Pixsbane (Ixen)

Alarm bells rang out in a full-blown muffle. So this is what they meant by 'the sound of silence'. Pixels had slipped their way inside the outer shell of the alarm, providing a cushion between its swinging arm and metal plating. The result had almost eliminated sound from the equation. Easier to work alongside than the usual neighbourhood-waking tones. Pix congratulated himself. He was able to achieve finer manipulation of his powers now. Slide a few pixels into machinery and gum up the works. It didn't mean he'd stopped a robbery alert going out, but it allowed him to work in moderate quiet.

It was a new year at the H.I.V.E. academy. And what was Pix stuck doing? Grunt work. They needed additional funds to cover some recent renovations. There weren't any newbies who could be relied on to pull a simple heist. So naturally they picked on Pix. 'Pick on Pix' – his slogan. Unfortunately the super-sprite was feeling pretty useless himself right now. Where HIVE had shrunk the Titans had grown. If a number of them showed up to stop him, he didn't think he'd get enough backup to make it through. Therefore he stuck to a collection of petty thefts, rather than big pay-days. Crimes that were beneath the high-and-mighty Titans. Or so he hoped.

Malharon would surely criticise his backbone here. But Pix was built for brain, not brawn. He wanted to be careful above all else. The thrift store provided him less than a hundred dollars. A day's takings. Barely keep his fellows fed a week. Yet every little helped. Hugh stored the money with the rest of tonight's loot, inside a piggy-bank created of pixels. It was time to leave before a cop car came to investigate. He pulled a face at the surveillance camera (@_&) and took his leave out the fire-escape.

Now he just needed to repeat this three more times in different locations across the city and he could go home. Sure wish there was somebody to lend a hand here. Go for the big bucks. A problem with their recruitment agents, no doubt. People were beginning to get the very peculiar impression that crime didn't pay. Morons

There was a crash from the bottom of the fire escape as the lowest one seemed to have been bent up. Tiberius had missed his jump and slammed it with his shell twisting the metal. He picked himself up from the geound and jumped up beginning to climb the outside easily. The giant bug wasnt looking at Pix but at the muffled alarm. Tiberius turned his head toward Pix when he was 20 feet away and said grinning "hide and seek is over I finally caught up to you." This would have been normal except the head looking at him had no eyes.

Tiberius hesitated no longer and sprang forward with a right hook at Pix's jaw that would have a similar impact to being hit by a freight truck. He followed up the hook with a jab from his other hand that would strike to the left with even more strength than the first swing. Tiberius had been hunting this thief all night the one targeting small businesses and individuals.

The sudden tremors from below forced Hugh to use a hand to steady himself. He hated that sound, metal giving way to a superior force. Under no circumstances did that not mean trouble. It was so unfair, the Titans couldn't be on top of every little misdeed. Pix had gone out of his way to be a low priority. 'Pick on bloody Pix' was right. Logic and common sense governed his tactics, and the Heroes of Jump City were cr*pping all over it. A nasty exclamation was all ready and prepared for whatever Titan had come to disrupt his plan. But not ready for this creature.

“Err.” Not a Titan then. Maybe the being wasn't even hostile. A possibility destitute of any hope it seemed. After making clear its intentions, the alien attacked. Pix had just enough time for a woebegone thought before it was knocked clean out of his head by the hook, along with pixels which used to be his upper cranium. The jab followed, spinning Hugh around and loosening yet more metallic squares.

His spinning body came to rest against some railings on the opposite end of the fire-escape. After a moment, the bars seem to slice through his torso like a knife through butter. The body was in four distinct sections now, but instantly combined again once on the outer edge of the railings. Both hands held on to prevent Pix from falling. His upper cranium had returned.

“Careful. You'll knock someone's block off by doing that.” Brute force held little concern for Pix. When every fibre of your being gave way to the blow rather than offering resistance there could be no lasting damage. It was the old Aesop Fable of the stiff oak against the bendy reed in a hurricane. Reed always outlasted, “Stop following.” Hugh let go, appearing to stand in mid-air. Yet as he levitated away it could be seen that he'd landed on top of his piggy-bank construct.

Several more pixel streams swept under the fire-escape. They concentrated their impacts against compromised pieces of construction created by Tib's arrival. For though metal was strong it could not bend without soon reaching its breaking point. The fire-escape collapsed.

