Rough Around the Edges (Open)

[Eugene Mode]

Continued from... Changes

Eugene's Current Emotional State: Gray

The car horn sounded in the daily traffic, it was bright out, brighter than it ever seemed in Metropolis. Eugene's feet lay outstretched onto the dashboard, his chair leaning back against numerous suitcases and clothing, jam packed in a rush. The music fought the noises of traffic weakly, some kind of oldie rock his stepfather listened to.

"Garry, this stuffs crap, how can you listen to it?" Eugene's voice was relatively passive, he wasn't starting an arguement, just trying to spark defiance for conversations sake. His step father looked over his shoulder with a gloomy face,

"It wouldn't kill you to be serious once in a while Gene, and for the record this stuff is classic, your music wouldn't even exist without it!" Garry had caught the need for conversation, but he scolded Eugene with the first remark, reminding him of why they had to move in the middle of the night. The trip had made very few stops, Garry took every cent he owned out of the bank and drove, drove and drove some more, eventually landing in Jump City. The place they heard about while on the outskirts of town was a cash rental, perfect for not giving out your name. And they really couldn't do anything legit at the moment. Being on the run wasn't exactly fancy living. Eugene sighed, looking out the car window as the traffic came to what seemed like a complete stop, Jump City must be the most boring place on earth from what he could tell. They hadn't passed anything that interested Eugene, not yet at least. Not that they had passed much at this rate. Eugene kicked at the dash in protest,

"Cmon! how long can we sit still?" Eugene sighed again, Garry trying to ignore his comment and focus on just getting to the damn apartment. What on earth was holding up traffic so badly?

The sounds of sirens snapped all of Eugene's doubts away as a police vehicle neared them, slowing driving along the pavement trying to get to some kind of crime in progress. Eugene turned to his stepfather quickly, looking for permission Garry had been use to in Metropolis.

"Yeah whatever, Here take my new cell, I'll call you with directions to the new place." Eugene's eyes lit up as he prepared to exit the vehicle, grabbing a skateboard from the backseat as he did. The police car passed slowly as ever as it warned pedestrians to move out of the way. and Eugene climbed out after it, skating passed with ease. It was a downhill skate and wouldn't take long until he reached whatever turbulence was happening in Jump City.

Eugene's Changing Mood: Eagerness (Blue)

[Jermaine Manning]

Today was a great day to be alive! Today was a great day to be a villain in Jump City and he was doing his job to the fullest. Standing on top of a car driven by a nice woman who conviently had a gun to her cheek, lead an orchestra of police cars down streets of Jump. Jermaine could barely contain himself! He wanted to create a mushroom cloud in the city and move to the next town, laughing all the way! For this little stir, he just had to blurt out something that was old and worn-out; anything stolen from an old cop movie or something!

"Say hello to the bad guy!" He shouted, taking out a semi-automatic pistol and firing it back at the cops. He crouched as they fired back, though the car swerved and crashed into an apartment building after the thug pointing the gun to the lady's head had been shot in the back. This little moment caused Jermaine to fly from the roof of the car into the street. Jermaine wiped the blood from his chin and rolled his eyes. Jump City had some bad henchmen, there was no comparison from the henchmen that he had left behind in Gotham. If he didn't need the extra shields, he would become a one-man army.

"Hands in the air, Pyro!" The cop shouted. Jermaine complied and stuck his hands in the air, only to see, conviently, somebody rolling down on a skateboard into a crime scene. If he came too close, he just might get caught up in the crossfire, however, he could prove to be a valuable hostage until a helicopter (or any transportation that was made for Jermaine) came. Another thought crossed his mind -- he could prove to be a valuable ally. Wherever his aliagence lied, Jermaine would find out soon enough. After the cop was done barking orders,

[glow=red,2,300]BOOM[/glow]

Jermaine combusted into fire and smoke, giving the officers near some serious burns. This gave him a chance to dash inside a person's home, locking door behind him. Taking a look outside the window, pass the smoke and clearing fire, to see if the skateboarding punk was still following. With nothing left to be done except wait, he figured he would turn this place into a base.

