Chapter 1: Welcome to the New World

"Disney?" I asked, "What's that?"

"Wait, seriously?" James asked, momentarily distracted by the question. "Uh.....they're a big entertainment company that make movies, own theme parks, and a bunch of other things. Point is Kristen.....you're in danger if anyone finds out what you are. Except for me of course."

I nodded slowly, realising what James was saying.
"We still need to find this killer, though." I said, bringing the current problem back to focus.

"Yeah, we do," James agreed. Gestalt picked that moment to speak up in his thoughts.

James, we believe we've found the van. There's an old building on 18th street, south of here. History says it was once an art gallery, but it's been abandoned for years.

Sounds good. Let's get moving. "Found them," he said to Kristen. "I can get there faster....unless you can run and jump as fast as me?"

"I should be able t-" I started, remembering what James had just said about the Mosaic Accords. I checked the pocket of my jacket, which still had the mask I'd worn at the crime scene in it. I put it on, and it did disguise my face quite well, but not enough. I pulled my hood up, hiding my hair inside of it and looked at James. "I should be able to keep up," I said, "Do you think this is enough to stay safe?"

He gave Kristen a quick glance, looking at the medical mask and hoodie. "Well....it's a start," he said. "Though I advise getting something that will.....I don't know, hide your entire face? Maybe ask Black fox if they'll make you an outfit."

~Tecchie~

"Your other pocket! Now!"
"B- I don't have anything!"
His finger starts to squeeze the trigger, but I fry his brain with a laser before he can fire. The thug collapses, causing the others to freeze. They look at me, and start shooting. I duck behind the small wall on the side of the building, to let my rifle recharge.
"Run!" I yell, standing up for another shot. The bums drop the Mountain Dew on the ground near the steps to my apartment, and sprint down the street. I go to fire at the thug about to shoot at me, but I see one aiming at the bums. Idiot. I fry his brain, before taking bullets from the other guy. A couple miss, but one hits my left arm. Suddenly, my laser stops recharging.

-4 Years Earlier

"We've made prototypes for robotic parts, that almost simulate real arms and legs. They have what looks like normal skin, and work just like if you had real limbs. We will put them on you if we have permi-"
"Do it."
"Do you understand the risks? If something goes-"
"Do it!" This is my chance to make something out of my life. I know how to tinker with this stuff, I could be powerful. I could be... A hero. Maybe even find the idiots from the black van. Maybe I could-
The next thing I know, there's a sharp pain in the little bit of my arm I can feel, and my vision goes black.

Marcus sat there in the corner of a street with a bored expression. I'm bored as hell and beating up people trying to sell drugs is not going to help. you think asking another 'Hero' is going to work, you only know one and he hates you. Man why did it take us 13 years to find all bits and pieces needed to come back. Time went fast in the human world, 13 hours turned into 13 years. remember how when we woke up we stuck inside a coffin and it took us 20 minutes to get out. I still can't believe that watch still worked.   

~Tecchie~

"Hey! I gotta fix that you know!" I yell to them, jumping off the edge of the building. when I'm a few feet from the ground, the jets in my feet go on, allowing me to hover down safely.
My energy sword appears in my right hand, and I start walking toward the thugs. Most of them run away, but the one who shot me in the arm just stands there, staring. When I start to get close, the guy raises his gun, starting to fire. I'm too quick though. I've already moved to the right, out of the way of the bullets. His gun clicks. It's empty. He pulls out a knife. Too late, my blade is already through his chest and out his back.

-4 Years Earlier

My eyes flutter open. "He's awake."
I have feeling now. Everywhere. I can even see out of my left eye. Was it a dream? No. I'm still in the hospital.
"How do you feel?" the nurse asks me.
"It doesn't matter how I feel, I think I'm just fine with the fact that I can feel," I say, chuckling a little.
"Would you like to try and walk?"
"Heck yeah," I say, already jumping up. I can walk perfectly fine. It's like they're real legs.

Kristen nodded at James' remark, "I'll try to get a better mask," She said, "Which way is it?"

"South of here. Come on, follow me.....and try and keep up," he added, jumping up to a fire escape and quickly hauling himself up the ladder before jumping off the bar, and firing a cable up to the roof and pulling himself up. Then he looked back down at Kristen, waving his arm for her to follow.

