The Price of Freedom

[Jedi_Khan]

Khan, appearing to sleep, worked on rebuilding his patience, which had taken another hit with Eve’s last comment. He heard her get up, and opening up one eye, he watched her walk towards the entrance of the cave. After she went around the bend and out of sight, he stood up and slowly moved to an adjoining cavern.

If the cavern that he just left was his throne room/foyer, then this one he was now in would be his gallery. It was much longer than the previous cavern, and just as high. In this cavern, he lit several fires, each bigger than the one in the throne room. About half of the cavern glittered in the fire light with the same yellow metal that was seen in the throne room. John had been working for a few days on exposing the beautiful metal, and in the process, had accumulated a rather large pile of stones that stretched almost half the length of the cavern and half its height. John had an idea of what to do with those stones, but it would take time, lots of time, and a great amount of fire.

But that particular project was not what he was going to work on; no, tonight he would work on a much smaller project that was practice for the larger one. He gathered together a small pile of maybe two dozen rocks, and piled them so that the pile was as tall as he was. He then proceeded to heat the rocks using his fiery breath, getting them so hot, that they became pliable. When they were, he began to mould them together with his hands, making one large superheated rock. John did not feel the heat anywhere on his body, except on his face, but even then it was reduced due to his draconic DNA. The scales of his body kept him insulated from the heat better than any material made by man today, so John was able to handle the superheated rock with his bare hands, and not feel a thing, nor be harmed by it.

John began to shape the superheated rock before him, creating a tall pedestal with a highly ornate dragon coiled around it, going from top to bottom. This sculpture looked very much like the carved pillars that flanked the entrance to his cave, except that this was freestanding. The rock was hot enough to easily be sculpted without tools, yet cool enough to hold the shapes that John gave it. John worked like a master artisan, carefully sculpting the rock, reheating it when it had cooled too much, and stepping back every so often to examine it. This work held his attention for hours, well into the night; even as the fires in the cavern died to glowing embers, he worked, the rock in front of him giving off its on red light.

 

[Wolfsister]

The young girl stared at the screen with nothing short of awe. She watched as men fought other men, as large machines went to war on each other and as families cried out for their lost ones. "This is war?" she whispered to the large man sitting beside her. Stockman nodded grimly, "Yes, sweetie, this is what war is,"
The little girl shook her head, "I don't like it, papa,"
"Nobody does sweetie, that's why we need you," he gestured to the screen, "you have a gift, Eve. One that can prevent this from happening,"

The girl's eyes got even rounder and she nodded. "I know papa, but, I'm scared. Its so dark when I use it.... the boogeyman is going to get me,"
Stockman shook his head, "No sweetie, I won't let that happen,"
"Promise?"
"I promise."

***********************​

Eve was lost for a moment in memories, both powerful and sweet. She smiled absently to herself, making a mental note of John's absence. She didn't look back though, she knew that she would not see him, at least not fully. That man had secrets, she knew the value of secrets, but it still irked her that he wasn't completely honest with her. He almost didn't seem.... human, sometimes.

She shook her head, no that wasn't right. How could he not be human?

Eve sighed and absently and shook her head again, she'd gotten herself in a fine pickle this time. She looked up at the dark sky and sighed again, maybe it was time to leave?

 

[Jedi_Khan]

John finished his work on the pedestal; after stepping back and examining it one last time, he deemed it complete. He stretched out his wings and limbs, and twisted his back, sending a series of loud pops echoing through the cavern. He then left the gallery and returned to his throne room.

He went over to the remains of the cow and cut of a nice slab of meat for himself. He then walked towards the entrance of the cave, preparing to take a little walk out in the night. He hesitated when he saw Eve sitting there; he had almost completely forgotten about her. John continued to walk forward, stopping a few feet from Eye. Looking down, he saw that she looked tired.

“You look tired. Why don’t you try to get some sleep?” suggested John. He then turned his gaze back out into the woods, and took a bite out of the raw meat in his hand. Chewing rather lazily (and albeit, not silently either), John continued to look out into the night, seeing only small rodents moving about in the dark.

 

[Wolfsister]

Finally, the man/thing was saying a civil word to her. She shook her head slightly, hiding her annoyance, "I'm not that tired. Besides, I hate sleeping in strange places."

She didn't look at him and didn't say anything about the way he was eating. Though she found it repugnant, she was starting to realise that John wasn't exactly used to having people around. She sighed and looked out at the sky beyond, just watching, sitting and thinking.

She turned to him after a while, "Are you lonely John, here all by yourself. Don't you wish that... people were here?"

 

[Jedi_Khan]

"I'm not that tired. Besides, I hate sleeping in strange places."

John pretty much ignored what she said, seeing as how there is no proper response to it. He just continued ripping out chunks of the steak in his hand and eating.

"Are you lonely John, here all by yourself. Don't you wish that... people were here?"

John snorted out a short laugh, for the question seemed rather foolish to him. John being lonely? He had just spent a month and a half here in this cave with no one to talk too, and he didn’t regret the silence on bit. Then he paused, and thought on it a bit. He realized something during this contemplation.

