Organization Role-Play

This is a private role-play for harakun and me (Nee).
No one else post, please.

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Genre: Modern Fantasy / Supernatural / Alternate Universe

Theme: Secret Organization

Setting: The industrial city of Harlem.
It is a large and over-populated, somewhat dark city, depressed from its crooked government.
But that's not its biggest problem when demons roam the streets...

Plot: Demons roam the city of Harlem, causing havoc and destruction, though the city itself unaware of such.
It is the job of a secret organization, the Harlem Protection Society, to capture, destroy,
and control the demons and keep the city and its people safe, the members using their special abilities to do so.
But soon, after certain events take place, a new and very promising member, with a very special power, joins their ranks...

Characters: Might come later.

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Emily Taylor was an ordinary, plain, down-to-earth girl, kind and gentle, yet smart and determined at the same time. She had shoulder-length brown hair that fell down loosely and brown matching eyes, her attire consisting of typical clothes any normal girl would wear: a sleeveless shirt with an overthrow, short skit, fur boots, and white headband.

She and one of her close childhood friends, not to be confused with boyfriend, were riding on a subway train back from the city to their college dorms. Though, she'd be lying if she said she hadn't been a little sweet on him since they were young, not that she ever said anything, it never going any farther than a great friendship.

She turned to him with a smile. "Thanks for going shopping with me." She thanked. He had promised her, after all, ever since he had backed out of going to that movie with her and a group of people last minute. "So, what are you planning on doing when we get back? I suppose your roommate will want to go out and party, but we do have that exam on Friday too, so..."

While Emily Taylor was your everyday, average girl, Jonathan had always believed he was your everyday, average boy. Apparently, he was not aware of the growing power within him. Like any other humans who’d grown up normally, he too enjoyed living, laughing, eating, sleeping, and, of course, fearing the dark and depressing city he lived in. But with the latter feeling, the moments he spent with his friends was enough to bring out in him a nature that had developed over the years.

It was a nature to nurture, to care, and to love. Cliché as that may sound, it was true and his parents encouraged these traits of his.

Jonathan Craven loved making his friends laugh. In fact, he’d do anything to make them happy because it always eases his heart and it tells him that he’s made a difference in his friends’ lives unless of course one would talk about school and academics. It was no different with the closest childhood friend of his. He’s found her to be a sweet girl – after having been so sweet with him – but he’d never thought maliciously of this. In fact, he was told that he was rather dense after receiving a confession from the numerous girls at school and would receive a slap on the cheek. It’s become a routine almost every month and it was a routine that most of his male friends at school would tease him about.

Honestly, though, Craven really didn’t care. He’d even ride along with their jokes, often leading to the conclusion that he was more of a class clown than their titled class clown.

Jonathan blinked when he’d seen Emily smile at him. Her smile didn’t make his hairs stand on ends. It was just, well, contagious that it made him smile in return too. When he’d heard her say those words with that smile, it made him even much happier. “I promised and I never break a promise until something comes up,” he said, losing the smile for a moment and making a face, “Anyway, I’m not sure.” He let out a deep sigh and brought up his hand to rub the side of his neck.

“It’s not that I can’t say ‘no’. I just… don’t want to have him look so disappointed?” Shrugging a bit, he turned to look out the train and at his reflection when they had passed through a tunnel. His blonde hair was tousled as usual, green eyes dreary and tired from the numerous days he’d lacked sleep thanks to College (like that wasn’t already obvious from his eye bags), his cheeks slightly flushed from having gone through the heat and the cold, and his clothes ruffled with the creases. He usually wore his pants for two weeks and his shirt for a week if it doesn’t stink yet. The pile of clothes at the corner of his room indicated the latter. After all, having to wait for his laundry for days was a hassle and he didn’t really like not having any clothes to wear.

Nothing beats slippers for his everyday destinations, either. Plus, they were cheaper than the usual shoes.

Adjusting his small bag, which only contained his extra slippers and a notebook, he turned to look back at Emily and raised an eyebrow. “What’re you planning to do when you get back? Your mom was coming by this weekend to check on you and that new place you were moving in with your roommate, right?”

Emily was left very content when Jonathan stated that he never broke a promise. It was true, for the most part, aside from when 'something would come up'. But she always forgave him if something ever did come up... that was, when he made it up to her, like he had today. He was really a wonderful person, after all, and so good to her. For as long as she'd known him, even since they were but children, he'd always been there for her. And for that, she was more than grateful.

She giggled a bit with Jonathan's explanation of how he couldn't just say no to his friend. Him and Ronnie had been roommates for about a year or so now, them going on their second semester of their Junior years. Though she knew Jonathan had plans for his life, Ronnie on the other hand was mainly there for one reason alone, and that was to have a good time. It was quite amusing to see the two together, actually, Ronnie always beckoning his friend to come along on most of his shenanigans. They could really be the dynamic duo together: Jon and Ron, the livelihood of Harlem University.

When they came out of the dark, dimly lit tunnel, Emily couldn't help but glance outside to the reddish-orange hue of the skyline, the sun setting as they made their way back from the bigger part of the city. She turned to Jonathan when he questioned her on what she was going to do when they got back, asking about her mother as well. She nodded with a smile before looking back out the window at the beautiful sunset. "Yes, she's coming. Mom wanted to see where I'd be living first before I actually moved in. You know how she is; always worried about me." He smile faded a bit. "It'll be good to see her, but I really wish she wouldn't worry so much..."