I looked up at the roof James had just climbed to, judging its height. I bent my knees, preparing to jump and I jumped up, feeling the air rushing past me. I cleared the edge of the roof and landed on it, my knees bending a little as I landed.

James blinked at her, and said "Well fuck me.....that was impressive." Beneath his mask, he grinned and said "Now let's see if you can keep up." With that, he broke into a run, leaping across the gap between rooftops as he parkoured over the roofs in his path.

~Tecchie~

His body slumps to the ground, a puddle of blood starting to form. "Come back out here!" I yell to the bums.
"H-how did you-"
"Clean up the mess and I'll give you some more money," I say, grabbing my soda and heading inside.
I plop the box of soda on the table, and pull a can out. I open it up and drink almost the whole thing. Next, I go into the closet, and pull out a screwdriver. I pull out the screws on my arm, and pull it off. I drop it on the table, grab my regular arm without upgrades, and put that one in the empty spot on me left side.

-4 Years Earlier

Soon after they help me walk around the hospital, they take me home to my apartment. It seems small, but looks aren't everything. I have lots of tech in there. Lots of machinery and hidden weaponry.
The first thing I do when I get home is go into my big closet, and start pulling out blueprints and gadgets. A bunch of screws, and a lot of other stuff. I lay everything out on the table, and look at the blueprints. I start tossing the stuff I don't need on the floor, and leaving the stuff I do need. After a while, I weed out blueprints for discreet weapons, that can be retracted into some robotic forms.

I watched him go over the first rooftop, it would be better for him to be ahead, it would be easier to follow him. As he prepared to jump to the second rooftop, I ran forwards and jumped. I rolled over my shoulder as I landed to absorb the impact, and repeated the same movement for the next one, though this time I landed on my feet.

Even though he knew she was simply following him, he treated it almost like a race, enjoying the fact that there was someone running with him in superhero mode. Moving across Brooklyn, they got to their destination, a rooftop overlooking a two level building that took up most of the block. The windows had been boarded up with plywood, so he couldn't see much of anything......but in an alley to the side, he spotted the green van. "They're in there.....how do you want to play this?"

Sparrow had just arrived home on the rooftop of her apartment building, about to take the stairs down.....when she spotted movement on the roof two blocks away. One was a hooded figure y the looks of it, keeping pace with.....the vigilante, Revenant. Now that was interesting, and she was too energized from her trip home to sit still. So she tailed them, keeping out of sight as she followed their movements.

"What do you mean?" I asked, tilting my head to the side. "There's only one way; neutralise the threat as soon as possible."

"Well I know that, but I mean how do you want to go in? I see an old AC unit we can crawl through, we break in through the windows of plywood, or we go in through the entrance by the van."

"Do you know which window it is?" I asked, looking over to the building. "It's better to hit them with no possibility of a warning. They can't react as fast that way."

"None," James sighed. "By the looks of it, all the windows are boarded up so zero line of sight. We could risk it though," he said.

"We should go through the door then," I said, "That way I might be able to smell them. If not, we can use trial and error. Going through the wrong window would give us away." I dropped down from the roof, rolling again as I landed, and walked to the door.

Alright then, James thought, and he jumped down with her. He may not have had the strength to jump as high as she could.....but the nanites gave him strength enough to land safely on the road. They went to the rear door, but he stopped at the van first. Opening the front hood, he found the wires he was looking for and yanked hard. "Just in case," he said calmly.

~Tecchie~

I go to work fixing my arm. I carefully peel the realistic skin back, and look at the inside. The damage isn't too bad, just a few wires are screwed up. I need to replace them, and add a bit more protective material to stop it from happening again. I'll also have to replace part of the skin, since there's a big gaping hole in it. About an hour later, it's patched up good, and something like this shouldn't happen as easily again.

-4 Years Earlier

I have a replacement arm, which I start working on. I peel back the skin, making sure to keep it in tact, and start looking around. It doesn't look to hard to work with, not as hard as some other things I've seen. After a few hours of work, I unscrew my left arm, and put the new one on. The skin is still on tight. You can't even tell there's a weapon underneath, except for a small seam where the weapon will pop out. I've wired it to a small button on my shoulder. I hold my arm up, and press the button. A small laser pops out.
"Groovy," I say, staring it it.