"What do you want!"

After all, he now had prisoners of war.

[Violet Schultz]

Another heist from the mysterious pyro gangster had been reported, and fortunately, she was near by this time. Usually, they were over before she could get there, and the suspect had already done the damage. Maybe this time, she could keep more people from being hurt by the reckless and selfish criminal who kept sending more people to the hospital and the morgue. She locked her Spitfire a few blocks away, pushing the emergency button that Robin had installed as an anti-theft device for situations such as these. She glanced over in the direction of the unfolding chaos as her sixth sense picked up on some police officers being burnt. She disappeared in a flare of pale fire without another moment's hesitation.

She reappeared in front of an apartment, its front wall crashed in by a shot-up car, the gangster in the house holding his gun on the family inside. Her eyes glowed lavender as she spread a no-flame zone over the area. The flames within the area died as if from a powerful wind, even the engines of the police cars nearby falling victim to the oppressive aura she exuded. They sputtered to a stop, while the police backed off from the fight. They knew from experience that Darkbrand and Blaze were better suited to fight this kind of person than any police officer was.

"Everyone get under some cover," Darkbrand ordered, her tone calm and in control.

Her eyes were on the situation before her, but she was aware of all of it from the quick glance she'd taken when she arrived. The guy on the skateboard was still rolling toward them, and Violet couldn't spare the time it would take to make sure he got under cover. There was a family in danger, and if her no-flame zone wavered, the semi-automatic the criminal was pointing would regain its lethality. As it was, it was about as useful as a club, but little more. The smoke that filled the air was evidence that flame would not be effective in this encounter.

"Okay, here's the deal, man," she called to the man in the house. "If you surrender now, this won't turn ugly. If you don't, I'm coming in there. Comprenez-vous?"

[Eugene Mode]

Eugene's Current Emotional State: Blue

The situation changed greatly from anything that Eugene would have expected. At first he thought maybe a crash, a fire, a bomb threat, they had those all the time in Metropolis, but a fire powered super villain? Not really in his book of everyday activities. Eugene wanted to turn back, but something inside him kept his forward motion, he felt a lot stronger than usual, not like the meek geek he'd always been. His skateboard wheels rolled ever closer to the scene ready to watch in awe from the closest hiding spot he could find, it was at this time when the second super power arrived. Her arrival was somewhat awe-inspiring, and her commands gave her the aura of a leader, commanding the officers to start escorting people away without wasting a moment, and then some of the car engines nearby started failing as she activated some kind of power? The situation was evolving to quickly for Eugene to maintain a grasp on, but he kept having this urge, he wanted to be... involved.

"Kid, you gotta get out of here!" a police officer was waving him over to the sidelines as he himself backed away, the officer had good intentions but didn't stick around long enough to see if the boy even payed heed to his words, which he didn't. Eugene kept rolling forward, a very slow pace now, watching as the scene unfolded with the kind of splendor he was definitely not use too. Why did he want to be here again? Eugene's thoughts rolled like a roller coaster, unable to identify his place in the situation. Eugene's board rolled to a stop as the downhill ended and he kept walking, leaving it where it stopped, Eugene wanted to help so badly...

Finally he gave in to fighting himself, and Eugene regained conscience, He wanted to help if he could, and with the situation maybe it wouldn't be a complete tragedy on the six o' clock news. Running to hide himself from the view of the criminal he ducked and dodged parked and empty cars to make his way around the back of the building, looking for another entrance.

He found an outside emergency staircase that led him to an open window on the second floor, whatever happened next, Eugene just wanted to come out alive.

Emotional State not Changing.

[Jermaine Manning]

Pyro took a look at the shuddering family huddled together on the floor in the corner. The house looked to be around middle-class as did the owners. A beautiful picture-perfect family consisting of a mother, father and both a boy and a girl. With this experience, Pyro could've traumatized them for the rest of their lives... cool. The thought of killing them hadn't come up yet -- the most important thought was to get a ride from the area and go on the next part. However, his plan had caught a slight snag in it and had forced Pyro to take refudge in this occupied home. Police and SWAT teams were held outside, helicopters hovered above the situation and now the news had been so gracious as to cover everything (from a safe distance).

