More Meteor Showers Bring Even Stranger Powers. (O/A)

[Rikki Tikki Travi]

Shane drops the car and falls to his knees with the sudden increase in weight around him. He growls and slowly turns his head to Theonis, using his scientific mind to process what his power may be.

"That's one interesting power you have stranger. Gravity...no, the air itself around me feels weighted. You can control pressure. That's how Trinity was practically able to fly backwards just now. You created an expanding pressure bubbling between the two of us to make it seem like she was being pulled, when in fact she was actually being pushed. Yes, very interesting."

"But let's just see how good your concentration is."

Shane shove all of his fingers and thumbs into the ground below him. Shane was no longer holding back, he means to kill these two.

10 pikes burst from the ground beneath Theonis, all as large has the first one he used moments ago.  

[Nova Blancke]

Theonis's heightened reflexes kicked in. He leaped forward but knew that this was not something you could dodge simply by jumping forward. There were ten of those giant spikes that he used on them the first time. Using his power he increased distance and speed of his jump. His jump turned into flight. The downward pressure around Shane did fluctuate because of this which allowed a small movement before he corrected it.

Now that he was airborne he quickly glanced over to Annie. He needed to keep an eye on that and perhaps detonate her again if she comes to close to forming herself again. He slowly hovered behind him as he began to talk.

"And you use your body as a weapon freely changing it into whatever it is that you need. Despite the metal appearance of your blade just now it is organic. You increased your muscle mass and density in order to pick up those cars. You can probably extend your arms as whips if you need them to. These...spikes of yours are extensions of your fingers. But you'd need to retract them or leave them but ditched body parts doesn't seem like a smart move. Am I getting close?" Theonis said as his own mind worked out Shane's current state.  

[mc2]

For now, Annie remained in puddle form as she slowly gathered her body back together, noticing Theonis glance over her way she knew it was the smartest move. She was already 90 percent assembled (though it was hard to tell as she was a puddle) by this point and was planning her next move.

It would be best if she could convince them to retreat, but there was no way Trinity was going to do that. And if Trinity didn't retreat neither would Theonis. Apparently, Theonis had become attached to Trinity: how cute.

Theonis was a pest, he could easily kill her if she solidified but if she remained in liquid form he'd blast her apart again. But if Shane kept Theonis distracted long enough, Annie could attack.  

[Rikki Tikki Travi]

This guy is pretty keen. The spikes retract back into Shane the instant Theonis takes flight. Now Shane is genuinely intrigued.

"You're pretty quick on the uptake. Also, decreasing the pressure around you to lift yourself from the ground is an ingenious application of your powers. If I weren't currently glued to the ground, I'd want to shake your hand."

Shane seems entertained, but in reality he is perplexed as to how he is going to beat this guy. The stranger was quick enough to avoid his ground spikes, so that would mean increasing the density in his legs to spring at him would mean nothing. The stranger would slam him to the ground before he would have a chance to do anything. Plus there is a limit to how much Shane can adjust his musculature, and he has no idea what the limits of this guy's powers are.

Shane's eyes look over at the living puddle of liquid that was Annie. If he can do something to distract Theonis from Annie, she may be able to do something about him. Shane decides to test the waters.

"But then again, maybe I'm not stuck in the mud." Shane increases the density of his muscles without increasing the mass, and pushes himself up steadily into a standing position. He looks up at Theonis and points at him defiantly, "You wont bring me to my knees again."

In the distance the whine of sirens and flashing lights can be seen and heard. A heavy law enforcement group is heading to their position. They are coming with armored vehicles, and assault rifles.  

[Nova Blancke]

Oh man....sheer force against 10 times gravity? I can do more but..I'm not sure how much that would affect him. A steady stance and moving freely are still two different things though.

Theonis heard the sirens and rumbling of the vehicles. s**t...Daedelus or the army? Both are not good...

He still had a few tricks up his sleeve however. He could increase the effect of gravity but also...decrease it. But there were several options for him. He still did not trust that Annie puddle though. There wasn't as much movement in it as Theonis thought it would. He had thought that she would move around to gather parts of herself but she didn't. He didn't trust it.

"Thank you for your compliment but I am afraid we don't have much time left. So forgive me if I'll try" he replied.

That instant he reversed the pressure and the moment Shane was high enough he would launch him towards the Annie puddle. Two birds with one stone so to say.  

[Rikki Tikki Travi]

Shane is surprised by this sudden move. He flails his arms for a moment, trying to right himself. He continues the ruse for another second before looking right at Theonis and saying, "Just kidding."

He holds his arms and legs out. Hundreds of small pockets of biomass burst at once under incredible pressure from the side opposite of Theonis. He then tucks his legs in and wraps his arms around them, essentially turning himself into a metahuman canon ball flying at over 100mph directly at Theonis. He hopes this is fast enough that he'll either panic or wont be able to react in time to throw him into the ground.  

[mc2]

Taking advantage of Shane's antics, Annie shifts into a more human looking form, though still liquid. She focuses her energy on the sweat beading on Theonis's body from the heat, changing the salty solution to hydrochloric acid. It wasn't much liquid, but it would be enough to burn Theonis and distract him, she hoped. She would have showered Theonis in hydrochloric acid but that would have put Shane in danger too.  

