The Keepers
Posts 133
Power Level 30
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Post by HaLOS on May 12, 2016 14:07:15 GMT -7
Before HaLOS could finish observing the car that Dullahan is in, the vehicle suddenly let out a huge burst of speed with one of the super hanging on the roof desperately.
“Identify: data concluded him to be a Bulwark member, Blue Jay, from eyewitness testimony of him as the super carrying a sword. Move data to possible ally of Pandaemonium file.”
HaLOS looked back at the car as Aurora’s aurora started to lift up in the air and materials begin to drop from the sky above, obviously trying to slow it down. With the vehicle is further ahead, and more garbage stood in HaLOS’ way to catch up with the car, HaLOS need to recalculate its option because of the new sudden data fallen from the sky.
The warning that it let out from earlier might have started to have some people stopping on the highway to minimize the collateral damage, but some people are now find it rather difficult to leave the area because of the sudden debris. The other supers didn’t even pay close attention to its warning at all and continue their pursuit the vehicle. Just more obstacle in its way, and HaLOS need to find a way to goes around these situation. The targets are very coordinate with their strategy, which could be a hinder since HaLOS is all by itself out here.
“New data observed,” it said to itself after reducing the volume control on its speaker, “replacing old data from Aurora’s previous encounter with these new inputs. Recalculating strategy; chance of target getting away: 89%, failure to achieve mission’s objective is high. Recording data from today’s mission, placing file to high-priority memory unit to improve for future encounter. Possible requesting for back-up agent for future mission is added in strategy plan, low priority but could prove useful.”
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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 May 12, 2016 15:44:38 GMT -7
Lobisomem yelped as the car sped away, emptying what felt like fire on their nose and snout. They slowed for a brief moment, wiping at their face frantically, it felt like transforming in the sunlight!
As soon as they could see again, they leapt forward, sides heaving as they struggled to keep up with a goddamn car!
The Red cornering their eyes had faded somewhat, allowing them glances of their allies. There was the dragon women, screaming after the car, and there was a robot, talking in a robotic voice...and there was Blue Jay, perched on the villains car, not striking at them...
Almost instantly, the red fog returned. If Blue Jay could see them, he would see the deadly eyes glaring straight at him, a million questions swimming in their depths.
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Pandaemonium
Posts 343
Power Level 30
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Post by Blue Jay on May 12, 2016 22:14:11 GMT -7
Hold on he did - with the sudden increase in speed, Blue Jay was forced to loop his entire arm around his handhold in order to keep grasp on the vehicle.
“Tell him to slow down!” Blue Jay yelled. “You’re going to crash into someone!” With the speed at which the car was now traveling, such a collision seemed to be more a “when” than an “if”. He flinched as the care came far too close for comfort to running into another vehicle. “Can’t you at least pull off to a side road or something?!”
He knew pandemonium was known for causing destruction, but these were cars they were messing with. Cars with people in them. Moving at speeds fast enough that a collision could easily kill. In every encounter Blue Jay had had with Aurora up until this point, there hadn’t been much for civilians around. The jewelry shop had been empty, the docks’ workers had been scattered, and the news station’s occupants had been mostly evacuated. What was so special about this bank that suddenly all that was thrown to the wind and random people’s lives were at risk? Blue Jay had enjoyed all his previous encounters with Aurora, but this time was no lively and enjoyable spar. This was him betraying his allies because of her recklessness.
For a moment, Blue Jay met eyes with Lobisomem. He felt his muscles tense and the need to look away - he couldn’t hold their gaze for longer than a few seconds. Here the super was, doing everything they could to stop these two who had just robbed people of their livelihoods, and here he was, helping them get away with it. “I’m sorry.” He said dejectedly.
He’d have to deal with the aftermath - all of the aftermath - later. Right now he needed to make sure no one died today.
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Inactive
Posts 10
Power Level 15
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Post by Nightflyer on May 13, 2016 8:18:50 GMT -7
It took her a few shocked moments before the word came to her mind: betrayal.
Blue Jay, the young super, her supposed teammate, was acting in tandem with these criminals! Not only that, but he had actually been audacious enough to tell her to back off, and then used his power to try to push her away! She was flabbergasted. Nightflyer tried not to let the surprise, the absolute disgust, show all over her face. In the heat of the battle was no time to lose composure, especially as the enemy was speeding away with the aid of rocket propulsion.
