Marina Ayers's Story

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S A MxxxxW H I T W O R T H
ANIMAL COMMUNICATION
#649953

LOCATION: The Barnyard

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The vegetable soup tonight was watery, and that was highest compliment Sam could give the dish. He could tell it had onion in it, but none of the other colourless lumps resembled any vegetable Sam could name. But, he didn’t get paid until 2pm tomorrow, so he was eating Roy’s questionable veggie soup, and half a loaf of stale bread another resident had tossed his way.

Sam had worked a late shift at the cafe, and by the time he got dinner for the rabbits he was tending upstairs in his room it was far past dinner time, so the kitchen was mostly empty and Roy was mopping the floors. Though Sam much preferred the quiet, at meal times there was an insane energy always buzzing around and usually one fight at least.

Link, the scrappy canine at Sam’s feet gave a low whine and bark. “Link.” Sam said, chastising him. Link was telling Sam a story back from his stray days, about a female dog he’d once ran across. And he was not telling the story kindly, nor politely. For a dog that Sam had found starving in an alleyway with three legs, he had a lot of crude opinions.

“He’s chatty tonight.” Roy said from the top of his mop. “Got lots to say does the wee fella?”

Sam fed Link another soup soaked piece of bread and patted his head. “The rabbits are just driving him a little stir crazy I think.”

“Rabbits?” Roy said, with a slack jaw, his mop left to drop forgotten to the floor. Sam winced at his slip up, he’d forgotten that he’d yet to tell Roy about the three rabbits that he’d found nestled behind the dumpster at work. If Roy thought Link was chatty, he should see the rabbits. The three of them could talk a mile a minute at each other nonstop.

Luckily, Sam was saved by the bell. Literally as a squealing whine pierced through the air, coming from the ceiling.

“Who used the third floor shower again!” That was Cierra who yelled out, following it up with a curse. She had been reading a magazine at the other end of the kitchen. Only two weeks ago they’d had a whole meeting about the steam from that shower causing the fire alarm to go off.

Roy frowned and pottered outside the kitchen door. “I don’t think that’s the smoke alarm hun.”

Sam paused for a moment and realised Roy was right, he’d heard enough of the smoke alarm over his ten years at The Barnyard to know it sounded deeper and less frequent. Roy pottered around trying to figure out where the sound was coming as Sam shrugged and went back to his soup. Hey, the building was old and decrepit, there was a new problem to fix every second Monday.

The sound eventually stopped, but by that point Sam had finished his soup and was washing up his dinner.

Roy reappeared with a puzzled look. “Never heard that sound in my life. It’s the most bizarre thing.” Then a phone rang. An old school landline phone mounted on the wall, it was yellow and jammed in between the fridge and a notice board. Sam he hadn’t ever noticed it before. “And I ain't had that phone ring either.” Roy wandered over to the phone with some trepidation.

Sam could only hear Roy’s side of the phone call, which contained a string of yes and I understand. Though Roy’s deepening frown was a concern. Finally Roy hung up, his face pale and ashen. “You’re all needed at 374 Wilkerson st.” He announced to a half empty kitchen, though he looked as confused as they did.

“Now?” Sam asked with a frown. “Why?”

“The Superheroes are gone.” Roy wiggled the brim of his cap, securing it in place, and he seemed to snap back into action motioning to Cierra who had wandered over. “Cierra sweetheart, I need to get a message to everyone in The Barnyard.”

She popped her gum and nodded once, “Go for it old man.” Cierra could manipulate sound, so she could amplify whatever Roy had to say, an echo of his voice reaching all corners of The Barnyard.

He cleared his throat. “Excuse me everyone. You have all just been promoted to active superheroes and are required to present yourselves at 374 Wilkerson st. immediately. There has been an attack.” He waved at Cierra to stop amplifying his voice, realising something awful. “Isn’t that where Bradley and Haven are working?” He tipped off his hat and rubbed at his balding head, he always considered most the residents at The Barnyard as his own children, and so imagining them in any danger was unbearable.

