forum @metaphoricallyella

Started August 21, 2020 by @Calanthe

tune

Saiko groaned and pointed his portal gun down at the ground, "I don't think I'd like to do that." He said with a slight smirk. He opened up a portal, fell down into it, and stepped out of one behind Poseidon, "After all, I do think this building could use a facelift, don't you? After all, it's been the same for so many years, so in fact, I'm doing the city a favor. A favor they didn't know they needed just yet." His wicked smirk grew a little bit more, "In all honesty, I do think that you should be thanking me, not trying to make me into an ice sculpture." Taking a few steps back, he aimed his portal gun down at the ground, then quickly set a location on it, "Now, if you'll excuse me, I need to get back home, I really don't want to be around when this building detonates. I'm not that much of a fool." Then he saw Drew and Clark run into the building, "Goddammit, I must be a fool then." He quickly closed the portal and turned to face Poseidon, "Alright, I'll strike up a deal with you, the bomb detonates in about a minute or so, I'll shut it off, and then get those two dorks out of there. If I do that, will you leave us alone for the time being?"

Asher lunged for the portal gun, grabbing it and smashing it on the ground. "Haha!" he laughed triumphantely. "I just smashed your stupid gun thingy!" he cried, obviously super full of himself. Asher reached out and grabbed his collar tightly, to prevent him from trying to run away again. He put on his "serious face" that he only brought out for special occasions. "Now I suggest you tell me how to deactivate the bomb before I really need to get serious," he snarled, sounding more like a house cat than the tiger he wished to be. No matter. He could still beat the crap out of Saiko, if it came down to it.

Graham looked down at the gun, "YOU IDIOT, that gun harnesses the power of black holes and other dangerous. . ." He trailed off, realizing that if he continued, he was in the position of going to ER again, it would be the second time this week thanks to Poseidon. "I told you, I'll shut off the bomb, I just need to get my minions out of there before they go down with the building." He tried to avoid looking at the frazzled debris of the gun, sparks still flying off of that, And that took me so long to build too. . . "Now, hands-off." He said trying to twist or somehow get out of the hero's grasp, "I already said that I'd help you." I'll just blow it up another day, and I won't bring those two fools with me.

"Yes sir!" Asher laughed, letting go. "I'll grab the minions, and you get the bomb!" he smiled heroically, then took off running after the two minions. "HEY! HEY YOU GET BACK HERE I'M TRYING TO SAVE YOU!!!" he yelled after the two minions, his voice growing quiter as it was muffled by the walls of the building. Asher was somewhat unnerved that he had somehow completely missed the part where Saiko said he would help, but he didn't let it get to him. He simply chased the minions down, trying not to scare them. (Well, he wasn't trying very hard. He was sprinting at full speed and yelling at the top of his lungs.) Eventually, Ash caught them both and ran back out, holding one under each arm. He beamed at Saiko. "Done! Now diffuse the bomb, please and thank you!"

Graham quickly made his way over to the bomb, and began to work at it, it wasn't too bad, but he didn't notice the new attachment to the bomb. He quickly diffused the part that he had created and then waited for Poseidon to come back. Clark and Drew were glaring up at Poseidon and struggling against him, "CAN YOU PUT US DOWN? WE ARE CAPABLE OF WALKING YOU DWEEB!" Clark yelled, kicking at Asher, Drew just stayed silent, thoroughly embarrassed to have been saved by Graham's enemy. "Okay, it's been diffused, you can put them down now." Graham said, his tone mellow as if he and Poseidon hadn't just argued. But the second he finished the sentence, a loud beeping noise was heard, and Graham turned pale under his mask. He quickly grabbed for the other two men, "RUN!" He yelled as he pulled them away, as the bomb went off and the building exploded, Didn't I diffuse it?

