A New Arrival (Slade+Invite)

[kazumi]

Kazumi sighed she was sitting inside of a bank, this world was such a pin she had pretty much had to find a way to make money and get a bank account. She had been furious that she hadn't been able to use her credit chits, but i guess that was a down side of coming into the past. She had come to this conclusion based largely on the technology limits, the lack of holo projectors, colored readers, and a bunch of other details she was used to.

As she was waiting a bunch of armed men came into the building waving guns. "EVERYBODY DOWN." he shouted shooting into the air randomly. Kaz sighed to herself, this wasn't the first time random gangsters and thugs had done something to interrupt her day. There were only two of them, they were about 10 feet away from where she was sitting. Well within range. She thought with a grin, she dusted off her coat calmly and stood up turning to the two men.

"I said down." The robber shouted unsure aiming his gun at kazumi.

"GET OUT..." She shouted as she began gathering crackling electricity into her hands, she threw the energy forward. The glowing crackling gold electricity started literally appearing from her arms shot forth in a cone that seemed to create a shock wave in the air. Both robbers were sent flying into the air and out the glass window, accompanied by a table. They rolled onto the ground staring bewildered at the woman who had electricity coursing off of her arms and very body.

Panic stricken they began firing at kaz which hurt like hell but didn't seem to slow her down. Granted she was bleeding a bit and her vision was starting to fog up but she would fix that here in a few first things first.Electricity poured into her hand forming into a ball, she threw it right near them. It stayed put for an instant before exploding in a cascade of yellow light sending the thieves sprawling to the ground.

Kaz sighed to her self and cursed. "Damn....I forgot how much that tires me out." She muttered seeing the two thieves crumpled in a heap. She gave one a particularly hard kick to the ribs, heading over to a nearby car to drain it of electricity and recover from her power use. She knew it would comeback eventually its just draining nearby sources of electricity made the recovery quicker and would help with the bullet wounds she had just recived.

Kazumi waited a few moments for her vision to come into focus, and sighed. She focused on the electricity and energy she knew was inside the car battery. Glowing yellow light started to drift come out from the object, before connecting to her.

The instant that the electricity connected to her, she began to feel rejuvinated. The bullet holes were starting to seal up and in some cases push the lead projectiles out of her body and onto the asphault. She sighed with relief as she could feel electricity flowing in her body again she looked down at the car in front of her. It wouldn't start again unless someone replaced the battery.

Hehe thats one way to put it....a human battery She thought to herself, now that her injuries were cleared up she realized people all around her were staring at her in shock. Right better get the hell out of here. She thought her brain working better.

She ran into a few alleyways and disappeared from sight into a small courtyard behind an abandoned apartment. Well so much for that bank. What a bad last few days first the hospital, then the attempted mugging, then the gas station, and now this She thought slumping down into the alley to take a breather.

[slade]

Slade had been following the subject with interest for a while now, originally with Eliza's beetles and then in person. She was a subject of fascination for him. So much potential but so raw, knowledge of the future as a bonus. Within his helm he grinned he would just have to add her to his group. Eliza would doubtless be irked at first with him taking another apprentice but she was his apprentice and would have to deal. Even if this girl didn't have the powers she had, knowledge of future technology might give him the type of edge he would need in the not too distance future. He watched her exhaust herself, watched her injuries heal and let her go on her way to a secluded place, all of it meeting his calculations. The men he had hired to rob the bank had done the job exactly as he wanted it. Reaching into the pack behind him he pulled out what he needed, liquid was poured and the scene was set.

"Hello Miss Kazumi, I have been looking forward to meeting you."

In the shadows of the apartment building were two chairs, they were half hidden by shadow, tilted so unless you were looking for them they seemed unimportant, unremarkable and they weren't special. What was unusual was the man seated at the farther chair, clad in armor that was orange, black, and grey he sat there as if he had been there waiting all night and was willing to wait longer. Between the two chairs was a small table, a porcilien cup sat on the side nearer to the woman while an identical cup was in Slade's hands held elegantly but firmly, he tilted the cup to the slots of his mask nonchalantly and regarded her. It was much the same feeling one got from being stared down by a tiger in the zoo but without the comfort of bars between them. The man shook his head.