As soon as this situation was resolved, she intended to call out Blue Jay on his treason in front of the whole of the Bulwark. But for now, there was still a speeding getaway car filled with two (now three?) lowlife criminals. By some miracle of conviction, or possibly just pure adrenaline, her wings kept pace with the car. They were getting further from the city now, something not good for the quality of her strength, so she had to act fast...
She had to act decisively. If she could get her claws through the hood of the car, she might be able to short circuit the engine and bring them to a controlled halt. She gave an extra push, wings beating furiously with the wind at her back, flew over the rebel Blue Jay and made a lunge for where she assumed the engine lay under the hood.
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Pandaemonium
Posts 381
Power Level 31
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Post by Aurora Disicio on May 13, 2016 15:18:52 GMT -7
Aurora braced herself using the hand holds provided, making sure to not only to have her arms wrapped around them, but to hold down her mask so it didn't blow away. She kept one hand down on her hair to keep it from flying into her face. At this point they were moving as such speeds that it felt like her hair would be ripped right out of her scalp. It was a little painful, but there was something exhilarating about moving this fast. It was times like this that she was disappointed she didn't have a power that let her move like this. The g forces pushed her back into her seat, but she showed no signs of fear. As far as she was concerned, everything was under control.
"You underestimate Dullahan's reflexes," Aurora laughed. "He doesn't care about a lot of things, but he's got enough sense of self-preservation that he won't hit anything."
It was hard to make out what the guy in the robotic suit was talking about at this speed, but she was pretty sure she caught the words 'Jay,' 'sword,' 'ally,' and 'Pandaemonium.' There was something horribly wrong with that combination of words. Enough so that Aurora continued laughing and was finding it difficult to stop. The looks on his teammates were just as good. So much trouble, so much suspicion just for being sensible. Maybe she did need to break something off a nearby car just to remind them what they were dealing with. Aurora considered it briefly, but ultimately decided against it. Non-powered people still had no place in super fights, not even for shock value. There would be ways to deal with that later, it was just a matter of figuring out exactly how to go about it. For now, she had some idiot heroes to play with.
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Post by PANOPTICON Ver. 3.023 on May 13, 2016 16:42:22 GMT -7
PANOPTICON Ver. 3.023 analyzing combat data... --- HaLOS takes the BYPASS opening against Dullahan to remove his immunity to Aggression (Destruction) at a cost of 15% combat advantage. However, no such immunity existed in the first place. Interference (Reversion) by Dullahan against HaLOS results in SUCCESS, +5% combat advantage Accumulation (Information) by Lobisomem against Maneuver (Speed) results in SUCCESS, +10% combat advantage Maneuver (Speed) by Blue Jay against Lobisomem results in FAILURE due to the target's equal-or-greater immunity granted by the Accumulation (Information) Lobisomem used Aggression (Destruction) by HaLOS against Dullahan results in PARTIAL success due to lesser suppression by the Interference (Reversion) Dullahan used, +15% combat advantage Aggression (Destruction) by Nightflyer against Dullahan results in SUCCESS, +30% combat advantage Aggression (Confinement) by Aurora Disicio against Nightflyer results in SUCCESS, +30% combat advantage Aurora Disicio Blue Jay and Dullahan have reached 100% combat advantage. The car has accelerated to sufficient speed in order to escape pursuit and make a clean getaway. All participants receive 10 Notoriety for their part in the battle! --- Analyzing possible outcomes... 1. Simply make your escape with no further fanfare. Combined with the confusion of seeing known Bulwark members of both sides, the common public will be uncertain about who actually won here. Effect: +5 Bulwark Prestige, +5 Pandaemonium Prestige2. Smash up the highway on your way out! This, on the other hand, will make it very clear who's responsible for the damage. Effect: +45 additional Notoriety each for Aurora Disicio Blue Jay and Dullahan As the one who started the scheme, Dullahan gets the final choice.