The subway entered another tunnel, it growing dark once more. The scenery gone, she turned to Jonathan to continue. "But it really is a nice place. I can't wait to move in. Alyssa is pretty excited about it too." Alyssa was Emily's college roommate and best girlfriend, having known each other since high school, them being Sophomores in college now, a year behind Jonathan and Ronnie. They had found a great place to stay and scrounged up enough money to move out of their dorm and into an apartment together. She smiled with the thought of living with Alyssa in an apartment. It was going to be great.

It was then that a strange, high-pitched noise came about, the subway making some jerky movements as it began to slow down, lightly throwing its passengers around. Emily bumped into Jonathan before she propped herself up again. She was about to apologize when the lights suddenly began to flicker, her looking up to them worriedly. "What on earth is going on?" She questioned as they began to come to a complete stop. The other passengers in their car section also seemed rather confused. Nothing like this had ever happened before...

(( I'm being more descriptive (as in thoughts and feelings) with Emily than I probably will be with most other characters, mainly because her an Jonathan actually have a background history together, which most of the other characters won't have. ))

Jonathan would rather not have that happen. To have to spend his time with Ronnie all the time and be the 'dynamic duo' most people would've had coined them if he'd spent more time with him would probably be hell for him. That, and he had better things to do and that was graduate on time. For the sake of his parents who were already near their retiring age and his siblings who were looking up to him as a role model, Jonathan had a lot of things he should occupy himself about.

Getting a job, too, after College seemed much harder now that the economy was still – and seemed to be – maintaining its corrupt state.

The blonde looked out, too, to look at what Emily was looking at with his hands finding their way into the pockets of his pants. He listened to her speak and he nodded and smiled at that. “Well,” he started, “At least you’ve got your mom worrying over you. I only get my nosy and noisy sisters coming over for the weekends.” Sighing as he tilted his head to the side, he let his eyes slide shut before he’d tilted his head over to the other side. The moment his vision had grown a little dim, he opened his eyes again to look at his own reflection.

It was sad not to be able to see that beautiful scenery again but after they’d be out of this tunnel, the view should come back again. Humming at Emily’s next words, he turned to meet her gaze and looked sullen. “I wish I could come visit one of these days. School’s not supposed to be so busy with summer break coming, right? I could use some rest, really.” As if those words weren’t enough, he’d yawned widely and then blinked as he tilted his head back to look up at the strange, high-pitched noise that suddenly came out of nowhere. What the hell was that about?

The jerky movements had him widening his eyes a bit and he automatically pulled his hand out from his pocket to half-slam it onto the door. “You all right?” he asked his childhood friend as he also instantly pulled his other hand out of his pocket to protectively keep Emily from falling. Even when she had propped herself up again, he still had his hand on her small back. “Yeah… strange,” he said with a frown after the flickering of the lights.

What was even stranger was when the train had come to a complete stop. “Our trains never broke down like this in the middle of a journey,” he mumbled as he looked over some stranger’s shoulder to look out towards the door that separated the first and the second compartments.

What’s going on, indeed?


[[ Sorry my reply took a while. Had a place to go to. x___x ]]

"I know..." Emily replied to Jonathan, looking very worried.

Some static was then heard on the overhead intercom. "Ah... no need to worry, everyone." Came a voice, it assumedly being the subway driver's. "We're just having some technical difficulty and— Ah!" Some static was heard again before a new, more rowdy male's voice then came on. "Yeah, everything's just fine, people. So sit back, relax, and don't freak out. Just chill out and let us do our job and you can all go on with your miserable liv—hey!" Static was heard once more before yet another, calmer voice was heard. "What my friend here means to say is that this is standard procedure, folks; we're simply doing a quick sweep of each car. So sit tight and we'll be back up and running shortly. So sorry for the inconvenience." The intercom went dead.

Emily looked to Jonathan with a curious look. "Standard procedure? A quick sweep?" She questioned, very confused before looking down in her lap. "Something doesn't feel right here... Why would they stop the subway in the middle of the track just to do a quick sweep... whatever that is?"

. . .

Meanwhile, in the front subway car...

A somewhat heavyset man, the presumed driver of the subway, sat, tied up and gagged to a seat, squirming wildly with large eyes, muffled words coming from him very now and then. Three different men stood, gathered around him, all dressed in black suits and ties.

"Well... this is by far one of the more aggressive missions we've had this month..." Came a familiar voice: the calmer one from the intercom. The person it belonged to was a tall and thin male with blond hair that reached his shoulders and a bit of scraggly facial hair on his chin, his posture a lanky one, his pose lazy but durable one, and his expression a cross between curious and apologetic, though relaxed as it were.

"I agree. We're really coming close to the line on this one." Then came a deep, stronger-sounding voice, it belonging to a larger, darker-skinned man who had a strong build, short black hair, and a thin black goatee.

"Yeah, well, I say it was about time we got a lively one." Yet another voice said; the same rowdy one as before on the intercom. "It's been boring bringing these things down in the shadows with no one around." This voice belonged to a rather short figure with short, ruffled fiery red hair and piercing yellow eyes. He seemed younger than the others, though more feisty, and his suit was a bit more out of place than the other two males, it being un-tucked and generally un-neat.

The blond male only looked to the red-head with an odd look with his comment. "You do know that we're part of a 'secret' organization, right...?" He questioned with a sarcastic tone.

The darker-skinned man was the one to speak now. "So, do we know what we're looking for?" He questioned, seeming to try to get his other two cohorts back on track.

"Not yet." The thin blond replied, able to revert back on track easily. "But I'm sure it'll show itself soon. They always do..."

. . .

Back in the subway car with Jonathan and Emily...

Emily looked to a woman sitting across from them on the other side of the subway. The car they were in weren't too full with people, but there were some about. But this particular woman seemed different from the rest, shaking and looking around nervously, almost seeming sick even.

