EMBRACED [Event]

About bloody time the other super finally get the hint about how the dragon’s position is at the Horizons building. The roar from Lobisomen was loud enough that it should possibly get more of the other supers’ attention to the place. Guess they didn’t think the obvious building that has the most crap crawling all over its wall was the place where the dragon was hiding.

Considering what’s going on around him, Anonymous decided to switch to a different vial of volatile substance in order to throw it into the building. Rather than creating a noxious smelling gas or amplifying the pain the dragon can taste, the compound would create a thick plume of smoke in order to hopefully block some of the dragon’s senses. It might not work fully to a dragon, but he need to conserve his other vials just in case the creature let out a last-ditch effort like the last one.

Action: Interference (Obfuscation) against Horizons Building

With Titan's intervention with the effort to destroy the Gunstig Center, it seemed they were making a little more progress. Other supers even left the demolition work to Gluttony and Titan to put their powers to other uses. The two didn't have a choice to do anything else; hard to be anything more than human shaped wrecking balls when their powers weren't the most versatile in the world. Nonetheless, it was good to leave the strategy to those that knew what they were doing, like the military types that were taking part in the battle. Titan would stick to what he knew best: brute force.

That single punch seemed to already do sufficient amounts of damage to the Gunstig Center. Perhaps a few more blows could bring the thing down. Titan himself didn't know the details behind why the building was such an important target, but the supers assaulting it and the grotesque growths sprouting out gave him a hint that taking it down was an important objective. The long-term consequences weren't important when it came to deciding the tide of the battle.

Following two more powerful strikes, Titan wound up with all of his strength and considerable weight. Next, he brought down a blow packed with maximum force. The thought process was almost comical in how primitive it was: smash.

That wasn't enough. They were doing alright, but the dragon still managed to stop a lot of their efforts. She wanted total domination. Plant Monster shouldn't be allowed to do anything. The more actions it got in the closer everyone else came to dying, and death sucks. Arcanum decided to try a more direct approach to distract the building, because apparently her other means of doing so were borderline useless right now.

Action: Interference (Obfuscation) against Gunstig Tower

The team was now trapped on the ground, fighting their way through the spines, vines, and soldiers of the dragon. They weren’t so much winning as surviving- none of the squad was without injury or fatigue.

Their breath came heavy as they skirted around the base of the Shiro building and exploded onto the side streets with the enemies in toe.

“This is great cardio sir but we need a plan fast.” Delaware declared, her voice shaken by the exertion of running.

“Yeah boss and I’m not too hot on ammo- we’re gonna run dry soon and then I hope you like eating veggies because it will be tooth and nail against them.”

The Good Shepherd, leading the three, stayed silent. He knew it and he knew they knew he knew it. It was their way of venting. The chopper, pulling out, was smoking and falling back- obviously attacked by the dragon.

“Let’s see if we can run a little interference. Attract its attention.” He finally said over his team’s private com line.

He didn’t need to see their faces to know their expressions,
“Sir?” Came Delaware’s voice finally, a mixture of shock and obedience.

“You want it to FOCUS on us?! Don’t we have enough trouble?”

“It’s game theory agents. We are low value pieces and if we can soak up a higher value of resource than we are worth- our side will have a surplus of resources to take out the dragon.”

The other two agents were silent, grimly accepting it but not willing to admit it.
“On my mark we will split up and hit three different locations at once- attract its attention as best we can. We meet up back here in 2 minutes. Ready?”

The two agents didn’t need to agree; he knew they were ready for this.
“Break!” He yelled and the three split at a four-way intersection. Delaware broke left, Brooklyn right, and Shep grabbed a street sign and swung around- reversing his direction. Vines and soldiers split their attention- some going after each of them. The bit that had been following them were confused by Shepherd’s action- he was coming right at them. In his helmet, the ex-ranger smiled. This was the thrill he remembered- super powers or not he was in his element.

