Generation Legacy Issue #9 "Innocence Lost" - Part 3

[Hammerhead]

Ryan looked at the faces of his friends, of maybe people who could have been his friends. No support, really. Everyone seems against me, he thinks bitterly. Jesus, it's not like I meant to kill the guy. It's not like he wasn't a murderer and a terrorist who had killed dozens of innocent people, and planned to off even more for a really stupid reason. Why the hell is everyone coming down on me so hard? I did what I had to do. Didn't I?

Ryan knew he was skilled in non-lethal attacks. Attacks he had practiced, and used against Strength and Mistress. Why did I hit that guy as hard I could? To help Kelly? To blow off some steam? I didn't feel like I really had a reason at the time, other than wanting to hurt him. I guess I just didn't want him to walk away, to escape, like Mistress did.

Ryan looked around, at the members of Legacy, the members of the Teen Titans or whatever they called themselves. It really wasn't funny anymore. Cassie went off with Yoshi, there's Cantrip and Anika, let's hope they get along...Karen and Kal...Mark with Aya...this really sucks. I feel alone too; Kelly probably felt the same damn way. Ryan glanced at Aris. I guess everyone is too damn tired. I am too, of course, but it's not like I can go to sleep or anything to relieve it. I'm stuck with it, twenty-four seven, until this is over.

Ryan walks over towards Anika, standing behind her. "You look tired, I'd get some sleep," he advises, as he walks out of the tower and into the rain, flying off into San Diego...or was it San Francisco...whatever, Olympic City, they called it now. He flew into the sky, ignoring the rain, looking over the city.

 

[Samnell]

Danger Girl smiles, "Well just relax..."

Mark smiled back, "I could use it."

She resumes her massage, "Tell me about your world... Mark."

"Ok," Mark agrees. "Well it's like ten years later than now. Most people with powers don't have secret identities or anything, unless they're terrorists. A lot of us have codenames, but that's kind of a style thing. Most of us aren't really heroes or villains. Elites are big business. They design clothes or invent things or give product endorsements. Nike just offered me a contract." Was that really only the day before yesterday?

"We have some terrorists and that's where Legacy and the other UN teams come in, protecting people from them. I guess. I mean I kind of fell into this. I got lucky and got million dollar powers. I thought maybe I'd get into acting."

"But they sent me to this school in Africa that the UN runs. I think they have one in Barcelona too. It's sort of like this big private school except everybody has powers. They have a great big swimming pool and there's a wildlife preserve we snuck out to where they have cloned dinosaurs. The UN cleaned up a lot of Africa too. It's all farms.

This all made so much more sense when he told someone else about it. Mark kept talking. "It wasn't like superhero school or anything. We have powers training, but mostly it's regular school stuff. And then the UN decided they wanted to have a teen-aged team or something so they tried us out. It's kind of weird."

"I guess it probably makes sense to you guys, but most of us didn't wake up with powers and say we wanted to fight evil or anything. I guess we're still with it but it wasn't our plan. I mean it's only been half a day or so, but you guys seem like you're really committed to this. That's something."

"I never heard of any elite training a guy one-on-one like Nightchild is getting either. I guess we just don't do that. It'd be really weird. And we don't have gods running around either.

 

[Agamon]

Anika nods wordlessly at Cantrip's suggestion, still staring out the window. Hearing Ryan behind her, she pauses a moment and turns as though to say something, but all she sees is his back as he walks away. Her expression turns to a glare of pain and anger. Anger at him? Anger at herself? Maybe she is just really tired.

She turns to Cantrip and nods again. "Maybe you can show me somewhere I can lie down for a bit..."

 

[Aenion]

Kal replies, “Yeah well that over there is Danger Girl, Gadget you met, Cantrip is over next to Anika, Nightchild left already, and Velocity Girl is downstairs with Cassie and Yoshi. That is pretty much the whole gang that you didn’t know.”

Meanwhile Cantrip nods to Anika, “Perhaps you need a place to rest, I know of several locations that provide solitude and respite. I would ask to speak but you need rest,” he replies in a rasp, before he coughs.

Cantrip watches the rain pitter-patter against the large window.

"They all seem very nice. Do you all live here? I mean in this place or with your parents ... foster parents in your case?" Karen asks her natural curiosity showing, she looks at Cantrip and Anika and continues in a whisper, "I hope Anika will be alright, I really feel bad about the way I reacted. If ... if I had attacked that guy, i-it might have been me who killed him."

