Chapter 1: Welcome to the New World

"What if it's gay broccoli?" Stella grinned.

Snorting, Amy patted Stella on the shoulder and said "Yeah no. Try again."

"I could hack her religious websites and throw up links to lesbian bars." Stella suggested.

"Nah, that's just dirty. If I want to beat goody little two shoes, I'm gonna do it by her rules, not mine."

"As you wish." Was all Stella said.

Away from the carnival and across town, the vans arrived at their destination. Like usual, the drivers got out, and the charges blew, the bezerkers being set free on the target area. Their target, was the Chemist's soon to be former boss. He was having dinner with his family at a nice restaurant in the middle of Brooklyn. Ten enraged mutants were now on their way to kill him.....and anyone else in the vicinity.

Marcus went outside the carnival to get some air or just to get away from everyone.

So. Bad day.

"No shit sherlock." Marcus said bitterly at Dark before looking at the road. "Those 6 years were the best years of my life."

Being experiminted on, buried alive, stuck in a volcano, STUCK in a mine and then losing both your arms in that fight you had on a train being the best 6 years of your life?"

"Pretty much, yea. What bout you?"

Oh let me think 1245 I was known as a god. 1500's I was known as the devil. There are more.

"I'm good."

It all happened so fast, no one in the restaurant knew they were being attacked until it was too late. The walls exploded inward, chunks of drywall flying, tables chairs and people sent tumbling, and the audible sound of screams of terror mixed with snarls of rage from the brutes mingled in the air. Their target, a Russian mobster by the name of Artyom Barinov, had recovered fastest, drawing his hidden pistol and shooting at the Berserkers. It didn't do much but anger them, and they went charging at him, trampling over any hapless patrons underfoot.

Bella didn't have much to do and decided to track Mark to ask more questions. Finding him outside mumbling about stuff she knew she shouldn't have heard, she walked beside him. "You are very strange you know that."

Marcus turned to her before lightly laughing. "No i'm insane Bell." Marcus told her only to hear a short laugh.

Back at the carnival, the both was getting a lot of attention now. It may have had something to do with Stella, but no one could prove it. They were down a man though, temporarily, since James had been indulging in the soda. The bathrooms inside the school were open to the public, and a lot better than the porta-potties set up outside. So he was, occupied with a urinal when Gestalt sent him an alert.

James, those Berserkers are back, attacking a civilian zone and restaurant.

Uh, Gestalt. Kinda got my hands full here with the carnival.

Will you really stand by and let them kill people?

Dammit.....fine. Chris is gonna kill me.....but not much choice.

Finishing up, James left the restroom and headed deeper into the school, leaving out the back where no one could see him leave, and changed during the walk into his suit.

At the restaurant, Artyom was grabbed by one of the Berserkers and ripped in two before the eyes of his screaming family.

Marcus was going to continue when heard police sirens and then saw a few heading away from the carnival. "Wanna check it out?" Mark asked bella only to hear a short laugh.

Human, you can't hope every bloody car you see leads you somewhere. Look at the last two.

"Fine."

"Who was that too?" Bella asked curiously.

Marcus looked at her and then felt for the phone he stole. "That was too Dark sorry."

Zeru finished with getting another bite to eat and went to go see how urthus was doing."how's it going" he asked as he walked up to him.

James was closing in, speeding along the rooftops as he ran, the use of cables punched into his run to help close the distance to the restaurant. According to the feed from Gestalt, it was a nice, fancy restaurant on the corner of a large intersection. The brutes had torn up the place good though, with three of them moving to the streets and flipping over cars and doing damage to buildings.

Okay how do we take these guys down? We've only ever been able to wait for the drugs in them to wear off but I don't think we can afford to wait.

I've accessed files from the Panacea Medical team that have been examining the past brutes. Their bones get denser, except around the skull. Sufficient head trauma can knock them out, though at risk of brain damage. Additionally, they are not working together, the hallucinogen drugs simply making them see things. If you can get them to fight eachother, they can take eac other out.

So head blows and divide and conquer, got it. Anything else?

Electricity, high voltage beyond a taser, can stun them. Creates short term paralysis that can last long enough for the drugs to wear off.

Great, now we just need Thor to be real....

Running over the last roof, James jumped down unprepared for what he saw below. The footage was one thing, but this, seeing it all first hand, was another. People were screaming as cops opened fire on the brutes, but all that did was anger them, per usual encounters. One of them raised a car to throw, and James targeted them, firing his cables at their arms to hook on, and slingshot himself into their back. The force knocked them over, the car falling down, and he jumped off the back and rolled onto the ground, turning to face the brute. "Come on buddy, come chase the dragon," James challenged.

Marcus found his phone and took it out before opening the internet.

What.. what are you doing.

