"Alyssa, are you okay?" came Millicent's voice as she struggled against the airbag that had her pinned to her seat.
It was mere seconds before she was able to scoot her seat back to get breathing room, mere seconds that you squandered staring at the advancing men.
With her range of motion restored Millicent reached to push the airbag against your chest down, a hiss of disgust escaping her lips as she saw the group responsible for this.
They were nobody that you recognised, yet there was something about Millicent's reaction that made it clear that she knew exactly who they were.
"I'm... I'm okay. Can we... Can we go?"
"This car has a stupid safety feature, if the airbags deploy it immobilises it. Keep your head down, I'll... I'll go talk with our... Our friends."
"Who are they?"
"Nobody you need to worry about. Keep your head down."
"That doesn't fill me with confidence."
It was with those words that Millicent struggled out of the driver side door, visibly holding her ribs as she stumbled about the bonnet of her car towards the group that'd hit you both.
She was hurt, she was without the benefit of powers such as your own and she was going to deal with those men without you?
They'd already made it clear by hitting you both that they had no particular regard for your safety, so why were you meekly accepting this insanity on her part?
"What the hell do you idiots think you're doing?" Millicent yelled at the group as they impassively fanned out before her.
Four men, one of her.
One of them, a larger man than the others stepped forwards as he stared down at Millicent - or so you assumed, his sunglasses made it hard for you to tell.
"Agent Cross, you are incapable of assuring the safety of the subject, you shall relinquish them into our custody," came an equally impassive voice.
"Who do you work for, who are you people?" Millicent spat in response, the vitriol in her voice evident as she allowed her hand to move down from her injured ribs.
"That is of no concern. You shall-"
"Without proper authorisation your request is to be treated as an act of deception. The subject has a name and she isn't going with you unless you can present me with the correct forms and identification to warrant such a transfer of custody."
There was a moments silence as the lead figure maintained their position with unwavering calm.
Yet not one of the group moved a muscle.
They had no intent of presenting whatever credentials they possessed.
"This is your final chance to transfer custody of the subject to us peacefully, Agent Cross, failure to comply with be met by escalating this situation to the use of deadly force."
"Is this really how we're going to do things, you're going to threaten me?" Millicent huffed as she shifted her weight from one foot to the other. "You know I'm a government agent, but you haven't presented any form of identification or authorisation of your own. How about you identify yourselves, then I'll decide based upon that."
"That was your final warning," came the mans impassive response as his hand darted forward, the impact of his palm against Millicent's forehead sending the woman tumbling to the ground.
You could only watch in horror as the foremost man reached into his jacket to draw a firearm, a handgun that he levelled with Millicent before pulling the trigger several times.
The crack of each discharged round was met by Millicent's form shuddering as red patches seeped into the white of her blouse.
Then silence.
Silence as the man stood over her twitching form before he levelled his gaze with you.
"Alyssa Smith, you will exit the vehicle and offer your unconditional co-operation," came the mans words as he stepped over Millicent's body, as he advanced upon the car with his weapon still drawn.
He'd just executed the nearest you had to a friend in this place in cold blood and... And...
He expected you to simply co-operate when all Millicent had done to oppose him was question who he was?
No, you didn't know who these people were, you couldn't simply go with them peacefully if this was the way they operated.
They could be anyone from government agents to spies and...
And...
Oh god, this was actually happening, they'd murdered her and...
You had to get away from them, you had to remain in control, you had to avoid using any power if you could help it.
Your power was too exaustive and unpredictable, it'd simply make you an easy target for these people if you couldn't fight back against them.
You had to...
You had to run, you had to get away.
It was with that you flung the door open, slid from the seat you were in and started to sprint away from these people - you knew that if they shot you, that you would recover.
Probably.
You weren't certain, but you were going to put your faith in yourself right now to recover if they were crazy enough to simply-
Crack.
The sound of the gun discharging followed once more as you felt a burning warmth in the back of your thigh, a burning warmth that blossomed into pain as you stumbled.
Your leg had been hit, but adrenaline was telling you that you could keep moving.
