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A Beginning
Topic Started: Jan 22 2010, 02:37 AM (387 Views)
BurningBright
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OOC: Looks like I might be the first to do RP stuffs. Anywho, this is closed for now, it'll be open later...and, as I type this, I realize that at this point in time, I am still the only person who has any characters actually approved, so it doesn't really matter whether it's open or not right now...I've written too much and come to far to turn back now. TO THE RP!!!

Ben's speech/thoughts are Gold

IC:

Location- The Greene Household Attic. Time- 4:26 PM. Date- Undisclosed.

Those lines ran through Phil's head as he searched his attic for that mask. He knew he had seen a perfect one up here a few years back...but where the hell was it? Behind him were dozens of boxes, each ransacked looking for that damn mask.

"How am I even going to know what it looks like?"

The words came from Phil's childhood friend, Ben. Ben had been tricked into helping Phil find whatever it was he needed to pull this off. What was "this", you might ask? "This" was Phil's delve into the wide world of being a hero. And "this" was annoying Ben greatly. Last week, Phil showed him something...interesting. Turns out, Phillip Greene, the same Phillip Greene who used to be afraid of heights, the very one who was now going through a box of the comic books that used to consume just about all of his time, was, in fact, one of what Ben and Phil had taken to calling "Specials".

Some called them Heroes, though they certainly weren't all heroic, and occasionally there was a word like mutant or freak thrown around, sometimes called magic; whatever they were called, these "Specials" all had various...oddities about them. Phil's own specific oddity, in particular, was that he could move things around by thinking it. He seemed to only be as strong mentally as he was physically, but then, Phil had never been the type to pay attention to details like that.

"It's an old mask. Like...think Mardi Gras."

"Still say that's the lamest thing ever...whatever."

What Ben didn't know was that Phil had a second ability-he was empathic. Unfortunately, that so far had been a liability moreso than an asset for Phil. Losing control of his own emotions sometimes led to things floating without him telling them to-add on top of that the fact that other people's emotions would not stay out of his head, and anyone with a tiny imagination can see the issues that could cause. He doesn't need to know that. He'd just worry, after all.

And so, Phil knew just how annoyed Ben was. There was a curse behind him as Ben cut his finger on a broken mirror, hidden in one of the boxes he was searching. Phil looked over his shoulder at Ben and chuckled-as strange as it was to be amused and pissed off at the same time-the larger boy was sucking on his thumb, as if that would heal it or something. Stupid.

"Think you can quit messing around? We have work to do!"

He'd receive an upturned middle finger for his urgency. Phil rolled his eyes and turned back. When he did so, he would find that a comic book had risen to eye level-there was that loss of control I mentioned earlier. Phil grabbed the comic and shoved it back down into the box. It was an older comic of his, not written by any of the big comic book people or anything like that. This one was about Ninja and stuff like that. The main character, Zaulyl, was an old favorite of Phil's. He'd sit there and reminisce about reading through those old books until he was alerted-both emotionally and verbally-by Ben. It seemed Ben had found something interesting.

Phil strode to Ben's side to see what he had discovered-there it was. An old masquerade mask, a little dusty, but otherwise exactly how Phil remembered it. The mask floated out of Ben's hands and set itself on Phil's face, and the boy's hood rose to complete the hastily made disguise.

"So...how do I look?"

Ben snickered-this whole super hero business was completely stupid to him. Grown men, running around with fake names and in costumes...what a joke. So, of course he'd let Phil know what he thought. Even if he secretly was jealous that it was Phil who had the power and not him.

"Honestly? Like a complete tool."

"Oh, thanks."
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BurningBright
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Location- The Greene Household Kitchen Table. Time- 5:06 PM. Date- Undisclosed.

Phil and Ben sat at the table, eating the pizza that had just arrived. Pepperoni, sausage, and peppers. The meal of champions.

"So...what's your name gonna be?"

Phil looked up from his meal for a moment, obviously confused.

"Huh?"

Phil swallowed before continuing.

"What do you mean my name?"

Ben crossed his arms and leaned forward against the table, a smirk on his face. A pivotal moment in Veritas City history was being made even as they sat here-a hero was being born.

"Well...think about it. Every hero in the history of...forever has had a superhero name. From the comics, we've got Superman, Batman, Iron Man, Spiderman, Wolverine...not one of them uses their real name."

Phil put his pizza down for a moment, seemingly staring off into space as he tried to remember any instances where this was not true. Oh, duh.

"Not necessarily! Jean Grey used her real name. And she even had one of my powers!"

"Jean Grey was also about a million times stronger than you. AND she was Phoenix. And even if we forget the comics...we've got people like Wormhole and Mr. Might in real life-and I highly doubt those are their real names.

"Alright...point taken...but what should it be? I can't think of anything that sounds cool and telekinetic-y."

Ben leaned back in the chair, balancing it on it's back legs, a favorite pastime of his. His hands were folded and behind his head as he ran through the possibilities.

"Let's see...Mask Lad...The Ballroom Wonder...

"Shut up."

"Attic Scrounger...Carnival Crusader..."

"How about Zaulyl?"

Ben stopped a second-he'd heard that name before...but where?

"Wait...isn't that one of the characters from that comic your uncle used to write? Isn't that kind of like...I dunno, plagiarism or something?"

"Well...he never actually got it published. I'm surprised you even remember that name. It's been about 10 years since we've touched those comics. Uncle J's gone...I can't think of many more who'd recognize the name...it works."

"I guess...oh well. We need to train."

"Train?"

"Yup."

With that, Ben leveled his chair out again, and walked away to Phil's room. He came back with a baseball bat and a tattered bag filled with baseball equipment. He didn't pause for Phil to wonder how the hell he always managed to find things so quickly, instead walking out Phil's back door-he was heading to the old baseball diamond that was past the woods behind Phil's house. Phil ran after him, locking the door behind him as he went.

