by GoozX and Danny
Tayden struggled in the caves to keep everyone calm. The mixed emotions of the residents and tourists of La Perdita were flooding Tayden's own mind. That and his own fears were making using his power unbearable. The strain of the long hours of this abnormal day had begun to hit him. Slowly, his power over the people failed. Fractions had begun to form, and he could do nothing about it.
"I say we fight, instead of being locked into sure death," a tall black man, Ben Todd, stated as he lifted a led pipe from the ground.
Another man, Henry Towles, was the first to reply, "Are you crazy? We go out there and we die! At least in here we have a chance to live."
"No, here is sure death, how do you know that more of those creatures will not rise? At least if we band together and fight, some of us have a chance."
People had begun to take sides. Tayden tried to hold them back and talk sense into them, but no one listened. Tayden strained himself trying to use his powers over and over again. It caught up to him, and he passed out among the havoc.
Violence began to break out between the different fractions. Ben Todd lifted Towles off the ground and into the air and, with a violent rage, slammed him into the cave walls. Others on both sides threw their first punches. Many people stayed back, not choosing a side. Children cried. Ben led a group of fifty or so men out of the cave. They had homemade weapons and things found in Otto's cave.
Several minutes after lapsing into unconsciousness, Tayden got up and shook off the pain. He was just able to see the men exiting the cave. Getting to his feet, he knew that the only way to stop these men would be to tell them the full truth. If they attempted to fight the creature, they would not only die, but would doom the world in the process.
As Tayden made his way toward the cave's exit, he noticed a small group of men. Walking toward them, they ran past him, grabbing his arm and pulling him with them. Second later, an explosion filled the air nearby with smoke. Tayden walked toward the cave-in. Their only exit was blocked. Towles stood staring at rubble, his eyes almost evil.
"What did you do?" Tayden asked.
"They wanted to go out and fight. Now they shall. I am the boss down here. THEY ARE NOT WELCOME! Let them fight, let them die, I say." Sweat dripped from Henry Towles' head. He had gone mad, to say the least.
Above, Phil Smith was lying down in the cave. As Ben Todd's group passed, he opened his eyes and attempted to yell for them to stop. No one listened. Within seconds, he had passed out again.
At the ruins of the Royal Crown Tower, Danny Hearn crouched over the unconscious bodies of M'xy and Ameristar, worrying about them.
"Wouldn't it be funny if you put them into dirty poses and took photos?"
"Shut UP, Hal. I need to figure out what to do. I can probably carry one of them back to the beach if the wind doesn't get too strong... but I still need a way to get the other to safety."
Danny ducked as Grimm leaped overhead, tackling a vampire to the ground. Grimm twisted its neck, then decapitated it.
To Danny's left, Grissom Montag and Dirk Bell stood back to back. Each with a gun raised, they leveled the creatures around them.
"And the other guys are busy," Danny added.
"Right. I see your dilemma."
"I think I'll take Mick first."
"How do you figure?"
"Ameristar is armored, and more likely to be able to defend herself in the event that she wakes up."
"Right."
"But I do hate to leave her here."
"Executive decisions can be hard."
A scream came from Danny's right as Blackwulf threw one vampire into another, sending them both crashing into the wall.
To the other side of Danny, there was a huge opening in the concrete of the basement. Danny thought he heard the rumble of an engine coming from outside. "What the...?
His comment was cut off by the sight of Priest on a motorcycle, speeding through the opening and coming to a skidding halt on the floor of the basement, mere feet away from Danny.
The two were silent for a moment.
"What are you doing here?" Danny finally said through gritted teeth.
"I have to--"
"Whatever. If you want to help, get her back to the beach," Danny said, pointing to Ameristar.
Priest was silent.
"If you don't, she dies. And you get thrown out of this team and off the island, regardless of what Kit says, if I don't personally kick your arse first."
Priest was still silent.
"I need some cover to get M'xy out of here..." Danny said.
"What?" Priest said.
"I wasn't talking to you. Hal?"
