Why did we go here again?

Gloomy. Rotten. Foul. Just a few words darting back and forth through Apache's mind as he walked the streets of Steel City. Not only did he have to wear his brown haori all the time due to the colder atmosphere, he did not know whether he was talking about the people, or the city.

It seemed Steel City was even more rotten then Jump City. Yet Apache had been very reluctant to leave Jump. Not only did had he sworn an oath to rid Jump of it's filth, but he felt more out of place here then ever. Had he not found the ideal task group in the Slivers' presence, then he had never come here. Quite frankly, he felt homesick. Double homesick. The sacred lands where he hailed from appealed to him once more, while he had never been homesick before. Even Jump, with it's overflowing cocky heroes and clean demeanor was a place he'd happily go to.

Men didn't step out of your way here. Women would only do so in fear of being bashed to the ground. It was a grim world. And Apache was lost in it. For the first time since ever had he kept Wolf and Hawk at home. If they would be with him they'd only witness the atrocities.

Apache heard gunshots. But he didn't know from where. The mazes of little side streets were like a carrying beacon for all the sounds. Yet here he was, trying to locate that sound. yet to no avail, there were no screams, nor sounds of shattered glass that followed. If only not another spirit was on it's way to heaven...or hell.

Just when he thought it could not get any worse, he found a few skull-faced punks on the corner of the street. Skull Saders. They were just standing there, but everyone seemed to walk around them in a huge circle, a lot of people crossing the road just to avoid them. With steel pipes, hockey sticks and those hockey masks, Apache could understand. He would not do such a thing though. He walked in a straight line, past the Saders.

When at first they did not do anything, Apache knew his innate ability was working. Those with evil aura's were figuratively choked when in the near vicinity of his spiritual presence. It took true villains to ignore this feeling, or completel spiritual numbness. When he walked on, he could not help but adorn a grin. Those punks...why would he let them stand?

Truth be told, Apache had not been able to see the true judgment of jump work in Steel City. Where he would never harm someone who was not out to harm him, the streets over there were not as polluted as the ywere over here. Even the police seemed to be absent when needed most.

This time, Apache did not have to pick the fight. He had never picked one, they seemed to come to him. And how happy he was this was no different.

''Nice little coat you got there. Where's the money? Give us your money and we might just let you leave, with your guts intact.''

''My my...Did we not meet before?''

With that, Apache unleashed his contained aura, again mentally choking those around him, yet stronger. In the split second the three Saders were dazed, he turned around and got his arms out of his haori.

''I believe you did not meet me. Yet you do know about me. We went easy on you last time. It's time to make amends for that mistake. I'm sure the rumor spread already.''

The Skull Sader replies with a vertical downward strike of his hockey stick, but Apache was faster. Summoning his ethereal bow and aiming straight for the face, Apache unleased a pure green arrow, blowing his attacker back. His two companions stood there doubting whether to attack as the first seemed to bleed out of his skull.

''Heroes no more. You will not escape.''

Apache unleashed arrow after arrow, succesfully striking down all three attackers. He regretted not taking his bow, for it was solid and was good for a few harsh blows in close combat.

''No quarters given, none taken. Pathetic weaklings. Tell your boss.''

Apache walked off, not checking for any vital signs. Had he wanted them dead they already would have been. One thing he knew about the Skull Saders was that they had enough members to live on. They were like a plague of rats. Apache shot up a rope and climbed the roof nimbly, creating a suitable view and a hard-to-follow route. Apache slowly realised how much these few SteelCity-days had already changed him, and it horrified him.

Rolling up the rope, he spotted yet another atrocity. In the distance.

A middle aged man was being mugged by yet another group of Skull Saders, who apparently thought he was the one that had taken down the first three. Apache called him bow, and aimed. He would hit, he was sure of it, but the only area that one Sader, who seemed in charge of the 7, no 8 man group had to hit was the back of his head. Would Apache fire, he would kill him. for sure. He would have to load that much spiritual energy in the arrow to travel that well, and that far. With a press on his ear, Apache activated the Sliver Communication Grid.

''Any Sliver in my area? I can't get to a victim fast enough for him to be ravaged, unless I kill one of the Saders. I need help.''

''Never mind on the help. You wouldn't believe it hadn't you seen it. Oh wait, you don't. A female is bashing up before mentioned the Skull Sader group. Aeon or any other member, do we have any info in our database about a small woman who uses electric whips to attack opponents?''

Apache dismissed the bow, fading it back into his palm as he looked and watched for a second. He turned away. It was not his fight. After taking a few steps, he looked back. He could barely see the fight, but he knew where it was going. However, how convenient it was that she showed up, all of the sudden.

He did not believe in chance, she had a reason to be here. Apache's mind raced as his duality took the best of him, not knowing why, but something was off. Was she a hero, or a wolf in sheep's clothing? After little thinking time in which the middle aged man was saved, he opened the communication link once more. His mind had multiple options at hand, and even seemed to recall a profile or two on electric metahumans, but it was pinned down by one thought:

''Oh...Why did we go here again?''

Apache whistled as he got down form the building, seeing Simca was engaging this whip user. He didn't get a clear answer to his question, as he had no idea what Noir was. That aside, it seemed the unidentified metahuman presented herself.

Apache heard what she said. And got grossed out. Today truly was a bad day for Apache, as now not only his mood was on an all time low, his patience had never been shorter.

