Bvld. of Broken Dreams [Vi]

[Violet Schultz]

Violet grunted as the wind was knocked out of her, and she was thrown backward. A cloud of purple fire cushioned her landing, but she would've been lying through her teeth to say that it didn't hurt. With the soreness that came from already having allowed the fire to enter her limbs, she wasn't feeling in top form. Still, she wasn't about to give up on him, no matter how hostile he was becoming. She didn't want to fight him, either, but she wasn't sure that the option was still available.

Ignoring the ache of her body, she stood, using only her willpower to keep from shivering from the pain like an autumn leaf. Her eyes faded to dark blue, and she remained there, not attacking, not defending. Just watching. Her eyes were weary, and filled with sadness. She had once feared her powers for the same reason. She had lost control, and people had died because of it.

"Choosing not to fight does not mean that you are weak," she said quietly. "Sometimes it makes you stronger. Be strong. This is senseless."

All the same, if he attacked again, she would be forced to defend herself. She wasn't a victim. But she wanted to choose peace over violence whenever she could. She had never used her powers in St. Louis. She knew that power could corrupt a person, and she wouldn't let herself be ruled by her power ever again. This guy was definitely being ruled by his powers. How could she get through to him? She couldn't just sit there and let him beat her to death.

[William Talbot]

The fire remained on his hands, an ever shifting shade of blue tinted with sliver as he tilted his head the other way and looked at her; she had survived his initial attack, such as it was, and she was not countering, either by lack of ability or choice as she was claiming, it mattered not, he had found an opening...


But she claimed that the conflict was senseless, and after some thought, it did seem rather one sided, which would be pointless, since he could not prove his worth (to who he did not yet know) by simply defeating this girl who would not fight back, as much fun as it might be to release his pent up energy and frustration on her, it would not serve to lift the condemnation he suddenly felt.

"DEfenD yOUrseLf..." he hissed as his eyes glowed brightly and then exploded with raw power, twin bursts of particle charged light plunging through the air at her...


(((I need Vi to knock some sense into him XD)))

[Violet Schultz]

She raised a hand to intercept the light, and only her firm stance kept her from being thrown backward with the power. While light-based attacks couldn't hurt her, the raw power behind it was pushing her backward. The light bounced off of her hand where it struck, singeing the brick walls where it rebounded. She gritted her teeth as she slid backward a few centimeters, but she dug her stance deeper to further steady herself.

"Enough!" she hissed.

Her dark blue eyes lit up lavender purple as the crane behind him exploded in a ball of flame, sending shredded scraps of metal flying in every direction. With the gasoline compounding the power of the explosion, the ground shook. The wind from the flames whipped around her, but the heat didn't phase her. Her glowing eyes were hard as she regarded him. Although she felt sorry for him, she wasn't about to sit there while he tried to destroy her. If a fight was what he wanted, she would just have to end it before anyone got seriously injured, herself included.

"Don't test me," she warned.

The flaming pieces of the crane fell to the ground, still burning purple. The flickering tongues of fire lit up the otherwise dim alley.

((I had a feeling it was going to come to this point.))

[William Talbot]

The slowly rising full moon framed the two pyros as hot bits of metal and dirt sprayed along the alleyway, some stray bits falling on him, the rest being deflected by a bubble of hot blue energy that formed around him protecting him from the larger debris that rolled and tumbled down the path behind him, the bubble flickering slightly before fading away...


Shane gave an evil smirk as he looked over his shoulder for a moment then locked eyes with Violet; "ImpreSSive... BUt IM afrAID thAT thE teSt IS mInE..." then gathering a ball of dark blue flame in his hand, he then shoved his palm out at her, the air around the spiraling sphere distorting as much from the heat as the kinetic force he used to form and project it, his other hand repeating the motion a split second later, and just a few frantic heartbeats before he wheels his arm around and brought his flame covered fist back up and charged her, his face dark with feral rage...



However, deep in the recesses of his mind, a soft warmth was stirring, and something old, noble, and powerful seemed to awaken, slowly, as if it had been sedated and kept asleep for a long time, the power it held not yet awakened as well...

[Violet Schultz]

Violet was lucky that he had lost his memory at this point. He either had no experience at fighting or had lost his skill along with his memory. Any fighter knew how to conceal their attack, at least partially. Otherwise, the opponent would have time to figure out a way to avoid it, as Violet did. She leapt into the air with the help of some fiery propulsion, leaving a small cloud of lavender flame in her wake. The jump launched her over his head, and she landed lightly behind him, supplementing the dodge by jabbing him in the neck and back, where some painful nerve points were.