“To be quite honest, part of me doesn’t give a rat’s ass if anyone was here or not. That part actually prefers being alone. Another part of me is actually quite glad that someone is here,” said John, he turned his head slightly to look at Eve out of the corner of his eye. “You may not realize this, but you are the first person I have spoken to since my birth. Those imbeciles at the facility kept me locked in a cage and never bothered to find out if I was intelligent or not.”

 

[Wolfsister]

"Huh, pity on them," she smiled, "They might have learnt something," then she gave another, more cheeky smile, "I guess that's why you don't give a 'rats ass' about being nice to me?"

She laughed, showing it to be just a friendly joke, "Its okay, to tell the truth, I"m not really used to people treating me well, anyway," she gestured mindlessly around, "You know... experiments and all that,"

Actually, the only reason she wore what she did wasn't because she liked it, though after years of being covered the way she was, she had to admit that it suited her, but because it so effectively hid the scars, at least the visible ones, from public view. She was most uncomfortable when others were seeing her mangled skin and never wished anyone else to see it, either.

"Calling scientists imbeciles huh?" she gave him a critical eye, "Maybe they were afraid of you? I mean, I know I can't see all of you, but still... you're... impressive," she said, somewhat dismissively.

 

[Jedi_Khan]

"Huh, pity on them, they might have learnt something. I guess that's why you don't give a 'rats ass' about being nice to me? It’s okay, to tell the truth, I’m not really used to people treating me well, anyway. You know... experiments and all that,"

John snorted. “I’m glad they didn’t bother trying, because if they did, then we wouldn’t be having this conversation. I would still be in that dreadful cage.”

"Calling scientists imbeciles huh? Maybe they were afraid of you? I mean, I know I can't see all of you, but still... you're... impressive,"

“Yet for all their subtleties, they had not the wisdom to see what was before their very eyes. That is why I call them imbeciles,” replied John. “And yes, they were afraid of me. Why wouldn’t they be? I took the arm off one of their colleagues at the elbow in a heart beat. The fool didn’t have time to react. They believed me to be an uncontrollable animal, not an intelligent creature that could communicate with them.”

John had finished the steak and was now licking his fingers, getting all the juice he could off them. “And you are very observant indeed if you know that there is physically more to me than meets the eye,” John said. He still wasn’t about to reveal everything to her, at least, not yet.

 

[let3us2be1free0]

were is everybody! hey! hello1

 

[let3us2be1free0]

It was cold and damp. water dripped onto the floor, staining it. red. it wasnt water, he dimly realized, it was his own blood. drip. drip. that wasnt his blood, he sensed, it was some chemical.... being feed into his brain.... immense pain.... his bones creaked, and he willed them to stop. he realized he had some small control over them.... they grew, shrivled, and became difficult to control. he concentrated on making them harder, and they became stiff, metalic. he realized he could control some sort of metal in his body. must likly iron or something.... his lungs started to burn, and he realized he was drowning, suffocating. he passed out.

"Wake up..." dim voices, lots of faces. he tried to sit up, and began hacking water. he was thrown off the bench, and landed on the floor. he passed out again.

When he woke, he was in a cell. it was explained to him that he was a failed subject, and that he would be trained to use his abilitys so he wouldnt be usless. they warned him that if he was usless they would get rid of him...
then he snapped out of the memory.

Bay was silently traking the escaped experiments. right now he was on the train of an apperant telepath. he had been hunting him for the last few months, growing irritable. he was only supposed to keep him from disapearing so that the agents could track him, but it was boring. he had been a bit shocked when the telepath had taken off running, and followed him, taking advantage of the confusion to snag a snack. the man appeared to halucinate, then calmed down. he hoped he wouldnt sense his presence...

 

[Wolfsister]

“And you are very observant indeed if you know that there is physically more to me than meets the eye,”

She smirked, closing her eyes briefly. "Yeah well, its what I was trained for." She sighed and shook her head, then stood, wiping her palms down the front of her black leather pants, "I don't suppose you have a nice comfy mattress in that cave of yours? I think I might stay a little while,"

She grinned, looking him arrogantly up and down, then she cocked her head, mischievity in her eyes, "You know, for all your obvious social flaws, you may interesting enough to hang around with for a while."

She chuckled, more to herself really, and turned, walking back into the depths of the orange lit cave, "Got anything to drink, Genius?"

 

[let3us2be1free0]

Bay realized that is the man begain comming toword him, He would most likly see and attack him. He wasn't sure if he would be able to survive that. He decided it was time to scatter. He quickly used his bones to scramble up a nearby building to the fire escape, succesfully escaping, he hoped.

 

[Jedi_Khan]

Error.

 

[Angelus]

Sorry to say this everyone but I have decided to end this thread. I do not blame any one person but myself for letting it finish the way that it has but there it is.

I have decided to start a new thread though under
Freedom: The New Era

It is set a year after this one with the rest of the group. They are still being hunted by the people who made them what they are but with one major difference. They are now a hero team with a headquarters somewhere in San Francisco and under the leadership of the scientist who has been trying to bring them together. Sorry for letting this thread die the way that it has but I assure you that I will not let the new one die the same way.

I hope that you join the new thread and have fun with it. Oh, the OOC is still under The Price of Freedom so there is no need to worry about that.