VIII-Back In Black (Open)

[Adrian Kilvayne]

Back in black, I hit the sack
It's been too long I'm glad to be back
Yes, I'm let loose, From the noose
That's kept me hanging about

Adrian strolled into the joint, with a smug confidence that came with knowing he should be stuck in a padded cell, or behind bars...or in a dark dungeon somewhere in Cuba or Somalia. But he had slipped through the cracks- mostly due to the chaos caused by the sudden return of special abilities that had been assumed lost forever. The Jung Facility was rather in upheaval that day, he had to admit. Nonetheless, he was a free man. And as such, he needed to have some fun. So he had donned a black suit, a black trenchcoat, and a black fedora, for a night on the town. Vegas, a place he had fallen in love with working for Kiros Monroe. Now there was no Kiros, as far as everyone was concerned. No Kiros, no Rogue Society, no big damn plans. Well...he could make up for the last one. It would take time, and resources. And people. But not tonight. Tonight was just for fun. Tonight was about letting the world he wasn't done with them yet. Not by a damn long shot.

He strode past the valet, and the coat check girl. They looked rather offended. He paid them no heed. He scanned the room, and spotted some security personnel. They were more consequential. He smiled, and reached into his coat, drawing forth a magnificent submachine gun. He took out the security grunts first. It was standard operating procedure for him, when he was going to commit a heist, after all. Or general mayhem. Which is what this night was all about. He watched as the people scurried about in terror, ducking behind whatever passed for shelter. There was no shelter, if he wanted to just kill a bunch people. They should have known that by now...

He stopped firing his gun, and surveyed the current situation. Police would have been called, no doubt. Hell, he hoped they would be. Just an excuse to really let loose with his abilities. More than that, he hoped some one from the old days would be around. He could only hope to meet an old ally or enemy here. That would surely spice things up. He smiled, excited at all the possibilities before him.


He was not alone, tonight. He had dug up some local thugs to give him a hand or three. They followed behind him, now that they were in no danger. Adrian knew they had no abilities, so they would have been sitting ducks for the security. They would be sitting ducks for heroes and cops, anyway. No matter...more of the take for him that way. Not that he cared about the take. This was all about having fun on a Saturday night.

"Alright everyone," Adrian announced to the room, "Just give my friends all your money, jewelry, chips, and other valuables and no harm to come to anyone else, m'kay? I do hope we understand each on this one..."

[Micah Walker]

Mike Lane
Las Vegas, NV

Mike always seemed to find himself in the most strangely odd predicaments in his life. He should be back in New York right now, celebrating the end of another year of college. But no. He was here in Vegas, keeping an eye on the ex-rogue Adrian Kilvayne. He really didn’t need to be doing this. The Rogue Society fell just like The RSF and Resistance ever since that epic battle in Washington. Now that Adrian wasn’t a Rogue anymore, the Watchers didn’t really worry about them as much. But for whatever reason, Mike still felt like Adrian needed to be watched. He knew he was going to get himself into trouble eventually and get himself either killed or taken in by the Company. So he was here to make sure he didn’t do anything too stupid.

Why did he even care, really? He wasn’t even sure how to answer that.

So, here he was in Vegas. A place he didn’t think he’d step foot in again anytime soon, but here he was. He kept an eye on Adrian from afar. Luckily his powers made it easy for him to spy on anyone he wanted, really. But now he found himself at a casino. What was it with this guy and casinos? He was always going to one! He reminded him a lot like his brother, Derek. Evil tendencies and all.

He didn’t want to risk Adrian seeing where Mike was and that he was around. So, after spotting the villain with a couple of thugs, heading into the casino, he knew exactly what to do. He went into the bathroom casually and phased down unto the ground until he reached the basement. He walked forward, trying to calculate where the casino would be above him until he looked around to make sure nobody was coming. That’s when the elevator doors started to chime, somebody was coming down. He rolled his eyes and levitate off the ground and into the ceiling above until he phased right up into the casino where Adrian and his thugs were trying to cause a stick up.

Perfect timing.