Fight or flight.
You'd chosen flight, as you couldn't fight.
Crack.
Another bullet struck you as you stumbled once more - this time falling as the pain in your leg became unbearable. You'd been shot twice in the back of the same leg as you attempted to run and...
You could see the fabric turning dark as blood rapidly soaked into it, you could see blood trailing over the paving as you dragged your now useless leg as you made a futile effort to crawl away.
Crack.
A third shot had you finally scream as you felt your other leg get hit, the agonising pain telling you that there was no escape, that these people didn't care in the slightest for bringing you in to whomever was in charge unmaimed.
"S-so m-m-mu-much for... Ssssafety," came a hiss from behind the group, prompting them to turn towards the prome form of Millicent as she... Laughed.
That choking laughter was followed by her form struggling to its feet as it finally became apparent just how horrific her injuries had been.
No, she couldn't have survived that, she'd been shot in the chest multiple times and twice in the head, and yet...
"I g-gave y-y-y-you a ch-chance to identf-f-fy yoursel-self," she gurgled as she lurched forwards. "M-man, why-why'd you ha-have to sh-shoo-shoot me. N-now I n-need a new b-body," she continued as several more rounds struck her, causing her to recoil more from the impact than anything else.
As the groups attention turned towards the... The cadavar that had once been what you could almost have called your friend, you turned to sit upright, to crawl backwards until your back was pressed against the first wall you came across.
Blood painted the paving where you passed over it, blood, that shone where the sun caught it in a manner that was almost beautiful.
You were getting light headed, but at least the pain was fading.
You weren't certain this was a good thing.
The steady percussive crack of the mens weapons discharing gave way to screams as Millicent's advance halted - she hadn't been subdued, no, what happened next was the unveiling of something far worse than some body that had risen from the dead.
Her skin peeled away as something else, something slender, vaguely human in appearance and faceless stepped from within her.
The woman you knew simply collapsed in a pile of discarded flesh and clothes while this faceless thing leapt forwards.
The first of the four men fell as the thing vaulted towards it, each bullet that struck it seemingly doing nothing to hinder it as it leapt atop the prone man and with a sickening slurp, pushed its spindly fingers between the mans ribs.
His screams ceased as abruptly as they started as his form convulsed, as the thing lifted him to his feet and turned him to face the other three.
Three, who now stood there with their guns levelled with this thing, uncertain over just what they were to do.
Crack, crack, crack.
The ensnared man's fire arm went off three times in quick succession.
Three bodies hit the floor.
The thing that held the man shifted to embrace him from behind as it seemed to sink into him, leaving the man stood there convulsing for a few moments before he took a deep breath, took hold of his head and cracked his neck audiably. "Ah... Aly... Alyssa. Are you... Oh, you're hurt."
The words that came from this man seemed clumbsy at first as he struggled for a moment to take a few graceless steps towards you.
"I know you... You will want to-" the man paused to breathe. "Sorry, you'll want answers, but right now we need to stop you bleeding out," came the mans words as he knelt beside you, no evidence over what had happened bar several small puncture wounds visible where the thing had plunged its fingers between this mans ribs.
"Am... Am I dreaming?" you responded in a dull manner, pinching at your face as you did so. Your face felt numb, but you still hurt a lot. It couldn't be a dream, could it?
"I wish. Unfasten your clothes and roll over."
"Not until-"
"Do you want to bleed out?"
"Who are you?"
"Millicent, I know it's a lot to take in, but I need you to trust me," came the mans words as he nudged you over, pausing as he tore the sleeves from his shirt. "I'll bind your legs, stop the flow of blood as best I can. If the body doesn't deal with the bullets then they can be removed later, but right now-"
"What are you?"
"Agent Millicent Cross of-"
"No, what. What are you."
"That's unimportant. You're losing colour fast Alyssa," came the mans response as he started to bind your legs tightly - several strips wound above your legs while several more were used to pad over the wounds you had taken.
"No, tell me, or god help me I'll scream. Then i'll lash out at you with my powers and tell the Guardians when they come looking what I saw."