''She would not be here if she could not hold her own. As for you, drop the act.''

He sounded displeased as he tighthened his brown feathered haori. The chills that ran down the streets was nothing he would ever appreciate.On the side he wondered if he would appreciate anything about this city. Yet that man that had been saved might have been one. His principles could get him killed, yet he stood by them. Very honorable. Very unlike what he had before him. Apache created the ethereal green bow again, pointing straight at Katarzyna. He was almost looking for a reason to shoot when he snidely remarked the following:

''Your aura is that of a junkie, your ruthlessness and violence were unmatched, and you stand before us telling you doubt being a Titan? Sounds like a coward to me. Or a deserter. Which one are you?''

If this city was ever going to become something again, doubt had no rightfull place in Steel. To Apache, you could not be a hero on vacation. You could not be in doubt if your beliefs were strong enough, you would never wander in Steel, if your heart was in Jump..

Apache kept his spiritual arrow tight. If anything, he'd never point it elsewhere. He was astounded at his foe.

''Unbelievable. You said it yourself. They paved a way, and you try to put a stain on their reputation? They would not be in Steel had they been under the radar. You have no right to talk like that. As for any ideas, why would I be the one getting them when you grab your whips..Mind still messed up from your last dose of drugs?''

Apache's facial expression turned for the worse as he was contempalting to shoot. He would not stand mockery, as this Electrified almost seemed to stand up for the corruption, the raging filthy organisations here in Steel. Apache was not one for pity in this case. He continued in his usual sarcasm.

''Oh no you just grab the whips to defend yourself. Right. Like every junkie grabs another syringe to keep the pain away. You are no deserter. You are filth. Provocation will not change that. But why tell a story, in the end you'll just stick a syringe in your arm, or where ever you want it. Walk away from it all. It's not the criminals that make Steel like this...it's people who don't stand up against it. People like you. Which would give me an equal good reason to shoot you, were it not for Simca. She's higher in rank, she gives the orders. I will not deny the last shred of rank and order left in this hellhole.''

And how Apache hoped Simca would allow him to release the bowstring. One quick arrow of spiritual energy, followed by another. Corrupted Titans, crime bosses, all would be purged by spiritual fire. He looked at Simca, as he had not said anything in a while.

This was beginning to be heatedly personal. Katarzyna’s eyes began to spark red as her whips did the same. Whatever she would say, this man would smother her words and still hold that damn arrow in her face. Truth would drive her further into the ground, but sarcastic insults and flat-out lies would leave her head to roll in the mud as countless criminals either ran scared or––most probably––step beyond their comfortable boundaries. In Jump City, most everyone would lock their doors and mothers would pull their children a little closer to their sides. The people who had common sense would act a little nicer, be more generous, and actually sweep their porches. In theory, if they were good they wouldn’t have to be scared of “justice” being brought upon them. Clearly the girl with electric blue hair and dark tan skin whose arm was obviously a regular host to opium was bad. Bad people did drugs and wore extreme makeup and carried high-powered weapons. Bad people looked like her. Bad people were like her. She was a bad person. As for Steel, it could be predicted the criminal scum would take the beheaded “baddie” as a direct threat to their own actions. The race to be on the top of the food chain would be accelerated. After all, they were either a threat to their fellow criminals or someone to be easily preyed upon. Prey or be preyed on––the credo for survival of crime.

If Electrified didn’t say anything at all, she might as well want to be killed. What to say to someone as stubborn as this, though? She had to choose her next words carefully.

“If scum like me didn’t defend ourselves, we’d also conceit to everyone’s convictions. And before you reply, I want to make it clear that what you’ve said is true so far, and I agree sob stories are pathetic. But trying to cover up my own mistakes––both past, present, and future––would make me even lower than I already am. Joining the Titans was my first mistake, and coming down here was obviously my second; getting chewed and spat on by a Sliver, no less, only proves what can and can’t be seen in a person. In only five minutes, you’ve already decided who I am.”

•••

“The girl does have a point,” a deep, heavily accented voice echoed. “And if you ask me, two Slivers against one corrupted Titan seems a bit unfair.”

The sound of broken shingles crashing to the ground complimented the shiny black shoes that slid down the rooftop in their own unsettling way. A tall, fairly broad-shouldered man dressed in neatly pressed slacks, a bright crimson dress shirt, and a smart black vest leapt an abandoned shop’s rooftop and landed on the pavement with ease. His dark brown hair was neatly combed and his face cleanly shaven. He was a handsome man, but his gaze was piercing and sinister. The metahuman, a German businessman, took pride in his blood red eyes; they both aided his desire to instill fear on others and gave testimony to his resurrection. A military testing group called “L.A.W.” had seen potential in Kaiser Adal Ehrlichmann and, after his murder by his twin brother’s hands, opted to give him life again. And now in return, Fake had become their loyal dog.

“I apologize for interrupting, my good fellows, but I feared this confrontation would result in unnecessary bloodshed. And might I say what a mighty fine bow you have there,” Kaiser nodded at Apache. “It would be a shame to shoot miss lightning here when there are far more deserving individuals than she. Might I suggest the Newgates or Teachs? They’ve been causing quite a ruckus as of late.”

ooc:// I hate to double post, but I was wondering if you'd like to stop or prolong it for a better time.