As soon as she was grounded, she flipped backward, away from the dangerous amnesiac. He seemed to favor the direct attack approach, something that she tended to avoid. She knew that in a battle of muscle, he would undoubtably be the victor. Lucky for her, she had other strengths. She was definitely more agile, and seemed to have the edge in experience. Plus, in a battle of flame against flame, they couldn't burn each other. Like many pyros, she was impervious to heat and light. He seemed to have the same ability. Still, they both had kinetic energy with which they could strike. In an explosion, the three types of energy were heat, light, and kinetic energy. There wasn't a pyro alive who was immune to kinetic energy.

She stood where he had stood a moment ago, her body in the Ba Gua Zhang stance as she prepared for him to come at her again. It was the perfect martial art for combating an opponent of greater physical strength. It relied on skill and agility, turning the opponent's power against them.

[William Talbot]

Shane stumbled some and actually fell forward when Violet lept over him and hit the nerve endings in his neck as she did, his vision bursting with starts and flashes, his balance suddenly non-existent as he felt his legs misstep, but he recovered quickly leaning forward and tucking his head down, rolling back onto his feet, and stopping with a sudden plant of his left foot, he then pivoted on the balls of his foot and glared at her, as he reached out with clawed hands and shifted right into the Tiger stance of Kun Fu, his eyes flashing as he crouched low and moved forward slowly, his eyes locked on hers...

It was always in the eyes, as any good warrior knew, either by instinct or training, which Shane couldn't tell which he had the most of at the moment, nor really cared to know, but while knowing how to take a hit was good, and being able to read another's body language almost an unfair advantage, being able to read the eyes gave one the edge you needed to best a better opponent, pummel an equal and devastate a lesser adversary.

However, as to how Violet matched up to himself, Shane really didn't know, but felt that he'd soon find out.

He inched closer and closer, the soft sizzle and hum of Pyro and Lumen kinetic energy building in his finger tips as he picked his place to strike, being the only warning she would get of a pending attack, which was all he warning he would give her, as he lept in a spinning areal swipe at her neck, his plan to pull the same trick she had, only with the intent to rip the side of her neck off...

[Violet Schultz]

So, it seemed that he had retained some skill after all. He was watching her eyes more than her body, though. While reading one's eyes definitely gave the advantage in most situations, it couldn't help with someone who had the training that she did, or someone who had such firm control over their emotions and actions. Robin had remarked that he couldn't read her face, and it was true of most people. After leading a gang for a while, she had gained a killer poker face. It helped in a bluff, and it covered her real thoughts. It was a helpful trait when the people that she led were so dangerous. Showing signs of fear and weakness didn't serve a leader very well.

In a classic Ba Gua manouver, she stepped forward and under his attack, using smartly placed footwork in order to dodge his attack. The power he was putting into each attack was dynamic, to say the least. If she was touched by that much compressed energy... needless to say it wouldn't be a good situation. Fortunately, the Ba Gua Zhang style of martial arts kept her well grounded, and that gave her added agility if she needed it. Building energy in her own palms, she struck twice as soon as he landed, aiming for his shoulder and lower back. If the strikes hit, he would probably be thrown forward at least ten feet. Still, she kept a handle on her powers. She didn't put as much energy into it as should could have. After all, she didn't want him to be torn open and bleed to death.

[William Talbot]

Having twisted up and over her, had kept him safe from a direct counter, but he had miss judged his landing and was facing away from her when he heard it, and despite his best efforts, she had simply moved faster than he thought she could and while he felt the energy brush past his shoulder hard, the impact of the blow to his lower back sent him tumbling forward where he then slid along the ground a foot or so as he found his feet and stood, then pushed off the wall of the building, caving the bricks in slightly as he exploded forward at the fastest he had moved to date (as far as he knew) a cloud of dust and flame behind him from where he had used his powers to give that extra boost.


Flying at her with his arms out, he cut twin lines of energy along the ground and then up at her, the beams of light and heat locked on her center mass right below her heart and lungs, a hot sizzling sound almost like electricity filling the alley as he closed the gap, his hands reaching for her, ready to grab and crush at anything he could grip...

