A Challenge? || Closed

[claire]

ooc;;

open to Will

---

She could sense that he was coming. After all of those clues she had meticulously planted along the way, the Titans were finally sending someone to check them out. And here everyone had said that Robin was supposed to be some great detective. Even if that was true, he wouldn't be a challenge to fight, given his lack of abilities. He wasn't even worth her time. Now this other boy, this Blaze person... His powers would make the fight interesting, indeed. The mind games, especially, would be enjoyable. The sadistic pleasure that Slade took in what he had done to the Wolf Man gave her ammunition... Ammunition which she chose to use.

She could feel his telepathic powers seeking her, trying to feel her out before he arrived. Rather than blocking him, she showed him what he was not looking for... She showed him the images she had found in Slade's mind, of some girl named Destiny... She showed him Slade's mind as he thought of it. Sitting on top of a huge crate, she watched him arrive with her mind rather than her eyes. The eyes were misleading, but her other sense told her what she wanted to know. His pretty little sidekick wouldn't be coming on this errand.

Like many talented telepaths, she had layers of barriers protecting her mind from any attack from another. She kept only her identity a secret from him. It was only fun if the game could continue after the encounter was over...

[William Talbot]

Blaze had been the one that had found the clues, and even when Robin and Darkbrand had voiced some concern over what it might or might not mean, he had felt that it could lead to some kind of lead to the big questions that had been surrounding both the death of his parents, and Violet's abduction, as well as the lab that Feurs had pointed them towards.

And while it was still just a big hunch, the clues pointed to answers, if he could only track down who had been leaving them, and how he or she was connected...

A single clue had pointed him here now, to the warehouses of the north side, where he was now slowly prowling about, looking for that once place that fit the clue, that one building that had the telltale scent of acrylic bead and fiberglass based concrete, or polycrete, as it was nicknamed.

There was only once place that stored prefabricated high-tech walls, so he followed his nose to the warehouse that had them stored in bulk, and Will had found it, with a little detective work, some intuition, a little help from his powerful senses and some good old fashioned luck, so now he started searching for more clues, all his senses fully keyed up, his eyes glowing softly as he started walking slowly through the expansive room, various sizes of walls stacked or hanging in place, countless crates and other items lining the place...

His nose twitched and his ears perked as he noticed that he wasn't alone in the building, the faint scent of a young woman,
a hand full of years older than himself catching his attention, along with the faint yet unmistakable sound of a heartbeat, and the faintest sound of breathing.

Reaching out he felt about for a mind to lock onto, and quickly found one, but moments after fixing himself to it, he gathered but two things from it; it was indeed female, and it was dark.

Suddenly he reeled back as he could smell in his mind rather than his nose, blood, lots of it, Human, Lycan, and Angelic, and he could almost feel it, all over his hands, warm and sticky, almost sweet, and he could also feel an unending coldness and grim satisfaction as his own memories suddenly clicked into place and he was in his living room again, only this time, no one had died, not just yet...


Trembling, Will could see as a long cold blade of steel slashed across his mothers throat, even as a sliver edged blade sunk into his fathers heart, almost at the same time, and if that wasn't bad enough, he could then see through a single, cold heartless eye, gloved hands wielding yet another blade and a cord of rope, that slowly dug into soft, rosy virgin flesh, across small peachy wrists, and then looped the black heartless rope around a slim graceful neck and pulled the small hangman's noose tight, before carelessly tossing a small curved form away, to jerk and struggle at the bonds and the choking cord of nylon as a soft low and heartless laugh rippled into the air...


Ripping his mind from hers, Blaze staggered back slight, his eyes glowing brightly as he shook some from the sudden shock, more of his memories shaking free of the merciful bonds of darkness and forgetfulness.


Turning Will stalked for the largest stack of crates, and barely held in a rippling feral growl, as his other senses locked onto the villain...

This was now personal.

[claire]

"I thought you might enjoy these memories, courtesy of your dear friend, Slade," a flippant female voice laughed. "He seemed to enjoy them thoroughly."

