Rein Initiative
Posts 54
Power Level 30
|
Post by Seraphim on Oct 10, 2016 18:02:43 GMT -7
"You don't need an army to perform tests. You cannot afford to show any mercy towards dragons if you wish to save your city."
They seemed to be fighting a little harder now, but Seraphim could still feel their hesitance. That was the problem with relying on teenagers, but she didn't have much choice. As strong as her team here was, she doubted they'd be strong enough to take on a dragon alone. The ability to suppress these inefficient feelings would come with time and practice. Given how many dragons seemed to attack Emerald City, she doubted she'd have to worry about this for too much longer. In the mean time, the dragon's forces were thinning fast and it was gradually becoming easier to pinpoint the dragon.
Before that, there were signs of other strange thoughts in the area. Different from the thralls, different from the panic that came from the people that thought they might be turning. It reminded her of one of the first dragon attacks after supers became public knowledge that spread through computers and other networked technology. Hong Kong, 1996 if she wasn't mistaken. This one appeared to be more like a biological contagion, so she was surprised to see such a similar pattern. Seraphim slunk behind some other buildings and made her way towards the source of the strange thoughts. If it worked anything like the dragon it reminded her of there was a way to stop it from spreading. Digging a little deeper into the girl's mind suggested this was happening because of a power, so it seemed like a reasonable enough course of action. Stop the spread, let the power do whatever it does, and then she should be fine. Hopefully. If not she'd have to do something a little more drastic. Without an ounce of hesitation, she jumped out from behind a building and ran towards the girl as quickly as she could, striking at her neck with a swift chop in an attempt to knock her out for a little while. That should be enough to keep her fighting for the later phases without having to worry about the dragon's influence over her mind.
As the last group of thralls was starting to retreat, she heard another voice, another thought. Ah, so the dragon was underground and she didn't want to be anywhere near the ground when the dragon decided to show itself. Before the rumbling even started, she tried to heft the unconscious super onto her shoulders and give her a makeshift piggyback ride. It was probably uncomfortable given the size of Seraphims arsenal and that it was all over her back and hips, but she was unconscious and thus couldn't complain. No problems. Once she was safely secured (or taken by someone else, whichever), Seraphim reached for a grappling in her belt to get up onto a building quickly.
"Everyone, off the ground. The dragon's attacking in a few seconds," she said with the urgency of someone that was worried that their nail might break below the skin.
Using Speedy Assistance on Azoth
|
|
Unaligned
And I'm hungry like the wolf
Posts 180
Power Level 26
|
Post by Lobisomem on Oct 10, 2016 18:33:33 GMT -7
Lobisomem locked their lips, appreciating the tang of blood, why didn't they do this earlier!? They started sliding down as the thralls were killed, was that it?
As they touched the ground, a slight rumbling screamed for them to get off the ground. Immediately, they scrambled back up the crumbling building, any supers without any transportation could grab onto their swinging tail, they were so panicked they would likely not notice.
And not a second too soon.
The ground erupted into spikes, leaving nothing to the imagination of their fate if they were a couple of seconds too late. A defiant roar shuddered the air as they prepared to pounce on whatever rose to meet them.
|
|
Pandaemonium
I need a gingerbread man, the one I'll eat
Posts 154
Power Level 28
|
Post by Bloodbath on Oct 10, 2016 18:36:53 GMT -7
Bloodbath fell back, enjoying the sensation of moving blood as he even got a surplus, which swirled around him. He watched curiously as thralls fell, taking whatever blood splattered near him.
Instinctively, he looked up as rumbling started, gasping as the ground turned to spikes. He himself didn't move, tendrils of blood snaking out to grasp the edge of a building and flung him over.
He was safe...now what?
|
|
The Keepers
Posts 76
Power Level 24
|
Post by Arcanum on Oct 10, 2016 18:39:51 GMT -7
Hey, they won. Arcanum knew better than to get her hopes up, but so far the dragon fight was turning out better than the last one. She actually did something useful this time. If Angel Lady was to be trusted, staying down on the ground sounded like a bad idea. Arcanum herself was safe from all that mess, but still needed to get all of the clones up higher, somewhere safe. She felt her power reach out to the buildings nearby.
