A Necessary Evil - [[Dane...Revi...Liam||R]]

[atlas]

After grabbing the first two books he could find he dropped them “Fuck, Too damn clean!” Even the carpet was too clean for him ”So you can see what we are really capable of... Hello? Joshua? What the fuck is going on? Help me! This madman won’t let me move... Shut up and get back in your fucking corner”[/i][/color] Placing the two pins in one hand he forced a hand down his throat, reflexively he launched his melon salad and roast dinner sludge onto the pins. Weapons coated in his gunk he ducked out of the way of a horseman, he couldn’t tell who it was as they swung at his back. All he knew was he was lucky he could still see their powers. As he moved he quickly buried his own influence into the gunk. Into the bacteria swarming over his piercing blades, “Thanks Daniel... brains do come in handy sometimes... WHO THE FUCK ARE YOU?”[/i][/color] Stacey’s power found itself in a weaker form in each and every bacteria swarming across the pins. Nex rolled to avoid the next swing and spun on his foot to thrust the spire into the chest of his attacker. The man choked for a second, spitting plasmic blood as his skin seemed to contract and shrivel on his flesh, constricting and tearing open as it shrunk, his muscles themselves looked like a salted snail as they liquefied in a bubbling oozing mess. Nex withdrew the blood-soaked weapon and recharged the new coat with the power. As he ran from his other pursuer he dropped one weapon at Joshua’s feet and slammed the other into the neck of the muscle bound bird boy withdrawing it the man screamed as he hit the floor. His feathers either dropped or burnt up like leaves while his skin ripped itself apart and his internal form liquefied. The shrivelled mass of cloth that remained insighted a joy and desire for more in nex that could only be satisfied if each and every one of his opponents met the same fate. “It’s your choice if you want to use that. But you get one hit with it to do full damage. Make sure you get the harder one to kill”

[Joshua D. MacArthur]

Joshua had to turn away from the sight before him as flesh melted away from bone and the two men's bodies began liquifying, there was nothing else from before this moment that could compare to listening to their agonizing screams as they died slowly. He had known that they would have to confront the horsemen at some point on this mission, yet to see Zephyr and Orion tortured so slowly before him tore at his heart. There had been moments to himself where he had gone over the what ifs in his plan and he knew that human casualty was inevitable, it was something else to murder someone you had worked with but ultimately was a necessary evil. "I don't torture..." he said upon destroying the pin left over from Nex's attack, "Don't get me wrong, i can kill without hesitation when the need arises but i shall not subject another life to an excruciating death due to the actions of my twisted Grandfather. Especially because of him..." Joshua's words were cut short upon the sound of clapping from across the room drawing his attention finally back to his sole relative, the ancient man brought his hands together repeatedly as he made his way from the windows to the middle of the room. "This is exactly why i had to have you killed Joshua, ou don't have the stomach for this kind of work and so it boggles the mind to why you exactly went onthis mission. Unfortunately that is a question i must figure out after this mess is over..."

Two things happened in quick succession that forced Joshua to react quickly, his Grandfather fell through a portal that opened beneath him pulling him away from the fight. The second being Helios jumping out of said portal right after Liam disappeared, the power user immediately began pulling energy inward to himself creating a shift in the air around him as if the light from the sun was beating down upon them. His shield flared around them as the light from Helios intensified into a sphere of condensed cosmic energy that engulfed the top five floors of the building, as the levels were blown away the city began to shake bringing all attention to MacArthur Tower.

Joshua lowered the arm he held in front of his eyes as the light dissapated and the energy retreated into Helios, he blinked steadily trying to regain his sight and choked back a gasp at the spiderwebbed shield around them. His peace was broken as another portal opened and Cronus thrust his hand through sending out a destructive beam of quantum energy directly at his shield, the protective energy bubble shattered at impact sending Joshua hurtling into a tenuously standing steel beam. "Now what do you say we step thing up?"