"She seems really nervous..." Emily whispered to Jonathan, having been watching the woman curiously. "Do you think she's okay...?"


(( No, I totally don't expect you to pull out a post as huge as mine... xD In fact, I'm sorry it's so long. I'm really just trying to set the stage here. I'm sure once things start to get rolling a bit and your character meets some of the more 'major' characters, your posts will be longer. Until then... very sorry I'm dragging you through all this! >w< ))

Jonathan blinked when he’d heard the unfamiliar voices through the intercom. That, surely, was strange. It was strange enough to bring the blonde’s brows together to knit into a frown. Looking up towards the intercom as he listened like the others, he looked again over the shoulder of the said stranger who seemed to have walked towards the first compartment.

“I have no idea,” he mumbled in reply and made a face, “It’s not like there’d be officers who should be checking the place out. This is the last ride for this day, right?”

Blinking at the whispered words from his childhood friend, he turned to look over the woman that his childhood friend had been watching and took his hand from the door to lightly pat her arm. “I’ll go check,” he told her with an assuring smile, “She does look like she’d need medical help if she’s that pale.” It wasn’t in his nature to ignore so he let go of Emily to approach the said woman.

“Excuse me, ma’am?” Jonathan started, “Are you all right?” He did look worried and he pursed his lips a little. He’d help in any way he can and do just about anything should she be feeling bad. It’d be best, too, if there would be a doctor in the train just in case.


[[ Lol. That's okay! The juicier, the better. X3 And, I'm looking forward for this roleplay to advance forth. =D ]]

Emily nodded as Jonathan left to go check on the woman, watching him as he made his way over to her. "Be careful..." She whispered to him, still having a bad feeling about the whole thing.

The woman was probably around the age of forty or so, a slightly older woman, but not elderly in the least, though she hardly even seemed to notice Jonathan's presence when he arrived and spoke to her. She only looked up to him with wild eyes. "T-they're gonna find me... I know they are... T-they know..." She began to stammer to herself, shaking uncontrollably. He pale skin was cold and clammy, she was thin and her skin was a bit too wrinkly for her age, her eyes had black rings around them, and she only seemed to be getting worse with the panic setting in.

Suddenly, things went from bad to worse and she grabbed Jonathan by the collar in her frantic mindset, pulling him closer to her face as her voice began to crack a bit. "You h-ave to p-prot-ect me! T-hey kn-ow I'm he-re!" She sputtered, even going so far as to spit a bit with every other word. "Th-ey're co-ming to ge-t me!"

Jonathan blinked at her reply and her wild eyes when they stared up at his own. It had made his blood run cold and he had to tell himself to breathe. “W-Wait, who knows?” he asked as his eyes widened just a tad, “What are you talking about, ma’am?” He knew how not to get scared about appearances but this old woman was just very strange. Looking about in the train had him meeting the gazes of the other passengers and he turned to look over his shoulder at Emily.

Jonathan couldn’t turn his back even if he wanted to.

“Wh-Whoa!” Inching his head away as he looked off to the side to hopefully not get any spit in his eyes or mouth, he reached up to put his warm hand on the other’s cold and clammy one currently grabbing his collar. “W-Wait, ma’am. I don’t know what you’re talking about! I’m just a student!” As if that wasn’t enough, he continued to embarrassingly continue on:

“I-I don’t even know how to fight!”

Beep, beep, beep.

"Hey, the radar's goin' off like crazy over here!" The red-headed boy spat out as he and his two cohorts ran from subway car to subway car. "It has to be close!"

"Actually, I believe it's called an electromagnetic pulse regulator." The thin, blond man corrected the other. "And yeah, it can't be too far off."

"I just hope we're not too late..." The third, larger and darker-toned man commented as the three continued to hop from car to car.

. . .

By now the other passengers in the car were staring at the scene of the strange woman and poor Jonathan, murmur beginning to fill the long subway car. Emily stood up from her seat, holding a hand to her chest, not sure what to do. "Jonathan!" She shouted when the woman began grabbing at him. She wasn't sure whether she should help her friend or let him handle it himself. He seemed pretty desperate... Especially after that last thing he yelled...

"N-n-n-ooo!" The woman then let out. She pushed Jonathan back, harder and with more force than any normal woman- or human for that matter- could probably muster, sending him back to the other side of the subway.

"Jonathan!" Emily screamed, running to him and crouching down. "Are you alright?!"

The woman now held onto her head, fingernails digging into her scalp as she then stood up from her seat, flailing around while letting out the most horrific scream anyone could possibly imagine. Still holding onto her head, her beady bloodshot eyes darted across the subway train until they fell on Jonathan once more, her apparent chosen target for the evening. Letting out another scream, she reached out a bony, fleshy arm to grab him on the other side of the subway car, her arm seeming to generate flesh upon flesh as it reached across at an amazing sped, right for Jonathan's face.

Emily screamed.

BAM!

With a loud bang, the fleshy arm had been blown into tiny bits, the woman now short one arm. She let out another wail, grabbing for her now sub of an arm.

"Sheesh... we're really making a mess out of this one." The blonde stated sullenly as bits of flesh flew everywhere, though a hint of excitement couldn't help but escape from his voice. He swung a somewhat strange-looking gun over his shoulder with a smirk, seemingly proud of his aim, a cigarette burning in his mouth.

"Glory-hog..." The red-headed boy then spat out as he came from behind him, finally making it into the subway car as well.

"Looks like we made it just in time too." The tanned man added, adjusting the stylish sunglasses that sat on his face.