It was time for a little remodeling.
Once she had control over the structures around one of her groups, parts of the buildings began to liquefy and slide down a newly created slope. As the slime poured down to the street, some of it stayed behind and leveled off, creating a small platform. This continued until Arcanum created something that resembled a giant staircase.
Really, she could've just climbed up there by sliding along the side of the building, but this required less effort than moving dozens of other selves up a wall. It also beat trying to use someone else's means of getting higher up, because this proved she didn't need their assistance.
With the construction finalized, the clones were able to walk to safety without getting horribly impaled by giant death spikes. If there was a giant monster waiting to pop out of the ground, the next round would probably be more annoying than this one. |
|
Rein Initiative
He saying "tag, you're it, tag, tag, you're it"
Posts 51
Power Level 31
|
Post by Fleet on Oct 10, 2016 18:41:05 GMT -7
Fleet danced in the massacre, smile almost stretching out of his face in a way that stopped being childish and soon turned disturbing. He was winning, he was winning! This was just like the first dragon he fought!
He paused as Seraphim yelled, reacting in a way that showed impressive training. He ran without looking back. The spikes followed him. He heard a civilian shriek as they were impaled, but he made it. A single bound and spring, and he was up on a roof, oohhing at the spikes. He must have nearly died...awesome!
Above him, the clouds finally gave up and started to rain.
|
|
The Keepers
Posts 133
Power Level 30
|
Post by HaLOS on Oct 10, 2016 18:46:59 GMT -7
The issue with these walking thralls was easily dealt with, almost too easy for HaLOS’s concern. It wouldn’t surprise that the situation was so simple, seeing how the dragon used its thralls to do its bidding for it. These thralls were merely minion under the control of the creature, stalling the super in order to give it some time for some scheme it has in mind. Even though it has scanned the area multiple time, it still unable to detect any of the dragon’s present above ground.
Thinking back at the situation where it helped Azoth with her little mission in the Shiro Tower, it started to realize there is a huge underground cavern system right below the tower. That mean the dragon is possibly somewhere hiding in that cavern system. This would make sense considering how this creature uses spores to infect unpowered population. This dragon must have a similar ability as a fungal parasite, getting its sustenance somewhere deep underground. Since the dragon commanded its thralls to retreated back, either it’s planning a surprise ambush or is fortifying its defense.
From high above in the air, HaLOS can detected the appearance of spiral spike coming out of the ground in a spiral pattern. Those spikes went through the concrete building as if they’re thin sheet of paper; it need to warn the super down below to get out of the way. After all, HaLOS need assistance, and perhaps some meat-shield, in order to help it defeat this dragon.
“Attention all supers,” it hacked through the communication system that any supers is currently using, even the cell phone speaker, “get to higher ground immedietly unless you want to get pierce through by spikes.”
HaLOS started to fly around the downtown area, surveying the scene in order to see if it can locate the origin of the spikes. If its theory is correct, then perhaps it can find the location of the dragon.
|
|
Pandaemonium
Posts 343
Power Level 30
|
Post by Blue Jay on Oct 10, 2016 19:12:49 GMT -7
Blue Jay didn’t see the spikes coming until they were nearly upon him. He pulled the blade out of the chest of his last thin thrall, not bothering to remember the number (he’d mostly stopped caring somewhere past a dozen), and grabbed the nearest person. A Bulwark, Plague Doctor if the adrenaline wasn’t playing too much with his head, most notable for his hat which he was… strangely missing, actually. So sorta a teammate, he guessed, in the context of last month and the dragon attack. And then he displaced.