She lifted off of the crate, floating down to hover at Blaze's level. Her blue eyes were amused from under the black and silver mask, not even flinching as she stared down the bristling, furious Wolf Man, a foot from his face. Everything about her screamed confidence, despite the fact that she didn't look very powerful. The idea was to get him to fight with his full strength, so that she could discern whether or not he would be the challenge she could face. It was no fun to be an unstoppable force if there was no immovable object in one's path.

"Shall we get started, or would you like to see some more?" she inquired, sounding as if she were asking about a movie.

To anyone watching, she must have seemed mad, baiting the guy who was arguably the strongest fighter in the city, from some strange mix of genetics and what could only be described as divine intervention. This slight framed woman who was barely taller than the average couldn't stand a chance against him, surely. Did she have a death wish, or was she really as crazy as many would describe most of Batman's enemies?

[William Talbot]

Glaring at the blond haired, black and silver masked woman, Blaze felt his powers shudder slightly, just below the surface, as he sized her up, her confidence betraying more than she realized, as she hovered there, her slender frame even more frail looking than Violet's, but then Blaze knew well that looks can be deceiving, still, the temptation to strike was too great, and so, with his eyes glowing already, he felt that his one major tell was hidden well enough as an explosion of heat and light behind her sent boxes and crates flying, and his fist formed at his side and raised up and then launched out at her, a soft yet guttural yell bursting from his lips...


Somewhere deep inside, a hidden part of Will's mind had torn free, a deeply wild and unnatural fury welled up inside of him, a feral rage that boiled from the deepest, wildest and oldest parts of his fathers bloodline, and this small part was blossoming, fueled my the hurt, the pain, and yes, even the mild fear that his memories inspired in him, but even so, a deep anger had sparked inside him and he was currently not in the mood to hold it in...

[claire]

A satisfied smile touched her lips as the Wolf Boy began his attack, but she decided that it was time to put a little respect into him. His punch was stopped an inch from her nose, as if he had just punched a foot thick wall of lonsdaleite, and the items behind her froze in space, as if someone had flipped a switch and turned gravity off. Ticking her finger back and forth, she threw him backward with a tight ball of energy which hit him directly in the chest. A hit like that would have shattered concrete, but hopefully this guy was more hardy than that.

"Is that the best you can bring?" she asked. "And here I thought that you were supposed to be the best."

The catch on her side pouch twisted and undid itself as three throwing knives rose into the air, seemingly of their own accord. She grabbed one and examined its shining steel blade, the fantastic sharpness of it, the gleam of the moon off of something so wickedly deadly. Her eyes flicked back to Blaze, dropping the smile in favor of vicious intensity in her eyes. The three knives pointed themselves at him as she took a few steps closer. With each step, the knives moved closer as well, floating through the air.

"Perhaps if I were to offer greater incentive," she mused, her eyes wicked. "Perhaps Slade is right, and that's the only way to motivate you."

She pulled certain bits of his own memories to the surface, namely those of Violet, his little girlfriend it seemed. She pulled one in particular, that of Violet in her nightmares, a rare expression of terror on her face. Virage's laughter resounded in his head, though he couldn't hear anything out loud. The laughter echoed darker, and her psychic presence seemed unwholesome, not quite hinged. There was something feral and harsh about it, but there was some twisted note in it that made it seem wrong.

[William Talbot]

Blaze felt his fist connect with something much more solid than he would have thought the woman would have been and he had just started to form a smile when he realized that he'd not quite touched her, and that turned to mild shock when he was slammed back by a bolt of thought, but he twisted and recovered, sliding back a few feet, crouched low with one hand out to steady himself as he locked his eyes on her and felt the telekinetic power reverberate in the air as everything behind her froze and three knifes floated up into the air and she played with one of them...


Gritting his teeth, Blaze held his tongue as she spoke then dove into his mind, his own barriers having been relaxed, now let her right in, but as she toyed with his thoughts and memories, Will tried something, much like the link he shared with Violet, he reached out with his own mind, and his senses, and powers, and sent as much heat and feedback as he could to her, even as his rage started to grip him tighter, as that one dream Violet had suffered from clawed at his minds eye, and she laughed inside his head.