“Well, get on with you.” Roy yelled to the gathered crowd. “Get to Wilkerson st.”

Sam was one of the first to take off, he ran the three blocks to find the building had crumpled in out itself, like cardboard left out in the rain, still standing, but the walls were all bent and weak. A thick black smoke drifted out of the top storey windows up into the night sky.

He pushed the through the crowd of civilians watching on, and stood staring up at the scene, frozen to the ground. His friends were in there, probably suffering. But how could communicating with animals possible help in this situation?

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marina ayers
atlantean | #7AA69C

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xThe shift at the aquarium had been interesting to say the least. She couldn't count on her hands how many times she had to gently reprimand the children for 'man-handling' the stingrays. What an ironic thing for her to be doing during her time on land. Marina couldn't even imagine what her folks would say if they could see her now. The future queen of Atlantis, protecting stingrays from six year olds. In some ways being near the aquatic life calmed her. Although seeing them trapped in a cage was rather barbaric, she had hoped that her presence eased their discomfort. She wasn't like Sam where she could hear them, but some part of her felt them, their pain - anger. Her mother always used to say, 'you are one with the sea Marina', but she mainly thought of it as bullshit.

Marina had nearly everything prepared for her nightly routine. Her bathtub was nearly filled to the brim with water and she had just finished pouring her last can of table salt in as well. Someone had finally noticed the constant disappearance of the salt from the kitchen so she began buying her own and hiding them in her bathroom cabinet. It was a bizarre sight. The one annoying part of living on land was her need for water. Not only did she have to drink nearly twice the regularly daily amount but if she didn't soak herself in salt water for an hour every day she would be sick.

She had just begun to disrobe when the most horrid sound came from nowhere in her room. She clutched her ears tightly, expecting - well everything horrible to occur when Roy's voice filled the room. "Excuse me everyone. You have all just been promoted to active superheroes and are required to present yourselves at 374 Wilkerson st. immediately. There has been an attack.” Her heart fluttered in her chest. Promoted? Attack? This was the first time they had ever been asked to do something on a larger scale. Marina couldn't deny that she was nervous, but there was an excitement to it as well. She couldn't deny that she had been waiting for something like this for a while - of course not a disaster but an opportunity.

Marina changed as quickly as she could into one of her black bodysuits that she mainly used for training as dashed out of the building to the location. When she arrived, her expression faltered as she saw the crumpling building in front of her. All of her insecurities began to slowly seep in like a ghostly chill as she hesitantly remained near the outskirts of the crowd. Suddenly she saw Sam and Emmy at the front of the crowd then to Alex as she dashed inside the building and her expression hardened. These people made her feel welcome - happy when she was alone and she refused to let them down.

Shoving throw the crowd is much easier with a determined expression amongst your face, it's almost as if those around her just understood what she needed and moved out of the way. Marina managed to burst through the front of the crowd coming out directly behind Sam and Emmy. Looking between the two she instantly noticed Emmy's anxiousness, call it- friend intuition. Marina gently placed a hand on her shoulder her eyes softening. "Hey- you got this, okay? Why don't you use that freaky touch of yours and find the survivors?" Marina knew Emmy was a bit lazy when it came to training but hell, that girl could touch a wall and tell Marina she was taking a bath. It was amazing. Her friend just needed a little faith, which Marina had plenty of. She turned to Sam briefly, "I'm going to try and put out that fire before it gets worse" and with a nod of her head she was off dashing around the perimeter of the building. Thankfully on the left side there was a bright red fire hydrant just waiting for her to use. "Alright water, don't let me down now" She muttered as she extended her hand towards the hydrant, flexing her fingers. Deep within her chest she could feel a rumble, like a thousand waves crashing at once and suddenly the hydrant began to shake. Marina pushed harder with her mind and suddenly a screw popped off the side, then another as tiny streams of water began to shoot out of the cracks. Her hands began to shake and with a small cry she flung her hands upward promptly exploding the fire hydrant. If she wouldn't have been so caught up in the task at hand she would've jumped for joy but there was no time for celebration.

