I think I am here.

Watching as Solace teleported into the forcefield, Max stood his ground. “You don’t understand I can teleport into these things,” Solace said. He was right. At least it was some sort of protection from Aurell, though. Suddenly, Solace’s fist was at Max’s face and Max collapsed to the ground, clutching where he’d hit. It burned, and Max’s vision swam, like Solace had knocked his eyes out of working order too. “We will talk on my terms,” Solace said, and Max couldn’t find the strength to get a response. He was in so much pain, he almost didn’t hear the next thing Solace said. Something about armour? Still on the floor, Max outstretched his hand, and considered summoning Sethramir. A deadly weapon even among the deadliest of foes. He stopped himself, though. They weren’t here to kill Solace. “We... can save you.” He said to Solace through the pain. It was hard to believe, through all of this, Solace was still the victim. “We can help you.”

Alask nodded wordlessly, thinking over what Lena had said. The Shade was his weapon. He still didn't think Lena completely understood, that the Shade only ever came out when someone broke the Rules, and when it did come out, Alask had no control. He couldn't harness it as a weapon, or if he could, not one he could exactly 'aim' anywhere. Lena grinned, and Alask found he wasn't able to return it, just nodding, not trusting himself to say more. She'd proposed a deal. Keeping his secret if he kept the Shade in check. "Yeah," Alask said quietly. "Yeah, I accept your deal." Looking around, he spotted some apple trees around the building. "Those could be helpful," he said, pointing to the trees, and walking over to pick some apples. The spikes in his chest still thrummed and ached, the Shade inside dormant. Alask had searched any files he could get his hands on about cognitive shadows being spiked into people. Usually, you could communicate with it. But a Shade was more animal than human. It couldn't speak to him, but it could show its emotions. It happened every time Alask went near a person, every time he went near silver. A little hum of displeasure. Of course, to get the Shade to do anything else than hum he would need to break one of the Rules to enrage it, something he wasn't too keen on doing now. Taking back a little group of apples he looked to Lena. "This enough?" he asked.

Solace was here. Immediatly, Aurell turned and fired three bullets at each person here. The bullets tinged off of Max’s armour before he could even react and the air shimmered green as a forcefield went over him. He looked to the side. Althea was on the ground. He quickly expanded the forcefield until it covered her too, and was by her side. She seemed to be in pain, but was healing. Max cursed, wishing he could do something for somebody who’d only earlier he’d admitted he loved. His armour didn’t have any healing magics. Well, maybe one. His helmet was turquoise in colour, Aons for calming stretched along its surface. Max hadn’t taken it off in a while, but ever since Solace had healed him, he hadn’t needed it. Still, he took precaution. But now, what else could he do? Shutting his eyes and hovering his hands over the helmet, he pressed and felt it unclasp, lifting it up very slowly. Any moment he expected the screams to return, any moment now. A bead of sweat formed out of his anxiety, and in one swift motion he took the helmet off of his head. Nothing happened. For once in a while Max felt the cool air hit his face, his sight no longer restricted by the visor. He was free. Carefully, he placed the helmet over Althea’s head. The helmet could combat Max’s insanity, hopefully it would numb the pain Althea felt. Turning to Solace, Max talked through the forcefield. “Solace!” He said. “We need to talk!”

Walker taunted him. It hurt. A lot. Poetry-loving, depressed, weakling. That was what he’d called Lusk. It was true, and it hurt Lusk. He felt like breaking down, like giving up and walking away. But he was a Ghostblood. People expected things from him. People had always been expecting things from Lusk. He couldn’t have exposed who he really was then, and he couldn’t do it now. Closing his eyes and focusing on his Atium, Lusk tried to change his age, but no matter how old he was the words still stung. No matter how skilled he’d been the realisation still hurt. Walker mentioned he almost was out of cubes. Lusk checked, and saw three more. His three last ones. He had to use them wisely. Walker picked a knife. Lusk’s knife. It was ordinary metal, cheap and practical. It was Lusk’s. “Okay,” Lusk said, aging back to his normal age of 45, no longer tapping any Atium, no longer storing. Just Lusk. “You want to fight hand-to-hand, no tricks, no weapons? Let’s do it. He calmly walked towards Walker, katana in hand.

I agree with Voidus’ opinion on Compounders, it’s just (steel especially) there are so many when the actual Compounding is supposed to be rare. I agree with the fact that if you want to make characters powerful you should RP them becoming powerful. For that reason my next character is going to be an Unsnapped Allomancer, so I can get a chance to RP their Snap.