Asher laughed and set the minions down, before the bomb went off. "Huh! I wasn't aware these things could talk," he mulled aloud. Ash heard the beeping and paled as well. "You said you would diffuse it!" he hissed, starting to run away. However, he wasn't fast enough. The building exploded and the force of it threw Ash across the street like he was a ragdoll. He hit his head against the corner of a building hard, the world around him silent as his own ears rang loudly. His vision tilted then went black as he passed out. He was only out for a couple minutes, his instincts telling him to get up and get out before someone pulled off his mask. He stumbled to his feet, crossing back over to the bank, nearly falling a few times on debris, and grabbing the handles of his motorcycle. Asher knew the engine was busted and it would be dangerous to drive, so he began to wheel it away sadly, his suit, motorcycle, and pride all sorely damaged.

"We can talk, we're humans too." Drew muttered, as Graham pulled them to safety. Once the explosion had mostly ended, well, when it was safe to come out, Graham pulled out a backup portal gun, one that he was still working on, and set to it to take him and the other's bac to his lair. Once they got back safely, Graham hurried to his room locking the door behind him so he could watch the news and figure out what he had done wrong. He knew that he had diffused it, but Poseidon didn't know that. And the next time they meet Graham knew that he would be in big trouble. He changed out of his suit and then turned on his TV, as usual, the news was what was on, and instead of ignoring it, since it normally sung the praises of Poseidon and other heroes, listened in. "Today, the First National Bank has been destroyed by the notorious villain Saiko." Hhmph, at least they got my name right for once. But after a while he got bored of them speaking about all the money the city had "lost". He turned off the TV and leaned back on his bed, "What have I done? Poseidon is going to murder me the next time he sees me."

"I'm going to murder Saiko the next time I see him," Asher muttered, pulling his bike into his house through his secret entrance. He threw it down, already knowing it was beyond repair, and quickly changed into jeans and a sweatshirt. He groaned and sat on his couch, his wounds still throbbing. Ash looked over at his expensive guitar he had been saving up for, then looked away. He knew he would have to sell it to pay for his bike, all thanks to Saiko. Asher shook his head and flipped on the tv, set to the news station. There were the obvious reports of how much money the city had lost, but then there was something different. Was it… criticism? Against POSEIDON??

"…didn't, in fact, save the city, but may have made the situation worse. How valuable are heroes…."

Asher groaned again and shut off the tv. All thanks to Saiko, he was about to lose his job as a hero. And it's not like his other job at the hospital paid well. One mistake, and the city throws him away. Figures.

@crenex28

Graham had gotten bored of hiding in his home for the past couple of weeks, and had decided to go and find Poseidon, and hopefully apologize. He knew that the hero's bike had been destroyed, so during that time, he had been working on a new one for him, personalizing it a bit for him, in hopes that if he did find the hero, he wouldn't be killed on the spot. It wasn't that he liked the hero or anything, but he figured that he should at least do something out of courtesy. He opened up a portal from his home, and onto the street where Poseidon was. He stepped out of it silently, and quietly approached the hero, "Poseidon, uhm could we talk?"

Poseidon was basically moping around on the street, looking for crime. He looked up at Saiko. "What?" he asked softly. "Saiko, you know you ruined my life, right? I know you don't care, and you hate me and whatever, but you did ruin my life. The city thinks I'm incompetant now, and I had to sell my guitar - the one thing that brought me joy in this life - to pay for a new bike. So really, I have nothing left but a dead-end job cleaning up poop. So what could possibly make this all better, Saiko?" he asked. This was extremely out of character for Asher, as usually he was happy-go-lucky and pretty carefree and laidback. Life had gotten to him, apparently.

Graham motioned for the other man to move back into the alleyway behind him, not wanting anyone to see that they were talking, "Well, I'm really sorry about that, but I swear to you, on my mother and father's graves, that I had diffused that bomb. I know it must seem like I didn't, and that I tricked you, but I didn't." He sighed softly, looking down at the ground out of embarrassment. His normal bravado, and over the top exterior had faded a little bit, "Well, I did want to formally apologize to you, so I made you this." He moved over to where he had hid the bike he had created, and wheeled it over to Poseidon, "Hopefully you'll use it in good health. And I promise you, I didn't rig it or anything. Hopefully, you believe me when I say that." He looked down at Asher his mask covering up the emotion on his face, "Look, I may not like you, but I do have morals, and a conscience, although they are lacking a bit, but I do know when I need to make something right, or do something nice for someone else. Which is normally once a year, but that's beside the point, do know that I want to make it up to you. So uhm, you have the right to defeat me right now and bring me into the authorities, if you'd like."