One of the crates she was holding suddenly burst into flames, then exploded, the chemicals inside reaching their flash point almost instantly, the fragments breaking free from her grip if only for a moment, and in that moment Blaze had moved, like a blue and gray blur of motion, he was behind her now, transformed, claws and fangs out, a low growl filling the air as his mind fought back against hers, his voice inside her own head for a moment; "I am one of the best... But more accurately, I'm one of the most dangerous..."

And with that he took a swipe at her, his short hard spike like claws slashing at her and catching the edge of her hair as they raked down and across at her back...

[claire]

She smiled with satisfaction as she felt his retaliation to her invasive presence in his mind. This was why he stood more of a chance than the others. He had minor telepathic abilities which tied into his other abilities, giving him some fiery mental defenses that few could manage. Still, it was like singeing the toenail of a dragon; all it did was come to her attention and cause a bit of mild discomfort. Still, she withdrew from his memories and focused more on his immediate thoughts.

Having heard his intentions in his mind a fraction of a second before he did anything, she was able to react in an instant to block the shards from reaching her, and to prepare a counter of her own. The explosion stopped as if they had hit a dome in mid-air, the flame extending over the barrier, but not penetrating it. The remains of the box were flung away, having lost their usefulness as projectiles. She decided that it was time to give him another one of those clues to her identity which were ever so hard to come by, but kept the game fun.

He came close enough to get the tip of her hair, and nothing more, and she sliced that tip off with scalpel-like precision, leaving him with a sample of her DNA for when he got away later on. Fortunately for her, her civilian identity had been erased by that politician asshole many years ago. They would never find a match, no matter what database they searched. The claws, of course, were stopped before they reached her skin by the invisible but ever-present telekinetic barrier. This new attempt was met by the three floating blades, which simultaneously flung themselves into his path as he got closer.

Without turning to so much as look at him, another ball of energy flung him back away like a bothersome fly. However, this one was edged like multiple razorblades extended from its core. That had to hurt...

"That's much better, Blaze," she praised him, turning toward him. "I knew you had more in you."

[William Talbot]

She was either very fast, very smart, or was poking about in his head, maybe a little of all three, it really didn't matter, she had managed to thwart his attack, and even counter it, the blades where fairly easy to dodge, and he even caught one, and snapped it between his thumb and fingers like it was a twig, the shark cracking snap of broken steel was followed closely by the soft tinkling sound of the two half's falling to the floor...

Feeling his hand bounce off her shield, told him that she would be much harder to beat then he first thought, and the blast of energy that threw him back (again) told him all he needed or wanted to know at the moment.

He glowered at her as she chided him, and he almost barked back at her gruffly; "Lady you have no clue how much I have in me... And neither did Slade..."

With one hand on the ground, he charged the concrete floor with energy and then released it, causing it to crack and then explode up around her, maybe not under her, but around her, large hot chunks of floor flew up and then started to spiral as Blaze formed a cyclone of heat, light and fire around her...

[claire]

"I'm counting on it, dear," she chuckled. "After all, what fun is a fight if there's no challenge in it?"

She looked around at the beautiful destruction wrought by the Wolf Man, fiery figuratively, mentally, and literally. Her telekinetic barrier protected her from all of it, making an oblong sphere in which she was safe, but the beauty of the pyrotechnics outside was spectacular. Lifting one hand, she flicked her fingers toward herself, looking at the broken blade. The pieces obeyed, as if by their own volition, and as they passed through the barrier, they hovered just in front of her. She could choose what to allow in her barrier, and what not to allow in, but the decision was final. There wasn't a force that she'd met that could actually break the barrier. Even the heat from the flames were kept outside.

Running a finger along the blade, she cut open her finger and placed it in her mouth before she returned her eyes to the pieces. Assembling themselves, the fractures disappeared. Steel blades... Lycans... Wasn't there some legend about Wolf Men and silver? Her head tilted to the side as she considered it. Looking down, she examined the necklace she wore. It was definitely pure silver... The clasp undid itself and floated in front of her as the blade collapsed on itself and remolded into an identical necklace, like clay remaking its figure. The necklace did the opposite, becoming a perfect silver blade. Her eyes remained on it as she spoke.

