Super-Sonic

Travis found himself dashing as fast as he could after the ever growing, distant echoes' of the steps taken by the man that had been watching Travis when he had been attacked by that creature. Who this guy would be, Travis had no idea but he felt in every fibre in his body that this person had answers, perhaps not the answer to everything, like how he was blind but could still see but maybe he knew who or what that thing he came across in the forest happened to be. It was possible that the very person he was chasing might have sent his assailant after Travis but it was worth the risk, his life was full of unanswered questions, now was the time for a few answers. He had started running from the woods near his home and he had pounded the pavement as fast as he could but whoever he was chasing was faster. How he was so fast was still beyond Travis as he was a world class sprinter. Was it possible Travis wasn't the only one that had something a little bit special about him, he had never found anyone else as unique as him but he had heard of people being oddly gifted. It was only news stories or vague hints in newspaper articles he had heard people talk about but now it seemed to make a little more sense. He was stuck in his head, mind swirling and his heart pumping blood around his body as fast as it could to keep up with the pace he was setting in this chase. Eventually he had to stop as a new sensation washed over him, his sudden realisation of where he now was had stopped his feet in place.

An assault force of noise met his ears in rapid fire burst's, it was like train's were running through his mind at full speed, roaring and churning up the dust beneath them, confusing his mind with wave after wave of sound. It took him a few seconds to rebalance, an overload of sudden sound tended to knock him to the ground, he got up and slowly he fine tuned his ears trying to cancel out the excessive noise level of the hustle and bustle around him. Here he now stood in Novum Aurora, he stood at only the city limits now but already this place seemed so alive, humans so easily block out the grinding, the scrapping, clashing, breaking, bending and banging that goes on in a city everyday. Travis had remembered why he had never actually come this far into the city yet, he enjoyed the silence of nature, the noises that came from life itself was peaceful and created it's own melody, here the city made only shrill screams and coughed and spat into life disjointedly. It was as if flesh and metal were scrapped together in a sickening clash that could only offend the ears. He would slow his breathing down, focusing on his heart rate, every beat of his heart it filled his ears until it drowned out the incoming noise of the city's stifled cries of torment. He was fine now, he centred himself and prepared for what he was about to face, in the city he could not use his powers to guide him through the streets. People would see his dead eye's starring blankly out into the void, here he would be crippled, he would have to play the blind man routine and make his way after the man he had set out to find originally in a now limited capacity.

Travis was unsure of how he could find his target anymore, to quieten the noise around him, he would limit how far and wide he could listen for the same footsteps he had been following the whole way here. His last reference point was just as he entered the outskirts of the city but already he could tell he was some distance behind his quarry. He was already in the city now, perhaps if he took some time and looked for leads he might stumble upon something, after all, he wasn't going to get answers in his nice calm forest or find anything new waiting for him at his rather empty house. He could only strike further into the heart of the city, even if he could only hear those sounds that were close to him now that he had shut part of his abilities down, his target had a rather unique sound when they moved, it was if there was several legs all moving at once, giving a two person foot step count to Travis' ears but he had seen him and he clearly only had two, Travis wondered was it possible that someone was gifted with super human speed just as he was given his burden of super hearing. He wished he could have traded in his gift of blindness for something much cooler like super speed or strength, he was already pretty fast, being extra strong would of been rather nice he thought as after all, ladies love a strong man who can charm them. He pushed such shallow thoughts aside for the time being as the trail was only getting colder and soon it would be dead altogether, he had to get a move on and find something solid before he could return home in peace. Where to start was the problem, this city was a sprawling Metropolis of almost never ending skyline and pavement.

He started by heading straight north into the main part of the city, he figured it would be the best place to start, if you wanted to hide somewhere, hiding in plain sight in the middle of the busy street's of the city was the perfect cover. As he walked he past many odd sights to his eye's, while trying to stumble around blindly as if he had no sight, he noticed in the city no one had time for anyone. No one ever even seemed to question why he was stumbling around, some starred at him in the eye's and saw their cold glance gazing back only to hurriedly look away and pretend they had never set eye's on him. He felt cursed, in this place no one would even so much as look at him at the best of times, even more people just walked right into him uncaringly knocking him to and fro. In his head, he thought of just knocking back at some of the people that just walked into him, he had more strength than them and he could easily push them aside and teach them a lesson in manners but he didn't want to start a fight here and now, he was aiming for something much bigger and far more important. He disliked playing blind but people weren't ready to hear of a blind man that could see, so he continued only, blindly stumbling from street to street, sometimes he would try and stop people for directions and most people just moved on and disregarded him, others started giving directions but once they noticed he was blind they would apologise faintly and walk on.

