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Post by PANOPTICON Ver. 3.023 on Nov 8, 2016 19:42:27 GMT -7
PANOPTICON Ver. 3.023 online.
Beginning combat data collection on large-scale conflict front...
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The Keepers
Posts 357
Power Level 31
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Post by Geata on Nov 9, 2016 14:04:24 GMT -7
Geata ignored the various voices coming from behind him that didn't seem like they wanted to help. There were only two things that elicited a reaction from him: the terribly rude person who was super insulting and was greeted with a portal opening underneath them to where Aurora and Dullahan were; and a familiar and understandably surprised voice.
"Eyepatch!" Geata greeted warmly. "Hey, buddy, how's it going? I don't suppose I can convince you to just let us be, could I? I give my word that nobody will come to any harm or anything, I'm just trying to help us all reach a mutual understanding that'd lead to less anti-super propaganda and less supers trying to get rid of the anti-super propaganda with force. We throw somebody nice that won't attack people for whatever reason into a position of power here, and they can help make sure that the super community at large isn't getting blamed for every problem the city faces. Nobody gets hurt, the good guys hopefully won't be treated as bad guys anymore, and the - objectively - bad guys won't be so irritable over being called the bad guys anymore which will help with minimizing damages caused by them. Only reason I'm going about saying that we're forcing them to comply is because, honestly, do you think they'd listen otherwise?"
It probably wasn't the most well thought out plan, he was willing enough to admit that, but it was a better plan than any other being offered. Like he said, though, he was open to suggestions. Anything to make the plan better for everyone.
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The Keepers
Posts 234
Power Level 31
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Post by Azoth on Nov 10, 2016 13:00:00 GMT -7
Azoth had to resist a startled jump when a familiar voice spoke in her head. How Anonymous had heard this was happening, she had no clue, but at least he seemed to be on their side. Far better than him acting against them, she decided. She’d wouldn’t complain for the help. Even if she would appreciate not being mentally jump-scared every time he showed up, and she wasn’t quite sure how she felt about him being so commonly in her head.
But she was drifting from the situation at hand. Azoth yawned, considered saying something, and realizing Geata had already taken care of that part (along with the inconvenient location of several of the supers), decided against it. “No body gets hurt”, that she could do. Certainly if their opponent was going to be a weapon user like Nemesis. While she began surveying the rest of the building for any other supers with her powers, Azoth leveled her gaze on the Bulwark (and one fellow in the far corner who looked like he was searching for a projectile).
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Emerald City Bulwark
Posts 67
Power Level 27
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Post by Nemesis on Nov 10, 2016 13:19:24 GMT -7
"Well, no. . ." Listening to Geata's speech distracted Nemesis from whatever problem she planned on bringing up. Absently, she wondered how he was even talking in the first place. As he went on, her determination faltered slightly. It always felt wrong picking a fight with someone who wasn't currently threatening others.
She glanced downward and noticed her sword beginning to fade away. She couldn't beat up a floating brain. How could anyone attack without killing the guy in one hit? It would be easier to give him a new body just so she could have something to stab. Probably hurt more too.
Nemesis started rubbing the back of her neck and tried to focus on the more immediate problem. Brain Boy wasn't the only one trying to take over the building.
"But, like, that's not the point." Parts of this idea made sense, and she couldn't fault the guy for doing bad things for good reasons. That was kinda her method too. Still, there was probably a way to do this legally--not that anyone would hire a known super. Couldn't they start their own newspaper? Solving problems was never her specialty, so someone else would have to come up with an alternative. In the meantime, she'd find something to punch.
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Emerald City Bulwark
Posts 35
Power Level 22
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Post by Rainfall on Nov 10, 2016 17:59:35 GMT -7
With a quiet click, the door opened.
Rainfall could only move it a little ways without colliding with the nearby portal, but her slim body slipped through the gap with ease, her hat carried sideways in one hand so it'd fit through. Her footsteps rang deliberately loud as she brought her foot down hard, both literally and metaphorically.