As the water shot out of the hole in the ground Marina trained her hand on it and with a flick of her wrist directed it towards the flames slowly licking away at the building. She couldn't help the toothy grin that appeared on her face as she watched the water begin to eat the flames. I'm really doing it, oh thank Triton.

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xxK A T R I N AxxxxL I N D
TELEKINESIS
#177e95

LOCATION: 374 Wilkerson St.

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xxxTurns out Kat didn’t need to know the exact address, 374 Wilkerson was easy to find as the smoke, debris and gathered crowd was a giveaway. She slowed down her motorbike, and rode it through the crowded, pumping the gas so it made that deep rumbly sound that always made people get the fuck out of the way. She pulled up her bike, threw off her motorbike helmet and strutted over to the line of terrified looking preteens. She sized them up. It wasn’t hard to tell they were the superheroes she was looking for. God help New York City, being in their care.

“Are you sorry lot superheroes or bystanders?” She looked to the surfer girl behind her working to put out the fire behind her. “At least one of you rejects has some initiative.”

Out of her back pocket she pulled out a crumple sheet of paper she’d been handed at the airport. Of course, she did this without removing her hands from her jacket pockets, she used her telekinesis power instead. The paper, floating in front of her unfolded seemingly on its own and allowed her to scan its contents, a list of The Barnyard residents, with their powers and notes from their examination.

“Um, it’s the Mad Fairy.” Kat’s eyes snapped from the page to the tall man on her right, and she had to do a double take. No way had that mild, timid voice come from a guy that large. She narrowed her eyes at him. “That’s, ah, what they’re saying at least.” He pointed skyward to the crows circling the building.

She looked back to floating paper to find his name. “Sampson Whitworth. Our very own Dr. Doolittle.” Quickly scanning the powers of the residents, Kat started formulating her plan, as she’d been involved with catching Tatianna Rovoski, for her third and fifth capture, she had some experience in the area. “She can only teleport where she can see.” Last time they’d tracked her in the darkness with night vision, the lack of technology was only the first issue with that plan. They’d just have to do the opposite this time and blind her with too much light. “Where’s Haven LeClaire?”

Sam answered again in his timid voice, pointing to the doors of the building. “In there.”

“Of course she is.” Kat cracked the knuckles in her right hand then turned to the brunette. “Okay then. Emerson Blackburn? You and Whitworth are on survivor duty, use those sensing powers of your to sense where they are. And, I want every single rodent and bug in that building looking for people. If you find Haven or that bat-shit crazy fairy you radio me.” Using her telekinesis she pulled a walkie talkie out of her back pack and floated it in the air between the pair.

She glanced over the Noah, next, scanning his details on her sheet. “Morris. You go with them. There is currently billions of dollars of metal tech lying crushed in that building. I’m sure you’ll find a way to make yourself useful.”

Lucky last, she looked over Amber and could smell the alcohol reeking off her. Kat had little use for her, even before she glanced over her extensive file, taking up a good third of the sheet. “And you can just go home. I have no need for drunk little girls.” She dismissed her without a second glance.

Kat only took two steps though before a sharp pain pierced through her temples. She’d suffered broken bones and third degree burns with little more than grunts, but this pain was strong enough to knock her down to her knees, causing her to screw her eyes closed trying to block it out. She could hear screams around her as the same pain infected everyone around. The pain couldn’t have lasted more than 30 seconds before disappearing as suddenly as it appeared. Kat got to her feet with a groan, now more pissed off than ever. She yelled after the group of rejects, “And find out what the hell that was!”

Kat jogged over to where Marina was working to contain the flames. The big external ones had mostly died. “Good.” She said looking up at the building. “When you’re done with that, head inside and deal with the little fires in there.”

Finally taking her hands out of her pockets, she shrugged off her jacket looking up at the building. Now was her time to get to work, she stretched her neck from side to side. She held out her hands towards the building knowing she was going to need every ounce of power she had to make sure the building stayed upright long enough to get the survivors out. This wouldn’t have been a tough ask five years ago, when she was one top of her game. But now, it was probably impossible but she was going to give it her best go.