Mike crossed his arms and gave Adrian a look. “Really, Adrian? Robbing a casino? You’re just asking to put away.” He stated, looking over at the thugs. “Where’d you pick these guys up, the back alley at McDonalds?” He chuckled, shaking his head. Looking around at all the frightened people and he simply took a deep breath. He was ready to phase through any bullets that might come his way.

“Adrian, listen. You don’t want to do this. Let me just phase you out of here because you cause some actual damage.” He tried to reason with him. He knew Adrian wasn’t just going to try to kill him. After all, they had a seeming weird hero/villain relationship. They tried to kill each other and then bonded online in that chatroom and Mike would never admit this, but he found Adrian to be extremely attractive. He really didn’t know why he cared about him, like at all. He was a villain after all. But he didn’t want Adrian to have to get locked up and he didn’t want anyone to get hurt. “Come on, let’s just get out of here.. before the cops show up.” He said, taking a step closer to the villain.

Tag: Adrian
Mood: Slightly annoyed at my mom
Words: Who even cares!

[/justify]

[Adrian Kilvayne]

I've been looking at the sky and
It's gettin' me high
Forget the hearse 'cause I never die
I got nine lives, Cat's eyes
Cruisin' every woman, never wonderin' why

“Really, Adrian? Robbing a casino? You’re just asking to be put away.”

Mike Lane was the one who had been following him, as it turned out. He thought the young stranger looked familiar. It had been too long since he had seen that face, he couldn't be sure. But the familiarity of the kid's tone gave him away, for sure. It was tragic and somewhat laughable that they should keep meeting like this. He really would be better served seeing things Adrian's way, after all.

"They can't catch me unless I want to be caught," Adrian stated, in a calm, matter-of-fact way. He had no reason to go back to any sort of containment or detainment, so he would use all his power to avoid it. Until such a time as it benefited his agenda to let them take him in. He sure as Hell wasn't about to let the Company grab him. Mike Lane was one of those Watchers, and Adrian had unfinished business with them. They had nearly been under Kiros' thumb, and Adrian figured they could be subjugated easily enough. Maybe he was wrong, but it would be fun to find out.


"Those guys are some of my old crew," Adrian said, " Used them for odd jobs, when heavy firepower wasn't needed so much as dudes with guns. Like today."

Adrian appeared to muse for a bit, "Now someone like you, could be an asset."


“Adrian, listen. You don’t want to do this. Let me just phase you out of here before you cause some actual damage.”


"Damage is done, money isn't the point," Adrian smiled, "I've had my fun, I suppose."

He pointed his weapon at the petty crooks, and gunned them each down, one by one. He didn't want to listen to them bitch about walking away empty handed. This was never about money for Adrian. It was about drawing some attention to himself. Getting the word out. He was back, and he was here to stay. He considered Mike's offer, and thought maybe he should acquiesce. All the easier to get inside the hero's head if he was in a venue not swarming with police...


“Come on, let’s just get out of here.. before the cops show up.”

"Sure, maybe we can talk, in private?" He said, with a wicked grin on his face.

[Frank Rook]

My sixteen, locked and loaded, all fear has been avoided
You say the words and my weapon is drawn
This one could be my last time, some people call it war crime
I may be staring at a lethal sight to die

Frank tapped his fingers on the steering wheel, reading the licence plate of the car in front of him for the eighth time in the past ten minutes. He needed a new route to the office… Sure, the strip was the straightest line. And it wasn’t all that busy during the day. But at night? It was essentially a big ass parking lot. He past the time with the MP3 player he’d had his daughter set up for him. Plugged into the radio of the car and everything. He remembered when having a cassette player in the car made you the coolest guy in high school. God he felt old…

Reaching into the pocket of his jacket that sat on the passenger seat, he grabbed the pack of cigarettes from the breast pocket and shook one loose. Grabbing it with his teeth, he fought to get to the Zippo in his right pocket. Goddamn modern cars and their lack of a cigarette lighter…

Rolling down his window to let the smoke out, he drummed his fingers on the steering wheel some more as the song went on. He refused to sing along, but he did find himself drumming his fingers more animatedly, in tune with the drummer. He watched the car in front of him pull forward a few feet and was about to follow when a sound caught his ear.