"I must admit I was a bit disapointed by your showing in the bank. There were so few of them at yet they wounded you so badly and you were forced to expend that much energy for such an unworthy foe. They were mere street thugs, nothing special men I have seen roaming the streets terrorizing the citizens of this land for fun. You should have been able to handle them easily and yet..."

The man's hand tilted to take in the holes in her clothing.

"This is hardly endearing wouldn't you agree? But... it doesn't have to be this way. You are alone here, alone in a time not your own. You have no history here but ancient history... but you could have a future. I could help that. How would you like total control of your powers, to be able to hold a toaster without breaking it, to be able to drive a car, to be able to take out mere gunmen like that without breaking a sweat... to be honest you probably will be able to take them out without even using your powers."

Slade help up a restraining hand.

"I am not asking you to sign on right now... just... sit with me, talk. Enjoy a cup of tea... Not much to ask for don't you agree? I will even give you a freebie: You would have tired yourself out a lot less if you hadn't poured so much energy into that blast, you could have disabled those men with a much smaller burst and left yourself enough to heal thyself a bit."

[kazumi]

"Huhh...." Kazumi turned to the appartment and saw the man in black sitting there with tea, a table, and chairs. She stared blankly at him, for a moment through her eyes were concealed by her "sun glasses." There was nothing else to call them.

From a distance they looked like sunglasses but closer they came out of the ridges of the face right over the eye socket. She was in disbeleif that someone knew her name, much less knew she would be here. She stared at her radar, it had just now picked up the pressance in front of her.

'Crap how did my display not see him.' She thought with some suprise, she took an involentary step backwards away from the orange and black masked man. She knew it was a sighn of weakness but she had been caught completely off gaurd.

She could feel the man's stare, that wasn't helping. Suddenly her body went cold and she had frozen she had no idea what to do. She watched in slighly shocked facination as he drank the tea.

"What are you talking about?" She asked her hand clenching out of reflex. Her muscles tensed, though she hadn't commanded them was it reflex or something more.

'I know i might have gone overboard, but its not like i have control over this power.....not yet..' She thought in her head, she struggled to push her emotions back lest her electrical powers reveal themselves, though in certain circumstances it did it reguardless of her will. In pitch darkness, or when she used her powers they would always appear no matter what she did.

She clenched her teeth in frustration, as her sunglasses snapped back into her skin or at least thats how it appeared. This revealed her golden mechanical eyes. She focused them on slade, evaluating him trying to find some form of deception....something.

"What do you mean control?" She asked staring at him, her eyes watching for just the slightest hint of deception, the slightest hint of hostility. She listened to him as he spoke of things that she knew she couldn't do any more because of how powerful her bio-electric feild was.

"I have control..." she replied in a low growl. 'ok i'll grant you i can't control how much energy goes into an attack and they have a tendency to cause more collateral damage than i intend, but i can control what the power is.'

She listened closer to him, it sounded to her like a dream. Could such control be possible, or was he spouting nonsense. She had met only a few meta-humans from her own world. They had varing powers and were rare, so she hadn't had anything to compare her own powers against.

She had known how to take the men out without using her new powers. Not that she was going to let him know this. She felt that it might have been too risky, she had accessed the internet throught he rather crude computers they used here and been able to read up on meta humans, and some of what was going on.

The thing was she had been trying to first force herself to learn and control her electrical powers. Second she had been trying to blend in, the computers had told her about meta-humans and super heros in this world. So by restricting herself to her powers had been her way of trying to blend in, granted the powers she had were probably unusual but not unheard of so it would draw less attention. Where a man suddenly having his neck snapped by an unknown assailant from behind, or having a wrist blade being driven through his heart, that was somehow completely invisible suddenly appear with blood on it. It would seem like a monster or an alien and that was one way to draw attention from military, government, and other stuff that would love to use her technology for destructive reasons.

