More Meteor Showers Bring Even Stranger Powers. (O/A)

[Rikki Tikki Travi]

Heather didn't notice that she wasn't aching after running for so long. She didn't notice when the speed meta whizzed past her. All she saw was her brother at the far end of the corridor by the doors to the stadium.

Her heightened senses could make out the distinct scent of blood. It filled the air more than the growing scent of fear that was emanating from beyond the doors.

She ran as hard as she could, but it seemed like he was getting further away. She had to let him know his big sister was there for him. She had to make him stop leaving.

"Lawrence!" she cried out in desperation.

Larry's eyes half opened at the sound of a familiar voice. He slowly rolled them in the direction his name had come from. He saw what looked like his sister running toward him. He squinted to try and get a better look, but seeing was starting to become hard for him.

What he saw then was a teenage girl with brown hair running toward him. He couldn't make out what her expression was, but it didn't matter to Larry. He was glad his big sister was coming for him. He thought about how tired he was, and that it was probably time for his nap.

Yeah, that was it. He was five, and he had overdone it again. Soon, Heather would be there to pick him up and take him to his warm, soft bed. Then he would wake up and they could play some more.

The thought made him blissfully happy. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath. Heather would be there soon, and she would make everything okay. He took a deep breath and smiled softly. For him there was no more pain. There was no extra ton of weight trapping a child in the body of a giant. There was no strange sensation coming from Theonis' power in the cavity Chuck had put in his chest.

There was just the sound of his big sister calling his name, his eyes closing slowly, the haze of sleep, and then...nothing.

Heather ran up to him and called out his name again and again. She shook him as hard as she could manage, demanding that he open his eyes and wake up.  

[Rikki Tikki Travi]

Gidget had finally made it past the guards, and she made it a priority to check on Larry's condition. She saw Ako, Theonis, and the medics tending to Larry as she approached the exit. Seeing this, she felt confident that Larry was in good hands.

She turned to make her way toward Trinity when the guards securing her were violently ripped apart. The lights went out, and then the voice came from all around her.

She didn't know what it was talking about, but it was enough to scare her something fierce.  

[Nova Blancke]

Theo continued to concentrate on Larry as Cassie started to work on disinfecting the wound. Unfortunately by the time she was in position, she called out, "He's not breathing!" She tried to do CPR to no avail.

They all heard his sister cry out for him as she ran towards him. They all saw she was naked but in a situation like this, nobody was looking. Larry smiled and the moment he did Theo's fears came true.

"No no no no, stay with me buddy." He started feeling sick in his stomach. Something heavy, cold and oppressive. He wiped the cold sweat off of his forehead, forgetting the blood on his hands.

"Ako!" Theo just commanded. He didn't need to tell Ako to do anything. He knew that. But in situations like this he couldn't sit still. Heather was still frantically trying to shake him awake. The way she cried out his name was painful to hear.
Theo grit his teeth in frustration. It was hard trying to keep a cool and focused head with her wailing. She had to stop! He couldn't focus! Theonis pulled her away from Larry from behind, clutching her wrists to make sure she wasn't touching him.

As Theonis called out to Ako, the man who mentioned that he was an electric meta, she got off of Larry to give him space to work.

"Come on Larry.....come on...." Theo just whispered to himself as Ako proceeded to shock Larry to revive him. If it was even possible.  

[PixelMuse]

Trinity was lost in thought as she was escorted toward the cell she would be residing. Then it happened two guards, of whom, she knew the names off were ripped to shreds, instantly. Just like that, two good men, ripped to shreds. Trinity didn't have time to react, if they were killed so easily she thought for certain she'd be next and braced herself.

She knew that this could not be Teshomaru or Freya, it's not their style, this was simply raw, brutal, no regard for life. It was the creature Freya was facing off earlier. Trinity bit her lip as the darkness surround her and the voice made its request. Trinity tried reaching for the light glaive in her pocket, but found it rather difficult to reach it. With many years of seeing darkness Trinity managed to find the key to her cuffs on the remains of one of the guards. With the cuffs off she draws her glaive and turned on the light. "Source? I don't know what you're talking about!"  