She glanced at the newsroom's staff, and jerked one thumb towards the door. "Ya'll get out. Now." Her glare left no room for argument. Civilians getting in the way would be a pain, and it was supposedly the Bulwark's duty to keep their asses safe. Best to take care of that little problem first, so that she could get to the real work.
"As for you," she continued, replacing her hat and looking pointedly towards Azoth, "I'm feeling generous today. You have five seconds to back the fuck down before I open fire." Her voice was that same frightening rasp as always, but today it had a certain special hardness to it, a hint of anger. Without turning, she glanced at Nemesis, squinting. "And no more chatting. We don't hold back on scum like them."
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Post by PANOPTICON Ver. 3.023 on Nov 10, 2016 19:43:17 GMT -7
PANOPTICON Ver. 3.023 analyzing combat data... --- Interference (Depowering) by Rainfall against Azoth results in SUCCESS, +5% combat advantage Maneuver (Field) by Azoth against Rainfall results in FAILURE due to suppression by the equal-or-greater Interference (Depowering) Rainfall used Maneuver (Field) by Geata against Nemesis results in SUCCESS, +25% combat advantage Maneuver (Alteration) by Phenomenon against Rainfall results in SUCCESS, +25% combat advantage Aggression (Subdual) by Nemesis against Azoth results in FAILURE due to suppression by the equal-or-greater Maneuver (Field) used by the target, +10% combat advantage --- Current conditions: Azoth may not be targeted by enemy Interference (Depowering) powers Current advantage: Azoth Geata and Phenomenon have 50% Nemesis and Rainfall have 15% Current openings: Rainfall may DISABLE Azoth at a cost of 15% combat advantage, removing her Maneuver (Field) power for the rest of the battle. Geata may REGROUP at a cost of 30% combat advantage, cutting the other side's combat advantage in half. (Click here to send in your next round's actions!)
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The Keepers
Posts 234
Power Level 31
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Post by Azoth on Nov 10, 2016 20:58:28 GMT -7
With a bit of a count down courtesy of Rainfall, Azoth had determined the black fog of Nemesis, encroaching like the night or death (take your pick) to be the slightly more immediate problem. For a distinct lack of bullets, Azoth instead began removing the black fog from the air. Whole swaths disappeared from the the pale coming her way, and while she had a small feeling panic related to… cooking appliances, Azoth considered herself probably safe from the worst of Nemesis attack.
And then she got shot.
Azoth hadn’t thought it was possible any more. Her power took care of these things - it heard a shot, it found the bullet, it removed it. No more bullet, no bleeding leg wounds. It didn’t matter how fast the shot was fired - the time it would take the bullet to travel through the air provided all the delay she needed. This sort of thing was not supposed to be possible, and for the instant after the shot, Azoth felt nothing but stunned confusion.
It was probably in part due to the distraction from Nemesis. And also likely because she had gotten maybe a sum total of ten hours of sleep in the last four days. That, as it turned out, did not help her combat ability or reaction time.
And then she felt the burning pain of the bulletwound. The shot had gone into the near non-existent muscle of her leg and exited cleanly on the other side - the bullet itself, bloody, was buried a short distance into the side of the desk in front of her. It was a perfect shot, free of any bone that might’ve caused resistance, yet still dug into the thicker part of her calf.
Azoth let out a loud, deeply pained yell, bordering on a screech. Her leg gave out beneath her, and the small girl crumpled to the ground. Blood ran thick out of her leg and she lay on her side, clenching her injured limb tightly to her chest. The scream had been the only sound she’d made (besides the thunk from when she hit the ground, and the sharp intake of an editor who did not want blood all over the information he, after nearly three months, had just finished gathering - it was going to be one of those days); instead, she was now taking sharp, shuttering breaths through her locked teeth. Her body was beginning to shake as she was quickly losing blood, and with it consciousness. The edges of her vision were already dimming. She had time, but not nearly as much as others might.
Her eyes, wide and growing puffy, fell with abhorrence on Rainfall. This needed to end. Now.
