To The Bat Cave! [OPEN]

Feet hummed over the surface of the water as if it were a flat surface. Being nothing but a blur of skin and flares of red as clothes burned off of the body. The movement of the creature was unlike any fish, and couldn't be recorded by any camera. All that would be captured were the fragments of cloth that were being shed into the water. And the displacement of water where the boys feet had been. Caleb Harlem Wright. The Fastest Man Alive. Well, boy really, but he thought of himself as a man. The blistering winds that snatched at his hair nearly pulling it out of his skull made him feel alive. The ripple of his cheeks that were almost torn asunder made him laugh. A noise that was carried away by the noise. Waves of water parted as he ran, his speed so much that the wind carried behind him acted upon areas he had been second ago. On his feet, you could see rubber soles being worn away, soaked and oiled black by the disgusting water he ran on. Caleb smiled, but there was no one there to catch the crooked tooth smirk. Only the wind whistled at him.

Caleb's reasoning for this trip was that he needed somewhere to be when he wanted to be alone, which was rarely. Exploring Sigma was fun, but he needed a lair. All good superheroes had their own lair. A place of solitude. A secret sanctum that's theirs alone. And in front of him was his. A large hole cut into the side of a cliff that overlooked the vast ocean. Close to Xychus City. Caleb slowed his feet, coming into focus and feeling the cold whip across his now naked body. He came to a full stop once he touched ground. His feet soaking wet and his sneakers worn away, leaving nothing behind except the threads of shoelaces. Though he had no shame, no one would be around to see him. And when he went back to the apartments he had packed a bag full of extra clothes. Along with it, extra food. The heavy backpack hadn't impeded his run at all. In fact, he felt it was more of a workout this way. If you looked at him, he wasn't half the imposing figure he thought he was.

The boys stomach was cut so thin it was almost nonexistent, sucked down below his chest like a tan black hole. His chest heaved exhaustedly and his face was thin. You could see his cheek bones. In fact, his whole body was thin, you could feel the bone beneath them. But he was also muscular, at least around his legs and hips. It was the price to pay for his extraordinary power. His backpack bulged at least twice his size, the anorexic boy walked into the cave doggedly, compared to the superspeed he had shown before, he wasn't moving at all. He was tired, and hungry, and wet. His teeth chattered at the cold as he retreated into the cave dropping the pack on the wet ground and looking into the creepy darkness. He shied closer to the water, wondering what type of bats aliens had. Probably even more vicious ones than in the graveyards of Italy. He chuckled at the fond memory of his brave escapades in the middle of the night, to see if the dead truly rose like in the stories.

He dumped the contents of his pack out onto the ground mixed in with the clothes was a buffet of human like food. Which he truly needed. He was naturally a big eater, but he burned calories so fast he had to eat even more than what was humanly possible just to make sure he didn't fly off in a heavy wind. He scratched at his neck, still feeling the collar that had been on his skin before. He had lost it a long time ago. Phasing out of it by vibrating his molecules extremely fast. It was the perfect use of his powers, but left him exhausted. He wiped at his soaking wet face, it wasn't just sweat but grimy water as well. Giving his face, and especially his teeth a disgusting black quality. Flies often flew into your mouth when running faster than any jet plane could.

[FAIL]

Ronny sat at the end of the cave, crystals sparkling off the back with a purple-ish shine and allowing all eyes from all of the cave dwellers to glow. It was a fine looking material, one that he wanted to keep for himself, but he hadn't the strength nor tools to pull one out. He crouched on the ground, about a foot away from the wall, looking at the ground as he stacked stones boredly. He'd... woken up here, strangely enough. He didn't know how he got here, he didn't know why, he didn't know when, he was given no answers, no clue, and no way off this little island. He barely knew where he was. Near Xychus somewhere. He could tell by the smell. When he awake, he was given a welcome by his forehead companion and nothing else after that. He'd been here in silence and darkness, waiting, thinking, too afraid to feel afraid.