His automatic rifle chattered in loud “BBRTS”, the muzzle faire a light driving back the impinging darkness. He leads them down an ally, sliding under one of the soldiers with an acrobatic sliding juke at the last second. He rolled, spun, and scraped by the soldiers before he got to the alleyway.

Backed into the corner the thralls came in. The Good Shepherd unleashed short bursts from his rifle but eventually all that returned was a “click click click” from his gun. He was empty and tossed it aside. He drew his pistol and began to unload it. The clip only held 22 rounds and sooner or later he had to switch to a knife. The bullets did little but irritate them- he wasn’t expecting to kill them but couldn’t they AT LEAST have the courtesy to take some kind of damage? The enemies closed in around him and he fiercely stood against them. Man against god- he wasn’t about to back down.

The first elite came in and pinned Shep against the wall, he grimaced. It was so much stronger than him. He managed to wriggle out of its grasp, slide around it and climb on its back. He leaped up- reaching an exposed fire escape and got onto the ledge- the monsters scraping at his heels. Though sheer force of will alone he got to the roof, rolled through a window in the apartment complex, got up the stairs internally- avoiding the spikes, and crashed out a second story window on the other side.

He landed hard- swollen knees tomorrow nothing. He’d be lucky if he didn’t have a fractured one or a torn ACL. He rolled, only a few dozen feet in front of the army of monsters. He managed to keep his lead- pushing the pain deeper inside. He was on automatic now, a third party watching his body from above, as he rounded the corner and reached the rendezvous spot. Delaware already there- her rifle nowhere in sight.

“Where’s Brooklyn?” She asked- a large raw gash on her left arm.

“Inbound.” He reported in his deep voice as he rounded the corner running like a bat out of hell- another group of thralls on his tail.
“Well- we managed to attract more of them bossman.” Brooklyn said, pulling out his knife and taking a crouching position.

“Sir!” Delaware corrected indignantly, turning to look at him incredulously.
A snicker from all passed over the group’s com line.

“Yeah- our job’s done. We tied them up for a bit. Let’s just hope the supers can take advantage of our opening.”

“Been an honor serving with you sir.” Delaware said dutifully.

“Shoot! I don’t wanna die here!” Brooklyn yelled exasperatedly.

“We’ll make it. Somehow. L.O.V.E finds a way...” Was all Shepherd said as the elites closed in on them.

Interference (Obfuscation) against Thralls

Pride actually spat at one of the thralls on the ground and gestured to one of them with a flick of his hand.

"Come on you filthy mongrels, I am your death personified, the last glorious sight you shall see before you meet the reaper. Consider yourselves lucky."

It was a simple side step and elbow thrown backwards to send a thrall flying into the building. This was beyond infuriating, they were keeping from his flame at the moment and he was going to make them all pay for it, at the very least they could not last much longer. IT was clear his efforts weren't in vain, they were significantly gaining an advantage over the dragon. He soon switched to tossing them at those blasted spore spewers.

Action: maneuver Speed against spore generators

Toko sighed as he saw a horde of civilians leave the building he had his sights previously set on. Typical bulwark, choosing a battle's victory over the war, a battlefield was truly no place for emotions. He shook his head in slight disappointment before taking aim and firing a single at the building. This should be interesting. The bullet took a bit to reach it's destination before suddenly shattering into a powdery cloud that shined a variety of colors.

"Greed blinds many"

The bullet was actually made from very fine gemstones and the resulting cloud was now falling over the thralls surrounding a certain arrogant sin. Hopefully this would at least give those test subjects a chance to survive, if they didn't he could retrieve corpses later.

Action: Interference obfuscation against remaining thralls

The center of downtown Emerald City was rapidly drowning beneath a sea of cats. Big Martin couldn't remember if he'd ever summoned, let alone controlled this many before, and he could actually feel the strain on his mind. Tens of thousands of eyes all showing him what they saw, sounds from all over the battlefield, the feeling of the earth beneath endless little paws. The sensation was completely overwhelming.  It felt like his skull should burst open, spilling out the endless stream of information in some kind of crazy psychic fountain.