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Emerald City Bulwark
Posts 35
Power Level 22
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Post by Rainfall on Nov 10, 2016 21:00:21 GMT -7
Azoth made the unfortunate mistake of thinking that she was safe, simply because Rainfall used guns. It made sense: her choice of weapons and somewhat more subtle abilities had led some to believe that the gunslinger might just be a particularly skilled and crazy unpowered woman. The Bulwark had an ability as well, however, one that made her far more of a threat than she might appear.
The first thing Azoth would feel after getting rid of the bullet and a thin slice of the gun was a sharp pain in her leg as that very same bullet tore through it. The gun in Rainfall's hands remained where it was, unharmed and already lining up another shot. Azoth's power hadn't been disabled, it worked just fine, but something had completely negated its effects just as fast as it could produce them.
No more shots came her way, however, as Rainfall was distracted by a trio of writers trying to restrain her with mouse cords. They hadn't been able to grab her before she shot Azoth, since she'd seemingly drawn and fired in the blink of an eye, but they pounced before she got a chance to aim her next bullet. She yanked her arm back, frowning as she quickly retreated away from them. Fortunately they weren't particularly sneaky nor athletic compared to her, but they did force her to move away, unwilling to simply shoot them and unable to restrain them without taking her attention off the other supers.
Momentarily cornered, she backed up against the wall and growled, looking at each of the Keepers in turn. "You want to talk, you let these people go." A couple months ago, she'd have just shot them all rather than speaking, but she recognized two of the villains from the Dragon fight. She ought to give them a chance to back down, at least, especially if they were holding civilian hostages.
That said, her eyes were already glancing between the guy in the mask and the brain in the jar. If they weren't going to surrender, she needed to figure out which one was controlling the writers and take them out fast, opening the way for the civilians to possibly escape.
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The Keepers
Posts 357
Power Level 31
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Post by Geata on Nov 11, 2016 0:28:23 GMT -7
Geata heard two things come from behind him: a gunshot and Azoth shrieking in pain. The current condition the formerly masked super found himself in made it impossible for him to have actually helped. Between new equipment, sound reaching him differently due to his new lack of height, said lack of height changing dimensions in relation to him, and being unable to see where the bullet originated; Geata had plenty of reasons and excuses as for why he couldn't help in time.
The real reason, though, was that he simply hadn't been expecting it.
Geata had plenty of respect for the Bulwarks, honestly. He admired their pursuit of making the city safer for the average citizen by stopping the bad guys. Even though Jay had become disillusioned with the faction, Geata still found himself seeing them as the good guys. He had an inexplicable amount of admiration for Eyepatch, even though they had fought against each other multiple times. He knew she was doing what she thought best for everyone, and he understood that completely. Just because they had different methods didn't mean that they didn't have the same goal. She also seemed to have morals, and a lack of obvious attack against three "villains" that were doing no harm helped cement that image in Geata's... brain...
The unknown voice, though, the shooter: Geata instantly lost any and all respect for them and the fact that they held the title of Bulwark.
Geata fell through a portal that closed above him, dropping him back into the exact same spot but turned around so that he can see the situation. He took note of everything, from Azoth on the ground to the gun toting super that was obviously the cause. It took a great deal of restraint not to simply open a few portals inside the unknown super and let their body's internal machinations tear them apart for him. He focused instead on the positive that Azoth's wound, while bad, wasn't anything catastrophic. If it had been, the sharpshooter would've been nothing more than a splatter of red in the parking lot outside.
"Gee, Eyepatch," Geata said coldly. "Glad to see that your friend there is perfectly willing to shed blood over this. None of us did a thing to harm anyone, be it you two or the civilians here, and yet we're being physically attacked in retaliation of our willingness to negotiate? I expected better, honestly. That being said, I'm still willing to talk this out and let everyone here leave happy. Just let me make one thing clear, though: if your friend there shoots at anyone else, not only will the bullet end up in their own leg, but they will also find themselves suddenly a mile up in the air without the benefit of a parachute."
He paused a moment before continuing, his tone quieter but serious. "I've never taken a life before, Eyepatch, but if they try to hurt anyone else in the name of the greater good over something that could be resolved peacefully otherwise, I won't allow such a hypocrite to continue drawing breath and calling themselves hero."