Pyro wasn't about to be captured and tagged so quickly, so with a little threatening, he was able to turn the father into an accomplice and his first mission was to barracade each entry in the house. Downstairs windows would be locked with the shutters crashing over them, though little did Pyro realize that the same skateboarder that had rolled down the block had now gained entry inside of the house. Once the downstairs had been secured, Pyro ordered his new temporary employee to travel upstairs and barracade all entryways there.

"Do I hear a negotiator?" Pyro asked himself. It sounded like an over-confident girl. She actually thought that Pyro would surrender just so she wouldn't come in -- it would be her funeral if she did! He would show them what happened to people when they tried to reason with a madman.

"Someone gimme their phone!" He ordered. He was able to obtain a cell phone and grabbed the smallest child there. Placing her in a vice grip, he grabbed the semi-automatic and pointed it at her cheek, then (even giving it a flashing smile) took a photo of the situation. Pyro crouched and opened a window, hurling the phone on the outside to the female 'negotiator'.

"Now lil' lady, come in if you got the balls!"

[Violet Schultz]

Violet's lip twitched in a hint of a smile at the criminal's words, a dangerous look coming into her dark eyes. She picked up the phone and examined the photo. It would give her a good measure of the exact situation, and any little bit of information would be helpful. As for the gun, it was still perfectly useless, but the hyped up robber didn't exactly know that, apparently. The exactly layout was impossible to tell, but there were four people in the house, aside from the criminal. And she knew where he was in the house. How convenient it was that criminals were stupid... She dropped the phone and slid it away with her foot before she disappeared in a flash of lavender.

She reappeared about a foot from the criminal, and with practiced hands, dislodged his grip with a twist of the pistol and then dismantled the weapon, tossing its innards all over the floor, her glowing eyes still on the criminal as she did it. The child slipped away as his grip shifted, running back to her parents with tearful sobs of fear racking her small body.

"One, I don't negotiate," Darkbrand said, her dark eyebrows narrowed over her lavender eyes. "Two, girls don't have 'balls'. Three, if you don't leave now, you will be forcibly removed from this house."

Sure, the man had her in size, and possibly brute strength, but who didn't? Fighting with the Titans wasn't like fighting teenagers in the alleys of St. Louis. Most of the people they went up against were larger than she was. Luckily, she had advantages that eclipsed size. And she was a lot stronger than she looked. Her posture was made of confusing body language, that of boredom and a ready stillness that said she was ready to attack. Self-confidence was obvious from her actions, and there was no uncertainty in the way she stood, but she didn't look the part of a typical superhero, if only for the attitude.

And she didn't really consider herself a superhero, either.

[Eugene Mode]

Eugene could hear all the commotion as he sat in a bedroom on the second floor, trying to plan his course of actions. But unfortunately the criminal managed to get the husband to work for his means with some persuasion of the violent kind. And the husband started lumbering up the stairs, closing and locking windows, shutting blinds, trying to prevent people from entering or seeing into the house. And then he started making his way over to the room Eugene was in...

"Shit!" the boy muttered under his breath, he really hadn't thought this through, how was he going to take on a fully grown man? Eugene panicked and rushed to hide in the closet, keeping it open a crack to watch what he could, hoping to not be ambushed. But thankfully the husband came in and rushed to make sure his task was complete, that's when the toy Eugene was standing on caught its round surface on the ground beneath him, and literately the world seem to go tumbling forward. In all the confusion and chaos Eugene could feel coming he panicked, and with a sudden burst of desire to not be in the mess he was, he wasn't... all he could see was a flash of blue but the boy had burst forth from the closet with amazing speed, running smack dab into the mans stomach, winding him instantly. Eugene was completely confused and pulled back, trying to get away from the man now keeling over in pain, but his single step backwards ended up being more like five, planting him against the back of the closet with a smack that resounded throughout the house, it was really quite painful.