It made the hair on the back of his neck stand up, and for a moment he felt hot. Felt like a desert at high noon. The inside of his Charger looked a lot like the inside of an HMMWV. He closed his eyes for a second, took a breath, and opened them again. Everything was back to normal, but he knew he hadn’t imagined the trigger.

Taking advantage of the space in front of him, he spun the wheel and gunned it into the other lane. People slammed on their breaks as he cut across the opposing lanes, and into the entrance plaza of the casino he’d heard the gunshots come from. He saw people running away, and knew he hadn’t imagined it. Good thing. That would have been a hell of a ticket.

Reaching to his belt, he unclipped his badge and pulled the small chain from its hiding place in a flap of the leather case. He put it around his neck and got out, going right to the trunk. Out came the shotgun, a Mossberg 590. Next, the plate carrier. The plates were just for show, for Frank, but it created plausible deniability in the event that he was shot. No one really questioned how you could survive a couple shots to the chest if you were wearing a ‘bulletproof vest’. He slipped it on, synched it down, and pulled the badge over to hang over it. The badge wasn’t for show anymore, but people tended not to freak out when one of the guys with a gun also had a badge.

”Someone call 911, get police and ambulances here now.” He said to several people who were not quite scared enough to run away. He saw cell phones out almost instantly, no one questioning why he didn’t call anything in on a radio he should have in the car.

Slinging the gun and making his way inside, he heard a second string of gunshots and double timed it. He didn’t have to go far. The scene in front of him was fairly definitive. Bodies on ground. Some motionless, some not, all bleeding. Guy in middle of carnage, MP5 in hand. ‘Nother guy, staring down bad guy. Definitive.

”On the ground, now!” Frank said. One warning, and three seconds to comply before the first load of buckshot gave Mr. Bad Guy a very bad day.

[Micah Walker]

Mike Lane
Las Vegas, NV

"They can't catch me unless I want to be caught," Mike simply rolled his eyes. Adrian was really just asking for trouble, it’s like he wanted to put up a fight. Was he on some kind of suicide mission or a power trip? Who knew, it was Adrian Kilvayne anymore. Nobody really knew what was going on in that man’s head. All anyone knew is that it was never really anything good. “Never said by who, Adrian. Let’s face it, if the Strike Force was still around or the Company came at you instead, you’d actually have a fight on your hands.” He explained, giving Adrian a rather obvious expression.

He thought he was bulletproof. But not even Mike was with his power. Everyone had their weaknesses.

"Those guys are some of my old crew, Used them for odd jobs, when heavy firepower wasn't needed so much as dudes with guns. Like today." Mike tilted his head slightly and took of the thugs Adrian had recruited for this job. If they were so willing to help Adrian rob a casino, they were either really stupid or thought Adrian was an unstoppable Godly force. Either way, they weren’t too smart to just go along with it. “I’m surprised you didn’t just recruit some more of you Special villain friends.” He said with a smirk. Maybe he really was just on a power trip. “You might get out of this scot-free, but do they know that they probably won’t?” Mike asked, he was much better at using his words first rather than starting with fighting. He had a feeling he could talk Adrian out of this mess before it really even started.

"Damage is done, money isn't the point, I've had my fun, I suppose." Mike wasn’t sure what Adrian was going to do, until he turned to his men and started shooting at them. Mike gasped, taking a step back as he watched with widen eyes as Adrian gunned them all down. “What the hell was that!?” He extended his arm and glared over at this. Adrian really was a monster.

"Sure, maybe we can talk, in private?" All he could do was sigh, but he had to get Adrian out of there before he hurt anyone else. Even if those men weren’t innocent, they shouldn’t have died right there in front of him. Mike nodded his head. “Fine, whatever it takes to-“ His works were cut off by a man that approached with a gun pointed straight at Adrian. ”On the ground, now!” Mike took a few steps in the opposite direction and raised his arms in the air to show he wasn’t with him. “See, Adrian? I told you. This could have all been avoided.” He said simply.

This guy was alone? Either he was a Company man or really cocky.