"H-hey! Wait a second!"
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Phil would emerge from the woods just in time to take a baseball to the shoulder. His hand immediately went to the point of impact-yea, that was going to bruise. Phil looked out to find his assailant-there was Ben, standing about 20 feet away. Ben had been the pitcher on the baseball team when they were in high school-he apparently never lost his knack for it.

"What the hell was that all about?!"

Ben was pacing in front of Phil, tossing a ball up in his hand and watching it as it came back down into his waiting palm. He would turn his head to see Phil, standing there looking like an idiot and holding his arm. Oops...didn't mean to hit him...oh well, he got the idea.

"I told you-we're gonna train. There's no way in hell you think you're gonna just bust into a bank while it's being robbed and immediately be a superhero...we've gotta practice if we're ever going to be able to actually make a difference."

Phil stood in place, dumbfounded. I guess he has a point...aw crap. I'm gonna be hurting in the morning. Whoa, wait a minute.

"What do you mean "we"? I'm the superhero here...what are you gonna do? Throw baseballs at their heads?"

Ben dropped the ball and walked towards a bag-it wasn't the baseball equipment bag. Ben had brought it out here earlier and hidden it in the woods. When he and Phil had first discussed the hero business, he had found it prudent to make sure they were prepared. And prepared, in this case, meant armed. Ben pulled out a pair of handguns, a pocket knife, and a grappling hook, setting each on the ground one after the other. Where the hell did he find a grappling hook?

"These are all yours. I figure you can cheat with the grappling hook and make it go where you want. Guns are just nice to have, and I got you a knife too. Don't ask where; probably better that you don't know where they came from.

That makes me feel safe. So much for being a perfectly upright hero. Phil approached the items and picked each up slowly before putting the guns in his jacket pockets, the knife in his jeans, and the grappling hook-seriously, how did he manage to get his hands on a damn grappling hook?-in his backpack. He knew how to use all of them well enough, except the hook; Like Ben said though, he could use telekinesis on the hook and cheat...so he didn't really NEED to learn how to use that one.

"This doesn't answer my question...how do YOU plan to not turn into a hostage?"

Ben replied, not with words, but by pulling out a third handgun, a set of lockpicks, and a pair of brass knuckles.

"OK...your plan to be a hero involves using illegal weapons? How does that work?"

"Well it's not like the bad guys are going to be fighting fair-why should we?"

Phil sighed-he wasn't going to argue. Ben was probably right, after all. Plus, Ben had more experience with the bad element of society-he likely knew what he was talking about.

"You said something about training?"

Ben hid his various tools in whatever pockets were available to him and picked his baseball up again. He pointed behind Phil.

"Get back over there-I'll throw the ball at you and you try to stop it with your mind. And we keep doing this til my arm gets tired.

Then, we move on to melee.
"

As if to accentuate his point, Ben nudged the baseball bat on the ground with his foot. Oh damn...yea, I'm gonna be hurting in the morning, definitely.

~~~

Phil was in place, waiting for the next ball to come. Around him lay at least a dozen baseballs, most of which hadn't been stopped by Phil at all. Ben was getting back into the groove of things and his old accuracy was coming back. However, the last few balls hadn't hit Phil, but instead soared harmlessly past him. Ben swore that his aim was dead on, so they assumed that Phil was finally getting at least a little better, if not quite good enough to completely stop a projectile.

Ben wound up and let the ball fly-it seemed to be on a direct path for Phil's stomach when it abruptly fell to the ground, as if it suddenly got 20 pounds heavier. The ball would roll between Phil's feet. Ben clapped twice-this was the first time they had legitimate proof that Phil's ability was to blame for the ball not hitting him.

"Alright, send em back. I'm out."

"I really don't think I'm going to be able to stop the ball completely. Not any time soon, at least. Just pushing the ball down gives me a headache."

Even so, the balls at Phil's feet started rolling towards Ben, eventually stopping at the other boy's feet. Phil could feel Ben's...frustration? Disappointment? It was still somewhat difficult for him to identify different emotions, but this one was negative, at least. Ben seemed to really want Phil to succeed here. Maybe later.

Ben shrugged and picked up the baseball bat-it was time for melee. The bat was old and likely ready to break at any moment, but Phil still thought it prudent to learn a bit quicker at melee than he had with the balls.

"You're not gonna be swinging super hard, are you?"

Ben didn't answer, instead just ran at Phil, bat ready to be unleashed. Son of a bitch...I'm not that kind of hero! Things still hurt, dammit!

Phil dodged the first swing of the bat, and ducked behind a tree to avoid the second-Ben wasn't pulling his punches-he rarely did. Phil rolled out towards the field, Ben close behind him and climbed to his feet. Ben continued his onslaught of swings, each one only narrowly dodged by Phil. Finally, he tripped and fell to the ground-he'd HAVE to use his power now. As the bat came down, Phil clenched his eyes shut-when he opened them, Ben was standing there smiling-the bat was stuck in midair. Ben's hands weren't even holding it anymore.

"That was a real douche thing to do."

"I had to be sure you wouldn't slip up in a real combat situation."

Ben offered his hand to Phil, which he gladly accepted. Ben took the bat out of the air and carried it back to the equipment bag. He would put the balls and the bat back in the bag and Phil would breath a sigh of relief-he had made it through the day without too much injury. The sun was setting; the day was finally over.

Ben waved his goodbyes at Phil as he retreated back into the woods, leaving Ben on the field. Ben lived in the other direction, so they'd see each other tomorrow.

~~~

That night, Phil found it hard to sleep. It wasn't that he was having REAL difficulty...it was that he kept having dreams, and kept waking up when an object would strike him in the head. After waking, said object-and several more-would fall out of their suspension and litter his floor. Phil noted that he needed a way to keep his stuff tied down when he slept-this dream telekinesis business was a horrible way to sleep. Not to mention the mess it made of his room.