[The Count of Monte Carlo]

Ako's attention was fully focused on Larry's heart. Had he been more fully recovered from his fight with the electrical being, Ako might have paid more attention to his surroundings, but now it took all of his concentration to use his power to locate and stay focused on the massive organ's weakened pulses. His senses were fully dedicated to his sense of electricity, and he forgot to listen or look at the scene around him. So focused was he, that when Larry's heart stopped, he thought his world had gone dark. Seeing the ambient glow of his own bioelectricty, as well as those of Theo and the Healer, told him that his power was still working, but the subject of his attention wasn't.

He barely heard Theo or the Healer telling him to do what he said he'd do, but he was jumping into action as they were speaking. He kept his attention locked on the spot he'd last saw the great heart beating, and moved the giant's shirt enough to place his bare hands on the massive chest, to either side of the spot. He barely remembered to call out "Clear," and give the Healer and Theo enough time to move out of the way before releasing enough energy to (hopefully) get the muscle pumping again.

He wasn't sure it would work, though. He didn't have much experience doing this at all, and Larry's heart was larger than average. He didn't want to hurt him by upping the power too much, but if it was too low, it might not have the desired effect. If he didn't get it right the first time, Larry might be too far gone for him to have any effect at all.  

[Rikki Tikki Travi]

Heather shouted and struggled against Theonis at first. After the first shock from Ako, she switched gears to holding him tightly and burying her muzzle into his shoulder. She sobbed loudly as she thought back to what doctors had told her about her brother's physicality.

They had been very clear. Should Lawrence suffer an injury that causes massive blood loss, there would be almost nothing that could be done to save him. His heart was too big. His body was too large. Everything about what the meteor did to Lawrence made him susceptible to death by exsanguination. Attempts at defibrillation would either be insufficient or fry his nervous system. There was no middle ground for someone so large.

She couldn't watch. She knew they were trying to save him, and she wanted them to succeed, but she knew it was hopeless. She just kept crying into Theonis' shoulder.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Damien's head snapped in the direction of the arena. "The other has revealed itself. It's...different now."

He didn't understand. What he was sensing was slightly more intelligent than the thing that had attacked the wolf lady. He wondered what had changed between then and now.  

[Nova Blancke]

Theo just grit his teeth as he watched Ako defib Larry without avail. There had to be something they could do! HE had to be able to do something! What's the point of getting all these power boosts if he couldn't use them to save Larry?!
No....no! He would not let someone die again!

Slowly he got up and softly pushed Heather away. Closing his eyes, he took a deep breath. His power was still keeping the blood from flowing away.

"I'm not letting you die buddy. Not today!" As he 'felt' the size of Larry's heart he began to use his power to manually get it to pump again. At the same time he was expanding his lungs to draw in air and then push it out again to simulate breathing.

"Keep at it Cassie."  

[Nova Blancke]

Cassandra only held him more firm as if refusing to let him go.
"You are not going"

The water elemental pondered upon the suggestion before simply lowering itself into the water again.

"You are..my..Source. Shadow..." It's last word was a deep low rumble. Much clearer than before.  

[PixelMuse]

"I'm your Source? How can that be? I no longer have that power your looking for. No longer am I a source of shadow." She felt certain that that was what the thing was really after. She gripped her glaive tightly if the thing understood what she was saying, it wasn't going to be happy when it finds that the princess he's looking for is in another castle.

She thought about it for a moment. Wait... That's not it is it? It may mean I'm not its source of power… what if I'm the source of how it began? That somehow it exists because of me? "Wait a minute. You say I'm your source. Are you saying I created you? How?"  

[Rikki Tikki Travi]

Heather reached out and took hold of Theonis' sleeve. "Please..." she choked out.

Her eyes were drawn to her little brother as she spoke to Theonis. "Stop...please. Thank you, but he and I knew this could happen. He's just too big to save. The doctors said so. Shane...said so."

"But..." she growled. Her grip tightened on Theonis' sleeve. Flames licked off her body like the beginning of a camp fire. "The person responsible for this will pay. Who did this to my little brother?"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Damien looked up at Cassandra and protested, "But Mama-"  

[Nova Blancke]

Theonis kept going as she pleaded him to stop. He had to save him! If he could, then...he should...right?

"I can save him....i have to...." He muttered a bit to himself before snapping back to reality thanks to Heather.

