Group Toolbar Menu

Forums » Misc Universe » Pain

Today Phoenix had decided to attack a community college in Kansas City- Brown Mackie college.

Rex was nearby when he overheard an urgent cell phone call. He ran for a few minutes before he saw smoke in the sky. Somebody was trying to burn the place.

Within moments of seeing the smoke, Rex was passed by ambulance and firetrucks and police cruisers.

Once he reached the college, it was a mess. There were a few flying Experiments, one muscled one, and a few of the classic CYBORGs as well: Lektry, and it seemed like Infection was trying to make a cameo.

Rex ran through the courtyard, drawing his gun and firing at the head of one of the flying Experiments. It fell like a bird.

SET's taking their sweet time, as usual. Don't mind me, just doing their job so they can take credit again. Rex caused enough of a distraction in the parking lot to allow otherwise trapped students to escape.

Of course, there was still the problem of the burning building, and the no doubt hundreds of students on campus who were also under attack without protection.

As he ran, Rex dropped his leather jacket to reveal a thick black vest around his torso. He had no idea what it did besides protect him from virtually any kind of harm, but he appreciated it.

Fortunately, he was the only one of the Experiments with a gun. Unfortunately, he was the only one of the Experiments without a significant advantage. Sure, he had his combat training, but he was a stealth Experiment, not a terror Experiment.

Those bastards better drop from the sky soon.

Remove this ad

Claire had no sooner walked into the station when thee radio call came in. All hell broke loose in seconds, and the EMTs and rescue workers were scrambling, and quickly flying down the streets towards the college. With her partner for the day driving, Claire was doing a quick inventory of their supplies, to make sure they had gotten stocked before things really got rolling.

The building was well on its way to burning down when they arrived, and despite the familiar confidence that gripped her that her coworkers could handle it, fear suddenly swept over her. They were just kids, and no match for the monsters facing them now.

Seeing one girl already scratched up, apparently from broken glass (possibly trying to escape the blaze?), Claire practically leaped from the ambulance she rode in, dragging her medical kit with her as she tucked and rolled. If there was anything she took seriously, it was taking care of people. She grabbed the younger woman by her uninjured elbow and practically dragged her behind a parked car, so she could start checking the wounds and cuts.
Sure enough, SET Operatives made the drop. Big guys in high-tech battle armor just landing with these huge thuds, causing dents in the pavement and generally making a ruckus.

Rex hated them.

They began shooting at the Experiments, and that meant Rex was suddenly a target. He managed to disable the wireless transceiver in his chip, but cutting it out would be suicide. And so that meant he was a big, fat target for these lazy guys to point at while their helmets gave them directions in all caps.

After taking out a particularly heavy Experiment, Rex grabbed an unconscious student- Male, brown hair, he appeared to be bleeding in a few places.

Rex ran as fast as he could while carrying the guy across his shoulders (I forget what you call that) and as luck would have it, he happened to find Claire first.

"This guy needs help." He said, dropping him at her feet before standing up.

One particularly cocky marksman saw Rex open and took the shot. Rex crumpled to the ground as quickly as he began walking away.
Claire had just finished cleaning up the girl enough to get her comfortable until she could get taken to the hospital when Rex ran over with the student.

Discarding the gloves she currently wore, she yanked another pair out. In the baack of her mind, she was thankful she carried a box in her backpack; she was going to go through a lot of them today.

She had just bent and felt for a pulse when Rex crumpled from the plasma shots. Crap.

Clair worked quickly, giving the male student a lightening fast but thorough examination to ensure his injuries weren't of immmediate about-to-bleed-out concern. Seeing a flash of a red EMT logo, she whistled sharply, to get her partner to come over and check the student while she examined Rex, to see where the wounds were.
Rex was wearing a thick vest. Seemed like bulletproof, but the material was different. It would be taken off with a little bit of brute force.

Rex had been hit square on the vest, but plasma scarring ran along his whole body. Almost as if he had undergone some kind of ritual cauterizing that carved markings into his flesh...

There were markings underneath his skin. Like wires. Something very different about him. Well, besides his pulse being stopped, of course. He had the obvious microchip embedded in his neck, and upon touch he would give a small static shock.

So many questions and no time to answer them... Sigh.
Claire had peeled up his shirt to glance beneath, wincing as she saw the scarring and burns. Reaching into her kit, she pulled out her surgical shears to cut away his shirt so she could get to the vest below. Once the fabric was torn off to the side, she hesitated.

