(ooc: I was going to make a whole new thread, but I saw this one hadn't been replied to and reworked mine to fit. As nobody else replied to this and it's been several days, I'm working on the assumption that no one was going to do so and therefore Frequency would have eventually left - though the Knight does reveal himself just before that actually happens. This is still Energy’s thread and therefore still open at her discretion - it's entirely possible that others may show up late for one reason or another.)
There exists another world behind our own. Hidden beneath the mundane of everyday life and the simplicity of the struggle between heroes and villains lies a world of shadow and horror. Where morality has been abandoned for the sake of progress. In a cruel twist of irony, it is a world of true equality, where everyone of every race, creed, religion, age and gender are seen as the exact same thing: raw materials. Nothing more than pieces and parts to be used as the puppet masters see fit. The world is locked in a secret war that it has no idea it has been fighting. Some groups are faring better than others, however. One such group has recently become more active, garnering much interest from those who would pull the strings.
A young heroine made a public cry, appealing to any heroes to join her in a quest to find the previous wave. At first, this merely drew curiosity, as any new development does. But upon realizing just what she was and who she was affiliated with, curiosity gave way to determined focus. This was but a single child, but her kind had proved elusive and resilient - enough to warrant the utmost caution. Raw force would likely result in her death, and while that was only a temporary setback, it would no doubt alert the rest of her kind to their focus - an outcome to be avoided at all costs. A plan was formed. The Queen was too unstable to use right away, and the Bishop could not be used here. Not in this part of the world. The Rook was laughably useless in this delicate situation as they didn't want the city leveled. The King was of course a non combatant, never to leave his sanctum. That left one. He was more suited to assassination than information gathering and his level of freedom meant that they would have minimal control over the interaction, but he would have to do. Orders were drawn up and sent. The Knight was dispatched to intercept. Unbeknownst to the would be puppeteers the Knight had his own agenda, however he could not ignore his orders without arousing suspicion. Nonetheless, as he stalked his quarry, he schemed of ways to mould the situation to his own benefit.
A rat crawled over a lump in the shadows of a jumble of machinery upon a roof. The area was like many others - maintained, but decrepit. There were tools spread out where someone had left them after a long day of work, but hadn't returned to collect them, and several of the A/C units and transformers had blue tarps over them, which in turn were tied into place with nylon line. There were a couple of piles of seemingly random odds and ends, all mechanical in nature. It looked like the piles were more or less sorted into usable material, new material, and junk to be thrown out. Within one, a pair of eyes focused on the girl goofing off on the neighboring roof while she waited. Beneath a metal mask, a grin widened. It was the first bit of movement he'd exhibited since his arrival. Even his heartbeat and breathing were almost nonexistent, and his temperature matched that of the cooler interior of the materials around him. He had chosen this specific spot both for the view it afforded and for the simple fact that it was continuously in the shade thanks to the machinery around it and the scaffolding above him. The building had been undergoing some sort of repairs, but he'd made sure that nobody made it to work on the roof.
He watched the heroine dance about and loudly hoot for quite some time. He was not yet ready to reveal himself, as he wanted to know who all planned to come. As the hours ticked by, it appeared that nobody else had taken an interest in her message. How very strange. Though it did make things much easier for him. Too easy. Perhaps they had found him out and this was a trap? His eyes narrowed. No, he had been far too careful, and this child was far too loud. The fact that he was on this mission said that not only was he likely their only choice, but he was still free enough of suspicion. It appeared as though she was getting ready to leave. Now was the time to move.
When he'd disguised himself, he'd meticulously threaded the junk together in order to better maintain a degree of control over it when he discarded it. Rather than letting it simply clatter from him, he focused on a single point of his body, drawing upon the gift he'd had forced upon him. Timing his movements with the natural sounds of the city, he gently lowered his disguise to the rooftop as a single magnetically fused piece, then lowering his field until each piece rested upon the ground - it would do no good to get it silently on the ground as a whole only to release it and have all of the pieces clatter. This process took a moment, but kept him from making any noise that could reveal him before he was ready.
He rose, and padded forward towards the girl, moving along a very specific track line. Before he'd disguised himself, he'd left a piece of his armor on the other roof, tucked away from prying eyes. It was a secondary chest plate, small and redundant. Rather than additional protection, it more often than not served the exact purpose it served now: as a trap to the unsuspecting should he need it. He wanted to make sure that if he had to use it, it would already be behind her. Given how childish this girl seemed, he doubted his efforts would be needed, but there was no such thing as being too sure. As the girl made to leave, he made the first audible sound he'd made since arriving as he landed with a soft crunch on the same roof she'd been waiting on.
“Leaving so soon?” His voice somehow managed to be dark and manic at the same time, with a strange pitch that was higher than normal, as if the bearer was furious yet trying not to laugh. “I thought you were looking for answers. Though it seems like nobody else wants to find them.” He was crouched about halfway along the roof, with his hands planted between his feet so that he squatted with his knees at his shoulders. His eyes were fixated on her through a mane of wild brown hair that grew shorter as it went further back, though the bangs went well past his chin, and he tilted his head to one side as he regarded her. Like his shins, chest, back, and forearms, the lower half of his face was covered by some sort of black mesh, though in the center of his shins and along the edges of his forearms the black mesh gave way to silver metal, and both shins and elbows ended in wicked points.
Sun Jun 09, 2024 4:06 pm by Kip
Subject: The Arrival (Open) 