"I'm doing smarts." Marcus told him with a sigh. Looking up recent events he didn't find much until he came across the tital. Giant mutants attack restuarant. "Bell wanna check this out?" He said as he flashed the screen at her.

Bella looked at the phone before seeing a image of the brutes she fought a while ago. "Yea, sure and i've been to that place before. You would get lost for sure." She said with a soft laugh and Marcus joined her before they both stopped with Bella running and Mark close behind.

The brute bellowed in rage and charged James, who jumped back and onto the police van behind him. Its occupants had already fled, moving to the line of officers aiming their guns at the Berserkers, while James jumped off the van right as the brute slammed into it, crushing the car like a soda can. In the air James flipped forward, cables shooting out to latch onto the brutes shoulders. When he landed on the ground, he slammed his arms forward and unbalanced the brute, sending them falling backwards and landing on their back with a loud grunt of pain.

He didn't have much time to act, Revenant moving now ram his fist down like a pile-driver (construction tool not wrestling move) with all the strength he could muster. Hitting the forehead, the brutes head snapped back onto the pavement, and they were out. Whether they'd die from trauma or not.....James didn't have the luxury of worrying, now with nine more of the things to go.

Because the mutation Bella had, she was running much faster then Marcus. By the time they made it to the Restuarant police surronded the area to keep civilans from getting close and try to stop the mutants. Marcus saw this and allowed his mask to appear before making a dark smoke surrond him.

Moving towards the police, they realised Marcus was one of the vigilantes and at first told him to freeze which in reply, shadow simply said "Look, their are a few giant mutants that I can try and deal with and trust me. I can distroy helecopters, what are bullets goingt to do." And like that they moved to the side while Bella was being carried in the dark smoke to smuggle her in. "Alright, any hints to fighting these things?" Shadow asked her in his demon voice.

"Yea not really except that they will fight anything." Bella said as she remembered what Revanant did.

"Anything."

Zeru was waiting for urthus to reply when he bella take off with shadow following off so he swore under his breath before turning to urthus."we need to go after them now before she gets herself killed so let's go"he said taking off in a sprint after them and arrived a few minutes after they did while putting his helmet on to avoid anyone finding out who he was while mainly to protect his head.

The nanites on his back showed James Shadow coming into the area, to which he both groaned.....and cheered.. He was getting back up.....but the psychotic kind. Oh well, we work with what we have right? he asked Gestalt.

Do we have a choice?

Not really. Okay, let's move! James thought, moving to attack one of the other brutes.

Marcus saw that Rev had beaten him but he didn't mind. The more the merrier. As Marcus moved closer the smoke released Bella and she landed feet first on the ground. "Alright, you find a place to shift and surprise, you may have sharper claws from last time but your still much more fragile ok." Marcus said to her in a worried but demonic tone, both together made the demonic sound more human.

Bella looked at him and gave him the face. 'I know what I can do.' Before running into the restuarant a brute unfortunitly following but she was able to lose it, hiding under the tables.

Marcus walked towards one of the brutes and made a tendril of darkness which he sent flying at the brutes head, three tons of force went into the unsuspecting mutant and sent it to the ground but it still wasn't down, only hazed Marcus learnt as it tried to get back up.

Zeru had taken cover behind a building corner while he looked around trying to identify who all was involved."so that must be the so called revenant"he said looking at the armored super fighting the mutants.

Going to guess going toe-to-toe with them isn't an option?

Not as we currently are. Muscle mass for the nano-epidermis can be increased to add more strength and durability, however mobility will be slowed considerably.

That.....doesn't sound good. Need to stay mobile. Dodging one of their punches, James made a short jump onto their arm, running up before jumping again, hands formed into hammers as he came down on the brutes head. It didn't quite knock them out but they became very dizzy.

Marcus moved closer to the brute before sending two tendrils to its head and neck watching it crumple back to the ground with a thud. Looking around he lost Bella and saw how Rev was dealing with the brutes his way. But as he looked around he felt armour growing on his side and then he felt the impact of a fist on his side sending him into a car. Thanks..

No problem human.

Bella was watching the fight while waiting for the beast to be tamed. Ducking every so often to avoid the sights of any brute she started to think of a battle plan. While the boys were using blunt force she could only use claws except for the strength she had in human form but these brutes are just people with something making them stronger and more durable but they would still have some human weakness?

Not giving them an inch, Revenant tripped the Brute over, lashing out with a tendril and sweeping their legs out from under them. They fell forward and flat on their face, and Revenant moved on to the next.....right as the next threw a car at him. "Crap!" he shouted, ducking just in time, the car missing him by an inch. He ducked into a roll, coming up to fire a pair of cables, their tips piercing into the meat of the brutes shoulders. It screamed in pain, even as Revenant reeled himself in, legs extended and delivering a powerful kick to the chest.