I'll figure that out tomorrow. Sleep now. Regardless of flying items.
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The next day was bright and sunny. The sound of chirping birds and the gravelly sound of skateboard wheels on the sidewalk were drowned out by the blaring of Phil's music in his ears. He wasn't even paying attention to what song it was-he was instead thinking about the various ways he could cheat physics with his ability. Doing any real tricks on this thing would probably take a bit more practice-which Ben assured him would be coming when he least expected it. As if it's not dangerous enough having these powers without your best friend trying to kill you too.

The news was seemingly flooded with news about superpowered individuals. They were either getting attacked or doing the attacking, seemingly all the time. Good thing only Ben knows...even if he's just as likely to kill me as a bad guy...

Phil was about to push off of the ground again, but stopped-this was a prime chance to start practicing, relatively safely. He reached out with his mind, could almost "feel" the wheels below him. Then, he made them spin faster. Simple enough, and it actually worked-he picked up speed. Of course, he had to fight to keep his balance, since he wasn't prepared for just how fast his power could make his wheels turn, but it was definitely a worthy use of his telekinesis. Could I do this with cars, I wonder? Make the wheels move without even turning it on? It'd do wonders for gas...is that technically stealing from gas companies though? I'll have to experiment with that laterWHAT THE HELL!?!

Phil dived to the ground and let his skateboard zoom off ahead of him. He had felt..something. It was almost like a seething rage-it was still here. Steadily, Phil started to feel it too, not just as a visiting emotion, but as one of his own. Someone around here was really pissed off-but he was alone. Whatever. Not my problem.

Phil rose to his feet as his skateboard slowly rolled back to him, as if apologizing for leaving it's master behind. Phil stepped onto it and started home, eager to get out of this place, and whoever was making him so pissed off.
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Phil would find upon reaching his home, however, that every door and window was locked. What the hell? I didn't leave these loc-...Ben.

Indeed it was Ben. Ben had found his way into Phil's home, knowing his friend's habit of never locking the house up, and promptly locked every single door and window from the inside. A curtain would open to the left of the door, revealing Ben's smug face. He would hold up a paper sign to the glass, one that read:

If you want in, use your power.

Dammit Ben...these games are getting old.

Nonetheless, Phil took a deep breath in and out, preparing to unlock the door. His right hand extended towards the door's handle, where Phil knew the lock to be. He reached out with his mind, similar to how he had done with his skateboard's wheels-it was a bit more difficult, not being able to see what he was manipulating. In fact...it was so difficult, he decided to move on to another tactic.

Phil walked over the window Ben hid behind and extended his arm similar to before. He could actually see the lock this time-getting a beat on it was simple. The lock slid to the "open" position without much effort at all. Phil wouldn't settle for making his way in through his window though-there had to be a better way.

He closed and opened the lock several times to be sure he had it, and then closed his eyes. He had never let go of the lock, but now it felt...weird. Obviously, this was many times easier to do when one knew exactly what he was doing and could verify what he felt-similar to one's balance being somewhat tied to eyesight, his ability to move things was severely limited when he could not verify the object's location through his senses. Memory alone didn't seem to be quite enough.

However, Phil had a mission-getting into his house without crawling in through a window like a common thug. He walked out in front of his door again, resolve clear on his face. Then...he giggled? He looked through the window-Ben was watching some comedian on comedy central. Dammit, Ben! This is serious business!

As before, he lifted one hand up and pointed it at the door. He felt around on the other side, looking for...what WAS he looking for? There wasn't any actual sensation to be felt, just a feeling that he had it right. Hmm...new strategy. Do or do not. There is no try.

Taking advice from his favorite diminutive telekinetic, Phil simply willed his lock open-there was no feeling around, nothing like that-he just...DID it. And, it worked. As Phil walked into the house, he pushed the power button on the tv by thinking about it-STILL sooo cool-and gave Ben a look that meant "You are in trouble, sir."

Defiantly, Ben turned the tv on again with the remote. This time, there was a click as the tv turned off and the remote flew out of Ben's hand.

"I win."

"Whatever...turn to the news. Something's going on a home depot."

"Huh?"

Phil turned on the tv-with the remote, this time-and turned to the local news channel.

Quote:
 
-ing live from the scene at the local Home Depot, where an explosion from an unknown source set the store into a state of panic-


Phil muted the tv-explosions didn't ordinarily just happen. Even if this WAS just an accident, surely a telekinetic would be a good thing to have around...right? Ben apparently thought so-he was already out the door.

"I'll race ya!"

Phil cursed under his breath and made sure everything was on his person-guns, grappling hook in back pack, alter ego clothing, and pocket knife-and ran out the door, closing it behind him. Before he even reached the road, he paused and turned back at the house. Well...why not? He locked the door and window once more before catching up with Ben, both en route to Home Depot.
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OOC: Aaaaand Re-Entry.

IC:

Phil, once again, was winded by the time they got back home. Ben, on the other hand, was only breathing a little harder than normal. Ben walked up to Phil's front door and tried the knob-Phil felt Ben's confusion as the door didn't slide open like it normally did. Ben looked back at Phil, who had his hands on his knees.

"Try it now." He wheezed through gasping breaths. Ben did as he was told-not that he had to be told, he could hear the door unlocking from the other side. He walked in the house, Phil right behind him, and slumped down on the couch. A hard day's work of...running around.

"Ok, I'm sorry, but...that was just NOT heroic. At all. We ran all the way out there just for you to close a damn door and for me to watch you close a damn door."

Phil lazily walked past Ben and let himself fall back onto the couch as well. He laid back, letting his body rest a bit longer as he thought about how that day had gone. Ben was right. It wasn't very heroic.

