Concrete Jungle [Vik and DarknessEclipsed]

[Viktoff Samson]

A thin-framed and slightly above average height male made his way through various halls and up stares as he evaded the pursuit of two uniformed cops. He wore a bland trench coat that didn't like to cling to his form, and a peculiar beige scarf that easily covered his face from the top of his nose down, shielding his neck and such. Although the burly big white cop began to get raspy, the evading male and a shorter black male cop continued their way upward through the building at top speed without complaint. The working folk of what seemed to be the office space of the building didn't know what to do was the platinum blond haired felon made his way around them and darted over any sort of obstacles to get to the next set of stairs.

Peculiarly enough, nobody took an elevator up to try and catch him on his way up. By this point, the whimsically dressed runner thought he had only been pursued by these two cops behind him. Though it wasn't unheard of for them to call in back up, he didn't figure that they'd have any idea of what he was so there wouldn't be any reason to believe that they couldn't handle this on their own. Of course, this assessment was incorrect. Though the next set of pursuers weren't local police, they definitely stood out in their jet black suits with crisp white dress shirts showing around their ties.

Among the office people littering the cubicle area the scarfed runner entered just after he got up the steps, these black suited men caught his eye. Were they the feds? Or worse. He didn't spy any handguns on them and they didn't seem to have any knives. And yet, they exuded an aura of authority and force anyway.

Recognizing his position now, the cops coming up the stairs and the mysterious men standing before him, the Felon reached for his scarf as he began to make his way across the room. Just before the closest pursuant could reach him, he unfurled the scarf right into the face and ducked for the next door leading out of the cubicle room. Now with his face fully revealed he let his sharp smile drop as his almost glowing emerald eyes swept from left to right to try to find his way to the roof.

To his delight, the man falling back with the rough scarf covering his face managed to slow down his friends, giving the Emerald eyed runner time to fly up a final set of stairs and kick open a door leading to the roof. The sky was dark blue as the swelling storm clouds seemed to only grow darker and more ominous without shedding a drop. The sounds of rumbling could be taken as threats of potential lightning, but it wasn't always certain. As the runner came to a stop, peering down the giant building's top to spy upon the city's busy body population, he reflected on how refreshing it was that they were probably about to be down poured on and they continued their march anyway. Almost like ants. Sophisticated, deep-thinking, civilized ants.

"Stop, Micheal!" One of the men in black suits shouted as he charged onto the roof but didn't charge him. It was peculiar how this stranger knew his name, but Micheal didn't immediately turn to face the man behind him either. Just a single emerald orb peaked over Micheal's shoulder to spy on the singular male as the three other pursuers entered onto the rooftop and one of the cops pulled his gun.

The chunkier male shook as he aimed down his small handgun barrel. "Freeze right there, don't you move!" He didn't seem like he was prepared to pull the trigger, but it wouldn't appear to be any reason to believe the gun wasn't loaded either.

After a pause, no one opted to speak up and Micheal was growing rather bored with this whole mess. Effectively, these men were just wasting his time anyway. Those that he works for need him to complete a certain objective before he can leave the city behind for his warm hotel bed on the country side. That alone was incentive enough, but apparently this objective involved a woman. Being on the run and such an odd ball himself, Micheal didn't have much time to converse with members of the fairer sex. Whether this was a good or bad thing had yet to be seen.

"Just give up. You won't be catching me." Though Micheal kept his smile, he did sound drained. "Bye bye, now." He waved before he leaped right off the edge and began to fall with such great speed that the winds drowned out the protests of the men that were previously just a few meters behind him. Just as they caught up to the edge to peer down, the men would find the Micheal had vanished.

---

Ditching the trench coat, Micheal's fresh blue jeans and white t-shirt were allowed to bask in the moonlight as he continued to make his way to the rendezvous point. Black sneakers paired with this low-profile look well as his Platinum blond hair washed over his forehead just over his eyes. The person he was meeting up with for the more detailed physical documents on this objective was a total stranger.

A girl covered head to toe in some sort of cloth mudman Halloween costume simply handed Micheal a binder as they both had small cups of coffee at some 24/7 breakfast dinner. Her voice as a little distorted, but she was clearly quite young. "Your mission objective is to contact the woman whose identifying and background check information is included in that binder." To Micheal, this girl speaking like this as she barely sounded old enough to be in middle school-Well, it was peculiar.

"I understand. I'll get this done. Tell Mr. Han that I'll be needing more room to negotiate living expenses." Micheal tried to play into the business talk this young one was originally giving to him. He sipped his coffee as he mentally reflected on how easily he glossed over money for condoms and clothes under the umbrella of 'living expenses'.

The girl stood up from her chair, leaving her coffee behind. It was at about this point that Micheal actually realized he was allowing such a young person to drink coffee. This reminded him of how his mother would tell him to not drink coffee at that age. "Tell him yourself." The girl turned and walked out of the dinner. Somehow, this singular girl who walked around completely concealed by some silly cartoon character costume managed to make Micheal narrow his eyes in a brief moment of contempt when a fully grown adult wielding a handgun failed to do so.