He had walked around for an hour or so, every direction he went, more people pushed and shoved, people starred and swiftly walked on and then there were those, the worst of all, who took pity from a far, exclaiming how awful it was but swiftly heading back to their own lives uncaringly not even bothering to lower their voice to talk to them. He was blind, not deaf! He had walked a fair distance now, he moved at a good pace even while pretending to stumble about in the dark so he had made quite a bit of headway through the cities busy street's. He had passed road works earlier and the breaking and busting of the machinery had almost drove him insane, those sounds so close seemed like something was literally trying to saw it's way through his head, he staggered through that whole street, no longer faking his stumble as the pain had gone through him like a knife. Falling into a small alley at the end of the street, he sat down and caught back his concentration and awareness, slowing his heart rate down again and making his beating heart the only sound he could hear in his head. He stayed locked in a trance, constantly focusing on his heart trying to block out the noise's of machines to calm himself when suddenly, he felt a sensation he wasn't expecting. Someone was tapping him gently, it was strange, the boney little fingers that poked him where that of a child, they poked his shoulder as if trying to spur him into motion, the person poking him probably thought he had passed out in the alley or something.

When Travis looked up from the ground, he was greeted by the sight of a small, young girl. She stood over him in her pretty little blue dress, a curious look on her face as she examined the man in front of her. She didn't say anything to begin with she looked over him with a well meaning gaze and smiled when her eye's met his. She held out a hand to the man and spoke in a tone of complete serenity and without fear."Hey Mister, Do you need a hand up or something?" She held her hand out for Travis but she couldn't have been more than 7 or 8, she couldn't have held his weight to help lift him up, Travis pushed himself to his feet and starred at the child with his glassy eye's starring straight at her, she didn't seem to flinch or seem all that worried by his odd appearance, she gave off an aura off deep calm and peace, she wasn't afraid. Travis was about to turn and walk away and leave her behind when she spoke once more.
"Excuse me Mister, I know your probably really, really busy but I need help, I think I'm lost and I can't find my mommy." Normally Travis would have left anyone else behind, he was busy and this was only helping him get more and more lost in this sprawling megalith of man and machine. This little girl was the first person that had treated him like he was even there at all, something about this little girl was unusual however and sure enough he gave in and agreed to help her find her family. He was trying to push through the crowd hard and fast this time, he didn't care so much, there was a little hand wrapped around his own now and swiftly he darted in and out of people without them even seeing his eye's, every now and then the little girl would chirp up and give him another direction, she led him down all sorts of streets and every now and then she would lead him down a dead end path she would giggle and only start giving him more directions. He had travelled what felt like half the town when she suddenly stopped giving directions and the grip on his hand tightened. She started to dart off into a small alley and here she pulled Travis behind a bin, he had thought nothing much off it but he started to wonder why he was hiding behind a bin with a little girl, what was she afraid off and even more so, why would he be afraid of it, he was about to ask her why they were hiding and step out from the bin's they hid behind when a noise peeked his interest.

That familiar noise, like two people running simultaneous charged past and stopped just short of where they had took up their hiding position. It was like the kid had known something was following her, though why was the guy that had been watching him in the forest fighting that creature now be hunting down a little girl. The man made no noise and silently he creeped forward, he made enough noise for Travis to hear him but the little girl would have heard only stunning silence. The footsteps crept forward until it was only a few inch's from the bins they had hidden behind, Travis was preparing to pounce on his target and unleash a sound blast to defend himself when a new noise startled the man that was stalking the small child, a rowdy bunch of drunk men came clambering down the road, cheer and jeering as they went. The man, clearly didn't want anyone raining on his parade and swiftly he bolted but not down the street, instead on the building opposite he started charging towards the wall. Travis thought he was going to run head first into the wall but instead to his amazement his ears heard the man hit the wall and he dashed with such speed it carried him up the buildings wall and soon the noise was gone as he hit the top of the building leaving everyone on the street none the wiser as to what had happened in only just a few seconds. Travis allowed the drunken yobs to pass him by before he and his new found companion ventured out from behind their hidey-hole. She still gripped his hand tightly, she seemed so apprehensive from the whole scenario but then as swiftly as she had clamped down on his hand her grip released and she let go of Travis' hand altogether now and peered around each corner and came back to meet Travis' eyes.

