basicone007

(The Midnight Hunt) *Back in the Citadel it doesn't take long for Burn to run right into the Old One. Shouting that he was the one who ended Varso, and Sumnaz, and the Feral King brings that ancient monster screaming right to him as the Ancient Axe quickly separates and transforms in preparation. The most intense fight Burn has ever had is about to begin.

Rejects Home World

*Her name is Memory Hernandez, daughter to hotel and media giant Lewis Hernandez who is the second richest man in all of Texas. Only Zachariah Abrams family eclipses the Hernandez fortune but where Nesh/Ack Industrial is concerned only with cutting edge technology, and especially how that technology can be used to make weaponry, Lewis Hernandez has bought up land, newspapers, and any TV station he desired. Pretty much all of Texas, Nevada, New Mexico, and a lot of Arizona...with early inroads into California...have Big H Suites (the luxury hotel chain of the Hernandez empire) and countless TV stations all under H Corp United (the media arm of the Hernandez empire). Though SuperDuper Man will heal all on his own he has been Memory's main lover for years and she doesn't mind if he bleeds, and heals, all over any of her father's presidential suites. Besides, already she has pleaded with her father to make sure all his stations, and especially his twenty-four hour news division HSN, run endless stories on how the green man who obviously caused a fire in downtown Houston, and probably killed Sister Salvations own sister, needs to be rejected and his defeat of SuperDuper Man should be considered the fluke that it is. Her job of helping her man is done...now SuperDuper better heal on up before she gets bored [AI Art]*

(The Midnight Hunt) *Running into Burn on the outskirts of the Citadel, upon the one path still safe enough to escape the Old One and reach the Majestic, Kathryn sees how many of the Citadel have survived. Hundreds are dead, yet the Citadel existed for over two thousand years and Witnesses like she and Burn once used to lead hundreds to that city's safety every year. There remains so much life that Kathryn will not let down again. She will be a true Witness once more, no longer will she choose to end evil, or save only those she deems worthy, she will rush up and to all who are alive and will ensure their survival as they travel further up into the Majestic. Kathryn begs Burn to do the same, she even pulls him close to plead and to remind. Though they never shared the same passion he once had with the Blood Empress, Kathryn tries to bring back the love they once had that did get so close. She begs Burn to be with her, to be the Witness they both tried to be right after the High Father first blessed them with such a charge. But Burn is too lost in his blood lust. All of this, even the fall of the Citadel, has only brought about the end to so much evil he was always after. He killed the Feral King, he just slaughtered Varso and Sumnaz. Besides, he took the life of the Blood Empress to save her son and then he immediately sacrificed that boy just to be here, living inside a reality where so many Corners of Midnight...both Original and New...are gone. He won't stop. He can't stop. Burn lets Kathryn be a Witness if that's what she wants, he leaves her to protect while he turns back to the wreckage of the Citadel to finally take the Old Ones head [AI Art]*

*It has been a day since his disastrous attempt at acting the hero and all Targall can do is watch the one TV in his warehouse endlessly. Zach remains obsessed trying to understand the nanites technology that is in his suit, and somehow also on Targall's suit Targall is alone, consumed with the fire that he caused, a fire still raging in downtown Houston. Targall also can't stop thinking about the bodies that were found in the rubble of the warehouse he collapsed when he tried to put out that inferno. Though he rushed the obviously already gone black lady to the hospital all he got for his efforts was rebuke and confirmation. Everyone at the hospital feared him except for one doctor who took a few vitals before telling Targall that the lady was dead and that he couldn't believe who she was. Something about that woman being the sister of the Rush named Sister Salvation, a speed freak superhero who helped establish the small California group of heroes known as the Just. Not as big as those avenging fellows, or that league of justice folks that the Just really wanted to copy, Sister Salvation and her crew have still made quite the name for themselves and the doctor lets Targall know that that Rush will soon be after him for sure. But Targall doesn't care. Yet again he has proven his failure at being a hero and he goes to his warehouse to just watch, endlessly, the news reports that have so many pictures of him, so many images that they use to make it perfectly clear that he is a monster they don't need...and that the R he wore on his chest, as he burned Houston, only brands him as the *REJECT* he is [AI Art]*