Falling towards the Walker kid, Lusk saw as they brought their sword out, forcing their sword upwards. Fumbling through his Harmonium cubes, Lusk eventually came towards an Oracle-cube. Pressing it he saw all of his futures. He saw every way he could possibly turn in midair, and he saw how his electrum shadows would die if he turned a certain way. Lusk assumed this was the katana. Following a shadow that survived, Lusk aced through the air, thinning his body to dodge better. He got a large cut on the side of his abdomen, but Lusk immediately aged the wound until the point in the future where it would heal into a scar. Landing on the ground with pewter-enhanced strength, Lusk turned and used a Lurcher-cube to take the katana from midair into his grasp, charging to Walker for a swing, this time continually changing his appearance and age for maximum confusion. “My point exactly,” he said. “You spoke of relying on weapons, get you used one yourself.”

Considering the options, Alask suddenly turned ice-cold at Lena’s change of tone. Turning from the building with hesitation and meeting her stare, he realised he was suddenly scared of her. Like, actually scared. Pancakes and jokes and grins, Alask was completely unprepared for this. Of course you’re scared, he told himself. These people are theives. They’re tough. They didn’t get here through hugs and rainbows. You’re a theif, too. Start acting like one. Setting his jaw and taking a deep breath, Alask went to answer Lena, trying hard to mimic her cold tone and hard stare. How’d she pull it off so easily? “Yes, I can keep it under control,” he said clearly and slowly, trying to articulate each syllable for more effect. “Mostly. As long as we don’t run at night, kindle flame, or shed blood, we should be all fine.” Was his face paling? Rust. He resisted saying more and looked back at the Alleyzon building. “I say we’re go for the Health Program plan,” he said. Suddenly the heist didn’t feel like fun and games anymore. Lena had been the first one to figure the Shade out, how long would it take for others to follow suit?

Max stood by, contemplating the door. If there was ever a place where information on Solace was abundant, it was the lab that was now blocked from them. Burning the last flake of zinc and storing the Allomantic output into his nicrosilminds, Max was pleased to find he had a bunch of Rioting stored up. Not much compared to what he’d had before, but it was enough. Suddenly there was a blur and another man appeared next to that Moerevor guy, who now had multiple bloody spikes sticking from his chest. As Moerevor made introductions Max just stared ahead. Spikes. Just because he didn’t freeze like a statue when he saw them didn’t mean he enjoyed their presence by any stretch of the imagination. Just the thought of the mess, the gore, the lines of blood trickling down the metallic spike in branches, it brought Max back to the Seven Day War, back to the monsters he’d seen. So many spikes. The last time he’d been around a Spiked, he’d controlled them. He wondered, if he could just reach out, Riot Moerevor, how easy would it be to take control, to pilot his body? It was almost worrying, the impulse for that sweet, sweet control. Almost... addicting. Sharply pulling himself back into the present, Max looked to another man who seemed quite optimistic about cracking the door. Subconsciously, Max Rioted the man’s optimism higher. Optimism was good. Looking at the door, Max considered the key card Aurell had given him, in his hand as of now. Apparently made 20 years ago by Solace, it was truly something of a mystery. Why did these exist? Slowly stepping towards the metallic door, Max held up his key card to its front. Would the door recognise it?

Alask stationed himself just a few paces away from the Alleyzon tower. At the top, there would be Flight Control, the people directing each of the many Alleyzon planes to their destination. It was how the company maintained such a fast delivery time. And Alask was going to rob it. But he wasn’t going to do it alone, of course. “So,” He said to Lena. “How do you propose we get past security and into the main building? I imagine it will smooth-sailing from there.” @Ookla the Clueless

The cube pressed Walker’s skin, but before Lusk could do more the youth was up and away, taunting Lusk. The Atium-cube has obviously taken effect, the 23 year old Walker now seemed to be in the middle of his teenage years. But there was something else, Lusk realised as he inspected the boy. The kid looked more dangerous, more angry, more... loose. His speaking patterns changed too, evidently. Age would do that. The boy speaked of fighting with honour. Lusk somehow doubted the boy’s sincerity. Luckily, Lusk wasn’t feeling particularly honourable anyway. Raising his voice, Lusk addressed the Drown kid. “You’d have to be a fool to realise I haven’t used my knife all battle. If anything, you’re the one who’s relying on katana’s to duel.” But first, to contain some of that rage. Activating two cubes by his sides and throwing them towards Walker, Lusk ran forward, aging his legs to mid-thirties for maximum strength and youngening the rest of of his body for minimum weight. The two cubes were Soothing cubes, and would emit a bubble of heavy Soothing. Lusk hadn’t managed to find a way to pinpoint what emotions to Sooth, so as of now they just generally numbed a person’s brain. Taking a large leap in the air, Lusk waited till he was above Walker, and instantly sent his whole body to the obese state of 29 years old, becoming huge and fat, plummeting towards Walker.

If we survive, I want to built a grave for her. I am the only family she had left. Nobody else will care enough. Max nodded, though his mind was still on the other thing Althea had said. She said she loved him, too. She loved him. She loved him! A new energy filled Max, his heartbeat quickening, the energy to continue fighting coursing through him. Together, it didn't seem that hard of a task. Not with her by his side. Aurell asked what lines on Solace's spirit-web Max was talking about. Max opened his mouth to explain, but decided against it. Aurell had said Solace hadn't told her much. He doubted any explaining would get much information back. "Nevermind," he said. Hearing Althea's questions, Max tried to think of a response. I... He began, trying to explain. I've seen things. "And yeah," Max said to Aurell. "Looking around the lab would be helpful."