 

[Tokiwong]

Ryan walks over towards Anika, standing behind her. "You look tired, I'd get some sleep," he advises, as he walks out of the tower and into the rain, flying off into San Diego...or was it San Francisco...whatever, Olympic City, they called it now. He flew into the sky, ignoring the rain, looking over the city.

Aris watches Ryan fly out, and then follows, floating up after him. She rises till she is eye level with him, “Hey where are you going? Are you still upset about earlier? You did the right thing Ryan, Chimera would just have come back working for someone else, I mean sometimes I wish we just took down the really bad guys instead of just handing them over to these human authorities…” Her blonde hair slick over her blue skin, “I really also wanted to thank you, for healing me,” she smiles weakly placing a hand on his shoulder.

Karen

Kal smiles, “Well usually during the week I am at home, with my parents, foster parents. But on weekends they think I go to a Football camp, and I stay here. Although I know Danger Girl and Gadget are usually here all the time.”

Kal watches Ryan fly out, “It all comes down to knowing your strength; we never let it go all out… well Nightchild did once and he almost killed Murder Man; because he had his girlfriend at the time killed by Butcher Boy… it was scary, Nightchild is an awesome fighter, and I had to bring him down before he did something he regretted. I still don’t know if we did the right thing letting him live but he hasn’t escaped Alcatraz II so for now everything is good.”

Anika

By the window, Cantrip nods and whispers an invocation, “Methalos, Megara, Invictum, Detora!” and a doorway forms in the glass. He looks to Anika, “Inside is a place where you can rest and recuperate Valkyrie.”

Mark

Aya stays silent till Mark finishes, “Wow your world sounds cool, so like you live in Africa then? And you get paid to fight crime? Or actually combat terrorists I guess. From the way everyone talks, it sounds like it is a life or death issue; kill or be killed. That is a scary place to be for someone our age.”

“Yeah Thor and company creep me out at times, I find it hard to believe that he may be a real god, but I guess he is, and now Kid Paragon too,” she sighs, “I don’t have any real powers outside of my hardsuit… just a human…” she continues to massage his shoulders.

She laughs, “I think I would like visiting your world, it sounds so much… more normal I guess, then here. You know we have had at least six alien invasions since I moved to Olympic City three years ago? Six!”

She smiles, “How are you feeling?”

Cassie

Yoshi nods, “Yeah not getting hit is a good thing,” he laughs. He stands and then in a whoosh of air he is gone and back, in a flash. He holds out a journal for Cassie. It reads Olympic City on the cover, with pictures of Olympic City coated on the front and back.

He hands it to Cassie, “I figured you can never have too many journals, you know to just keep track of everything that goes on up there,” he smirks, “I added the first entry, well a forward I guess or something.”

Yoshi sighs, “I really don’t want to talk about Ryan, he and I will never get along, and lets leave it at that.”

Kelly

Nightchild finishes with the last thug. He turns to Kelly, “The authorities should be here soon.”

He starts walking and then pauses, “I wouldn’t think of this as lucky, two years of fighting crime, and it is never easy. We have a responsibility though to leave the world better off then when we found it. We have a code, we don’t break that code, because the moment we do, we tumble down the path of good intentions…”

Nightchild sighs, “I can’t tell you the amount of times I have been near death. I sometimes wonder why I even do this, but the moment I lapse, something happens and I just can’t stand by and do nothing.”

James

Kiyana having returned to her normal form curls up close to James and rests her head on his shoulder, dozing off quite quickly. Just like the rest of the Legacy teens, she is tired, and just ready to relax after the rollercoaster ride they have been through.

Gadget flops on the couch and starts eating popcorn next to James, “You guys are a cute couple, want some popcorn? You ever play any Dungeon’s & Dragons? Do you like it here? Sorry just curious,” she says with a cheesy grin.

 

[KaintheSeeker]

Cassie

Yoshi nods, “Yeah not getting hit is a good thing,” he laughs. He stands and then in a whoosh of air he is gone and back, in a flash. He holds out a journal for Cassie. It reads Olympic City on the cover, with pictures of Olympic City coated on the front and back.

He hands it to Cassie, “I figured you can never have too many journals, you know to just keep track of everything that goes on up there,” he smirks, “I added the first entry, well a forward I guess or something.”

Yoshi sighs, “I really don’t want to talk about Ryan, he and I will never get along, and lets leave it at that.”