"Which reminds me-" Phil elbowed Ben in the gut, making the other one lean forward, clutching his stomach. "Now we're even. Ass." Phil turned on the tv with his mind and grabbed the remote. He turned it to cartoon network. Ed, Edd, and Eddy was on.

"Fine. Whatever. Truce...this is a good one."
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Phil and Ben sat there for a while watching cartoons before one of them spoke up again. When someone did, it was Ben. "Dude-we need a car."

Without missing a beat, and without moving from his spot, Phil answered: "Dude. We don't have jobs."

Ben, calling upon his skills as a teen of the tv and internet generation, answered with almost as little movement as Phil. "We kinda can't get jobs, can we? Real superheros don't really have time for a real life. Not in this city."

Phil, finally breaking the cycle and displaying life beyond the ability to speak, sighed and looked up at the ceiling. "We need money. I doubt we can keep paying for ammunition and that stuff on allowances...but we can't get jobs either. At least, not the type that require us to be at a certain place at a certain time without fail."

Ben continued to sit there, letting the idiocy of Ed fry a few more braincells of his. "Isn't that like...every job in existence?"

"And therein lies the problem."

"Shit."

Ben got up and went to the kitchen-there was leftover pizza in the fridge, which he happily took upon himself to finish up. From the kitchen, he called out to Phil, who was still seated on the couch. "So we need money and transportation, but with no effort at all. Shouldn't the city pay us for saving them or whatever?"

Phil, hearing Ben get into the pizza box, pulled a piece through the kitchen and into his waiting hand. He felt a brief feeling that could only be described as "that's so cool", which quickly faded with satisfaction as Ben bit into his own slice. "That would certainly be nice, but there's at least two problems with that. First off, heroes don't ask for rewards-" "True enough-" "And second, vigilantism is against the law...we're not officially recognized like Mr. Might and Wormhole and those guys...we're just some punks playing hero."

Phil heard his fridge close and a few seconds later, Ben walked into the living room, holding a can of root beer in either hand and holding his pizza by his mouth. Phil held his hand out and slowly made the can float into his waiting palm, and Ben took the opportunity to free his mouth. After taking the pizza with his free hand, Ben sat down in his old spot and sighed. "How do you suppose those guys got to be so famous, huh? They can do whatever they want in regards to saving the day and not hear so much as a rumor of a lawsuit...and we've gotta be lame and secretive."

Phil shrugged as he opened his root beer and sipped from it. "Probably just did lots of awesome stuff til they were so loved by the people that no one would ever even think of applying the term "criminal" to them."

Ben chugged his root beer quickly-he was never one for letting things last-and set the empty can on the table in front of him. "I just realized something...we need money and wheels with no work. Matt."

Phil set his various items on the stand next to him as he considered the possibilities. Matt was the very embodiment of what they needed-he had money, he had wheels, and he got it all with no actual work. He was perfect. "We'll go get him tomorrow."

"Yea. Tomorrow. Hero business can wait."
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The tv in front of the two boys flickered, the picture turning to white static. A synthesized voice would speak to Phil and Ben. Come outside, please.

If the two were to emerge, they would discover Iron Lantern hovering over the sidewalk in front of the house, his arms crossed. He had seen them leaving the scene, and had followed from the sky.
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Ben sighed as the tv started flickering. "What the hell, man? I thought you had cable, not that damn satellite crap...whoa. Satellite doesn't do THAT." That, of course, was referring to the words that appeared on the screen of Phil's television. Ben and Phil simultaneously turned around to look out the window-they would see a man just floating there in what appeared to be a suit of metal.

Phil seemed to erupt with emotion-really, this was getting ridiculous. He had heard of empaths before...but they were never THIS hypersensitive in the stories. It seemed like every time an emotion other than 'normal' flashed through someone, it would fill him as well-and when there were several conflicting emotions at the same time, things got confusing. First, there was Ben's frantic fright in knowing that the pair had been caught already, coupled with his near instant...what would the word be, plotfulness? in regards to dealing with their witness, and then the feeling of defeat when he realized that they were most likely outmatched. In addition, there was Phil's own annoyance at his own abilities, as well as the feeling he usually got whenever someone called his full name-the "crap, what did I do?" feeling. Multiple different emotions, and likely a new one when they stepped outside.

Phil reached out toward his mask-it was a shaky flight, with the mask almost falling to the ground before it reached Phil's hand. Will this damn thing quit coming and going? I'd like a bit of consistency. Would that be too much to ask?

Once Phil was Zaulyl once more-not that it mattered, since this guy obviously knew where he lived and knew at least one of Phil's good friends, which was the entire point of a secret identity being secret-the pair left the house slowly, never taking their eyes off of the man in the sky.

"Wh-what do you want?"

Ben gave Phil a disapproving look, and Phil felt a wave of shame flooding through him. And why the hell would YOU be shameful, Ben?

"We didn't do anything wrong! What are you doing here? And why are you messing with our shows?" Our shows? Way to sound like a grown man, Ben. Nonetheless, Zaulyl would watch the scene unfold through his mask-even if it was a futile effort, that mask felt nice to have, like it was an extra shield. With any luck, I won't need it.
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I saw you two at the home depot today the Lantern said, altering his natural voice with the technology of his suit. And while I appreciate the help, you were sloppy. I wanted to give you some friendly advice.

He took one hand and raised it, elevating a single finger. First, never go straight home from the scene. Anyone who sees you from the air knows to follow you. Try taking a subway or ducking in the mall first- go somewhere its easy to get lost in the crowd, but where you can find the privacy to change costumes.

He raised a second finger. Second, find a neutral location you can change into your costume in, and in private. You don't want someone seeing you coming out of your house in that costume. All that being said, nice work. I am guessing you two are the ones who shut the door? You helped me nab a dangerous, albeit a bit reckless, criminal.
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Ben and Phil stood there, a bit dumbfounded-here was a genuine hero, the type they were trying to be. Offering them advice! That's...weird. Totally caught a break there. As the man pointed out their flaws, Phil found his cheeks flushing-both he and Ben were embarrassed. We really did take a lot of bad choices there, huh? That's...unfortunate...I guess we'll have to work on our heroism.