((If you guys don't get the reference at the end, I'm never talking to you again.))

I nodded and turned the door handle, opening it with a creek.
"It stinks in here." I remarked as I approached the stairs. "I can definitely smell them though." I added, noting an unusual smell, that I had apparently associated with the taste of the blood from earlier.

James couldn't smell much of anything, the nanites blotting out the smells while they scanned it themselves. Blood. Lots of blood. Old too. There was music from ahead, and James grabbed Kristen's shoulder and stopped her. "I'll go ahead," he said, cloaking as he did so. "They won't be able to see me."

I nodded, lagging behind as James went ahead. I was still heading up the stairs, though. At least until I reached the right floor.
"It's this floor," I whispered to James, "One of the end rooms."

"Got it," James whispered, and advanced onward. The stench of blood was stronger, the music louder. James turned a corner into a large room, what must have been a gallery.....and was suddenly sickened. It hadn't been four girls.....those were I just the teasers he realized. The killer had taken ten more girls, killing them all and butchering them, mutilating them and posing their desecrated corpses like mannequins. Their body parts had been rearranged, like they were human Rubix cubes. He fought down a wave of nausea, and saw there was no one....for the moment.

I followed James into the room, glancing around at all of the blood and corpses. It was messing with my sense of smell and sight, but my hearing was fine.
"James! Move!" I shouted, stepping in from of him and pushing him away as what looked like a red sword went into my gut.

"KRISTEN!" James screamed, decloaking and forming his blades as he moved to help his friend.

It felt cold where the blade was, and the feeling of it being withdrawn was sickening. I fell over at the feet of my attacker, a woman with black hair. The blade seemed to be coming out of her arm; their was no obvious seam between her skin and the beginning of the weapon.
"It's a shame," The girl said, "I'd hoped to have more fun with the two of you."

"I'm still here!" James roared, swinging his hand up in an arc to have the blade swipe at the woman's face.

The woman raised her arm and blocked the attack on the side of her own blade, kicking at James' legs while they were still connected.
"But you're about to die." She stated.

"Get in line bitch!" James said as his leg was kicked out. Which was part of the plan really. He landed on his back, right leg in the air....the same leg made of nanites. Like a spring loaded gun, they shot out, his foot at the other end as the sole of his foot slammed into the attacker. "Talk to the foot."

Stella appeared a few moments later, adjusting her clothes. She seems a bit taken back, but stands there, shifting from foot to foot.
"...I guess forgivness does still exist."

In response, Chris moved forward and slugged Stella in the he stomach, a swift rabbit punch that was going to hurt more than do any real damage. As Stella doubled over from it, Chris said through clenched teeth "That, is for getting my friend beaten up. And we'll leave it at that."

Sparrow had followed Revenant and he hooded figure inside....and nearly recoiled at the smell. It was horrendous and she wondered what the hell was in there, slinking through the shadows until she saw the fight taking place within, wide eyes behind her mask as Revenant and a seawards man clashed.

Stella fell to her knees, whimpering. "Yes ma'am." She said. And she stayed down and quiet, scared to look up.

With that, Chris helped Stella up to her feet. "Now come on.....Amy's probably worried I gazed you after all."

Stella looked down. "...both of you chose to forgive me..." she said softly. "...I didn't think I could find two people with that much kindness soneasily."

"Yeah well......surprise," Chris said as they walked out. Amy was waiting patiently, but breathed a sigh of relief that betrayed her anxiety when she saw Stella looking....well, alive. "Great, so no one got electrocuted. Looks like a good day so far."

The woman jumped backwards, landing on her hands and then flipped back to her feet.
"You call that a kick?" She said, an axe forming around her other arm, "I'll show you how a real killer does it." She swung the axe at James' neck, the sword on her other arm going for a stab at his stomach.

Jason reacted quickly, one arm forming a shield while the other remained as a blade to parry the sword thrust. The shield caught the axe, and the density increased on impact.

Sparrow watched intently, and debated moving to help the fallen girl, but she didn't have a medkit on her. Instead, it seemed a better option to help Revenant beat his opponent, and she waited for he right time.