Muscle density was great enough, to withstand the attack but it still stunned the brute, the shockwave going through its body. Groaning, it stumbled around, turning and exposing its back to Revenant. He jumped up and onto it, one arm going around its neck and the other aimed at a brick wall. With a scream, James fired a cable and it latched into the wall, before drawing them both in to it. The brute went headfirst, right through the wall as James let go, and was stuck there amost comically.

Marcus removed himself from the car and turned to it, allowing the shadows to cover his arms he starting pick up the car using the shadows to balance it, he turned to the brute that punched him and threw the car. Direct hit, the brute and the car were hurdled back but to the disbelief of shadow the brute, heavily bleeding with metal poking in its skin lifted the car and threw it at shadow but he easily shadow skipped and the car went though him.

Bella didn't know what to do but thought that maybe Revanant would know or assume. He seemed like a knowing person. She waited for a brute outside to turn before jumping though a broken window, wincing in pain as a shard of glass poked her though her jeans and into her thigh and her hand but she didn't stop until she was within talking range of Revanant. "Hey.. You wouldn't know if these things still be maimed if you cut the tendrils in their ankle?" She asked rather plainly and quickly as the brute he locked into the wall was struggling to get out and more were coming.

On the other hand the beast was tamed and she was ready.

Not bothering to ask what she was doing there, James said "Tendons, and they can be but it's not their fault. They're normal people kidnapped and turned into those things. We gotta knock them ou--watchout!" he shouted, shoving her away with a tendril right as a post box came flying at them both.

"I know but I saw what happened to the others when they turned back and it didn't loo.." Bella couldn't finished what she was about to say when was pushed from the post. She didn't have time to Se what happened to Revanant. She was pissed.

She ran towards another stret lamp with the brute that threw the other one close behide and allowed it to charge at her before rolling to the side, watching as it snaped the lamp in two. Running towards it She moved to the lamp and starting to lift it like a weight. Moving it so it rested on her shoulders she wasn't quite human anymore, the animal instinct had moved in and she downward smashed the lamppost into the brutes head as it turned and watched it crumple to the ground before dropping the post. She would have continued but Bella was back in control and remembered her plan she ran back to the restuarant to wait for her time.

Marcus on the other hand was quite impressed with his little sister.
Oh great I think of her as a sister.

i don't blame you. You two seem alike.

do we? Me and Caitlin didn't seem alike

another time, to your left and right. Dark finished as the brute from before was already charging at Marcus and a new one was coming from the other side. Marcus grew his wings and waited for the two brutes to get close and just about as they were to sandwhich Marcus he flew ups and allowed to smash into each other and soon plike he expected they were trying to kill each other.

zeru saw bella get involved but stayed back to see if he could figure out if she needed help or not so he made sure his weapons were fully loaded and he had spare ammo.

Dodging the mailbox, James switched targets, moving to take on another brute. It saw him coming, and swung a fist at him with little time to dodge.....so he blocked, hands coming up between him and the punch. The nanoepidermis' muscles went into overdrive, the balls of his feet sliding against the pavement even as the nanites coating his body tried to secure him by shooting from the bottom of his feet in spikes, tearing the asphalt up. It hurt like hell, the force of the impact going through his body, but he was able to hold off against the punch.

"Not bad," he said. "Now it's my turn." Shoving the fist back, Revenant pulled his arm back, readying a punch and letting fly. It wasn't as dramatic a result as say sending the heavy brute flying, however the effect was in a way, better. Revenant's punch sent a shockwave of force into the brutes body, even if he didn't mean for it to do so much.

Damage to the solar plexus (space above the navel) along with organ damage. Their bones and muscles may have become stronger, denser......but their organs, not so much. There was a sputtering sound, and Revenant realized that the Brute was coughing. And to his horror, blood spurted out from its mouth, splashing on him. Then the brute fell backward, falling to the ground and just....not moving.

Marcus landed from his fight and took count. 1, 2 maybe 4,5 down. Marcus thought to himself as he looked around the battle feild. He then looked back to his delight thatt wo brutes from earlier were still fighting each other.

Bella saw a alone brute wandering about before staring at Shadow and she decided to stop it in their tracks. She stood up, feeling the textures of her cloths for the final time and took a few steps back before running towards the window she jumped though eariler of the restuarant before jumping and during mid jump she changed into her couger.

She ran towards the brute as it started to walk towards Marcus until she was right behide it and swiped her claws at it's ankle were the tendon was and watched the brute fall to the ground. To Bella thisw as sickening but at least the brute could not move as effectivly as it could before.

Did I....did I..... "DID I JUST KILL THAT MAN?" James screamed, backing away from the fallen Berserker, the revulsion hidden by his mask evident in his body language. There was no time to collapse though, a scream sounding from the retaurant. It wasn't a Berserker, too young for an adult......a child. Running before he was even truly aware of it, James crashed through one of the windows, rolling as he landed on the ground. Standing up, he saw the source of the scream: a little girl, ten years old maybe. Long dark hair and snow white skin, she cowered under a table as a Berserker advanced on her.