Blue Jay had grown used to the feeling, but back when he’d first gotten his powers it’d been disorienting and nauseating to say the least. He wasn’t actually teleporting; rather, he was propelling himself, and in this case his additional passenger, forward at a speed quick enough that it only appeared so. When Blue Jay stepped off, the scene around them shifted, strung out, and whizzed past in an intelligible blur of color. It’d always reminded him of the light speed travel in Star Wars, only with a much broader of a pallet choice. They were also both hit with a blast of cold air. Besides that, the trip was no different than one’s average step forward. A moment later, both were hit with a second blast of hot air as the outside temperature was slapped back down on them (which is what had alway done it for his stomach, until it had just gotten used to it and gave up complaining), and they were both up on a nearby rooftop. A spike shot up where they had been been narrowly before.
Blue Jay released PD’s chest (where he’d grabbed him before hastily making their leave) and took a step back. The pattern the spikes formed would be almost relaxing in its rhythm, if not for the impaled bodies of the thralls and the wonderful memories that brought back. His hand went to his gut.
“Seems the fight’s just starting.” He mused aloud.
|
|
Dead
"I shall protect you from the consequences of your naivety."
Posts 24
Power Level 15
|
Post by Balance on Oct 10, 2016 19:24:10 GMT -7
Balance sighed in relief as the thralls backed off. The combined onslaught of all the heroes had given them all a temporary reprieve. Relaxing her shoulders she reached up and untied the gas mask. There was bound to be some super or another who needed it more. Especially with her healing abilities. Panicked screaming drew her attention outward. Snapping her head toward the sound, her heart beating rapidly as her legs tensed. The feminine screams shook her to her soul. Forgetting that unimportant detail, the tension in her legs released and she bolted. She kept climbing and avoiding obstacles until she reached the source. That's when she realized who was screaming. The shrieking female was Lady Aurora, the Panda's fearless leader. Having heard of the changes the light user planned for the chaotic group, Balance knew what she had to do. Silently she stormed over and placed a hand on her shoulder.
"Calm down, my lady. I will take care of it."
Without another word, she placed her hands against Aurora's face. Scrunching her eyes shut she focused hard on pulling the spores from her leader's skin. It was a slow agonizing process to pull the contaminates from her ally to herself. The longer she pulled the spores in, the sicker she felt. Her head was swimming and her tongue felt like lead. Her thoughts were slowly fading away as her stomach heaved. As the last of the pores were yanked from Aurora, Balance turned away and vomited onto the ground beneath her.
"There you go.... my lady..." she breathed. Her heartbeat was rapid and for a moment she feared that these spores may over power her regenerations. Trying to push that thought away she held the mask to Aurora.
"Here...you may need this."
Interference(Reversion) on Aurora |
|
The Keepers
Posts 71
Power Level 20
|
Post by Poppet on Oct 10, 2016 19:26:14 GMT -7
The bloated thralls have now been safely contained under layer of cocoon webbing, and it looks like the other supers have also dealt with the other thralls as well. Poppet let out a long sigh, feeling quite exhausted from all this work. However, she didn’t have even a second to relax before she felt the rumbling. Hearing what HaLOS and that lady was talking about, Poppet quickly latched onto the roof edge with her strings and pulled herself and Jessica up to the roof where Solomon is standing. She immediately rushed over to him and grabbed hold onto his hand.
“Brother, w-what’s going on?” her tone is filled with worry and fear.
The rumbling is followed by numerous amounts of spikes protruding from the ground, piercing through anything in their way as if they were nothing. Poppet averted her eyes away from the scene before her, trying to ignore all of the sound and the rumbling in order to get to her safe place.
“It seems like the dragon has finally decided to join the fray.” Jessica said, “About bloody time, dealing with these minions thralls has started to become tedious and annoying.”
|
|
Pandaemonium
Posts 278
Power Level 25
|
Post by Limen on Oct 10, 2016 20:33:49 GMT -7
She probably should’ve been paying more attention to Sanduleak.
Limen let out a startled yell when he fell off. He, too, was yelling pretty quick after, so she could keep ‘letting a teammate fall to their doom’ off her driving record for a little longer.
The problem was no Sanduleak meant no light bridges. That, in turn, meant there was nothing to catch the bike when it went rocketing off the last of the ramps. Save for the side of a building, that was.