'always be polite, always be professional, and always have a plan to kill everybody you meet.' She thought to herself remebering something the head of security had taught her. So she had an ace up her sleeve in case the discussion went the wrong way.

"no..." She said simply letting her body untense a little as she began walking over to slade. Her mechanical eyes never leaving him as if they were trying to peirce him. "Really....That's news." she said rather harsher than she had meant.

"how can you promise so much....And what is it going to cost?" She said using the direct route over the subtle route this time. She sat there waiting as she watched him though she did take one small sip of tea. Her brain acting almost like a computer trying to analyze if he put anything in it.

Meanwhile her instincts began a civil war inside of her brain.

The mercenary side of her said shut the hell up and listen and make a decision then.

The hero in her said fry him, or at least "Try" to capture him for the police.

And that primal angry side said why stop with him why not all of the city.

[slade]

Slade tilted his head at her and nodded mentally it wasn't going against his plan. The first steps had to be gentle. Kind... almost fatherly.

"You don't want to ask what I can promise you. You want to know what I can deliver, what I can actually do for you rather then a bunch of words. I can tell you that I know about you because it is my business to know. Knowledge is power. That is free lesson number two. There is no useless knowledge. Knowledge of what someone is is power, even lack of knowledge can be power."

He gestured towards his mask, the two shades seeming to catch the light for just a moment. A moment where the aura around him seemed to waver with a deeper darkness before it vanished.

"I have my enemies, enemies who hate me because of who I am and what I have done. They despise the fact I have succeeded where they failed and that I have helped people like you acchieve their goals."

All technically true, not a word of what he said was a lie.

"I can deliever because of what I know and what I have done in the past. I have taught others to control their powers, others who had even less control then you, others who were a danger to those around them because of their lack of control, and I can teach you... because I taught myself."

Slade opened his empty hand and put it underneath his cup of tea, as he did so within his open palm a small ball of flame appeared, the trailing flame releasing the smell of sulfur and brimstone as it heated the cup above it. The deep red flame heating it perfectly controlled within his hand.

"Sorry about that, my tea was a bit colder then I like it. I do hope you understand..."

He regarded the woman before him, full of suspicion and justly so. She didn't know the origin of his power, if she did she would surely be afraid or attack him. Neither would help his plans. She had to trust him but he knew had had to handle her gentlely. with kids gloves. He took another sip of his tea and put it down looking her eye to single eye.

"As for cost... For a lesson today beyond your free ones... I want you to attack me. I want you to hit me with your very best shot."

He threaded his fingers together before him and regarded her shocked expression and savored it. As long as she was on guard she was a too sturdy, to self assured for him to gather to the fold. The next order of business was to show her how far away she was from him and shake her up. This would do both. He grinned beneath the calmness he exuded. He was already five moves ahead of her, and gaining."

"You heard me. Attack me. Don't hold back, show me what the future made of you. I can see it in your eyes. You want to, you want to fight, you want to show your power, you want to show you are more in control then I think you are. You want prove yourself. Well prove me wrong about your control."

Slade crossed his legs under the table, seemingly totally relaxed but he was coiled, ready.

[kazumi]

Kazumi listened very closely to everything slade was telling her, she didn't show it but she was rather surpsrised about his whole elegant speech about control and what she had been really after. So far the mercanary inside of her was rather impressed by him.

She thought for a second, at his invite to attack. 'Was he being crazy?' Kazumi thought at first. 'no men like him aren't crazy they know exactly what they are doing.' She thought to herself as she heard his invite to attack her.

'never underestimate someone, who knows how to walk the walk and talk the talk. IE someone who knows what they are doing and can deliver on exactly what they are promising.' She remembered what her chief had said as another piece of advice.

She still made good on his offer kicked up the table did a back flip landing a little bit away she turned and fired several lightning bolt at the general direction that slade was in. Yellow bolts of lightning flew from her hand in bright arcs.