However, if he focused, he could read signals from the entire swarm. See anything, everything around him. He knew exactly where the thralls were, exactly which way they'd come from, even their numbers and type. With a quick command, he ordered his tiger to run.  It bounded into motion, carrying him away from where the Dragon thought he was, ensuring his escape before the surprise attack had even begun.

Perhaps noticing his sudden movement, the thralls came at him en masse, tearing through his swarm and leaving small, furry bodies littered around them in droves. Their strategy was flawed, however: their sole purpose had been to cut off the head of the threat, but Big Martin was already fleeing towards the Horizons building. The thralls gave chase, cutting through walls of cats like knives, but more and more enemies converged on their positions, keeping up a constant assault. One by one, the Dragon's strike force went down, until all that remained were dozens of bloody husks, being torn apart with relish by hundreds of furious teeth and claws.

Big Martin's focus shifted forwards. The Dragon had made its move, and he'd survived- now, it was his turn.

In withdrawing its roots, his enemy had left holes and tunnels in the ground, weakening the foundations of the city itself. The cats, sensitive as they were, could feel the tiny vibrations of the ground beneath their paws, and followed them, tracking the Dragon's retreat. With Big Martin charging into the fray himself atop his tiger, they converged on the Horizons building, a cresting wave of fur, fangs, and ferocity.

The sheer mass of the swarm passing through weakened the ground still further, and a battalion of cats were caught by surprise when the road underneath them crumbled, dropping them into a wide waterway. Big Martin immediately caught wind of this development, and grinned to himself. They'd found a way straight to the Dragon's lair.

His command spread first to his lieutenants, then to their underlings, then to the rest of the soldiers, branching out and repeating itself through the massive hivemind that was Big Martin's swarm. Boys and girls, it's time. Initiate Operation CATaclysm!

Some of the cats actually winced at the pun, but they obeyed nevertheless.

The furry legions piled towards the hole they'd made in the ground, expanding it and pouring into the waterways beneath. Like a river, they flowed through the passage, savaging anything that got in their way. They didn't merely follow the course: they split down every crack and tunnel and side-passage they could find, flooding the entire underground network with their numbers. The Dragon would be left with nowhere to run, no more subterranean routes through which it could spread its influence.

Thralls and walls of thorns reared their heads, a last-ditch attempt to stop the full force of Big Martin's assault, but the cats plowed through them with ease, knocking the thralls down and shredding their flesh, pressing themselves against the walls until the thorns simply snapped or fell down, unable to hold against the pressure. The dragon's defenses were stronger and more specialized, but the mass and momentum of Big Martin's army could no longer be stopped. 

In the last fight, he'd stayed at the rear, letting cats and supers fight and die while he hid away in his swarm. Never again. The lord of the cats rode among the front ranks of his swarm, flanked by his mightiest beasts, commanding all his forces as they spread throughout the underground. Sharp feline eyes guided them through the dark, and their noses picked up on an enticing hint.  The strange smell of the dragon was getting stronger, they all sensed it. They were close.

The big cats, one still bearing Big Martin on its back, rushed forwards, forming an arrowhead aimed straight for the heart of the beast. A few more seconds, and they'd be upon it, striking the first blow against the Dragon itself. Big Martin's presence on the front lines wasn't simply an show of honor: he alone bore the power to conjure cats out of the air itself, and once he came upon his enemy, he would bury it in a neverending waterfall of enraged animals. Whether or not he succeeded in actually killing the thing, his swarm would hold it down until the other supers cleared the city above and converged here, surrounding the beast and ensuring its demise.

He screamed, wild and savage, and a thousand fanged mouths joined him, the sound echoing through the narrow tunnels and shaking the ground with its sheer force. Above, the supers would hear the shriek, the cry of a beast so fearsome that it dared to make a Dragon its prey.

Big Martin had lost his legs, lost his safety, lost his sanity. All he had left was a final chance to do what he'd found he could do so well.

Win.

Action: Accumulation (Summoning) against Accumulation (Enhancement)