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Emerald City Bulwark
Posts 67
Power Level 27
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Post by Nemesis on Nov 12, 2016 0:47:04 GMT -7
Watching Rainfall shoot the girl made Nemesis visibly shudder. She never really liked guns to begin with, as they reminded her of things she'd rather forget. Too late for that. She knew Rainfall would probably end up shooting eventually and thought she could handle it, but apparently not. This wasn't a problem back at the dragon fight, but those things were real people to begin with.
Seeing this girl in pain. . . no, today shouldn't be any different. Nemesis tried to stop herself from actually sympathizing here. Villains don't count. Their safety never really mattered before. Saving innocent lives was always more important than anything, even her own survival. She didn't care if any of them died. They deserved it.
Somehow this was different. Of course, getting shot in the leg was nowhere near as fatal as a certain suppressed memory, but Nemesis couldn't avoid relating back to her own experience. By now that was almost a year ago. At least this time there was a room full of people that could--no, that doesn't make it any better. Bullets hurt. There might even be some magic nonsense involved with Rainfall's fancy gun. Nemesis never felt like finding out. Didn't need to know. A member of the Bulwark wouldn't actually shoot someone important.
Man, at some point this job got weird and depressing. Nemesis always avoided thinking about contradictions or getting angry at people for doing things she would've done herself. That worked for a few months. Now she almost wanted to help a bad person she already tried to beat up before for reasons past!her would've scoffed at. Life sucked right now.
Paying attention to Geata's whole deal only furthered her depression, so Nemesis kinda stopped listening to prevent from getting bummed out. She needed to focus. Again. The identity crisis could wait until all the normal people were out of here. They appeared to be unharmed, but that didn't mean anything. It looked like some of the civilians were controlled by mind bullshit--or bravely decided to support the wrong side but that sounded dumb. Sane people don't pick fights with superheroes.
Since Geata just opens portals and the girl's in pain, the quiet guy must be responsible. Nemesis frowned. Mind control greatly offended her honorable nature, and was one of the lowest forms of combat. Which she also used. Sometimes. That was different, though. She never targeted innocent people, only the bad guys. Besides, they deserved it.
. . ."Dammit." She really needed to stop thinking about things. Now she was going in circles. Fighting dudes seemed so much easier when they actually try to fight back. Right now, Nemesis only had to concern herself with saving lives. The rest wasn't important.
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Post by PANOPTICON Ver. 3.023 on Nov 12, 2016 19:45:07 GMT -7
PANOPTICON Ver. 3.023 analyzing combat data... --- Rainfall takes DISABLE opening against Azoth for 15% combat advantage, removing her Maneuver (Field) power for the rest of the battle Interference (Reversion) by Nemesis against Azoth results in SUCCESS, +5% combat advantage Interference (Depowering) by Rainfall against Geata results in SUCCESS, +5% combat advantage Accumulation (Information) by Azoth against Aggression (Destrution) results in FAILURE due to suppression by the Interference (Reversion) Nemesis used Maneuver (Field) by Geata against Nemesis results in FAILURE due to suppression by the equal-or-greater Interference (Depowering) Rainfall used Maneuver (Alteration) by Phenomenon against Rainfall results in SUCCESS, +25% combat advantage --- Current conditions: Azoth may not be targeted by enemy Interference (Depowering) powers Azoth is under the effects of DISABLE, removing her Maneuver (Field) power Azoth may not be targeted by enemy Interference (Reversion) powers Geata may not be targeted by enemy Interference (Depowering) powers Current advantage: Azoth Geata and Phenomenon have 75% Nemesis and Rainfall have 10% Current openings: None. (Click here to send in your next round's actions!)