If the bolts hit which was a good possibility since the table would slow his reaction time, and electricity moved rather fast. He would feel stunned like being hit a few times with a cattle prod and possibly not be able to move for a second. If they missed well they just would disperse into the wall. Her lightning only really would react to electrical fields or metal.

She then cloaked in a field of illuminated light for just a brief moment before disappearing from sight. Her focus was on slade, she gave a grin and pause though she knew hesitation wasn't something you wanted to do, but she knew nothing of slades fighting either so this might give her a gauge of him. Her sunglasses slid into place over her eyes as she began moving as quietly as possible to try and flank slade. Although if you were to listen carefully her footsteps though light and deliberately careful could be heard.

[slade]

Slade smiled as she kicked up the table. Trying to block his sight most likely, reaching out he snatched his tea up with one hand and standing hooked his chair he pushed it in front of his body and held it up, the weight of the hollow under the seat of the folding chair resting on his toe, his foot perpendicular to his body and his free hand behind his back. He moved the chair rapidly catching the lightning bolts while the rest of him stayed perfectly still. There were a bunch of ways he could have handled this but he wanted to make an impression. As he blocked and she started to vanish he spoke. His tea held in his grasp.

"Electricity is your main weapon it seems and you are quite agile and flexible this is a bonus make things a bit easier but some basics. As part of the lesson you are now paying for. I am unharmed because as most shoes are similar my boots are the most insulated part of my body while this chair is the least insolated part attached to me."

That was the truth but his suit was decently insulated but she didn't need to know that yet.

"Your lightning hits the chair, goes many places but affected nothing because the only thing touching it is something it can't penetrate. You could throw a thousand lightning bolts of that power and it would do the same thing. How do you over come an opponent like that? Oh, and second lesson."

Slade took a long sip of his tea and then deftly kicked up his chair out of the way while throwing his cup. It whistled through the air a mere inch over the head of the time traveler. He caught the chair once more on his foot as the cup shattered against a wall.

"That cloak of yours is very well done. But in addition to hearing your foot prints which I am sure I can have a... friend of mine make you up some shoes to help prevent that..."

Slade gestured at the abandoned courtyard, it was in disrepair, the grass was wilted and dry, the fountain shattered by vandals... and several faint foot prints were on the dry grass.

"Invisibility doesn't help if I can see where you have been, and even where you are..."

Slade gestured towards her own current foot prints. The feet were invisible but the presence of something there was obvious from the crushed grass.

"So... is that all you have learned so far?"

[kazumi]

Kazumi cursed when she saw slade throw the teacup inches from her head, and uncloaked on the spot no use here in this terrain. In a building, yes very useful, back alleys and streets yes, courtyards not so much.

She cursed to herself trying to figure out what she could do, well there was the direct option. There was the bombs of course, though they were dangerous to her as well as him. Then there was the shock wave, a rather flashy option in her own opinion.

She stepped back, save the energy right now grenades though powerful are draining as hell in terms of power unless... She looked around, and noticed the grass was dry.She grinned and lit the grass on fire with a few bolts of electricity to create a sort of smoke screen.

The smoke would start billowing up obscuring slade's vision, a simple matter for her, she switched to her smart vision, which showed slade as an indistinct human blob. She then lobed one of her shock grenades at him, she deliberately aimed at him. The golden grenade, would stick to slade if he wasn't careful and didn't see the shimmering golden orb.

If it missed which she figured was likely it would still explode with a massive amount of force, The grenades she had noticed had similar strength to the shock wave capable of sending heavy cars flying. Or blowing up their gas tanks after they went flying. Either way he wouldn't be able to get out of the blast radius unless he could teleport, because these grenades only lasted a second or two once they landed on something, and had a blast radius of at least 5-10 feet.

She gasped though realizing how much the grenade drained her of energy. She only had enough strength to use another grenade, at least till she found an electrical source. So she mentally forced herself to spend as little energy as possible, and maybe with this combo she could force slade into melee.