"Thanks, I didn't really lose my mommy, I..I just can't let that bad man find me.... You should watch out encase he comes back for you... He knows about... us.." Her voice was broken now, it seemed that talking off this man had somewhat destroyed her ever present sereneness from before. She had no sooner said the words than she had sprinted away and left Travis behind. Her words had left Travis' mind reeling, "he knows about... us" what had she meant by that? She was gone and now Travis was left with even more question and even less answers for them than ever before. He was now left standing in a part of the city he had no recollection of where it was or how he had even managed to get there, that little girl had led him so far astray he couldn't even tell if it was right or left he was to take. In the end the only thing that made any noise at that point was his stomach, he hadn't eaten in a while and his stomach growled unhappily, all these things that swirled in his head had made him forget about his poor old stomach and now it was time to eat. Without food he would have no energy to continue his search despite the feeling that with his target having already fled the scene up a high rise building, he wasn't likely to actually find him again. Stomach growling he set off once more, slowly he paced through the streets, his mind still ever over-flowing with new thoughts on what had just happened. If people had powers, Travis had the power over sound, that stalker guy was some sort of speed power and that girl, did she have the power to sense danger or something? To many thoughts filled his head as Travis stumbled on and on until eventually he came across a small little establishment that sold Coffee. Not overly interested in a hot beverage right now but perhaps they sold some small pastries or even better, a delicious bun or two would go down a treat right now.


He walked towards the front door, he had to stop to let the constant hurtling traffic go past, the screeching of brakes and honking off horns only upset his already unhappy mood, he was too hungry to think and to many troublesome thoughts buzzed around in his head after the afternoon he had just had, all he could think off was tray bakes and cakes right now, he could wash them all down with some nice hot coffee afterwards and perhaps from there with a renewed sense of purpose he could pursue the man that had stalked him back in the woods that morning. He had crossed the street and was just short off the door when he realised that there was a new noise that met his ears as he had passed the cars, the traffic lights and pedestrians streaming past him. Originally he thought the people pushing past him were just more ignorant by-stander's just pressing on to their next destination till it all came clear. There was a constant low buzzing noise, like the flicker off two pieces of material hitting against each other on mass. He knew this sound but usually there wasn't such menace to the sound. It was the buzzing off wings, those of insects, this time though it wasn't just a fly sweeping past or a ladybird grazing past his ear, this was a swarm and they sounded angry. Travis had never heard bugs so intent or driven before, whatever was going on in this coffee shop, it was not normal. Travis flung open the front doors as hard as he could, some of the bugs flew out into the street in every direction freeing up space for Travis to push himself in. His vision was blurred, all around him was one bug after another, he had to clear the room and once again his new found talents in the world of sound would come in handy yet another time. Gathering the surrounding sound from the bugs wings and the noise off the street, Travis summoned audio kinetic energy to him and slowly he leaked it out, in a frequency so low only the bugs could hear it, it would of sounded like screams off pain to their ears and soon many of the bugs fled as the low frequency resonated from Travis like a wave.

To those in the coffee shop, it would have seemed like nothing happened, just a sudden silence as the sound of wings beating was replaced with ultra sonic frequencies deterring the bugs and sending many of them flying back to their master while to the human ear it would have seemed as if all sound had just suddenly disappeared. Travis looked around the room, scanning from left to right but all the bugs had now fled at the shrill sounds he had created by using their own noise against them as his weapon of choice. Everyone seemed fine, people got up from the floor, others up out of their chairs and looked around themselves to check everything was okay. No one made any moves for a moment or two, some patted themselves down and checked nothing had been stolen in the confusion as Travis stopped using his powers and relaxed his muscles, sound returned to the coffee shop once more. It was safe now.... or so he thought as a woman standing on her own seemed to suddenly grow panic stricken and frantically began calling out another woman's name he hadn't heard before. Perhaps not all was as it should be.