The blond man, who couldn't have been more than 35 or so, looked to the boy who had just been attacked. "You okay, soldier?" He questioned a bit teasingly, though all in good humor, as both the red-head boy and man with sunglasses pointed their own weapons of choice at the 'strange woman', who might just have to have a title update to 'strange, violent, maybe woman, but probably not if even human at all?'.

Jonathan was just about to tell Emily to stay where she was until the woman had thrown him aside. With much strength he didn't think a human would have. But, that was where it all happened.

The strangeness of how everything around him to be in slow motion made him frown in that fraction of a second. He was also just about to reach out for a bar nearby to keep him from colliding onto the floor when Emily screaming his name had pierced through his concentration and had him returning back to the real world with the gravity. His bag was lost along the way and he let out a loud groan when he had collided with the floor. Thrice, he jumped into the air and thrice, he fell onto the floor.

"Ngh... I think so," he managed to say as he shut his eyes tight, "My back hurt like hell, though." He's never joined any varsity teams in his whole life but he played basketball often. Sports never really was his thing so the very fact that his body had received all that was too much of a shock to him. Managing to prop himself up on his elbow, too, and bring up his hand to rub at the back of his head, his eyes snapped up to the strange woman trying to reach for him from where he was. The first thing he thought to do was fight back to protect Emily.

It was only strange, though, how a certain glow had appeared from his hand when he'd stretched his hand out towards the oncoming hand of the old woman. What he saw of the glow looked more like a blade of the sorts even though he still had his hand. Looking down in horror at his hand and at the fleshy arm on the floor, his face scrunched up in disgust as he looked over to the blonde man and his teasing question. "I'm... fine," he mumbled, twisting his ring a bit in habit at his left hand - the same hand that had emitted that faint glow. "Shit."

What he wasn't sure about, though, was if anyone saw it. The first thing he did was ask Emily about it. "Emily... did you... see what happened to me?"

The hell was that about, too, a while ago? The time didn't stop... I... He was overwhelmed as he laid back down onto the floor of the compartment and let out a deep breath of relief. And what's up with these guys?

As Jonathan's arm began to glow, something strange appearing from it, it caught the attention of a few certain people. Primarily the blond man, who watched in interest, Emily, who was in complete shock, and the crazy woman, who seemed to cower a bit from Jonathan in the small fraction of a moment before her arm had been blown off by the blond man's gun. When it had, the blond man then looked to Jonathan, his expression now turned to a cross between surprise and amusement. "Well I'll be damned..." He said to himself, taking a puff from the cigarette, though the other two he was with didn't seem to have seen anything, having arrived just after.

It didn't take long before the people on the subway train progressed from silent shock to all out panic. The subway's doors to the outside had all been tightly shut: there being no escape. However, the doors to other subway cars were very much open, and people took complete advantage of that, running off farther down the subway to other cars, screaming as they did so. Now, it was just the Jonathan, Emily, the crazy woman, and the mysterious uniformed trio in that particular subway car.

Emily sat there silent for a moment, consumed by fear as she starred at Jonathan, not sure if she should be more concerned over the crazy woman who had her arm blown off, these strange people that just showed up with strange weapons, or the fact that Jonathan's arm just did something very strange. "Y-yeah, I did..." She replied to him with wide eyes, not sure what exactly it was that she had seen. "But what--" She was cut off when the strange woman began to scream again.

Now, the woman hardly even seemed a woman any longer. Her flesh turned into a wrinkly abomination that closely resembled to what a zombie might look like as she began to grow in size, the skin stretching to make room, her hair starting to fall out as well, her eyes turning a deep read, and her teeth seeming to grow in size into a sharper, more prominent shape. In the same instant, something began to protrude through her back, and before they knew it, ugly fleshy bat-like wings had formed, sprouting from her backside, her blown-off arm beginning to regenerate as well.

It was by far the most hideous and awkward and just plain wrong thing Emily had ever seen. She scooted back a bit form the floor, trying to tug Jonathan with her, completely speechless in not even being able to scream, before then suddenly fainting dead away on the floor of the subway car, it all apparently being just too much for her to handle.

The bat-lady then let out a screech- no longer resembling a human scream- spread her wings in the cramped subway car, and made a dive for the blond man, who seemed to pose the most threat. But the other two were on it instantly, the darker-skinned man jumping in front of the blond man and holding it in place as the red-headed man pulled the black glove off on his right hand with a mischievous smirk, a small ball of light forming in his said hand as he then tossed said ball of light at the creature had had overtaken the woman, it causing a small explosion that got its attention.

Having got its attention, the red-headed man then took off down he subway car.

As if on cue, the larger man then let go of the creature, allowing it to give chase to the red-head as the blond man took aim through the scope on his gun. Only a few seconds went by before a strange light came to his right eye as he looked through the gun's scope. Another moment passed and he pulling the trigger. This time a strange red beam coming out of the gun, as if it were a laser in a sci-fi movie or something. It hit the bat-creature in the back, freezing it as a red light consumed it, before breaking it apart completely, turning it into a pile of dust.

The blond man let out a sigh, seeming to be relived, lowering his gun. He then looked up, seeming content. "Well, I'd say that went well."

"As well as it can go for a stupid over-cowed subway train." The red-headed man then added, coming back into their subway car.

"Yes, but what are we going to do about them?" The larger man then asked, pointing a thumb back to the crowd of people at the far end of the subway.

The blond man just looked at the crowd of people before taking the cigarette out of his mouth and dropping it to the floor. "The usual, I guess. We smoke em'." He stepped on the cigarette, crunched it out. "But before that..." He then turned to the boy, who he recalled had displayed something very strange in the frenzy of it all. "What's your name, kid?" He questioned Jonathan, not really in a friendly manner, but not in a threatening or mean one tither: it being instead more curious and inquisitive. The other two just looked at Jonathan curiously, unsure of what his significance to their 'buddy' was, them not having seen what Jonathan had done.