He'd checked all around, even went into the small, short passages that led to more walls and creepier things. There were odd creatures, residue from what he thought was waste, and slight dampness. Occasionally he would hear the screech of a small creature become another's meal, or the call of another one, and when he did, he always replied with two knocks on the ground with the stone, as if it meant something. It seemed like it did, because every time he would do it a feeling of approval would go off in his head, or something like it. He didn't know, he pondered it until his thoughts became the same and then he went back to sleep just so he could wake up back here, in this place. He had no food... no usable water. He'd die here surely. Without being here a day he'd already gone over his thoughts of the days he had in the apartment, the ones that seemed eventful only when he was asleep. He never spent much time there, only fooling around somewhere in Xychus, sometimes Pusanem. He seemed to have figured out the whole area within a week or two. It wasn't hard to navigate and it wasn't hard to figure out where not to go. Quite literally, everything was marked.

I probably should have spent more time with other people, he thought. He never did much with them because most of the time they were fighting or negative or just plain boring. It seemed like all humans do on Sigma was gripe and that really did push the pan away from the dog. There were very few positive ones and these ones didn't seem to come into the picture very often. Great. Now he felt anti-social. Stuck in a cave by unknown means and he wanted to start figuring out he was that kid. Great.

Ronny stood up and sighed, the hours not going by fast enough. He kicked down his stack, causing creatures he didn't see to scatter about, squeaking as their claws scrapped against the ground, making a sound like clashing marbles. He groaned, his voice echoing out to the end of the cave. He needed something to do, but there was nothing. He could check outside again, but that was so depressing, to walk outside and then back in and outside again, just to see the same thing and thinking every time there's a chance to escape. It was a horrible feeling, but like a machinist he couldn't keep himself from indulging in it.

He looked back, seeing not a shred of light from being so deep. He decided he'd go, but soon. No, what was the point of waiting, he might as well disappoint himself now. Ronny turned around and started to head towards the entrance, having a good couple yards before he saw the first rays. The monotonous echo of his feet hitting the ground, slowly became the rhythm of an instrumental piece that he made up in his head. The only instruments being random sound he could make up that might look good. Sometimes he switched it and added lyrics so it was a type of song, but then a long break would come in with more instruments.

He had counted the steps the last time he went there and there was exactly on thousand eight hundred and forty five, give or take a couple steps depending on how wide he was going. He was at step... nine hundred fifty? Scratch that, he was higher. He'd lost count. Well... he lost count. At that point he decided to stop. It was maybe five more minutes before he reached the mouth of the cave, actually meeting something... well, new. Instead of the rolling black sea he was met with the naked body of an anorexic person who looked... slightly familiar.

"Nice to meet you!?" He said with shock, stopped mid-step.

Caleb was startled to his feet by the rolling growl of a monster. It sounded humongous, it's tone echoing through the cave and into his ear drums. Almost the instant his ears heard the sound he was on his feet, ready to use his powers to fight. He was thankful that his power had inadvertently given him super reflexes. Almost nothing got past him. Any loud noises would send the boy skittering away at light speed. But this was different. He didn't have the energy to start running. If he did he could only imagine the horrible pain of his stomach being ripped to shreds and him flopping on to the sea to be devoured by strange fish. It wasn't a very happy image. The boy looked at his half finished breakfast and wondered if his power went to super fast eating as well. But that would be provide a choking hazard. It would be better not to risk it. Instead, he moved towards the exit of the cave, it was the only getaway point he wanted to have access to it, if this fight came to fisticuffs.

The cold air wrapped around him like a frosty blanket of snow. God... Why couldn't the aliens have a tropical climate? Or better yet individual heaters. Usually his speed warmed him up, but not when he was running near a cool and wet ocean. Footsteps sounded, and Caleb realized that the beast might not be as big as he thought it would be. But it could still put up a fight. He didn't have to hypothesize how big an alien's fists are, or if they eat you alive or drag you to their own secret hide out first. What if he was in their secret hideout? Picking up a yellow spotted fruit that somewhat resembled a pair, he kicked into the air, watching it fall down towards him, but in a split second three things happened. One, his leg seemed to disappear, two the pear vanished also, three, the juice from the object burned his eyes like acid. The pear like fruit was flying through the air at over a hundred miles per hour. Already it was beginning to be torn apart by the wind friction, having already been decimated by Caleb's kick.