(The Midnight Hunt) *Finally taking Dannawthen's head, and making sure to crush each of his blue eyes to end him for good, finds Kathryn not nearly as elated as she thought she would be. Her duty was to the Citadel and its people and killing the beast she brought in, the beast she allowed to cause so much chaos just to maybe make the High Father talk, still did not fix the many errors she has made. The Citadel keeps burning, it's people keep dying, and if anything fighting Dannawthen just made things worse. It allowed the Old One free access to kill many Kathryn could have saved and while walking through the carnage she didn't stop, unhurt from her battle yet exhausted, it suddenly hits Kathryn hard. Her duty truly was to the Citadel and its people not to ending all the darkness found in the Darkened Earth. The mangled bodies, skin melting from their bones, of people she promised eternity to proves she should have just believed in her charge and stayed a Witness who protected like instead of trying to kill evil [AI Art]*

*Finally realizing that his wobbly running has only kicked up enough sparks to set most of downtown Houston on fire, Targall turns back to put out the flames. He rushes straight into the inferno, his only plan to kick up enough dirt to kill the fire with a nice smother, or to slap hard enough to send a shockwave of air right at every part of the blaze to blow it out. But Target still isn't thinking straight. He hardly notices how the suit Zach gave to him is burning, falling off him in cinders even if his flesh beneath remains unscathed, and he really doesn't see when that suit begins to reform either. Zach does, his own armor suddenly connects to the nanites that line Targall's pressure suit and he is in awe of the readings he finds. In fact, Zach is so lost in all the numbers flashing through his helmet...how the nano technology is reading the damage and knowing exactly how to reform...that he too misses when Targall slaps hard yet again and but does so way to close to a nearby warehouse. So far, and even while dealing with trying to act normal through all the drugs, Targall has been rather successful. Most of the flames are out but once he foolishly slaps way too close to a building, all he manages to do is to knock down wood and brick and iron and glass. The entire warehouse collapses and Targall sees, to his horror, bodies suddenly lying in ruin nearby. A woman, and three men, are bloodied and obviously dead and Targall has no clue if he is responsible. None are burned, but all hold injuries from a violence that could have been given when he made an entire warehouse fall on their heads. Targall rushes to the woman, so much red still flowing from the back of her skull, and he knows: he never should have tried to be a hero [AI Art]*

(The Midnight Hunt) *While Elder Grayson foolishly tries to save his own life, through bending the knee to the Old One, Kathryn truly does go to fix the terrible error she made. She fully believed the High Father was wrong for ever charging her with letting anyone, who searched for the Citadel, be allowed to enter the Citadel. Only those she found, she chose and vetted, were those she knew were worthy of the immortality the Citadel offered and just because the High Father stopped speaking to the Elders, and to the Witnesses, after she and Elder Grayson began their selective rescue of those in the Darkened Earth she never once doubted her decision. But bringing Dannawthen inside the Citadel, to finally make the High Father speak since the Shine has shrunk so much the Darkened Earth was almost at the doorstep of the Citadel, only brought about everything Kathryn ever feared. The Citadel is in chaos, is burning, all because she didn't have the faith to follow the High Father even if she could no longer understand why he said what he said. She is at fault, and so she goes for the one thing that can make everything right. Since she brought Dannawthen in she should be the one to take him out...but the chaos and burning of the Citadel has fed Dannawthen, has made him unlike he has been since the Old One ruled all of Earth millions of years before. His blue is gone, he is saturated with the red glow of a chaos that has fed him into an even bigger size. Kathryn is facing not the Dannawthen Burn just fought, she's facing Dannawthen supreme [AI Art]*

*Targall roams the streets of Houston and before long hears a cry he cannot ignore. It is the sound of a bank robbery all the way across the city and Targall quickly rushes to help. Zach gave him an ear piece so they could keep in constant contact and with his voice of praise in Targalls ear...telling Targall over and over that he can be the greatest of heroes...even Targall begins to believe. Maybe he can be great and so he runs faster and faster to reach the bank as quickly as possible. Unfortunately, Targall is too out of it to realize his way of running has kicked up sparks that have set a fire that he is spreading everywhere he goes. Being a hero is not off to the best of starts [AI Art]*

