A Little Paranoid... (Open)

It was late afternoon in Jump City. Cars were rolling on by, people were walking the streets, and things just seemed to be normal. The weather out was pretty good to say the least, maybe a bit windy, but you couldn't complain about it. Then a shadow would be seen jumping across from building to building. A better look and you would see that it was none other that Ajay running across the buildings. Ajay would be doing all sorts of flips and other type of techniques he learned from doing acrobatics. In a way he had a natural act for this free running type of stuff. Ajay was not chasing anyone or anything like that. He was just trying to pass the time of these past days of nothing happening. Ajay would soon stop on a random building and go to the edge to sit down on it. He stopped on one of Jump City's many apartment buildings. He wiped the sweat off his head with his shirt as he was taking a few deep breaths.

"Ugh! I have to go find something better to do. It's like the Teen Titans around here scared all the baddies away. They should've at least saved some of the bad guys for us other heroes, I mean gosh! Eh... I guess that means they're just doing a good job then..."

Ajay would say as he was laying now on the ledge. He looked up at the sun, just staring at it for a bit. His eyes would start to hurt because he stared to long so he had to turn away. He blinked and he started to see a bunch of colors as he wiped his eyes, trying to get his vision back. Ajay would get up and start pacing around in a circle as he wiped his eyes and his vision went back to normal. Ajay started to tinker with the frequencies on his mask that he was wearing to see if he could pick up anything. After a bit of screwing around with the frequencies, Ajay would pick up on a news station broadcast. The lens on his mask showed the news like a TV type of view. He caught the station when they were going over the top news and one of them was about Ben and Shadow's deaths. Two heroes in this city had been murdered. This came as a great great shock to Ajay.

"Wow, man... looks like these guys are getting more serious around here. Maybe I shouldn't be out here alone today. Things seem a little dangerous right now. It's not like I'm scared or anything. Heh, I'll just have to make some armor maybe. Got my gadgets handy so I'll be fine for now. I better get on home though so mom doesn't worry again. A few minutes and it'll start getting dark."

Ajay would turn off the new's frequency so that he could start heading back home. Ajay would look around to see if anyone was around and then he would run off again. When Ajay would reach the ledge though he would trip and fall over the building. Ajay was easily able to recover in the air and get his hand onto the wall to stop him from falling. Ajay looked down at the ground, eyes wide open, and panting pretty hard. He crawled down the building until he reached the ground. He then started to walk out of the alleyway.

"Okay, I think I'll walk it instead..."

Ajay would say as he casually walks out of the alleyway so that he would not draw any attention to him. Ajay again looked around to make sure he wasn't being followed. He didn't notice anything as of right now. He was being cautious because in reality he was actually a bit scared and paranoid right now. Ajay took a deep breath as he walked down the sidewalk. The sun was now starting to set. There were only a few people walking out on the streets right now. For some reason, Ajay could not shake this paranoia that he was feeling. Someone definitely was following him or that's just what Ajay thought. Who knows, maybe it is all just in his head? Or maybe he does have a reason to feel a bit paranoid...?

At this point Ajay was alone on the streets now, still walking home. He kept on his way as he started to here some noises. Ajay at first panicked, but tried to calm himself down. His walking pace started to get faster and his heart started to beat faster. Ajay felt like his heart was at his throat. Ajay's body slightly tensed up on him and every time he heard each click, a shiver would climb up his spine. Ajay slightly looked over his shoulder to see if he could see anything, but nothing was there. Just his luck, and the sun was almost gone. The air started to get ever so colder and the wind began to die out.

(Mind)
"It's all in your head Ajay. Be brave, be brave. You're almost home and then everything will be good then. It's all in your head, it's all in your head."

Ajay would think to himself as he tried to calm his body down. Something about this night was just off, strange. Ajay tried to keep his mind off of the noises he kept hearing and tried to think about other stuff. Ajay on the other hand though kept his guard on high alert right now. Maybe it was too high because he was ready to strike anything that came up on him at this point.

(Mind)
"Great! Now I think I'm seeing things. I don't even know if that was real or not, ah! I'm getting home ASAP"

Ajay after that whole innocent just now Ajay started to run now. Ajay went and jumped onto the wall of the building and quickly ran up it, reaching the top. He went and did a whole bunch of flips and tricks as he ran across the rooftops. Ajay felt like whatever was with him tonight was very close, almost right on his tail. Ajay tapped on his mask, hitting a button that turned on the night vision so that he can see better. Ajay's body was shaking, but he didn't care right now. He was getting home no matter what in his mind. Only a bit more and he will be there.

(Mind)
"A couple of more buildings and I will be home in no time."

Ajay would think to himself as he only looked straight ahead. He tried not to worry about what was behind him or next to him. Ajay feels like he is playing a game of cat and mouse and sadly he was the mouse right now. Ajay couldn't tell anymore if this was his imagination or if these incidents were actually happening. No time to stop and think about it though, he had to get home.

