I think I am here.

The Haunt looked at the kid, at the way his knuckles turned white gripping his little teddy. At the way he yelped in fear when the Haunt drew close. And he smiled. It was a unhinged smile, eyes wide. “And then much later, when that boy grew up, his whole family died! They froze to death, alone and cold and slowly and painfully, and the little boy, who was now a man, watched them die. Fun, right? “And you would think that’s where the story ends, but no. The boy who was now a man escaped, he lived, and he tried to help everyone else, so they wouldn’t freeze to death as well. So they wouldn’t die with a scream on their lips like his family. But when he tried to help them, tried to figure out how to survive, nature laughed and gave him his wish. “Nature changed him, so his friends didn’t know him. His family wouldn’t recognise him, if they hadn’t died already. He couldn’t tell anyone how to survive because nature had made him mute. And he lived in silent agony for years and years. The end.” The Haunt’s smile had reduced to a cold stare by this point. “You liked that story?” He whispered.

Shez/Alask looked to Lena. She made the gesture to ask if they had a plan. A plan. Yes, the plan was to kill all of the Rulebreakers. But that wasn’t a long term solution. They looked to the sky, at the Phoenix. The ultimate kindler of flame. They would have to die. But no, as strong as Shez/Alask was, they couldn’t take down a Phoenix. They looked to the PlasmaCore building, red glowing eyes turning green. “PlasmaCore is dead. The building is gone,” They said, looking to Lena. Lena, the poisoner, the mother. She was scary, yet she was not. The Shez/Alask dual mind were confused about her. She didn’t break the Rules, which pleased them enough, and she was their friend, which was why she’d been invited to the Forge. She was a murderer, but... so was Shez/Alask. “The Phoenix succeeded.” Shez/Alask’s voice was weird. It was like two voices, moulded over each other. No mouth opened to say the words from their body, the sound emanated off of the translucent, smoking head, with the two green eyes looking at Lena curiously.

The Haunt frowned, and the dust outline suddenly moved swiftly towards the kid, all the extra dust from around the Forge outlining his facial features. He looked to the kid with a scowl and leaned down, trying the scary voice he used on passerby’s. “You want a story?” He asked. A child was telling him to tell them a story. A story! But, somewhere deep inside, the Haunt gave in. This story would be true, alright. “There was once a kid. Your age. The kid loved his family. And his family loved him. Do you follow?”

*cricket noises* Is this still happening?

The Haunt didn’t respond. Then he opened his mouth, then shut it again. “What difference will it make? What if I say yes? You’re a child, you’ll change when you grow up. It won’t matter in the end.” He couldn’t believe he was having this conversation with a child. About being their friend. As if it were so simple.

Rob took the cloth piece and stuffed it in his pocket. He didn’t tell Shana that his leg still ached despite the stormlight, because compared to everything else it wasn’t that big of a deal. She thanked him for saving her life and Rob could see the reflection of light off of her eyes as they watered slightly, but didn’t dissolve into tears. She continued and talked something about the Voidbringers before saying she’d never been so afraid before. She seemed on the edge of crying, and Rob looked at her like she was a bomb counting down and he had to defuse it. Emotions. Rob had no idea how to deal with emotional situations. Storms, he couldn’t even handle his own emotions, he just locked them away, and now there was Shana right there. And he had to say something, right? But it was hard, to understand what to say next, like this was new territory. Ben would’ve known what to do, if he was conscious. He could work that magic lovers worked to comfort each other. So, he just looked at her, not knowing what to say. “It’s okay to be afraid,” he said. Was that hypocritical of him to say that? He never gave out his emotions. “You took down two of those enhanced-voidbringers. They should be afraid of you.” He paused. “I meant that in a good way. And Cup told me you reached the Second Ideal. Which is really good. Now when we spar it can be an equal match.” His face was impassive, but there was a warmth in his voice.

