C R E S C E N T

act v - the command center, pt.2

All she can remember is a not-so-subtle shrinking of the portions of her dinner that didn't leave her feeling full at all. Imani's middle school years were full of convincing herself that her parents wanted the best for her, and even though her 'extra weight' shed as soon as puberty hit in high school, those lasting effects of that treatment have her in the gym nearly every other day.

            "No." Imani murmurs to herself. "We're not doing this again..." As soon as she steels herself against the temptation, the center gem affixed to the bow on her chest starts to flash, and then suddenly she feels a rush of magic marquee from right to left across her face. She stumbles back a couple of steps and turns to look at her reflection in one of the broken windows of a store front, a blue tinted visor has affixed itself to her face. Her eyes widen, the HUD overlay covers the world around her and it immediately reminds her of the dream she had. "That was... that really was me in that dream? What the hell?!"

Imani hears a deep inhale coming from behind her. Her heart sinks into her stomach as the goggles blink red, sensing something coming at her fast.

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Groaning for only a half a second as he gets thrown into one of the park benches, Clarence tumbles on to the ground from the impact, yelps and then quickly rolls out of the way of the demon's bladed arm stabbing into the concrete like butter where his head would've been two seconds ago. "Not that I expected this to be a walk in the park, I really didn't imagine my first trip here would be where I'm the one 'bout to be on the grill."

The demon snarls at him in a different language and shoots another round of sharp, knife-like feathers at him. Clarence hurls out an electromagnetic shield at the last minute while he scrambles to his feet. Unfortunately a feather flies by him faster than he could generate the wall, and he doesn't realize that it sliced his cheek open until he feels a surge of excitement and the blood dripping down his face. He realizes it, grins, and then trades his shield for his fists, raising them up and lapsing into muscle memory. Light on his feet.

            "Stay down lil nigga!" There were too many voices for him to discern who said that, but he remembers being so determined not to look like a punk. He grunted and groaned as he got back to his feet, his adrenaline was running out. He was starting to feel the pain of his busted lip, the throb of the shiner on his left eye, the ache of his ribs. They'd knocked him on his ass and kicked him when he was down, but he didn't stop getting back up.

There was defiance in his expression, eyes hard as he stared all of his opponents in the face, thankfully there was a brick wall behind him rather than more people. They laughed as he struggled to keep his balance, open mouthed cackling. They'd taken all of his stuff. The new Polo shirt that he'd purchased just a day ago, his Jordans, even his backpack. He stood there shirtless and woozy, his homework scattered across the pavement half damp with dirty footprints on it, body ready to tap out. He refused to stay down.

            "You wanna go again? Fine."

He'd exhausted all of his tactics. Trying to fight the one with the nastiest gaze didn't turn out like he thought it would the last time. He didn't have the energy to say anything else, he couldn't talk his way out of this one. Too deep into it. The only thing strong enough to push him forward was his own pride, and it got him knocked unconscious and a week's stay at the local hospital.

            "Bring it on, bitch." He leaps at the demon.

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There's a warm, summer wind blowing around him that should be comforting, but it just makes him worry about Imani, Andre and Clarence. There's anxiety starting to crawl up his throat the more he thinks about them, he shouldn't be worried about them at all. They have a way to defend themselves. Water, Fire, and Lightning all come to their aid whenever they summon it. Sameer could even feel their respective powers washing over him during their transformations. Either one of them could take a boomerang and fucking throw it.