The man..were those wires under his skin?! She didn't have time to wonder, his pulse had faded and she needed to start CPR. Yanking out her mask, she shouted back to her partner, Adam. "Get the portable defib ready, don't want to use it unless I have to." She quickly turned back to the man, settling the mask over his mouth.

When she touched him with the mask, she flinched, more out of being startled than anthing else. He just shocked her. Probably from the plasma that had just ripped through him. Hands on his chest, she began chest compressions- 30 compressions, 2 big breaths, repeat.
The first time around, nothing happened. The second time- Claire practically got electrocuted, herself. The wires glowed blue, and Rex coughed. His eyes opened wide, but he didn't move otherwise. There was panic expressed in them. He looked at her frantically- As if he knew exactly what was happening.

Before she realized what was happening, she'd hear Rex's voice. Wait, what? His lips weren't moving. He looked at her, and he struggled for breath.

I'll explain, but first I need you to flip me over. Once that was done, (if that was done,) Rex's struggle to breathe became just a tiny bit harder. Nonetheless, his voice continued. You see that weird thing in my neck? There's a little switch. Move it to the opposite position of the one it's in now. Wait exactly fifteen seconds, and then move it back again. Say "yes" if you understand, and tap my neck twice before you are about to move the switch.

Upon tapping his neck, Rex would take a deep breath. And when Claire moved the tiny little stick in the side of the chip from the lower position to the upper position, Rex's tense body would immediately go limp.
She winced as she was shocked, pulling back and wincing as her hands tingled. When he suddenly opened his eyes, she flinched, eyes widening, even more so once..his voice. How could she hear him?

She didn't have time to question it. She grabbed him, wincing as he shocked her. She raised her eyebrows at the chip in his neck, but didn't hesitate. "Yes."

Two fingers tapped against his skin twice, and once he inhaled, she flipped the little switch up, eyes staring at her watch as the minutes ticked by, one hand hovering near the switch, the other supporting his now limp body as she waited.

Exactly fifteen seconds later, she switched it back down, and waited breathlessly, to see what happened.
Rex coughed hard. Almost wheezing, before shoving his palms against the dirt and pushing himself up. He grunted, and groaned, and sighed. There was an obvious pain there. The permanent scowl on his face was intensified when he realized that he had been shot.

"Damn SET Operatives..." He muttered under his breath before remembering someone had just saved his life- And that his vest was sheared off. Rex looked over at Claire. "You saved my life." It was a plain statement. No gratitude in his voice. He knew who she worked for. He bit his lip to counter the pain of the burned spots on his body. "You ever deal with plasma burns before?"
"It's my job. You're welcome." She replied in just as flat a tone as he used with her. At his question, she rolled her eyes. "No, I have no idea what I'm doing, the real EMT hasn't shown up yet. Of course I have." She huffed. All while she had been sarcastically grumbling at him, she'd been pulling out a container of what seemed to be a jacked up burn cream.

"If it's alright with you, I'm going to put this stuff on your burns. Or do you want to wait for someone else?" She scoffed.
Rex frowned. "That would be just fine, thank you." Manners weren't exactly his forté- Rex didn't deal with people often. Well, talking to ones that weren't trying to kill him. He had saved lots of peoples' lives and hadn't gotten a "thank you" yet. Mainly because he bore the same trademark as his enemies.

When she applied the ointment, it was soothing. It cooled the burn to a point where it wasn't "Aaaaahhh, ssssss" anymore. It was kind of a dull, distant throbbing now. Rex nodded in gratitude. "That... Actually helped." He swallowed before glancing back at the melee around them. The Operatives, as good at their job as they were with their military strategies and formations, still had a tough time keeping up with the guerilla-style warfare that the Experiments brought to the tables. Apparently, the flyers were now equipped with some sort of EMP, too. Because they'd grab an operative, take him up high, and his armor would just... Fall off. He'd fall with it.

The other flyers were shot down shortly after one of the Operatives were killed on impact. SET picked fast learners, Rex would give them that.