[Violet Schultz]

Somersaulting to the right as he rebounded off of the wall, she punched his midsection as he passed, releasing stored kinetic energy in her fist to empower the strike. Flame patterns appeared from her fist down her forearm before disappearing as she struck. While he could've given himself extra reach by extending his arms, it also had exposed his torso, and that gave her an opening. She wasn't the type of fighter to leave an opening like that unpunished. Of course, he was an apt fighter as well, so it was best not to take any chances.

As soon as the attack was complete, she flipped backward and out of range, her face impassive as they battled. She would give nothing away through her body language. He would have to rely on more than that if he was to figure her out. His own movements were becoming more subtle as time progressed, but his attacks were still overt and all-out. It was a good technique for people who were physically really strong, but not for people like her, whose strength lies in their technique. A head-to-head battle between the two was fairly even.

"Honestly!" she hissed. "Stop attacking me! I'm trying to help you, idiot!"

[William Talbot]

Shane hung in the air for the shortest moment before his momentum carried him forward and to the side, his direction altered by the sudden and surprisingly forceful counter Violet had hit him with, his attack foiled completely and his ribs suddenly sore as he hit the ground and rolled back to his feet, an arm around his middle as he glared at her and panted slightly...


But as he gather his strength and readied for another attack, her words suddenly struck him as... Very odd... Strange deceptive and yet, somehow comforting, in some unknown way, the edges of his mind feeling very crowded all of a sudden, some sense that what was transpiring was wrong somehow, but, how could it be? She was the enemy, she was his test, how could fighting her be wrong?

"Why do you say that? What kind of reason would you have to help me?" he said acidly as he gave her a once over, looking for any kind of opening, and finding only a few places in her defense that might give in if he pressed an attack, but as he had learned in the last few minuets, this girl could fight, and fight well, her agility and speed surprising...

[Violet Schultz]

"Because I know the pain that you're feeling," she said. "You're alone. You don't know where you are, you don't know where you belong, and whether you want to admit it or not, you're scared. I've been there. But you'll never escape this point if you lash out at everyone who tries to lend you a hand!"

She was still hoping that the matter would be resolved without anyone being seriously hurt, but if that didn't go down, she would be forced to resort to more drastic measures. One on one, they would fight evenly, but all that it took to turn the tables was for one major hit to be made. It wasn't like battles in St. Louis. There, you could afford to take a couple hits. But here... here they were playing for keeps. She couldn't afford to let her guard down for even a second.

[William Talbot]

Shane tilted his head the other way and then lowered his hands and squinted at her as he stepped closer, as if he was questioning if she was really there or not, his steps slow and careful until he was a couple of yards away and searching her face, her body language, everything, his powers suddenly quiet, his arm still oozing some, the hoodie all but ruined, and his eyes lost but searching, scared but angry...


"How could you know? You're a leader, I can... Tell... You've always know what to do, one way or the other, even when you didn't know what was going on, you knew that you had to live, that you had find the answers you wanted, you always found a way..."

He flinched a bit, as if his head was being invaded by something, his eyes flickering as his mind shifted and pounded the inside of his ears as that old noble feeling suddenly attacked everything that was making sense at the moment, the anger, hate fear and darkness that was driving him, fought off something deeper, something just as scared, but also mad at the stupidity and anger, the rage that was driving him at the moment, reason finding purchase upon a single sting of thought that flashed across his mind at that moment as a flood of memories washed over him for a heartbeat...

"You're bigger and stronger and faster than other people William For a reason. Everyone has a purpose, even bad people, because good needs to fight evil, just as evil needs good to survive, one without the other would consume itself and with it, the world as we know it. I hope you understand that your mother and I want you and your sister to do the right thing, to protect each other and others, because it's the right thing to do..."


Shane grabbed at his head and screamed out in pain, his eyes turning black then blue and then white before he turned away and ran, as fast as he could from the alley, his mind a storm of pain, conflict and fear, his body hurting, his heart lost and his soul tormented by this burning question; "Who am I?"

[Violet Schultz]

She watched him as he went, her eyes fading back to blue as the threat vanished. She sighed and straightened her posture as her eyes tracked him.

"If only that was true," she said to nobody.

She was never sure of anything, but he was right about one thing. The only thing she knew was that she had to stay alive. Why; she wasn't so certain. She'd felt it all of her life; that primal instinct to survive, tempered by the human desire for purpose. That desire was part of what drove her to leave St. Louis in the first place, though the betrayal was definitely a kick in the pants.

She turned around and walked back toward the safehouse, keeping her tracks covered so that no one could follow. Tim wasn't going to like this news.