[PixelMuse]

Trinity saw the puddle reforming, she tries to reason with her, unaware of what she was currently doing to Theonis, "Annie, why? Gidget trusted you to keep him out of trouble. Yet you stood by and watch as he consumed a hotel manager and killed a whole diner full of people. How many lives must be lost? Do you not value life anymore?"  

[mc2]

Annie turned her attention slightly from Theonis, still concentrating on changing his sweat into acid, and she almost laughed at Trinity's question. "Maybe if you got off your high horse you could understand what happened at the dinner," Annie snapped. "And the hotel manager was a casualty that would have happened one way or another whether I stood by and watched or not."

She sighed, "If I didn't value life don't you think Theonis would be dead by now? I'm trying not to kill any more people than necessary, but you two aren't making it easy for me." At her last statement the moisture in the air began to gather around Annie, just waiting for her to will it to attack Trinity if push came to shove.  

[Nova Blancke]

Theonis suddenly felt a burning sensation across his body. it did what Annie had hoped. It had distracted him and Shane hit him full on. He wasn't prepared for it. He could feel ribs breaking. The pain snapped him out of his surprise. Mustering up everything he could in that short time he put his hand on Shane's chest right before they hit the ground. It had to work...it had to or he would die.

They crashed into the ground with a loud sickening sound. A muffled scream was heard from him. Theonis who is not augmented in anyway would have surely died from that. But he survived. Not without injuries. He felt fractures all over his back.Theonis had managed to transfer a good amount of the force of the impact to Shane's chest. It was the best he could do. But the pain...  

[PixelMuse]

Perhaps she isn't as cold blooded as I thought. Maybe there's a reason Gidget felt she could trust her. There could be something I'm missing... "Well, I'm willing to get off of my high horse, if you are willing to educate me. He mentioned consuming a Daedalus Agent. Did he have something to do with the diner?"


"THEONIS!" he should have been able to dodge that... she remembered he was covered with sweat she glared at the puddle. " We should have been on the same team. I'm trying to prevent more lives getting lost and you say you are trying to restrain yourself from killing people." she turned away and rushes over to Theonis' side. She surrounded themselves with a dome. Her eyes were filled with concern his injuries looked bad. "Let me send you to the medics department, you are going to be okay. You were great out there okay..."  

[Rikki Tikki Travi]

Shane was pleased with the result of he and Annie's collaborative attack. What he isn't so pleased about now is the result of Theonis' ingenuity.

When the impact is transferred to Shane, it throws him off of Theonis and knocks the wind out of him. A sizable crack appears on the carapaces chest plate. Shane drops onto the pavement hard. As much as he resents his power, he has to be thankful for the hardened shell he covered himself with.

His body changes back to his regular self. He rolls over and slowly stands himself up, coughing all the while. He takes a few deep breaths and looks over at Theonis. The though of consuming the downed meta occurs to him, but so does the thought of how much of a waste that would be. Plus Trinity is standing right there.

Speaking of which, Shane turns himself to face the woman. He hears the sirens coming near and says. "I didn't want to kill the people in that diner, I didn't have a choice in the matter. If you don't let us go, then I'll be forced to defend myself from the police. More people will die than necessary. Is that what you want?"  

[mc2]

Annie sighed at Trinity's rebuke claiming that they should have been on the same side. Maybe Trinity was right, but at the same time Annie wanted to free Shane and her son. She was selfish, she knew that wanting it all. And her attack on Theonis had burned whatever bridge she might have had with Trinity. But it also gave Shane and Annie the chance to escape.

She solidified and walked over to Shane, he was going to have to consume biomass soon to make up for the injuries he made, Annie realized coldly. She felt weak being able to escape from the clash unscathed, but then again her liquid body was almost an indestructible defense.

"Trinity, you can stay here and try to fight both Shane and I, wait for the police or Daedalus show up for more casualties like Shane has said, or you can return home and nurse Theonis," Annie said her voice cold. "If you really want to know why I plan on attacking Daedalus ask Theonis: we had a nice chat before he blew me out across the parking lot."  

[PixelMuse]

When she hears Shane talk she waves her dome away. Damn it! The card again...this will be only continue to be a problem if people come to the scene with Shane. oooo Damn it! I hate it when he's right... next time I have to figure a way to keep everyone away... Carefully she picked up Theonis. "Fine...but Shane... do yourself a favor and not kill anyone until you get to Daedalus..." she looks him in the eyes with her glowing eyes, "or you'll find me again at your tail." she dropped through her shadow and emerged from a dark corner of the medical facility.  

[Nova Blancke]

He glanced over at Shane and you could see a bit of a grin on his face. He knew he had hurt him good and he also knew that if it wasn't for Annie he might have won.

Hearing her concern soothe the pain a little bit but not as much as he wanted. The Shadow Travel wasn't all the pleasant in his current state as well.

"Ahh...careful with the ribs...or back for that matter." Theonis joked as they emerged in the medical facility but you could clearly hear he was in pain.

"Sorry if I messed up your plan. Although we did get lucky that it was just them instead of the whole group huh?" He said between breaths. Just breathing seemed to hurt now but what can you expect when ribs are broken?