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Pandaemonium
Posts 78
Power Level 25
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Post by Dullahan on May 14, 2016 0:35:04 GMT -7
Dullahan's rockets sputtered as shrapnel from the cyborg's grenades perforated some important parts of his engine, and it nearly sent him flying out of control. The opportunity was almost enough to let Nightflyer sink a claw all the way into the sportscar... but then the self-repair protocol took over, reactivating the rockets and giving Dullahan the last burst of acceleration necessary to leave the heroes behind.
A moment later, fins popped out of the side of the car, giving it enough lift to pick up off the highway and begin flying over the cars below. The altitude meant that Dullahan no longer benefited from the cover of the civilian vehicles, but with the distance he was putting between himself and the heroes, there was no more need to stay down there. By the time Dullahan brought the car down in one of the meadows well beyond the city limits, the heroes were long since left behind - or at least, the enemy heroes were. Dullahan swiveled his cameras, only belatedly realizing that it would probably be a good idea to keep an eye on the hitchhiker they had picked up.
(Going with Option 1!)
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Pandaemonium
Posts 343
Power Level 30
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Post by Blue Jay on May 14, 2016 7:56:02 GMT -7
Without the sword to break his fall, Blue Jay refused to let go of the car turned aircraft until it landed. When the vehicle finally came to rest outside of the city, he finally forced his very stiff arms to let go and ungracefully slid off the side of the car into the grass.
He rested there for several moments, taking as many deep breaths, and let his stun wear off. It was not calm or even relief for a finished battle that replaced it, however, but, strangely, anger. Blue Jay was pissed. Not the kind of pissed where a couple of things go wrong and you wonder what the universe has against you, but full on fuming. Using the side of the vehicle, he pulled himself up. Any fatigue remaining was now ignored, and replaced in his expression with daggers he shot at Aurora.
“What the hell did you think you were doing?!” Blue Jay yelled, marching up to her, his fists in balls. His anger carried him until he was as face to face with her as he could be on the ground, and carried palpably into his voice. “It’s one thing to rob a bank, but this, Aurora? Driving through the busy highway like a maniac? What the hell was that for? For kicks? What the hell do people’s lives even mean to you?!” The sword had reappeared on the ground, but he didn’t care. He didn’t need it. “You know, I actually respected you. I respected the fact that you’ve never killed! I thought, I thought maybe you had a bit of a consciousness for the people around you, and for their lives and their families. I hoped that maybe you were something more than one of these idiot adrenaline junkies with too much time and power who can’t see past their own damn skulls to see that their simplest actions can leave innocent people dead!”
It'd been ages since Blue Jay had spoken like that. He couldn’t remember the last time he’d done so, or if he even had before. Aurora had forced him to hurt people he cared about in order to keep innocents alive. But more than that, he felt betrayed himself. After all her grand victory speeches, and his run-ins with her where she’d seemed to place lives - hell, even his life once - above her objective, he’d seen someone he couldn’t necessarily get along with, but could admire for her determination and resolve.
His voice grew quiet, but not an ounce of venom left his tone. “I guess not. You’re just like all the rest of you villains.” he spat out the word. “You’re just another bad apple, corrupted by your own power. The only difference is you think your stupid ideologies somehow put you above the rest of the crowd.”
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The Keepers
Posts 133
Power Level 30
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Post by HaLOS on May 15, 2016 0:25:52 GMT -7
The homing grenades managed to strike their target; HaLOS was intended for the explosion to knock over Dullahan’s vehicle. With its calculation, the supers inside the vehicle would not be harm, only incapacitate them for extraction. Though the explosions managed to leave a huge dent on the sport car, the car suddenly repair itself, turn into a flying vehicle and took off into the air. Even if HaLOS could manage to reload its weapons, the car is now way out-of-range and traveling too fast, possibility of the grenades to strike is substantively low. With its flying speed, HaLOS also concluded that it can’t follow the car anymore even if it upgrades its speed boost. Beside, the highway had started to become a little crowded when it detect the police siren coming from behind.
“Mission failure: unable to chase down target." the HaLOS unit back at the Keeper's headquarter said to itself, "Transferring data into memory file in order to prepare for future encounter. Journal data lost, but no longer a top priority to obtain; deletion of unwanted files. New objective: deleting data of Keeper’s involvement to incident.”