(The Midnight Hunt) *With Burn busy killing Sumnaz and Varso, and with Kathryn deciding to confront Dannawthen in order to make amends for her mistakes, Elder Grayson goes to the Old One. The other Elders are in the midst of panic, or are desperate trying to get people out of the Citadel and up into the Majestic, but Grayson wants a different path. His own panic at finding out that the High Father was not on the throne of light has faded into anger. He followed the decree of the High Father for centuries. Sure, he and Kathryn went their own way...ignored certain decrees that the High Father made...but it turns out they were only ignoring orders from a leader who had abandoned them ages ago anyway so how could that ignoring ever have been that bad. Grayson no longer feels anything but contempt at all the time he wasted being an Elder, protecting a city that could have never been that good if the throne of light had no one on it, and he is ready. It's time to swear fealty to the other side, to beg the Old One for a place in it's service especially since that beast is already losing so many of its Original Corners of Midnight. But the Old One never thought it would lose Sumnaz and Varso, and when it feels that Kathryn has just killed Dannawthen the fate of Elder Grayson is assured. The Old One will not let him serve [AI Art]*

*Targall begs Zach to give him the drugs without any strings attached. Already he feels the coming letdown when his high abates and all that remains is a desire to curl up and sleep the years away. Targall begs for just one hit of something, his Joy Juice barely will make a dent in his soon to arrive withdrawal, but Zach stays adamant. Sure there are endless superheroes through the world but none in Texas and especially none in Houston. Targall can fill that void, Zach is sure of it, and if Targall wants what Zach can provide he must put on a suit and try. Targall reluctantly agrees and slips on a skin tight pressure suit that Right Rock pilots were to make sure their circulation doesn't cut off whenever they are pulling massive g-forces. The suit even has the R logo of Right Rock and Zach finds that amusing. Targall has no superhero name yet but Zach is sure that once he saves so many in Houston the press will see that R and dubb him the Rescue, or the Righteous, or something awesome with and R and he can't wait to find out what that will be. But first Targall has to roam the streets looking for where he is needed and though he stays reluctant he does go. He needs more drugs and even if he knows he is no hero he will try if that can get him what he needs [AI Art]*

(The Midnight Hunt) *As soon as Sumnaz is dead, the body of that beast ripped in half by the Ancient Axe, Burn is ready for the Old One. He even feels as the Ancient Axe starts to transform into another version, a more intense blade that must be what is needed in order for Burn to take the Old Ones head. But it isn't the Old One the Ancient Axe was preparing for. Before Burn can turn the ground quakes and he feels the presence of Varso, a pet of the Old One just as Sumnaz was but where Sumnaz was pure choas Varso has always been a beast smart enough to know pain, and fear, and how to maximize both. Burns war is about to get so much worse [AI Art]*

*With his bond now so deep, Zachariah Abrams and his AI enhanced armor put up rather a good fight. There is no way they can win against Targall Tay, but with Zachs mind united as one with the AI he has already named Katy, Zach can instantly think his armor into repair. He at least survives long enough to convince Targall he is no threat, and, in fact, he has a proposition for Targall. Zach lets Targall know he just humiliated his father, the great Nesh Abrams, chosen... and government approved...new corporate backed hero. This gives Targall a chance to step into that void, to be the hero SuperDuper Man was supposed to be, yet one not financed by corporations to due the bidding of the government and those corporations. Zach says he can give Targall anything he wants if he just agrees to be the hero he has never been. Targall refuses but does say he might reconsider if Zach had access to endless drugs. It is then that Zachariah Abrams takes Targall Tay to a warehouse, a storage area for Nesh/Ack Industrials own private black ops subsidiary known as Right Rock. Through Right Rock, Nesh/Ack Industrial has helped fight the war on terrorism and...with the federal government gladly turning a blind eye, of course, since Right Rock does things the US Military cant be seen doing...they've acquired quite the stash of weaponry and drugs they've freed from terrorist strongholds. Right Rock even has enough freed material to fill many a warehouse, and Zach promises they barely remember to ever inventory this one. Zach let's Targall wander endless tows filled with boxes of weapons and, more importantly, bags of drugs. Targall, though weary, now knows he can't refuse what Zach is asking of him [AI Art]*

*Already Nesh/Ack Industrial has made power suits much like what is worn by that iron guy who has teamed up with that avenging group of lore. Suits enhanced by artificial intelligence working in concert with the one in the suit...talking with the one in the suit...and Nesh Abrams has always longed to change that. To Nesh, the conversation between human occupant, or Driver, of a suit and its AI companion has always been a giant waste of precious seconds. Artificial Intelligence has the ability to make countless decisions in a heartbeat, yet speaking lengthens that to endless minutes, and Nesh is sure he has found a way around that. Skipping all sprt of steps to just build a suit, Nesh Abrams has made what he hoped would be the first melding..or bond...between man and machine, the Driver of his new suit slowly creating a mental connection with his or her AI companion through the simple act of wearing the suit for an extending period of time. Whoever was in the suit would slowly have his or her blood filled with nanites until their every thought could instantly be heard, and more importantly understood, by their AI. These nanites would also slowly surround the suit being worn by this now nanite infused Driver so the Drivers thoughts could also soon modify the armor being worn with the quickest of mental images. As soon as Targall destroys the robot that tracked him down to his warehouse, he changes into his Seppian clothes, the warrior apparel of his kind. If he is to face endless foes he wants to be prepared the best he can and he even puts on gloves so that his hands finally are as purple as his drug affected gaze has already seen them as being. With those clothes on, Targall is on edge so when Zach approaches he immediately fights, Zach not understanding how yet marveling over the fact that his suits changes its appearance, and color, with every quick thought he has [AI Art]*