Cheh looked with a start to another man in the cell. His skin was... shadowed oddly by the lack of light in the cell, but his eyes were no mistake. Cheh might have thought it was the Avatar himself if Korra wasn’t alive. But still, it meant something was wrong. Maybe the man was a powerful energy bender, they could glow their eyes, couldn’t they? As much as Cheh liked to be spiritual, he’d never crossed the line to becoming a full on bender of it. “Ask John,” he said, gesturing to John. “We woke up here, same as you.” @Sorana @John Flamesinger @Invocation @Dr. Dapper

As Nerin went downstairs to cater to a knock on the door Brillin brought his attention to what Attayl had said. Choosing your metals. Two or even three Allomancy powers. Brillin wanted to dismiss the idea, but he just couldn’t get himself to do it. Attayl was a Seeker. She’d heard what she heard, how long was Brillin going to try and dodge the truth because it was outside of what he’d known, what he’d documented on his travels? He looked down. “There’s only one way I know anyone’s ever able to change themselves,” he said, then looked up at Attayl. “I mean really changed themselves. Their former appearance, gone, added strength, added weight, whole new physiology and psychology, by their own choice of course.” He shrugged, though inside his mind was whirring. “It’s the Koloss spikes. Who knows how, but if you want to, they —Koloss— use the spikes, transform you. I guess being a Koloss is a whole other ability, right? And they get to choose it too.” He couldn’t shake the feeling there was some similarity between the transformations of the Koloss to Lance, and how in the world he could possibly have more than one metal without being a Mistborn. “After all, if he was a full Mistborn he’d have found better ways to fight and move around than just Lurching.”

The AlleyStorm hit. Max stepped back as suddenly rain and thunder sounded around him, the force of the Investiture enhancing him, his magic in one overwhelming blast. Goldminds wouldn’t hurt, he said to Althea but couldn’t say more as the metalminds around his upper arms began to pulse and warm up. “I’m going to start now!” He shouted over the force of the storm, looking to Althea. She seemed impassive, but he knew she liked the storm. Max wasn’t such a big fan, though it’s duralumin-like boost on his already enhanced Rioting made up for that in spades. He closed his eyes, dismissing Sethramir and putting a hand on Althea’s shoulder for balance. The nicrosilminds he wore begged to be used, calling for him to tap them and use their golden power. Max did exactly that, and now, he knew exactly where the two Phoenixes were, and that meant he knew exactly where to target. No more inefficient general Riotings. With a force far greater than he’d ever done before Max shot out his Riot, his targeted beam of Allomancy. Two targets. Two Phoenixes. He knew the red and orange one well enough. He knew the DA had created it and it had a knack for Rioting. He had no idea about the other Phoenix, but he had to try. With the storm surrounding him Max Rioted emotions of disinterest in both of the Phoenixes. He Rioted their boredom of the city and it’s inhabitants, that they could have a better hunt elsewhere. He tried to do this to both the Phoenixes. Because yes, while it would be helpful to use one of them against Ajax there was a very narrow window of time where the AlleyStorm occurred and it was safer to get both of them to leave than to risk one getting loose by pitting it against Ajax and the AlleyStorm leaving. First things first, and that meant making sure he had a steady Riot on both of them before trying anything too complex. @Ax's Boyfriend @Voidus @Sorana @Truthless of Shinovar @Silva —-— The AlleyStorm hit. And as Alask and Shez smashed their collective consciousness into Alask’s body, the storm enhanced the act and suddenly the invader was kicked out Alask was back in his body the sudden miracle of his sense of touch returning to him as he instantly felt the rain on his shirt, the wind tossing his hair around and the cold weather of the AlleyStorm contrasting with the emanating heat from two monsters in the sky. Shez was in Alask’s body too. And the two minds that had worked together now inhabited the same body. Alask stood up from where he’d fallen (the sudden re-control of his body had been unexpected enough for him to fall), and looked ahead, expecting the rain to drip off of him and exhaustion to take him over. But nothing happened, and Alask looked down at himself, arms in front of him and his jaw opened in terror. He was a Shade. The smoky black translucence his body took when Shez took it over, the black fog that shifted and turned as it was confined to his body, the red eyes that burst aflame and tinted his vision in a rose hue, the black tendrils that came off of him, they were here now. And Alask was controlling it. And slowly, he began to understand. They were in sync. Shez’s consciousness, and Alask’s. Matched up like two frequencies overlaid on each other. From the corner’s of his mind Shez/Alask could feel a deep hate, however. They looked almost inhumanly fast to the side — the enhanced physique had carried over as well, it seemed — and a fury in them roared at the monsters that kindled fire, the men and women who ran at this hour of night, the soldiers that shed blood. But, Shez/Alask could understand there were bigger issues. Issues of the city, of the Forge. They had the smarts of Alask, the fury of Shez, and the power of the AlleyStorm They were one. —-— The AlleyStorm hit. Wes felt his bendalloy minds pulse and he looked to them temptingly. All the food, stored in the metalminds... with the AlleyStorm power surge it was practically a whole restaurant at his finger tips, a whole buffet of food to choose from! He was temporarily distracted by Mike, who turned into a wolf. If only Wes could make those metalminds anyone could use. He had a feeling all the animals Mike turned into would like all the food Wes had right now. —-— The AlleyStorm hit. Lusk was in Shadesmar when it happened, the ‘oohs’ and ‘ahs’ of soldiers around him heralding its arrival. None of the wind could be felt in the Cognitive Realm, none of the rain or lightning either. In Shadesmar, the AlleyStorm manifested itself much as a Highstorm did, as a rapidly changing figure of colours, like nature’s very own fireworks. The power boost could still be felt, and Lusk’s metalminds called to him, but Lusk refused to tap them, refused to give in. Because every AlleyStorm, Lusk had the Dilemma. The Dilemma was an interesting thing. Every time the AlleyStorm struck, Lusk was left with a choice. When the power surge hit, there would be a small time period where Lusk would have more age to tap, as his Feruchemy would be enhanced. That meant a possible compounding-type effect every time the AlleyStorm hit. Lusk could stay pretty much immortal if he kept using the power boost from each AlleyStorm to get permanently younger. So why didn’t he? Because it wouldn’t make a difference, Lusk answered. A failure is a failure. Adding more years to it doesn’t change it, it just means it’s a failure for longer. 4 years. 4 years until his 50th birthday. And Lusk had a very, very special birthday gift for himself. Why would he want to delay it by getting younger, by running away from the ultimate solution to his problems? So while the soldiers whooped and used their enhanced powers, Lusk stayed neutral, a scowl on his face, waiting for the storm to pass and the temptation to cease.

