Among the Sea of Faces (IC)

[TheAbsurdist]

Wincing at the punch, as he was still touching the man's mind, he felt the pain, and then the siren's call of unconsciousness as he slipped out of his hold and to the ground. It was then Elias darted down an alleyway, removing his coat, and starting to stuffing it and his other clothes into the bag he had carried, as taking the distraction seemed wise. Unlike Heraldo, he had more mundane manner of changing outfits. After a minute or so, during which time Heraldo was moving that car into a better position, Errant came back out of the alley, dressed in rudimentary costume. Dark blues and grays, it looked like a novice's costume. The most important thing it had was his mask, which kept his face hidden as he walked in public in the mask for the first time.

Making his way to the downed metal man he held out a hand towards him, reaching out with his thoughts. It was not the first time he had done more than just wash over the surface, it was something he was reluctant to do. But they needed to know what was happening so he delved deeper. The water metaphor was more apt now, as his eyes slipped closed, and he was dumped into the subconscious of the man. If Subito was paying attention he'd see that Errant's breathing and the breathing of the metal man was now in time. Slow and steady. Slow and steady.

[Ari]

"No miss, I'm afraid I don't know who this man is, or why he was attacking." Heraldo explained with an apologetic air to the woman he had asked to call the police, starting when he saw Errant walk out of the crowd and onto the street. Turning back to her he said gravely "The moment I know something, you will too! If you will excuse me, this is my comrade. Errant!" he called over to the other Claremont student, walking over to the pair with his Banner over his shoulder. Looking over the mental investigation he frowned slightly behind his mask, the breathing and heartbeats that thundered closest in his ears slowing and matching. He kept a few steps away, though he looked anxiously at Elias. At last he could bear it no longer.

"Errant, have you found anything about this man?" he asked hopefully.

[TheAbsurdist]

"He is unconscious. That makes this harder..." After several more moments his hand dropped, and he stared at the man for a moment, before walking to him, and picking up the bag that had been slung over his shoulder. "I need to... " For a moment the sync was lost, and then he stared back at the man, plunging back into his consciousness. Clutching the bag, and slowly opening it, his eyes never leaving the man. And then took a few steps back, and tore his gaze from the man and looked down into the bag. "Heraldo, we need to go. Now."

[Ari]

"Citizens!" Heraldo shouted, spinning on his booted heel and addressing the crowd of edging Southsiders "Please get away from here and this man! Keep this area clear for the next block or so if you can, and tell everyone you meet not to pass through this street! Ms, please inform the police of this new situation!"

He hooked an arm around Errant's waist and flew onto a nearby rooftop.

"Okay El, what's going on with that guy? Where do we need to go?"

[TheAbsurdist]

The disconnect was sudden and both he and the man had a sharp arrhythmic breath then, their hearts even skipping. He said nothing as he was grabbed and lifted away, landing on the roof, he frowned a little, glancing to the satchel and opening it. He knelt down and pulled out a small metal device out of it. "This was what was important to him..." Fingers playing with the device, before he 'opened' it, and a center cylinder, and he pulled another part on it, and a side panel slide out, and he examined it, frowning a little bit until his full mask. "Nanites. We need to get it somewhere... Water. Over the water. There is a timer, or something, fly me, I'll work on keeping it inactive."

[Ari]

Staring briefly at Errant with a look on his face that spoke volumes about his thoughts on nanomachines(deadly), the close proximity of Southside to the South River(a Godsend), and what he thought about a man with a metal hide wandering around with random nanites in his pocket(what in even the Hell?), El Heraldo said urgently "Let's not hang around then! Hold on tightly to me, Errant!", flinging one arm back around Elias' well-toned chest and under his arms, gripping with a hands like iron as they both hurtled a few yards straight up into the cooling air, the sun reflecting brilliantly off the sea that spread to their right, and luckily lit a vast swathe of the South River as well, towards which the young boy soared with all the speed he could muster.

Over the rushing wind that howled around the pair, the rooftops of Southside flashing by at an incredible rate, he yelled out to Errant "I'm beginning to think Kristin should have been the one to show you around! She knows folks, with The Lab! I bet they could disable some nanites no problem!" he flew on in silence before adding "You know, I bet there are people who never stand the least chance of having to fly over to the river with a psychic holding a jar of nanomachines so they can avert a catastrophe. I envy them!"

