VIII-The Devil's Song [Jade]

[Eric Adler]

Eric Adler

[/size][/color][/right]

Well... That didn't turn out quite like he'd planned. Eric hadn't nearly expected things to go down quite exactly like they had. The young man wasn't quite sure where they'd gone wrong. All his plans had been working quite swimmingly to be honest. At least at first they had been. The young man sat in the jail cell of the local precinct in Manhattan. Eric's hands were handcuffed. The young man looked down at his shackled hands for a moment and thought about how easy it would have been for him to break free if he'd still had his abilities. Three months ago the entire planet had lost their powers. In a world so heavily populated with people who were special... Everyone seemed to go back to being ordinary. Melanie would have probably enjoyed it. If she weren't being held captive by the government... Or worse off... Dead. The young man couldn't shake the thoughts of her face from his mind as he leaned back against the cool stone wall of his cell. Her face haunted him... He should have saved her...

The events of the past twenty four hours ran through Eric's mind as if he were watching a movie. He followed his target. Eric stalked his prey. The tactical leader from the unit that had taken Melanie. Eric was going to dismantle every single person involved in her abduction. The young man didn't care anymore. He'd thrown all morals out the window. Nothing else really mattered anymore. Why care honestly? What good had that ever done him? The young man needed to learn to have more fun. He'd followed the ex-RSF agent into the park just after dusk and when he was close enough, Eric snuck up behind the man and slit his throat. He didn't deserve the dignity of an honest death. This man deserved to be discarded like the rat he was. Eric Adler was changing... This much was certain. After discarding of the knife, Eric made his way back to his apartment. He'd cleaned himself properly and was just about to lie down when the cavalry had shown up. No one had seen him... So how did they know he was there? He was being taken in for questioning for the disappearance of the man he had murdered... How the hell was Eric being implicated in this? He'd left no trail, no finger prints, no nothing... There wasn't anything to tie Eric to the scene or the man himself.

As Eric was questioned the young man grew tired of all the incessant bullshit. The semantics were driving him insane. Eric couldn't take it anymore. The young man just couldn't help himself and as another officer mouthed off to him, Eric head butted the man in the forehead. He was immediately cuffed and thrown into a jail cell. It'd been a bit of a whirlwind, but there Eric was. The young man sat within his cell and eyed the handcuffs chafing against his wrists. Eric sighed slightly as he sat on the bench and wondered how he was going to get himself out of this one. The young man pulled forcefully against his restraints in a foolish attempt to break his bonds... Of course, they didn't break... However, the light within his cell began to flicker.

Immediately, Eric's eyes darted to the light bulb. The young man grinned devilishly as the hairs on his skin began to stand on end and the light grew dimmer. His powers were back... Eric didn't know how and he didn't question it. Just as he was about to blow the cuffs off his hands, Eric stopped. A police officer was approaching him and claimed that someone was bailing him out. "The hell?" Eric blurted out loud without even realizing it. Who the fuck was bailing him out. The young man walked with the officer and collected his things before heading towards the lobby of the precinct, where he hoped to meet whomever was getting him out of this hellhole.[/blockquote]

[Jade Alastair]

What was it with New York churning out some fucking lame killers? Seriously?! Normally that kind of thing didn’t bother her because it meant less competition for her if she ever chose to get back into the assassination game and given how the Elite were at the moment, it was highly tempting. King Dick and Queen Tits were seriously getting on her nerves and she found it more and more difficult to be around the people she was supposed to call teammates. If there was one thing about Jade that people should know by now it was that she did not play well with others. She wasn’t a team person and she didn’t even bother trying to pretend that she was. Most of the people in the Elite didn’t like her but she didn’t give a fuck, she didn’t like them either and she didn’t need any of them either.

It was for that reason that she had been out on the streets of New York, getting away from the Elite for a while and doing her own thing. She would have been more at home had she been in her beloved Las Vegas, she had ruled that city. It was her city and she missed what she had always done. She wouldn’t admit it but she almost missed that asshole husband of hers as well, Harrison might have been an ass but he was one of the few people she enjoyed being around without wanting to kill him. Well, there were times she took a pot shot at him but they tolerated each other and had the perfect marriage because they didn’t bother each other much. They had sex and then drank booze or got high, seemed pretty ideal to her honestly but then he vanished on her which could mean anything really. Still, she had his apartment now so whatever… It was the only thing that kept her from going insane when someone turned off her power. She’d almost broken Topher’s jaw cause she thought he was doing it but he wasn’t. Other specials had been turned off as well. Interesting… But her power had come back and never had she been happier.