The smack had hurt but it gave the boy something brace against as he stared at his glowing hands, this had happened before... but it didn't hurt when he hit things... the night at the warehouse.. Eugene was very confused but upon seeing the man keeled over, he snapped back to attention,

"Right, people to save!" Eugene's face got rather serious as he very carefully moved forward, not allowing the powers to activate, he could hear the woman hero talking now, a lot closer than she should have been... Just what was going on downstairs? And just as the speed had come, so did the vision, his eyes sprung with a surge of power and voila, the whole downstairs could be seen directly through the floor, this whole power thing was crazy. Eugene could see the hero girl, it looked like she was handling the villain alright but the family was still in the corner crying, aha! hero work!

All the people downstairs would be able to see was individual blue lines as Eugene snatched each family member and brought them into the room upstairs,

"There much safer!" he said aloud, holding a finger over his mouth to try and quiet them, man he was good at this!

[Jermaine Manning]

Jermaine tightly gripped the crying girl, smirking at her misery but soon getting annoyed looking at the snot and tears run down her face. God, if there wasn't an army of cops outside, this family wouldn't have a chance in hell. Maybe, just to show that he wasn't messing around, he would send her outside, running around trying to get the flames off of her. How sadistic... wait... what was that? A shriek sounded from the upstairs, followed by bumps and slams.

"What the hell..." He began to say. Jermaine swore, if he knew that he was dealing with a mutant who could bypass right through his baracade, he would never let his guard down. His heart skipped a beat and his stomach dropped when he felt another hand grab his wrist and make his weapon drop to the ground in pieces. He took a look at the girl and had to contain himself for a moment, he was still trying to comprehend what just happened.

"I forget, who the hell were you again? I'm gonna tell you somethin' real easy girly, nobody tells me what to do." He stated. A cocked back fist, he already stated in his mind that he could destroy this girl. But, for her insolence, she would suffer before he finished her off in a firey death.

"But everythings up, huh? Guess I'm going to Arkham." He said, putting on a faux submission and begin toward the door with his hands to his sides. He took a quick look at the stuff blocking the front door and grabbed the smallest thing there -- a vase. Slowly picking it up, he took one look at the family and noticed they were.... leaving! Wait, no hostages meant that the cops would have reason to burst in, making him trapped on each side. Screw that!

A rush of air hit Jermaine like a ton of bricks, making him look around. So, it seemed like the savior guy was super-fast... not easy though not impossible to take out. It was obvious that he was dealing with mutants and it didn't look like his reliable help was coming anytime soon.

If he won't come... He thought. What to do with the other mutant girl?

"Change of plans honey, looks like I ain't doing the big house today." He shouted. With the speed of a linebacker, he rushed into her and wrapped his arms around her back, lifting her in the air.

"I'll take you out, then I'll find out what the hells going on upstairs!"

[Violet Schultz]

Violet vanished in a flash of lavender as she felt his shoulder brush her stomach, reappearing behind him, her arms folded as the wisps of flame drifted upward and disappeared. Her reflexes were honed enough that she could avoid most fighters easily, even one so impulsive as this. Clearly, this ash-for-brains pyro had no respect for personal space, either. She didn't particularly like being tackled (she assumed that few people did), and she especially didn't like criminals that didn't know when to give in with good grace. By now, the guy had to know that he wasn't getting out. The army of cops and unhappy Titan would make sure of that.

"You know something?" she asked, tilting her head with her eyes narrowed. "You talk too much."

She unfolded her arms and slid into a combat stance, her palms open and ready, her stance wide and firm. It was time to take this guy down. If he tried to fight, he would be taken down swiftly and decisively. Assuming that whoever was ferrying the people to safety was on her side, the family wasn't in danger from the battle anymore. She could easily take this guy down, based on the sloppy method of fighting he'd been using, and the fact that he was evidently relying on guns. In her experience, the ones that didn't carry guns were the ones to look out for. They were the ones that didn't need a weapon to be dangerous.

