A Strange Guy Wandering the Town (PL 2)

Another beautiful day in the Dome; pristine, clear, with the smell of baking goods in the plaza, fresh grass, and a light dew from the artificial rain the Dome has to make everything clean and fresh. Young men and women walk about, window shopping in the various stores, munching on the various snacks provided from nearby stands run by smiling workers. A child pulls on his mother's dress and points to teddy bear in a nearby store. She crouches down and rustles his hair, then stands and enters the store. Moments later they exit, the child hugging his new toy. A group of high school girls, still in their school clothes, are seen chatting with a similar group of males, giggling and laughing away as they slurp sodas and coffees.
As they converse, they all stop dead in their sentences as they see a strange guy being helped along by two men in nurse scrubs- if one were to watch closely, they would see that those three are being discreetly trailed by six men in black suits. The two strong nurses stand beside a smaller man who stands at 5'9", with one of the nurses having his arm interlocked within the strange man's elbow crook, helping the man in his slow shuffle. The man has his face covered in white bandages, and wears white clothing, with black lettering that says "ALPINE PATIENT" on his back. His black hair looks like it was quickly wet down and roughly combed to look presentable in public. The man's limbs appear to be robotic prosthetics, courtesy of ALPINE to aid in his recovery. ALPINE, while mainly a company that produces medical appliances for the visually and auditory impaired, also has a reputation for taking in the severely wounded and providing them the needed medical attention so they can recover to become functioning members of society again. The school students whisper among themselves, talking about and pointing at the man; they chat about what horrible accident he must have been in to need so much care from ALPINE. The man just shuffles past them, his feet slowly dragging on the ground, with his head downcast, gazing at the floor before him. An older woman walks up to one of the nurses and asks if the poor man is alright, to which he replies that his recovery is on schedule and he just needs a bit of fresh air. She shakes the nurse's hand and thanks him for ALPINE's services, and offers to donate 100,000 yen to aid ALPINE in their efforts.
As the man shuffles forward, the young kid with his teddy bear sees him. The kid releases his mother's hand and begins to walk up to the bandaged man, holding the teddy bear to his chest. The nurses seem to hesitate, not sure whether to stop the child or not. The kid walks up to the man and looks up at him, and the man raises his head slightly to have the kid in his focus. The kid gives him a genuine smile, and presents the teddy bear up to the man. The man raises his free robotic left hand and reaches for the bear, gingerly gripping it, and brings it closer to his face. As he views the smiling bear stare lovingly back at him with his button eyes, his grip tightens as his hand begins to tremble. The warm Dome air begins to noticeably chill and the fibers of the bear's body begin to develop crystals of ice around the man's hand. The child quickly trots back to his mom, as both begin to hastily leave the plaza, while the others begin to look around confused as the temperature dips. The two nurses near the man begin to stiffen, and the one holding the mans arm can be seen shivering as his sleeve begins to ice over. The six men in suits begin to push through the crowds towards the man, appearing to be reaching for something concealed at their hips...

A small hunched man in a suit walks down the street, arguing loudly at his phone. He is flanked by what looks like a single guard in a large cap that keeps his head down. "Yes, I said deliver three, THREE! Are you not able to count? I.." He says before pausing and looking up at the scene before him. "The hell is this? Can you damn hospitals keep your patients off the streets? Especially mechanical freak-shows like this one." says the small man with a sneer. The man in the suit seems unaware of the situation, but his guard watches the patient closely.

The bandaged man hunches his head lower between his head. The nurse with the frozen sleeve pulls himself away from the man, and runs away, as does the second nurse. The second nurse can be seen mulling out a radio before he is lost in the crowd. Four of the suited men pull out guns from their holsters, while the remaining two begin to try and get the crowd to evacuate the plaza. One of them walks up to the hunched suited man and his guard, and says, "Please sir. This area is unsafe. Please-"
He doesn't have time to finish his statement before the bandaged man lets out an ear-piercing scream. As he does, the four suits raise their firearms and take aim. Just before they pull their triggers, a chilling thick fog engulfs the plaza. One of the suits yells, "Shit, he's up. Shoot him! Shoot him now!"

The guard in the newsboy cap besides the short stout man in the suit glares at the four men, and a strange force seems to lock their weapons into safety. The short man in the business suit glances at his guard, and runs a finger across his throat, slowly shaking his head.

