Erich stands at the edge, careful not to slip on the snow and plummet to an untimely demise— he doubts even his powers can stop him from dying that way. He’s considered both in past; launching off the side of a building only to seize time at the last second, somehow saving himself. As well as simply not bothering to stop and letting himself fall till the pavement meets his skull for a moment of squelching unity.

Tonight, Erich is unreasonably daring. The Vie courses through his veins, lighting the usual white night in Xoxia with colour and vibrancy he’s sure only he can see. Over his shoulder Austin’s crew murmurs amongst themselves, keeping a safe distance even though he’s teetering on a ledge. Their words jumble with the sound of the wind and drizzling snow, every one of them stained with fear, caution and disgust. Erich couldn’t care less, he isn’t meant to be here to begin with and however much distrust they feel towards him, his loyalty has already been proven, time and time again.

Erich backs away from the ledge, turns and finds Neil hanging by the rooftop door waiting with the few of his lackeys he’s brought along. Tied to his side are two black boxes and strapped to the back of his waist is a larger white pack—tech pieces from Desire’s shop. He glares off at snow gathered at his feet and over the city before meeting Erich’s eyes and shifting uncomfortably. On a normal day he wouldn’t and Erich wouldn’t derive such glee from making him uncomfortable.

As much as the humans would like to deny Neil’s pathetic nature and theirs as well, it doesn’t help when Vertigo spits it out loud and clear for everyone, albeit while torturing Erich. Snorting, Erich looks back over the ledge, narrowing his eyes at the target for tonight— a three storey building unlike the near skyscraper they congregated on. A tight perimeter of patrolling Lynx, well-armed with rifles, pistols and all the launchers Neil can't have form around it. They are like ants from up here, large, fierce ants that would fire indiscriminately at anyone or thing that makes it too close to their factory.

Cars and vans occupy the small parking lot and periodically their men will fill them up, send them out to the rest of the city in armed convoys Vertigo would then attack. But not tonight. Tonight the target is the factory itself, the little cheap knockoff Vie manufactory the Lynx stole from Vertigo and Vertigo stole from whoever was unfortunate to own it in the first place.

According to Austin’s plan, reclaiming this will gauze the bleeding in Vertigo’s deep pockets but more importantly, if they can find and kill the villain responsible for stealing it away in the first place it would deal yet another crippling blow to the gang of Beastards.

These are the kind of operations Erich never wants to be a part of, the risk of meeting the kind of villain that would put even TV on his back foot isn’t one he ever wanted to take. Sticking a finger under his jacket sleeve, Erich soothes the sore stripped points from where Vertigo ripped away the meta-suppressants— they weren’t meant to come off like that, the doctor said the security backend codes were disabled and he could rip them off once they started to loosen but not before. The abruptness could mess with his powers, at least he thought so, they were suppressants after all, but at the same time it’s unlikely anything would mess with his powers as much as Vie.

It’s the Question’s theory that Vie wasn’t made to make humans equal to metas but instead to ensure metas remained superior in every way. A human consuming a dose of Vie like he had would be high on synthetic powers for days, weeks and even months in the extreme cases. During that time their body would depreciate faster than their mind can keep up with and if they aren’t dead from their first dose, then they’ll be addicted and dependent on Vie for life.

On the other hand, Erich will only feel this way for twelve hours to a day if he’s lucky and addiction is out of the question. The vibrant pulse of it in his veins is as alluring as he expected it to be but even meta’s could fall into dependency and depression from overuse but he isn't going to let himself become one of them.

The door kicks open dispersing Neil and his posse from its sides as Austin and a two others haul in wrapped, long boards onto the roof. Neil is quick to help as everyone gathers around, curious to how we’re getting onto the factory rooftop once TV launches his attack.

Austin, Neil and some other goon tear away the wraps and lay the boards out, three of them longer than any of us was tall yet wielding only one pair of bootstraps for a passenger. The rest of the body past the strappings are riddled with metal fixtures. One of the boards has its coverings degraded and reveals the liquid engine flowing through and over notches where chips and other devices Erich couldn’t make sense of lay underneath.

“Snowboards?” Neil says with a huff of vapour.