(The Midnight Hunt) *In the midst of his fight with Sumnaz, that beast cornered and almost dead, the Old One enters. This can only mean that all the original Corners of Midnight have already been in the Citadel for far too long. Dannawthen and Sumnaz have been seen, yet even if the other two haven't yet been found...if Varso and Mr. Bollus keep themselves hidden...Burn knows it is already too late. The Old One would only arrive if all of its most trusted servants were around to kill enough and burn enough to make its victory an absolute. The Citadel is gone, the Old One will makes sure of it, and all Burn can do is finish off Sumnaz before he faces that ancient evil to try and end it at last [AI Art]*

(The Midnight Hunt) *The High Father stays silent. To Kathryns horror and Elder Graysons utter shock, Dannawthen even succeeds in breaking through the golden doors to find that the throne of light is also empty of the High Father and the High Father's voice. For hundreds of years, the High Father may have been silent, but at least it was thought he was still in the Citadel. Yet as Dannawthen shatters the throne of light, and the brightness of the Citadel starts to fade, the High Father remains absent, and the other Original Corners of Midnight begin their assault. The first to arrive is Sumnaz, a vile nightmare more beast than intelligent monster. Sumnaz was sent by the Old One to hide near the Shine only to rush out and bring choas to any Traveler trying to reach the Citadel. Sumnaz is still doing the same, bringing choas as Burn leaves the stunned Kathryn and Elder Grayson behind to face that evil alone [AI Art]*

Reject: A Super Superhero Story (part 10) *Once free from the clutches of the Ten Man and his many robots, Zachariah Abrams sneaks back home. His father, and most of Houston, is more concerned with digesting the shock of SuperDuper Man being beaten so badly by Targall Tay and few pay any attention to the young teen who's rescue was supposed to be what truly mattered. But Zach cares not if others pay him any mind. He is headed to his father's lab, a basement workshop Nesh Abrams shouldn't have yet can't get rid of. In that basement rests many prototypes of next generation supersuits that Nesh/Ack Industrial was building for Chinese clients. Zach gets into one of those suits, the armor modifying to accommodate his bulk before he has the suits sensors scan for a radiation signature he knows the Ten Man's robots emit. Once he picks up that low level energy he is off, crashing into an upper floor of Targalls dilapidated warehouse with a violence he didn't mean to cause [AI Art]*

*Reformed and already up the stairs and at the sealed doors of gold, Dannawthen prepares to strike. The truth of the Citadel is that its light was the power keeping the dark, keeping the original Corners of Midnight, and especially keeping the Old One at bay. But if Dannawthen can shatter the throne of light behind those golden doors, then the light of the Citadel will fade, and the Old One can attack. Kathryn and Elder Grayson are convinced the High Father will speak with Dannawthen right outside his door but, honestly, they were sure the High Father would speak before the eye of Dannawthen ever reformed into Dannawthen proper so their plan is beginning to be dangerous. They snuck one original Corner of Midnight passed the Shine and into the Citadel in order to get the High Father's attention, to bring back his voice and make the Shine expand again, but right now it looks like all they have done is to doom the forever city into destruction [AI Art]*

*Anything the Ten Man builds with his own hands is something he can embue with his own consciousness. From paper airplane to origami frog, and especially every metal creation he loves to tinker with the most, these creations have every memory and every intent that the Ten Man has ever carried within. But what most do not know, except for Zachariah Abrams who spent three months with him and his creations, is that once a creation of the Ten Man holds his consciousness then every part of that creation will carry that consciousness forever. This means that when Targall Tay destroyed his robots even the tiniest sliver of metal left would carry every bit of the Ten Man and would be able to call out and let the Ten Man know where it was. The Ten Man barely escaped the damage caused during Targalls fight with SuperDuper Man, but he did escape and he has been waiting. While Targall sits in his warehouse...in an abandoned part of Houston trying to drink enough to equal the amount of obliteration he hoped to get from the much better drugs he never found...he doesn't know a sliver of a ruined robot has been continually calling out to its own. He doesn't know that another of the Ten Man's robots has already heard that cry and has tracked him down [AI Art]*