With Emily now telling him that she’d seen it too, all he could seem to bring himself to do was stare back at his hand. What was that surge of power all of a sudden? Was his mind playing tricks on him? His want to protect Emily never brought out any physical state in him. There was that little surge of power he felt from within but it never got to this.

This was the very first time.

This is… crazy, he thought as his eyes snapped up to the old woman who obviously didn’t look any like an old woman anymore. Her piercing scream obviously made him forget the pain on his back as he shut an eye and put his hands to his ears. The way she had transformed made the bile rise up to his throat and it took all of his self-restraint not to run away with Emily still behind him. Of course, he moved when Emily did and he pressed her up against the corner of the door and the seats, his eyes still glued on the morbid scene before him.

The sudden feel of something hitting his back made him look over his shoulder and his eyes widened in surprise. “Emily,” he started, the tone of his voice was worried as he managed to move around to catch her into his arms, “Emily!” Holding her close to him, he turned to look over at the bat-lady who let out a screech. When she had dived for the blonde man, the first instinct Jonathan was about to do was set Emily down to protect someone else only to stop halfway in the action when he’d seen the man’s other two companion handle it themselves.

Jonathan watched with awe with the rest of the passengers watching. He let out a short, “Whoa,” at the sight of that red beam and he momentarily looked around for any movie producers or crews. It was possible, after all, for them to be actors in some movie hit or something. He saw what had happened to the bat-lady and he looked back down at his hand resting on Emily’s upper arm. What are these people? he thought before he’d lifted his hand to have his palm rest on Emily’s cheek.

We’re safe, at least. Thanks to these people.

Letting out a quiet sigh, he took his hand from Emily’s cheek to rest it on his own knee. Just as he was about to scoop Emily into his arms to set her down onto the long seat in the train, he blinked at the question he had heard from the blond man. Of course, Jonathan looked behind him to see if there was anyone else there but the people were too far off from them for the blond to be directing his question to any of them. “Uh, Jonathan Craven sir,” he replied. Finally scooping Emily from the floor, he put her out on the empty seats and turned to look back at the blond man and his other two companions.

“Thank you,” he said with a smile, “For saving us.” His tired eyes seemed to even be more tired as he moved his gaze back to Emily.

Hopefully, she was going to be okay.

"Jonathan Craven..." The blond man muttered to himself, thinking the name over as if to memorize it. He just starred at Jonathan for a moment, turning to look to the fainted Emily, then back to Jonathan again with the same studying look. "Huh... Well... You're welcome." He said with a bit of an awkward look.

"Heh. First time for everything, I guess." The red-headed young man commented with a smirk, coming up beside his blond-haired companion as he put his right black-colored glove back on.

The blond-haired man only shrugged with a wayward smile. "We don't exactly get 'thanked' much." He explained, knowing his friend's statement might not make that much sense to Jonathan. He then turned to both the red-headed man and the well-toned man. "Listen. We're not gonna smoke these two." He stated.

The two just looked to each other with curious looks before looking back to their friend. "Yeah... No, we are." The rather impulsive one argued. "We have to. I mean... that's just what we do. We smoke people."

"Not this time." The other replied in all confidence. "Well, for the other passengers, sure, but..." He looked to Jonathan again. "This one's special."

The younger man raised a curious eyebrow. "Special as in...?" He didn't mean that kind of special, did he?

He nodded. "Yeah."

The larger man folded his arms across his chest. "Are you sure about this, Clovis?" He questioned.

'Clovis' gave a grin. "Quite sure." He stated, turning to their other companion. "If you would be so kind?"

The younger man only rolled his eyes. "Yeah, fine, whatever." He let out. He turned to Jonathan, looking to him skeptically for a moment before taking his right glove off once more, forming another ball of light in it. Once big enough, he threw it over to a vacated area of the subway, making a rather violent explosion as well as a hole big enough to duck through. With the explosion though, the other passengers, still crowded in the far back, in the last car of the subway, screamed, panic setting in again as they continued to wail, pray, and carry on in their hysterics.

"Sorry to say your ride will be out of commission for the rest of the night." The blond man started up again, looking to Jonathan and Emily. "You should take her and go while you can. Just up ahead is your designated stop, I do believe?" And by up ahead, it was obvious that the only way was to follow the train tracks, the subway itself being useless now. He then turned back to his two companions and pulled something out of his jacket pocket, it looking like a small grenade. "Well, boys. Let's finish this job up. We don't got a whole lot of time left to fittle-fart around, as sad as that is." He stated with a somewhat humored grin. The younger one gave into his own mischievous grin as he pulled out his own grenade-looking item, as did the other man, who wore a rather emotionless expression himself. "...It's smokin' time."

Jonathan blinked and turned to look back at the blond and his red-haired companion when he’d heard those words. Strange, he thought with a slight frown, Wasn’t it normal to be thanked when someone saved their lives? He snapped out of his thoughts at the blonds’ next words and he raised his eyebrows a little as their conversation continued like he wasn’t there to listen. Just what the hell did they mean by ‘smoke’, exactly?

The word ‘special’ coming out from this stranger’s lips about him was a surprise. No one had ever called him special; not his parents, no one. He was sure he was pretty normal until today. That hallucination – which had been seen by Emily and the blond, he didn’t think it would be enough to have him change his life.

