Emerald City Bulwark
Posts 35
Power Level 22
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Post by Rainfall on Sept 8, 2016 17:41:42 GMT -7
The stench of the Docks pervaded every road and edifice within its rotten reach, a putrid scent that combined the worst aspects of salt, oil, and human filth. The city itself smelled bad enough, but it might as well have been a field of flowers compared to this. The poor wretches who lived here, whether by choice or by necessity, would have adapted to it by now, accepted it as a fact of everyday life- but to Rainfall, every breath made her feel like she was being defiled somehow. She'd chosen to cover her nose and mouth with a dark cloth, mimicking the old bandits of the West, but even this only barely made it tolerable.
Her eyes glanced upwards for a moment, taking in the flowing, beautiful aurora that danced in the sky some distance away, a bright and colorful phenomenon that seemed to actively defy the grim squalor of this place. Maybe it really was. Rainfall might be a foreigner here in the black heart of civilization, but her eyes were sharp and her ears always open, gathering the tiny tidbits she needed. All those lights up above, those were a sign, a sign that Pandaemonium was fighting. The villains and criminals who had all but seized control of the city now turned on each other, preying on the weak among them in a cannibalistic orgy of violence. For them, it would be a day of turmoil and opportunity, a chance for the strong to rise up the ranks and assume command of a vast and dangerous horde.
For Rainfall, it would be a chance to begin the fight back. To pull the rug out from beneath the hellish beasts before they even got a chance to regroup from their internal conflict.
She crouched on a high rooftop, staring out at the docks below from beneath the brim of her wide black hat, a long hunting rifle aimed down at the street. This place had been chosen with care, for it lay at the very edges of Pandaemonium's main horde, close enough to pick some of them off but not so close as to immediately attract the attention of what passed for leadership around here. While the supers fought, the rank-and-file scum lay unprotected, and that gave the Bulwark a chance to take a few of them out. Capture or wound, Rainfall didn't care which: jail cells and hospital beds worked equally well to contain their targets.
Even if this worked, they likely wouldn't make much of a dent in the organization's huge numbers. But that wasn't the purpose of this mission. The impact would be psychological: word would quickly get around among the criminals that men and women openly bearing Pandaemonium gang insignias were being attacked on the streets, being taken out by an enemy they had no hope of fighting. Fear and paranoia would spread, along with a feeling that the powered members of Pandaemonium were doing nothing to protect their more vulnerable counterparts. Tiny cracks, vulnerabilities to be set in place before the time came to rout the red faction entirely.
Atop her high perch, the pale woman in the dark cloak took aim at her first target.
Before, the Bulwarks had merely acted to stop criminal activity where they saw it. This would no longer be enough. From here on out, anyone in Pandaemonium was fair game, and Rainfall would drive them back even if it meant shooting every goddamn one of them herself.
Her finger twitched on the trigger, and far away a man screamed, falling to the ground as his right leg collapsed beneath him, bones broken by a bullet that never pierced his skin. The hunt was on.
SCHEME: Injure or capture as many unpowered Pandaemonium members as possible, while their supers bicker over leadership.
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Emerald City Bulwark
Posts 37
Power Level 31
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Post by Carl on Sept 8, 2016 19:11:52 GMT -7
Carl was in the docks because he had heard of a potential conflict happening between the Pandaemonium supers happening soon. There was no way that such a fight wouldn't have some injuries, especially among those who were simply unfortunate enough to be caught in the crossfire. They didn't deserve that, even if they did invite it simply by affiliating with the supers who cared so little for their well being. Besides, many likely wouldn't even be Pandaemonium members, just the unfortunate souls who were stuck in sad situations and forced to live among those who thrived in the chaos of the city slums.
Carl heard a scream nearby, and he ran to it. A man with a broken leg, but it didn't seem likely that he broke it by falling. He was wearing Pandaemonium colors, but that didn't matter. The Bulwarks needed to be reestablished as heroes to every man, or else they would lose what little support they had. This was why Carl left his belt back at his home base, instead replaced with a sheathe. From it, he pulled a knife and, in a fluid motion, cut his wrist and bled on the man's leg. Carl's injury closed in a few seconds, although his sliced sleeve didn't. The man's leg would take slightly longer, but it shouldn't take more than a minute to reset and heal properly. However, the young super's attention was no longer on him.