He turned back to face Claire. "So you've seen this before, I take it."
Claire continued to apply the ointment as carefully as she could, not wanting to irritate the angry burns even more. Around them, it was like a battlefield, but now, more EMTs and medical personnel were arriving to help both the students and the Operatives who were injured. Once she had his burns coated in the soothing ointment, she pulled out a pack of what looked like gauze pads from the bag around her shoulder, pressing one against each burn to keep the ointment from rubbing off on anything.

At his question, she paused, peeling her gloves off. "More than a few times, unfortunately." She scowled slightly. "Alright, can you wiggle your fingers for me?"
Rex held up his right hand with his palm towards his face, and popped each of his knuckles with his thumb, and then wiggling them around. "Other hand's fine, too." He said, wiggling his left hand's fingers.

He felt fine- If a little tingly and in pain. The ointment was near-instant relief. That was good. Last time he had been on the receiving end of a plasma rifle, he had been really dizzy. Not many burns, just a tingling through the body and an overwhelming dizziness. He got tired and passed out. The other guy was long dead, (Telepathic torture was quite the miracle,) but Rex himself had managed to get hurt pretty good. Lucky he was wearing the vest that time, too. Otherwise he would have been toast.

Of course, now the vest was toast. And he was lucky that it lasted for just one more hit. "How long have you been doing this?" He asked suddenly.
Claire nodded approvaal, and suddenly, pressed her hands to the top of his feet, squeezing tightly. "Alright, if you can, wiggle your toes for me, then try to move your feet, don't let me hold them still." She instructed, wanting to make sure his extremities weren't fried beyond repair, yet anyway.

At his sudden question, she glanced up at him, an eyebrow raised. She hesitated, but finally answered. "About five years now, six in a few more months." She glanced around, then nodded towards her much taller partner," Hayden and I have been working together since I started, too."
Rex wiggled his toes, and then feet. They tingled and were numb, but he could move them. It wasn't hard once he got past the initial struggle of her holding them down. "I can move just fine. There's just a tingl-" He stopped and cringed when he heard a louder-than-background-noise level scream reach his ears as it was cut short.

He took a deep breath and composed himself. That happened pretty often for him, unfortunately. Rex nodded when Claire answered his question. "I meant dealing with monsters. When did you get your first call? Did you see it or just the carnage it left behind?" He was calm, but brutal.

But Claire wouldn't have time to answer the question. At that moment, a particularly faster Experiment ran up and kicked Rex across the face, causing him to fall to his side. She had already tackled Hayden to the ground and landed a knockout punch. And she now walked towards Claire slowly, and her hands glowed blue.
Claire had just released his feet when the experiment kicked him over. She flinched and scrambled back, feeling for something, anything, that she could use as a weapon. Her hand found a piece of plywood blown from one of the buildings, and she grabbed it. When the female got close enough, she swung, hard, walloping her across the jaw with it.

It made the experiment stumble back, but also irritated her. She lunged forward, grabbing Claire by the arm. Pain immediately shot through her entire body, and the hair on her arms stood straight up. She cried out in agony, unable to use her other arm to swing the wood again.
The Experiment's face was nearly expressionless, save for the slight glare in her eyes. Her head tilted to the side as Claire cried out.

"That wasn't very nice.." She said, knowing full well that Claire's muscles were now tightened and unable to move. "I'm going to fry you. It'll be painful for a while, and it won't be quick." It was in her power to make it just the opposite, but she notoriously took pleasure in causing pain. She'd done it often enough to people that it was a normal thing for her. As if she didn't fully realize that these people were real.

Or didn't care.

It took a painful ten seconds before Rex recovered again- Lektry had always hit hard.

The electricity coursed through Claire's body- Lektry had full control of it. Never mind the fact they were both grounded. It was just a tingling at first. Like holding your hands on one of those Plasma Balls with the lightning shooting from the center onto the outside orb of glass for too long.

Then it started to hurt. From where Lektry held her arm tightly, at first. Then it spread. It wasn't particularly bad, just enough. But it grew. By the time Rex had gotten up, there was enough pain to cause her to pass out.

But Lektry wasn't about to allow that to happen. Oh, no. She had control of the whole nervous system, now. Rex was staggering from side to side, more than a little bit dizzy. He had stood up too quickly- The blood rushed to his head and he had just been hit with plasma, and then revived.

But he realized what was going on quickly enough, and ran at Lektry, tackling her to the ground. It wasn't hard- Lektry easily got too focused on her torture and was just as easily overpowered. He pinned her hands above her head and touched his pointer and middle finger to the side of her neck. "You may feel a slight tingle."
The pain was indescribable.