[atlas]

Nex needed no invitation. These two were far to dangerous to get close to. With but a blink he weakened their powers to what he would come to call ‘level 1’ The man Helios seemed to be ablaze with the extra energy that he didn’t have the capacity to store anymore while cronus returned to human form only capable of pushing a small amount of energy now “Not so big without your powers are you? And Joshua, everyone suffers in death, it’s all about how long” with a smile on his face he kicked the blue veined man off the side of the building, with no way to stop himself he’ll fall right to ground level “It’s ok, the fall won’t kill ya, but the sudden stop at the bottom?” he shouted after him before looking back at the other man. “where’d MacArthur go? Hmm? Tell me or you meet a fate far worse than your comrades”

[Joshua D. MacArthur]

"Enough of this!" Liam shouted from his hiding spot, the words echoed around them as they bounced off the wreckage that used to be the top floors of the tower. The man's plans were slowly coming undone as Joshua and Nex slowly killded off his guards leaving only Cronus there to accompany him, but it was still of no consequence as long as he had the ability to command the project's powers. The silence that followed the outburst was ended with the crack of thunder and the sudden appearance of Liam MacArthur "I'll give you this Doctor, you've easily picked off my former guards quite quickly and given me insight to where i can go differently when i get back to my labs. Unfortunately i can not permit you to continue this blasé attitude you have taken in destroying my creations, so we shall see how you work around Cronus' other active power." Said project slowly shifted out of a portal and immediately glowed with a heavily pressurized blue power that rolled off his body violently, slowly his powers stretched out across the room negating anyone from activating their powers any further like a pause button.

Cronus had the secondary ability to effect the quantum field in any given state around him, in scientific terms he is able to control a zero-point field or Casimir effect that in its common use can disrupt any power users ability to use their powers. The power had been used extensivley in combat against the other horsemen for a short period of time to give the energy manipulator an edge and upperhand, this time it would be used to pause the four of their abilities while still allowing them to be housed within them. As Cronus had started to access his powers Liam quickly did two things, slowly as if his old age came off of him like steam he tapped into his powers to de-age himself to his WWII self and the agility that came with it. Secondly, he spread his influence to the dead bodies of Mercs a floor beneath them and reanimated them fully to take care of Nex. The bodies had no cognitive abilities of their own and so relied on Liam to give them a set of directions at the start, they would have full mobility of their bodies and so could not be classified as zombie which could not engage in physical combat or wield weapons.

"I had hoped that this would have gone a lot smoother than it has yet unfortunately th best laid plans and such, so i must enter this fight myself and end it quickly. From what the buildings sensors are telling me, the law enforcement in this city are rapidly converging on our position and will be here in minutes ruining out little tea party. This fight will be over in two minutes..." As Liam monologued like a good villain he made his way to a metal shield on the floor and pulled off the two lonswords attached to his family's coat of arms, keeping one for himself he threw the other to Joshua who deftly caught it. The two of them stood in front of the other unmoving until another crack of thunder ripped apart the calm standoff, the clang of metal repeatedly rang through the air as their swords met continuously. Joshua's complete concentration was entirely set on the battle before him leaving him unable to help Nex as a team of reanimated Mercs stepped into the room from the rubble of what used to be a staircase.

They would both have to fight quickly as the government would act swiftly against them using their zero tolerlance policy against power users that threatened the nation, at the same time stop their untimely deaths at the hands of thei opponents. All the while Cronus would keep his influence over the indiviuals in the room while protected behind his zero-point field that would repel any and all attacks, save for one force.

[atlas]

Nex laughed manically “You think this is the end? You think you have ME beat because I have no powers? Wrong little man, I do so have powers, I have the power to end all this. I” his thoughts rushed to the man directly beneath them on the bottom floor. He was about 10 seconds away from opening the door. “Have an insurance plan." Nex Bolted towards the wall of the room furthest from the edge. There he buried his hand firmly in the wall and drew out the gun Dane had brought just in case. A small pistol was all he needed “The pitfall with your anti-power field dear sir... you have no power either."

It was a blur. In the last second Nex buried three bullets in cronus’s brain, heart and lung. The concussive roar of the explosion knocked most of the group off their feet. Letting go of the wall, now with control over his power again, Nex kicked off and fell to Joshua. Grabbing the young combatant he added to himself a new power “hold on, this’s gunna be weird” And he braced for the non-existant landing as they shot into the ground with Nex’s new ability to walk through walls.