Austin doesn’t spare a word, he takes his boots off and ties the lace so it hangs over his neck. He picks one of the boards and heads over to the edge barefoot to begin straining his foot into one of the board straps. Grunting as he pops his larger than average feet in, he looks over his shoulder at Erich and raises an eyebrow.

Without a word Erich follows suit, reaching for one of the two boards only for Neil to snatch it away, leaving him with the board stripped of its protective coverings. Not missing a beat, Erich picks the last board and heads to the edge to tie his laces together and hang over his shoulder like Austin and now Neil.

The goons feeling left behind gather and spectate in silence as Austin hops onto the ledge completely, both feet strapped onto the board he crouches and flicks a button behind the strap, plays with his watch and in a second his board thrums to life with a grind, lifting him up a foot in the air and allowing him to pivot around and face the gathered crew.

“Alright, it’s not jetpacks but it’s all Desire could come up with for this sitch, so no complaints about them and no wreaking them. If you can’t trust yourself not to fuck it up stay up here and guard our six.” He says loud and clear for all eight of us, he searches our faces, nods and adds when no one backs off, “Good, Erich, Neil and I will go first, the boards are linked to my watch so I’ll send them back up here for the next set so do what I did when it gets to your turn, got it?”

“Aye sir!”

Erich and Neil follow suit, flicking the switch behind the board straps and flailing once it comes to life. Fluid rushes through Erich’s naked board, the pipes lead and branch from one chip to another notch, heating up his feet through the straps as metal coils on either end of the board whine and grind to lift his weight.

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“All you have to do is stay perfectly still, don’t try any stunts, let me pilot it.” Austin says with a finger gliding over his watch, syncing up with the boards and guiding them gently over the ledge until there’s nothing but air and snow between Erich and the pavement several feet below.

“Haha, knowing Desire one of these might glitch out before we’re all on the other side.” Neil says in a nervous laugh.

“Not funny.”

“I don’t feel so good.” Erich says, hands spread out on either side to keep up his poor balance as a world of colour attacks his senses. He shuts his eyes and swallows the bile threatening to pour out and counts the seconds that pass. The tip of his fingers tingle at the whipping cold and his feet tell a different story of the rapid heating fluid flowing underneath the boots.

“Hang on, no sudden movements until I tell you it’s fine.” Austin’s voice warbles in a distance even though he’s a pace away, “You’ll get a chance to breathe once we’re atop the rooftop. Erich, you hear me don’t you?”

Erich gives a weak nod, scared that movement alone will topple him forward and flat on the snowy streets below. Where’s that Vie induced daring when you need it?

After too long Erich finds stability on the cold, snowy rooftop, falling flat on his ass and struggling to pull his feet out the board. Neil struts over, done with his and scowling down at Erich who still has both feet in and a head full of snow.

“Austin…the kid doesn’t look so good, really.” He says, a bare hint of concern staining his words, “I know its cold out but should he be this pale?”

“Leave him, he’s been through a lot and there’s more to come. Take the board off, quick!” Austin yells and Erich rolls his head to look up at him from the snow. He taps and drags a finger along his watch, the boards thrum into activity and climb back up the heights they descended with ease.

His head stops spinning and the colours filter back into a single wavelength. Blinking away the growing vertigo Erich attempts to pick himself up only to empty out his stomach all over the floor.

“Ah fuck man. Austin are yo-”

Austin snaps at Neil in a hush, “Don’t take it up with me, take it up with Vertigo, this is his doing. Vie and meta-suppressants, fucking hell. Let’s get everyone over here first, if he’s still the same then we can think about what next but the mission goes on, Vertigo wants her dead more than anything and TV is waiting for our signal.”

It's odd to hear Neil stand up for him, even though nothing comes of it and he likely only did so out of concern for his own safety— an ill meta-human, especially one hopped on Vie is never the best kind of meta to be around in any case, least of all a heist-assassination. Erich spits the bitter taste out of his mouth and brings himself upright against the ledge of the factory’s rooftop, watching Austin guide the second set down from the skyscraper across the street.

The factory smells of sweets. Having never been to a Vie manufactory it’s startling and curious to smell cotton candy wafting throughout what is supposed to be a heavily guarded Lynx drug operation. He imagines the lot of those furry beasts licking the sugar off their fur and purring at its tastes.