[TheAbsurdist]

He didn't make a further sound or at Heraldo before he was grabbed and lifted into the air. "It is an aerosol dispersal unit for the nanites. He was going to do a test. As some point it got banged up, and keeps wanting to release the nanites." Elias' tone was neutral as he kept fiddling with it. "I resetting the countdown is easy... but it keeps starting the countdown back up after the reset." There was a beat after Subito added that line. "Now is not the time to regret life choices Subito, that would have been when you leaped towards the metal man, besides I am the one at greater risk."

[Ari]

"There was that part!" Heraldo agreed, clutching the other boy a little tighter as he swung over the river, a trail of smoke glittering and wreathing in the air behind them as it slowly spun out like a dying galaxy. Dropping gracefully until the two were only a few inches from the water rushing past them, he slid to a halt.

He looked down at Errant "Okay," he said to the other boy earnestly, face set with determination "What do we do next?" he asked, ready for the next demand on this crazy mission. He loosened his grip slightly, looking a little embarrassed as he realized how closely he had been carrying his schoolmate "Er, sorry about that. Wanted to..um...keep down air resistance." he offered awkwardly.

[TheAbsurdist]

Elias showed no mind to the closeness, the device in his hand beeping incessantly, until they were close to the water, and there was a loud hiss as something was sprayed out, and he threw the device into the water. Then came an understated, "Crap." His gloves starting to dissolve, before he managed to slip from the Subito's grasp, and into the water after the device, aware he was not a strong swimmer. He had mentally prepared himself for the shock of the water. However, that didn't mean he was able to anticipate the current as he was unable to pull himself back to the surface readily plunged under the water.

[Ari]

The rush of the South River was soothing to the nerves, and for a few perilous seconds Heraldo relaxed. He gazed over at the setting sun, and knew that all would be well. The passage of the river drowned out the noise of dissolving glove, and he realized only too late that something had happened.

At the still, quiet proclamation of "Crap" he started, and swung downwards in a golden arc towards where he saw the body of Errant vanishing under the water, swinging a powerful arm under him to carry him to safety, only to miss by mere inches! His hand splashed right next to Errant's head and came away empty, the young paragon staring in horror as the telepath sunk out of sight. 'You must-! I know!' Heraldo dove into the water right after his schoolmate, an explosion of shining bubbles streaming after him as he glanced desperately around the dirty water and drifting muck for the other boy, hearing strained for the heartbeat of Elias.

[TheAbsurdist]

Elias didn't panic. He might be incapable of that sensation. The stoic telepath held his breath as he struggled with the current, and then amongst the water, he opened his mind and his consciousness flooded out, finding and latching onto Subito's mind for a moment, singling in on him. "" And then Elias used his senses as well as Subito's own to mesh where he was. And in doing so Elias showed, for a brief moment, part of the sensory world he lived in to Subito, feeling the web that surrounded him, the distant call of the city's collective minds, though wisely Elias had filtered it down to just them, despite the fact that the lack of oxygen was starting to effect his stoic psyche.

It was a moment, a flicker, of how Elias felt, experienced, and knew the world. And Subito knew, without a shadow of a doubt, that Elias was in control of the connection. Actively preventing too much from slipping through their thoughts. To stop any distraction, to halt the connection from cutting too deep. Whereas normally he lacked that refinement of his abilities, here and now was not the case. Elias remarked on the irony of being unable to do that normally, but it was easy when he was drowning.

When Elias shifted in the water, and extended a leg up towards Subito, the other boy knew precisely where his ankle was, knew how far he had to go to grab it.

[Ari]

'I-this is what it's like for you all the time?'

For an eon-long moment, El Heraldo was in an alien world, a vast and nearly indecipherable plane where the minds of millions drifted just on the edge of hearing, and the quiet thoughts of the two young heroes passed each other like ships on a clear night. The revelation stunned him out of his earlier panic, and it was with a nearly placid thought of <'I understand, hold still.'> that the stocky teen dove like a torpedo straight to where the constant procession of thought came from, reaching out with an exact movement to grasp the leg of his schoolmate in a powerful grip.

Still quietly boggled at the bizarre sensation of feeling the thoughts of others traveling through his brain, Heraldo flew the pair out of the murk and gloom of the South River and into the shock and cold of the late afternoon in New Jersey with a mighty splash, soaring into the air above the seemingly plodding water in a halo of his gilded cloud. His costume was soaked, the feather in his sodden hat bedraggled and drooping with both the weight of water and the several weeds that had been caught on it, his gloved hand clasped around Errant's calf streaming with the river water, and his coat and pants were no better.