Tiberius let himself fall into the jagged metal his armored shell twisting it with horrible screeching sounds. He stood back up and brushed himself off this was going to be fun for him. Tib grabbed a chunk of metal and threw it at Pix as though it was weightless. He leapt up onto the building and said "your the one from the forest that wanted me to kill people. I remember you now." Tiberius had a feeling his new shape would be useless if he passed through things. So he instead began focusing on changing, he hoped the villain would start talking again, he had seemed to love hearing himself talk.

Last year Pix could be a bit of a greenhorn. A fact that he wouldn't mention unless it was to boast on how much better he'd become. Just look at that! Some monster got the jump on him, and he'd taken it right down to Chinatown! Truly he was now a crook to be reckoned with. Formidable enough to be numbered among the H.I.V.E's greatest assets. The Pixel Plunderer. Sprite Supreme. Master of the Second-Dimension. And whatever title made almost getting flattened by a slab of steel sound mighty.

Oh no. The creature wasn't defeated. Pix may have to call this crime spree a night after all. Curse Jump City and its population of interlopers. The floating pig that was his mount turned so that he could face his attacker once more. He was surprisingly surprised to learn that there weren't two different nightmarish demons slithering around the metropolis, and that this creature and Tib were one in the same.

Wow, that was quite the makeover. Though if his goal was to blend in, it wasn't working. Hugh bore a grudge against this one. The last time they'd met he was half-way to winning a debate of good verses evil ethics, when this simpleton had turned tail and burrowed away, leaving him hanging. Even worse was that Tib appeared to have chosen Nighthawks in the end. Wasted potential, and a waste of Pix's precious time as well.

“You!” He accused, “You walked off on me! Burrowed off on me! Did I bore you? Was your freedom to hunt not as important as you made out? Apparently not, since you're a sodding Nighthawk now! This is unbelievable. You can't make a decision on half an argument. It's a mistake you jackass! Now I'll say again – quit following me! I'm through supporting your sorry excuse for a life.” Honestly, some mutating-reptilian-monster people.

Tiberius said seriously "I fought them, the leader was strong, and I'm allowed to hunt and work alone. They just want to be able to call on me for assistance, why are you doing this level of crime, is it a grudge?" Tib was about halfway through changing. His shell was getting lighter as he forced the separation. Tiberius said calmly."I was impatient that day I hadn't eaten in two weeks. I borrowed off for food you two were gone when I got back."

The Riddler had a neurosis for figuring out brain teasers. Pix appeared to have one for people not taking his advice. He knew he wasn't always right, but convincing someone to the side of evil would have gone a ways to justifying his own ne’er-do-well existence. Imagine if heroes could become villains without having to be brain-washed or undergo a traumatic event. Just by fine arguments and some companionship. Maybe the H.I.V.E. wouldn't be short of members if this was the case.

Hugh balked at Tib's question (>_>), “A grudge? I'll have you know I'm robbing these stores as part of a very complex and diabolical plan. One that it would be stupid to go into detail of. You'll just have to use your imagination.” And mind your own bloody business. In a different light Tib began to resemble how he'd looked previously, but Pix attributed that to a trick of the mind.

“We were gone. Wow.” Pix said with deadpan delivery, “We must have had something better to do than stand around in the middle of a forest all day. Actually, I have better things to do right now than explaining how you screwed up. Me and my friends will drop by to beat up your leader soon. Till then stay grotesque.” Old form, new form, both were marginally repulsive by human standards. The HIVE student chose a new direction to fly off into.

Tiberius finished his change all that was left was coming out of the shell he saw Pix turn away slightly and his cannons shattered through his chest and he fired six of the hypodermic needles filled with poison at him. Tib flexed his arms and the shell cracked falling off his body underneath his old snake body was visible again and he could see, a welcome change. Time to take down the little block man.

All H.I.V.E. students were adept at disappearing. Had to be to make sure any pesky heroes didn't follow them home. Though Pix's strategy was a darn sight more sophisticated than most. Fly high, have his pixels blend into the night sky, and thus become invisible to anybody on his tail from the ground. He wouldn't betray the base's location... again. To be fair last time it was a tracker.

Of course, getting away unharmed was the trick. No sooner did Hugh have his back turned did several sharp pains jab into said back. The student wrenched one of these projectiles free before adding a shimmer to his body in order to loose the rest of them. To his horror he identified the syringe, but then relented as to its importance.

"Nice try." Pix spun again, slower this time as his grip seemed to slacken, "But I'm made of pixels - if you haven't noticed! What did you think poison would-" A woosy feeling left Hugh unable to finish his sentence. This... this couldn't be possible. What had he been dosed with?