She knew of course she didn't have formal training in melee, she had learned growing up in the streets and as a security officer. That had gotten her by, but she had a little surprise for him if he tried granted she knew she really didn't stand as much of a chance close range, but she had a few surprises none the less.

[slade]

Slade had to admit. He was pleasantly surprised by her resourcefulness. While he was used to using terrain and having it used against it the speed in which she adapted was quite impressive. Adaptability was a primary asset in any fight and doing it quickly was always a good sign to see in a student. The raising smoke didn't bother him as the filters in his mask automatically kicked in and the heat wasn't even a concern for him even without his suit... he knew what the term 'hot as hell' really meant so he waited to see how she would use his blindness to her benefit. He did not close his eyes as many would to concentrate on his other senses, any glimmer of a clue of what she was doing next was needed and sight was needed for that. At first he considered that she might use this to blind fire her lightning bolts but it seemed she was smarter then that and better equiped then that.

Instead of a random shot a slower moving blob of electricity entered the smoke. He had seen the increase of light coming through the smoke... on of the disadvantages to lightning powers was they were easy to see coming and while smoke could help many things it didn't block the obvious increase of light coming. The ball wasn't that big, or that fast. His mind quickly calculated a few things. A slower moving projectile lobbed at an opponent who could move quick quickly... there had to be a reason. He pondered this as his body was already in motion. Diving forward. His body acted as his brain reasoned things out. Their was only one conclusion that could safely be reached was a simple one... there was an explosion coming as the projectile stuck to the burning grass behind him.

Rather then just dodging the ball or trying to run out of the way Slade extended his legs as he jumped while yawning to equalize pressure as he leaped. The theory was simple. Reduce exposure of his chest and stomach to the explosion and instead of running out of the smoke.. he would get a ride. Sure enough the explosion came as predicted and the shockwave launched him flying, quickly and suddenly but being prepared he spun his body in a forward roll and extended his legs again, bending them and using them to absorb the impact as his feet his the wall. His body turning into a spring to keep him from going splat. The forward momentum solved the vertical momentum called gravity began to call him home. He began to fall from the two story high spot of the wall he had impacted but a quick spin and he landed on his feet, the only indication that he had touched the wall was a pair of footprints cracked into the wall above his head. He looked at his prospective student and then to the crater in the yard, the shockwave having blown the smoke away as well as putting out the mild grass fire... mostly. A few spots were slowly kindling to life and some new spots were sprinkled over the battlefield.

Dead and blacked grass, a crater in the yard, smoke and the smell of carbon. Slade grinned this girl was truly stranger to the battle field and she was holding a fighting position after all that. She was impressive indeed. His legs told him so. Though he stood confidently and he knew he gave nothing away his legs were in agony from both the explosion and the spring technique. He shoved down the pain and used it as fuel. He was good at that... he had plenty of practice at that.

He held up two fingers.

"That is strike two. One last try for now. After all your last attempt is bound to draw unwanted attention. Though I must insist you do your best to avoid destroying the building behind me."

[kazumi]

Kazumi sighed and looked around at the surrounding area and then to slade. She tried to keep her anger and emotions in control, as they flared for just a second her hands were wreathed in electrical current which seemed to crackle all around her arms for just a few brief moments.

She watched as slade brought his fingers up and as soon as he finished speaking she began running at him. She aimed a simple definately untrained punch at him. AS she did so she would turn she would spin letting her arm trail behind her as she did so a golden energy blade would spring into existance as she did so her arm would shift extending a hidden blade that ran down the seemingly solid beam of electricity. The voltage seemed to suddenly amplify from the blades that now seemed to spring into existence from nothing.

Kazumi was panting heavily, she knew she didn't have much else to use and was wearing herself down and pushing herself beyond her limit. If she could just strike him, with the blades. It had worked before, she had hit someone with them and their whole electrical field had failed.

