Muted Rage [OPEN]

Alex sat in his cell strapped into his jacket. Eight years. Eight years to the day now. He had refused all offers to join the DTRC. He would not hunt others like him. He would live, just like she wanted. He looked down at the necklace that hung there. Why did he bother wasting away in here? He could have broken out years ago. Well, at least he could have whenever they came to drug him. He had forgotten what that actually felt like now. His blood had long figured out how to filter foreign substances from him. Whenever they came to tranquilize him they strapped him right back into his jacket. And as he sat in the dark cell that was his cage, his body worked to remove the medication, sweating it out long before anything could happen to him. But that made it worse. He was able to think when he wasn't sedated. And when he could think he could see their faces.

He groaned as a vision of Alison came into view. It was her alright. The look of her in the boyish baggy clothing. It had been silly when he had first seen it. What was she doing hiding her beautiful face like that under that NY Yankees hat. He smiled fondly. The vision was interrupted by a sudden clang. The door sliding open. Of course. Dinner time. Ralph sauntered in with three other guards. Three guards. It used to be more. Before they had learned that he wasn't going to resist it. Ralph was dreadfully afraid of him. He could see the fear in his eyes. He hid behind a mask of bravado. Alex stood. He tried to speak but had forgotten about the gag that kept him from biting. It wouldn't have mattered. He was barely understandable. His brain damage had not been repaired and he still couldn't form whole sentences. Ralph grinned at seeing him tied into his straitjacket. "Hello, Alex. It's feeding time again." Ralph held the soup on the tray. Alex turned and walked to the small desk in the corner of his dark cage. "But you see Alex. I don't feel like feeding you today. Titan babysitting... pheh." He spat on the ground. Alex sighed turning back to Ralph.

Ralph dropped the tray. "Oops." Alex simply blinked at the soup on the ground and sat back down on the ground on his knees and lowered his head. "You're a rank 4 Titan. Ha!" He kicked the bowl towards Alex but Alex did not move. He went back to his vision of Alison. Graduation. Valedictorian. She had always been good at school. Alex only did enough to get into the same university with her. He just wanted to write a novel one day. Perhaps a love story. He was always fond of them. Ralph's correction stick crashed into the side of Alex's face. Alex barely felt it. She looked beautiful that day too. "See boys? He's nothing now. Eight years in here and he's not given us trouble once. The only thing he ever asked was for that stupid broken necklace." Ralph took hold of the necklace and yanked it from Alex's neck. Alex's focus, attenetion, and mind immediately snapped together. Ralph looked at the trinket with hate in his eyes. "What's so important about it? It doesn't even look like real ruby." Alex stood. Ralph grinned. "Oh NOW you want to pay attention to me. Boys. Hit him a few times and remind him who is in charge here."

A sharp crystal suddenly jutted out and ripped from Alex's back. There was something odd about DTRC. They thought if they made sure he couldn't bleed himself he wouldn't be able to use his power. No... that was wrong. What they should have done was made sure he was always sedated. Never give him a single moment of rest. The gag around his mouth tore and the straitjacket ripped until his arms hung to his sides. "Give," Alex said. Ralph took a step back. "They said you couldn't do that." Alex took a step forward and the guards began backing away. "Hey Ralph give him back his... necklace? Please?" one of the guards advised. Alex took another step forward. Ralph tossed the necklace to the ground. It hit the ground and shattered red crystal all over the ground. Alex sank to the ground in front of it. "...Ali..." he whispered. "Why'd you throw it?!" another guard asked. "You wanted me to just walk up to him!? He's free! Raise an alarm. We've g-" His voice was cut off by a long red crystal piercing his throat. Ralph quickly went pale. Alex looked up from the crystal. "Dead." The three guards ran for the door. Blood sprang from Ralph's neck and became tentacle like wrapping around the three guards' necks. With an audible pop they all stopped moving. They didn't even have a chance to scream. Alex advanced to the door. He was leaving. He had to visit Ali's grave. If he didn't he couldn't see her. The necklace he gave her was gone. He couldn't see her wtihout it. He had to see her. Just one more time.

AMY STEVENS | SOLARIS

The Haven spy

It was a slow day. Most of them were. With a rank 4 and a rank 3 power, D.T.R.C. preferred to keep Amy close to home unless her strength was needed. It was only through almost half a lifetime of unerring service that she had earned their trust. Those first few years had been the worst. Locked up in the holding cells until her skills were needed. But bit by bit they loosened her leash, to the point where her handlers stayed in a van a few blocks away, instead of at the other end of a bazooka pressed against her spine.

Today was another good example of their limited trust in her. She was on guard duty at the holding camp. That’s right, she’d managed to graduate from prisoner to warden… which really wasn’t that great a boon. At least when she used to live in those cells she wasn’t expected to thwart any and all escape attempts. But now, to maintain her cover, she had no choice but to contain any Titan that made a break for it. That little pit of goodness that she hid so desperately within, always flared brightly anytime a jailbreak started, in the hopes that the offending Titan would be strong enough to overpower her and actually get away.