"He's in there, bleeding out. I already took his legs for that."

"No buts young man!. You almost drowned here. And this one is peaceful. The other one isn't! You know that!

"Shell..." It responded in it's mixed voice. It could not speak very well. Nor did it need to. It didn't exist to speak. It was born to consume! Tendrills shot out to Trinity from around her  

[PixelMuse]

"Shell?" Just as the word escaped her mouth she remembered. Gidget mentioned something like that earlier...

Flashback

"Richards. Brig. 'lectric monster. 'Splosion. Think thr'was a shell."

Could it be a weak-

She figured, the conversation wouldn't last long, it was a matter of time before it struck. She leaped forward, away from the tendrils turned quickly slashing her glaive she yelled,

Consume! THIS!

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Cassie was going to say something about stopping, how it was to late for the big guy, but it seemed the dragon lady had that much covered. She noted the time of death out loud to herself. Cassie switched gears and was already attending Chuck, starting with disinfecting the wounds, she warned him to brace himself, that it would sting.

She heard Heather's and Theonis' conversation and found where that could lead, "Yes this man will pay through the justice system. Do not stoop to his level. If I were you I would redirect that anger and help Ms. Smith. It already killed two men from what I could hear earlier, she's lucky it hasn't killed her yet. I'll take care of Mr. Richards here, go now." She returned to her work.

Nova Blancke

 

[Rikki Tikki Travi]

Damien couldn't argue that. He was also exhausted. But there had to be something he could do. He couldn't shake the drive to fix things.

"There is great turmoil surrounding the hostile creature. Fear, rage, panic, anger. Things are only going to get worse before they get better."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Gidget's feet shuffled as she tried to choose between fight or flight. There was nothing she could do as she was. Unless...

She ran back toward the staging area. Somewhere behind the scenes would be a lighting panel. If she could reach it, maybe she could cause them to overload and burst. The sudden brightness would shock the shadows before blanketing the place in darkness. Without light, there couldn't be any shadows.

The only problem was that she had to maneuver through the shadows to do it.

She mumbled, "Please don't see me." over and over again as she ran.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Heather's pupils contracted into slits as she laid her eyes on the man who killed Lawrence. Her pulse began to race. She could feel her blood boiling, almost literally. She growled and grunted as a resounding pain traveled down her back.

From her head to her tail, additional spikes erupted from her scales along her spine. The spikes that were there hollowed and began to release visible and boiling steam. The bones in her wings groaned and snapped, growing in size.

"There'll be justice when I'm holding his heart in my hands!"

The intensity of the steam multiplied. With every burst Heather seemed to be getting slightly larger. She took one step before dropping to all fours. The maelstrom of emotions were literally beginning to boil over. Her rage was allowing her inner dragon to take not only her body, but her mind as well.  

[The Count of Monte Carlo]

Ako stopped trying to restart the giant's heart when Heather asked. He knew as well as she did that it was no use, but he didn't want to be the first to give up. It was a good thing she spoke up, though; he was getting into the last reserves of his power with each hit. Even now, his hands were shaking with exertion. He remembered now that he hadn't recharged much since waking up.

As he knelt there on the ground, he took his hands from Larry's chest, realizing now that the skin was growing cold. He put his hand on his own knees, panting for breath. It had been a long time since he'd drained himself like this, and now he'd done it twice in one day. He was starting to feel his age now. He felt tired. Like an old battery.

He finally noticed the changes around him. He noticed the darkness of the arena, though their little section was still cast in the light of a few surviving bulbs high overhead. Finally he noticed that Gidget wasn't with them, and he quickly looked around. He couldn't see her. He saw Heather, the draconic form that she was, standing over the little group, and he heard the voices coming from the darkness. He began to realize that the situation around him was more than he knew.  

[PixelMuse]

With her pointy ears she heard footsteps scuffling. Odds are they were trying to escape. Maintaining the focus of the beast she tumbled in the direction away from where she heard the footsteps. She continued attacking when she had an opening and defending when she needed. Granted not without injury, as blood started to trickle out of her wounds, she hopped whoever was here was safe. Hopefully she could keep this up but for how long? If Freya couldn't defeat this thing earlier how was she to do so without her power?