Glancing at himself and the other boy ruefully, Heraldo wasted little time taking stock of their clothing before hastily speeding through the air onto the shore and the Boardwalk, delicately depositing the other boy onto a bench as he landed, coming to his side in an instant with that all-important question. "Errant! Are you alright? Will you need a doctor?" he glanced around desperately, eyes wide with fear "Okay, uh...I think there's a place not too far from here, I can fly you there in under a minute!" he added hurriedly.

[TheAbsurdist]

At the moment of physical contact, it changed, an Elias showed Subito how far from the surface they where. And once they breached and rose back into the air, there was a small moment before Elias severed the connection, just as Subito started to feel the scope of Elias' abilities start to press outward. As he was no longer focusing on the situation they were just in, Elias didn't know if he could really hold it, and he rather not expose someone else to that. Right yet. Free of the water he took the time to start coughing as they soared to the boardwalk, expelling some of the water he had swallowed and breathed in, and the position he was in sort of applied gravity to help him in that. As they came about to land, Elias coiled back up on himself, and grasped at Subito's wrist to get into a better position for the landing.

Sitting there for a moment before shaking his head. His hands, and up to his forearms were exposed, the skin looking a little raw. "No, we have to get back, now. I need to find more information out." Getting to his feet, his knees wobbling as he was wracked with a coughing fit, and then he straightened himself and looked at the larger boy.

[Ari]

A stare of disbelief and a protest of "But-we..." was followed in short order by a grumble of exasperation and a snapped "Fine! Get on my back" he directed, turning on his heel and slamming the butt of his Banner on the cement boardwalk, a golden light suffusing the pair of them before Errant found his clothing had somehow become cleaned, washed and dried while he wore it, and the same treatment had been given to El Heraldo himself! His mask no longer clung to his face, and his feet were now in much drier shoes.

Of course, the two young heroes were still both fairly wet.

"I remember where we were, so do not fret on that score." Subito said crisply, readying himself for another speedy flight "Let's just hope that guy hasn't already woken up and scarpered on us!" he added dourly, launching into the air with all the speed he could muster without pushing himself. As they sailed back to the spot where the metal man and his nanites had landed, Heraldo called above the rushing air "What did you find out from him? What is he, what was he doing there?"

[TheAbsurdist]

He suppressed a sound of pain, and all that escaped him was a slight hiss as he grasped at Heraldo's shoulders. "We had dispose of the more immediate threat. I didn't have time to dig too deeply. It is harder when someone is unconscious. If it is any consolation, I did swallow some foul tasting water." Shivering a little as they flew off, while not a delicate flower rushing through the air twice like this was not the preferred method of travel after almost drowning. "There was more there, we need to find out what." He managed to stifle the pain in his hands, knowing he'd have to go to the infirmary after this, but that wasn't nearly as important now.

[TheAbsurdist]

GM

Slowly the man got to his feet, looking for, and quickly seeing that his satchel was discarded and empty. He was on his knees as the cops arrived, and his eyes narrowed then, not willing to be captured just yet. No, he wasn't going down at all! When the first cop arrived and attempted to handcuff him as he acted insensate, he grasped the officer's wrist and whipped him into his compatriots. They opened fire, hitting the metallic carapace of his body, as one called for additional backup. The metal man grasped dashed towards the nearest police car and flipped it, just as Heraldo and Errant were rounding the corner of building. He turned and took a few rapid steps and then leaped into the air going away from them.

[TheAbsurdist]

Elias saw the metal covered man, saw what he was doing, and he could feel their fear there pain. It was a good thing he wore a mask right now, it was a good thing Subito couldn't see his face. Because it was dead, not in the bland, stoic manner he was used to seeing on the telepathic teen. Right now Elias felt hate, and rage. Subito could feel the murmurs and whispers scratching at the back of his head, but it was nothing compared to what the Nanomachine powered man was feeling, as Elias twisted his thoughts about in his head, preying upon the villains self-doubt like a some kind of carrion bird.

Fail... failure. I couldn't even succeed against two teenagers. Pathetic. Waste. They're coming for me. Humiliated in front of all those people. I deserve this. I am pathetic. Can never succeed. I am worthless. Deserve this. .

[Ari]

Shrugging his broad and blue-clad shoulders at the explanation, Heraldo landed on the street where all the trouble had started only a few minutes ago. He glanced around at the pile-up of cars, winced at the sounds of confusion in the distance, and realized very suddenly that the man with metal skin was up again. Not only was he up and active, he was hurtling through the air leaving a squad of police officers in his wake! "Good to see you're up...!" he shouted, streaking through the air towards their arcing foe, bringing back a fist that began to glow with the same power as before, concluding "...and falling!" as he sent it straight into the man's armored skin with a metallic crash that echoed through the air!