Tiberius tore the shell away and said as he slithered out."Why its just a little nuerotoxin my race makes in order to stop the brain. You won't escape a live square boy." Tiberius was surprised he wasn't already dead but rather than lose it decided to throw the discarded shell at Pix hoping he was disoriented enough to fall. That would even things up for the land bound monster. He licked his lips anticipating a meal.

Obviously Pix was no scientist. He didn't even know how his own body worked half the time! For any technical queries he would usually quiz Nix. Usually. There was no way in hell he was asking people to run tests on himself. So when new scenarios arose, Pix could be just as surprised as everybody else. Neurotoxins - bad. Thank goodness it hadn't been a lethal amount. Yet it was enough to effect his vitals from the brain down.

Worryingly Tib had changed form back into the behemoth Pix first knew him as. So he was actively transformable, an interesting tidbit of information to help plan a revenge for this injustice. Nighthawks were always such a nuisance. When Hugh got back to the academy, he wanted to make their run in Jump City a thing of the past. Consider it warm up for the Titans.

Despite the neurotoxin draining his strength reserves, Pix wasn't worried. His power worked by mind, not muscle. So as long as he kept thinking, nothing bad would happen. Unfortunately he'd underestimated how the tables had turned. Tib launched an aerial strike, forcing Pix into an immediate disadvantage of depth perception. And while the villain had learned to better account for this inherent flaw, there was one other problem.

He couldn't hold on to his platform, reducing dodging speed by too much. The shell smashed through his piggy-bank, sending Pix into free-fall. Upon hitting the ground he shattered, before his body began to regenerate, noticeably slower than usual.

"Ugh. This is one hell of an oversight."

Tiberius had moved to where he was reforming in a dash he had an advantage and needed to press it. He had already figured out that his talons were usless, however his teeth had begun to ooze their venom slowly a bite delivered two doses rather than just the one that a needle would. Tiberius waited until there was enough there and his head darted forward he bit hard enough to shear through steel injecting more venom before releasing and slithering back ten feet to watch.

Tib couldn't be sure that the strange man wasn't just faking in order to catch him off guard. He was thrilled his first meta-human who was foolish enough to get hit by his needles, and the poison worked making this even better. Tib would stay back and watch his third delivery ready to be spat.

The air was alive with silver glitter and various note denominations. Hugh always felt vigilantism took the finer details of foiling crime for granted. Even if each of these notes could be recovered, then who was going to count them? Who would tally the loses of each business, and then make sure each got their compensation? Dispersing the nest-egg, as had just been done, only completed these tasks of disinterest to your average superhero. Sucks to be the police around here.

A shadow blocked out the chaos from above, and Pix braced for some form a impact. The bite, while leaving no lasting damage, still hurt. Hugh could just tell that it was laced with the same venom that had already been delivered. Memories resurfaced of Tib killing a man when they'd first met. This wasn't a hero. This was an beast. For the first time Pix considered that he might not be going to jail.

Panic set in. Lack of energy and escalation of events began to give Hugh a helpless feeling. He summoned the free-floating pixels from out the air and focused it into the simplest of forms. A blizzard. Maybe he could inconvenience Tib long enough to get moving again. A sledge shape formed next to him and Pix rolled over onto it. Never mind about escaping with a profit, Pix would settle for his life. The sledge slid away.

Tiberius sniffed the air prey was escaping. He took off slithering on top of the snow and began preparing his venom he filled his mouth with four doses of venom and when he was within thirty feet he spit it straight for the slightly injured villains back. Tiberius lowered down after attempting to hook his tusks on the sledge which he would then flip to its side and throw at a building. This hunt was a thrill his physical damage couldn't hurt the enemy but his poison worked and prey kept trying to escape. He was no longer a hero and Pix was no longer a villain they were predator and prey, Tib had never lost his prey.

The projectile poison struck home and sent a fresh wave of pain threw Pix. His neurons misfiring, or some other biology gobbledygook. Assuming those theories even applied to his unique blend of technology and nature. A blend which was losing to something uniquely primitive. Even his mental functions were not impeded.

The sledge flipped crazily to one side. Hugh didn't know what had hit him. One moment escaping, the next slamming into brick. The jig was up (☠.☠). Pix wasn't known for his fortitude, he couldn't overcome the encroaching sickness that befell. Once rearranged, his body simply transformed back into its human equivalent. No longer block and indestructible. Now monster chow.