There were no visible attackers around, which meant that anybody in the area could be a target. He would have to move fast in order to keep damages to a minimum.
It was time to prove that the Bulwarks of Emerald City were still around to protect everyone, even from themselves.
OPPOSING Protecting even Pandas in order to give the Bulwarks a good name again
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Pandaemonium
Posts 343
Power Level 30
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Post by Blue Jay on Sept 8, 2016 21:21:37 GMT -7
This was an accurate example of Blue Jay’s luck. First day back on the job after two weeks of bedrest, and the first thing he sees is Aurora’s aurora streaking large across the skies of the docs. ‘What is she up to this time, I should probably go check it out,’ he had thought to himself, and so had reluctantly and obligatorily set off towards whatever was going down via rooftops and teleportation. Only to, on his way there, hear a cry of pain. Blue Jay stopped abruptly to locate the source. A man, Pandaemonium going by his outfit and location, lay writhing on the ground, clutching his leg.
Blue Jay was not the only one on the scene. He was beaten to the man’s side by a person he only recognized because he’d gotten really bored in the last few days and went through again all of the known Bulwarks. Carl, he remembered because it was simple and kinda silly (he’d be lying if he didn’t say he chuckled to himself a bit the first time he saw this was this guy’s name, but that was one thing he was never going to admit to Carl), a healer. What kind of Bulwark he was, Blue Jay couldn’t recall, but the man had aid. Which meant Blue Jay was left to find the cause.
From the rooftop he’d come to crouch on, he spotted a silhouette set atop another rooftop and against the sky. Arm out, towards the felled man. Blue Jay displaced, appearing an instant later on the rooftop behind who could only be a super.
He was silent for the first few seconds upon arrival, not for any reason besides he was trying to place who this was. He hoped dearly that his initial impression was incorrect, because otherwise it meant a Bulwark had just shot a man who had been doing no crime besides associating with Pandaemonium. But who else could it be? Few supers used guns, and fewer had the complexion and fashions of this woman.
Blue Jay rested his hand on his sword’s hilt, not drawing, but threat was in both his stance and voice. “Rainfall, what are you doing?”
OPPOSING: Best first day back ever.
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The Keepers
Posts 133
Power Level 30
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Post by HaLOS on Sept 8, 2016 22:30:51 GMT -7
Lawlessness hasn’t been subtle for the past few weeks. The news all over the Internet has been rumoring about the Pandaemonium’s attack on the mayor’s conference, the robbery at the supermarket, and the destruction/robbery at some major laboratories around the University. It is as HaLOS has calculated in its mainframe; the Pandaemonium has been growing increasingly, showing a potential threat to the city at hand. If no one would stand in their way and stop them from growing any further, Emerald City will divulge into lawlessness and chaos.
There’s only one way to stunt the growth of a cancer, and that is to cut it off the cancer cells and remove it from the body. Thus HaLOS prepared itself for a new upgrade in its vehicle that it obtained from the last dragon attack, courtesy of the Pandaemonium’s engineering. This time, with some major tweaking to ensure the vehicle’s efficient performance, the war-machine is much more menacing than the last. And what better way to test this new design than to have it charging into the fight for a field testing.
With a roaring thunder of the new engine, arming with both riot-handling arsenals along with more lethal one, HaLOS quickly arrived at the scene down at the dock, where the Pandaemonium Horde is rumored to be located. As it was getting closer to the dock, some chatter on the information network reported of other supers at the scene: a cloaked gun-woman and a sword-wielding Blue Jay from the Bulwark.
It seems that even the Bulwark also sick and tired of the Pandaemonium’s antic and finally decided to fight back. Either way, they better not be getting in HaLOS way, or they’ll be mow down along with the Pandaemonium like the weed that they are in this city.
Support: let’s bring order back to this chaotic world, one dead Pandaemonium at a time.