You'd be awesome at kickball, if you knew your own strength. he said to himself. He could hear a distant splatter, that slightly resembled a tractor running over the skull of a human being. And instantly knew his assault had missed. Could he risk kicking more food at this offender? Probably not. He'd need his energy for fighting, not performing useless tasks. As a foot finally planted itself beyond the reach of darkness. Caleb's hopes were crushed. He had imagined he'd be fighting a fire breathing dragon, or at least a gelatinous but still menacing alien. Not one of his own kind. A human boy. One that wasn't familiar. But really, none of them were familiar to them, he much preferred to stay by himself, or attempt to be one of the faceless members of a crowd, never standing out. But this boy... Who had stumbled upon his layer, could he be trusted to keep this a secret? Most likely not. He couldn't just trust every ragamuffin off the street like Batman. He needed someway to regulate these frequent visitors to his hangout.

The boy stepped fully into the light and Caleb glared at him for a moment, before one of them spoke. 'Nice to meet you!?' a tone laced with shock, but at what. He looked behind him for a second, but looked back almost instantly, classic villain trick to catch the hero while he wasn't looking. But this boy seemed actually and genuinely surprised. But at what? The pear kicker, took a wary step forward, wanting to get a little closer so that he wouldn't waste energy getting to the boy if it came to blows. His hands curled into fists and he stuck his lower lip out. Mimicking the frightening pose of many an action hero stars. And then speaking the age old adage, "What are you looking at, punk?" Inside of himself he was giggling, wondering if he looked as cool as he felt. Of course he did, what with his... sunken stomach and tight cheek bones? Yeah, he was menacing. Caleb spit on the ground, copying yet another action movie star. But in that movie, he actually spit acid and it had some meaning to it, but he still liked the movement.

A chilling breeze swept over him, and for once he looked down. He gaped, for the first time noticing his nudity. A red blush over took his cheeks, well, not just his cheeks but really his whole body. And without a thread of clothing it made it all the more visible. He chuckling nervously, he began to shy away, forgetting his extra set of clothes that were lying on the ground. The burn marks that covered his legs and even part of his upper body itched against the cold. And in his humiliated state, he felt even more frozen. Though his body was warm all over. Maybe now was the time for superspeed, if he could just get away then this whole thing could be forgotten. But, this was a human, that instantly meant they shared apartments. Oh, if only he were wearing a mask. No one would know what he looked like, and then he truly could disappear with the wind.

In the back of the cave, unnoticed by the other two humans for the most part, sat Raimaru. His dull silver eyes were distant as he gazed off at something random in space, his listless thoughts focusing on nothing in particular. Upon hearing the commotion, he idly turned his head. More to observe his "room-mate" than anything. His mouth pressed into a thin line.

Shouldn't the other boy have been back by now? The artificial curiosity from his diamond gave a small shimmer of life to his eyes. Making not a sound, he rolled forwards on the balls of his feet, standing in a fluid, graceful motion. Standing he appeared even shorter. Which seemed impossible.

But the new Raimaru didn't care about that. Instead he walked towards the cave entrance, blinking as the light instantly hurt his eyes. He didn't flinch or anything at the naked boy in their home. Instead he looked at them both, eyes half-lidded to avoid the bright light.

His expression seemed to say: "What should I do?", even though he betrayed no emotion. At first glance it would seem he was trying to control his emotions. Instead, he was receiving a flash of the irritating anger and betrayal from the crystal-clear diamond in his pocket.

Good god. Uh... What the hell? He looked away, focusing his eyes on a rock out in the water. How long would it take to erase this from his mind? "You do have some clothes, right?" Ronny asked. He didn't see any clothes, but then again he hardly noticed anything else. He wished there was someone in here that could fix this with a snap of a finger, but of course there wasn't. Maybe at the apartments. He looked behind him and saw Raimaru behind them, looking like he had when he first saw him here.

Ronny had thought, at first, that he was the one had brought him here, which was wrong, but it did disturb him... a lot actually. He didn't want to turn into a rape buddy, but in actuality he seemed to have ended up here on his own for an undefined amount of time, saying nothing and seeming to do as he was told which was odd. The emotionless soul didn't even react to blatant nudity before the both of them.