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S A MxxxxW H I T W O R T H
ANIMAL COMMUNICATION
#649953

LOCATION: The Barnyard

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Sam looked up to see Alex approaching. She was cool, confident and always sure of herself and so he looked to her with a lost look. “Alex, I don’t-“ As he was speaking she was reaching up to pat his shoulder but they both froze mid action as a scream tore itself away from the crumbling building. And then he saw Doctor Grant, compassionate and unable to say no to any person suffering, she dashed inside without thinking of her own safety for even a moment. His yell after her died in his throat, she wouldn’t listen.

”Sup' Sam... erm. What's happened?” He turned around to look down at Amber who had appeared by his side. He froze, biting his lip and looking towards the building. Of course, he knew the history between Brad and Amber, he’d been in their year at the Academy and knew all the gossip, even if Brad refused to talk about any of it. Brad had been determined to avoid a reunion when he'd moved in. Back then though, Brad was only going to be sleeping on his floor for a couple nights, two weeks at most. He's managed to avoid his high school ex for 8 months.

Surely she had a right to know he could be seriously injured in there. “In there-" He paused and looked back to the building. There was a definite chance that Brad could be dead, but even then, Sam was sure he’d want his secrets kept. He was definitely the type of guy who was intending on going to the grave with his secrets.

Luckily, he was saved from responding, by Emmy. "I... I should help shouldn't I? ...I... I can help, right?" He looked down at her with a soft gaze, his heart breaking to see her so unsure of herself. She was always so confident and peppy, he was the quiet one. He wrapped an arm around her shoulders but was saved from response by Marina, who appeared to give the pep talk before dashing off bravely, his heart hammered for her safety.

Sam straightened up, ready to be brave when a roar of a motorbike cut through the crowd. A woman a few years older than him strutted over. Clearly, she was sent from some high power, she knew everything about them and was way more battle ready that Sam was.

Happy to follow orders and avoid all leadership Sam nodded to her instructions. He grabbed the radio she hovered in the air in front of him and ran toward the building, pausing for a moment to give Emmy a reassuring smile. “She has to know what she’s talking about right?”

Sam walked into the building, to his left, what looked like it used to be a water cooler was crushed in the corner leaving the entire floor is a puddle of water, the destruction turned Sam’s stomach. A moth fluttered from out of the debris, his hurried comments assaulting Sam’s ear. Talking to animals, and calming them down was something he could do, and he felt a little of his confidence return. “Hey there, little man.” He cooed holding out a hand for the moth to land on. “You’re okay.” The moth fluttered its wings. “Yeah, I know it’s a bit crazy right now. Look, we need to find the survivors, I need you help.” The moth flapped its wings twice and rose into the air. “And can you spread the word if you see any more moths.”

Sam watched the moth take off, up through the cracks in the unstable ceiling. He took a deep breathe, if the moth could be brave so could he. He ran for the double wide stairs to the second storey that were on his right. “Haven? Brad?” He froze on the second step as an unbearable pain descended upon him. It passed momentarily, but he knew that pain for what it was, Brad's powers. Which meant Brad was alive somewhere in this building, and not in a good way. He was now more determined to search this building from top to bottom.

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AMBERxxHUANG
ELEMENTAL MIMICRY
#18ABCC

LOCATION: 374 Wilkerson St.

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xxxSam had turned to look at her following her greeting however the reaction didn’t fill her with much confidence, what with his expression taking on a very ‘deer in the headlights’ vibe as far as she could tell. Though it wasn’t exactly like they spoke on a regular basis or anything but there had definitely been an increased feeling of detachment, almost as if Sam had avoiding her or something for the past several month. She dismissed her worries when he finally started to speak, and chalked his uncertainty as being more to do with their current situation than anything else; but what did it really matter if yet another person distrusted her?