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Emerald City Bulwark
Posts 67
Power Level 27
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Post by Nemesis on Sept 10, 2016 17:31:59 GMT -7
Guess it was time to go arrest a bunch of gangsters. Nemesis wasn't particularly excited about the idea, especially if they weren't currently doing anything illegal, but times were tough lately. Even a hollow victory would feel better than her past month of failure. This might not end up helping anyone, but that described her entire superhero career so why would today be any different?
No, this would work out. For once, Nemesis actually got to work with another member of Bulwark. Rainfall wasn't one of her favorite people to partner with, but hey, at least she felt like being useful. By default that made her better than the majority of the other heroes around here.
When Nemesis heard the hunter's gun go off, she they had found their first target. She started walking towards the guy's location, not bothering to use her motorcycle in case anyone heard her approach. Somebody had to tie these guys up if they were going to be arrested, and she could always make sure they don't bleed to death in the meantime.
For whatever reason, the injured man had stopped screaming, but it shouldn't be too hard to find him eventually.
Supporting: Why can't we all just be friends? |
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Post by PANOPTICON Ver. 3.023 on Sept 10, 2016 17:42:51 GMT -7
PANOPTICON Ver. 3.023 online Running aberrant conflict search heuristic. Scanning satellite imagery... clear. Scanning public security footage... clear. Scanning private devices... anomaly detected. Beginning detailed analysis. Aberrant violence against unpowered populace detected in Emerald City, sector AK-43. Context analysis yields high probability that aberrants present will oppose. Cataloging contents of sector... Detected: 23,573 unpowered humans Detected: Four standard aberrants. See case files 1-5593, 1-6006, 1-6115, 1-6125. Detected: One anomalous aberrant. See case file 3-0540 (cf. 4-0626). Conflict probability within following 60 seconds: 96.25% Beginning combat data collection... (Click here to send in your actions!) |
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Emerald City Bulwark
Posts 35
Power Level 22
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Post by Rainfall on Sept 10, 2016 19:52:27 GMT -7
Looking down at the world through a scope made for quite the interesting experience. On the one hand, it put distance between the watcher and what they saw, magnifying only the shape and movement of a target while stripping away all else. No words or feelings or subconscious recognition to alter one's judgement, only the subject, where they were and what they wore and what they did. This displacement, combined with the power to make immediate, solid changes to the script at will.
It made the harsh choices easier, when they came.
As her first target fell, Rainfall caught movement to one side, and kept her eye on her mark for a couple seconds. Nemesis was supposed to be around, maybe helping out a bit, but the figure who appeared wasn't her- it was the grey one. Guy with the boring name that she couldn't remember worth a damn. She wasn't sure what he did, either, but it became pretty clear what was going on when the downed criminal stopped yelling and started picking himself up again.
A double agent? Unlikely. Grey Guy was just being an idealist, doing what he could to help. Rainfall turned away, focusing on another street. People being helped by the Bulwarks might think better of them, might start to doubt their allegiance to Pandaemonium, and that was good with her. She'd leave the healer be for now. The first scream had caused some people in the area to come racing to help, while others ran for cover. She focused on the latter group, picking another likely mark and making the shot.
Another perfect hit, disabling without inflicting major wounds. The voice speaking suddenly from behind her just as she squeezed the trigger hadn't affected her aim in the slightest.
Didn't sound like anyone she knew personally, but that was a pretty empty category. The words themselves made it pretty easy to figure out more-or-less who this was. Without stopping, turning, or bothering to reload, she set her sights on another target, even as her answer drifted out of her lips and onto the wind, two words both quiet and strained at once.
"Your job."
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Emerald City Bulwark
Posts 37
Power Level 31
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Post by Carl on Sept 10, 2016 21:40:08 GMT -7
Some might find Carl's methods to be idealistic. He didn't particularly care to disagree, but he felt it erred more on the side of calculated. For instance, helping the enemy: he was fully aware that there would need to be a large scale victory in the Bulwark's name in order to attract more members and to make the faction known as a formidable force again. In order for their few numbers to make such a victory, they'd need to be known as people to be allies with, capable enough to capture the attention of the strong while being compassionate enough to accessible by the weak. He was simply giving people what they wanted and so desperately needed.