Limen became aware of this fact just as the first tire was leaving the edge of the bridge. She stepped on the gas, trying to get as much lift on this thing before they had nothing but air and an impending collision. Leaving the rest up to her good friend physics, Limen let go of the handle bars and twisted around in the seat, wrapping her arms around Lust’s shoulders and bringing both her legs over to one side so her turned back would take the brunt.
They just barely made the windowsills. The bike crashed through a row of office windows, throwing glass and various cubicle decorations everywhere. Like an office mate with a grudge, the motorcycle crashed through one cubical, knocked down the wall of another, and finally came to a halt in the place previously occupied by another’s monitor. Limen had no idea how tough Lust was, but this was kinda her fault and so it was on her to make sure her companion didn't feel the consequences.
Her back took most of the glass. By shifting her weight as the bike broke through and began to tip, she pulled the two of them away from the vehicle to leave it do it’s own deal and them to skid several feet along the laminate floor. Again her back would take most of the blow for them; Limen let out a cough as her shoulders rammed into the floor, but she’d had worse.
The fashionably late glass clattered to the ground around them. The bike sputtered, coughed, and stopped; the desk beneath it creaked like it really wished it hadn’t. Limen sighed in relief and let her arms flop out to her sides. Her fingers released the compound bow in her left hand slowly from a grip tight enough to whiten her knuckles. She was grinning widely, and that grin soon broke into a giggle and then a full-on laugh.
“That could’ve gone better.” She sighed once she’d regained a bit of her composure, though the chuckle was still thick in her voice. Turning her head, she glanced outside, where everything seemed to be shaking. Spikes were shooting up from the ground with a vengeance; would've been bad if they'd been down there. “Could’ve gone worse too.” One pro to being airborne for a little longer than she’d rightfully intended.
Limen’s smile was smug. “Even the zombie apocalypse isn’t going to bring down Emerald City. That better not be the best you’ve got, dragon.”
|
|
The Keepers
Posts 90
Power Level 24
|
Post by Sin Eater on Oct 10, 2016 20:55:40 GMT -7
Sin Eater had been healing the bumps and scrapes of the nearby supers in hopes of finding something interesting, but so far it had been fruitless. When the dragon's next attack came, she watched the approaching rows of spikes with a dispassionate expression. She made no move to get out of the way. Three of the spikes emerged directly under her feet, impaling her and lifting her up into the air.
She continued to hang there for a few moments, still staring in the same direction. Although she had been hopeful that the spikes were tipped with some sort of venom or other draconic trick, she didn't seem to be able to detect any with her power. It was disappointing.
"You're just getting started, aren't you?" Sin Eater's voice was a whisper, in part because one of her lungs had been punctured and in part because she didn't really care about being heard. There was a mildly annoyed tone to it. "You're just feeling us out."
Wrapping both hands around one of the spikes, she slowly lifted herself up off their tips. Then she braced her uninjured leg against another spike and kicked herself off, skidding to a stop on the adjacent rooftop. Her blood began to pool up beneath her.
"Then hurry up and show me what you can really do."
|
|
Pandaemonium
Posts 78
Power Level 25
|
Post by Dullahan on Oct 10, 2016 21:03:55 GMT -7
The rising spikes didn't mean much to Dullahan. They didn't threaten him in any way, and there wasn't anything he could do to help other supers against them, so he just continued to wait. His helicopters flew in lazy circles as they looked for any further sign of the enemy.
So far, nothing. Back at the trainyard, Dullahan took the chance to restock his armaments, rearranging several train cars as he connected fresh ammunition stockpiles to the artillery cannons. He was already anticipating what the dragon might try to do next and what sort of ammunition would work best against it.
|
|
The Keepers
Posts 357
Power Level 31
|
Post by Geata on Oct 10, 2016 21:14:09 GMT -7
Geata lost count of his kills when, as he unknowingly got too close to the ground, he got swept up in the armored thralls retreat. Slashed and battered around before he realized what was going on, he managed to get away with superficial wounds. Adrenaline still pumping and not wanting to make it an easy win for Jay, Geata dropped onto the rooftop of a nearby building to catch sight of more targets. Instead, he saw Azoth being struck by an unknown woman and then picked up. Immediately deciding to forfeit the duel (he'd count being reckless and getting caught in an attack as negative points, so he probably lost anyway), he dropped down to collect Azoth just in time to hear what the woman said. It seemed she was the Seraphim, then, and she wasn't somebody that he wanted to have too close to Azoth, never mind the reason. He could handle getting Azoth to safety, anyway, and Seraphim wouldn't be slowed down by having to carry her.