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The Keepers
Posts 357
Power Level 31
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Post by Geata on Nov 13, 2016 12:39:34 GMT -7
Had Geata the the option of blinking in surprise at the sudden gunshot, he would've. Had he seen where the bullet came from, he would've stopped it within the barrel of the gun. Instead, he had to rely on pure reflex. Reflex decided that the best thing to do was to build a wall in the trajectory of the bullet. Suddenly, in-between the "heroes" (which Geata was still only really counting Eyepatch as; he was also starting to realize that he really ought to figure out the name she actually went by) and the totally nonviolent "villains", a large portal opened. It didn't just split the room in two sides, either - it extended through the ceiling, walls, and floor, showing little bits of the outside world in other rooms and floors.
On the Bulwark's side, they'd see a brick wall a few feet away. The bullet itself, should it not be capable of genuine teleportation, would find itself embedded in the wall. Should the bullet be capable of teleportation, it would largely depend on when it started to teleport: if it teleported before entering the portal, it would act as though it was still in the room and could easily bypass the portal given the right distance to jump. If it teleported after entering, or if it worked like Blue Jay's displacement and simply altered its velocity, it would be just under a mile away from the news station, hitting the wall or potentially entering the building itself, striking an unwary civilian as far as the Bulwark gunslinger would know. Not that anybody lived in that particular building. It had been Geata's old home, pre-whale dragon. Nobody had lived in it for months, not even after it had been rebuilt.
The villains would see a nice, peaceful day in the suburbs, with few people actually out and about to see the events transpiring in the news station. A block down the street, an old man was out watering his garden, completely oblivious to the sight only a short distance behind him. The portal closed before long, not giving many - if any - time to see what was going on.
If nothing were to hit Geata, everything would proceed normally, the portal would close after a few seconds, and all would be well. If Geata were to still successfully be shot, Tex still wouldn't notice anything different about their state of aliveness. Geata was considerably more forgiving about shooting him than shooting someone else. The people wouldn't change, the portal would still close after a few seconds; the only immediate thing that would be noticed is that Geata would be sitting atop a base with a significant hole in it that was sparking.
Geata would also suddenly be blind, deaf, mute, and dying.
Am I doing this right? Geata would ask, thinking at Phenomenon. If so, do me a favor, guy. Tell Azoth I'll be fine, not to worry, and to stick with the plan. Also, if you could possibly figure out exactly how far away Dullahan is from me - feet in a certain direction, distance vertically, et cetera - I'd appreciate it.
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The Keepers
Posts 36
Power Level 20
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Post by Phenomenon on Nov 14, 2016 13:50:58 GMT -7
After the men with the chair had done their work, Phenomenon patted his chest and torso quickly, as if missing something. No, his nervous system was functioning properly, it was that something far more abnormal than a breakdown on a physical level because that's what he checked for. "I haven't been hurt?" It had been almost a full 60 seconds into the fight and there was not yet any sort of wound, damage, disease, burn, cut, scratch, bullet, or other discomforting feeling afflicting him. The sad fact was that Phenomenon had not encountered his fair share of success, far less. Invading the news station was turning out a fair bit better, but now his friendly brain-in-a-jar portalmaster may be in apparent danger, and if he had to convey a message telepathically it meant the jar was damaged beyond speaking ability. Presuming it was indeed shot, the masked man would need to do a bit of multitasking. Without moving his feet, he bent over and rotated his torso to examine the wound. More supplies from around the room would animate themselves, whatever would be helpful moving toward him. There was a certain beauty to anything Phenomenon made, found between the high quality of his craftsmanship and the beauty of it all being makeshift.
This jar was far more advanced than anything he had tried to work with before.
All his tools and supplies floating around him, Phenomenon froze and stared in the hole. "Azoth, speaker's broken. He says just follow the plan. He'll be fine." The robotic tone from the mask he had gotten from her hid his underlying uncertainty. With his mind, he was more frustrated in tone. "If you mean dying, I would say you're doing a bang up job. A... Bang-bang up job." It was at this point he made the discovery that one can translate the cheeky tone used in pun-making into telepathic speaking. A revelation aside was that although he couldn't repair the jar in its entirety, he could do his best to stabilize his ally and finish this fight before Geata got to the mythical mechanic. First priority was to fix up the life support system, but it was only running at three-quarters of its full capacity by the time he finished. Speaking would have to wait, but there was a way to simulate sight and hearing. Although it would be a shock to his brain right after that of losing his senses, Geata would start seeing and hearing everything, fairly clearly, through a heavily modified Guy Fawkes mask. The same things Phenomenon saw were simply being transferred to function like normal sight in a separate brain. This transition was left wordlessly, because the brain might not be ready to deal with direct communication after the metaphoric light switch was flicking on and off.