He was heedless of the vague and nagging whispers of Errant's mental barrage, compared to the earlier display it was like trying to hear a pebble falling into the sea during a storm. He still shivered despite himself, and remembered a broken wall and mocking laughter before he pushed the memory aside.

[TheAbsurdist]

After that punch Elias let go of Heraldo, landing on his feet. Not far from the villain he lifted a hand, and his mind followed suit. Reaching out and and grasped at the man's mind as it reeled the effects of the punch and the despair he inflicted. And he growled, just a little, his eyes narrowed behind his mask, and he seized his mind. Heraldo could hear the syncing happen, the breathing the heartbeat all of it. The look on his face wasn't despair anymore, it was fear, naked fear. The man struggled, and thrashed, but that didn't stop Elias' power from effectively restraining him.

[Ari]

Seeing that their foe was being held still, Heraldo called down "I hope you find what you're looking for, Errant! I'll keep him distracted" he added, slamming down onto the man with the metal skin with punishing force, slamming him into ground with a dull crack.

Alighting on the cracked pavement, he stood ready to assist with his Banner on his shoulder, ears concentrated on the once more joined breath and heartbeat for the slightest slip that might signal an attack. Seeing as Errant already had the man's mind gripped tightly, he figured keeping the metal from doing any damage, and hurled himself forward to wrap both powerful arms around their foe!

[TheAbsurdist]

The man struggled, first against the grip Elias had on his mind, and then on the grip that Heraldo had on him. Elias' psychic assault exploded through the metalman's mind, a shock to the system enough to get him to hold still. It would be easier to get the man down, though this was the first time he had held someone like this, while attacking them as well. It was difficult, and the connection opened up between them due to the powers, it made it hurt. A lot, but he had to persevere through this. They needed answers, and he wasn't sure he would be able to get them swiftly enough.

[Ari]

Feeling the being of iron slacken through the thick cloth of his coat, Heraldo hoisted the man higher up into the air, making sure that he wouldn't have any way to get leverage from the pavement.

Wincing at the sound of Errant's jolt of pain through is system, the patriotic paragon said "If it gets too much, don't be afraid to take a break!" he grinned a little uneasily, his powerful arms groaning a little under the strain of their foe's weight "I will keep our nano-maniac from escaping us!" he declared, sounding much more confident than he felt at the idea of actually grappling with this mysterious guy. For all he knew, the man could flood his body with nanomachines capable of dissolving both of the young heroes into goo...'Wait, no, that's a terrible plan. You'd just get beaten down by the Lab in ten seconds if you pulled a trick like that!'

Tensing his arm muscles to their limit, he prayed Errant would find what they needed, and quickly.

[TheAbsurdist]

His eyes slipped closed and he reached into the man's mind, pushing as hard as he could, Elias was not gentle. What Heraldo felt was similar to a tidal wave crashing down, what he didn't feel was the sensation of a riptide underneath. The crush of his mind struck, but it was subversive and sudden pull that got him entry.

The response was a whimper, an explanation to get that question to stop. To halt this. But Elias got his answers, even as he bit his lip hard enough to draw blood, trying not to cry out from the empathetic flare of pain.

testexperimentfollowingcommandsneedingtodothis. haveto.>

And then it came like a flood, leading to a sharp inhalation from both of Elias and the metalman.

[Ari]

The sudden hiss of breath that rattled from the chests of both flesh and steel didn't do much for Heraldo's nerves. He carefully slowed his own breathing, forcing his overactive imagination to not tell him about all the horrible things that might happen while facing a man carrying nanomachines, directing all his attention and power into the task of keep the steel man still. His muscles grew taut as ropes as he set himself squarely, centered for any attempt their man could try to make for his escape. The problem with such powerful straining of his arms and chest, not to mention his legs, was that he was soon sweating despite the cooling air. His gloves became increasingly slick, and the cloth of his sleeves was growing unpleasant.

"How's it goin'?" he called out "Found anything about him?" he asked, his voice filled with hope.

[TheAbsurdist]

GM

"GET OUT OF MY HEAD!" It was a roar of the Nanomachine empowered man as he shook off the effects of Elias' mental hold, severing the connection when it happened. Which would cease the unsettling sync had happening. Shuddering a little bit, he now finally struggled, and he was stronger than he seemed. Anger and adrenaline fueling his nano-enhanced musculature.