Jonathan’s eyes widened, though, at the sight of the red-haired male forming that ball of light. It was much similar to what had happened to him except he was able to physically maintain it and throw it like some sort of chi and form a Hollywood effect.

“Y-Yes sir,” he replied, blinking as he turned to look back at the blond when he’d asked that question. Not quite sure about what they were going to do, he decided he didn’t want to wait and see. The first thing he had to do was keep Emily safe. He scooped the woman back into his arms and his gaze stuck a moment at that small grenade being pulled out from the other’s pocket. “I, uh, thank you very much,” he managed to say as he looked at the three, especially to the blond and then walked towards the hole where that bat-girl and the red-haired had gone through not very long ago. He hopped off, stumbled a bit but managed to catch his balance before he’d run off.

Jonathan followed the tracks. He didn’t bother looking back as his hold on Emily got more protective. His extra slippers and his notebook in his bag didn’t matter either. He just needed to make sure Emily was all right first off.

Arriving into the station and still quite out of breath, he managed to hail a cab and bring Emily to her apartment. With what little cash he had left, he was even lucky he got to Emily’s apartment. I hope Alyssa’s in, he thought as he brought her up, I don’t really know what to do. With these thoughts in mind, he frantically pressed on the doorbell to Emily’s and Alyssa’s apartment.

As Jonathan left, Clovis turned to watch him jump from the car and run down the tracks towards the station. A small smile came to him. "Heh. Who'd a thought we'd find one here of all places." He said to himself quietly before returning his attention to the situation at hand. "Alright, boys. Let her rip." He commanded, pulling on a pin in the 'grenade', a strange white-colored smoke, it seeming more like mist, seeping out of it, him then lightly tossing the it towards the back of the train, where most of the people had gathered.

The red-headed young man did the same, two grenade-looking items smoking in a crowded car full of people. "Bombs away." He let out with a grin, seeming to enjoy the havoc he was causing as the crowd of people began to panic even more.

The other, well-toned man however, took a different approach and left his two companions to go to the front of the subway, entering the subway driver's compartment. As the others had, he pulled the pin out and dropped the smoke-seeping grenade in the car with him. With a two-finger salute to the driver, who was still tied and gagged with wide eyes, the larger man then left, going back to rejoin his two companions.

. . .

Alyssa was in her and Emily's apartment, getting ready for a date with her rather pushy boyfriend, the sun having finally set, the nightlife soon to arise. Alyssa by nature was a rather forceful girl who went well with her 'pushy' boyfriend, her being social at heart and very much into the wild life the dark and crazy city of Harlem had to offer. Like Ronnie did with Jonathan, Alyssa would often times drag Emily along with her on many different occasions. In fact, Emily and Alyssa countered each other quite well with their different personalities.

As far as appearances went, Alyssa had short black hair that barely came over her ears, her eyes being sapphire blue, quite an odd color to go with her dark hair. Her attire usually consisted of rather posh-style clothes, her loving the more high-maintenance look. Tonight was special though. Tonight she wore a long, black gown with black high heels and black arm gloves.

She was surprised to hear the doorbell, looking at the clock when it buzzed. "Ugh. He's early." She grumbled a bit to herself, not having gotten completely ready yet. "Just a minute!" She called out. But the doorbell rang again. And again. "Hold your horses, I said I was coming already!" She then shouted, finally putting her seconds sparkling earing in before making her way to the front door of the apartment. She didn't even bother looking through the peephole and opened it. "Just what's your prob--" She instantly stopped to see Jonathan holding her apparently passed out roommate in his arms. She was speechless at first. Until... "What the hell happened?!" She yelled at him, completely taken aback and in a frenzy. "What did you do to her?!"

Jonathan was annoyed and irritated when he’d heard the words from behind the door. Was Alyssa even serious? This was life and death here. Though he was well aware he was exaggerating, he, too, found himself panicking. He never really did know what to do with unconscious people. As for Ronnie, he’d just toss him onto his bed by the time they reach back into their dormitory. With Emily, he couldn’t do such a thing.

That, and he thought she was such a fragile person in his arms.

The first two questions directed at him from the well-dressed and pretty Alyssa had his eyes widening in surprise. “H-Hey!” he started, “It’s not my fault she’s in this position!” Brushing past her and heading straight for Emily’s room, he set her down gently onto the bed and looked very worried. He went back out to meet Alyssa and he wiped his forearm on his forehead. “Shit, Alyssa. Help me. She went unconscious when we-” He paused. He wasn’t sure if he was supposed to tell someone what he saw. Knowing Alyssa, she probably wouldn’t even believe it.

“We saw something disgusting and she, well, passed out.”

Frantically walking towards the kitchen, he got out with an ice bag in hand and went back into Emily’s room. “I don’t know what to do. I’ve never seen her out cold like this. Will she be okay?” He turned to look at Alyssa with an obviously worried face etched onto his features. A worrywart, that's what he is.

Alyssa didn't bother protesting when Jonathan came in and took Emily to her room, that being exactly what Alyssa wanted. "What do you mean it's not your fault?!" She then rather harshly questioned as she followed him through the small apartment to Emily's bedroom, stopping at the doorway. "You were the one that was with her!"

As Jonathan set her down on her bed, Emily began to move a bit, letting out a few small noises as she did. No sooner than he put her down was he up again though, meeting Alyssa at the doorway. He seemed so desperate when he asked for her help, it making her feel a little guilty now. "Something... disgusting?" She questioned, very much confused by his explanation, if not incredibly skeptical by it. But before she could question him on it, he was off to the kitchen... then back again. Honestly, she had never seen anyone so flustered before.