"Yeah?"
"You think these vamps would be affected by poison?"
"Worth a try. Possible at least slow them down."
Grimm swung his axe over Danny's head, knocking a vampire off his footing to keep Danny clear while he tended to M'xy.
"Hal, quills, like a porcupine or something, poisonous, projectile."
"I'll see what I can do..."
Danny winced in pain as his body went to work. Sharp quills began to protrude from his body, tearing holes all over his clothes. He closed his eyes until they were completely grown. Priest looked mildly surprised for a moment.
The Australian opened his eyes. "DIRK! GRIMM! WULF! DUCK!" Danny yelled.
He concentrated for a moment and sent his quills flying. Shooting around the room, they struck the vampires. A lot of them were knocked right down. Some of them were shot in the head, some in the chest.
"You didn't ask me to duck," Priest said.
"Didn't care," Danny replied.
"Right. By the way... there's a monster at the beach."
Danny didn't have time to stop and check whether the vampires he'd hit were dead. He grabbed M'xy in his arms and ran toward the exit.
"WINGS!" he shouted and launched himself outside.
Minutes later, Danny was at the beach, and what he saw took him completely by surprise.
Trying to find a cave to safely hide M'xy, he noticed with some chagrin that the main entrance had been blocked off. Resolving to put him somewhere safer later, he found a recess a few meters deep not far from Otto's cave.
But what disturbed him even more was the giant hell-beast, being fought only by Chance.
"That's just fucked up," Danny said. "Eagle eyes."
He took a closer a look, and noticed Chance basically playing a game of tag with the creature. However hard it attacked him, he remained unharmed while it kept getting thrown down. While it was making much headway in terms of damaging the Beast, Chance was relatively safe for the moment.
Looking further down the beach, he noticed a lone woman sitting on the shore. Danny instantly panicked, not wanting anyone out here when the storm hit again. He regrew his wings and flew down there to help her.
"Miss? MISS?" he yelled, approaching her.
She looked up, having been huddled behind a rock. What she saw was the shape of a man descending from the sky, shouting at her.
"Are you okay?" Danny asked.
"I... I don't really know."
"What's your name?"
"Leslie," she replied. She took in the sight before her: male, early twenties, she guessed, obviously metahuman, roughly fitting the description of her target. Leslie Kline made the obvious logical conclusion that this was indeed her target, and guessed that he was Sigma.
"Come on, Leslie... I'll try to get you to safety. There's some caves further up the beach. I just need to find an entrance." Picking her up, he flew back to the spot where Chance was fighting the beast.
"WHAT THE HELL IS THAT?" she screamed, wriggling in Danny's arms.
"Don't worry. You'll be safe down here." He deposited her in the same cave he had dumped M'xy's body.
"Is he...?" Leslie said nervously.
"He's unconscious, but alive. Watch him for me, will you?"
"Right. Wait..." she said.
"Yes?" Danny said, turning around.
"What's your name?"
"Danny."
Leslie was disappointed. This wasn't her target. "Are there others like you around here, Danny?"
"You mean... other metas?"
"Yes."
"Some."
"Can you take me to them?"
Later, upon reflection, Danny wasn't quite sure why he said what he said next. It wasn't the smartest move. And yet, he said, "I'll take you to them as soon as I check out the situation down the beach."
Leslie just smiled at this, and Danny went to help Chance.
As Danny got back to the beach, he froze. He held back the sick feeling that quickly rose from the pits of his stomach.
Bodies now covered the beach around the Beast. People with weapons attempted to fight the creature, who only got stronger as time passed. Chance was singlehandedly trying to hold back as many people as he could, without much luck, ironically enough. Riots had broken out in the few moments that Danny was gone.
The huge Beast tossed bodies around like rag dolls. One of its hands clutched onto a shorter male and lifted him off the ground. A scream filled the air as a green mist escaped the man's body and seeped into the Beast. The body went limp and was dropped to the ground. Another followed.
Danny's mind raced. How would he handle this?