Tag: Adrian & Frank
Mood: Tired~
Words: Who even cares!
Notes: Lol, talk about your cockblocks.

[/justify]

[Adrian Kilvayne]

Forget the hearse 'cause I never die
I got nine lives, Cat's eyes
Cruisin' every woman,
Never wonderin' why

“Never said by who, Adrian. Let’s face it, if the Strike Force was still around or the Company came at you instead, you’d actually have a fight on your hands.”


Adrian considered the point. The Registration clowns would have been a rough time, sure, but he could take them. He wasn't scared of the Company, not one bit. Harper and her jumped up heroes, what could they do? Rain on his parade somewhat, but he was a survivor. He had learned so much since he began his career in evil. He wasn't going down without his enemies incurring heavy losses. That was something he was willing to guarantee.

"That's what I want," Adrian said, petulant.

“What the hell was that!?”

Mike was not pleased about Adrian disposing of his disposable minions. Well, tough cookies. Adrian was going to damn well whatever he pleased. Mike was going to have to learn to accept that. Better, Mike could always learn the advantages of living life that way instead. Corrupting a hero, what else would make a villain's day more complete?

Mike was getting self righteous, and suddenly, a new challenger entered the arena. This man had an authoritative tone that Adrian despised. A military man, maybe a cop. About damn time, Adrian figured. This was just what the doctor ordered. A showdown with the law. Adrian smiled.

”On the ground, now!”

"Sounds like a plan..." Adrian said dropping his weapon and crouching to the floor. He wasn't going to surrender, of course. Fuck that. He was going to make this guy regret the day he signed up for a career in heroism. With a thought, Adrian began to liquefy, becoming more and more fluid with every second. This was going to be fun.

In his aqueous form, he rushed toward the man with the shotgun, as if he were a living waterspout. Knock the guy around a bit, just to send the message.

Interfering in the affairs of Adrian Kilvayne would not be tolerated.

[Frank Rook]

"Sounds like a plan...” The figure said, and Frank narrowed his eyes for a moment. He aimed and took his shot as soon as he saw what the figure was doing, but by then it was too late. The buckshot hit what was now only a general outline of a person. It didn’t do anything, but Frank racked the pump on the gun out of habit. He decided to try again, and fired as the living pool of water shot out like an open fire hydrant. Frank felt it impact his chest, and he took a step back against the force before leaning into it to keep his bearings.

It was over in a few seconds, and Frank shook his head to clear the water from his vision. He turned back to where the pool was, and again aimed at it with his gun. He didn’t know what he was going to do about this, but he also wasn’t going to lay down and take it.

[Micah Walker]

Mike Lane
Las Vegas, NV

"That's what I want," Mike sighed heavily and ran his hand through his hair, taking in a deep breath. He really had nothing left to say at this point, Adrian was purposely being an idiot and trying to get himself in trouble, looking for any fight he could get from anyone. Just when he was starting to think he was kind of smart for a villain, turns out he really wasn’t all that smart. “What, what’s the point of all this? Do you suddenly have a death wish or are you so arrogant to think you can take on anyone that faces you just because you have powers?” He asked him, shaking his head. Seemed to him Adrian Kilvayne was on a serious power trip.

"Sounds like a plan..." He watched as Adrian got down on the ground, no doubt about to use his powers. Mike’s eyes darted over to the other man trying to stop him. “Get out of here, now! It’s too dangerous!” he tried to warn him, as if that was going to work. Was he really going to have to save this guy before the day was over?

This wasn’t going to end well for anybody.

Adrian turned into water and charged straight for the man, whose only defense was to take shots at the liquid in front of him. He shook his head, this guy obviously didn’t know who he was dealing with. But he was still getting hit. Biting his lip, he looked around. There was really nothing Mike could do to help him right now. “Ugh, come on!” He ran over, across the casino and found the emergency fire extinguisher. He phased his hand right through the glass and pulled it out, rushing it back over to the scene of the fight. Shooting the water wasn’t going to work, but at least he could try to freeze him or something. It was the only thing he could think of to help.