Her dark blues were still rimmed with lavender, evidence of the power she was still emitting to block the pyro from using his natural talents. She could sense his inner flame, so it was easy to tell that he was, in fact, a pyro. That eliminated most of the threat.

[Eugene Mode]

Eugene was watching the fight, well the talking at least through the floor. The family sat behind him, quietly in each others arms. It was a strange but good feeling that he had helped somewhat, deciding the fight might get out of hand Eugene stopped looking for a moment and went to the window he had come in through, opening it and motioning for the family to escape.

They didn't waste anytime.

Now it was just the supers in this building, Eugene wanted to help, but at the same time he felt like he might just be getting in the way.

So for now he remained the observant spectator.

[Jermaine Manning]

He missed. Goddammit, this girl was something that he had to look out for and considering the fact that Jermaine was more of a 'rough-and-tough' dirty fighter, he knew that he would have to spend some time downstairs in order to erradicate this pest. That all familiar grin that he had plastered on his mug slid into a frown as his nostrils flared and his fingers twitched. He didn't need paranoia to tell him that this wouldn't end well; he just had to make sure it wouldn't end well on his behalf.

"I talk too much?" He said biting his bottom lip. "Whatchu' gonna do about it?" sighed heavily and looked up at the stairs. Another mutant, guy came in like a blue. If the cops didn't know the family was safe, then they wouldn't have to come inside with guns blaring. It was time to cremate this girl and end this dispute! Jermaine's muscles buldged as he tried to conjour up an immense flame that would, hopefully, engulf the whole house (giving him time to escape). After a couple of seconds...

Nothing.. His eyes widened as he looked around and back at the girl. She was a mutant -- that much was evident. She must have some way on blocking his power which left him with a couple of choices. He could play possum and try to butter her up, getting some kind of defense down... but that wouldn't work. She looked like she wouldn't crack or fall for his smooth antics. Surrender? No way in hell. There was only one option and that option was the best. Knock her down on her skirt.

Fists balled as he took a orthodox boxer stance, legs moved and that frown turned back into a grin. With his size and aggression, he was certain that he would knock... her.. out. A powerful right should do the trick.

"You're kinda cute. I'll be sure to put some extra roses on your grave... only regret is I won't get your name.." He said. So cocky and confident he was. Jermaine took a look at Darkbrand and pumped his left hand at her midsection with a series of jabs, taking some time to dish out taunts.

[Violet Schultz]

"I wish I could say the same," she replied flatly.

At his boxing stance, she matched it, something close to a taunting smile tugging at the edge of her lips. Her eyes looked almost amused as he started punching. The calculating stare she was giving him was well masked by apparent carelessness, but while the people that knew her knew that she was anything but careless and blasé, the inexperienced fighter might think that she didn't really take it seriously. That could only be an advantage, psychologically speaking. It was obvious from this guy's attitude that he was one of the more impulsive variety of pyros, and that worked much in Violet's favor, especially if there was a temper attached. People who fought in anger were easily manipulated.

She dodged his attacks with the air of someone well-versed in boxing, and though she really didn't like boxing, she did know enough about it that she could combine that knowledge with her general knack in fighting styles to seem seasoned. Personally, she thought boxing to be too limiting. One could only attack with their fists, and that was never a feasible style of fighting in the real world. In the real world, you fought with whatever you could. Feet, elbows, shins, knees... Boxing just left out too much. And thus, when she saw an opening, she whirled and attacked with her elbow, aiming for his face. As she completed the spin, she attacked with her knee, lunging it toward his gut.

A left-handed fighter wasn't much of a problem to deal with if one didn't rely on just boxing techniques.