OOC; you may have forgotten, but i didn't. Sorry you took so long getting to the fight XD

[Joshua D. MacArthur]

Everything that happened went down too quickly for him to truly comprehend and process it in the short amount of time from the moment of the horsemen engaging them in combat to the sudden collapse of the building. He could feel the shift in power like a vaccuum that suddenly changed direction at the exact moment the tower shuddered, his hands latched onto Nex who appeared next to him like a lifeline when his body finally responded. Joshua's most cherished mind flared into action creating a shield around the two of them protecting the men from anything unforseen, for him there was no one other than Levi he would consciously place his life in. All around them the heat and smoke of the destroyed building licked at the edges of his erected shield as the settled at what was once the ground level, below them the substructures remained intact as they had been built and would selfdestruct on their own.

"This really isn't how this was all supposed to turn out, if anything i expected to be killed ouright once the horsemen engaged me in combat while you spent your time destroying the labs below us. he said as he steadily lowered his shields, his powers spreading out around them snuffing out the nearby flames and constricting the smoke away from them. Joshua could feel the minds of the federal officials spark into his overly taxed inner eye a they quickly made their way to their location, their thoughts centered around apprehending the threat to the city. "I regret that Cronus had to die like that more so than the rest as he was my only light while working for this company, he really was different than the others Nex...he kinda loved me even if it was in his own twisted way. He wouldn't have been able to change anyways, his whole reason for existence was to be accepted and my Grandfather provided that in spades with his falshoods and forked tongue. For his sake atleast i hope he has found somewhere that's green...well we've spent enough time already and things are going to get tenser if we stay any longer."

Joshua was up and standing waiting for Nex to get to his feet when the rubble to the right of the fell away from thealready healing form of Liam, his cuts smoking away as his powers activated on their own leaving no a trace of any injury the man should have had. The sudden spotlight from the helicopter above them startled the young telekinetic into taking his gaze from the more obvious threat leavig him well open, his shield automatically flaring to life at the oncoming attack and utterly failing at preventing what happened. Liam had used the opportunity the helicopter provided him to pull the dagger strapped to his ankle out and flung it directly at Joshua's midsection, the metal coated with zero-point energy sliced through the telekinetic' shield like a hot knife through butter. "Well that's more like it wouldn't you say my good doctor?"

Liam MacArthur looked on as his grandson stared at him in shock as his life slowly left his wounded body, the dagger hit its mark true and had succeeded where countless others had failed to do. Joshua could feel his legs give out slowly as if he were sinking in water, the darkness was steadily encroaching at the edges of his vision leaving him only to wonder how Levi was going to handle the knews of his demise and if the man would forgive him. Just as his body was to hit the ground a portal flared to life under the wounded telekinetic whisking him off to places unknown and abruptly closed off, "You see just how much i hate to lose don't you? Cronus was never in any danger of this encounter just as Joshua was never in any position to undermine me by living on that forsaken island of his lovers. It's a wonder what an endless fortune and the miracle of cloning can do for a megalomaniac, now a word of caution before i go Dane..." There was no love in the once ancient man's eyes as he stared down the only man who had come close to ending his existance, it was a statement in itself that Liam addressed Dane as he was leaving no doubt that things would not end well for one of them the next time they met. "Your parlour tricks wont save you next time and they sure as hell will not be any sort of factor the next time we meet, the time for games is at an end and from this moment on you and yours will die by my hands. Run fast now...wouldn't want dear Uncle Sam to find us now would we?" With that he sank quickly into the opened portal beneath him and left the battlefield, for Joshua his mission was only jut beginning.

[atlas]

Nex smiled “well you are dealing with Mr Clarke after all, no expectations ever go right with him do they?"

Dane, who had been a spectator from the beginning felt his limbs return to him the moment Liam spoke his name “You’re a sick man! Both of you, sick and twisted. I hope he kills you, I really do.” The moment Liam vanished Dane crawled to Joshua. Rifling through his pockets he found what he needed. Slamming the ring on he held Joshuas arm as they moved spectacularly into the infirmary on Haven. “Forgive me friend, but you must stay here once more until you recover. You seem to be in quite dire circumstances already” Dane instructed the main nurse to tend to Joshua as he sat by helplessly. “ What are you? I know you can hear me, who, what are you, how could you do what you did in that tower?... I have a question for you first doc, does this ‘levi’ really actually care for Joshua? Or is it all in the mind?... I have often wondered that myself... often indeed”[/color]

THREAD END