 

[DarknessEclipsed]

The binder contained fairly vague information about his target, the first paragraph basically summing up that they knew very little on her as she seemed to be extremely evasive. Inside were a few quick shots of her, ducking behind a tree, or sitting with her back to the camera, or even a fairly 'risque' silhouette of her body by a waterfall. The last image seemed out of place though, sure the city had a nice little central park area, but all it had was a bunch of trees and a pond, where was she that there was a full waterfall in the picture? One thought came to mind, a local nature reserve for endangered species, they allowed tours inside of secure vans as you went through a huge forest, to driving up small mountains, the landscape there was wide and varied to accommodate all sorts of different animals...was it possible the girl was living within the confines of this reserve? It would be a safe place, assuming she could stay hidden in the acres and acres of land then she would be out of view from everyone...but what of the animals...wouldn't she be invading on their space?

Reading on there was what little info they had on her after months of tracking:

**START REPORT**
Name: She goes by Tia, though we doubt that is her real name.
Gender: Female, most definitely
Age: Unsure, appears young, but could be older, most likely younger 20s
Appearance: We believe she has a light brown or tanned skin color, maybe 5'4" or shorter, piercing bright big green eyes [unnatural, contact?] Not very chesty, but feminine in shape. Lithe with a slightly toned body, not muscular though.

Notes: We have observed her from great distance, though we believe she may know of our presence as she seems to find ways to time our shots to force us to miss a shot or take a 'bad' picture. We only have descriptions on her based on personal encounters where agents have gone undercover to ask a question or pose as a street urchin. She seems like a warm personality and well natured, though distant from society as she tends to avoid cars and technology. Maybe she is a hermit? Her current powers are unkown though we believe either invisibility or teleportation are among them as we lose her far to often, though we still question how she knows we are there...or is it just perfect luck?

