those around him. If he was feeling useless now, he had to know they felt it too. All he could do now... all he could do... was listen to their demands, and follow.

It was the only way to prevent others from getting hurt.

The smug bastard…Kealey’s eyes narrowed even more as she glared over her shoulder at the man from the coffee shop. He was proud of himself. Kealey was disgusted, she turned back around and waited for the infernal line to move so she could just go home and close her eyes for a while. The emotions had been a distraction a moment ago, but now they were just irritating. Then the world came crashing down, or maybe just the front windows of the bank.

When two giants came crashing through a wall of glass, people tended to feel strongly about that. To the empath in the room, that was a like a kick in the face. From Godzilla. As the violence escalated, so did those strong feelings. In fact, people started to panic. Emotions that strong were impossible to block out and Kealey found herself in an incredibly odd position. Standing, by herself, in the middle of the ruined bank lobby. She was too scared to move.

There was a little place in Kealey's brain that knew that most of it was the emotions from the tens of people in the bank who were making their way to the corner they’d been instructed to. Kealey simply couldn’t make her feet move, sweat had broken out on her face and was rolling down her back and her heart was beating so fast she could hardly breathe, the blonde took a gasping breath and her vision blurred a little. It was too much. Then there were the emotions of the robbers themselves.

In her current state, Kealey missed the familiar size and shape of their bodies, and the even more familiar color of their eyes, but their emotions were strong enough to be a spotlight on a moonless night. One was exhilarated and bloodthirsty, the other was almost regretful. The first’s emotions made Kealey want to rush forward and do something about the situation herself. Again…it was too much. She stepped forward at the same time she tried to step back and ended up jerkily moving in the same position she’d started in. Her heart beat faster, if possible, and Kealey put a hand to her chest. This. Was. Not. Good.

Some kind of commotion broke Tythan from his spell. Something out of the ordinary had happened and now people were scrambling to the corner of the room.

“Ladies and gentleman, boys and girls may I have your attention please? I need you to all step back to the furthest corner from the door, nothing funny and no one else has to get hurt!”

Tythan looked in the direction the voice was coming from. Two enormous men stood in front of a broken window...obviously the source of the commotion. One of them was holding two motorcycles with apparent ease while the other waved a gun around. They were mutants he figured. The size and the red eyes kind of gave it away.

Finally after having assessed the situation, it began to actually register in Tythan's mind what was going on. His heart started pounding and he inched slowly towards the corner. He could barely keep himself from screaming like a lunatic and running away [no doubt to certain death]. Inch by inch, he progressed towards the building crowd.

It then occured to him that he had an easy way out of the situation. All it would take was merging with a narrow strip of the floor that would take him to the door. Yet at the same time it made him sick to think of saving his own skin and leaving all these others behind. Besides he probably wasn't in any real danger... assuming everything went according to the two massive mutants plans.

I probably wouldn't even be able to merge in the state I'm in, he thought, i don't really think i could focus right now.

He continued to slowly move towards the crowd. Somehow he made it. He looked back to observe the scene. The two men were still there, it wasn't a dream. But there was a blond woman in the middle of the room, just standing there.

Move! he thought, neither having the courage or a working voice to say it aloud and unable to do anything else. Whoever you are, move!

“Shall we?” Saturn continued toward the back of the bank with the teller just ahead of him, not paying particular attention to what or how his brother was taking care of things up front. The woman walked slowly until, Saturn urged her to move it along. “Listen, your bank ensures this place and everything in it, so you aren’t going to get in trouble, and so long as you do as I say, then you have nothing else to worry about either, so lets just get this done with and you can continue on with life. You’re doing fine so far.” Saturn talked the woman threw her first robbing. She nodded and was slightly more at ease, particularly since he stopped pointing the gun at her head.

Jupiter sighed, there was always at least one, this one however wasn’t doing the typical stand up and fight she was just kind of having an episode. Seriously, her left foot was trying to help her follow orders and her right was sending her towards him. weird. Oh well can’t have the distraction. Jupiter moved, setting down his motorcycle and coming forward to scoop the dazed woman up and toss her onto his shoulder. She could stay there having a hostage would dissuade any snipers outside any how. Speaking of which now that everyone was nice and cornered he could get away from the opening some. He moved toward the group. He motioned some of the employees forward with the motorcycle in his left hand and spoke again to the crowd.

“ Time for Simon says, Simon says sit down and behave.” Jupiter liked to be a bit obnoxious when he was working a crowd. once everyone was settled he smiled and waited, if he got bored he might have them touch their nose or something. Pat their heads and rub their bellies..