In the second it would take Ronny to look away Caleb was already dressed, his new outfit containing of a hoodie of a dark blue color, and loose sweat pants, that were easier to get into than any of those tight nylon skinny jeans. He brushed his white hair back, his embarrassment flooding away, but the memory still fresh in his head. It'd be a while before this 'incident' was forgotten. "Clothes, oh yeah." And as he finished the sentence, he noticed someone else. A boy that stared at him with a thousand yard glare that peered into nothingness. He was like one of those vegetable zombies that moaned and groaned for hours before you shot their heads off. He didn't even want to know what the two boys had been doing in the back of the cave. Possibly brain washing. That's usually what happened in these secluded locations. Caleb cocked his neck to one side and raised an eyebrow. What a peculiar pair, but only one seemed to be a mindless zombie. Hm... Maybe this other boy had escaped and it was his job to end this tragedy!

After a elongated lunch of course. His stomach roared at him to get a move on with snacking and Caleb complied as he fell forward onto his knees, eating at the food wildly. His skinny limbs a blur as he grabbed at the food and slammed it down to his throat. It felt like ashes on his tongue, but it was better than nothing, as he swished the cave dirt around in his mouth. In but moments, what might have taken twelve people to eat in ten minutes, was gone. Smacking the bits of food from his mouth, Caleb noticed Ronny again. He was still there? Of course, he was. Slapping at his face and trying to look as presentable as possible Caleb stood up, bright eyed and with a wild gleam in his jagged tooth smile. "This might not be your preferred way to meet me, but, hey. I'm... Donald." Yep, Donald. What a great lie... Wait, didn't he have to see this boy at the apartments soon? Crap, fake names were always a bad idea, even in movies where anything seemed to be possible.

Raimaru just stared, a faint ray of sunlight breaking into the cave and reflecting from his eyes. Not a normal person's eyes, that was for sure. They weren't all cloudy and gray, as a blind person's would be. But there was no light, no life to them. They just stared, dull, expressionless.

When he spoke, the sound barely carried past his lips. His voice was long disused. He closed his mouth, as if contemplating what to say. Then, with a slight tightening of his thin, pale lips, he didn't speak. Just stared at the two boys with mournfully empty eyes.

OOC: You gave me nothing to work with. :I

Looking back, Ronny saw the boy fully dressed and moving at impossible speeds, doing... well, he couldn't know since he couldn't actually see what he was doing, but in an instant it was clear that he must have eaten since the food that was previously there disappeared at a blink. What did he just do? Ronny thought, eying the new boy. It all happened so fast that he couldn't even register it. Maybe he had some speed thing going on? Ugh, everyone had something. Well, most everyone.

The sight of his quickly vanishing food made him hungry. "Well, hey... Donald," Ronny greeted. "How did you get here?" He said in a semi-hopeful tone. Maybe he could help them out? He looked back at Rai, actually pretty hungry right now. "You think you can find us some food?" He asked him, not wanting to, but tempted.

The blankness of the boys stare made 'Donald' extremely apprehensive. He wasn't saying anything, he wasn't do anything. He was literally being a freak. Caleb almost didn't catch the boy calling his name. Or his fake name. He looked back to see Ronny staring at the freak child. "Oh... I walked here." he said, his voice raising slightly in a tiny squeak of puberty. And then a question about food. Suddenly he felt greedy for eating all of the food, even though it tasted like dirt. He didn't want to help them really. It seemed like a waste of time, shouldn't they know how they got here. I mean, they both were at the same place at the exact same time, and they had no recollection of how they had gotten there? Weird. But it seemed impossible for him not to assist the boys in their plight, even if he knew he couldn't. "Food... There's fish." he murmured, knowing how far away this cave was from society, that's the reason he had chosen it, seclusion.

"Is something wrong with your friend?" he asked, referring to the zombie that walked in the light. And stared into a blank abyss. It was weird, and a scary, but also intriguing, all of it wrapped into one strange ocular ability.

Raimaru looked at Ronny, then at Caleb again. "Yes," he said, his voice a dull, soft hum. A boring and somewhat disturbing monotone. He stepped forwards, between the two boys. He said nothing else, didn't look for a way down. He turned, and, with quick steps, started down the stair-case-like stones that jutted out from the cave. It was off to the side, hard to find if you weren't looking for it. The real Raimaru would have been panicking, wondering how to get out of this place. But this Rai didn't have time for that. He descended with the intent of fulfilling his orders, slow, purposeful steps.