It was in that moment kazumi was playing for keeps, she was either going to apprehend slade or kill him. Something inside of her screamed that the man had to be eliminated. She'd had enough of being taunted like some foolish little child.

Her movements were quick and agile but untrained, it was obviously reminiscent of a person who had grown up on the streets in a slum. It didn't have finesse it just had raw power, and she wasn't pulling punches. Her attacks were erratic almost like flails.

She was panting harder, the combination of trying to fight hand to hand, and the constant drain of the energy blades she had manifested into existence was wearing her down very quickly.

[slade]

Slade's voice sounded disappointed as Kazumi rushed at him, her hand swinging in a barely tolerable punch... the blade that extended and crackled with electricity was a surprise but... all in all it wasn't what he was expecting for a last ditch effort. Frowning he stepped closer to her and reached out his arm and slapped aside the blade hitting her wrist with his open hand. The electricity traveled up his arm but thanks to good armor, rubber soles in his shoes, and an inhuman endurance he didn't so much as grunt from the incredible pain shooting down his limbs. He ignored the pain in his arms, in his legs and kept moving as her arms flashed out again and again the crackle of electricity sparking down his body as he dodged and parried with nothing more then his bare hands. As he moved he spoke, displeasure coming from every syllable.

"I have to admit. I am a little disappointed now. No... Very. Tighten up your arm there, and stop extending your arm so much. You are not sword fighting, with a knife, especially one such as you are bearing you don't need to pierce through someones ribcage. A knife fighter just needs quick small cuts. Death by a thousand cuts. These wild slashes are just telegraphing your every move."

It seemed to happen a lot Slade mused. Him being in the teacher role even when he wasn't meaning to. He supposed he shouldn't be trying to make the person currently trying to stab him in the face better at it but... he couldn't resist. He wondered if somewhere some when he could have gone into teaching full time rather then doing what he did.... maybe he would get up to principle... He ducked under the next blow and danced around the barrage of slices... they were getting slower, she was wearing out.

"Blind rage. It never helps. Rage is good but only as a power source, something channeled. You were far more dangerous just moments ago and now all you want is to sink a sharp blade into me and I have no intention of letting that happen. But... you still have some potential... some very rough potential in melee. But it is there."

Slade stopped back and reaching into a pocket pulled out a metal card, his hand blurred and it stuck in the toe of Kaz's foot, just milimeters from the toe contained within. His other hand lazily pointed at a nearby chimney and a hiss sound rang out as a cable lashed out and attached and then reeled him up to the roof where he stood for a moment.

"My contact infomation. Give me a call when you decide you want to be more then you are now."

With that Slade stepped backwards into the shadows... and vanished. In the distance sirens blared as they came with police and firetrucks in their tow.

[kazumi]

Kazumi panted heavily as the blades faded from existence and her arm morphed into its normal shape. What the hell had that been about, she wanted to sit down and let her batteries recharge. 'hehe battery, guess that's one way of thinking.' she thought as she got up limping slightly she felt like hell from the fight, she walked over and picked up the card slade had left.

It was a very intriguing offer, he had offered her so much and he had given her the lesson. It had been a painful one, she tucked the card into her trenchcoat for now and limped off. Her vision felt slightly hazy and her head hurt like a mother.

"first some juice." she said to herself as she walked down the alley looking for a fuse box or something maybe a lamp or some thing. She couldn't help but feel the tugging thoughts of wanting to make a decision.

She felt her powers demanding an answer to this new problem. The good part of her told her to take what she had learned but never see the man again and hope to hell she could try again. Maybe learn from a better source other than slade.

The other side told her that power was everything and that if she wanted power to go to him. She could deal with him after he had doubled her strength.

Then her mind told her that maybe control was the solution, and maybe slade could offer help. He had instructed her, but maybe she would do it for herself instead of for power.

She needed time to think clearly and the sirens weren't helping. Out of pure anger she shouted. "SHUT UP ALL OF YOU" This caused several pedestrians to give her a strange look.

"Sorry about that." she muttered as she hobbled away from the blaring ambulances and police.