"Just don't antagnoize him Yoshi, being an Elite is a different thing to everyone." finishes her Kata and walks over to him, taking the book and looking at him intently for a long while. "Thank you.. I miss not having access to my Blog back home, though I'm sure the school isn't.. what with my clear comments on registration in the past." smiles as she opens it to read.

 

[Samnell]

Aya stays silent till Mark finishes, “Wow your world sounds cool, so like you live in Africa then? And you get paid to fight crime? Or actually combat terrorists I guess. From the way everyone talks, it sounds like it is a life or death issue; kill or be killed. That is a scary place to be for someone our age.”

"Yeah, by the Red Sea. The money's... Well I'm slated to make four million. Nike wants to pay me lots more than that, but I can do both. The UN likes having us in the media, I guess."

"It's pretty rough sometimes. Yesterday I had an elite assassin nearly kill me," Mark swallowed. "And we spent the first part of today chasing down his partner in Bangkok. So it's pretty serious. I never even did anything to the guy. He just got hired to kill me."

She laughs, “I think I would like visiting your world, it sounds so much… more normal I guess, then here. You know we have had at least six alien invasions since I moved to Olympic City three years ago? Six!”

"Well we are fresh out of alien invasions."

She smiles, “How are you feeling?”

Mark sighed, "Really tired. But I guess good too. We did ok today."

 

[Tokiwong]

"Yeah, by the Red Sea. The money's... Well I'm slated to make four million. Nike wants to pay me lots more than that, but I can do both. The UN likes having us in the media, I guess."

"Wow that is awesome, I am impressed," Aya replies.

"It's pretty rough sometimes. Yesterday I had an elite assassin nearly kill me,"

Mark swallowed. "And we spent the first part of today chasing down his partner in Bangkok. So it's pretty serious. I never even did anything to the guy. He just got hired to kill me."

"That sucks, well good thing he didn't take you down, we would never have met," she jokes.

"Well we are fresh out of alien invasions."

"Count yourself lucky," Aya laughs.

Mark sighed, "Really tired. But I guess good too. We did ok today."

"Yeah I am glad for the help, that would have been a tougher fight without you guys there. I appreciated it," she kisses his neck.

Cassie

"Easier said then done," Yoshi jokes.

The forward reads:

Cassie,

I am not even sure what day to put down? 2004? 2014? I can’t even remember the last time I slept, but I just wanted to say that you are a special girl, and I know I am a jerk sometimes but you see through that and I appreciate it. I say some dumb things sometimes, and well I should work on that but I feel like a better person when I am around you. I am not sure when or if I will see you again, but if I do, the first thing I want to do is give you this journal. I guess if I am stuck here awhile, I can fill it up, but you are much better at this kind of stuff then I am.

By the way I checked out the Blog, I like it. You are more political then I am, but then again I just like fast cars. Miss you babe, hope to see you soon!

-Yoshi

When Cassie looks up he is sitting against the wall sleeping...

 

[KaintheSeeker]

Cassie

"Easier said then done," Yoshi jokes.

The forward reads:

Cassie,

I am not even sure what day to put down? 2004? 2014? I can’t even remember the last time I slept, but I just wanted to say that you are a special girl, and I know I am a jerk sometimes but you see through that and I appreciate it. I say some dumb things sometimes, and well I should work on that but I feel like a better person when I am around you. I am not sure when or if I will see you again, but if I do, the first thing I want to do is give you this journal. I guess if I am stuck here awhile, I can fill it up, but you are much better at this kind of stuff then I am.

By the way I checked out the Blog, I like it. You are more political then I am, but then again I just like fast cars. Miss you babe, hope to see you soon!

-Yoshi

When Cassie looks up he is sitting against the wall sleeping...

Cassie smiles, a quiet sort of smile as she tucks a towel around him and makes sure his head is resting against another folded one before slipping away with a kiss.

For a bit she wanders the facility, before heading up to some open space (roof, balcony) that is out of the way to settle down and write for a bit. Trying to put all the discoveries and events down so she can sort them out later on.

 

[Samnell]

"That sucks, well good thing he didn't take you down, we would never have met," she jokes.

Mark laughed.

"Yeah I am glad for the help, that would have been a tougher fight without you guys there. I appreciated it," she kisses his neck.

Mark started suddenly out of his pleasant half reverie when he felt Aya's lips on him. Flinching and suddenly wide awake, he gasped out, "What are you doing?!"