Upon reaching the bottom, he noticed that there was wet ground. He didn't care, just walking through the earth.

((*Doesn't feel like postin' anything else*))

"Uh..." Ronny started. Was their something wrong with your friend? Well, he had suspicions. "I think he's a little..." He paused, making the international sign for "Messed in the head". He shrugged, looking after Rai when he disappeared to some place. Eh, he freaked him out a little bit too. "You walked here?" He said, getting back on the most important subject. Did he walk here? How else could have he gotten there? Boat? Well... he didn't think anyone kidnapped him. Ugh. If he just knew what he was doing before this. "How? Is there some kind of passage or something?" His voice was hopeful. Maybe there was a way out of this.

"Passage?" began Caleb, wondering if there was some sort of path he could take away. But he guessed he must have missed it, his eyes not moving fast enough to catch up with his own speed. But his problem seemed to be relieved when Rai walked right past him, heading down the staircase. Caleb just stared at him for a moment. "That kid knows where it is." he replied, a warm smile reappearing on his face. Caleb turned, pointing down the stone steps that he must have missed. He had to say, it was disheartening to know that his secret base was already known. Someone had taken the time to make a staircase here, so it was obviously occupied, back to running for miles looking for a new base of operations. He turned back the boy, whose name he didn't remember, or care to memorize. "So, what are you and... What ever your names are, doing here?"

After about ten minutes, Raimaru returned, a thin string he'd found from somewhere weighted down with fish. There were maybe five? Four? He didn't count. The Space Fish were large, easily weighing five or more pounds each. A good source of food, his dull mind agreed, as he tromped up the steps. He just barely managed to hear the tail-end of.... Whoever it was's sentence.

"Are you.... What ever your names are, doing here?"

He didn't answer, instead just blinked and moved forwards. He held his catch up to Ronny, asking what to do next. He didn't have the emotions needed to decide for his own what to do, and so depended on orders given to him. Many thought that perhaps he was super submissive and would do anything anyway if asked.

A dull red glow illuminated the cave for an instant, shutting off all other light. The boy paid no mind;the diamond in his pocket did this occasionally, the violent, angry emotions throbbing and writhing trying to get out. Occasionally they would, but most often not.

Wait, passage? Ronny quickly made his way to the opening, looking down at it with shocked eyes. There was a passage! And he'd been here for hours with it there? How did he not see it? Going up and down this place time and time again and he saw it now? No, there was no way this was here the entire time. Obviously it had designed itself while he was here.

He backed up a little when Raimaru came back, holding an abundance of fish before his eyes. "Uh... Just put them over there or something," he said absentmindedly, waving his hand somewhere towards the back of the cave, just wanting the boy out of the way so he could se this properly.

"Is this how you got in here?" Ronny asked, pointing at the passage way and looking back at Donald, forgetting to answer his questions.

"Y-y-yes." He answered. Glad he had dodged the question as to why he was naked in the first place. It wasn't something he felt like answering, and the cover of Donald could only last so long. Then he remembered his question. It had been disrupted with the appearance of Rai and his fish. The boy worked fast, and had that same emotionless glare. Wasn't he proud of his catch? Or happy that he had done something correctly? Or greedy at the fact that he could have all the fish to himself if he wanted? It didn't seem human, and it didn't seem right. Caleb made sure to categorize the boy as a villain. "So, back to my question, what are you two doing here and what are your names, you never really did introduce yourselves." But I sure did... He thought silently to himself, thinking that both boys were being rather rude visitors to his cave. His 'Crimson Cave'. He had devised the name after a moment of thinking. He wore red, and he was really fast, the name Crimson was perfect, and he was in a cave, or a cove. The Crimson Cave was great!

Raimaru nodded, following Ronny's directions and setting the fish down. He looked at Caleb, then at Ronny, for a moment more before answering. "My name... Is Raimaru Ame." he said flatly. He'd been asked a question, had he not? And it would also save his master the trouble of explianing for him. He went to stand a little ways away from both, so that the three boys formed a triangle of sorts in the mouth of the cave.