An almost sympathetic look came over her now as she looked to the panicked mess that was Jonathan, her still standing in the doorway to Emily's room as she watched Jonathan sit on the bed beside Emily. She took a deep breath. "Yeah... Yeah, she'll be fine." She finally said, forcing herself to calm down. Emily really would be in bad shape if both of them panicked. "She's just fainted, right?" She went over to the bed and put her hand on his shoulder, finally seeing how incredibly worried he was. "Don't worry." She said. "She only needs rest. She'll wake up, but right now, let's let her rest."

She then began to walk out of the room, gesturing to the kitchen, beckoning him to follow her so that they could talk. "Besides... I need to see if I can get any sense out of you anyway." She said, not very content with what odd explanation he had given her. Still, all she could do was hope she could pry him from Emily's side.

. . .

Meanwhile, atop a building overlooking the subway station, which many police and reporters were gathered around...

"Tsk. I can't believe you just let them go like that..." The fiery-haired young man grumbled in irritation. "We shoulda smoked 'em..."

"How is it that you always make it sound like we're doing something wrong?" The blond sighed. "It wasn't like we killed a bunch of people, you know. It was just sleeping gas."

"Yeah... about that. Think we should upgrade to a more... I dunno... lethal kind of gas?"

The others were silent.

"...So, you really believe him to be one of us?" The dark-toned man then questioned, ignoring the other's question alltogether. "That kid, I mean."

The blond only smiled to himself. "Somethin' tells me we'll find out soon enough." He replied, looking down to the subway station. "Until then, we should probably lay low until the news report comes on."

The larger man nodded. "Back to base it is then..."

Jonathan only let out a slight sigh of relief when he’d heard Emily would be fine but he wasn’t going to believe her yet until his said childhood friend would finally wake up. Not really trusting his voice right now, he nodded as he reached up to put his hand over Alyssa’s own on his shoulder. “Y-Yeah…”

The moment she moved away, though, he let her hand go and he turned to see her in time when she’d beckoned him to follow. Jonathan brought the ice bag with him and tucked Emily in before he’d brushed a few strands of hair away from her face.

“I don’t think any of my explanations would sound normal to anyone,” he said, mostly to himself, as he got up from the stool to follow Alyssa out. Shutting the door behind him, he let his hand rest on the knob for a few seconds before he’d finally let go to resume following his childhood friend’s roommate.

“You’re dressed up,” he started, “Are you going to a ball or something?” Blinking as he looked at Alyssa, he tilted his head a bit. “With your boyfriend?”

Alyssa waited patiently by the door as Jonathan slowly made his way out of the room. She watched as the door was closed, leaving Emily in the room on the bed. She smiled to him, knowing that he really did care for Emily.

"Not exactly." She replied to his question with a small smile as she led him down the hall to the small kitchen. "Brandon is coming over, and we were planning to going out, but certainly not to a ball." Now in the kitchen, she pulled out a seat for Jonathan. "Have a seat." She partly offered and partly demanded, it being hard to tell the difference with her sometimes.

"We were going to go to a formal night club." She then began to explain as she rummaged through the bottom drawers of the kitchen. "You know, the new one in the upper city? I forgot what Brandon said the name of it was... Like, 'Night Castle' or something." She then pulled out a bottle of red wine and two small glasses, still talking. "And I'm sure Brandy's still gonna want to go- he's probably on his way over now- but I'll just have to tell him there's been a change of plans." She set the two glasses on the table and pored a good portioned of wine in both, then offering him one.

"You drink, right?" She then asked, changing the subject before taking a sip of her own glass. "If you don't you should. It really takes the edge off." Of course, this was all probably just a ruse to get him talking, her still very much wanting an explanation, though wouldn't go about it by directly asking as she had before: that not having worked so well.

I thought so, Jonathan thought to himself as he followed the other down the hall and to the small kitchen. He always did like the girls' place. It was small and neat unlike their own. Though he tried to keep his things clean, he could never get it right. Blinking when he'd heard the other offer the seat, he decided not to make the woman angry. Jonathan never did like having to deal with angry women. At least, he thought they were scary.

"Ah, that." The male nodded and noted he didn't have his bag with him. Sad. Looks like he'll just have to copy notes from his classmates this time. "You have to be wearing semi-formal attire to get in, right?" Rubbing his hands on his pants, he nodded again as Alyssa continued talking. If that's so then, it looked like he better leave soon. He was sure Emily would give him a call if she wakes up. I better leave a note, though, he thought to himself.

The sudden question had him blinking. "Err... yeah." He had a high tolerance with alcohol, sadly, so he never really did get drunk. If he did, he'd be emotional as shit, say what he was honestly feeling and then crash the instant he has nothing else to say. He was strange when he was drunk, or so his friends had told him once.

"But... I don't think it's a good idea. I have to review for an exam this Friday..." Bringing up his hand to rub the back of his neck, he smiled sheepishly. "I should go if I'm still wanting to get those notes I just lost." There should still be people in the university around this time who's bound to have what he need.


[[ Sorry for the late reply! >.< ]]

(( Lol, don't worry about it. There's never any rush with me. xD ))

Alyssa just stared at him for a moment with an odd look. "Suit yourself." She finally shrugged, grabbing his glass and downing it as well. "I'm just glad you're okay with leaving at all actually. Don't worry about Emily. I'll take good care of her." As she set the glass back down on the table after having downed it, the doorbell rang. "Oh. That's probably Brandon." She said with a sigh.

The front door not being too far from the kitchen, she made her way over and peeped through the hole before opening it to a large, muscular male with short-shaved brown hair and brown eyes.

"Hey, babycakes." Was his opening statement. "Ready to go to the Nocturnal Asylum?"