The Haunt looked to the kid who’s mother he’d stabbed. He didn’t inquire who’d told the kid the Haunt was alone because he already knew it had to be the Watcher woman, with her observation. “You’d just want to be my friend so I can be ‘nice’,” he said, looking to the kid. “You wouldn’t really want to be friends, would you? Not genuinely.”

“First and foremost, we can’t kill the Phoenix,” Max said in response to Tels. “Stronger warriors than both of us combined have tried and they’ve all failed. Next, when the AlleyStorm hits I’ll be able to at most control one of them. And that’s ‘control’ put in very loose terms. These are DA monstrosities, fit with the most current stability spikes to go exactly against my type of Rioting. I’ll be able to heavily influence one, which I’ll count as controlling for the purposes of your plan, and distract the other. I can use the one I influence to attack Ajax.” “But,” he said. “This will only last as long as the AlleyStorm. Once it passes, the power boost will too, and I’ll be out of nicrosil to keep up the Rioting. Then we’re really rusted.” He looked to Althea to answer her question, though she looked straight ahead. “I’ll need protection while I Riot,” he said. “That much emotional Allomancy, my mind’ll be practically too occupied to multi-task my body on top of that.” And some healing would be nice, he almost said, but he didn’t, because they had other, more severe problems to fret. about and he didn’t want Althea to worry about him. @Sorana @Truthless of Shinovar

She walked past him and the two hour countdown began. Leaving that hall through another locked door (this one led into the rest of the base, and such was guarded against test subjects trying to escape), Price made his way to the central testing chambers. These corridors and underground cavernous chambers were his home, and he knew the underground layout of this fscikuty like the back of his hand. In a way, it was his exile, his escape from the surface, where he had to be reminded of his failure with every soldier that walked by. He entered midway through a currently ongoing test, and sat to observe it. The head researcher for this test was a blonde man named Käsed, a probability Instinct, and a strong one too. His parents had both been Instincts of the same type, and he’d always told Price the same story about it, that his mother had increased the chance of him being a Probability Instinct and his father had increased the chance of him being a strong one. The result: one of the strongest Instincts in the base. He was a good researcher, and he nodded his respects to Price as he entered. The current testing subject was another fellow Tühinine. He stood in front of a box with an open padlock attached to it. A man — coming from the side of the room — walked up to the padlock and pressed it to be locked, then moved back to the side of the room. “Begin,” Käsed said. The test subject immediately leaned forward, looking at the lock intensely, his hands positioned around but not touching it. Beads of sweat began forming at his head and Price frowned. “Infinite Instinct Testing,” Käsed said, whispering to Price. “We’re trying to see if it can reverse time — well, it can, if confined to a certain small area, like a padlock.” “You’re trying to see if he can reverse time for the padlock to back when it was open?” In the background, the testing subject strained. Slowly, however, the padlock began moving, as it’s time reversed slowly. The test subject, however, looked like he was running a marathon with all the sweat, and his eyes looked ready to pop out. Käsed nodded. “It’s... difficult though.” “What if you increased the probability he’ll succeed?” Käsed smiled, and Price could tell he was activating his Instinct. Not a couple minutes later, and Price could see the padlock pop open, time locally reversed to a state where the padlock had not yet been locked. The test subject was too tired to whoop, but he smiled nonetheless. “Wait til we get to moving time forwards, not back,” he said and Price nodded, leaving the room. “I’ll look forward to it.”