"Tell me, Wolfy," she said, still sounding unconcerned. "How do you feel about silver?"

[William Talbot]

As the cyclone contracted and expanded then contracted again upon her shield, Blaze locked his gaze on her eyes, and focused his attention on her shield, on the color of it, ans yes, while most normal people wouldn't have been able to tell, and likely she herself didn't know it, her shield of thought had a tint to it, a color, and if that was the case, then it was either diffusing only an amount of one color, and allowing the rest through, or it was diffusing all others and letting just one through, either way, he was sure there was a way through it, after all, no one was invincible, she had to have a chink in her armor someplace...


Holding his other hand out, Blaze then started to draw all the extra heat and light in the large by huge room into himself, the air around them growing chill, even as his cyclone kept expanding then contracting on her shield, trying to break it, the room growing darker, the lights flickering and the only source of light being himself and the manifestation of his powers, his eyes glowing as she spoke, his head tilting slightly as an orb of light and heat formed in his hand; "It's shiny and girls like necklaces and such made from it, and really nice utensils are made from it, hence the term "silverware"... However the question I think you should be asking yourself is just how much aspirin do you have handy?"

With a whoosh of heat, and a flare of light, a powerful beam of white light slammed into her bubble with the force of a bus landing on a cardboard box, the cyclone fading instantly as Will poured it on, the beam starting to change colors as he looked for the wavelength that would burst her bubble, his feat digging in, ready to launch him at her the instant her protection began to waver...

[claire]

Seeing the world through his mind, she could see what he was noticing about her shield. However, while he thought it gave a weakness, he was mistaken. Light, when totally reflected, was white. If there was a color, the color was being reflected. If all but one color was being reflected, the following color was either being let through or being absorbed. In this case, it was the latter. She had done many tests to make sure that her shield was impenetrable to light and fire attacks before she had decided to go through with this. As much as she wanted a challenge, she didn't want to get killed.

At his attack, the power of it blew her backward, along with the shield. It didn't pierce the shield, but it sure didn't feel comfortable to hit a storage container that hard. Strangely, a demented laugh erupted from her chest. The very power that a hit like that took! She had! She had found the one that she could battle. She hadn't had so much fun in ages! She drifted back upright and held out her hand, catching Blaze in place and keeping him there. He wouldn't have room to inhale, much less launch an attack.

"We're going to have a lot of fun, you and I," she predicted. "See ya 'round, kid."

With another flick of her fingers, she sent him flying. Closing her eyes, she blocked her presence from his mind, and then stepped into his thoughts, finding the ways that he could track her. With each that she found, she placed a mental block that would prevent him from remembering what distinguished her from any other female human. This was what made her so difficult to find. When she was done, she extricated herself from his thoughts and drifted away. So thorough was her block, he couldn't even see, hear or smell her. His sixth sense for minds wouldn't pick up hers.

[William Talbot]

Blaze thought for a moment that he had found something, the feeling of give in her shield encouraged him to put more into his beam attack, but then suddenly he felt as if he was under water, pressure all around him that slowed his movements and hampered his breathing before she spoke and then he was hit with the force of that bus smashing into a box himself, his instincts kicking in as he righted himself and twisted around the stacks of boxes behind him and then slid along the floor a moment of dizziness hitting him, something like a whiteout moment flooding his senses as he felt her inside his head, his barriers suddenly flashing out, lancing at her, trying to chase her away, even as she faded away to a single pair of items in his mind, a cold and careless presence and a black mask rimmed with sliver, no face, no eyes, no mouth, and no scent, and only a faint notion of a heartbeat, nothing else solid enough to remember much more than a sudden and violet, but brief conflict...


Slowly standing up straight, Will blinked as he morphed back into his human form, his suit molding to fit his frame, as he shook his head and looked around, trying to pin down just what had happened, and feeling as if he had just missed something vital...


Yet even so, deep down in his heart, he knew that not only where the stakes in Jump getting higher, but that some kind of link or lead to his missing memories and the keys to that lost past was getting closer...