Ben was the first to speak up once the metal man finished. "Yea, we got the door. Well, he did. I just watched it." With a gun in hand.

Phil would shove the emotions down-it seemed easier to do when they weren't overbearing, like anger or fear. Which reminds me...I should investigate that place I went to before that felt angry...there could potentially be a crime scene there. In the course of his thoughts, he suddenly realized that the metal man was still there, and that it was now Phil's "turn" to talk.

"Yea...I got the door. I..um..move things." To demonstrate, a few pebbles in the yard of one of their neighbors between the metal man and the boys started floating, til they reached about waist level. They then dropped out of the air, both because the demonstration was over and because Phil lost his grip on the pebbles. It gets harder to hold onto smaller objects, while things that are too heavy can be pushed at pretty easily...they just won't always move. Maybe it takes more precision practice...in which case, Ben's baseball training actually might be the way to go.

"So...who are you?"
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I am the Iron Lantern The synthesized voice said, and Like you, I an move things with my mind. Only, my power only works on metals and machines. I'm a technopath. He had been fighting crime in Veritas for a year, and had done a fairly good job of avoiding too much media attention. For now, at least, he hadn't gotten a page 1, which might be why they didn't know of him.

Without warning, Phil's cell phone woulc come hurtling from its home, and float in front of the Lantern. The phone floated in midair for a second, before finally emitting a *ping* noise, indicating a new app had been installed. Your cell phone now has a police scanner built into it. Also, if you hit "0" while the police scanner app is opened, you will send a distress signal to my battle armor.

The phone flew back to Phil. Practice with your power, and try not to get yourself killed.
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Phil once again got the "that's so cool" feeling from Ben-awe, he supposed was the word for it. When he received his phone back, he looked at it-there it was, a police scanner app. That certainly made this business many times easier. Pressing 0 summons him, huh? So we've got a guardian angel technopath now? Definitely a bigger advantage than Batman ever had.

"Thank you for this." "Iron Lantern, huh?"

Ben took Phil's phone away from him and looked at it-this was definitely a step in the right direction. Couple this with some wheels and some more money, and they were set.

"I'll do that then...B, we should do that bb training again...that seemed to help."

Ben was confused for a moment before he realized the reasoning behind Phil not using his name. Then, he realized that the Iron Lantern hadn't given them his real name, obviously...it was probably bad practice to give out real names.

"Yea...sure Z." I should probably get a disguise too...even if I don't have powers, I'm still going out there and making risks...it'd be best to have some kind of mask or something like that to hide behind. The pair would wait a big longer to see if the Lantern had anything more to say-if he didn't, they'd retreat into Phil's home again, and begin preparations for tomorrow-finding Matt, training more...it was going to be a long day.
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Raphael
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Iron Lantern nodded to the last question, since Ben didn't seem to believe his name at first. He then waved and flew off, patrolling the city for additional dangers. You never knew when a criminal might strike, or what other chaos might befall the city. He had to keep a vigilant watch.

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~~~Next Day~~~

Ben had crashed there that night, and he woke before Phil did. He took the time to raid Phil's attic, looking for more suitable costumes...he found nothing but old halloween crap. Nothing was really worthy of a sidekick, let alone a superhero.

And so, as he came down from the attic, Phil woke to disappointment. And found more disappointment when he realized that the remote had vanished. He and Ben immediately set out to find the remote, which Ben quickly found in the bathroom sink. "Dude, you've gotta get this sleep-telekinesis thing under control."