“The reason the Phoenix storming hates me is because I Rioted it,” Max said, leaning on Sethramir for balance. He looked to Tels and narrowed his eyes. “You’re in my goodwill for going against that psycho lady and her blank-faced boyfriend. Thank you.” He looked to others on the rooftop. “The AlleyStorm is coming, however,” he said. “And with my Rioting I can probably keep the Phoenix,” He looked into the sky. “Two Phoenixes distracted. Maybe get them to leave.”

The dust swirling the outline stopped momentarily, the individual particles suspended in midair. Then, a few heartbeats later the dust was back to its regular habits, the man they outlined having his hands behind his back, gently floating a meter off of the ground. “Better then not being remembered at all,” he replied. Stopped for a moment. “And I wouldn’t put too much stock into that boon she gives.”

Lusk suddenly found himself in Shadesmar along with the group of men around him. He nodded his thanks to Zokora and began talking to the soldiers, giving them orders as per his usual demeanour. Back in the Physical Realm, some of the soldiers that remained saw Wes, Mike and Seom leave through the other doors. “Hey!” One of the soldiers called. “The kid found an exit!” More and more soldiers began departing that way as well.

“Oh,” Price said, remembering. He took out a ledger and wrote something in it. “I’ll have someone drop by some clothes.” Putting the document away he looked up to Sagitta one final time. “Don’t be scared,” he said, feeling a little bad for her. He handed her a note with some neat writing marked on it. “These are what we’ll be testing. Nothing dangerous, I promise.” The note read:

The soldiers came back to Lusk with a name. It was of a Willshaper currently in the area, and Lusk recognised the name immediately. Zokora. Quickly he messaged her as more of the Ghostblood troops began huddling in one conglomerate, all eager to be evacuated from the building before it fell on top of them. Zokora. The Phoenix is coming for the PlasmaCore building. I need you to teleport us out of here. A pause for a moment, and Lusk sighed. Age was making him softer than he’d like. Thanks in advance. And he sent it. —- Wes followed Mike and Seom to the exit, and in the open air he was happy to escape the building. He didn’t agree with Mike trying to blow down the building but that didn’t matter, he was free. —- Max saw something and suddenly Althea was by him on the roof. Thea! He called and tried to stand, shakily. He was battered by injuries but that didn’t matter, it looked like Althea was healthy and it looked like she’d gotten enough stormlight to heal herself. Max, he could wait. He stood by Althea and summoned Sethramir, sticking it into the ground for balance. Thank the Heralds you’re okay.

Price led her into the indoor section of the base, staying to her side but a little in front, so he could lead the way but also keep an eye on her. As they walked through door after door, some people gave Price and Sagitta looks, but he ignored them and walked deeper down a flight of stairs and past a large set of bunker doors. Beyond them was the large research department, secure from any spies who’d want to steal Tühine’s secrets. Here, Price ranked among the highest. Passing some more halls and grabbing a set of keys from an accountant he approached one door, one of many in the hall. The door stated the number 668 in simple metal letters, and Price opened it. It was small, a bunk bed tucked in a corner and a desk in another. It would have looked eerily like a prison cell if Price didn’t hand Sagitta the keys shortly after entering. “Bathrooms are at the end of the hall, food and and water are in a smaller break room next to it. You can talk with some of the other people here, if you want, or you can stay in your room. We have some board games in the break room.” He looked around. “Other than that, you should be back in your room in about 2 hours. Someone will transfer you to your first tests.” He smiled. “Make sense?” @Sorana

“Yes, actually,” the Haunt said. Some dust glided upwards to make the shape of a man where Eve was looking. The Forge which had been abandoned for a long time, had a lot of dust, meaning the outline of the man was more detailed. “People tend to remember traumatising injuries than dying. After all, when they’re dead there’s no one to tell the story.” The outline moved closer.