Jade had witnessed Eric stalking his prey mainly because she knew how that looked having done it herself. That being said, she could have carried a fucking bazooka around and made as much noise as she wanted and still went unnoticed by her prey because of her awesome power. Whoever this guy was, he didn’t have her power nor did he have her finesse. Not many did of course but this guy was a fucking amateur, it was almost painful to watch as he killed his target. She was close enough to take a video with her camera, not worrying about being noticed because neither he nor his victim could see her there. Gods she loved her power so much, better than invisibility because she could fuck with minds.

Once the murder was over with, totally brutish and boring honestly, what the fuck was wrong with this guy? He had the revenge persona going hard by the look on his face but that was no excuse for sloppiness. He hadn’t left any real traces around which was somewhat impressive but he would still get caught, she’d make sure of that. Why did she bother going to the trouble of getting him arrested? Cause she was bored, that’s why.

So she went to the police, a place she hated above all else but they didn’t know they had a born killer in their midst. They brought Eric in and questioned him, Jade was there even then, invisible to those in the room and she had to fight to keep from laughing when he head-butted the officer. Smooth criminal he was not…

Rather than getting him fully arrested Jade came up with a new illusion and presented a video on her phone of a woman killing the man and making off with his body, the woman in the video looked a lot like Zoey Lindstrom formerly of the Watchers, what a surprise! Technopathic illusions for the win! Take that you little bitch, framed for murder was always fun. With that taken care of Jade bailed Eric out, claiming that he was her brother who had an attitude problem and a bit of a mental disorder. The shit Jade was able to make up on the fly, it was always fun!

Waiting for Eric to be brought out, her arms were crossed and while all the police there saw her as a petite little blonde who looked as though she couldn’t hurt a fly Eric would see her as herself, a smirk on her face as she waited for him to be uncuffed. “Good to see they haven’t roughed you up too much Eric. Now let’s get out of here before you get in anymore trouble.” She spoke with familiarity despite having never met him before in her life and without another word she turned and walked out, expecting him to follow.

Should he choose to follow she’d wait outside for him before laughing. “That was fun and before you ask the obvious questions let’s get down to the nitty grity. It doesn’t matter why I bailed you out, my name is Jade and you are a fucking horrible killer dude. Seriously… Who taught you how to use a knife? Betty White?”

[/blockquote][/blockquote]

[Eric Adler]

Eric Adler

[/size][/color][/right]

Eric was in a jail cell. His hands were cuffed and there wasn't a good chance that he was going anywhere anytime soon. The young man could have easily gotten out of the cuffs with his abilities. However, in this instant, Eric was without powers. Just as most of, if not the entirety of the world was. The young man sat silently in his cell. How had he ended up here? Eric was angry that was for damn sure. The young man had had his life ripped away from him by the Registration Strike Force. Eric had a good thing going. And then, before he could even blink, Melanie had been snatched from his arms. He didn't know what had happened to her. Eric didn't know if she were still alive or if she were in some underground government prison. The young man was clueless. Anger and rage consumed him... And Eric decided to let it consume him.

Eric had found himself stalking the tactical leader of the group that had snatched Melanie. He held a knife tightly in his hand. His knuckles gripped tightly around the handle of the weapon. Eric was seeing red as he followed the tactical leader silently. Then, without warning, Eric grabbed the man's head with one hand and slit his throat with the other. After dealing with the knife and the murder weapon Eric made his way back to his apartment and cleaned himself up. Eric was careful and made sure to clean himself properly. He didn't want to be stupid about this. Once he'd cleaned himself up properly... The police showed up. How the fuck? Eric didn't know what'd happened or how they had found him. The young man was pretty shocked to be honest.