Phil pulled the remote towards him and set it down on the couch. "Let's just go get Matt...I have a feeling I'll have to convince him a bit."

~~~

Finding Matt was actually very easy. He never really went anywhere-that would change, hopefully. When they arrived, he was-predictably-in his apartment, playing a game on his 360. He welcomed his old friends in-he didn't get many visitors these days-and went back to his game.

Ben picked up a controller and hopped in-the game was Call Of Duty, one of Ben's favorites. As they sat there, Ben would strike up a conversation. "So, Matt...what have you been up to?"

Displaying the same lack of movement as the others had the day previous, Matt answered quite emotionlessly...at first: "This, pretty much. BOOOOOM, HEADSHOOOT!!!" Phil felt a wave of confidence, one that quickly faded when Ben got his payback kill. "Boom. Headshot."

"Matt, we're here to see if...well, there's not really an easy way to say it...so, I guess I'll just show you." Matt's collection of games would start floating, to which Matt responded by yelping and shrinking away. Phil felt both fear and amusement-Matt and Ben, respectively. The games set themselves back down and Phil approached Matt, who cowered away. "Dude, it's ok...I'm not here to hurt you or anything like that...I was just wondering if you wanted in."

"Wanted in? What do you mean, want in? Fighting crime?! NO! I like living, it's done good things for me!"

Phil felt anger from Ben, who seemed about three seconds from raising his fists, when Phil quickly interjected. "Yea, you're right Matt. I guess it IS too dangerous...I guess I got caught up in the adrenaline, yano, dodging bullets and stuff like that...I never really considered the danger. Oh well, it's too late for Ben and me, but you're not in this yet. Sorry for disturbing you, we'll be going now."

Phil motioned to Ben, who was visibly pissed. "Are you sayin we came all the way out here for nothing? That's bullsh-" "Ben, he's made his decision, we should respect it. C'mon."

Phil led the way out of Matt's house, Ben grudgingly following. When Phil closed the door behind him with his mind, the countdown began. "Five, four, three, two-" "One."

Right on cue, Matt's door opened as the pair reached the sidewalk. "Wait!...I mean...you guys are gonna need someone sensible like me around. To make sure you don't get yourselves killed, yano? It'd be irresponsible of me to just let you guys run around into bullets."

Phil and Ben turned around, fighting hard to suppress their smiles. "You know, that's actually why we thought of you. We thought to ourselves, "who could keep us from being stupid about this" and we thought "Good ole Matt could do it"." "So...does this mean you're in?"

Matt jogged over to the pair, and Phil closed his door for him. He looked like he was trying to think of something important to say. After a few seconds, Phil got an "ah-hah!" feeling, obviously coming from Matt.

"On one condition. You guys have to call me The Condor."

Ben and Phil didn't dare risk an immediate answer. Instead, they just nodded their heads and smiled. After a few seconds, Ben took one for the team and risked it. "Sure thing, Condor."
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BurningBright
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Soon after leaving Matt's, the trio would find their way to the old baseball field after a quick stop at Phil's to pick up the baseball equipment. Matt hadn't been on the team like Ben and Phil had, but he was usually playing during the neighborhood games when they were all kids, so he had some kind of skill at least.

Both Ben and Matt would take up the throwing against Phil, who stood still and let the projectiles come. Taking a cue from his past experiences with anger, Phil thought back to the place he found earlier, the one flooded with anger-and it worked. His power came to him much easier than before. Not a single ball struck Phil, and one even slowed to a stop in midair.

Phil would let a long-held breath loose, and the ball would fall to the ground. Ben and Matt were out of things to throw at him. The balls at Phil's feet would roll back to them, ready to be tossed again. Phil was playing with them now; he'd make Ben's balls twirl off into the air, and would speed Matt's up before turning them through a U-turn. The balls would then be launched back at Ben and Matt, who quickly ran away with their still present collection of baseballs.

"Ok, ok! No more! You've obviously got projectiles covered." Matt would run up next to Ben, obviously still getting used to this whole superpower thing. Phil, on the other hand, was standing on the other side of the batting cage, trying to get control over himself again. He hadn't noticed it until later, but the balls weren't the only things floating-after Ben and Matt had taken off, Phil had time to look at his feet. When he did, he realized that a cloud of dust had accumulated around his legs. His control wasn't perfect-he had the ability to control things, but then other things tended to get caught too.

"No, he's got baseballs covered. Don't try that crap with bullets...I highly doubt that would work. We're probably throwing these balls around 40 mph tops...that's not very quick for a projectile. Join a baseball team though, you'd kick ass."

"Well, even if he doesn't have ALL projectiles covered, he's got it as good as we're going to be able to get it with our current resources...let's move on to melee." Ben walked over to the baseball equipment, taking one bat for him and tossing another at Matt (who didn't catch it, just jumped away). While this was going on, the dust at Phil's feet was finally settling. Maybe I should experiment with other emotions too...I don't really have much to fall back on though...that instance of anger was stronger than anything else I've dealt with. Dammit. Guess I'm stuck with that one right now.

Phil walked around the batting cage to the other two boys-he had to be a bit better than he was yesterday, or he'd get seriously hurt. That being said, he doubted that Matt would have it in him to swing really hard, but Ben, being Ben, would absolutely swing hard enough to break things.

Ben and Matt immediately attacked, and Phil called up his anger-he pushed off of the ground, knocking himself backwards awkwardly through the air. He managed to get knocked back about 5 feet before gravity took over again, and he landed hard on his ass.

"Whoa! How'd you do that?"

Phil rolled over, the dust once again rising as he tried to get himself over control again. "I just..uh..pushed. I don't know how to explain it."

Ben and Matt ran up next to Phil, helping their friend to his feet. "I know how to explain it. That was a force push...like a jedi! You can push things!" Ben laughed and shook his head, even as he slowly considered the possibilities. A force push...that was interesting. "Yano, we should probably find out what your upper limit is...like weight-wise. In the meantime, I don't think you should try that force push move."

Phil was only half paying attention-the world seemed to be spinning around him, like someone hit him hard in the head. Standing was a chore-practice would have to wait a few minutes, it seemed.

~~~

When the trio would return to training, after Phil promised to keep his "pushing", as Ben insisted they referred to it as, under control, it would be melee training once more. Phil once more called up his anger, and once more, the dust at his feet was set loose from gravity's control. Ben would come in first with a high swing, which Phil ducked under. He soon found himself on his back, as Ben reversed his swing and took Phil's legs out from under him from behind. Phil sighed-this wasn't going to be easy, he could tell.

"Hey, you should try using your power to supplement your movements. Like...maybe if you're moving your hand, and then you telekinetically move your hand too, it'll go quicker. You can try balancing yourself that way too." Phil rolled to his feet and tested Matt's idea-his hand really DID move quicker. Good call, Matt.

"Ok. Take Three, let's go."

Once again, Ben took a swing up high at Phil-Phil responded by bending backwards, Matrix style. When Ben took the expected swing backwards, Phil waited for the bat to come past his head, and put his hands down on the ground behind him-he lifted his legs into the air, not even on his hands for a full second before using his power to gently push his body back to a crouched position on the ground-Ben smiled, having just witnessed more acrobatic skill than Phil had ever demonstrated...ever.

Phil looked at the ground, and ran his movements through his mind-that was weird. This tk-assisted movement was a great idea though. It was definitely working. Matt ran in as well, taking a predictably safe swing down. Matt would find his bat swinging awkwardly off to the side, completely missing it's target. Phil didn't have long to relish his victory though-Ben was swinging at his face. Ben's arms would shake with the shock of suddenly hitting something solid-except they didn't. The bat simply stopped moving.