[Eugene Mode]

From Eugene's bird eye view of the fight, it was actually extremely boring and slow, his eager frame of mind wasn't quenched with the lack of rapid movement, and in such a fashion, he made a move to hopefully speed this confrontation. Like a flash he zipped out the bedroom door and down the hall to the top of the stairs, looking down at the duo fighting,

"Can't you guys get this over with already?" he voice was speedy too, but it held an unimpressed tone, being in this state didn't seem to accelerate his body as his progression towards boredom also followed suit. Eugene from the top of the stairs started testing the limits of his powers, trying to catch the fight from all angles, only after grabbing a bad of chips out of the pantry of course. The first two flashes went into and the proceeded from the kitchen, sitting with his legs crossed on the bottom of the stairs railing, bag in his lap and hand beside his mouth with crunching noises.

"Thwa famry irf alrdy oot you know." Eugene spoke with the chips still in his mouth, finishing his sentence after a rather large swallow. This fight was really getting more boring by the second to him, and his interruption probably wouldn't help speed it along, oh well can't win em all.

Changing Emotional State: Passive (Grey) Next Post.

[Jermaine Manning]

"That's big talk for such a little girl," Pyro growled. Looking at the girl, it seemed as though she was taunting him, laughing at him. It was offical; she had to go. For her insolence and arrogance (ironic that the ever-so cocky Jermaine found her arrogance annoying), she'd be six feet under with him dancing on her grave... laughing...

As he threw punches with his left (obviously saving his right for the big moment), he began to get aggrivated and impatient. For every hit that she dodged was every muscle that buldged and vein that popped. He couldn't take her anymore! If she didn't dismantle his gun, he'd pop her! Whatever the hell happened to his powers, he would have to make due with rusty boxing techniques... and goddamn was his boxing rusty. After the gun blasting and the fire-throwing, he had made his own hands useless in a fist fight. Not only that, be he had underestimated his opponent.

In simple cartoonish, 'fall-down enemy' fashion, a strike from her elbow connected with his cheek, followed by him clutching his gut in pain. Pyro dropped to his knees, re-gaining his breath and about to pick himself up... that was, until, something else unsettled him. Some teen had apparently gotten tickets to the fight and was enjoying the battle as if it were a pay-per-view. Instead of looking at the obvious threat that was kicking his ass, he turned to the destraction that was making fun of him.

"Just who... the hell... are you?" He asked. Jermaine bit his lip and stood, still a bit weary from the attacks Darkbrand made.

"You think a boxer is down for the count that easily? Listen here princess, after I'm done with you, he's gonna get it ten times worse!" He shouted. Getting back into his stance, he dashed forward and threw two well-blanced left jabs to her mid-section and followed up with a right cross. Jermaine danced around and used the environment for his advantage. Using his legs, whatever was in his way, he threw at the fake hero.

"Come on darlin', gimme another one of those kung-fu hustle hits!' Obviously chivalry wasn't included with his personality.

[Violet Schultz]

"Well, genius, ten times zero is still zero," Violet said with a wry smirk. "I don't think he needs to be worried."

Until I'm done here and kick his ass for sticking around during this fight, she added silently, shooting a quick glare at the kid. It wasn't that she minded that he had helped (in fact, she was happy to have the assistance), but he was showing very bad judgment in not cutting out when he had the chance. She didn't need the extra worry of looking out for him when she was fighting a criminal who was known for being unpredictable and volatile. He was probably only a few years younger than she was, but the difference was that she had the training needed to stay alive in these sorts of situations. Also, she was legally able to interfere.

As the criminal began throwing more punches, she dodged and blocked, calling on her years of experience and training, but he unexpectedly began kicking and throwing things at her, and a couple of small things hit her, drawing blood along her cheek and causing her shoulder to sting, but she caught the next item and kicked a small wooden chair up into her hands to block the next.

Stepping forward, she tossed the chair at him and then kicked at his knee while he was distracted, kicking it sideways in an attempt to unbalance him and then stepping around him. In two deft steps, she was behind him again, and she elbowed between the shoulder blades and struck in a nerve strike to the left of the spine in his lower back. She quickly stepped back away, out of range of any flailing retaliation that would probably be forthcoming.

"Thanks for the help," Violet addressed to the kid, sounding distracted for good reason. "Now you need to get out of here."

Her eyes remained on the thug. It would've been supremely foolish to turn her back on him.