Eric was being brought in for questioning. It was pedantic and just generally annoying. Eric couldn't take much more of this guy being an asshole to him. Eventually, Eric just couldn't stand it anymore. The young man head-butted the cop who was interrogating him. In a flash, Eric had been cuffed and thrown into jail until they could figure out what to do with him. As he sat in his cell and strained against his cuffs Eric noticed that the light above him had begun to flicker. The hairs on his arms had begun to stand on end. Eric instantly knew what was happening. He was getting his powers back. Hell yes! The young man was getting amped up. He'd be out of here in no time. There was no way these guys could contain Eric with his abilities working. Eric smirked for a moment. However, just as he was about to pop his cuffs, the young man stopped. What the fuck? Eric was being released.

New evidence had come to light. As he stood in the lobby of the precinct Eric eyed the blonde who was apparently responsible for getting him out of jail. As the cops uncuffed Eric, the blonde spoke to Eric with a familiarity and told him that she was happy he hadn't been roughed up too badly. Eric didn't know who the hell she was, but he figured he might as well play along with the schtick. The young man smirked for a moment as he approached the young woman. "Sure thing sweetie. Let me just grab my things and I'll meet you outside." Before he turned away from the young blonde, Eric placed one hand on her waist and pulled her close. The young man leaned in and kissed the young woman deeply for a moment that lingered. Finally, Eric broke away from the young woman and smirked devilishly before turning on his heel and going to collect his things.

As Eric emerged from the police department, he eyed the young woman who was standing outside waiting for him. Immediately, she began to talk and explained that her name was Jade and that she was the one who bailed him out. Eric didn't really care why she did it right now. He was just happy that he was out. He could always find out why she'd bailed him out later. Furthermore, the young blonde claimed that Eric was a horrible killer. The young man laughed out loud for a moment. Like she'd be any better? Who the fuck did she think she was? As she continued to talk, Eric eyed her one more time over. "Betty'd probably be a better kisser than you. Try and sell it better next time for chris' sake..." For a moment, Eric paused as they began to walk before continuing to talk. "And who the hell are you to be giving such judgement? How do you know me? And what the fuck makes you think you'd be such a 'Grade A' assassin?"[/blockquote]

[Jade Alastair]

Oh yeah. This guy was a total meathead. Power or not, she was going to mock the hell out of this dumbass until it stopped being funny. It probably wasn’t fair to judge a person when first meeting them but she was Jade. Jade wasn’t known for being fair. She had told the cops that she was his sister and before she got a chance to do much of anything he came up and kissed her. Yeah, that looked really good to the shocked cops. Fuckin hell, talk about being forward though honestly Jade couldn’t deny that she enjoyed the kiss. Deep and lingering but no drool and not too much tongue. She scored him a six for his kiss, knocked down from being a seven given the circumstances.

When he left to collect his effects, Jade looked over at the cops and wiped her mouth, a disgusted look on her face for effect. “My brother is mentally ill. It’s so sad really. He must be really stressed to do that but don’t worry, I’ll keep him out of trouble.” By that she meant keep him from getting caught unless he pissed her off and if that was the case she’d land his ass right back into jail and depending on the severity of his annoyance, possibly on the FBI’s most wanted. Jade was not one to fuck with…unless it involved actual fucking.

Once they exited the police station, Jade went straight into her version of explanations and then into mocking him for his lack of skill in killing people. It had been pathetic and she wasn’t holding back either. He was offended of course which she had been aiming for and waited to see just how he would retaliate. Had this been reversed, her reaction would have been to sock the person right in the kisser but this guy only went back to talking. Blah blah blah, though his comment about Betty White being a better kisser did make her laugh. “I should have known you liked to French old chicks with that lackluster kiss you gave me earlier. Seems killing isn’t the only thing you’re lacking in.” Now he got to the part she was actually hoping he would and she smirked. “I’m the person who saw you kill someone. I’m the one who told the cops and then let ya out again because guess what motherfucker, I’m that good.”

She crossed her arms and stood there though that was only to his eyes. In reality she moved around him, sizing him up with her hand to her gun at all times. He had a power and she was aware of that but honestly if his power involved killing her than he would have already got to threatening her. Simple enough.