In the meantime, Matt had recovered and was swinging a little harder-he wouldn't even make it to Phil though. Matt would find one of his feet would slide sideways across the ground, resulting in the poor guy falling to the ground. Matt's bat would slide away from him and find it's way to Phil's hand, who would immediately take up the offensive against Ben. Phil had always been somewhat weaker than Ben, inferior to him in most ways, actually. Now...well, it was roughly even. The two "swordfought" for a few moments, neither really making any leeway-at least, not until Ben's bat turned aside and left his chest completely undefended. Phil poked Ben in the chest, having won the confrontation. "I won."

"You cheated."

Phil dropped his bat to the ground and went to go sit by the batting cage's fence. The dust at his feet steadily settled as he regained control. "Weren't you the one who said that we shouldn't fight fair if the bad guys won't?"

Ben laughed and started packing the equipment up. "Touche."

Phil put his face in his hands, thoroughly exhausted, and sighed. The day, and it seemed, the majority of the training he could get from his high school buddies, was finally over. And it was going to start again tomorrow. Whoo.
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AleenaGrey
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Waking up she groaned and grabbed her head. Her whole noggin hurt. Especialy her temples that felt like someone was tap-dancing on them. Someone that really needed to lose a few pounds. She rubed her face and cringed. Is this what happens when I over use my powers? She wondered. She hadn’t felt nearly like this when she’d first started messing with them.

“Aspirin.” She mumbled and crawled groggily off her bed. Shuffling towards her bathroom to pop two of those lovely little white pills into her mouth and swallow. That done, she still didn’t feel any better. “I got class today. Crap.” Painting, while not necessarily like problem solving, did requite some brain power. “Still got to go.” She muttered angrily. Perhaps the professor would take some pity on her.

Changing into her usual clothes, she gathered up her book backs. Or at least tried. She dropped her books by accident and they just HAPPENED to land on her foot. “Son-of a –“!! She growled as she hoped on one foot and collected her stuff again.

Thank god her mother was home to drive her. She didn’t think she could have managed. She’d hoped that her headache would go away after a while. Yet the closer she got to school, the more it seemed to hurt. She gritted her teeth and bore it. Class was miserable. What with all the idiots chattering at the top of their lungs at one another. Some of the fools were even muttering out loud what she rather they have kept to themselves. She really didn’t need to know Cindy had a nice butt from Donny.

Halfway through class her Professor sent her home. Unfortunately nobody was home to pick her up so she had no choice but to hoof it. Splendid.

The more she walked, the more pressure it felt was building in her skull. She was afraid she’d pop. “Oh god, what the hell is wrong with me?” She mumbles as she rubbed her forehead futilely. It grew just a bit more as some woman walked by her. Glancing her over and mumbling ‘druggy’. Alairis whorled around and glared at the woman. “I’m not some druggy!” She hissed at the now very startled blond. Then before she could say anything else she stormed off.

It seemed that little outburst seemed to help with her headache as she walked. It eased up slightly, but that was only a brief respite. The market was coming up and the closer she got to it, the more her head pounded. And of course the noise that so many people just ground against her headache. She gritted her teeth and tried to ignore it and just walk.

A woman walked by her, pounding harshly on the keys of her phone as she glared at it. Alairis glanced up at her. ‘I can’t believe she didn’t call. See if I ever help her out again’

Baffled she watched the woman walk away as she continued to walk backwards a few steps. And bumped right into an someone. She muttered an appaulagy and got a ‘no problem back’. Yet she also heard a few cuss words that didn’t fit to the movement of the guy’s lips. “What did you say?” She asked confused. The guy looked at her. “I said no problem.” He stared at her as if she was insane. ‘She’s gotta be on something?’

He walked away and Alairis’ head started pounding even harder. More voices filtered in, some that were spoken and some that weren’t. Her confusion and pain grew and grew as she stumbled threw the market. Hurrying faster on her way to get back home. All she wanted as to land in her bed and take more aspirin. She bumped into more people and got more curses.

Then she was running. Her head was ready to burst and she was starting to get really afraid. She had no clue what was happening to her or why her head was hurting so much. She did notice the closer people got the more she hurt. Especially if they actually touched her. So she ran harder. Making a bee line for the nearest open space she could find. She needed to get away from people and she wanted someplace she could lay down and rest. She was starting to get spots showing up in her vision as the pain escalated.

Then immediately it all subdued as she crossed into what looked like old fields. She stumbled around. She couldn’t understand what was going on. She didn’t remember getting hurt, but if she had been she’d been able to heal herself. What was this?

Finally she couldn’t take it anymore; she found a dark spot free of any people. There she sunk down with her back against a wall and clutches her legs to her. Her forehead pressed into her knees. God just make it stop!
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The next day, Phil, Ben, and Matt would go back to the baseball diamond. This time, though, there wasn't baseball equipment-there were several logs of varying sizes, as well as Matt's impala sitting on the pitcher's mound. Weightlifting time.

This training session had been explained to Phil earlier that day-he'd steadily go by, lifting each log one at a time, going up in size as he did so. If he could lift each log, he'd move onto Matt's car and see what he could do with that. And, if there was still time, he'd try to experiment with his pushing. That last part was Phil's idea, and Matt and Ben didn't know about it. That'd be later though.

Before they went though, they made sure to bring their respective masks-Ben's was one of those hoods that had a black film in front of the face, and Matt's was a black baseball cap, a pair of sunglasses, and a black surgical mask. They came there dressed as civilians-when they arrived though, they each donned their respective disguises-though, they kept on their civilian clothes. They didn't have THAT much time at the costume shop last night, after all.

Phil walked over to the first log and focused on that place again-it wasn't as clear anymore. He needed a new source soon. For right now though, it'd have to work. He bit his lower lip a bit and then turned around. "B, hit Condor for me."

Matt flinched, then got hit hard in the arm by Ben, who didn't ask questions. Matt did though. "Hey, what the hell?!"

Phil turned around, the anger from his memories and Matt helping, but not quite filling him with the rage he needed. "I have a second power I didn't tell you guys about. I'm an empath, I can feel emotions. Anger in particular works especially well when I'm trying to do telekinetic stuff."