“My, my, isn’t this a sentimental group?” A chill passed through the air, and in the very corners of the room dust began to blow as if caught in an invisible breeze. “Interesting how things come together, isn’t it, Watcher? You know I met this child and his mother just a few moments ago.”

Wes looked to Seom for a moment, and sighed. Gone were the days where he’d follow orders blindly. That had happened with Syndicate, and he’d gotten electrical burns all over his body for it. “Seom, the Phoenix is going to bring the building down anyway,” he said, gesturing to the Phoenix. “Can’t you see that? I respect him, deeply, but you need to tell him there’s no point trying to bring this building down when a giant bird of fire twice the size of it is doing the job for us.”

Wes looked to Seom. “Yeah?” He looked to the Phoenix smashing into the PlasmaCore building and cursed. “But can you please make it quick? I feel like people aren’t worrying enough about the fact that this building is going to collapse over our heads unless we get out of here. Because that thing —” He pointed to the Phoenix. From this distance he could see its distinct shape, talons and all, beak sharp and scary. And then there were the eyes, those amber things, and every time Wes got a chance to see them he looked away, because there was undoubtedly some intelligence in those eyes, and Wes fund it easier to imagine that thing was something dumb, a creature, than something smart, something that could reason. “—doesn’t look like its open to reason.” —- The Phoenix smashed into the shield, and Lusk looked up at it. Two Ghostblood soldiers at his side, he exited the double doors and walked to the very edge of where the shield would allow him. The thing about PlasmaCore, was that there had to be some way employees could leave and enter, without disabling the entire shield each time someone left to eat lunch. “This building is going down, whether we like it or not,” he said to one soldier. “And right now, we need to find some way to teleport out of here before that storming bird drops this building on our little heads. Acknowledged?” —- Acknowledged, Alask’s body sent to the Phoenix, and it stood completely still, watching the Enemy move, feeling the Phoenix’s rage at the Enemy for existing, feeling each of the times the Phoenix had collided with the enemy. Feeling that night in the Seven Day War, where the Phoenix had killed the Enemy. The Enemy had worn a different face then. And it had survived. Inside, Alask thrashed against the mental chains fettering him to the backseat of his own body. He screamed as his body stood, as some foreign force moved him around like a puppet. There was another awareness in here, another mind restrained to the backseat just as he was. It was easy to imagine the mind as space, though it wasn’t, really. Alask ‘turned’ to ‘see’ another awareness watching him, though it really wasn’t seeing or turning to anything. It was just... knowing. Regardless, Alask felt the other awareness, a shifting, smoky mind, ungraspable, yet contained, like it was pinned to place. Subconsciously Alask knew this was Shez, or how Shez looked in his mind. It was surreal, he’d never seen Shez like this, it was always Alask taking control or Shez, and now that neither of them were in power they could see each other like this. Shez, Alask said. Do you hear me? “Loud and clear”. Woah, Shez’s voice, was clearer now, and Alask could understand him better. Neither of us are in control, he said. And I can’t regain control of my body. Something else is in my place. “Neither can I,” Shez said. “It is strong, this other creature.” So, we do it together, Alask said. We ram through the door with the power of two minds, not one, and not one at a time. Alask could sense Shez’s confusion. “‘Together’?” We’ve been working together for a while now, Alask said. How — “No. I’ve just been angry at someone breaking the Rules, and you’ve tried to tame, make deals with me. We’ve agreed to keep my fury to criminals. But we’ve never worked ‘together’. He had a point. But it was the only way they could take control back over. “And besides. What would happen if we tried to take control at the same time? Would our body be split 50/50? I don’t like that.” We still have to try, Alask said. First time for everything. There was no disagreement from Shez. On three, then. One, two... Three. And the two acted as one. —- Max was carried away by the force of something. He looked up to be flying off the ground, high above the buildings. “Rust!” He said, looking to Tels. “My wife is down there!”

Ok, great! Really looking forward to this RP