“Here, try this!” He called out, hovering over Adrian’s waterfront and dropping the fire extinguisher to Frank before landing a few feet behind him, watching again. “Also if you got any electric chanrges hidden up your sleeve, might want to try that, too.” He suggested, nodding his head. He didn’t want anything bad to happen to Adrian, but he needed to be taught a lesson, after all. Plus, Mike Lane was still the good guy.

Tag: Adrian & Frank
Mood: Siked.
Words: Who even cares!
Notes: Sorry for the wait!

[/justify]

[Adrian Kilvayne]

Number one with a bullet, I'm a power pack
Yes, I'm in a bang, with a gang
They've got to catch me if they want me to hang

Adrian's attack was proving useless. He regrouped, and saw that the challenger had not been budged at all. That was no good. This was going to be tougher than he thought. He moved around the casino, thinking. He was a strange sight to behold, for the uninitiated. A man made entirely of water, just strolling around like it was nothing. To Adrian, that was exactly how it was. Just another day in the life. Adrian was in a quandary. To use his gun, he would risk being hit with bullets and shotgun shells himself. And he could beat on this guy all he wanted, it was worthless.

Quite possibly, from what he could tell, bullets wouldn't hurt this guy either. So he had to come up with a better idea. Mike was there watching, and he could tell the boy did not approve of this turn of events. Well, Adrian was merely defending himself. That was how he saw it. The guy had business interfering in this, it wasn't his problem. It was between Mike, Adrian, and all the dead people. Well, some people liked putting their noses where they didn't belong. Sometimes, those people had to be educated on what happens to curious cats. This was shaping up to be one of those times.


“What, what’s the point of all this? Do you suddenly have a death wish or are you so arrogant to think you can take on anyone that faces you just because you have powers?”

Mike's words rang in his ears, or what he would call ears anyway. Maybe the kid was right. It was foolhardy to take n anyone, just because. But he had the upper hand, here, didn't he? What was the point of being a Kilvayne if he didn't make the most of it? He didn't have the money or prestige, but he did have the power. That was all he needed. He would leverage it how he saw fit. No brat was going to tell him different, even if he was kind of cute. Adrian's confusing sexuality would have to wait, however. There was violence to be done, which was more fun than sex anyway. He was formulating his plan, as Mike took steps to try and stop the rampaging hydrokinetic.


“Also if you got any electric charges hidden up your sleeve, might want to try that, too.”

He had tossed the older man a fire extinguisher. Did Mike Lane think they were made of magical ice crystals or something? That wasn't going to do much, if anything at all. Same with the electricity. Science, did they teach it anymore? Adrian would have laughed, if not for the very serious business facing him at that very moment.

He called out to the water in the casino's plumbing, and broke every water pipe in the joint. The fluid rushed into his body, giving him mass. It was such an awesome feeling, to be so connected to a primal element. The sustenance of life, turned into a weapon of death. He loved it. He made his way toward Frank, planning to engulf the man in his body, to drown him. Even an indestructible man needed to breathe, right?

[Frank Rook]

Frank drowned out the other kid trying to help him. It wasn’t that he was ungrateful. He was good at working with teammates when they were around. But this kid wasn’t his teammate. And more, he wasn’t actually giving out good advice. Fire extinguishers didn’t freeze water, they were killed with chemical powders that smothered a fire. Which would actually be handy as hell for a fire monster, but not a water monster. Electricity would be a good idea on the surface. Except when one realized how electricity worked when it hit water. It would spread out and dissipate over time, leaving no actual effects to the water itself. No, the only thing that was going to help was heat. A lot of it. Something that wasn’t going to be snuffed out with the geyser of water.

An idea came to mind, one that Frank had the immediate ability to implement, and he aimed his gun again. He needed to fake the thing out. It looked like it had the idea to try and swallow him up already, but Frank didn’t want it to get wise to his act. So he fired off as many more shells as he could before taking a deep breath and holding it. He felt the liquid envelope him, and he was still. Calm. Being under water was as worrying to him as driving a fast car. There was that subdued sense of something at the back of his mind, but he was able to suppress it very well.

Reaching for one of the pouches attached to the front of his vest, he ripped the velcro closure up and pulled out the small cylinder. He was a bit apprehensive to do this, but he knew what a grenade did when it went off underwater.