“In there-" he began as he looked back towards the building, though the rest of his words faded as one of the other residents of the Barnyard stepped up beside them. "I... I should help shouldn't I? ...I... I can help, right?". Amber tilted her head slightly to look at the other girl, whose name she couldn’t quite remember, while the sudden change of movement caused her head to swim and her eyes going a little unfocused. She missed the lamppost she’d used earlier, much better than keeping herself stable. She could definitely understand the uncertainty radiating off the girl, was her name Emery… no… Emma? Either way just diving headlong into danger when actual Superheroes were supposed to be dealing with it almost felt like suicide as far as she was concerned. They’d been flunked from the program for a reason after all, and it wasn’t like they’d suddenly been called into active duty or anything. That would be a terrible, terrible idea.

While she was mulling over the absurdity of pitching in to help another resident, who again she couldn’t quite place, but vaguely remembered some mention of hydrokinetic abilities. She half lifted her hand to take a stabilising drink while the two women she couldn’t place engaged in conversation before remembering her hands were empty and the bottle was lying smashed several feet away. Her suspicions were confirmed as the other strange ran to the side of the building where she looked to be calling on water from nearby a fire hydrant in an effort to reduce the growing blaze.

The sound of a roaring motorbike engine caused her to look round as the crowd parted, and a rather irate looking woman stepped into a view while removing their helmet. “Are you sorry lot superheroes or bystanders?” Amber struggled a little with that given that she knew there ought to be actual superheroes due to the scene of something like this and what she remembered of their training it was usually more of a hindrance to try helping out. As the woman began reading off their names, and barking orders for each of the Barnyard residents the feeling that she was clearly missing something began to gnaw at Amber.

She’d zoned out a little before noticing that Sam and couple of the others was heading into the building while the strange woman appeared to be giving Amber a momentary appraisal. “And you can just go home. I have no need for drunk little girls.” Amber flinched as if struck, her face twisting half in confusion before quickly being replaced by indignation. She half admitted, if only to herself, that it made a change to hear someone being direct with her for once, though her eyes still flared with anger. Her lip curled into a drunken smile as she raised her finger in an attempt to lecture this stranger, being entirely certain that her next words would be a perfectly crafted snarky retort which would leave them dumbstruck.

The women, entirely oblivious to this, had instead finished dismissing Amber and began to make her way into the building. Amber watched in confusion as she winced and fell to her knees before she felt a wave of sudden agony ripple through every nerve in her body. She stumbled backwards, her balanced failing as the tumbled onto her backside, spreading out her palms against the rough concrete to ease her landing. Her eyes had closed with the pain while her flesh and clothes were starting to slowly shift to match the dark grey material at her fingertips; though as the change spread, she bit her lip as the pain shifted sensation before fading. ”That felt awfully familiar.” She muttered to herself, a faint smile pursing her lips.

Grunting a little as she pushed herself back onto her feet, she heard the new arrival shout, “And find out what the hell that was!” in the general direction of the building before jogging over to help deal with the external fires. Amber glared at the woman’s retreating back, willing her eyes to bore holes through her skull, but as expected nothing happened.

It had been a few years since she’d made a complete absorption like this and the alcohol in her system wasn’t making it any easier, but the fogginess in her head was a great deal lessened now that she was entirely made of stone, or stone-like material at any rate. Her own steps were rather slow as she felt incredibly stiff and every part of her simply wanted to remain stationary, but with each she could feel her limbs starting to loosen up and begin to work as intended.
After entering the crumbling building she looked around to see if any of the others were in sight but it appeared they had all went further inside in search of survivors.

Uncertain of exactly where would be the most help she headed to where the structure appeared most unstable, her reasoning being that if nothing else she could at least attempt on making sure it didn’t collapse entirely. As she slowly worked her way through the ground floor she did her best to heft rubble to the sides in order to clear a way through. She found her way towards an open stairwell that was leading down towards the basement, and spying a door sitting ajar she began to descend in search of survivors.

”Anyone trapped down there?” Her voice had taken on a rather gravelly tone to it, and even if she was feeling a good deal more sober there was still a faint slur to her words.

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