There comes a point in every man's life when he realizes something important. For some, it's that one shouldn't eat fresh jalapeno, straight from the cutting board. For others, it's that onion makes your eyes water. And for Aurum...

It was that he couldn't let a woman be carried off by a giant thug of a bank robber when she couldn't defend herself.

Stupid, stupid. Gonna die, His brain was telling him. But his feet. His bastard feet, and his heart. They wouldn't listen. Those thoughts of doing what best guaranteed his survival were still there. Warning klaxons were blaring, people. But his feet.

And his arm. Or rather, his hands. Both hung in the air.

The giant's words fazed him a great deal, actually. His face didn't show it. As he drew near the clone, Aurum adopted a confident tone, with just a hint of ire.

"You... should put her down, Sir. Nobody here wants trouble. She's just scared. If you need a hostage," A pause. His brain screamed 'no!' "I'm your man. Take me instead of her. Let her go. It's the least I can ask... I'll go quietly." Stupid Manliness! Aurum chided himself. Stupid stupid! But hey. It was out there, now. The least he could do was roll with his own idiocy.

One random thought struck him, as he looked up at the clone. Ami... is gonna to kill me.

Ah, well. No regrets.

The panic rolling through her, the exhilaration warring with it inside, Kealey’s head was spinning in so many directions she was almost sure that something was going to snap. So there she stood, in the middle of a bank, defying the man who’d just picked up a motorcycle and hit a police officer with it. Why had she done this? Because he feet couldn’t decide which way to carry her. When emotions reigned, the body simply had to follow along for the ride. It had been a long time since she’d lost control like this, but Kealey recognized the feeling.

When this had happened in the convent, they’d locked her in a dark room for hours on end. It hadn’t been a punishment, it had been the only way to stop the barrage of stimulus her mind and body couldn’t take. There were no dark rooms here, though, and as the beat sized man strode towards her, Kealey screamed. Her stomach hit a huge shoulder and the wind rushed out of her, leaving her gasping as she was jostled around.


The emotions were still there and Kealey jerked, simultaneously trying to squirm away from the large man and attack him. Staying still simply wasn’t an option, not the way she felt. There was a ball of emotion from the side of the room, all panic, all fear. Kealey wanted it to go away…wanted it to go away so badly. So she made it…but that took effort…and concentration. She had to work hard to make it stay gone, but it was worth it.


Someone was talking, trying to help her. Kealey wanted to feel grateful…but the best she could do right now was not screaming.

~~"You... should put her down, Sir. Nobody here wants trouble. She's just scared. If you need a hostage,"

“I didn’t pick her up cause I need a hostage I picked her up cuase she was going to start walking in circles if I didn’t.” He liked this guy, he was feisty. He wondered if he had powers, he certainly had a backbone.

“If you want her then come and get her.” He held Kealey out like a piece of luggage while her little pretty nails cut into him threw his clothing it was like the time the tried to was h Calley when he was catting..


"I'm your man. Take me instead of her. Let her go. It's the least I can ask... I'll go quietly."

“You aren’t my man and I refuse to hug you, it was a nice offer, but take the woman and go sit down before you piss me off and I decide to kill you all.” He met the mans Ire and the steely glint in his eyes and smirked.. “Take a good look at them all hero, you are risking more than your self, I will decimate you, every last one of you, if I hear much more from anyone. Do you understand me?”

Saturn continued on threw the back and was happily working with his friend Suzy, no it wasn’t her actual name just what he was calling her. And Suzy was behaving very well, she took him down two floors and to the secret vaults, he would press forward and remove vault doors, tear them off their hinges. He then proceeded to clear out deposit box after deposit box. And they had all sort of interesting things, it took him awhile but eventually his bag was full and he told Suzy she could stay, they were done for the day and he promised to never see her again. With that he began to walk back towards his brother, it was quiet that was either a good thing or a very bad thing. Saturn crossed his fingers and hoped for a good thing and that everyone wisely shut up. or were they all dead?

>>“Take a good look at them all hero, you are risking more than your self, I will decimate you, every last one of you, if I hear much more from anyone. Do you understand me?”

"Perfectly," Aurum looked the behemoth in the eye with more confidence than he felt. He wasn't going to fight the guy. Massive Max was easily more than twice his size. That would be suicide. He would, however... take... the girl off the guy's hands. Aurum stepped forward, and held out his arms to catch her. Jupiter lowered the blond into Aurum's hands.

After she was safe, with two feet on the ground, he helped her towards the corner of the bank the robbers had specified. Aurum gave the woman a helping shoulder, and tried to keep as calm as he could for the both of them.