“There is no such thing as a grade A assassin. There are assassins and pussies who like to shoot guns and hope they hit something.” Stopping, she stood further behind him and watched him. “You got potential but from what I saw it wasn’t even an assassination. No, what you did was an execution which involved emotion which tells me it was revenge.” She knew different kinds of deaths and the emotions that went with it. “But you liked it. I could tell. As that blade sliced through and the light left his eyes you felt strong and you liked it. Now that right there is something I can work with.”

[/blockquote][/blockquote]

[Eric Adler]

Eric Adler

[/size][/color][/right]

Eric Adler hadn't expected to end up in jail when he'd set out to murder one of the government employees responsible for Melanie's kidnapping. Eric was done with playing by the rules. Playing it safe had always gotten Eric into more trouble than he'd meant to be in. There was New York City... And then there was Texas... And Vegas... and so on and so forth. Eric had made a habit out of moving around. Having as few roots as possible helped Eric keep things straight and simple... Sooner or later though, Eric always managed to end up getting close or attached to someone. After Melanie had been taken by the government, Eric had snapped in a sense. He was tired of taking his beatings laying down like a dog. Eric was out for blood. He'd been careful too. Extraordinarily careful. The young man had killed before so that hadn't bothered him... In fact, Eric was somewhat happy about it, though he hadn't admitted it to himself just yet.

For all his care though, Eric had been arrested. He'd ended up in a prison cell... It wasn't all bad though as Eric's powers returned to him. The young man was elated to not be powerless anymore. Just as Eric was thinking through his plan to bust out of his prison cell with his newly returned powers, a police officer appeared informing that he was being released and that he was free to go. Eric didn't question it. The young man followed the officer to the lobby of the police station where a young woman was waiting for him. Eric didn't know who she was and didn't question it. The young man figured that she was pretending to be his girlfriend and kissed her deeply... However, Eric seemed to have gotten it wrong when the woman explained to the officers that her brother wasn't exactly mentally stable. Oh well... Ya can't get 'em right all the time!

As Eric and his rescuer walked outside, the two began to banter back and forth. Eric eyed her precariously and scoffed as she finished speaking. "Lackluster? Don't lie to my face... I could tell you liked it." For a moment, Eric paused as he eyed the brunette. Who the hell was she? Eric certainly hadn't met her before... As far he could remember at least. As the brunette stood there with her arms crossed, she explained that she was the one who saw him killing the government official, reported it to the cops and then got him out of jail. The fuck? Who the hell was this bitch?

Eric grit his teeth as Jade continued to talk. The young man clenched one of his fists tightly for a moment as he breathed and listened to Jade taunt him. As Jade continued to speak, Eric's eyes flicked towards the car parked on the side of the road nearest them. Jade was really starting to annoy the shit out of him. Who the hell did she think she was? She was the one who had turned him in? Hell, Eric didn't even care that she had also busted him out... Right now, Eric was seething. As Jade stood there Eric walked over to the parked car and placed his hand on the trunk. "You like to hear your voice don't you?" Eric didn't wait for her to answer. With his palm on the trunk of the car, Eric's hand pulsed slightly. In the blink of an eye the car shot outwards towards Jade. It appeared as though not everything was as it seemed though. The small sedan went right through "Jade" and into a tree a couple hundred yards away.

Eric's powers were rusty too.. The young man eyed Jade or whatever the hell was standing there. As he walked towards her again, Eric began to summon the remaining energy he had within him and it pulsed around him in small waves of electricity. Wherever Jade was she might've gotten hit. It wasn't lethal... Just enough to sting a little. Hell, she'd probably even enjoy it. Eric smirked slightly. As he stood there with his fists clenched, the young man eyed the Jade he could see. He didn't know if that was really her. He had no idea what her power was, he just assumed that she in fact did have one. As she finished speaking about knowing that Eric liked killing the guy, the young man stopped and the electricity emanating from his body dissipated. "Well, you're right about that. That sonofabitch had it coming..." For a moment, Eric paused. "Before we go any further, tell me... How'd you frame me? And how'd you get me off?" For a moment, Eric paused again and smirked. "More importantly, how did a sedan just go right through you?"[/blockquote]