The blade of the sword shrank in length, slipping by James' own blade. It struck, though it didn't cut through.
"So that won't work," She said, jumping backwards, "I'll have to crush you instead." Her axe changed, thickening at the top as it changed into what looked like a sledgehammer. "I hear broken bones are painful." She said, grinning, "You'll have to tell me what it's li-" She was cut off as I jumped onto her back, my hands gripping her shoulders, my legs wrapped around her stomach. "What the fu-" She started, as she prepared to shake me off. I titled my head back and bit down on her neck before she had finished though, and the words were replaced by a startled scream.

She panicked and managed to throw me off, though there was a hole in the side of her neck. Strangely it didn't bleed, but she could definitely feel it.

What. The. Fuck? James thought as Kristen got back on her feet to bite they're. attacker. It threw them off long enough that he decided to attack, his right hand turning into a block before before he swung it, the nanites at the base extending and turning into a whip as it arched out and struck their opponent with a huge amount of force. "Or, you can figure it out yourself," he replied. Looking to Kristen, he asked her "You okay?"

~Tecchie~

Now that my arm is fixed, I rest on the couch and turn on the news. There's something about a serial killer roaming around the city, and something about a celebrity dying. Everything just blends together. I switch back to my game, and start drinking some more soda. There's a knock on the door.
"Come in!" I yell, then remember all the parts I have on the table. Nobody is supposed to see those.
I jump up, sprinting to the door. Luckily whoever it is is pretty slow.

While the fight continued, Sparrow spotted some movement off to the side, a figure taking advantage of the distraction. Their partner, she thought, and moved to stop them. She felt stupid doing it, since she was a thief.....but if this guy was a partner, to a murderer and psychopath, then she'd gladly kick their ass. So she ran on silent feet, her goggles adjusting to the low light as they switched to a the night vision filter, and she confronted the fleeing man. They were in their forties, hair graying along the edges and their build slim and unassuming. That didn't stop the murderous gleam from appearing in their eyes, alongside a smile that showed her a glimpse into the madness of his mind. He had a large knife in hand, a Bowie knife that looked almost comical compared to the rest of him.

But there was nothing funny about the thrust he aimed at her. She didn't lose her nerve, though she teetered on the edge of doing just that, the bodies, the blood, the stench and even this man who glorified death all working together to make her revert to a crying child. Instead of the blade hitting, she dodged the blow with a step to the side and reached for the weapon at her hip, a cylinder which she grabbed and flicked to her side, the motion releasing the extendable baton to its full length. The next swipe of the knife came but she parried it with her baton and followed up with a backhanded swing of the baton straight for the guys jaw.

The baton had been a gift, made from new carbon-nanotube alloys to make it lighter and harder than others, even keeping it from bending from any serious hits. And despite her own slim, wiry build, Sparrow had a pretty decent arm on her. So when the tiny end of the baton struck the guys chin, she had no trouble believing it when his jaw broke from the impact, even dislocating it slightly, which only seemed to bring the monster within to the surface as his face was deformed. She didn't give him time to recover, hitting him in the head with the but of the weapon as her fist came down like a hammer, and sent the guy down. Taking a moment to breathe through her nose and calm down, she left the man where he lay and returned to where Revenant and his partner were fighting the strange woman, wondering how that was going.

~Tecchie~

The first thing I am met with when I open the door is a fist. It hits me in the face, hard. I snap my eyes back toward him, and try to hit him, but he grabs my arm, kicking me in the chest. I am knocked back a foot or two, and he starts yelling at me. "Where is it?" he screams.
"What are you talking ab-" he raises his palm, sending some sort of shockwave at me, which sends me flying into my apartment wall.

I didn't reply. I'd barely heard him anyway. It felt like my ears were ringing, and my throat felt too numb to talk. I crouched lower to the ground, my eyes fixed on my target, still in pain from her wound.
Neutralise the threat. I could hear one of the doctors saying to me from years ago, Neutralise. The woman was definitely a threat. She had already stabbed me. Neutralise. I pounced across the room, kicking off with my back leg. She tried to get her sword up in defence, and she succeeded, the blade sliding through my gut. I didn't feel it, and the force of my body hitting her arm pushed her back to the wall, pinned. I cocked my head back, opening my mouth, and sunk my teeth into her throat, the warm blood pouring down my throat and chin, staining my clothes red.