In Over Our Heads (tag Wither)

[evilst]

Kevin had been locked in the very small, very smelly room for… he didn’t really know how long. There was no window, no way of seeing outside at all. There was only the single, bare bulb that hung too far overhead for him to reach. It had been a long time since he’d eaten

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[polyesterman]

Kevin shrank away from the girl, his hands scrambling for purchase on the slick metal floor. He had awaken in clothing similar to surgical scrubs, with his arms, hands and feet dangerously left exposed. "I-I-I don't want to hurt you! I don't even know you...."

He shrank back at her terrified gaze. "If I take that duct tape off of your mouth, will you, um... stay away?" He reached forward, only to pause and pull back his bare hand. How can I get the tape off of her mouth without decaying her?

He shrugged off his shirt and wrapped the fabric around his hand. He carefully reached forward to the girl who was scrabbling back from him, her eyes round in panic. He worked carefully at a corner of the duct tape. The corner came free, slightly moist from the girl's mouth. He ripped the rest of the tape away and sprang back to his end of the closet.

A string of Japanese rushed from the girl's mouth, and Kevin was pretty sure that it was angry. He put his shirt back on, grimacing at the sensation of his rumbling stomach.

[polyesterman]

"Y-yes. I did. It was... easier than when I... when my dad died." He took a tentative step forward, still holding the door so it shielded Nico from view. "Where am I? Why am I here?"

[runawaywitch]

"You just stay right where you are, kid." the man said, standing up. The Colt remained trained on Kevin as he took a step down.

Nico was busy thinking hard. She'd used up most of her obvious disarming spells long ago, while trying to clean up LA with the others. She really, really needed to start making a list of things she could use.

[polyesterman]

"Yeah, okay. I'm not going anywhere. What do you guys want with me, anyways?" He racked his brain for something, anything to get both of them out of this situation.

Wait, hadn't Nico said some sort of word to trigger the staff? What if he gave her a hint, maybe a word she might not have used yet. But what would help? "Hey, hey. Don't point that gun at me, you're making me nervous." His eyes lit up with an idea, "It's not like I'm bulletproof."

[runawaywitch]

Nico thought about it, running the word through her head. And slowly, she grinned a not-nice-at-all grin. She had never used Bulletproof. They generally didn't have to deal with thugs with guns.

She held up one hand, three fingers extended, then counted down. On three, she let the spell loose. "Bulletproof!"

[polyesterman]

The man at the top of the stairs fired off two rounds in his surprise. Both bullets glanced off of Kevin as if he were a super-soldier, and he raced up the stairs.

Without leaving himself any time to second-guess, he seized the thug's throat with his bare hands. His power went into overdrive, sapping all the life from his victim. This was what his power was meant to do, when he felt the most alive.

He hated it. He tore his hands from the dry husk in front of him, and backed away. Kevin tried to focus through the tears streaming down his face. "I-- I killed him. [insert expletive here]."

((OOC: This is probably going to be the last time I write with my sister next to me. She kept throwing me curves. Like chimps dancing on my head, singing pop eighties tunes. Aieee.))

[runawaywitch]

"And he would have killed you without thinking twice." Nico said, tentatively putting a hand on Kevin's shoulder. "Sometimes you have to do terrible things in order to do the most good. Come on. We need to get a move on before anyone else shows up."

[polyesterman]

"Right." Kevin dragged his forearm across his sopping wet face and turned to look at Nico. "You're really good at the order-giving, you know that?"

He began walking cautiously down the hallway at the top of the stairs. "Are you the leader of some teen super-team or something? Like the Young Avengers, or that team in L.A.? I remember Julian talking about them at some point."

[runawaywitch]

"L.A." Nico said. "I'm sort of leader by default, after everything that happened." She followed him, still clutching the staff tightly.

The room at the top of the stairs was totally empty. There wasn't even any furnature. The one window in the room was boarded up, heavily. "I think we can get out through there," Nico announced, going over to the boarded window. She rested one hand on the boards, then pulled it back with a shocked cry as it sparked a dark red. She shook the hand back and forth, trying to get feeling back in her fingers. "Oooh-kay..." she muttered.

[polyesterman]

"What? It's just wood, right?" Kevin laid both of his hands against the boards, feeling his decaying power kick in before he snatched his hands back. "God, that burns."

As he sucked his fingers, a pinhole of wood rot began to work in the center board and spread out to a fist sized hole. Kevin looked through the impromptu peep-hole and his eyes widened at the crowd of heroes on the ground in front of the building.

"Hey, Nico. You might want to see this..."

[runawaywitch]

Nico peered through the hole, scanning the scene on the street. "Oh my god. Karolina!" She jerked back, eyes swinging over the room. "Stand back. I'm going to try something," she announced, raising the Staff of One. She wasn't sure what it was going to do, but she sure as hell hoped it would do something.

With a grunt, she drove the butt of the staff into the boards. Whatever it was that had burned her earlier crackled, reaching up and around the staff and sending Nico flying into the wall.

But now the board was cracked in half.

[polyesterman]

"NICO!" Kevin sprinted over to the girl and knelt beside her. "Whoa, you okay? Can you hear me?" He waved his hands over her face, hoping to cause some sort of reaction. "Hey, Nico, wake up!"

Unable to help her out, he then went to inspect the cracked board. He tentatively touched a finger to the crack, expecting the sharp sting he'd felt before. Instead, there was simply a mild, almost pleasant, buzz mixed in with the elation he always felt when using his powers.

"Okay, then. Let's try this," Kevin muttered to himself as he set to work in prying the board loose as it decayed around his fingers.

[runawaywitch]

Nico let out a little groan, shaking her head and trying to stop the world from spinning so crazily. Little flashes of light that she was resonably sure weren't actually there danced in front of her eyes, and God did she her head hurt like hell.

Or, more accuratley, like she had just bashed it against a wall. "Did it work?" she asked, her tone clearly that of someone slightly dazed.

[polyesterman]

Kevin grunted as he finally managed to pry the board loose. "Yeah, kinda. It still feels weird, like when you shake hands with someone wearing a buzzer, but the wood's decaying the normal way now."

He dusted his hands off on his pants as he turned to look at Nico. "You're okay, then? We need to get out of here. Can you make some sort of cushion thing, or fly?"

[runawaywitch]

Nico peered out the hole. It didn't look like anyone had noticed them yet. "It's not much of a drop," she said. "I think we can make it without magical assistance."

((OOC: Next post here, please.))

[polyesterman]

"Okay." Kevin placed one hand on the window frame. "Let's jump together, then. One, two...."

((OOC: Okay. Here we go...))