Ajay would hear the voice as he ran across the rooftops. His heart was beating quickly, not from being tired, but from the fear that was struck in him. Once the sentence was done though, Ajay would see a figure coming to strike him from the front and would stop in his tracks a try to block. This would end in failure because the figure would disappear and Ajay would soon feel a strike of pain right across his back and then gets electrocuted. Ajay yells out in great pain and falls down to all fours, breathing very hard. Ajay reached to touch his back with one hand and saw that blood has been drawn. He gritted his teeth as Ajay got back up to his feet. Ajay knew he was not going to outrun this guy. He was going to have no other choice but to fight this guy. Ajay would reach into his pockets and pull out a bunch of silver pellets. he threw them to the ground as they scattered around him. the smoke filled the rooftop that they were standing on and Ajay switched his mask from night vision to infrared vision now. Ajay made no noise as he moved from his spot so that he would not be in the same place. He would carefully scan the area for any signs of heat from a person. Ajay would hope to pick something up in the smoke as he carefully moved through the are without making any mistakes.

(Mind)
"If I don't find anything I am splitting. This pain is surging through my body and I have no idea where this guy is. Where do these crazy villains come from???"

(Mind)
"There you ar... wait not over... ah! too fast to track down in one spot. Must be some kind of speedster or maybe a teleporter. Hm, time is short and I don't know how I'm going to deal with this guy. Let me try this..."

Ajay would think to himself as he reached into a clip that was on his belt and pulled out about half a dozen of these mechanical looking ants. Ajay would put a quick and easy program into all six of them and then put them onto the ground. They each crawled to six different points of the rooftop that they were on. The program he set into them was easy. It was a program to go and explode in fifteen seconds. Ajay made sure that he wasn't on the rooftop. He made a mad dash through the smoke off the rooftop. Right off the side Ajay went as he free fell down through the air. Mid way down, Ajay grabbed onto the fire escape as the explosion went off. Ajay would wonder if he had gotten the guy with that explosion or was he able to get away from it.

At first Ajay would be slightly frightened by Nighthawk landing in the same spot that he was at. Ajay would get prepared as Nighthawk was coming to strike him from the front, but then the intellect of this young mind kicked in. For the split second he had, Ajay would have a flashback. The flashback was from Nighthawk's first strike. It was all too similar. A simple distraction from the front and then use his powers to reappear and strike behind Ajay. He would easily remember due to the large scratch that was on his back now. Once the image of Nighthawk began to disappear from in front of Whoop-Ant, he would spin around counter clockwise and go for a hard right jab. The only thought was that Ajay had done his calculations right and his target would be there.

(Mind)
"I think I got him!"

At this moment it was time to grow up a bit for Ajay. Instead of whining about the pain he would just grit his teeth and fight through it. Seeing Nighthawk's abilities close up now, Ajay would be able to deduce that he is not a teleporter, but has a type of super speed instead. Ajay knew that Nighthawk was coming for another strike with that claw of his, but no strategy would pop up into the head of Ajay. He was not quick enough to pull off another move. Tonight though lady luck was definitely on Ajay's side tonight. The explosion that Ajay had set off earlier had loosened the bolts at the top of the fire escape. They were loose enough for them to break off the wall, and then the next set would break off as well. this would cause a chain effect and cause the fire escape to fall off the building. This would cause Ajay to loose his footing on the fire escape and fall off the edge of it, over the railing, just getting him out of the way of Nighthawk's claw. Ajay would free fall for a couple of seconds due to him thinking he was going to die there and then. He was able to pull himself together though and grab onto the side of the building. His gloves were put into effect as they stuck to the side of the building, preventing Ajay from impaling on the ground. Ajay would pant hard as he looked around for Nighthawk. He knew he was able to easily escape that predicament, but where was he? While looking around, Ajay would slip something into his hand. He did this so discretely that it looked like he had done nothing at all. Ajay was getting prepared for the next strike that he would expect.

What was revealed to be in Ajay's hand was another robotic ant. this ant was slightly bigger than the other ants he had used before. This one ant was almost as big as Ajay's palm. The fire of the gun the Nighthawk was using could be heard from below Ajay. Ajay would drop the ant, which was set to explode. Straight down the ant went and then Ajay would climb up with his feet and then push off the building to move out of the way of the bullet. The bullet came short and hit the wall where Ajay was. Right after the impact the explosion would occur. The shrapnel of the bricks would come flying at him. Ajay would cover up his face and they would cut up Ajay around his arms that weren't protected. The armor was enough to keep the brick shrapnel from cutting most of his body. Ajay would go flying across the street and crash through the window of the building across the street. The mechanical ant that was set to explode continued to fall through the air, straight down at Nighthawk. Back in the apartment that Ajay had been sent into it would be seen that Ajay had been sent onto a couch inside of the building, which cushioned his impact. Ajay would sit up to look out of the hole he had caused to see if his ant had made impact yet.

"This ant better get the job done."

Ajay would say to himself in desperation.