Grasping it with his right hand, he pulled the pin and watched the spoon fly away from the grenade before the force of the spring stopped propelling it. It floated in the water for a bit before starting to sink. Calmly, Frank counted down from five. Four. Three. Two. One. Party time.

The explosion rocketed Frank away, as he knew it would. Fire and shrapnel shot away from the grenade, and he could feel some of the pieces hit him. The force was very subdued, as he figured. The water slowed the shrapnel down almost immediately, ensuring that there would be no collateral damage outside of the monster puddle he was stuck it. No, he was more counting on the fire and the force. Maybe that would put a damper on things.

[Micah Walker]

Mike Lane
Las Vegas, NV

In all honestly, Mike didn’t know what he was doing. Half of him was panicking, hardly thinking a he simply did whatever came to mind first and try to help. After all, Adrian was a bad guy and this other man must have beneath good guy here to help him. It should be him Mike needs to be helping, so he tried. But on the other hand he didn’t try as hard as he could because he didn’t want to see Adrian get killed or anything, who knows what this guy was actually trying to do. Beat him, kill him, or take him? Mike had no idea. Whoever he was, he was sure professional about the whole thing, like it was his job.

If he didn’t know any better, Mike could swear he was an agent.

The man didn’t really seem interested in Mike’s help, so all he could really do at this point was get out of the way. He found his way to the nearest wall and just watched in anticipation, wondering what he could do. His powers really didn’t give him much of an edge here, after all. There was nothing he could do at this point to really help either of him. He was better off just letting it be.

He felt the whole casino starting to shake, Adrian was doing something with his powers. The wall behind him was practically vibrating, shaking hard. Mike turned to the wall behind him and put his hand on it to feel, he could hear something breaking inside. He quickly took his hand off and stepped away, just as a pipe busted out of the wall before him. Mike gasped lightly, switching his eyes shut and looking away as the pipe went rough through his body before it started to spray water inside, as did all the other pipes that were bursting and flooding the casino around them. Mike sighed as he opened his eyes to see the pipe had phased right through his shoulder and came out the other side where it was pouring the water out. He moved out of the way quickly right after, looking back over at the fight still taking place. It was no doubt Adrian had a clear advantage here.

Mike couldn’t help but wonder how long this could possibly last. Was Adrian just playing games with this guy? He watched as the other man took something out and threw it into the water, a few seconds later there was an explosion erupting from the water between the man and wherever Adrian could be. He covered his face with his arm as the explosion took place, making sure to phase through anything that had come flying toward him before dropping his arm again and watching helplessly again. What was a Watcher to do?

Tag: Adrian & Frank
Mood: Heat stricken.
Words: Who even cares!
Notes: God, it's fricken hot over here.!

[/justify]

[Adrian Kilvayne]

Nobody's gonna get me on
Another rap, so look at me now
I'm just makin' my play
Don't try to push your luck,
Just get out of my way

Things seemed to be going well. He had taken out his accomplices, so he had the loot all to himself, and they couldn't snitch on him. Mike Lane was potentially helpful, and that was an improvement on a couple years back. Helpful to Adrian, not so much for Frank. Kid got an A for effort, though. And the rugged Army guy clown was going down, as Adrian was about to see how long an indestructible man can hold his breath. But that didn't mean his plans couldn't still hit a bump, Adrian had learned humility.

The Battle of DC had taught him that.

So, when explosions went off inside him, that was not at all surprising. It was damn annoying, however. He could feel molecules leaving his hydrokinetically enhanced body, and the one meme that seemed to apply here was ringing like the sound from the explosive going off- if you can't take the heat, get the fuck out the kitchen. So, regrouping took the form of hitting the floor. He couldn't just let himself evaporate after all. He moved on Frank's position, and slipped under the man, getting behind him.

Adrian liked taking an enemy from the rear, anyway.

He regained physical form and found his clothes. He might as well try getting out without either party losing their life today. He thought Mike might just appreciate that. He just hoped his new "friend" would as well. Not likely, but at least he could make the claim he tried to leave on amiable terms.