The next task was to find Dullahan, but this didn't take so long. Searching through the minds of the insects nearby and hacking their visuals made it quite easy, and after only a moment of counting and guesstimating distances he got back to the impaired Skeletor with his repairman's approximate distance.
If the bullet were to be stopped, Phenomenon would just nod a little bit and oversee the situation.
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Emerald City Bulwark
Posts 35
Power Level 22
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Post by Rainfall on Nov 14, 2016 16:10:14 GMT -7
A huge portal burst into existence in the middle of the room, and Rainfall suddenly found herself facing a wall. A solid-looking brick wall, in the middle of a building. A very confused frown crossed her features for a moment as she tried to connect the dots and figure out what had just happened.
On the other side, things got quiet for a moment. With half the battlefield suddenly replaced by a peaceful scene, it all calmed down for just a little. Nothing hit Geata, and the portal closed.
A gaping hole appeared in the brain's pedestal.
Rainfall hadn't fired again. Neither of her guns were even aimed at Geata, for her attention had turned to the makeshift tower now quickly being pushed towards her. It was as if the portal had simply delayed the bullet somehow, preventing it from reaching Geata until the aperture closed and the shot struck its mark. Quickly, too- the thing was traveling at speeds a fair bit higher than a pistol round ought to be. The strangest thing of all, however, would only have been visible to Nemesis, or anyone capable of seeing past the portal: the bullet had gone streaking through Geata's doorway, taking a small chunk out of the wall without ricocheting afterwards. Somehow, Rainfall had hit both the obstacle and her target with a single shot, in spite of them being technically miles away from each other.
The Bulwark barely had a moment to glance at the damage she had wrought, however. Versatile as her ability was, she couldn't use it to its full potential in a situation such as this. The tower created by Phenomenon was moving closer, obstructing her field of view and her aim, forcing her to pay attention. Rainfall could hit someone through it, but she'd have to aim with her gut, and any shot powerful enough to get through all that mess would be powerful enough to seriously hurt someone. What was more, she could hear the faint sound of sirens. The police were on their way.
She bit her lip, carefully stepping backwards, trying to avoid being cornered. For all the hurt she'd managed to dish out, she'd messed up, picked the wrong targets and missed the one she'd really needed to take out, the one controlling the civilians. No easy way to win this any longer. Best she could do would be to gamble, hope she could hurt and distract the villains enough that they'd decide to flee instead of following through on their plot.
"Nemesis! Smoke, spread it!" She barked the words, harsh and loud, hoping she'd get the message across. Her ally seemed to be holding up well enough so far, but the best they could do now would be to beat it, and hope for the best.
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Emerald City Bulwark
Posts 67
Power Level 27
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Post by Nemesis on Nov 14, 2016 18:21:09 GMT -7
With that problem taken care of, Nemesis could focus on the real threat. Almost. She still felt a little distracted by Geata getting hit, but he should be fine for a while. If that brain jar was as weak as it looked then he wouldn't have bothered to put himself in danger, right? Dude didn't need to get close to punch somebody like she did.
More importantly, that last evil guy needed to quit it with the mind control. At least, it seemed like his fault. Otherwise he was just standing around looking intimidating, but they might as well experiment to find out. Nemesis may have gradually lost interest in stopping the other villains, but she wasn't going to compromise on making sure the journalists were fine. Scaring them into allowing this dumb takeover sucked, but at least they should have the option of saying no.
"Got it!" The instinct to point out that she didn't really have any smoke was suppressed for now. It was close enough. They had more important things to worry about. Nemesis followed along with Rainfall's order, not entirely sure what would happen after, but trusted her partner. If anything bad happened, they could just fix it later.
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