@Ookla the Drunk

Lusk spun away from the attack. Lusk turned fast and took a step back as the Drown kid threw a knife at him. Lusk needed something to block it. Quick. Bringing up the hand that had been blown up by the Harmonium, Lusk controlled his Atium-tapping just to that location, immediately bringing his arm to the age of 25. At this age, Lusk had not yet blown up his hand, and so, in place of the blown up hand that was there just moments earlier, an earlier version of his hand lay, repaired. The knife hit and dig into the age-healed hand, and immediately Lusk stopped tapping Atium and the hand disappeared back to its normal broken self and the knife clattered to the ground. It hadn’t harmed Lusk at all, he didn’t have a hand for it to hit. All it had done was hurt a previous version of Lusk’s hand. Leaping to Walker’s side with only the speed a triple-pewterarm could, Lusk brought out a special Harmonium cube. It was one he had been charging up since the beginning of the duel. It was one that shared Lusk’s own power. It was an Atium Feruchemy cube. Attempting to press it against Walker’s arm firmly with the grip of a pewterarm, Lusk waited for the effects to take place.

"Max." Max just stood, Althea's head against his shoulder, listening. He ran an armoured hand through her silk white hair, stroking it to comfort her. It flowed from the gauntlet perfectly. He couldn't feel it, but he imagined it as soft. So soft. She told him everything, she kept back crying, and Max just listened, wrapping her in his embrace. He heard about the lady Althea had wanted to confront, how she couldn't so she sent someone to check on her, a spy. Someone she'd always wanted to meet, someone to talk to to, to show she existed. And now she was dead. She lifted up her head and Max could see Althea's pain in full, he could see how she'd been holding back, how she let go. The pain. The emotion. It was so vivid and clear a tear even sprouted from Max's eye, creeping and crawling its salty trail down his face, leaving a trail like a liquid scar. Oh, the pain. He could see it. It just made his embrace tighter. I'm sorry. We don't have the time for this. I'll manage. Max wanted to tell her, so desperately, that no. They did have time. She could weep. But could they? She looked up again and Max tried not to give in to the emotion. Because she was right, and that made everything more painful. All they could do was manage. All they ever did was manage. One disaster after the next, the event was forgotten but the pain always stayed. She loosened the hug but Max saw she didn't have the strength to exit, to leave his shoulder. He wished they never had to. He wished they stayed in this moment, this perfect moment of connection. But there were duties. There were responsibilities. Taking a gentle hand up and guiding Althea's head to face his, Max gazed into her eyes, her beautiful red eyes. I... he said over the link, a hushed voice. I... Love you. The words were so simple. He just had to say it. I love you. I love you. I think your hair is very pretty, he said, and then winced. And I love you. And I promise we'll have time to mourn. The God Beyond knows that time is long overdue. He tried a ghost of a smile, brushing his thumb against her cheek. But... But now we must do what we need to. For the Alleyverse. For Solace. For the lives who are not yet lost. For us.

Don’t blame yourself. Max looked to Althea, and they made eye contact. He wanted to do as she said, he wanted to say he was innocent, but everytime he thought of the families he’d crushed in Oasis his body felt like it went in lockdown, his mind shattering at the guilt. Now we only have to find a way to test this, without him killing us. Get him to trust us. It will be risky, but I think we can do it. Use the link he created and his own powers. Max looked to Althea, and nodded. It was logical. At least one person on this mission was. Then she smiled. That took Max by surprise. Had she smiled before? Once, when her mind had gotten healed. But now was a natural smile, and Max felt warm again, how her eyes glistened in a ray of light, how she- Her smile faded, and Max pretended not to look as she took out a spanreed, face impassive. She whispered to the air, probably to her spren. She was still. Too still. Like she was trying to be still. Max almost looked away when he saw her face change just for a moment, a face of pure pain before it switched back to normal Althea. It sent chills through Max. Althea? He projected to her as she took her spot by the wall again, too calm, too relaxed. But why? Why make the show? What did she see. Althea? The voice came out a whisper, a whimper. He took a step forward. She was Broken. He was too. They’d been through a lot, a lot, and yet it hurt Max to see Althea’s calm demeanour. She wasn’t showing any pain, not even a change of expression. Was it really that bad? A brief part of Max wondered if there was even anything wrong, was he reading too much into her reaction to the spanreed. But that slip, that face of hurt, and sorrow, and powerlessness. Where you felt your hands were bound, but the feeling still rampaged. The torment. Max knew how that felt. Not even thinking about it, just feeling the impulse to do something flow through him, Max grabbed Althea and hugged her.

*airstarved highlander COMBO SAVED