He was being a hero.
And to the young super, being a hero meant that when he rushed to the next scream and noticed a giant machine of war, he only took a moment to decide what needed to be done. He regretted not bringing his belt along after all, but that was no matter. He rolled up his sleeves and, after bleeding on the second injured person with no attacking party in sight, ran towards the repurposed vehicle.
The second injured party confirmed his suspicions. There was no way that it was an accident. There was a super around, and they were apparently targeting the Pandaemoniums in the area. That was problem enough, and the arrival of the war machine made things even more difficult. Carl found himself hoping that he was able to get some assistance, even if it was from the people he had come to town to stop. The assistance of a Pandaemonium super, while not his favorite option, would certainly help with keeping the unpowered gang members alive and well. Besides, it wasn't as if he would turn his nose up at it.
Even a supposed enemy can be a useful asset and ally if treated and handled properly.
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Pandaemonium
Posts 343
Power Level 30
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Post by Blue Jay on Sept 11, 2016 22:18:18 GMT -7
Blue Jay flinched at the second pull of the trigger, and his brow lowered at the following yell of pain.
His job? Maybe in the past, when he thought that hurting random people who had or were committing crimes so he could, what, turn them into the police without any evidence besides his entirely trusted good word, was actually going to do anything besides give someone a few broken bones and waste police time. He had done this in the past - spent many afternoons 'stopping' small time crooks and trying to lessen the number of criminals on the streets, but he had recently come to realize his mistake. There was no point in harming these people. Attacking them unprovoked, or even with provocation, like should they be committing a crime, was not going to get half of them their ‘deserved justice’. It wasn’t going to scare those that didn’t into a better lifestyle, because getting shot by a super was not going to get people who didn’t have very many options available to them a job.
This was not his job, and it wasn’t her right. No one else was going to stop her.
“No, let me show you what my job is.”
Blue Jay widened his stance and unclipped his sheathed sword.
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The Keepers
Posts 133
Power Level 30
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Post by HaLOS on Sept 12, 2016 12:17:12 GMT -7
Leave it to the Bulwark to start an argument and in-fighting with their own faction member over silly little thing. How pathetic: if these so-called vigilantes can’t agree on one another on even the simplest thing, then it’s no wonder why they had been such a door-mat to any other supers out there. There’s no point of getting in between these bozos, so unless they intended to stand in its way to fully neutralize the unpowered Pandaemonium around here, then it’s their own fault.
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Emerald City Bulwark
Posts 67
Power Level 27
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Post by Nemesis on Sept 12, 2016 16:19:06 GMT -7
A second shot meant there was another person to wrangle up. Nemesis was torn between going after him or continuing locating the first one. In hindsight, the two Bulwarks could've worked out a better means of communication so one of them didn't outpace the other. Then again, the operation already left a bad taste in her mouth, so slowing this down might eat away at her until she decided to stop.
Something to consider for later, but right now they had a job to do. Ultimately, the other guy sounded like he was closer, so she turned a corner and headed towards him. When the second victim--target, she corrected--also stopped screaming, Nemesis knew something was wrong here.
Did one of the Pandaemonium members find out about their plan ahead of time? No, they weren't that smart, and she didn't remember them having someone that could read minds or anything. If one of their supers was around here, it must be a coincidence. This didn't change anything. Unless the entire horde arrived to stand in her way, Nemesis felt confident enough to continue.