(The Midnight Hunt) *The golden doors stay closed even to Burn and Kathryn, but that is only a disappointment to most of the Elders. One, Elder Grayson, always suspected that would be the case. He and Kathryn were the main instigators in the Citadels new policy of only allowing the right, Witness guided, Travelers into the Citadel and they both knew the High Father would never speak, or open any door, unless they repented and that would never happen. Letting anyone into the Citadel might let in the darkness that Kathryn knows all to well and she can't have that, but without the High Father talking...and with the golden doors forever shut...this also means the Shine has stopped expanding and both Grayson and Kathryn know the Darkened Earth will never be destroyed, all evil and monsters ended, until the Shine expands right to the border of the Darkened Earth. This leads Kathryn and Grayson to a terrible decision. They have been working with Erus to end the High Father's silence by creating an event he will have to talk to them about. They sneak Dannawthen into the Hallowed Hall thanks to Burn bringing that monster's eye right to the stairwell leading to the golden doors [AI Art]*

* Zachariah Abrams never thought he'd be the showcase that would reveal his father's newest project with the Democrat controlled Houston city council. However, he did know all of the plans that his father's business and that city council had. Plans to create the newest great superhero they alone could control. A Superhero backed by corporations intent on doing everything the government asked of them, a hero able to ignore the crime the government has no issue with...and the criminals certain businesses actually need to thrive...while also only being a figurehead that could help aid in the fight against fake news. Zach knew all about what SuperDuper Man was supposed to be once he arrived on the scene, and he saw how quickly all of that was ended by Targall Tay. But Zach is not dismayed, or scared, or even excited from the epic fight he just witnessed. No, as he stands amidst the carnage of destroyed robots and the stains of blood from SuperDuper, he is only intrigued. Zach always saw the brilliance in creating a hero one could control...so why can't he hunt down Targall Tay and make him a hero that follows only Zachs guidance [AI Art]*

(The Midnight Hunt) *As soon as Burn and Kathryn enter the Citadel, they are approached by the Elders. These men and women were the first to have found the city, drawn by the voice of the High Father who resides in the Hallowed Hall, the center of the Citadel where it is said the eternal light of this forever place is from. The High Father sits on a throne of white the rests at the top of a white marble staircase behind golden doors at the highest tower of the Hallowed Hall. For almost two millenia, that door would swing open to the Elders every decade for only them to walk through and approach the throne of white so they could speak to the High Father about how they should run the Citadel and deal with rescuing people from the Darkened Earth. But over the last century, and ever since the Elders started to ignore the High Father and decide on their own who is to be rescued and who is not, turning away some who have stumbled upon the Citadel without a Witness to guide them, the golden doors have stayed shut. The Elders bring Burn and Kathryn to the Hallowed Hall and start up towards the golden doors. Maybe things will finally swing open for them [AI Art]*

*SuperDuper Man wasn't just trained, focus tested, and given the most universally appealing outfit by Nesh/Ack Industrial. He was also approved of by the Democrat run city council to be their chosen hero, the three months that Zechariah Abrams languished in captivity months where Houston, and Nesh/Ack Industrial, set about chosing which low level villains SuperDuper would take down on his way towards the Ten Man. Already, the Vets and the Fosters...vicious street gangs...were dealt with by SuperDuper, not to mention his greatest victory against Fissure that was to set him up for national fame once he had Fissure and the Ten Man noted as opponents he'd defeated. But running into Targall Tay and fighting him, especially losing to him, was never in the cards. In front of many witnesses, SuperDuper is easily beaten by Targall. The hope for SuperDuper to somehow become a world hero vanishing as SuperDuper lays beaten and stunned [AI Art]*

(The Midnight Hunt) *Burn hasn't seen the Citadel for over two thousand years, and even that day, he barely stayed long enough to do more than glimpse this city before he headed back to the Shine and the Darkened Earth. He could have stayed, just seeing the Citadel grants immortality and entrance, but Burn chose to be Witness. He took the duty of bringing others to this forever paradise since not only is immortality given once the Citadel is seen but also the Citadel can only be found by someone who's seen, or witnessed it, before [AI Art]*