Sheathing his new sword, he offered a quick wave before reaching for Azoth. Given how the lady was a mind reader, he likely didn't need to explain himself, and it would only waste time. After obtaining his small girlfriend and positioning her on his back, Geata didn't stick around long. He dropped through a portal, set Azoth down gently on a rooftop, then went to collect his other likely helpless wards. Quickly finding them, he dropped Unhallow, Toko, and - finally and begrudgingly - the injured Sin Eater onto the same roof as Azoth. He didn't bother to get close enough for conversation until everyone was gathered together.
"So," he said, looking down at the ground below. He was sitting next to where Azoth was. The adrenaline was starting to fade, and he was slowly becoming more and more aware of some significantly less superficial gashes in his side. His shirt was starting to stick to him underneath the wound, but it wasn't immediately fatal and was less pressing than the unfolding situation. "Any thoughts on what we should expect next? Because if those spikes stick around for long, we might have some difficulties getting around underground, and I've got a sneaking suspicion that that's where this thing is waiting."
|
|
Emerald City Bulwark
It is not the healthy who need a doctor... But the sentient plant life bent on destroying my home!
Posts 38
Power Level 20
|
Post by Plague Doctor on Oct 10, 2016 21:28:09 GMT -7
Just as Plague Doctor had heard the message, he was almost instantaneously dragged away by a blur. When the blurring stopped, Plague Doctor found himself on the top of a building.
"Blue Ja-" Suddenly, an overwhelming urge hit him. He ran to the side of the building, lifted his mask, and "HURGH!" Came his lunch directly out of his mouth. "...stupid karma...always arriving at just the right time..." He muttered.
He didnt show emotion for those he just killed. He knew that they were unavoidable in the long run. The mask helped hide his emotions, but even with it slightly lifted up, his mouth was a neutral still.
"Blue Jay? Is that you?" He asked before looking down to find that he had almost been impaled. "...Holy crap, thanks... I was about to start acting like a bird..."
|
|
Dead
Posts 113
Power Level 28
|
Post by Big Martin on Oct 10, 2016 21:59:27 GMT -7
With the mechanized thralls out of the way, the supers tore through the rest of the dragon's minions like a chainsaw through wet paper. None of the bloated thralls even got near Big Martin, who continued to spawn cats all around him, building an army. He wasn't just counting on his power, either: as the last of the thralls began to retreat inside nearby buildings, a brightly colored squadron of massive felines came charging downtown, easily bounding over wreckage and corpses to reach their master.
Big Martin was sat in the middle of his legions, laughing at the mountains of bodies around him. Experience told him that this couldn't be so easy, but even so, he was elated that they'd won the first engagement so thoroughly. "Come on, you big pussy! You can do better than that! Show me what you- shitshitshit!"
Whether or not it had actually heard Big Martin's provocations, the dragon immediately began a counterattack, its movements shaking the ground and causing several other supers to recommend sudden ascension. After seeing how vicious Cetus had gotten after they'd driven it into a corner, Big Martin was inclined to listen to their advice, and had one of his tigers step close to he could haul himself onto its back.
"All right, boys and girls! Up, up, and away!"
With the big cats leading the agile horde, they streamed into a nearby office building, bounding up ruined walls and stairs to reach the higher floors just in time to avoid being impaled. A few of the smaller cats were still on the ground as the spikes emerged, but their size and speed made them difficult targets to hit with such a seemingly inaccurate attack. Big Martin was crippled, winded, and growing tired from overuse of his power, but the Dragon would need to do a lot worse to kill him.
For the moment, his cats gathered inside their temporary shelter, waiting for their prey to come out of its hidey-hole.
|
|