However the sad truth of the matter was that Amy was ridiculously strong. And the D.T.R.C. had now had 10 years to know it. If she didn’t give 100% effort to whatever mission they assigned her, the consequences were… unpleasant. Suspicions about her loyalty would arise, and that was something she simply could not have. So Amy hardened her heart, and did her job. If she ever got out of the D.T.R.C. then she could feel guilt. But not whilst Haven and Aegis were counting on her support.

Her face deadpan in her now practically trademarked hint of a frown, Amy walked the perimeter. The guards had seen her around often enough now, even witnessed her in action on more than one occasion. Escapes attempts were a dime a dozen these days. They treated her with the standard ‘avoid eye contact and pretend she doesn’t exist’ technique they must drill into them at goon basic training. Amy didn’t mind. It was better than the old days where she had a security escort in the bathroom.

The sun beat down upon her back and Amy resisted the well familiar urge to enjoy its warmth. Allowing herself to bask in the sunlight was how her body absorbed the solar energy. And since no emergency was currently unfolding, if her D.T.R.C. bling picked up her powers activation, she’d be drugged and escorted for a stern debriefing about what exactly her intension had been on how she was going to use that energy.

Instead Amy settled for simply turning her face to the golden glow, searing her retinas. The holding facility was so peaceful Amy was actually bored. There was only so many times you could lap a fence before you start to lose the plot.

TAG: Alex 
WORDS: 846
NOTES: Hello! So i just jumped in. If you had other plans for this thread lemme know and i'll delete this. Otherwise, you didn't mention the alarm being raised yet so i figured i'd wait instead of having Amy conveniently stumbling onto the scene haha.

THANKS ANNECORDELIA

((OOC: It's open for a reason; feel free to tagalong. I never like my plans going the way they should.))

Alex tried to open the door, but it was locked from the other side. Of course it was. Magnetically sealed. They knew about his power and they made every possible precaution to keep him shut in. He had never made an attempt to break out. But what these guards did not understand was that Alex had been training for years. He had fourteen years to refine what he could do with his power. Fourteen years to learn all that he could about how he manipulated his ability. Fourteen years to understand and grow an almost secondary consciousness that controlled it for him. He never even thought about using his power anymore. He just reacted with it on instinct. Three streams of blood punctured the guards that he had killed in the heart. He drained their bodies dry of blood. Four men. That was more than he had ever had at once. The quantity did not matter; he had wondered what kind of control he would have over that amount. The blood however was now more an extension of himself, like a new finger. He knew exactly what the finger was for, even if it was new.

The blood streams all left the body and entered Alex's body. He felt... full. It was an odd sensation, but he was able to still manipulate himself well. His arm extended and the steel door was bombarded by several tentacle-like blood streams that cut and smashed into the door. The door quickly gave way and as it was thrown into the wall in the hall beyond, Alex heard the loud alarm begin to cry. The person in the cell across from him slammed his fists against his door, probably begging for him to be let out. Alex ignored him. He turned and saw several guards entering the hallway. Alex was far from invincible. Powerful, perhaps but not impervious. So when the bullets came flying down the hall, a solid wall of blood filled a section of hallway. It took a lot of Alex, but he still felt like he had plenty to spare. The solid wall was three inches thick. That was more than enough to keep the shower of bullets from piercing the wall. Alex advanced on the dead end of the hallways and smiled. A wall was something that wouldn't even take crystallizing his blood.

The wall exploded from the inside. Chips of stone and mortar flew out as Alex walked out into the sun. He breathed in deeply and looked up to the sunlight. It was beautiful. Alison claimed to have loved picnicking in it but Alex was kind of a shut-in. It was something that he had taken from her death that he refused to let himself waste. If she loved it, then he loved it. And he enjoyed every second of the memory of her smiling at him. It was odd really. Knowing that Ali was dead was excruciating pain, and had nearly driven him mad his first year locked in the holding facility. Knowing that Lily was dead because of him was an even more brutal weight on his soul. And finally knowing that despite killing a man for the first time, he had still not saved what he cared for the most. It was damn near agony to stay alive. But Alex did not just end it. Alison asked him not to, so he would not. He would live no matter how long it would take him to die, he would keep living. "...her..." he whispered, but what he really wanted to say was, "I'd do anything for her." He had long ago stopped trying to say whole phrases. When he did, it came out a jumble and the words sometimes weren't even words. He made extra effort to not say anything that was a word. He kept himself to one word sentences.

He looked around and saw a few guards on his right pulling out weapons. Alex cocked his head, and a stream of blood raced to one of them and pierced his neck. It was odd. Why was it so easy for him to kill now? Was it Ali? He looked inside himself searching for his emotions. He had done a lot of meditating and knowing his own thoughts and emotions became somewhat of a second nature to him. No. It wasn't Ali. Ali was the reason he lived. The reason he killed... was because they thought him a killer. It was a rather interesting concept. Alex had thought himself a murderer because he had killed his sister. He had berated and criticized and even grew close to executing himself over it. But now that he had spent time confined in cell, being labeled as a monster and murderer by the world and by himself respectively, he was now realizing something. He was only fulfilling everyone's expectations. And he no longer cared if they did or didn't brand him as such. He just wanted to remember Alison. The pierced crystallized blood suddenly spread piercing the throats of several other guards. Had they not realized that bringing more men was only going to get more of them killed?

He turned back to the fence. Time to leave.