Now Ben's anger was added into the deal, and Matt's was increased. "You don't think you could have mentioned that earlier? I already guessed about the anger thing, but the rest could have been very important, dammit!" "Yea, when were you planning on letting us know?"

"Later. Shut the hell up, it doesn't matter." Except it did matter in this case. The accumulation of anger was a good source for Phil. He focused on all of it together as a single entity-this could work. The dust cloud at his feet got larger, indicating a further potential for his ability. Phil held his hand out in front of him, at the smallest log-it lifted almost instantly. Phil simply moved on to the next log, lifting it and the previous one with ease. He stacked those two logs on top of the next log in line and redoubled his focus. The tower of logs rose a few inches, but slammed down to the ground again. He had found a limit-now it was just about surpassing it, and pushing those limits.

The first two logs were moved from the larger log, and Phil pointed both of his hands at it in particular. The new log lifted roughly a foot into the air and hovered for a few moments before Phil set it down again.

"One hand, that log again."

Phil sighed, but dropped one hand to his side anyways. He reached out and touched the log once more, taking his time. "What's the damn hold up? Lift the damn thing."

"Chill out, alright?" The log shakily rose into the air before being slowly lowered again. "Again."

The log was lifted again, and then tossed aside, as a sign that he didn't need to use that one anymore. Ben and Matt simply watched while Phil moved to the final log, using only one hand again. The log didn't move at all.

Phil grit his teeth as he focused more on the log-he would not be defeated by a dead piece of wood. He kept focusing on that single log, his teeth grinding against each other as his eyes started to tremble in their sockets. Suddenly, the log vanished, replaced by...it was hard to tell. Images flew through his head, thoughts of people laughing, angry yells, kids sobbing in their rooms, more yelling, even a woman lying there in bed, looking lovingly up at-That's not my room...I..what? The images, in this case, weren't real; they were simply representations of various emotions. The emotions themselves weren't particularly intense; it was more like there was a different, base emotion behind all of them. It was...frantic, upset.

It was almost like he was picking up emotions from the whole city...or at least someone who was channeling other minds. All of the sudden, the log appeared again-but it was wrong. The log was rocking. And it was on it's side? No, Phil was on his side. And the shaking, that was Ben. Phil's mind kicked back to reality and he sat up. His eyes felt hot-he rose his hand up to them and pulled them back bloody. Blood?

"What the hell was that? The log lifted, then you fell over and started freaking out. Then you started bleeding from your damn eyes!

Phil sat there, confused for a moment-then he saw her. A girl, down on her knees in the distance-she looked like she was experiencing something comparable to what he was going through. He called out to her, for the moment forgetting that he was in his hero attire. "Hey! You..what's your name? Come here!" I wonder if she's the reason for the freak out?

In the meantime, there was a beeping coming from Matt's direction. Matt yelped and almost dropped Phil's phone, then started tapping the phone, trying to both muffle the sound and keep Phil from finding out that he broke his phone. Phil and Ben weren't paying any attention to Matt though-their attention was on the girl in the distance.
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AleenaGrey
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Her head felt ready to explode. It hurt that much. She wondered if she was dying. Perhaps her healing power had turned against her. Yet that didn’t explain being able to hear all those people, even when their lips were moving. She couldn’t think straight. Her thoughts were jumbled and overwhelmed.

More voiced came to her. Calling out.

She cringed away from the sound pressing her head deeper into her knees. Tears were streaming down her face. Just stop! SHUT UP! ALL OF YOU! Alairis shouted, but she didn’t realize the words never left her lips. Yet they’d still manage to reach the boys.

ooc: Purple is projected thoughts.
Edited by AleenaGrey, Jan 25 2010, 05:05 PM.
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Phil, Ben, and Matt would all hear the same thing-in their heads. For Phil, however, he'd get anger along with it. Anger..and pain. The pain wasn't his-it was like he was watching it from afar. How could any one person have so much emotion in them? It's like there's-whoa. He stopped because he felt something strange-it was almost like he could feel his own emotions coming from the girl. Girl...can...can you hear this?

"What the hell was that? That was in my head, not with my ears...am I a-""No. I think she is."

Phil climbed to his feet and approached the girl. He motioned behind him for the guys to stay put as he slowly approached. You can hear this, can't you? I'm not saying this...I'm thinking it. If you can hear me...you're a telepath. You can hear thoughts and apparently project your own...and I'm an empath. I can feel other people's emotions, and with all these thoughts flying through your head, each with a different emotion backing it up, it's like I'm feeling everyone at the same time, and then I guess you're hearing my thoughts, and then that's making it worse for me because I'm freaking out about the emotions and then getting a double dose of freaking out...just calm down, please.

Phil didn't have his anger handy, but there was enough raw emotion coming off of this girl to supply him just fine. So, as a precaution, Phil was more than ready to restrain the girl if he had to. He didn't have much force behind his thoughts, but he figured he had enough to hold a panicking girl still. If he had to, Phil was confident that he could put the girl down-after all, he had that "push" thing to work on too. From what he could tell, it packed a punch. And with this girl backing it up, he was sure it'd pack more than enough punch to put someone on the ground for a few moments.

Matt was still freaking out about the phone-a voice started talking through it, saying cop-sounding things. "Ben! What the hell's going on? Ben looked over his shoulder and Phil felt startled and excited. EVERYONE needs to calm down. I can't think with all this damn racket!

Ben ran up to Matt, looking at the phone. "This is our first assignment. Good job, Matt, you figured out Phil's police scanner." "Police..scanner? We've got one of those? How?" "Kind of a long story."

While Ben and Matt were talking, Phil was still trying to get through to the girl. I have issues with my abilities too sometimes. Trust me though, you need to be calm.
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