**END REPORT**

~~~~

Tia sighed as she sat on the park bench, she wore a small simple school girl like shirt, coming just above her knees, with soft white socks that came up to meet the edge of the skirt. She had simple black shoes on and a nice button up shirt and a light jacket to cover her top, and her smaller B-cup chest, and her form was well figured, slender but not quiet hourglass. She seemed to simply listen to the wind through the trees and the ripples of the fish in the pond, a peaceful and easy night for her.

 

[Viktoff Samson]

Pondering over the folder wasn't a comfortable moment for Micheal. Sure, he can cancel out invasive physical forces that would threaten to do him harm, but he wasn't immune to fear and discomfort. Did they have a binder full of their information on him? Probably. Was it as creepy to peer into his own as it was to observe the guess work they did on Tia's? Most likely. After the awakening of his ability, bullets hurt less than uncertainty did for Micheal. These people were kind to him, paid his way across the country and kept him mostly safe from the government's authority. Would they do that for Tia? He couldn't say. Why would she trust him anyway? She's seemingly making it by on her own, she can clearly demonstrate some sort of power unlike Micheal's. If she caught wind of him working for these people, Micheal wouldn't expect her to sit around and continue chatting. After all, she owes him nothing.

Closing the binder with a sigh, Micheal sipped from his mug in silence. He pondered how much more interesting the ability to disappear would be. Especially when he was younger, when he wanted to vanish from reality. Instead he was granted a totally different power by some force unknown. The peak of it's applications have yet to be tested, but complete immunity to bullets punching and the final crunch from a long fall was supposed to be super cool. And yet, if he were surrounded by the men who were hunting him down, he could just be handcuffed and tossed into a patrol car. Not that it would be running. Still, if they figured out that it was him, tossed him into a body bag and then into the car, then he'd be helpless. So much for being immune to bullets.

In any case, there was a real possibility that the people he worked for just wanted this Tia person to work for them too. Maybe she could make more than one person disappear at a time? If that were the case, she'd make the ideal partner in crime. He could take bullets, cars, falls, and she could whisk them away when the job was done. But, that's too many Ifs for Micheal's liking. While he didn't seem it, Micheal wasn't always good at something. A long life of being someone else's excuse has crippled his ability to take risks. This was a big risk. What if this Tia person could make him disappear forever?

---

With the binder securely stashed away in a designated locker across the city, Micheal began to survey the city as closely as he could while trying to avoid making a scene even if he was dressed normally and most likely blended in well. As he quickly noted how ridiculous it was to try and spot her in a whole crowd of people, Micheal made a change of plans and worked his way from park bench to park bench. Hours passed and a tingle of stress would start to build across the bottom of his feet. His eyes drooped a little as his platinum blond bangs hung down to his nose. And then he would spot her. This was the Tia who the men and women he worked for wanted him to negotiate with. And yet, he didn't feel a swelling of regret or uncertainty in his gut. Without making an awkward move to get her attention, or starring her down, Micheal simply sat on the open spot on the bench and watched the fish. He didn't say or do anything else.

 

[DarknessEclipsed]

She remained silent as she approached and sat beside her, though something about him felt off, he had a strange Aura to him. Though for the moments she remained quiet, letting the howl of the wind through the trees be the only thing that kept them from being in complete awkward silence, though she knew she would have to speak up soon. After a while she sighed, "What do you want?" she asked simply, not really in the mood for conversation, just wanting to get this little situation out of the way, all these people where the same, creeps. They saw her as an easy target, some soft little pushover who they could use and abuse however they pleased. She always tried to remain a pacifist, but this world was not nice, and she learned that she couldn't always run...after one incident she decided she sometimes had to use her powers...but vowed to try her best not to kill.

 

[Viktoff Samson]

To her sigh and comment, Micheal would smile and let his emerald orbs turn to observe her own green eyes. "You have it rough out here, hmm?" His voice wasn't refined, it wasn't like he was holding some sort of higher education over her, but he certainly didn't shy away either. His body language was purely non-conflict, which was misleading as he was always fully capable of voiding any power behind a slap or a punch so he was technically always using his power. Not that it was visible or posed any threat to her. "It's strange how you can try to escape and distance yourself from others and yet people keep coming after you, bothering you." He tried to sympathize even if he genuinely enjoyed the cat and mouse games with the regular human authorities. His eyes left her's as he examined the nearby trees. "I'm not here to disrupt the peace. Nobody came with me. It's just you and me, here. If it's okay, if you have the time, I just want to ask some questions."

 

[DarknessEclipsed]

She sighed, "Questions? Fine, make them quick, and i cannot promise I'll want to answer any of them," she said simply back to him, still unsure of the stranger. She was always wry, the world was strange and dark, and she knew others like here were out there...she had encounter one other, a man capable of water manipulation. She had helped him escape the area by bringing them to river that he could merge with and flow off to new lands, never to be seen again. That was fine by her, although he was a nice guy, he was a bit too clingy and needy, always wanting to see where she went or what she was up to...and way to curious of her powers. Was this man also a mutant like herself? The questions he asked may tell her the truth...for now she could only hope not.

 

[Viktoff Samson]

More sighing, not that Micheal was going to stress over that. It was strange that she could be gifted with some sort of incredible ability and she still seemed to be having such a bad time. Sure, granted the way her information was written in that binder was evidence enough that she was constantly pursued. And that would suck. But, clearly she is more than capable of evading capture. So why was she such a debby downer? Perhaps it hurt to use her ability? Micheal wasn't exactly acutely aware of any specific ability that hurt it's user in the process, but it wouldn't surprise him either. "You seem to be in a rush." He spoke softly now, mulling over different things he can say and weighing the risk that he'd come across as disingenuous if he uttered them. "Alright, question one. Do you have anyone?" He wouldn't hold a smile now that he was being serious, and his voice reflected this. "It's human to need someone to confide in, someone to share time with. We might be different than most humans, but it doesn't mean we've gone and lost the basics."

 

[DarknessEclipsed]

She groaned, "Great another freak," she said as she stood, "No, I don't have another human or freak to 'confide in' or whatever," she said firmly, hand on her hip as she turned to him, "But, I do have 'someone' who is always there for me, one who won't betray me, someone who doesn't pester me about my business," she said and held out an arm in a 'look around' motion, "Nature, Mother Nature is all I need, her and her beings are the only ones I can trust and be myself around, the only ones who do not judge me for my freakish nature," she narrowed her eyes, "The only one who doesn't have some other motive for wanting to seek me out," she said, implying she wanted to know why he was really here, not believing small talk or petty questions to be his real motive.

 

[Viktoff Samson]

"Motive, eh?" He mumbled to himself, remaining in his seated position as he was acutely aware that following her up would imply something. It would be easy for a someone who was quick to judge to take his own upward stance to be a sign that he was preparing for a grab at her or to use some sort of his 'Freak' ability. "Part of me wonders about who must have betrayed you to make you feel that way. The other part just wants me to go back to gambling or petty theft just to buy another pack of cigarettes." He explained how he felt about what she said before getting to the clearly defined tone that sought an answer from him. This patience was a sign of something, though just like if he were to stand with her, what it was a sign of could be conceived differently. "A group of..." He started with a smile and almost looked her. Before his eyes would catch her own, he looked down and away before muttering her word. "Freaks. A group of people who have an awful lot in common with you and me have done an awful lot to give me my life back." He started again and this time he didn't have an unnatural pause."They've been pestering you, I know. I assume this cold outer shell is a direct response to us not leaving you alone. They normally ask me to do things, usually pertaining to my abilities. This, however, puzzles me."

 

[DarknessEclipsed]

She rolled her eyes, "I;m happy with my life now, aside from when I have to go into this shithole of a city in order to get various needed items, such as food," she said simply to him and looked up to the street beyond him, "Now if you know that your group is following me, and that I am doing my best to avoid you without changing my life style, then why did you come to me?" she said as she looked back, "It's because your group cares about something more then just our safety, they are gathering us freaks for something bad and dangerous, otherwise they would leave those who are happy, those who have a simply and easy life, those who have no interest in this bigger picture," she crossed her arms, "So I decline joining or coming with you," she answers firmly.