The Conduit Initiative

Status
Not open for further replies.
The hesitant and ambivalent voice cut through the silence like a warm knife through butter. It was a quiet, feminine voice that sounded shaky and unsure. Charles focused his attention to the source of the voice: a women, who stood taller then most, with thick, black, curly hair that fell to her shoulders. He recognized her from her file that lay on his desk back at HQ. She appeared to be the only one who even noticed the boy, or the only one brave enough to speak up. He took another puff of his cigar before speaking. "Well, you can't expect to finish a puzzle without all the pieces, can you?" His cigar further diminished as they stood, ash falling from the end and covering the ground. "The boy is important," he said vaguely. "All of you are." He then dropped his cigar to the floor, crushed it with his boot, and worked it into the ground, extinguishing the tip.
 
Mud swallowed and poked her head out from under the tablecloth. Usually she couldn't stand the thought of voluntarily talking to another person, but this man...he was different. She trusted him, and after debating with herself she practically squeaked, "I don't know this boy, but I could help you find him."
 
Charles's ears were filled with a small voice coming from somewhere across the room. He wasn't quite sure where the voice originated, until he met a pair of young, hesitant eyes, hiding beneath the buffet table. The vacant, yet attentive eyes belonged to that of a teenage girl. She was small, with short brown hair. He neared her with a raised brow and questioning look in his eyes. "Can you now," he said through a cheeky grin. "You're the uh, the blind child right? The one that 'sees through her feet'." He chuckled to himself before bringing himself closer to the child under the tablecloth. He crouched along side the buffet table; dark blue eyes peering into hers as he studied her. "How?"
 
She blinked, the foggy emerald color brightening a little. "Through my feet," she whispers, pointing to the dirty, calloused feet, "I can feel the vibrations of people and things, and then I can see everything around me." She straightened a little, hiding a proud smile. "It helps me get around. I can also hear better than most." She blushed, not having spoken so much to a stranger.
 
At this point Seamus felt he could trust this man. Then he thought about the commotion, the boy. Could it be the one that had walked in just before him? Seamus then spoke up, "did anyone see the boy leave, I saw him walk in just before me but where did he go. I don't think he has left the building it wasn't long ago."
 
Victor walked up behind the man in the suit who at one point had a cigar in his mouth with a bone blade gripped firmly in his hand and firmly places it over the stranger's abdominal Aorta. "Now, you're going to ever so clearly and calmly explain everything you just said or you're going to wish you never came here." the tall conduit of bone and wire said softly, but his voice carried like a report of a gunshot. He was deathly calm and his voice along with his body language didn't say he was bluffing "get my point? Way I see it, you came here to raise some Hell. I hate people who start things with people who have not caused any trouble themselves. If I'm mistaken, then by all means correct me." the blade he held was made from his own bones. He didn't like manipulating someone else's skeleton unless it was an emergency. It had been a long day and he simply wanted to get to his apartment. He had used his wire manipulation to quietly get home unnoticed and had just walked through the door after the stranger demanding to know where some kid was.
 
Last edited:
Charles's back began to ache from the blade being pressed against his artery. It was still and quiet for a moment, until a small chuckle left the older man's mouth. This chuckle grew into a hardy laugh, which then grew into hysterical merriment. Tears began to form in his eyes from Charles laughing so violently. In a quick series of movements, Charles's laughter ceased. Immediately following this, he slammed the tall conduit in the knee with a powerful kick that brought him down to a kneel. To fast for human comprehension, the blade was now turned across Victor's own neck and Charles was looking down upon him with a condescending expression in his eyes. "Don't. Ever. Touch. Me. Alright, pumpkin?"

He knew from enough battle experience that a conduit couldn't use their powers if their hands were obstructed. For whatever reason, this was true for all conduits. Perhaps it was because their powers were generated from their hands. By any means, if Charles didn't want a full on battle right there in the lobby, he had to conceal the conduits hands. It was time to reveal that he too was a conduit. With one movement of his hands, Victor's hands were encompassed by a thick, large layer of concrete and his legs were now pierced with several shards of the rough material. This was extremely painful, even for a conduit, but it wasn't life threatening, and Charles knew it.

There was no way this man could break free from the concrete restraints now. He couldn't use his powers to get out or his thick head to break free. He was going to have to sit there and politely listen. "Yeah," Charles said getting down on one knee and looking at the concrete shards now piercing Victor's skin and drawing blood. "I'm told that hurts." He pushed the man over on his back before standing a good distance away from him and saying aloud, "This will serve as a lesson to all of you. Rule number 1: NEVER touch Charles." He turned back around towards the man. "Ah," he began. "I know who you are. Victor H. Markov. 'The Muscle'. Sit back junior and I will explain everything." The next sentence involved the group, so he turned and said, "But first I need the boy."
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Mud was taken aback by the sheer force of it all, but something drew her attention away. She stood up and turned away from Charles and the others, toward the stairs. "Does anyone live in the penthouse?" she asked softly. "Someone that wasn't supposed to stay in the building?"
 
Everything had happened in the blink of an eye. An older guy came in asking for a small boy, another man came in and threatened him with a blade, then that guy was now on the floor with concrete around his hands...James's mind was a blurry mess. It was difficult for him to comprehend all the events that had just transpired. But, when the innocent girl from earlier stood up and asked her question, James thought for a moment in preparation to answer. "No," he said from his spot near the stairs. "The penthouse belongs to a man named William Blaggart, but he is on vacation in Tahiti right now...no one should be up there."
 