Lektry wouldn't let her pass out, as badly as her body was screaming to, begging. All Claire could do was stand rigidly and scream, until Lektry shut her up. She felt like her body was boiling with knives from the inside out.

When Rex tackled Lektry away, and broke the bond, Claire collapsed into a crumpled heap, unable to move. Everything hurt, it hurt to breathe, even. Forcing her eyes open, she saw Rex, before they twitched shut again. She couldn't stop twitching, her body finally able to react to what Lektry had done to her.

Trying to force her brain to stop screaming pain, she started trying to wiggle her fingers and toes, though they were refusing to move, or function at all.
There was a cold anger present in Rex's face- And a horror present on the Experiment's.

"No, please!" She pleaded with him as he held his fingers to her neck for a few seconds. Oh, the irony. Her voice cracked as she realized what was happening. Rex let her go, climbed off of her and sat down next to Claire, leaning against the Ambulance. Lektry stood up, with a cocky grin. "That's it? A prick in the ne-" Before she and Rex simultaneously passed out. Her eyes rolled in the back of her head and she collapsed in a heap on the ground.

Great. Now Claire was paralyzed, and the only people nearby were passed out.

They all just sat there, dead, for about ten seconds. People were running around- Policemen, SET Operatives, Firefighters, EMTs, civilians of all ages.

It seemed like an eternity. Then, suddenly, Lektry sat up. She was wheezing, choking, coughing. Struggling for air. Then she looked around- Dilated pupils focused. Breathing slowed. She looked over at Rex and Claire, furrowed her eyebrows, had an apparent sudden moment of clarity, and was gone in a flash of lightning.

Two minutes longer, Claire waited. Rex beside her was still unconscious. It was scarring. Ten seconds wasn't an eternity- It was a half of a lifetime. Two minutes was the eternity.

Rex gasped. He coughed, he frantically looked around before calming down much in the same manner that Lektry had. He looked to his left at Claire- A heap of flesh on the ground. He grabbed her by her shoulders and dragged her to where she was leaning against the truck. He straddled her outstretched legs and held her head in his hands- Trying to see in her eyes. His face bore a determined, annoyed expression. Like he had done this a hundred times over.

"Okay, don't move." He said ironically before touching his hand to the back of her neck. Five seconds, he passed out.

Ten seconds and Claire would feel... Weird. She was thinking, but at the same time it wasn't quite... Her.

Her pain dulled, and slowed. The sharp stabbing, pins and needles feeling would give way to a much colder feeling. Her body would feel much colder- Soon her muscles would begin to relax. Claire would soon begin to realize that though she was able to feel and think, she was unable to move on her own.

She clumsily shoved Rex's body aside, focusing on her hands and feet. She could wiggle her fingers- She could wiggle her toes. Her wrists and feet could move just fine. She could breathe easily, and though she felt like they were asleep, all of her extremities slowly regained sensitivity to touch. She pressed a hand to her now-apparently aching head, and looked around. Rex was unconscious on the ground next to her again, but she was able to move this time.

Suddenly, she'd feel very drowsy...

And then wake up. Rex was standing in front of her, gun in hand, shooting down the last of the Experiments. He looked back at her and raised an eyebrow. "You're awake." He said bluntly. "You were out for a good five minutes."
Inside her mind, Claire was panicking when Rex and Lektry both passed out. She didn't know what was happening, but she certainly didn't want Lektry waking up first and coming back for round 2.

Not that there was much she could do about it. Her nerves were on fire, and she could barely keep her eyes open on their own.

Then Rex was back, and dragged her up against the ambulance. When he grabbed her head, she would have struggled away if she could move, but just as suddenly, he was passed out, yet again. Please, please don'e let him be dead, don..

What was happening? The pain was easing, but she was chilled to the bone now. Then she was moving..but../she/ wasn't steering the boat. Panic gripped her again, but there was again nothing she could do about it. Instead, she had to wait, as she went through the motions, checking her joints, feeling for numbness.

And just like that, she was awake, blinking up at Rex and his bluntness. The pain swept over her head like she had been the one hit with a 2x4, and she clutched it with her hands. "What the hell did you do to me?" She groaned through gritted teeth, forcing herself to get to her knees.