Asher stared at the bike, not knowing what to say. There was a small stretch of silence, and then he looked at Saiko again. "I'm not going to beat you up. I feel like we could've been friends, in different circumstances," he smiled softly. "I know you didn't have to do this, so I'm really grateful. I am…" he trailed off softly, not sure what to say anymore besides that. Ash just shook his head slowly and hopped on the bike, turning it on and revving the engine. He glanced around, to make sure no one was watching. Quickly, Ash pulled up his mask, revealing his face. He smiled. "Call me Asher, when we're not beating each other up?" he requested gently, then pulled his mask back down and sped back off to his house. He parked the bike in the garage and flopped on his couch.

What did I just do?

Graham shrugged, "I never said you had to beat me up, I said you could take me to the authorities and make yourself look good again. I'd be able to escape from them, tops an hour." But it didn't seem like the other man cared about that. He opened up another portal and started to step into it when he heard the other boy speak again. Then he looked at the other man in disbelief, Why in the world is he showing me his. . .Good Lord, this boy's an idiot, I just gave one of my greatest vehicles to an idiot. But instead of chewing out the other guy, he just forced a smile, "Alright, Asher." He mumbled as he watched the other boy leave, "Welp, it's time to create some mayhem!" He said calling into the portal, Now that I got that covered, let's go have some fun. His two frie-minions-came out from the portal and stood behind him, "So, what would you like to do today boys?" The two guys groaned, "We're not doing anything today, we want to sleeeeep." Clark said, giving Graham the stink eye, "Fine you guys can go back home then, but I'm." He didn't even get to finish his sentence before the other two boys rushed back into the portal, closing it behind them. "Well, then I'll go out to lunch." He pressed a button on his suit that caused it to go into a bracelet on his wrist. Then, ever so casually, he strolled out onto the streets of the city, towards his favorite restaurant.

((Yeah…. Asher is NOT very smart))

Asher shook his head quickly and hopped on his slightly older bike, racing to the dealership without his mask on. He sold his bike, then pocketed the money and bought his guitar back. Asher ran home, threw the guitar onto his couch, then raced off to the hospital for his job. He washed his hands, pulled on his gloves, and started to change the bedpans again that everyone had decided to leave just for him. Eventually, he had enough time to slip out for a quick break. Asher took off his gloves and threw them away, then trotted out of the hospital towards the nearest restaurant, which happened to be the same one Saiko was going to.

((I can tell, but I have Graham who thinks he's a genius, but really isn't, just a big conceited nerd))

After enjoying a peaceful lunch, Graham started to walk back towards him home when he got a bright idea. And when I say bright, I mean a dumbed idea, but to him, it seemed like a good one at the moment. He headed into another alley way, trying to use a shortcut when he heard a familiar voice behind him, OH SHIT. . . He turned around and found himself facing one of the city's other villains, Storm. _I can't even do anything, or I might get caught. But, she seemed to recognize him, probably due to having seen him either in the hospital or in custody of the authorities. Either or, she really didn't like him, at all to be frank. Without even saying a word, anger flashing in her eyes, she attacked Graham. About forty minutes later, Graham found himself in a hospital room, lying on a bed, "Oh gods, where am I?" He pushed himself to a sitting position, or tried to, looking around trying to pinpoint his location so he could get out as quickly as possible. But he winced, feeling a sharp pain on his back, "Shit." He mumbled, lying back down.

Asher finished his meal, just narrowly avoiding Graham. He snuck back into the hospital and washed his hands again, throwing on some gloves after he had dried his hands. A nurse stopped him just before he was about to go to another room. "Graham is back again," she rolled her eyes.
"Really? Again? What kind of trouble does that man get into?" he muttered, going to Graham's room. Asher walked in, smiling at Graham. "Hey, Graham. Long time no see, what was it, a week ago?" he laughed, beginning to do a regular vitals check. They had met in the hospital before, since Graham was there so often and Asher worked there. However, Asher had never given Graham his name, and was just used to being referred to as "nurse" by all of the patients. "What was it this time?" he laughed.