“Haha…”

“Something funny, Erich?” Austin asks, his brow furrowed in concentration.

“It smells like candy here.” Erich says breathlessly.

Austin narrows his eyes at him but snaps back to his watch right after, murmuring, “Neil, do you smell anything?”

“Aside from the frozen clots of blood stuck up my nose? No.” He folds his arms and leans by Erich, scoffing, “Never reacted this way to Vie, he’s a meta, what’s wrong with him?”

Austin spares Neil a glare, “Did you give Vertigo the same dose you take or did you fill up the damn syringe?”

At that Neil shuts up, straightening up by the ledge as a second goon set tumble onto sweet land, gasping their panicked hearts out. Neil sighs and says to Erich, “You can put on your shoes now, if you can.” He walks off to help them get off their boards before Erich registers his words and pulls his tied shoes through the snow.

The cotton candy must just be me then, another effect of Vie. How long had it been since he had the dose? Couldn’t be twelve hours already judging by the fading effects and hungover symptoms he’s beginning to have. The meta-suppressants have a hand in his reaction, as much as it being his first time did. Erich shakes his head clear of the thoughts, spits out another bitter wad and straps his boots on, whatever the case is, the effect is beginning to wear off and with it, the supposed elongated effects on his powers— which was meant to be the entire point of taking the venomous drug in the first place.

Taking his time to get up, stretch and rattle his body awake from the mess it’s been through, Erich watches the last set descend a lot faster than the last as Austin’s watch dings and rings, causing more than a line of wrinkles to form on his forehead. Once the last set crashes onto the rooftop he snaps a finger at Neil and points to the door before swiping his watch to answer.

“We’ve landed, getting in contact with…yeah, right. I’ll let you know.” His call ends and Austin’s eyes fall on Neil who’s leaned by the single rooftop entrance. Neil raises a hand and has the crew wait as he whispers something into his watch or to the door.

Erich groans and shifts closer as everyone gathers their things and readies for a fight. Then without warning the door swings open, revealing a fluorescent lit hallway and blue walls splattered in blood.

Austin curses instantly and swipes on his watch, “We move in now, TV will be here in a second.” He bounds ahead, sliding his blaster out of its holster and wearing his brass knuckles.

The crew follows after him, pulling out their pistols, axes, custom bats and power gauntlets in Neil’s case. Erich wears his BlastKnuckles, checks on his knife hidden at his side and gulps as he approaches the door, “Weren’t we supposed to meet up with someone?”

As the words leave his mouth enough of the crew strolls inside the factory, giving space to reveal the source of all the blood. Two Lynx men lie dead in pools of their own blood but a man leans up against the stairwell leading down to the rest of the building, his cheek sliced off and guts ripped out. Neil stands over him, grinding away at his teeth and attempting to bend the metal of the rail with his bare hands.

“You might need your gauntlets for that.” Austin says, stepping over the bodies.

“Don’t you want to know what happened here? What happened to him?” Neil seethes through gritted teeth. He unties the small boxes hung at his waist and presses his fists into an opening, watching with some satisfaction as the metal springs like liquid to swallow his hands in a layered coat of spikes with two tube dangling from each new fist. He attaches the tube to the larger white pack behind him and the metal clinks with a puff of steam as it whirs to life, feeding a black fluid through and spurring further growth of the gauntlets till they covered his entire forearm like dragon scales, fuelled by regenerative nanomite and fury.

“He must’ve got caught somehow, died fighting to keep it…us a secret. Be grateful he managed to kill them both…however he did.” Austin says, holding up his blaster and eying the hallway downstairs, “Now focus, please, Erich you too. We’re splitting up into teams the moment we get TV’s signal. Erich, you two, you’re with me. Neil, take care of the rest and try to be quiet about it.”

An explosion rattles the building, raining granules of concrete down their heads. Austin leans away from the stair and waves for everyone to do the same as hurried footsteps take after it, cursing and yelling profanities on Vertigo’s name as gunshots echo on the outside. Growls, howls and caws quickly follow as the factory empties itself of Lynx men rushing to meet TV’s wroth of chaos outside.

Slamming his fists together Neil bares his teeth, “I guess that’s our cue.”