The guards pull the triggers for their guns, but looks confused as the triggers don't pull. Many of them look around, not sure how, or who caused, their guns to lock into safety. They all unlock their guns, but that moment of pause was too long for the time bomb that was before them. The man in bandages puts his head in his hands and yell, "Leave me alone! Please, someone- anyone- help me!" Then, the ground begins to freeze around him and rapidly expands. The closest guards begin to have their legs freeze to the ground, and they drop their weapons due to the pain and shock of having their legs frozen. Any civilian that hadn't run away by now would also meet this fate, as the ice continues to expand and engulf all surfaces within a 100 yard radius. The bandaged man tries to walk, but stumbles and slips on the ice, falling onto his stomach. He begins to crawl away from the scene, towards the nearest Dome exit.

The short man in the suit glares at his guard, "Your not supposed to interfere, this isn't your job, if you continue, your boss is going to-!" he yells in a nasely voice before he's yanked back none too gently by a strange force.  The guard is propelled forward towards Octopus, his hat flying off his head, revealing a large indent on the left side of his forehead. He attempts to grab Octopus as he rockets past.

The bandaged man, being unsteady normally, has little ability or time to try and retaliate before the guard grabs him by the back of the shirt. The helpless man simply slides along the ground as he is dragged by the guard. The man turns his head and looks at the man with dark grey, almost black eyes that have piercing golden irises, "W-what are you d-d-doing? You don't l-look like any of m-m-my guards..." He reaches up with his right arm across his chest towards the guard's arm that holds his shirt. Icy mist can be seen emanating from his battered robotic hand.

The scruffy man looks down at Octopus as he's propelled forward. "Don't try that," he says as he attempts to hoist Octopus over his shoulder so as not to drag him along. "I'm a friend, that's all you need to know for now," he continues. He looks towards the dome of Neo-Tokyo. "The exits are heavily guarded, we'll need to blow a hole in the dome. I can't do it myself, so you'll freeze a portion of it." he says. He skips to a halt about a block from the exit, and takes a deep breath. As his muscles tense, a strange energy wells up from beneath them, and he looks to Octopus, "Hold on tight."

The man tenses his whole body, but nods and grabs on as tightly as he can to the scruffy man's shoulders. The man's bandages that hide his face appear to begin soaking up blood from beneath, staining the clean white fibers. "T-this might help..." The man stretches his leg down until the tip of his foot touches the ground, which causes the ground before them to become slick with ice, providing a friction-less surface to propel oneself on. "Who are y-you, anyw-way? And why w-w-would you h-help me?" His entire body appears to be shaking in fear.

The man glances at Octopus as he tenses, "Save the questions.." he says as he and Octopus are rocketed upwards towards the ceiling of the dome at an alarming speed. They show no signs of slowing down as they near the thick glass, in fact, they begin to speed up. The scruffy man looks to Octopus and yells loudly as they are hardly a hundred feet from the glass dome, "Now!"

The man closes his eyes and raises his right hand forward, increasing the grip of his remaining hand on the man's shoulder. An intense blast of cold wind bursts forth from his palm and collides with the Dome wall. As it does, the vast decrease in temperature causes even the thick, tempered glass of the Dome to contract violently, cracking and chipping. To exacerbate the damage, nearby water in the air quickly condenses, expanding in between the cracks to further their rupture. As the cracking slows, a sizable weak spot in the glass is left behind.

A kinetic shield surrounding the two collides with the wall as they fly into it, shattering the now weakened glass. The momentum carries them a bit farther, and then the two slowly descend towards the ground. The scruffy man takes a deep breath, and lets go of Octopus. "The reason I'm helping, you ask? Because I saw one of our ilk being used by the lesser. Its a sight I cant stand." he says slowly.

The bloodied bandages appear to have stopped soaking, as the man looks up at his saviour. "What do you mean 'my ilk?' What do you mean by that? And who is this 'lesser?'" He unsteadily balances himself, holding out his arms for balance. He looks back at the hole in the Dome, "I hope that doesn't hurt the citizens. Hopefully they can fix it pretty quickly..." He looks back towards the man with expectant eyes.

He turns away from Octopus, and motions for him to follow, talking as he walks. "Our ilk, the mutants, other psychics, you get the idea. We are greater beings than the rest, it is us who will rule them, not the other way around. As for the hole? If their enemies knew there would be a hole, perhaps they could take advantage of it, but they'll have it covered up in no time." The scruffy man attempts to lead Octopus out of open sight, glancing around to make sure they aren't being tailed.