"Oooh, so that's what it's called." Alyssa stated with an almost ditzy approach. She turned back to look at Jonathan. "The new nightclub." She pointed out, just to be clear that they were indeed not going to an actual asylum. She turned back to her well-toned boyfriend. "Sorry, Brandy. Party's off. Somethin' major came up."

Brandon looked back behind Alyssa to find Jonathan. "I'll say. Who's he and what's he doin' here?"

"Emily's friend. Was just on his way out." She said as Brandon made his way in. "Brandon, meet Jonathan. Jonathan, Brandon."

Brandon came in and looked the smaller boy up and down. "Huh. You go to Harlem College too, I take it? Can't say I recognize you."

[[ =D ]]

Jonathan blinked and he watched Alyssa down even his own glass. Well, that's minus two drinks she should be getting in the bar, that's for sure. "Thanks," he said, very much relieved when he'd heard her say those words. Still, though, he'd like to hear from Emily herself when she wakes up.

Brandon was as he'd expected when the door had opened. At least, from the rumors around Harlem university, such a big guy can't be missed. He never could be that muscular no matter how many times he went to the gym. Consciously, he touched his upper arms. Lanky. That's what he was. He could pass off as a soccer player but not as a body builder. Sad. Should I blame these to my parents' recessive genes? he thought to himself as he blinked when he'd seen Alyssa look over to him. "Ah," was all he'd managed to say to the name Nocturnal Asylum. Honestly, he'd thought it was an asylum and not a bar.

The newspapers and online articles about that place made it seem like so.

"Err, hi," he said, finally coming close when he was introduced. He was just about to raise his hand for a handshake but he thought otherwise. His hand might get crushed if he offered a handshake. He just smiled a little nervously. "Yeah, I do. Well, History majors usually have our noses buried in books so..." Bringing up his other hand to rub the back of his neck, he continued on, "We're not exactly sociable people so to say."

"It's nice to meet you though, Brandon," he added quickly before he'd turned to look at Alyssa, "I better head off. Sorry for ruining your date, Alyssa." Just as he was about to step out, though, he turned to look back at the well-dressed woman. "Have Emily call me when she's awake." Jonathan gave her a rather small but still worried smile. "Thanks."

With that, he was gone.

Jonathan couldn't exactly take the train home because of the incident and there was no way he was going to walk to his place. A taxi doesn't sound good, too. My wallet's going to fly away, he thought as he pursed his lips a little and frowned as he stood a few blocks away from Alyssa and Emily's apartment.

The hell am I supposed to do?

Brandon didn't say anything in reply, only seeming to look Jonathan up and down almost suspiciously, seeming to try and figure him out.

Alyssa nodded when he requested that she make Emily call him when she woke up. "Yeah. Of course." She said as he gave thanks and left, closing the door behind him.

"So..." Brandon then let out, turning back to her. "No Nocturnal Asylum?"

Alyssa only sighed. Apparently she had a lot of explaining of her own to do.

. . .

With Jonathan alone in the darkened streets of the small block Emily and Alyssa live on, muddling around what he should do next, it seemed more than a perfect opportunity for something 'strange' to happen. Again.

"Hey. You." Came a man's voice from the shadows, a shadowy figure emerging who wore nothing but a huge tan overcoat, black boots, and a black hat that covered most of his face. He beckoned Jonathan over to him with a small wave. "C'mere for a sec."

Weather Jonathan would comply or not was another matter entirely.

Jonathan had expected as much with Alyssa's boyfriend. He never did get along with people like him apparently since he lacked in size, physically speaking. That, and the very thought that those kinds of people usually use their fists instead of their brains, it had Jonathan just wanting to leave instead of having to deal with them. He was a coward. Fighting was something he was not good at, that much he could say.

Blinking in surprise at thew words 'Hey. You.' being spoken by some stranger, he looked over his shoulder to see the said shadowy figure wearing that huge tan overcoat. Jonathan looked around, of course. There was a big possibility that this one wasn't talking to him - which he hoped. When he saw that he was the one being spoken to, the only thing he could do was bring up his hand to have it run through his shaggy hair and think with a face: Not these big guys again.

"You're already out of the shadows," he started, looking obviously suspicious. Being knocked out and killed was not entirely an option for him. Consciously, the male stepped to stand by what looked like a street lamp, "Can't we do whatever you need out here in the open? At least, if you're going to kill me... it'd be out here."

The overcoat-wearing man took a moment to look at himself with Jonathan's comment about already being out of the shadows, as if he had just realized it himself. "Huh. Yeah, I guess I am." He agreed. He then just starred at Jonathan for a bit, as if contemplating on what to do with his suggestion. "Hmm... smart kid." He said before shrugging, the shrug seeming a bit off with the huge overcoat seeming to be larger than the person actually wearing it.

"Pfft. Kill you?" He then let out with a sharp laugh as he strolled his way towards Jonathan, stopping just about two feet from him. "If you were one of them, sure. But nah. I'm only here to deliver a message. And... this." He tossed a somewhat blackened and beat up bag at him. "Sorry. Said they couldn't save the girl's." It seemed to be the bag Jonathan left on the subway train in his eagerness to escape with Emily, the stuff he had in the bag somewhat battered as well, but all still there, including his cell phone.

"You may think your normal. Just like everyone else in this depressing city. But you're not." The man then continued. "You're not alone though. There's more like you out there. Like us." He then began to back up, back into the shadows. "If you want to know more, come to the old abandoned warehouse on Spooner Street tomorrow night. Ten o'clock sharp. Come alone." And, he was gone, having gone back into the shadows from which he came, leaving Jonathan to his own in the silent, streetlight-lit street.