"Oh." Mud's expression became grave. "Well, there's someone up there now. I can feel his heart beating, it's quick, like an intruder's."
 
Victor let out a sharp hiss of pain when his legs were impaled by the concrete before he said "Yeah? Victor's first rule is don't start a scene in my presence. Things don't usually go that well for whoever starts raising Hell around me." through gritted teeth. "Also, i don't have a middle name. Just a nickname people put between my first and last names." his mind wasgoing a thousand different directions, most of which were going back to who was this guy and how did he do that?
 
James looked over at the small girl before looking up the stairs. He wasn't sure what would await the person who chose to investigate the commotion in the penthouse. After everything that had been in progress here, it could be anything, from a wild animal to a burglar. This man wanted them all for some reason or purpose. He wasn't going to disclose his intent until everyone was together and found. There was a slim chance that the boy was the one upstairs, but someone needed to check.

James hesitantly stood up, and said, "I'll go and see if anyone is up there." With that, and a nod from Charles, he began to ascend the staircase. The building was very tall with a large number of floors separating the bottom and the top. The climb felt like it took hours to complete, but eventually, James reached the penthouse door. He reached for the doorknob and slowly twisted -- locked. He was about to climb back down when he heard a loud crash, like something had been knocked over within the apartment. There was definitely someone in there. James didn't know what else to do, so he clenched his fist, brought it to the door, and slammed down three times. If anyone was in there, they would hear the knock and hopefully open the door.

Charles listened to the man as he spoke his mind. The only thing he had to fight with at this point was his words, since his powers were now withheld beneath the concrete prison. After Victor finished patting out his last sentence, Charles decided to reply. "Well cupcake," he began, locking eyes with the large conduit. "I'm not a normal person. You'll learn eventually that you don't. Fuck. With me. I'm sorry I took such drastic measures," he said, gesturing to the concrete shards that riddled his legs. "But, you were gonna make this much more difficult then it needed to be. I'm not here to hurt any of you. I'm here to talk"
 
Aeny looked up at the sound of the knock on the door, then back down at the remains of the vase he had just knocked to the floor. There was no way out and he had to answer the door. He walked over to it, looking through the peep hole he could see that one of the people from the lobby was on the other side. He decided to pretend he lived here "Who is it?"
 
"With an entrance like the one you made, I seen trouble and acted. Now that we have that misunderstanding settled, can you let me up? Kinda need to put my blade away." Victor said "Now that i know your intention is to talk and not fight, I'm not going to attack you any further."
 
Last edited:
James was taken back that someone had actually answered. Who was the person on the other side of the door? Was it the boy they so desperately needed? Or was it, perhaps, a thief whose intent was to injure whoever entered the apartment? A few seconds passed and James could feel the tension between them thickening. "Hello, my name is James," he called out to the other side of the door, listening close for any kind of response. "We are looking for a smaller boy, maybe, you've seen him or know where he is? It seems urgent." With that, James pressed his ear to the oak door and listened for any sign of life.

Charles let out an exasperated sigh while he considered what Victor requested. He knew from his file that Victor was what they called, "a protector." Perhaps he WAS just threatening him because he thought that Charles meant others harm. Ultimately, he decided that Victor spoke the truth and he would release him from the concrete confinement. "Alright," Charles said with a wave of his hand in Victors direction, causing the concrete cuffs to break apart and the shards to halt their progress into his flesh. All the concrete that that had been used to contain victor fell harmlessly to the floor, leaving not so much as a scratch behind.
 
Why were they looking for him? He hesitated, but he had to answer, to not do so would look suspicious "I...I'm sorry, I haven't seen anyone like that around" he said through the door "now, if you don't mind I'm...I'm..I'm eating my dinner"
 
Victor pressed the tip of the bone knife to his right forearm and let the material merge with his radial ulnar bones again before he said "made that blade in a hurry and with that little display of power I started regretting it. Should've went with claws instead of a knife." he then looked at the bits of concrete around him and said "a concrete conduit. Go figure, stone beats bone any day of the week."
 
Last edited:
Eating his dinner? Whoever this was, whoever was in William's room, was acting strange. Why would someone be eating dinner this late? If James was wrong about the vacation, and this was actually William behind the door, then why didn't he open up to greet him? They did know each other after all, in fact, they were good friends! The whole situation was suspicious. James needed to get to the bottom of this, so he apologized, then asked very innocently, "What did you say your name was?"
 
He paused. He hadn't expected this "I didn't" he chewed his lip, he had to think of a name. Suddenly an image of an old worn bear crossed his mind "my name is Stanley" he said confidently "now please, you interrupted my prayers"
 
Aberdeen looked on at the events unfolding around her. When it came to Charles, who turned out to be a fellow conduit, her feelings were mixed; an odd concoction of disdain, curiousity, and some primitive level of trust swarmed inside her head, leaving her without any sort of clarification on what she's supposed to think of the guy. He seemed vicious. Aberdeen's brows furrowed. Head tilting to the side, she drew out a quiet breath. Does he somehow know us? Do we somehow know him?


"Isn't it... dangerous for a conduit to be out and about like this?" she asked Charles. His blatancy in using his powers was surprising.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Top Bottom
Back