"I see..." He shuffles through the dirt, trying to keep pace with the man. "I don't really agree with one ruling another just because we were born different, but I thank you for helping me get out of there. Name's... uh... Octopus, by the way." He looks the man up and down. "I don't get to meet many psionics that aren't... well... messed up. What's your name?"

"Tsuyoi," he says without glancing back, and then he begins to muse, "Should the lion bemoan that it hunts the gazelle because they were 'born different'? Its only natural. I'm taking you to meet my friends. If your as strong as I think you are, you'll have a home, should you want it. Otherwise, your free to do whatever you want."

Octopus looks at his surroundings. Seeing the Dome that had imprisoned him for years behind him, and unable to imagine surviving in the wastes by himself, he begins to shake. "I... uh... I... uh..." His limbs rattle, as he extends his hand and grips Tsuyoi's sleeve. "Please... don't leave me alone. I'll come with you." His bandaged face appears to begin leaking blood again, causing new stains to appear around his face. "W-where are we gonna be going?"

Tsuyoi glances back at Octopus, and stops walking, turning to him, and begins in a cold voice, "Were not an asylum, and were not offering to take care of you. If you don't meet our expectations, if you cant usurp one of our own, your back on the streets. There's no room for dead weight in the seven. First, were going to a clinic to get your wounds looked at, I want you in good condition before you meet my friends.."

Octopus looks back at the man, stunned. He was used to being abused, but to hear something so cold from someone who also risked a lot to rescue him utterly confused him. It took him a few moments before he snapped out of it and asked, "Seven? Only seven of you?" He says this in a dejected tone and mumbles something under his breath, "You'll never be able to beat him." Despite this, he follows Tsuyoi, as he is his only current contact and doesn't wish to be left alone, no matter what the man says or says he'll have to do.

"There are only seven of us because the weak are weeded out periodically." he says as he leads Octopus to a door to a small makeshift building. He protrudes a single ornate key, and invites Octopus into the small hideout, which is laden with water, food, and basic medical supplies, and a couple mats for beds. "Stay here, I have a call to make" instructs Tsuyoi, as he steps out of the building, and dials up a number on a flip phone, and is soon engaged in a conversation that would be easy enough to hear through the thin walls. "Cmon Grey.. dont leave me hanging here. I'm no good with this kind of shit. Mhm? Gotcha."

Octopus forgets about Tsuyoi as soon as he sees the food and water in front of him. His stomach growls hungrily, and he can feel his tongue sticking to the dry insides of his mouth. He waddles over to the water, taking big gulps to quickly quench his thirst. The sudden gout of water overwhelmed his throat, causing it to spasm and choke down the water, causing Octopus to cough. This doesn't stop him, as he finishes off a good lot of water, then begins to chow down on the provisions. While he eats, he scratches absentmindedly at his face bandages. He glances over to Tsuyoi talking on the phone, wondering who this "Grey" is.

Tsuyoi remains outside the hideout, rapping his fingers on the wall uncomfortably for about fifteen minutes while Octopus eats. Afterwards, he enters the room again with an american man in camo green. "This is him, Grey. The stray, and our chance to finally rid ourselves of that witch," says Tsuyoi. Grey ignores him, and approaches Octopus slowly, taking a seat next to him, and staring him in the eyes. "Can I see your wounds?", he finally asks in an accent.

Octopus tenses. "Uh... I don't... have any wounds." He grips at his bandages on his face. "I'm fine." He leans slightly away from the man he presumes to be Grey. "Are you this 'Grey' I heard Tsuyoi talking to on the phone? It's nice to meet you too." He extends his robotic hand in a formal greeting.

Grey scrunches up his face in confusion a moment, before meeting Octopus' robotic hand. He struggles a moment to find the right words, " I'm Grey. Tsuyoi said you were injured, needed medical treatment. I'm a doctor. We should at least get you fresh bandages.." he says.

Octopus takes both of his hands and quickly bring them to his face, grabbing onto his bandages. "No, no, no, no! It's okay, really. I can take care of these on my own time, by myself. T-Thank you." He scoots back slightly, keeping one of his hands on his bandages. "Anyway, what's this talk about seven people and taking what's rightfully ours, or some such? Do you truly plan on trying to take control over the 'normal' people? It seems like a rather extreme choice... I'm sure just helping out the community with your powers could probably gain you trust and respect."