For now, at least. |
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Post by PANOPTICON Ver. 3.023 on Sept 12, 2016 17:50:00 GMT -7
   PANOPTICON Ver. 3.023 analyzing combat data... Accumulation (Information) by Carl against Maneuver (Alteration) results in SUCCESS, +10% combat advantage Maneuver (Alteration) by Rainfall against Blue Jay results in FAILURE due to suppression by the immunity granted by the equal-or-greater Accumulation (Information) Carl used Aggression (Destruction) by Blue Jay against Rainfall results in SUCCESS, OVERWHELMING the Maneuver (Alteration) used by the target, +30% combat advantage Aggression (Destruction) by HaLOS against Carl results in PARTIAL success due to suppression by the target's lesser immunity, +15% combat advantage Aggression (Subdual) by Nemesis against Carl results in SUCCESS, +30% combat advantage Lobisomem arrives to oppose --- Current conditions: Blue Jay Carl and Lobisomem have immunity to Maneuver (Alteration) granted by the Accumulation (Information) Carl used Current advantage: HaLOS Nemesis and Rainfall have 45% Blue Jay Carl and Lobisomem have 40% Current openings: Carl may BYPASS a chosen immunity of a chosen target at a cost of 15% combat advantage, removing that immunity for the rest of the battle Blue Jay may INJURE Rainfall at a cost of 15% combat advantage, causing her powers to become unable to suppress for the rest of the battle (Click here to send in your next round's actions!) |
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Emerald City Bulwark
Posts 37
Power Level 31
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Post by Carl on Sept 13, 2016 15:24:24 GMT -7
Carl had been in far too many battles for him to have not gotten a heightened awareness. The second anyone started to scream, there was blood covering them. He was more surprised than injured when he was struck, too, making it clear that he had the true advantage. Sure, he may be up against an armed bulldozer, but he was especially gifted at undoing injuries. There was little the machine could do that he couldn't handle.
The scream of a man he had just healed caught Carl's attention, though, and he turned to see one of the city's Bulwarks, Nemesis. If she was here, that meant that there was backup on hand, or that was what it was supposed to have meant. Instead her stance and the smoke surrounding the screaming man led the young super to believe otherwise. He had encountered militant heroes before, but few ever stooped so low as to attack those who were doing nothing wrong. If her actions were in line with the general policies of the Emerald City Bulwarks, then serious changes needed to be made.
"You're making a mistake," he said to her, disappointment clear in his voice.
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Unaligned
And I'm hungry like the wolf
Posts 180
Power Level 26
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Post by Lobisomem on Sept 13, 2016 16:34:17 GMT -7
Lobisomem flattened their ears, snout scrunched up in a horrifying sneer as anger pulsed through their body in every heartbeat. The bangs of gunfire made them flinch every single shot, their side throbbed unconsciously, just stop it!
They ducked down as scattered shots pinged off the walls, inclining their scaled back toward the noise in an effort to defend themselves. The screaming of people was driving them half-mad, even as they were clearly alive, they looked like they were going to die of fright. It was frightening to see them reduced to that.
They rose off the ground, revealing their true height and flashed a toothy grin toward Blue Jay, "Hey Blue Jay...did you miss me?"
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Emerald City Bulwark
Posts 35
Power Level 22
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Post by Rainfall on Sept 13, 2016 23:53:23 GMT -7
A sword-wielding Bulwark popped into existence to Rainfall's left, eliciting a slight raising of a single ginger eyebrow. Rainfall's finger stalled against the trigger, stopping just short of firing at her last target. Otherwise, she didn't appear to react, remaining crouched where she was while the blade and sheath came scything down towards her arm with dangerous speed and power.
Then, at the last possible moment, she blocked so quickly that Blue Jay couldn't even see her move.
One instant, her long rifle protruded out over the edge of the building, pointed at some unfortunate gang member half a mile away. The next, it crashed into Blue Jay's weapon, barrel raised to intercept his slash. The gun should have been knocked out of Rainfall's hands by the force of the blow, but it didn't budge an inch, while Blue Jay's blade rebounded as if it had been slammed against a granite wall.
Rainfall's gloved fingers shifted over the dark wood and metal of her weapon, taking a moment to find a grip she was comfortable with, while she finally turned her head to look her attacker dead in the eye. Her stare was calm as a frozen pool in the dead of winter, and just as cold.
Blocking had left her rifle pointed skyward, and she held it steady, not moving to point it at Blue Jay nor her former target. Her eyes met his for a moment, then glanced downwards at the talking, dog-like creature that had suddenly appeared below them. She frowned, the first expression that had crossed her face since the beginning of the engagement, before quietly murmuring a few words to the man next to her, out of earshot of the mysterious beast.
"Is that thing a Bulwark too? I've been looking for you guys."
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