Catalysts: IC 2.0 Announcement in OP!

Rodney shook his head no.

"I'm not sure I've met them. Is one of 'em a snaky lady, the other kind of normal? Then maybe I have. Are you with them?"

"So you have met them! Yeah, Steph is the snake lady. The other one must have been Ragnarok, they usually travel together."

She sighed. "I'm not with them, no. We disagree on too many things. For instance, whether or not to assimilate all of humanity into becoming metas."

Slowly becoming bored, she found a nice lounge that gave her a view of the road and lay down on it. No-one complained, or even noticed her. She didn't mind being someone people walked past, given the circumstances it was actually better for her. Hopefully Bloom would come and she could get some much needed advice.

He was eventually turned loose on the outskirts of the abandoned city. He made a beeline for the metro. No one. Not a soul. The bird was loose. The mouse came running. He scooped it up into his pocket. He searched the area. He only found a note that said "Hotel." There was only one hotel in the abandoned city. He hurriedly packed his things, mostly odds and ends, and began walking to the hotel. He stopped in front of it. "Hello?"

She sat up as someone called out. Perhaps it was Ragnarok. Getting up slowly, she took her time to exit the building. Nox. She vaguely recognised him from his brief conversation with her partner. Shrugging, she walked over. "Hey, Ragnarok has stuff set up here, dunno where he went though."

"Oh. Cool." He sighed. He felt somewhat sad. He didn't know why. He walked in and chose a mid-hotel room. He unpacked. He flopped down on the bed. There was nothing to do. Just wait and wait and... He shouted. Dammit! Why was there just nothing to do but wait for death to swoop in on buzzard's wings? He kicked the glass door to the balcony. The panels shattered. He went out and stood, looking over the railing, thoughts swimming.

She winced as the sounds of breaking glass reached her ears back on her own lounge. Her own lounge... She didn't like how Ragnarok had vanished. He didn't seem like the type to just go off somewhere without telling anyone, unless he wanted to be alone. She looked down at her waist again, where the two children were developing. She'd probably scared him off, with her selfish desire for human contact.

The sun would soon be setting. Then he'd be made a martyr or a god. He would either win or go down burning. He chuckled a little. "Thanks for the sword, jackass." He grabbed the small pendant around his neck. It was engraved with a stylized cobra. "Fuck you!" He threw it off te balcony.

She winced further as the swearing drifted in. Perhaps she should go check on him, after all he was Ragnarok's friend, and the one most likely to know where he was. Getting to her feet, she stretched her neck briefly before leaving to make the short trip to his door. Knocking softly, she wondered if what she was doing was a good idea.

He sat on the ground. Someone, presumably Steph, was knocking on his door. "Hellio? You can come in, if you want." He turned around, trying to sweep up the broken glass. It would be unsightly.

She opened the door slowly, noticing he was sweeping up glass and went over to help. "I became worried, since you sounded upset about something." Shifting to her gorgon form, she sweeped the glass up with her hands, the soft but still strong scales protecting her from cuts and splinters. "I think Ragnarok went away for a while, he didn't tell me anything about it. You're the only person I've seen all day apart from him really."

"Thank you for the help. He tends to do that. And I'm fine, just a bit confused." He blinked. He hoped she wouldn't know he was lying. But how would she? He thought for a few seconds. He then asked a question. "How can you tell if a girl likes you?"

She paused to think, leaning herself back up and dropping the glass into the bin. "Well, I'm not exactly an expert on flirting with guys. Generally you'll get the feeling that they're noticing you, perhaps if you know them, they'll go just that bit further to do a favour." She sat down on the lounge, keeping her hands over her body. "I hope he comes back sometime soon."

"I do too." He looked up again. "Dusk is almost over. I'd better go soon." He looked over the balcony again. He jumped. Ten feet... He landed right on target, with a hand and both feet on a light post. He jumped down to the street.

She let herself out and returned to her room as he randomly jumped off the balcony. It was setting in, she was all alone in this entire building. Typical, the pregnant girl, lost in a city of horrors, trapped in the hotel with all support running away. She couldn't run with nowhere to go...

He hit the ground running. He kept running. He had a military base to get to. To hell with not attacking. The war began now. He was in the forest now. He kept running. He finally reached the perimeter fence. There was barbed wire at the top. Was the blade strong enough? He drew the new sword. He made a cut. The chan link clattered to the ground. He snuck in. He foun some troops on patrol. The blade was razor sharp and light. They were dead fast. But now his presence was known.

She walked around her room for several minutes. She didn't like being alone, it was a worrying feeling. Especially under these circumstances. She flicked the TV on and set a DVD playing. She actually hoped that she would start giving birth, anything to distract her from the isolation. Nox could have at least offered to stay. Lying down on the lounge with a blanket pulled over her, she kept her eyes wide open as the movie continued.

He sprinted to the nearest building. It seemed to be a hangar of sorts, decently sized. Another grunt ran in. Nox killed him. He pulled the grenade off of the jacket. He pulled the pin and threw the explosive into a bomber's cockpit. He ran. But then he met with a new horror.

Despite her best efforts to avoid closing her eyes, it was inevitable. The darkness closing in was making her eyelids droop. She didn't mind falling asleep on the lounge anyway. As the movie ran on, the soft breathing of sleep began to emerge from her.

It was human. Or had once been. It's form had been twisted and bastardized to the point of being unrecognizable. The skin was stretched between the wrist and bottom rib to form a gliding surface. The legs were fused into a rudder. It glided down from its perch down to him. He sidestepped and slashed it. It was dismembered. He ran back to the hotel as fast as he could. He made it back after shaking pursuing troops in the alleys. "Ma'am, Are you alright?"

MataRahi wrote:

"So you have met them! Yeah, Steph is the snake lady. The other one must have been Ragnarok, they usually travel together."

She sighed. "I'm not with them, no. We disagree on too many things. For instance, whether or not to assimilate all of humanity into becoming metas."

"Ooh," Rodney muttered; that didn't sound like a good idea. "If anyone else should be metas, it should just be the police and maybe the military, I think. Which one's Nox?"

Steph woke up with a start, pressing herself tightly against the lounge. She relaxed once she noticed it was Nox. "I'm okay, I guess." She sat up and lifted her shirt to get a look at the bulge, making sure she hadn't accidentally dug in with her nails. "I'm fine."

"Good to hear." He went up to his room. He entered the bathroom. He had a few scratches, but nothing serious. Some gore from that... Thing. The once-human blob of flesh had unnerved him.

She lay back down again, switching to a new movie. At least Nox was in the building, if worst came to worst and she couldn't defend herself, she had someone to call out to. Even if it was just to scare off an attacker with the prospect of more people.

Fåil_Whåle wrote:

"Ooh," Rodney muttered; that didn't sound like a good idea. "If anyone else should be metas, it should just be the police and maybe the military, I think. Which one's Nox?"

Winter laughed aloud. "Heh, sure! Would let those buffoons have even more control over us. For the record, I'd rather we'd all just stayed human. Power should be earned, not gifted congenitally... you know?"

She looked back at Dali. "Oh, and, Nox is the shadowy guy with the sword."