Don't let the bad bugs bite

Reina hastily strode out of the library and through the university campus, passing all sorts of people, academics and pedestrians alike. Even with her time abilities, Reina had lost track in her studies and was only alerted when her stomach started growing. Before she had left to go to her lectures that morning, she and Fayth had arranged to meet up for lunch. Since Fayth had the day off, she would visit the site of where the supposedly lizard man had attacked her, which much to her disappointment, Reina was unable to join her. Still, her little feet moved with the hurried determined sense of purpose, and it was not because Reina was hungry. The thought of meeting another with a power had interested them both, though one more expressively than the other, but nevertheless, Reina was excited about the prospects. Apart from Fayth, Reina had been the only person in her home village to exhibit extraordinary abilities. Although her mother had previously possessed her own unique talents and taught Reina how to use hers, it wasn’t quite the same experience to relate and share with someone on an almost intimate level, like her friendship with Fayth.

Lost in her thoughts and in her determined haste, Reina hadn’t quite noticed when a cyclist was riding towards her from her left side. Even though the cyclist had rung her bell, Reina’s attention snapped back to reality at the very last moment before they violently collided into each other and fell into a heap of books and the bike. Both of them had landed onto each other without causing any serious injuries to one other, but it was Reina who was more shaken up by the experience.

As Reina was helped up by the cyclist and a number of other people around them, someone handed her the books she had dropped. Although, in her shocked state, they clumsily fell from her grip and Reina kneeled down to pick them back up. A moment later, Reina managed to peel herself away after reassuring the cyclist and the other people that she was fine. Yet Reina was walking away feeling far from it, as a number of thoughts rushed through her mind and worry started to set in.

Despite Reina’s usual carefulness, the deliberate clumsiness of dropping her books was a test to prove something, which was very much validated by the books hitting the ground. Before the crash with the cyclist, Reina had managed to take notice at the last moment and immediately tried to prevent the collision. Yet both outcomes confirmed what was running through her mind: what happened to her powers?

-

“Wherever he went to, it looks like someone got to him first. The Police were taping the area off, and there was a big crowd gathered around the scene. I could only get so close, but the crowd almost overwhelmed me. The Police didn’t have much, from what I picked up on. They just thought the scene was a bloody mess!”, Fayth reported to Reina on what she had found from revisiting the area earlier that day. But Fayth sensed that Reina was not entirely focused upon what she was saying.

“Rei…is everything okay? You’ve barely touched your food since you got here…”, Fayth asked worryingly. Since her arrival, Reina hadn’t interacted much and her eyes were unfocused and less intense than they were usually. Fayth could sometimes tell what was on her friend’s mind, even without having to rely on her psychic abilities as that was the nature of their friendship over the past year. But Reina was currently closed off and distant, and Fayth contemplated speaking to Reina through their telepathic connection to find out what was wrong. But just as that thought crossed her mind, Reina answered her, though it seemed to be gentler and vague than usual.

“Oh… oh, nothing much. I’m just…really tired.”, Reina said wearily, as if the words themselves had sapped her of the strength to explain it better. But Fayth would not take that for an answer.

“Bullshit.”, Fayth blurted out, which startled her friend. Despite her outburst, Fayth realised that whatever has happened to Reina, she had to remain patient and allow her friend to speak, rather than approach the topic in a coercive manner. “Sorry, Rei...what happened? Come on...you can talk to me…”

Reina hesitated for a moment, and opened and closed her mouth several times before she remained silent to choose her words carefully.

“I… I don’t know what happened… there was a bike…and it ran into me…I- I tried to stop it, but…I…I don’t know…nothing happened…”, Reina finally broke out in sobs, after what seemed like an eternity to Fayth. But she listened patiently to her friend while she tried to get the words out. “I…I think…my powers… I couldn’t use them…”

A sudden shock went through Fayth, and she was about to respond when a sensation crawled up her spine. It was almost ticklish and it felt like a thousand pins were running up the length of her back. Fayth froze, partly in shock of what Reina had said and partly because of the sensations she was experiencing. The prickling began to intensify and the sensations spread all over Fayth’s body, the feeling more itching rather than the previously gentle tickling. Suddenly, the area where Fayth and Reina sat was invaded by the abrupt burst of insects, which began to flood the floor of the street and the air was soon filled with flying insects. Panic quickly settled over the people caught in the assault of the insects, and the buzzing sounds of winged insects seemed to drown out the screams of the public.