"LIKE HELL!" James roared, firing a pair of cabled, the ends wrapping around the neck of the brute. He yanked, hard and pulled the brute down backwards just as it was raising its arms up to kill the girl. It stumbled before tripping over a table, and collapsed on the ground, crushing a chair beneath it.

Marcus heard the yell from Rev and looked his way to see one of the brutes on the ground. Still and lifeless. Marcus wanted to tell him it was alright but the two brutes that were fighting before had a winner and he was already moving towards Marcus. He stood their and morthed his hands into larger shadow hands the size of the brutes and ran towards the mutant. It swung it's arm in a side swipe but Marcus just restrained the hand with some shadows that were connected to the ground before striking the brute's face multiple times with the enlarged fist's until it hit the ground. "I think that has done it."

Bella had moved to were Revanant was with a slow crawling brute behide to see what he was doing. She saw that he had it covered and gave a slight growl before turning to the other brute. "Why... Are... They.. Still.. Like .. This."

"Higher concentration of the drugs?" Revenant suggested. "Doesn't matter, they're bodies are still burning through the stuff. And they're slowing down, which is good."

"Not.. Many.. Left." Bella said in a raspy voice but was slightly surprised he didn't freak a little from her voice.

Marcus closed in on the two and passed the injured brute and the dead one. As soon as he got close to the restaurant he looked towards Rev. "How you holding up." He said towards him in a less demonic tone and a more human one.

"This isn't a social call and you haven't earned the right to ask me that Shadow," Revenant growled. One of the brutes bellowed, and came charging though ws stopped by an uppercut whip from Revenant, the end tipped with a hammer. In their final, sluggish state, the brutes were easier to take down.

Zeru saw they had it under control for the most part and was about to leave when he saw one of the brutes pass by and end up closing behind bella so took out his pistol and aimined and fire with the round hitting the brute in the back of the skull with it collpasing short distance from the group and figuring his hiding was over decided to step into the light making sure his helmet was on tight enough.

"Right, of corse." Marcus said before looking towards Bella. "Head home and get a new pair of cloths... Effigy." Marcus decided to call her as off now before running towards another brute with 3 tendrils going for its head.

Bella shook her head to Shadow as he ran off and then looked towards Revanant. "Good... Luck." Was all she said as she removed herself from the building and towards the injured brute who was reaching for her. "Get.. Better..and..sorry." Was all she said as she heard a bullet ring behide her and saw another brute drop dead before a very familiar smell appeared.

James spun at the gunshot, seeing a masked figure with a gun. "Dammit no!" he yelled at them. "Don't kill them!"

Marcus also spun towards the masked shooter and rised a few tendrils at him but a quick growl from Bell told him that this was a known person. Marcus inspected him and remembered the cloths. "Z that you?"

zeru looked at marcus"sup he said before turning his attention to revenant "and who the hell are you to order me around"zeru replied calmly walking up to the brute he shot and dislodging the bullet that had got stuck exiting the brutes head and putting it in his pocket.

"I'm the one that knows these poor bastards were kidnapped off the street and turned into these things," Revenant growled.

"and what is your point"zeru asked turning his head to rev.

"Z this guy doesn't like dead people and yea... They were.?" Marcus said trying to defuse to the fight as he knew a certain military group would be here soon.

Bella decided to take her leave but then remembered that the police surrounded the area. "Shadow.. Police."

"What's my point?" Revenant asked, getting angry. "My point, you little prick, is that you put a bullet in an innocent persons head!" Looking to Shadow, Revenant said "They're insane from the mutations. All that pain.....it drove them mad. Plus they were hopped up on hallucinogenic drugs to make them see things."

"yeah well that innocent almost killed someone so what am i supposed to do let one innocent person die to let another live?"zeru responded walking a little closer.

"Jesus, Rev I did say I would try and stop the killing but I may be a little nutty if I meet the guy who did this." Marcus said bluntly to Rev before turning to zeru. "from my time you try and stop them and leave killing as a last solution."

"Disable them!" James said. "Stun them, distract them, the drugs were about to wear off, yu don't have to kill anyone."

"if i had tried disabling the thing it would have crushed her when it fell"zeru retorted back.

"Or maybe it wouldn't have, if you called out to warn her," Revenant snapped. "We don't have to kill to protect. Or at least I don't, clearly you do..."

"Stop.. Fighting... Guys." Bella said loud enough for them to hear as she could hear the sounds of helecopters closing in.

"Right, the Hercs." Marcus said as he picked Bella up with shadow covered arms.

"reality is going to hit you hard one of these days"zeru turned to shadow"lead the way"