This isn’t something hard for HaLOS to do: all it need is to interfere with the electronic device from eyewitnesses on the road, inserting a small virus program via wireless transfer to corrupt any footage of the scene and then program the devices to generate a huge electrical current to completely fry them. Once everything is done, HaLOS’ robotic unit quickly took its leave from the highway, remain hidden until it is safe for it to return back to headquarter.
“Mental note: upgrades to this unit’s robotic form are the utmost importance. Requesting Organization for installation better hardware. Possibility of Organization agree to its request: 1%; personal inquiry to a certain Keeper agent might proven to be more useful."
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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 May 15, 2016 15:12:59 GMT -7
Lobisomem yelped as the sword hit them right in their nose, sending them crashing painfully into the streets.
They scrambled to thier feet just in time to see the car flying away, vanishing into the sky's depths. They slammed their paws into the ground in a fashion resembling fists before seizing the sword and flinging it away, "Goddammit!" Thier voice boomed before they glared up to the sky and roared.
They glared at the cowering people and roared again before trotting away, uncaring of who saw them and who followed them.
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Pandaemonium
Posts 381
Power Level 31
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Post by Aurora Disicio on May 16, 2016 19:17:19 GMT -7
It would have been easy to tear apart the highway. It would have been easy to take apart some cars. Aurora was rather displeased with the heroes' course of action today, though she couldn't quite place why. It would have been easy to show them what she was capable of, to show them why fighting her here was a bad idea, why fighting her at all was a bad idea. She let the moment pass, turned back around in her seat, and let the highway get out of sight. She decided to be merciful today, but that wouldn't hold for all days. It took a moment for her to be able to breathe normally again after traveling at such high speeds, it took another moment for the adrenaline to die down enough for her arms to stop shaking and for her to be able to think clearly. Before she could think too much, the wannabe hero that just helped them started chewing her ear off.
"Are you done?"
Her voice had no sympathy towards him; it was just as harsh as ever. How could she have any sympathy? He was acting like he just found out that the supervillain he had been fighting (and losing to) all this time was, in fact, a supervillain. He even used the word like it was an insult and not a title she wore proudly. Aurora had no idea what he thought she was, but given how he was talking she had no doubt she'd find it insulting. She just raised an eyebrow, looking irritated and somewhat confused.
"Did you honestly think I had some moral compunction when it came to hurting people? That--" she stopped, suddenly looking thoughtful instead of irritated. "That...explains a lot actually."
Aurora stared at the floor in front of her, her brow furrowed, her fingers steepled. That may have explained her irritation with the other heroes. Unpowered people had no place in superpowered fights, Aurora would stand by that forever. Not because they would get hurt, but because they would get in the way. It was unavoidable in this circumstance. She couldn't exactly clear the highway, granted she did everything she could to try. She kept her aurora prominent as always, and even tried to limit collateral damage so that the people that actually cared could focus on the fight instead of on the civilians. It was obvious now, they were taking her usual tactics as weakness. They were not only trusting her, they were taking advantage of her better nature. They were seeing it as a weakness. Her attention turned back to Blue Jay. If he was talking during that time she wasn't listening.
"Tell your friends that their actions today have proven to me that I've been far too kind so far. They should prepare for the consequences," she stomped on the floor of her seat. "Hitchhiker's gone Dullahan! Move it!"
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Pandaemonium
Posts 78
Power Level 25
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Post by Dullahan on May 20, 2016 1:24:52 GMT -7
Aurora's reaction to the hero's anger was promising, Dullahan thought, but he wasn't the sort to jeopardize the situation by saying 'I told you so'. If Aurora were to become willing to abandon her utterly human sense of restraint... Well, that would allow the two of them to operate much more efficiently in the future.
The sheer anger Blue Jay displayed did give Dullahan pause, though. If the heroes were also to lose their sense of restraint toward the villains, then it could become problematic for the purpose of future fights against them. Dullahan would have to reconsider the optimal balance between acting most efficiently in each individual battle versus minimizing the retaliation he'd face in future battles.
In any case, when Aurora said it was time to move, Dullahan wasn't inclined to argue. He popped out some spikes from his tires to give him better traction in the unpaved wilderness and then hit the throttle, throwing up a roostertail of dirt behind him. He would much prefer to be long gone by the time Blue Jay's nominal allies showed up to vent their wrath.
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