"Do you always have to be so awkward, Alyssa?" came the mans voice as he sighed, one bloodied hand placed against his face as he shook his head. "I'm a skin walker, now stop struggling and let me apply pressure until your regenerative ability kicks in."
"You're a..." that term was familiar, it was something that Millicent had said had been spotted at the supermarket when you first arrived. "Wait... If they sent a Guardian for them, why don't-"
"I'm actually registered and accounted for, can we talk about this later?"
"No, it ca-"
"Alyssa, my head is spinning, it's hard enough for me to focus on the task at hand."
You fell silent, this entire situation was weird.
Millicent was suddenly in the body of one of the people that'd attacked you and you were laying here with her... him?
With them trying to slow your bleeding.
"So, um," you started after a few minutes silence, as you found focusing on anything but the pain in your legs to become impossible. "What happens now?"
"Well, I have to re-register myself with people, get all my stuff updated, we need to get back to the agency... Ugh, I don't want to be stuck in a male body, but they'll keep me in it until they're sure I've learned everything I can from their memories."
"You can... You can do that?"
"I don't really want to talk about it,"
"But-"
"Hey, how about we talk about your reproductive habits instead, wouldn't that make for a great and totally non-personal topic?"
"Okay, I get it. It's personal."
"Thank you."
"Just don't perv."
"Alyssa, you have no ass, if I swung that way you still wouldn't be my type."
"Ouch."
"This is going to be so weird," Millicent mumbled as the pressure on your legs was slowly reduced. "Okay, it looks like you're healing, so we'll give it a minute more, then we'll... Steal their car I guess and... And... Shit, I don't know. Do you know how to drive?"
"No, I haven't learned how yet."
"Great. Okay, we'll be here until we can be picked up. You can't drive and I'm not fit to drive."
Millicent slumped down beside you as those strips of cloth were removed from your legs, pausing only briefly to ensure you were no longer bleeding.
"Okay, you can pull your jeans back up, the wounds have closed now," came his... her? words.
You complied, pulling the now ruined garment back up as you glanced down at the amount of blood that had soaked into it.
"Still tender. Thanks though. I..." you paused to rub the back of your legs. "I think... I think I'll be fine. It's hard to tell, i've never been shot before so I don't know if I'll be stuck with bullets in my legs."
"It'll be checked out later. You just... Sit there a moment. I'll call people and get things seen to."
Sitting here was good, it meant you wouldn't get into trouble.
As you sat there wallowing in self pity you figured it was better to reflect over what you'd learned about yourself recently.
You'd seen that you were able to overcome some of your more cowardly timid nature - this was good.
But you were allowing this, as much fun as it was, to go a little more to your head than you should - this was bad.
You'd strike a balance though, you'd find a comfortable groove and you'd ride it until you could reach out without endangering others.
Was there anything else you needed to remain mindful of or do, though?
Air Speciality (Choose one)
...Upon reflection you've realised you'd be a persuasive talker as you've come to understand the way your bodylanguage and your words interact better.
...You're certain you can apply an educated insight into more situations, you've a whole load of skills learned from all over the place that you can translate better to the real world.
...You're a fast learner, plain and simple. While others of equal intellect are still taking things in, you're already two steps ahead.
...You've seen a lot of deception the past few days and you yourself know that a skilled deceiver just needs apply the right body language to hide their motives better.
...Something Else?
Earth Speciality (Choose one)
...You may not be tough, but you're better at resisting toxinsthan most - alcohol, pollution, you name it, you weather it as well as a more robust person.
...You may not be one for the outdoors, but you handle resisting the elements better than some. Where others become miserable or even sick, you're still singing, singing in the rain.
...You've always been thick skinned, tougher than you look. It's a mixture of pain tolerance and being physically stubborn that lets you take a little more punishment.
...While you may not be capable of taking particularly much more punishment than most, you're much more adapt at resisting pain - where others would pass out, you're still gritting your teeth.
...Something Else?
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I'd started this after flipping a coin to decide what direction to lean more in, sorry!
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Topic: I told them I could be anything... (Read 27223 times)