After dressing quickly, and he needed only pants and shirt to be decent anyway, he gave Frank a tap on his shoulder. He smiled, a bit smugly, a bit ironically. This wasn't exactly an Ice Cream Social at the local church or anything like that. It was a confrontation, and probably demanded more gravitas. Adrian had no use for gravitas.

"So, I can't kill you, and you can't kill me," Adrian said, "Not without a lot of trouble on each party's behalf, anyway. Fair that we call this a draw, maybe? If not, we can proceed to the next round..."

Adrian decided to make his case a little more clearly.

"For me this is a risk-rewards thing," He said in a nearly charming sort of tone, " And you are making this to where the risks are outweighing the rewards."

[Frank Rook]

Frank raised to his feet almost immediately, letting out the breath he had been holding and looked around. No bad guy… He turned around, and lo and behold, there was the bad guy. Putting on his pants. Charming. Frank racked open the chamber of the shotgun and held it to the side as water dripped out. When it stopped, he closed the chamber. He couldn’t remember how many rounds he had fired. He wanted to say six, but he didn’t know… No matter. He had nine rounds in the weapon, and he had a litany of other choices if it came to that.

”So, I can’t kill you, and you can’t kill me. Not without a lot of trouble on each party’s behalf, anyway. Fair that we call this a draw, maybe? If not, we can proceed to the next round,” the man said. Frank had to pause at that for a moment. Did he really have that kind of audacity? Did he think he was going to get to walk out without a fight after he just killed God knows how many people?

”…Are you insane?” Frank asked. That was the only logical explanation. There was no way he could actually be that stupid…

”You only have two ways out of here. In the back of my car on the way to a padded room, or in a body bag because you resisted arrest and I killed you in the line of duty. That’s your only call,” Frank said.

”For me this is a risk-rewards thing. And you are making this to where the risks are outweighing the rewards,” the man said. Ya, he was that stupid…

”For me, this is a ‘catch the scumbag shooting innocent people’ thing. There is no reward. There is very little risk from a man who seems like his power is best served to wet the bed. Stand down, or put up your dukes, you’re not walking out of here as long as I’m standing,” Frank said. No negotiation. Capture or crush the enemy. There was no middle ground.

Frank pulled the stock of the weapon tight against his shoulder. He lined the beat on the end of the barrel up with Adrian’s throat. It always shot a little high…

[Adrian Kilvayne]

I'm not the second coming, I'm the first wave
Better get an army, cuz the fire left me unscathed
You betcha bottom dollar I'm the top of the shit pile
So stick around cuz I'll get to you in just a few

”…Are you insane?”


Adrian mused on that. He may very well be called such accurately. It was irrelevant, really. He was frustrated and on the verge of considering extreme measures. He had not reckoned on the Indestructible Asshat showing up to ruin his fun, in all honesty. It was too damn perfect, really.


"That is debatable, but I don't think you have the credentials to figure that out."

”You only have two ways out of here. In the back of my car on the way to a padded room, or in a body bag because you resisted arrest and I killed you in the line of duty. That’s your only call,”

"You can't kill me," Adrian said with a heavy sigh, " I thought we covered this. I am elemental, I am water. I am already inside you."

”For me, this is a ‘catch the scumbag shooting innocent people’ thing. There is no reward. There is very little risk from a man who seems like his power is best served to wet the bed. Stand down, or put up your dukes, you’re not walking out of here as long as I’m standing,”

Adrian smiled. This was going to be a good time after all. He was going to put down a hero. Nothing would have made him happier, truth be told. Killing heroes was something that just made a villain's little black heart pound with joy. It was like Evil Christmas, coming early.

"Round Two, then."

He willed himself into his water state, and crept toward Frank. If attacking him externally wasn't going to work, Adrian was going to attack the man internally. He gathered whatever remained of the water from the plumbing and expanded the size of his body as much as he could. His fluid form had many advantages. One was that he didn't have to necessarily retain a perfectly humanoid shape. He lashed out with his "arm", attempting to land a blow near Frank's nostrils or mouth. Ears would be fine, Adrian thought. He was going to see if Indestructible Asshat was capable of breathing water.